HOUGHTON - When Houghton's city officials got their fingers on the HyettPalma marketing plan for downtown, they didn't waste time taking action.
That was in 2005. Four years later, dozens of buildings on Shelden Avenue have received facade upgrades, the city has developed an attractive and useful Web presence and, this summer, the streetscape project is falling into place.
The development took another major step when the city recently received a $20,000 grant through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
"Getting the marketing grant approved is something that the city has been working as a follow-up to (the HyettPalma)," said Dave Olsson of the Marketing Department. "The grant is to help downtown Houghton develop a marketing plan to implement over the next five years."
Now Olsson, along with Karyn Hanks, is working on the plan.
"The primary driver of the plan is to gather research data from our residents, students, business owners and tourists, then use that data, along with input from the city and its leaders, to identify the possible marketing ideas that downtown Houghton could pursue over the next one to five years, "Olsson said.
The difference between the 2005 plan and this one is in the depth of the information gathered.
"We're going to build off of the current research data (from the original plan), and ask more definitive questions about what our community wants to see happen in downtown," Hanks said.
Those questions will be available for everyone.
"Everyone in the community will have the opportunity to provide feedback using our research survey on the city of Houghton Web site (coming in August)," she said. "We want to hear from as many people as possible"
The feedback is so important there will be incentives for participation, Olsson said.
"About half of the money will be spent on research and incentives," he said. "We want to reach out to as many people as we can.
"Our goal is to survey a diverse cross section of the community that represents our population, young and old, professionals and students, families and tourists."
While none of the money will be spent directly advertising downtown, Olsson said, in the end, there will be a working plan and vision that could drive new activities to benefit the downtown for years to come.
"The goal of the plan is to help downtown Houghton better define its overall product and identify ways to increase the vibrancy and connectivity to the community," he said.
The survey, as well as details on how to get involved, will be posted on cityofhoughton.com.
Surplus Outlet presents the Humidors
The Humidors, a reggae band, will perform from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday on the 200 block of Shelden Avenue this week for the third edition of the free Downtown Shelden Avenue Concert Series.
Clelia II comes Thursday
After years of planning, the first trip by the Clelia II across the Great Lakes has begun. On Saturday, the ship left from Toronto on its week-long journey to Duluth, Minn. The ship will stop in Houghton on Thursday, with passengers spending 12 hours in the Copper Country.
On board for the voyage is Emmy Award-winning correspondent for CBS News, Bill Geist, who is giving a series of speeches on the trip. The passengers will take a tour of the Quincy Mine as their only organized activity. They will have the rest of the time to explore the area on their own.
Kayak awarded today
The downtown monthly prize drawing will take place today at Down Wind Sports for a kayak. This is the second monthly award; a grill was given away in May at The Lunch Bag.
The next drawing will be for a bike from Rhythm. All July entries slips can be dropped off there.
Construction Update
Between working with rain and old water systems, it's been a frustrating week for streetscape project superintendent Mike Momont of Bacco Construction, Inc.
"(The rain) doesn't shut us down," Momont said. "But, it is just harder to work in the mud than dry materials."
On the third block, workers pushed back the sidewalk and curb work one day, but they were able to get the curbs done Tuesday. Momont hopes they will have the entire block's curbs and sidewalks ready for the holiday weekend.
On the fourth block, they ran into a tight situation with the old water system, which has no valves from the City Center all the way to Swift's True Value. This caused water to be shut down Tuesday in a wide area for about an hour.
"With the new water main, there will be valves on each block so they can each be shut down individually," Momont said.
Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.