Editing Lewiston, Maine (section)

===Economic diversification and renaissance===
After a difficult economic period in the 1980s that saw high unemployment and downtown stagnation, several key events have led to economic and cultural growth, including the transformation of the historic [[Bates Mill|Bates Mill Complex]]. Because the city took over the complex in 1992 after back taxes went unpaid, years of taxpayer frustration in the city's need to maintain the {{convert|1.1|e6sqft|m2|adj=on}} behemoth led to two referendums (one non-binding vote, the other binding). Voters soundly supported the need to pursue redevelopment by maintaining the property and selling it to private developers. In 2001, the city sold three mill buildings to local developers. In 2003, Platz Associates sold the Bates Mill Complex, with the exception of Mill 5 and a small support building. For the next four years, a number of business enterprises expanded after Platz redeveloped the mill building.<ref name="ci.lewiston.me.us"/> The Bates Mill complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2010.

[[File:Lewiston Civil War Statue.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue in Kennedy Park, Lewiston, commemorating fallen soldiers in the Civil War]]

In May 2004, the city officials announced a plan for [[urban renewal]] near the downtown area. The plan was to demolish several blocks of 19th-century millworker housing, lay new streets with updated infrastructure, construct more owner-occupied, lower-density housing, and build a boulevard through one neighborhood using federal [[Community Development Block Grant]] funds provided over a period of ten years. Some residents of the affected neighborhoods felt that the plan was initially announced with little input from them. They formed a neighborhood group called "The Visible Community", which has since been actively involved in the planning process, and resulted in cooperation between neighbors and city officials to redesign [[Kennedy Park (Lewiston, Maine)|Kennedy Park]], including input on the location of new basketball courts, and feedback regarding creation of the largest all-concrete skate park in Maine.<ref name="Voyer2013">{{cite book|last=Voyer|first=Andrea M.|title=Strangers and Neighbors: Multiculturalism, Conflict, and Community in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQf3AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA155|access-date=November 19, 2014|date=October 21, 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107657748|pages=155–}}</ref>

Downtown is home to a new headquarters for Oxford Networks, along with a $20-million upgrade in local fiber-optics, a new auto parts store, a campus of the for-profit [[Kaplan University]], the headquarters for [[Northeast Bank]], a parking garage, and the newly renovated [[Maine Supply Company Building|Maine Supply Co. building]], listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. That facility is now called the Business Service Center at [[Key Bank]] Plaza, and is home to the local [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, and an arrangement with a number of business service providers.

The area's renaissance has gained local, regional, and national recognition. In 2002 and again in 2006, the L-A area led the state in economic development activity, according to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development's list of business investments and expansions. In a 2006 [[KPMG International]] study measuring the cost of locating and maintaining a business, Lewiston ranked first among the New England communities analyzed, and finished 24th out of 49 U.S. communities analyzed.

Lewiston earned a 2007 [[All-America City Award]] designation by the [[National Civic League]]. The national competition "recognizes communities whose residents work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve measurable, uncommon results." 10 cities are selected as All-America Cities each year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laitshappeninghere.com/?p=362|title=LEWISTON NAMED ALL-AMERICA CITY|publisher=Lewiston Auburn Maine It's Happening Here!|access-date=November 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129031819/http://laitshappeninghere.com/?p=362|archive-date=November 29, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>