FERRIDAY — One of the ways Ferriday can revitalize its historic district is to cure “broken window syndrome,” Louisiana Coordinator for Certified Local Governments Valarie Gaumont said.

“People see a broken window, and they think that if there is one broken, then it is OK to break others,” she said. “By fixing things you show that this place is cared about.”

Gaumont was the featured speaker at the Ferriday Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting Tuesday, and her presentation focused on certified local governments and historic preservation.

Even without tourism considerations, historic preservation can help boost the local economy, she said.

That’s because when construction is geared to rehabilitating an existing structure, 60 to 70 percent of the cost goes to labor and only 30 to 40 percent goes to materials, ultimately saving money, she said.

“You can save money because you’re not buying 18 doors, you’re buying two,” she said.

Conversely, new construction costs generally runs at 50 percent labor and 50 percent new materials.

It is also better for the local economy because with rehabilitation construction purchases are usually made locally, whereas Gaumont said with new construction much of that money may go out of town.

And that rehabilitation construction can be turned into a tourism opportunity.

Most people who fall under the umbrella of cultural tourists — those interested in the local history of a given area, or in overarching historic themes, like civil war battlefields — tend to take more trips and spend more money than other tourists, Gaumont said.

And when they go to a new area, cultural tourists want to buy memorabilia, she said.

“They’re not coming here to go to your Home Depot or Walmart,” she said.

But Gaumont said even those who aren’t cultural tourists — a total of 80 percent of travelers — include at least one cultural heritage stop during a trip.

“Maybe they’re just getting out of the house because the kids are a little rambunctious and grandma can’t take it, and they do a house museum tour,” she said.

Because Ferriday is already a certified local government, it is open to grant opportunities and technical training to develop its historic district.

In fact, the town is required to have someone attend some technical training every year to remain a certified local government, and there is some basic training that the people associated with the Ferriday group need to do, Gaumont said.

“All of our trainings are open to anyone in the community,” she said. “There’s no reason you can’t learn how to make your community better now.”

One thing different this year is that, even though Ferriday is a certified local government, it won’t be able to apply for the Main Street program.

That’s because the state isn’t accepting any new communities into the program this year due to budget cuts, Gaumont said.

In the interim, however, the town can coordinate its downtown and historic district revitalization programs.

The town has three different groups working on downtown revitalization, Mayor Glen McGlothin said.

“We want to meld them all together and get them all on the same page,” he said.

“I know we are doing it wrong, but we don’t know how we are doing it wrong.”

When McGlothin asked if it would possible for the three groups to organize a meeting with Gaumont, she said she saw no problem with it.

Ferriday became a certified local government in 2008.