Cathy Glasgow

Butler Downtown Wednesday night officially kicked off its capital campaign with the goal of raising $500,000 to fund Butler’s Main Street program for years to come.

Butler Downtown’s annual meeting also included a review of the organization’s accomplishments in the past year, announcement of its goals for 2012 and the presentations of awards.

The meeting was in the ballroom of Cornerstone Commons on South Main Street.

Representatives from each of the group’s four committees — design, organization, promotions and economic restructuring — talked about plans for 2012.

OrganizationCathy Glasgow, owner of Butler County Ford and Butler Downtown’s 2011 chairwoman, announced the Butler Has it All Special Gift Campaign, which seeks to raise $500,000 over three years.Glasgow said it already has received about $100,000 in pledges.State grants have funded Butler Downtown since 2008-09 and will continue to do so through 2012-13.That annual state funding is about $70,000, with $40,000 for operations, mostly for the Main Street manager’s salary and benefits, and $30,000 for facade improvements.In 2013, Butler Downtown will receive a closeout grant of about $65,000 to help wean the program off state funding. After that there no other state grants for administrative costs, but grants for facade work still will be available.

Economic restructuringThomas Graham, owner of Frames and Pixels, and a Butler Downtown board member, said the economic restructuring committee’s greatest success in 2011 was getting a grant to revitalize downtown buildings.The city can loan the money out and, when the money is repaid, it can be loaned out over and over.Economic restructuring also operates four subcommittees. One of those, the business privilege tax subcommittee, is seeking to find ways to reduce the city’s 7-mill business privilege tax, the highest in the state.“We are trying to find, right now, additional revenue streams to lower the burden on existing businesses, as well as make Butler a more attractive option for prospective businesses,” Graham said.

PromotionsThe promotions committee had numerous successes this year, including two Centre City Summer Jam free concerts, walking and trolley tours of downtown, and Butler Downtown’s Facebook page and website.The committee’s biggest success was the Bantam Jeep Community Art Project, which promoted the Bantam Jeep Festival in August.That had businesses and groups buy wooden Jeep cutouts and decorate them.“You saw the Jeepification of Butler, and you will see it again in the coming year,” said Chelynne Curci, a Butler Downtown board member.In 2012, Butler Downtown hopes to implement a shop local campaign. A wine tour through downtown also is proposed.The group plans to breathe new life into former Mayor Rick Schontz Sr.’s “Butler Has it All” slogan with such projects as a video contest to show that Butler truly does have it all.Finally, Butler Downtown will partner with the Butler Arts Council to put on the annual Ring in the Arts! celebration for this New Year’s Eve.

Design“Planning and design in the downtown is multifaceted,” said Steve Newcaster from Burt Hill, a Butler Downtown board member.“We have done, I believe, six facade projects, possibly eight.”He said the focus for the group’s $30,000 in facade grant funds for 2012 is a building canopy program.The new canopies could even be put on existing frames of awnings formerly on buildings.“In order for this to work to everyone’s benefit, though, it would have to be placed as one order,” Newcaster said of buying new canopies.Newcaster also said the design committee plans to continue with the projects which have made it successful in the past, including the addition of a pedestrian group to complement the Friday evening bicycle rides through downtown.The signage program, led by Jill Kraus and the city’s Shade Tree Commission, will continue to work to reduce sign clutter.Newcaster said the design committee is doing a survey asking building owners “What is your second floor doing for you?”The point is to find uses for empty spaces above the first floors of buildings.A new subcommittee for design in 2012 is the mural task force, headed by Butler Downtown board member Eileen Stroup of Titus Networking.“We want to identify mural opportunities in Butler city with private individuals who might want something on their building,” she said.She cited as an example the building at the corner of McKean and Jefferson streets, whose owner has been contacted by Butler Downtown about repainting the classic Coca-Cola mural on its side.“It’s really cool history to bring back some of that,” Stroup said.She said Butler Downtown also is talking to the Butler Area Sewer Authority about painting its new overflow tanks in the city.“Let’s decorate it so it fits where it is,” Stroup said.At the meeting, she had artist renderings of one such holding tank painted with an aquarium scene, another decorated with images of old photographs of landmarks, and another with a forest scene.“(Butler) has people that could do it,” Stroup said.Also at the meeting, Butler Downtown presented these awards:• Business Person of the Year — Joe Gray• Beautification Award — Step Back in Time• People’s Choice Jeep Sculpture — Butler Bureau of Fire• Downtown Defender, Volunteer of the Year — Doug Green