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Final Report March 1997 Communities as different as Providence, Rhode Island; Schaumburg, Illinois; and Georgetown, Texas have seen the necessity of a healthy downtown to the continued health of their communities. Providence's downtown was redeveloped through the use of city-funded low-interest loans and federal community development block grants to restore old buildings. Banking on its history has brought Providence's downtown a range of commercial occupants and has made the city in the words of its Mayor "a visitor destination" (Larrabee, 1996 : 8A). Schaumburg, Illinois was a prototypical suburb and the fastest growing one of Chicago from the mid-1950's to the late 1970's and it did not have a downtown until recently. The city government of Schaumburg decided to build a downtown from scratch to keep people in the community at night, expand the tax base and enhance the sense of community for the town (Johnson, 1996). Tourism now is a top money maker for Georgetown. Hotel/motel occupancy taxes have grown substanially as an increasing number of visitors are visiting Georgetown for its recreation, historic sites, shopping, and special events. City Manager Bob Hart observed, "The core reason for the tourism growth is consistency in promotion" (Welsh, 1996: Al, A4). In the United States today, mixed-use downtowns do the best economically. Such a mixed-use downtown includes cultural activities, entertainment, government offices, housing, restaurants, retail businesses and service businesses (Hyatt Palma, 1995 : 4). To improve the vitality of our downtown and to make that improvement a community priority, the private business sector and the public government sector must work together. San Marcos Airport Our airport was the training site for most of the navigators who served in the armed forces during World War II. There are some structures remaining at our airport which were built during that great conflict: a hanger, a fire station, two barracks, and the original control tower -- all built in 1943. There are very few World War II era air base buildings left in the United States. Although we do not have many, the few we have are relatively close to each other and all but the fire station are in good condition. No matter what specific attraction was housed in our buildings, it would be advantageous for our community to renovate these buildings and specifically, for all the structures except the hanger, develop a Veteran's Park on the grounds of the remaining structures. As one example, the American Fighter Aces could use the renovated Fire Station for their offices and display areas for their airplanes. Even if it is not feasible for the American Fighter Aces to use our World War II era structures, it would be irresponsible for us not to renovate these buildings and develop a park on their grounds. The tower is structurally sound and with minor work could be made accessible to the public. With minimal expenditure, landscaping could be done to enhance and unify the location of all of the structures and unite it as a park, and thus create a new attraction. Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on Tourism Development Page 12