Downtown Blackstone Inc. is a nonprofit organization established in 2007 to revitalize the Town of Blackstone's historic business district. We provide comprehensive leadership, technical assistance, and resources to local stakeholders in Blackstone. DBI is a member of the Virginia Main Street Program and the National Main Street Program.
DBi exists to strengthen the existing businesses in Historic Downtown Blackstone and we are also focused on bringing in businesses that will complement those existing businesses. We have great pride in the history and the heritage of Blackstone, Virginia. Blackstone is a small community and has a population of just under 3,600. Blackstone has the unique quality of authentic rural small town charm with the advantage of being situated only 45 miles from major population centers. Blackstone is small town living at its best. Blackstone is an excellent place to raise children and DBi is intent on making Blackstone an excellent place to invest and a fun, exciting place for pedestrians to spend their liesure time on weekends.
DBi partners with the Town of Blackstone and all the major players in the community including The Blackstone Chamber of Commerce and as many local organizations as possible. If your organization has pride in the town of Blackstone, we want to partner with you too. Check out a profile of Blackstone on the web. Air quality in Blackstone is very high and the cost of living here is 18% lower than the national average according to Sperling's list of best places. Get today's weather forecast here. DBi has added Blackstone to the National Park Service heritage travel itinerary for Virginia Main Street communities.
The mission of DBi is to work closely with local government and involve the stakeholders which includes business owners and property owners to establish a clear vision of where the town is going and define what it is becoming. Our organization attends ongoing in-depth training to acquire insight and knowledge in all areas that are relevant to its mission. Strategic planning is where the visioning takes place and we learn to think out of the box and beyond the present time. We must not limit our thinking or decisions to what is only good for the here and now or the one business or other but must focus instead on the overall longterm good of the entire downtown.
Taking a broader view is often misunderstood and can sometimes cause conflict if the vision is not a shared one that all parties buy into. This approach can sometimes mean making difficult sacrifices in the shortrun in favor of the greater good of the vision. The business community is very independent and establishing consensus on vision is like saddling and bridling a wild stallion but if we are successful in doing so, we can ride the spirited steed in a definite direction toward a definite destination of our mutually agreed upon choice and that is the goal. We are not here to run the show as much as to orchestrate it and to build consensus on its direction. DBi exists for the longterm good of the town. We are here to work with the town on developing a relevant comprehensive plan and then focusing our efforts on staying on track with the goals and directions that are laid out in that plan. Our efforts need the support of every citizen and stakeholder who wants the best for the future of Blackstone. We are all on the same team.
We follow the Four-Point Approach developed by the National Main Street Center. Activities are focused on Economic Restructuring, Design, Promotions and Organization. Leadership of DBI is provided by a volunteer Board of Directors and an active committee structure. We encourage you to get involved, and help make Blackstone's business district an attractive place to live, work & visit. Help Us Make a Difference in Downtown Blackstone- Sign up to be an Ambassador! (PDF 392K)
UPCOMING MEETING WITH MERCHANTS AND PROPERTY OWNERS (click for details)
SPOT THE COUGAR CONTEST
Be the first person to let me know where you saw the cougar! Starting May 4th, we will place the Downtown Cougar in a business in the Historic district. If you see it, just be the first to notify DBI Executive Director, Lafayette Dickens of where you saw it and win $25 in downtown bucks redeemable at any business in Historic Downtown Blackstone! It's just that simple! If nobody claims the prize one week, the money accumulates until a winner comes forth! You can contact the office of DBi by calling 292-3041. Eight winners have come forward claiming all the funds set aside for this contest. The winners can be seen by clicking the this link.
THE "HOLE" - PARKING DEBATE
The "hole", the land where two buildings burned down in the fire of March 2004, has drawn a good bit of attention in the last three months. Some citizens feel that this space should be turned into a surface parking lotin order to alleviate a "perceived" parking problem downtown. There are four proposals that have been presented to Town Council since August. DBi has researched what Virginia Main Street advises in regard to downtown parking and these documents as well as links to the proposals are all posted under the News section of the website . We hope that revitalization will be such a success that one day parking will really be a problem downtown Blackstone. Facts from a recent parking study seem to suggest that we are not there yet however because parking spaces are readily available, especially north of Elm street where the hole is located. If you can parallel park or are willing to walk a short distance, generally speaking, one can find parking downtown according to all the facts we can ascertain. There are also several practical reasons that suggest that the parking lot approach might not be the most practical solution. Ten of those reasons are presented below followed by a link below to the News page where you can get more details).
Ten Pertinent facts
1. The $40,000 used by the town to acquire its share of the "hole" was from the CDBG funds provided by DHCD.
2. The Town leases the remainder of the area from the owners of Blackstone Coffee & Bistro
3. The CDBG project had the development of the "hole" as its top priority in order to eliminate blight and once the highest and best use (erecting a building) was not feasible, DHCD agreed to fund the development of a green space that could provide an LMI (Low to Moderate Income) benefit such as reading to children or showing movies.
4.The owners of the Bistro agreed to allow the Town to lease their part of the property to develop the area into a "green space" based on the discussions the Town had with DHCD. That is when the town asked DBi to develop plans for a green space getting input from various citizens and DBi formed a committee for this purpose.
5. DHCD has appropriated $68,000 of additional grant funding (no match required) for the development of the green space.
6. Neither DHCD nor Virginia Main Street support developing the space into a parking lot due to the ramifications this would have on downtown revitalization (see links to articles below for details).
7. There are 393 parking spaces in downtown Blackstone and 270 are already north of Elm Street.
8. There is a possibility that two lots that were formerly Larry's Car Land will be made available for additional parking at no charge if needed. The owner is looking into liability issues. In other words, there may exist alternatives to address this issue that are less drastic and less expensive.
9. To put in a parking lot, the Town would forgo $68,000 and may have to repay the $40,000 used to acquire the part they bought in addition to finding the money to put in the surface lot which Mr. Palmore estimated at over $100,000 based on Richard Eaton's plan.
10. Additionally, the Town would have to purchase the part of the property now being leased from the owners of the Bistro if they want to put a parking lot on it.
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