"Supporting Aberdeen’s involvement in the North Carolina Main Street Program seems easy, but funding the program may be a little more difficult.

The Aberdeen Board of Commissioners discussed the Main Street Program during a special meeting Tuesday night.

The town is considering whether to reapply to become an active member of the Main Street Program. Aberdeen joined the program in 1990, but soon became inactive.

Town officials praised the program but are reluctant to commit to it unless they are sure they can make the monetary commitments of the minimum three-year requirement.

“I don’t see any negatives,” Mayor Pro Tem Robbie Farrell said. “It just boils down to how we are going to pay for it.”

The N.C. Main Street Program assists selected communities across the state in restoring economic vitality to their historic downtowns. Using a comprehensive downtown revitalization process developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street encourages economic development within the context of historic preservation.

The program emphasizes a four-point approach for downtown revitalization and historic preservation: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring."

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The Pilot (1/20/2012)