What Has DCP Done So Far?

• DCP created and manages the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District, which enhances Downtown Wilkes-Barre’s economic climate by providing a safe, clean, and friendly environment for Downtown’s visitors, owners, residents, students, and employees.
• DCP created the “Clean & Green Program,” a voluntarily funded supplementary services district that paved the way for the creation of the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District. The Clean & Green Program operated from 2001 until the inception of the Business Improvement District.
• DCP created the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District Façade Grant Program, which provides grants of up to $5,000 for the rehabilitation of commercial storefronts, signage, and facades within the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District. DCP created the Façade Grant Program in order to help Downtown’s property and business owners make appropriate improvements that encourage best practices in storefront, façade, and signage design.
• DCP created a Strategic Market Development Plan – a market-based “business plan” for Downtown Wilkes-Barre, The plan, which was completed during the summer of 2003, was prepared by a team of national consultants.
• DCP organized a Downtown Design Workshop during the last months of 2003, involving two public meetings and an all-day design charrette cosponsored by the local AIA chapter. The Design Workshop generated a collection of alternative design concepts, helping the community to visualize Downtown’s potential, and to develop consensus about Downtown’s future physical form.
• DCP created the Downtown Residents Association. The DRA, which provides Downtown’s residents with a vehicle for neighborhood advocacy, has been active since September 2001. DRA’s activities have included mayoral debates; a neighborhood lighting survey; a regular speakers bureau; and annual events raising funds for downtown beautification.
• DCP and our five local college presidents created the Downtown/Collegetown Initiative, a student-led program that has involved the local college community in the downtown revitalization process. The results of a study conducted by the Dt/Ct Steering Committee and a class at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, designed to understand the local college community as a distinct market segment, were presented to the public at a 2004 public forum; those recommendations have formed the basis for initiatives like the “Party on the Square” (see below), the newly opened Barnes & Noble Joint Collegiate Bookstore, and a new Downtown Student Discount Card.
• DCP created a new Downtown event – “Party on the Square” –bringing students together from the five Wilkes-Barre area colleges and universities to Downtown each fall. With bands, contests, and giveaways, this event has grown exponentially each year since it began in 2004.
• DCP’s Downtown Residents Association, together with the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association, began new Downtown events – like the Holiday Tree Auction and the “Wingin’ it in Downtown Wilkes-Barre” chicken wing cook-off – to raise funds for Downtown beautification.
• DCP works with the local arts community to present “First Fridays,” a monthly Downtown gallery walk, including more than 15 arts venues, that has been held since 2006.
• DCP works with the Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Development Corporation to present “Third Fridays,” a monthly Downtown event that features a mixer, benefiting local charities, with food, drink, and music.. The monthly mixer has been held since the summer of 2003.
• DCP successfully fought to prevent the demolition of a number of historic commercial buildings on South Main Street. Those buildings are now being rehabilitated as part of the Northampton & Main Theater/Mixed-Use Project.
• DCP initiated work on design guidelines for Downtown Wilkes-Barre, based upon input received from the Downtown Design Workshops.
• DCP and the City created a Downtown Lighting Committee in January of 2004. The Committee was responsible for framing the discussion about new streetlights in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, determining the parameters for the multi-million dollar streetlight replacement project that ensued.