New York city using Cumberland’s success as model for revitalization

Tess Hill, Times-News staff writer

CUMBERLAND — A group of four visitors from Oswego, N.Y., came to Cumberland’s historic downtown in hopes of learning how to revitalize its own downtown.

Murray Gould, Bernadette Mroz, Allen Bjorkman and Bill Symons spent two days in Cumberland to “watch, listen and learn.” Andy Vick, executive director of the Allegany Arts Council, coordinated their visit and began showing them around downtown and the historic district Wednesday as well as introducing them to some of the partners involved with the program.

“I am going to try to paint a picture of our community and give them some insight as to what we’ve done well and why we’ve been so successful,” Vick said. “If anything, the most valuable lesson I hope they take with them is the value of creating partnerships with the Main Street Program, tourism department, the city economic and development program and, if possible, the state economic and development program.”

Gould first heard about the progress made by Cumberland when Vick spoke at the National Main Street Conference in Philadelphia.

Vick explained how the arts and entertainment district can be used as a resource — a partner — to help create a successful Main Street program.

Gould said hearing Vick talk about how the city was able to get all these different agencies and inter-related departments pulling in the same direction was very interesting and exciting.

“It’s like a team of horses,” Murray said of the different players involved, “you might have one lying down here and another standing over there. But once you finally do get all of the horses lined up, it can really take off.”

Like Cumberland, Oswego is a community with a rich history. At one time, it was one of the major ports on the Great Lakes and, between the 1840s and 1870s, was a major industrial center for corn starch, timber, foundries, etc. It is located at the mouth of the Oswego River and on the shore of Lake Ontario.

“However, our 19th-century downtown struggles and is under utilized by the community (which) morphs into the typical strip shopping centers on the edge of town,” Gould said. “Our community undertook an exhaustive analysis and plan a few years ago. We looked at our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. One of the threads that were woven throughout the plan was the aspect of the arts being a critical part of the community.”

He adds how they have anticipated the visit for weeks and can’t wait to learn all they can in their short time here.

“We want to listen about everything that’s been done and is being done here,” Gould said. “We want to see how we can learn from your experiences and apply them to our current situation.”

The visitors toured downtown Cumberland and the historic district and listened to speakers Wednesday and Thursday. Once home, they will report about their visit to both the committee working on the project as well as the City Council.

Tess Hill can be reached at thill@times-news.com