The Endicott Enquirer News from the Southern Tier

Hagerstown City Council Boosts Incentives for Living Downtown but not the Ones That Matter

The council’s decision will increase incentives from $100 to $150 per month for people who rent downtown properties.

For home buyers, the city will increase the amount of loans that it offers from $1,500 to $2,500 for homes selling at $150,000 or less. Loans will increase from $1,500 to $5,000 on homes selling from $150,001 to $250,000.

The Herald-Mail

This article appeared in the Herald Mail today and it strikes me as odd that these types of incentives are viewed as helpful for revitalizing downtown Hagerstown. As much as I like Hagerstown, what really needs to happen is to have some real business money injected into the commercial spaces that will force the continuing cleanup of streets like Potomac and Franklin. We need to see more commercial services firms move in and setup shop in the town before it can hope to expect to attract residents with the money to put into home improvements, especially with the way the economy is going. The other issue is the incredibly high property tax rate within the city itself which needs to be lowered to encourage growth.

Until the city center is cleaned up a bit and the population starts to shift towards a more middle-income demographic I don't think you are going to see much change in downtown. I would love to see more high-tech firms come to Hagerstown that don't really need to be based in a major city since much of their business is conducted over the Internet. Not only is the commercial office space cheaper but their is a workforce that is begging for these types of jobs to come to the area. Otherwise you have people like myself who are commuting 100 miles a day because finding a Manager of Information Technology job in Hagerstown is impossible. If Hagerstown can attract these firms based on the lower operating costs in the area, then we will see real growth and improvement downtown.