We just posted a new project feature highlighting our work on the Iowa Green Streets Pilot initiatives in West Union and Woodbine, Iowa. As pilots, the communities of West Union and Woodbine will experiment with measures to achieve sustainable communities and serve as models for their colleagues in Iowa and others throughout the nation. Click here to learn more.

Link: http://www.downtownpros.com/tools.html

Lisa originally created a wholly unscientific, but not entirely arbitrary Main Street Committee Placement Exam as a fun committee training exercise for our work with the Louisiana Economic Development Committee in Louisiana, Missouri.  Turns out, our friends there are still using it as a first step in their volunteer intake process and report great results.

The exam is now online and can be accessed from the new "Tools & Resources" section of our website. Give it a whirl and let us know where you got "plugged in."

Link: http://www.marketplacemagazine.com/content/556_1.php

Our friend Craig Tebon sent us an email and the link to a Marketplace Magazine story about the tremendous transformation taking place in downtown Ripon, Wisconsin. Click here to check out the article about Boca Grande Capital's plans and investment in downtown Ripon.

Link: http://www.survivingconstruction.com

Are backhoes and bulldozers on your horizon?

We're preparing to launch our new "Surviving Construction" website. Click on the screenshot for a sneak peek and to take the "Surviving Construction Preparedness Exam."

We just caught up with our friend Kristoper Larson who we got to know during our work on the Hillsborough Street BID Formation project in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kris is now working his magic in sunny Long Beach, California where, among other things, he's managing the Downtown Long Beach Associates' Retail Visioning Process.

Kris says the project has "received some good local and regional press as an inventive planning process." We can see why. Click here to link up to the project website, and be sure to check out this awesome promotional video for Downtown Long Beach.