Recommendations

When I began this project, I decided to examine the Main Street Program in Hillsboro from an economic perspective rather than from a social perspective.  I realized that many of the cities that had successful downtown redevelopment programs used incentive programs to attract businesses to that area, which brought people back. In one of my earlier post, I mentioned a conversation that I had with a resident who mentioned that downtown Hillsboro began to decline when the major manufacturing facility closed.  After that conversation I concluded that I would make recommendations that were geared towards increasing the image and visibility of the city.  My recommendations for the city of Hillsboro are listed below.



1. Develop and create a community website that includes information related to tourism, community events and highlights the city as a prime destination.
 -Refer to post Community Visibility and Community Marketing Campaign.

2. Develop a separate website for the Hillsboro Economic Development department, I found that it was hard to locate information regarding the business park. I also noticed that on snavi.com; most of the other cities marketed their economic development corporations and their areas initiatives through these sites.
-Refer to post Attracting Business

                                       Here is an example of Lubbock's Business Park website

http://www.lubbockeda.org/recruitment_business_park.php

Develop a “brand” for the business park. For example, the park could be renamed to reflect the area such as the Crosspoint Business Park. I would also suggest that a marketing campaign be developed that promotes both the business park and city as a  place that’s open for business.
-See example below

Sample Billboard 

Here is an example of a branded business park website

http://www.txi.com/TXI-real-estate/railport

Example of sign for entrance into business park

3. Develop a downtown education center. I had conversations with a few former Hill College students that stated they left Hillsboro due to the lack of an upper level academic institution. After a visit to Hill Colleges’ website I found that they offered partnerships with 8 universities, but non offered classes in Hillsboro.  I feel that this will create an opportunity for Hillsboro to attract people to downtown and provide an opportunity for the creation new programs to train or retrain the areas workforce.
-Refer to post Education on the Square

Example University Center Elevation

4. Continue with the enhancement of the downtown streetscape by adding benches, planters and improving access to the businesses located within the district. I also feel that there should be design standards developed for signage, awnings and landscape. The intent would be to create a standard image and uniform streetscape.

-Images of the existing streetscape improvements