Creating a Sense of Place –
Hillsdale as a Case Study
Rick Seifert
Hillsdale Business & Professional
Association
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 1

Presentation Outline
The Three-Legged Stool
Three-
What’s in a name?
What s
Visioning
Planning and Visioning
Map Questing
Planting
Pl ti your flags
fl
Nurturing old institutions/creating new ones
Communicating
The Future of Place
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 2

The Three-Legged Stool
Three-
Community
Commerce
Communication
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 3

What’s in a Name?
A link to the past
A state of mind (If you think you live in
Hillsdale, you do!)
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 4

Planning and Visioning
Planning
The Hillsdale Town Center Plan
Visioning
How do we see ourselves?
Now? In the future?
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 5

Map Questing
Putting your place on the map
Boundaries
Overlaps
Topography
Transit corridors
History
Schools
Parks
Political turf
Finding your center
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 6

Planting Your Flags
Themes (historical and others)
Logos
Mottos – “Hillsdale Has It!”
Sign caps
Gateway signs
yg
Historic signs
Opportunity signs
pp yg
(The Watershed)
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 7

Nurturing and Creating Institutions − 1
Library
Schools and PTAs
Community-
Community-oriented and supportive
businesses and business associations
Anchor stores
Cooperatives (Food Front)
Shopping and commercial centers
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 8

Nurturing and Creating Institutions − 2
Trails (You call them sidewalks)
( )
Emergency teams
Farmers Markets
Hillsdale Votes!
Scrip (Hazzits)
(Hazzits)
Alternative energy (Rieke solar)
(Rieke
Landmarks − natural and created
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 9

Communicating − 1
Creating your own media
Three newspapers, two
newspapers
online sites, list servers
The civic (and civil) conversation –
associations, book clubs and farmers markets
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Communicating − 2
Civic Celebrations and Civic Pride −
parades, walks, pancake breakfasts,
d lk k b kf t
athletics and chili feeds
Inter-
Inter-institutional communication
The Hillsdale Alliance
Hillsdale News
Used books as a source of revenue
Hillsdale Community Foundation
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 11

The Future of Place
The renaissance of community and local
economies
The self-reliant community
self-
The happiness factor
Energy conservation
Transit solutions
T it l ti
Politics is local, and getting more so all the time
It’s the community, neighbor
I’ h i i hb
APNBA Business District Association Conference – June, 2008 12