Community Development, Plainville, KS Style

Chuck Comeau is the kind of entrepreneur every small community or every community that's rebuilding should have as a resident citizen. I found out about Mr. Comeau and his efforts to keep alive his hometown of Plainville, KS after reading the Kansas City Start a couple weekends ago. (No link as the paper requires a paid subscription for their archives this old).

By himself here's a few things he's done for his home town:

Co-owner and founder of DessinFournir Companies. 

He started this company in LA. Then moved it to Plainville after sending friends to California for months to train in the art of finishing nickel and brass.

Oprah, Bill Gates and Elton John have purchased pieces from this firm. House and Garden magazine name Comeau a "New Tastemaker", one of 50 individuals to watch nationwide in the design industry.

As founder of the Liberty Group, he: 

renovated 10 buildings now open for business in downtown Hays, KS  20-some miles away from Plainville.  The 10 businesses range from a brewpub he co-owns to a coffeehouse to a baby and children's store to a jewelry store.

finances from his own pocket some of the downtown revitalization projects.

As a result:

Nex-tech, an ISP located 30 miles away in Lenora, KS is moving 30 employees to downtown Hays, KS.

The Hays, KS library's making major improvements.

People are shopping downtown on Friday nights. That means their spending stays in the community to help the community grow.

Mr. Comeau's vision is this:

A downtown is the center of a community, the pulse. When it dies, your town dies. I want my kids to experience something different from Wal-Mart and strip malls.

You should watch him. He's designing something more important than beautiful furniture. He's designing a model to create successful, livable, small communities.