Lexington, Arlington, And Bedford Jointly Receive Local Rapid Recovery Planning Grant

Press release from the Town of Lexington:

March 8, 2021

In partnership with the towns of Bedford and Arlington, Lexington was recently awarded a Local Rapid Recovery Planning (LRRP) grant by the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI).

The goal of the LRRP program is to give every municipality in Massachusetts the opportunity to develop plans tailored to the unique economic challenges and immediate COVID-19 impacts that have affected downtowns, town centers, and commercial areas throughout Massachusetts. To that end, Lexington has teamed up with Arlington and Bedford to leverage the traffic on the shared asset of the Minuteman Bikeway to drive more customers to their business districts as a recovery strategy from the pandemic. Arlington Heights, East Lexington, and Bedford Center will be areas of specific focus.

The project will kick off in mid-March and will include a thorough analysis and exploration of COVID-related challenges and barriers. The technical assistance is focused on developing a marketing and branding plan based on the Minuteman Bikeway for the three communities and the identified business districts, including the businesses and cultural assets in each district. It will generate an action-oriented plan to help the towns develop immediate strategies for short-term recovery and conclude with a set of projects and strategies necessary to address COVID-19 recovery needs. The towns will be working with Finepoint Associates to develop the plan.

The plan will provide the three communities and their stakeholders with a concise road map for project-related investments that support alignment with existing public resources, as well as the potential to leverage additional resources from other partners and funders.

This press release was produced by the Town of Lexington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.