One of the biggest assets the city and people of Belen have, compared to other local cities and towns nearby, is it has a historic, arts and cultural district.
Even though it is still not in a mature phase, it attracts people and business from inside and outside of Belen to visit and spend their money and provide taxes for the city.
For every dollar the city invested in the program over the last nine years, we have been returning about five hard dollars, not to mention the value of thousands of volunteer hours in benefits back to the citizens. We all wish our own businesses or local investments could get anywhere near that.