Linden: The 2019 year in review

We have so much to be proud of from this last year in downtown Linden! We used to think of ourselves as a town in decline. That perception has been turned on its head in the last couple of years.

We have an incredible group of small business owners – some that have just joined the fold and others who have been hard at work keeping our downtown alive for decades – who have taken a leap of faith and put in the hours, blood, sweat, and tears to get their businesses off the ground. And our community consistently shows our love for local businesses by supporting our neighbors and shopping Linden first.

We’ve also had several downtown property owners make big investments in their buildings this year, not to help their bottom line, but to help reinvigorate the downtown and preserve these historic buildings for generations to come. I’m so thankful to Main Street’s partner organizations who help keep things moving forward for our district – from the EDC’s funding of the Façade Improvement Grant Program to the Chamber’s events and marketing and the Linden Heritage Foundation’s leadership in raising the funds to light the historic water tower.

Linden Pride came back this year and has been so helpful in keeping our downtown and park looking beautiful, our library staff and volunteers have gotten our new library up and running, and of course, our friends at Music City Texas Theater continue to bring world-class musicians and their fans to Linden. We are so blessed to have so many non-profit groups in this town working to keep our town the special place that we love to call home. Most importantly, Linden runs on volunteerism and I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to the Linden Main Street board and committee members, some now in their fourth year of service to our program, for their dedication and enthusiasm!

We have built such a special team that makes the work we do not only rewarding but fun! Some of our board members recently completed their terms on the LMS Advisory Board and we are now in the process of recruiting new members to fill those empty spots, so if you would like to be a part of the changes taking place in the downtown, join us! It is such a fun group of hardworking people and we are always looking for new ideas and fresh perspectives.

In the coming year, we are planning more physical improvements in the Main Street district, including some fun public art projects that we can’t wait to tackle! 2020 will also mark the 50th anniversary of Wildflower Trails and all three of the festival towns are already meeting and getting plans underway (though more help and ideas are always appreciated! Call me at City Hall if you’d like to volunteer with the festival!).

Now that I also serve as Community Development Director for the City, I’m looking outside of the downtown at some bigger projects in the works. Now that the core of our town has turned a corner, we are seeing growth throughout the rest of the community as well and our priorities are realigning as a result. We’ve been doing a lot more research into what it takes to build a safe, walkable, affordable, fiscally sustainable city and are excited about some of the ideas we’ve come across.

My top priority with the Community Development department is to work on quality of life improvements and economic stability without the gentrification that so often pushes lower-income families out of the communities that they have lived in for generations. We don’t need gimmicks to bring about growth and stability for our town – we just need to make smart decisions about incremental, sustainable growth that ensures equal opportunity for all Lindenites. With that in mind, we’ll be looking into programs to increase walkability and pedestrian safety, as well as encourage infill development and “missing middle” housing.

If you want to know more about our guiding principles, I encourage you to check out the Congress for the New Urbanism at cnu.org and Strong Towns at strongtowns.org. These have been great resources for us at City Hall and we’re excited about the information we’ve gotten from them. We’re looking ahead to a very bright 2020 and hope that you’ll continue to be a part of the process of improving our city and make your voice heard.