RegionalBusiness

Talent comes home to NanticokeYouthful resident with real-world revitalization experience wants to apply what he's learned to reviving Nanticoke

BY PHIL YACUBOSKIPublished: December 2010Page 20

Where some people see a lack of opportunity, others see the opportunity to make one. Call it "looking at the glass half full," 26-year-old Frank Knorek is out to change his hometown of Nanticoke to make it more livable and friendlier to business.

"I've seen too many people leave," said Knorek, who is in the process of trying to convince the city to develop a Main Street program to revitalize its downtown. "I've been personally affected by the lack of opportunity here and I see that as an opportunity to change that," he said.

Knorek become interested in downtown revitalization projects as an undergrad student at Wilkes University. He eventually did two college internships that led to a thesis about the very topic. He landed a job working with an economic development firm that oversaw a project in York. It was there that he learned about urban planning, streetscape projects and how to work with people from different backgrounds to pursue common goals.

He also considers himself a prime stakeholder because his family's insurance business has operated in Nanticoke for decades and he, himself wants to continue to call Nanticoke home.

Seeing the opportunity that he often talked about, Knorek wanted to build off Luzerne County Community College's commitment to bringing a health sciences program and culinary arts center to the downtown. With added foot traffic, Knorek thought this was the perfect opportunity to bring what he learned elsewhere back to benefit his hometown.

In finding his way around downtown revitalization projects, Knorek said there are several ways to do a functional project. He said the downtown business owners could get together and opt to pay a tax to fund projects (Wilkes-Barre currently uses this system), volunteer to do the promotion themselves, or to create a Main Street program that would entail creating a nonprofit and obtaining state funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development (DCED).

"I've found a gap in the project between a functional revitalization and the ongoing physical revitalization," said Knorek. "I felt the plan was lacking in promoting the downtown. There just wasn't a mechanism in place like a Main Street program or a nonprofit like the Diamond City Partnership or Plymouth Alive. I felt the business owners were really being shortchanged and all they were focused on was in brining LCCC downtown," he said.

Knorek said regardless of which plan of action anyone decides to take, there are certain things that have to be done.

"It does have to look like a place you'd want to invent in and a place you would want to go visit," said Knorek. "It has to be cleaned up, that's the first step."

Another big key is attracting businesses that can attract younger people who will be using the LCCC classroom space and a predominately older demographic that calls Nanticoke home.

"They just drive through the city on their way to work, they are not really promoting or using any of the businesses, " he said. "There's such a market for a younger demographic with college students coming downtown."

So far Knorek has met with government leaders and Gerald Hudak Sr., head of the South Valley Chamber of Commerce. "We're supportive of attempting something, " said Hudak. "I think it's an ambitious plan."

Hudak said Nanticoke needs a few new buildings and more "game players" in whatever they decide to do.

"The downtown really doesn't have too much in it right now and when LCCC is fully up and running in the downtown, that's going to be quite the impetus, but we still need a bit if an infrastructure to introduce small businesses into town, " he said.

Hudak said with the LCCC venture very near, he's been working to bring a few mom-and-pop type businesses to the downtown.

"Businesses that are able to make a great presentation to the public and attract the public so we can get walking traffic on the sidewalks," Hudak said. "I think that's the key to the whole thing."

Regardless of what is decided, Knorek thinks a mix of several might be the best. "I think a hybrid would work best, " he said and has yet to receive a response from the City of Nanticoke regarding his ideas or plan. "The Main Street Business Association would start out as a volunteer approach, but as time goes on, people would see it as a viable option." "The biggest barrier is politics," said Knorek. "Once you get past the politics and get people on board and get programs together, hopefully the politics subside."

Frank Knorek landed a job working with an economic development firm that oversaw a project in York. It was there that he learned about urban planning, streetscape projects and how to work with

people from different backgrounds to pursue common goals.