What's involved in Hearne's downtown improvement plan

Hearne is looking to make improvements to its downtown area, and wants the community to get involved.

• The city of Hearne held a public hearing about citizen participation in the downtown plan on June 27th.
• The city manager, Alonzo Echavarria wants to start adding new businesses to the downtown area and get the city back to its prime condition.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

"This is something good for the community. The community, this is going to last for a long, long time, and it's for future generations,"Echavarria said.

City Manager Alonzo Echavarria has big plans for the future of downtown Hearne.

"Hearne is a powerhouse," Echavarria said. "It's an economic power in the county, and it's one of the main cities here in the county."

And it all starts with new businesses.

"Immediately, we're working on bringing businesses in," Alonzo said. "The Economic Development Boards and the city are working, they're collaborating to bring as many businesses as we can right now."

But that's not all.

"The short list is businesses, variety, public involvement, events and we just want to see the downtown as the main attraction," Echavarria said.

Neighbors around Robertson County tell me downtown Hearne is not what it once was.

"We do have some vacant buildings, but they're in terrible shape," Owner of Gen Rev Cycles, Dana Altimore said.

They had the opportunity to express their opinions about the downtown improvements at a recent public hearing.

Dana Altimore owns a business in downtown Hearne.

"Hearne's a great place to be," Altimore said. "I think, I think it's gonna be a greater place to be in the next three to five years."

But...

"I'd like to see it livened up. I'd like to see more greenery. I'd like to see more benches and tables and more activity, more movement, a flow of people," Dana said.

Echavarria told me that its times like this, that the community put their heads together.

"It's fascinating to see people coming together and people working for something like the downtown Hearne area, because it's not a one-man project," Echavarria said.