The city of Butler is rightly feeling upbeat about its prospects for being accepted into the state Department of Community and Economic Development's Main Street Program.

It has gotten an acceptable grade on the revitalization planning it has accomplished to date, and now the city has been recommended for inclusion in the state program, which is geared toward improving municipal business corridors such as the one that exists here.

Buoyed by its planning successes to date, there is no reason to doubt the Butler Downtown Revitalization Committee's ability to continue moving forward. The recommendations for improvements to the planning effort offered by the Pennsylvania Downtown Center did not indicate any deficiencies that cannot be resolved.

The task of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center is to determine which municipalities meet the qualifications for entering the program, one benefit of which will be the hiring of a Main Street manager to guide the planning initiative and help the plans become reality.

Having the Main Street Program designation also will improve the city's prospects of obtaining government grants for the improvements that are envisioned.

The long-range goal is economic improvement of the city.

While it is not yet known when a decision will be made on Butler's entry into the Main Street Program, the latest developments confirm that the two-plus years spent on revitalization planning and readying the city for a decision on its application were put to good use.

Indeed, it can be said that the work that has been going on — much of it behind the scenes — has been moving in a positive direction.

Some city residents might be skeptical about what the revitalization can accomplish, with growth in suburban areas continuing to be dominant not only here but in other parts of the state.

But with the city of Butler's dual role as county seat as well as third-class city, it has a more urgent interest and need to make the Main Street corridor more vibrant, bringing it in step with improvements already made, such as the new General Richard Butler Bridge, and those on the planning boards for the next couple of years.

Judging from the Pennsylvania Downtown Center's evaluation, the city is on the right track. In the months ahead, the Downtown Revitalization Committee, while continuing to pursue its long-term objectives, should strive to meet the recommendations that emerged from that evaluation.

One of the recommendations is that the revitalization group needs additional work toward clearly defining its vision of what the city should be in the future.

But the bottom line at this point is that the planning work of the past two-plus years has not been wasted effort and has not veered from its worthy goal of striving for the things that will ensure that the downtown business corridor remains alive for many decades to come.

While it must be acknowledged that the city isn't there yet, the horizon is looking brighter.