Let me begin by thanking the Chamber for inviting me here today. It is always a pleasure to get together to share ideas on how we can continue moving our community forward.

Yes we find ourselves in a struggling economy.

Been through these downturns before but this one is somewhat different.

I don't remember too many past recessions that were retroactive and none has been as severe as this one since the great depression.

All indications are that we are looking at a prolonged period of slow to no job growth and reduced state and local revenues.

WE can only hope that things will begin to improve soon.

Have we been here before?

Yes and we will probably be here again sometime in the future.

What can we do to minimize impacts to our community and its citizens?

• The Biddeford Saco Area Economic Development Corporation:
  BSAEDC administers five comprehensive financial programs to meet the diverse needs of local business. The corporation makes direct loans with state and federal funds, and works closely with all banks in the communities, as well as other local, regional, state and federal economic development organizations.
• Saco Spirit:
  Making Saco a better place to live and work by enhancing the vitality of our downtown.
  
  Projects include
  • Leading beautification efforts downtown with flowers, holiday decorations, banners and Main Street rehabilitation
  • Facilitating economic development of Saco Island, leading to a $100 million investment
  • Building of the River Walk Trail along the Saco River
  • Raising awareness of Saco's downtown merchants
  • Organizing community events such as the Sidewalk Arts Festival, Fashion Show, Pumpkin Fest and Holiday Festival

• Saco Inland project-critical to our downtown.
• Route one has now been completed skewered through the use of a TIF. Route 1 is ready when the market begins to grow again.
• Recent TIF on North St to help a local financial institution deal with state mandated road improvements.

• Enable projects to occur that may not have succeeded without some local financial support.
• Shelters the community from impacts in the school funding and county tax that come with increased city valuations.

• B4 on Saco Island enables a wide variety of uses with minimal restriction. Tailored to meet the Island needs without losing community control over impacts o B5 district in Camp Ellis again recognizes the unique characteristics of the area and barriers that exist to further economic development. Not carte blanche just reasonable.
• B3 reduced parking requirements in the urban center recognizing parking limitations that exist in an urban core.

• Can be controversial
• Needs to be used judiciously
• Provides flexibility in dealing with properties in transition on current zoning boundaries.
• Enables recognition of unique issues without a district wide alteration.

• Train station
  • Began with property purchase and clean up. Had a vision of where we wanted to go.
  • Moved to Amtrak service and a platform.
  • have now built the greenest Amtrak train
  • Working to create a transit oriented neighborhood recognizing that our downtown can only grow if people are part of the equation.
  • The transportation hub on the Island will facilitate the eventual growth of the entire mill complex area.
• Sewered the Route One corridor- None of the growth recently witnessed on Route One would have been possible without these improvements.
• We have a fully built industrial park complex; it has direct access to the Maine Turnpike.
• We have a lease option with Grid Solar to create a local solar farm to meet peak electrical demand in a carbon friendly and economically viable method.
• We are completing our downtown project that will create a unified vision of our Main St. from the tracks to the intersection of Route 1. I dare say that our Main St is one of the most attractive and vibrant in all of Maine.

• No municipal tax increase in the last two years.

• Results have been positive and reveal an increase in overall satisfaction.

• Anticipate
• Plan.
• Execute.

• 1998 purchased property
• Early 2009 prepared extensive plans for new station
• Submitted application for stimulus funds. Local match in hand

• Bond for current project now, which will enable us to:
• Take advantage of reduced construction cost savings $380.000
• Avoid winter construction cost Savings $100,000
• Take advantage of favorable bond interest rates Savings $150,000
• Effectively use funds expended to date $70,000.
• otal savings by taking action now $700,000

• Anticipated in 1998
• Planned through 2008
• Execute in 2009

It takes a great staff and council commitment to make this a reality.

Question is how will we weather this storm?

Take a walk down our Main Street and you will find energetic and committed small business owners who are daily taking risk and working hard to help make our downtown one that meets the needs of our residents by providing us with access to great products or services, at reasonable prices from people who care about their community. Having had the opportunity to meet several of them I can only say WOW. I am in awe of their willingness to risk it all to make it happen.

Ultimately, our success will depend on how much we believe in ourselves, how willing we are to work together, share ideas, and recognize that no one of us has all of the answers, and that we can agree to disagree and yet work together in the common goal of making Saco a better community for those who will come after us.

Thank you,
Mayor Roland Michaud
City of Saco