A new roof and a fresh coat of paint for this business. A colorful exterior mural at a focal intersection. Replacement windows and an awning on that building. A strategic plan for business tax incentives. Intersection and traffic sign improvements throughout.

Bit by bit, a 50-block corridor in Butler's historic city center is showing signs of new vitality, part and parcel of the Main Street initiative by the nonprofit group Butler Downtown.

Main Street Manager Becky Smith, who was hired as the group's only employee in August 2008, can point to a series of "small but significant" accomplishments in 2009 -- Butler Downtown's first full year in business since the state certified its Main Street program, which earned it start-up funds of $5,000 in 2008 and a full allocation of $80,000 in 2009. The funding is through the state Department of Community and Economic Development and the project was approved for five years, with funding decreasing in about $5,000 increments beginning in the third year.

Butler Downtown was birthed through a joint effort of city government and the Butler County Chamber of Commerce in 2006. "It was a grass-roots effort," Ms. Smith said. Nonprofit status was attained in 2007, the same year the group won state acceptance of its Main Street project. The state's Main Street program is aimed at revitalizing city centers that have suffered from business flight to suburban malls and plazas.

Ms. Smith provided an update on the successes of Butler Downtown at the group's annual meeting Tuesday evening, attended by about 70 people. It was held at the Butler Grand Ballroom at Cornerstone Commons at the corner of Main and Cunningham streets.

One committee among the group's 50 volunteers has researched a tax incentive program that would encourage development in a portion of downtown Butler. She expects proposals to be made to taxing entities in the coming weeks.

Among the accomplishments this year was the investment of $41,143,500 in the 50-block Main Street corridor, which encompasses about 300 businesses. The corridor is bordered by Penn Street to the north, McKean Street to the east, Wayne Street to the south, and Washington Street to the west.

Of the $41.1 million, $40 million includes the value of the county's new prison. The balance is constituted by a mix of intersection improvements and general building renovation work, such as new roofs and painting.

The Main Street program funded a portion of two building renovations. One is a $27,000 facade improvement by Vince Tavolario, owner of Natili's Restaurant. He's working on opening a pizza shop at 200 N. Main St., next to his restaurant on the north end of town. There also is a $20,400 project to replace windows and add a new canopied awning at the Cornerstone Commons building at 201 S. Main St., owned by Joseph Gray.

Other initiatives include securing an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to clean up and replace some traffic signs in the corridor; a downtown street cleanup in October as Make a Difference Day; and the painting of a mural at the corner of Wayne Street and Main Street titled "Dreaming About Inventions," an artistic interpretation of the transportation history of Butler.

While the Main Street corridor has undergone sprucing up in the past year and plans are under way to stimulate the business core with tax incentives, the Butler Downtown group also worked to bring in more visitors. On one Sunday a month from May to October, walking and trolley tours were offered. "This is definitely something we want to do in 2010," Ms. Smith said.

Butler Downtown envisions great strides in rebuilding the county's core, she said: "Lots of small steps. That's how we'll get where we're going."

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