Category Archives: Economic Development

Last month, the NDDC conducted its annual planning session for the 2011 Work Plan.  As is the organization’s general approach, the group included board members, committee members, and other downtown stakeholders; we’ve been “crowd-sourcing” community economic development for ten years. About three dozen people participated in at least part of the session.  A good timeContinue reading “NDDC Conducts Annual Planning for 2011”

As regular readers of the NDDC blog are aware, commercial property taxes are a big issue for the downtown.  Since 2000, these taxes have increased approximately 30% each year.  In fact, ever-increasing commercial property taxes threaten the economic vitality of Northfield’s business community.

Every September, Northfield welcomes 5,000 college students to town.  Many are returning to a familiar place, however, about 1,200 of these college students are new to Northfield.

I was recently asked how long the NDDC had been running the “Be Local” campaign and, futhermore, how long we’d been doing some kind of “Shop Local” theme.  Well, the first question was easy, we’ve been doing the “Be Local” ads for about two years, they came out of last year’s Abby Erickson and AllyContinue reading “Shop Local, Be Local, Love Local…You Get the Idea”

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on one result of the U of M Extension Service’s MAP work, the “Top Ten Reasons to Make It a Weekend in Northfield“.  I hinted that there was more to come. The so-called “Doughnut Group” had another meeting, this time over muffins.  Hayes Scriven of the Historical Society,Continue reading “Draft of a New Idea”