The Town of Ashland City Revitalization Steering Committee members, John Borum, Sandy Cannon, and Lisa Walker (Lara Jarrell absent), met October 25 to discuss the progress of the Tennessee Downtowns Grant awarded to the Town of Ashland City. The purposes of the grant are to revitalize the town center, improve or restore building facades, build a positive image, attract residents downtown more often, draw more tourism, recruit new business and industry, encourage special events, and to promote the Town of Ashland City historic central zone. Revitalization of older and historic commercial districts takes time. "Anything we can do to bring attention to the downtown area will help," Steering Committee Chair Sandy Cannon said. Decorative banners will be installed to liven up Main Street for an immediate visual element. Several local businesses and property owners completed the application for facade improvements. Once the paperwork is approved and finalized, these improvements should be finished by the Spring of 2018. Tennessee Downtowns is an affiliated program of Tennessee Main Street designed to help communities embark on a comprehensive revitalization effort for their downtown.
