By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
A quiet “remodeling project” has been underway in downtown Cheney, but it's one that has not required city permits, nor truckloads of building materials.
The enterprise is the re-branding of the former Pathways to Progress organization that will now be known as the Historic Downtown Cheney Partnership.
The curtain will officially be raised on the newly titled economic engine next Wednesday, March 18 in an open house at the organization's office, which is about the only thing that doesn't change. The open house will have refreshments and members will be given T-shirts with the new logo. The board will also be present to meet and greet.
According to Spencer Grainger, interim executive director of the group, discussions began in July 2008 on what he called “re-branding” and determining how Pathways could better serve the downtown businesses that support it. “That is our purpose, our mission,” Grainger said.
“On the 18th we're basically reintroducing ourselves to the community,” Grainger said. “A lot of people think they know what Pathways to Progress is, but they don't.”
Pathways to Progress had been in existence for 10 years and was formed as a partnership between the city, Eastern Washington University and the downtown business owners. Its 15-member board of directors was equally divided between the sponsoring entities.
Over time, the large board became somewhat hard to manage so it was determined to eventually reduce the number to nine. “By decreasing the size of the board, what we've done is basically make those positions a little more powerful,” Grainger said. “A smaller board is able to make quicker decisions,” he said.
The goal is to have a nine-person board plus two ex-officio positions, one from the university and one from the city of Cheney.
Reorganizing the board was a first step. “The second was focusing on developing committees and be community-based,” Grainger said. That included the new name.
“We kind of came to the conclusion that the name, Pathways to Progress, doesn't necessarily lead one to believe we're a downtown organization,” Grainger said. “The name should reflect what you are doing, what you are. A name like Pathways to Progress doesn't necessarily reflect our mission,” he said.
Grainger's background is one coming from neighborhood organizations – business district organizations – and they're all named after a community. He said, “Most downtown organizations across the country are named, downtown, whatever.”
“We're taking baby steps here. I didn't want to blow everyone away,” Grainger said. He's been part of the organization since he served as an intern starting in 2001. In 2008 he replaced the retiring Charlie Dotson who had served as the executive director.
The redesigned logo will have an iconic image of a downtown Cheney building. “We want it to consistently reinforce our focus here as serving the downtown community,” Grainger said.
Grainger said that the recent development of The Grove apartments near downtown has increased the student population in downtown. “We've seen, literally hundreds of more students walking down the streets,” said Grainger, who received his undergraduate degree in planning and a masters in public administration from EWU.
A new website, http://www.downtowncheney.org, replaces the old Pathways site. The website's focus is on marketing downtown. Membership in the organization averages about 60 per year, Grainger said. Cost of a regular membership is $30.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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