By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Just one short year ago, the community of Niles became a Michigan Main Street Community and during that time the city has done many things to get on the right track for change.
Throughout this week members of the resource team from Michigan Main Street are in Niles meeting with members of the community including business owners, the Chamber of Commerce, city officials and the Downtown Development Association.
On Thursday, April 21 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bell Building located at the corner of Third and Sycamore, the team will be giving a presentation of their findings to the public.
Kalogeresis and his team were able to take a walking tour of the downtown area, and were impressed with what they saw.
Kalogeresis added the hope of the team is to find out where people think the downtown area is at and where they would like to see it go.
They will then take their findings and in a month give a report back to the Downtown Development Association, which will help to steer them in the direction to take next.
Joining Kalogeresis are, Anthony Rubano, from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, he deals with the design and historic preservation issues that arise with the project.
Dan Carmody, who is from Rock Island Economic Corporation, in Rock Island, Ill. He will be helping with the economic restructuring of the area. This entails looking at new uses for different spaces and recruiting new business.
Finally Kristi Tervarrow, director of marketing and promotions for the Beer Companies in Rochester. She is helping to guide the program with their marketing and promotion of the downtown district.