PROJECT MAIN STREET
REMARKS OF COMMISSIONER COREY D. O’BRIEN
Candidate for U.S. Congress
Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District

January 7, 2010

Good morning and thank you all for joining me here today.  I’m here to announce my plan for “Project Main Street,” my plan to revitalize Main Streets throughout the district, to restore the centers of our communities and to revitalize our local economies.   It’s time that we shift our focus—our time, our money and our attention.  It’s time to STOP supporting Wall Street and START rebuilding Main Street.

I announced my candidacy for the United States Congress on October 3, and I pledged over 3 months ago that I would listen to the people of this District.  Since that first 30-hour bus tour, I have knocked on over 2,500 doors throughout our region.  I have heard from union members who are out of work; from people who are unable to afford health care for themselves and their children; and from parents concerned about their children’s education. 

And over and over again, the people whom I’ve met have told me about their strong desire for new leadership and this district’s need for change.

Not just change, but change with a purpose.

Not just leadership, but leadership with a vision.

And not just my vision for the future of our communities – but our vision.

This past December, President Obama proposed a jobs program, and he asked for ideas on how we can create jobs in our communities.  I stand here today to answer that call, and am proud to present the first component of my Plan for Progress:  PROJECT MAIN STREET.

I am standing here today on Main Street – once the social and economic epicenter of our communities.  But since the decline of coal, our Main Streets have been neglected.  Jobs have been lost.  And our hopes have been dashed. 

It’s time that we find a new sense of hope and optimism for our communities.

Project Main Street is a new revitalization and jobs creation program that will fund the rebirth of Main Streets across our region and the nation.  Project Main Street is designed to reward existing small businesses, create temporary and permanent family-sustaining jobs, improve aging infrastructure, and restore pride in our communities.

It will start by replacing aging infrastructure with state-of-the-art transportation and technology infrastructures.

We will bury unsightly power, telephone, and cable lines under new sidewalks;

Slow traffic with new traffic and parking patterns;

Replace outdated lighting systems with energy-efficient, period lighting;

Widen sidewalks for smoother pedestrian flow and improved access;

And renovate small business façades as a symbol of our region’s rebirth and the restoration of our cultural heritage.

And we will bring our communities back together.   Back to Main Street.

The Project Main Street initiative will provide a foundation for economic prosperity by coordinating our short term needs with our long-term vision for our communities.  Not only will we create short term construction jobs to get people back to work quickly, but we will reward our small businesses and provide them with opportunities for long-term growth and expansion, creating long-term, sustainable jobs.  I believe that creating these types of family-sustaining jobs is absolutely essential to our economic recovery, both as a region, and as a country.

But Project Main Street is about more than just job creation – it’s about community pride.

By bringing communities together throughout the 11th Congressional District of Pennsylvania and across America, we can work to reverse the decline of our Main Streets and restore pride in our communities.  By reinvesting in ourselves –the hearts of our communities—we can foster a pride of place.  Not only of where we are from, but who we are as citizens, invested in the successful development and growth of our home towns.

I am proud to present you with Project Main Street, and my vision for its implementation. And, I ask for you to join with me in celebrating our communities.  Together we can ensure that a vibrant, new Main Street is just around the corner.

The economic challenges that we face may get worse before they get better.  But they will get better.

By shifting our priorities from rewarding corporate greed on Wall Street to renewing and reenergizing our Main Streets, our country will be stronger than ever.

My name is Corey O’Brien, and I’m running for the United States Congress because I believe we can usher in a new era of confidence, trust and possibility.

Thank you for your time, and I would greatly appreciate your vote for United States Congress.