According to the BAMM steering committee, making downtown Butler a viable place to shop, conduct business and spend leisure time is central to the BAMM Plan.

Butler Downtown, led by Main Street manager Becky Smith and volunteers, has had numerous successes in its facade improvement program, mural project and LERTA tax incentive program, which would provide 100 percent tax forgiveness on any improvements made by downtown business owners to their buildings.

Downtown promotions, such as the downtown trolley and walking tours, as well as cleaning up Main Street on Make A Difference Day in November, also have had good community responses.

What the BAMM Plan does, Smith said, is introduce Butler Downtown's vision to neighboring communities.

"It's kind of two-ended, where there's a lot of pressure on us because we are such a priority and Butler Downtown is such a new organization," Smith said.

"But now we have four other municipalities who have seen, over the past few years, the value of a robust downtown area. That will help us raise interest outside of the immediate area and, hopefully, attract more volunteers and donors."

One tool the BAMM steering committee would like to add to Butler Downtown's repertoire is a Safe, Clean and Green program.

Such a program would focus on keeping downtown safe, well-maintained and free of snow pileups in the winter.

"We have talked to Poggemeyer Design Group (adviser to the BAMM committee) about a Safe, Clean and Green program, but as it stands right now, we don't have that committee organized," Smith said.

"The Shade Tree Commission capably handles the green part along with Butler Downtown design committee."

Smith said resident safety in the downtown area could be addressed through such a program.

From simple changes like better lighting to a community watch led by, for example, a retired police officer, she said Butler Downtown is researching possibilities.

"We are kind of perceived as lacking in the safety area, and that is of great concern to us, whether safety is a real concern or just perceived," Smith said.

"Poggemeyer has given us so many great ideas, based on other communities that have done these things. Why reinvent the wheel when there is successful precedent?"

Renovation of the Penn Theater was identified by attendees of the March 30 meeting not only as a priority in downtown Butler, but also in the region.

Smith said she encountered a 20-year-old woman at a recent job fair who fondly remembered spending time at the theater, which has been shut down since 2006.

"It's encouraging to see that young people in the region have a vested interest in the theater," Smith said.

"I see the city as such a big center for the arts and culture, and I think others would like to see that, too."

The Centre City initiative, introduced in 2007, includes a 14,400-square-foot Rite Aid drugstore, a hotel with retail shopping at the site of the parking lot at the corner of South Main and East Cunningham streets, a mini convention center with a tier parking garage at the corner of East Cunningham and South McKean streets, and apartments or condominiums at the corner of South McKean and East Jefferson streets.

Perry O'Malley, executive director of the city's redevelopment authority, has said developers are interested, but economic conditions are prohibiting progress on the plan.

He was unavailable for comment Thursday or Friday.

"The BAMM plan has really helped people realize that we need to develop the identity of the local region as a whole, and Centre City is part of that development," Smith said.

The city also is coordinating its plan to route the Butler-Freeport Community Trail through the city on its way to connect with the North Country Trail in Moraine State Park, a project outlined in the parks and recreation segment of the BAMM Plan.