COMMERCIAL REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR SPRINFIELD AND SOUTH ORANGE AVENUES
Part III of an Exploratory Study to Establish a Special Improvement
District on Springfield and South Orange Avenues, Newark, NJ
Report to the Corinthian Housing Development Corporation and New Community Corporation
May 11, 1998
Phase I: Commercial Revitalization Plan (CRP) for West Side Park
Establishing a Neighborhood-Based Coalition
This section provides specific recommendations for Phase I of the CRP. The recommendations include programs that do not require a large financial commitment from merchants or an established organizational structure, but which make a contribution to building a neighborhood identity, establishing trust between neighborhood based actors, and engaging merchants in a dialogue about a merchant-led revitalization effort. This phase typically takes anywhere from three to five years to complete.
Initially, community-based organizations should take a lead role in developing and implementing the commercial revitalization plan because there is no active merchant's association or business group that is capable of taking a leadership role. The first step for community-based organizations should be to hire a merchant organizer or staff person who can initiate most of the activities recommended in Phase I. In absence of merchant leadership, community-based organizations can also serve as important intermediaries between outside funders and the business community. There are several examples where a community-based organization has acted as a conduit for money obtained from foundations and other sources that was then passed along to a "business" or an unincorporated venture (Dawson and Kreiner, 1993:25).
The research contained in Part I of this report reveals several clues about where the best opportunities for promoting an organizing and revitalization effort are located. As mentioned earlier, merchants who plan to expand or who would recommend starting a business in the neighborhood to a relative or friend are the types of people who may be the quickest to realize the benefits of collective action. Geographically, a good starting point would be the commercial node along South Orange Avenue, which comprises the seven blocks between Littleton and 12th Streets. This area contains a relatively compact cluster of 46 businesses and 15 housing structures, with only four vacant buildings and one vacant lot. The area also coincides with one of three concentrations of transit accessibility. In general, South Orange Avenue is more suited toward pedestrian-oriented traffic. In contrast, Springfield Avenue is wider, has fewer traffic lights and as a result, seems to attract higher speed and more car-oriented activities than South Orange.
Part II of this report identifies possible funding sources that could be utilized during Phase I. Some additional ideas about funding are also included in the description of specific activities below.
Hire an Organizer or Designate a Staff Member to Work with Businesses
An organizer or staff person should be hired to work full-time with the business community. The first priority for this person will be to develop relationships with merchants, build faith in the concept of merchant-led commercial revitalization, and convince them of the merits of a merchant-led effort. This person should dedicate his/her full-time to the business community. This approach was used on Grand Street in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn; St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation, an established developer of low-income housing, used its staff and resources to initiate that street's revitalization effort.
Goals for the Merchant Organizer
The merchant organizer will function as the catalyst for all Phase I activities by using the resources of an existing neighborhood partner, such as one of the community-based organizations in West Side Park. The mission of the merchant organizer will be to facilitate the neighborhood revitalization effort from its infancy to a point where merchants are willing to both assume a stronger leadership role and make a stronger commitment to activities that support not only individual businesses, but also the neighborhood district. Facilitating this shift may be a costly long-term process, and will entail the following activities:
- "Pounding the pavement." That is, getting to know each merchant
- Fostering trust between not only neighborhood-based partners, but also between the neighborhood and city agencies, foundations and commercial lending institutions
- Pushing the concept of merchant-led commercial revitalization by demonstrating the benefit of revitalization to each merchant's bottom line
- Disseminating information and organizing events that provide merchants with both technical assistance and information about available federal, state and city programs/funds that can be leveraged to support existing merchants
- Identifying merchants who are interested in assuming leadership roles at the conclusion of the revitalization effort's first phase.
Paying for the Merchant Organizer
Local community-based organizations that are active in West Side Park, such as New Community Corporation, Corinthian Housing Development Corporation, International Youth Organization, United Community Corporation, and Tri-City Peoples Corporation, should hire the merchant organizer. These organizations have demonstrated their commitment to the community, and they are in a position to obtain funding from either foundations or government agencies to pay the salary of an organizer. Ideally, the local community-based organizations would pool resources to hire the organizer jointly, and the organizer would then be located at another site, such as a business incubator. This approach would help prevent the organizer's identification with any single organization. Meanwhile, the community-based organizations would support the activities of the organizer as needed; this may entail providing office space, meeting space, secretarial services or equipment such as computers. Depending on the experience of the person hired, the merchant organizer may require training in grant writing.
Establish a Loan Fund or Grant Program
The community-based participants in the commercial revitalization effort should seek funds from either a nonprofit foundation or other funding source to establish a loan fund that businesses along Springfield and South Orange Avenues can access. Like other microbusinesses, the businesses in West Side Park seem to be falling through the cracks in terms of connecting to both financial capital and business assistance programs. Small size or revenue base, bad credit, and lack of record keeping are just some of the problems preventing West Side Park businesses from utilizing the programs and services of banks, small business development centers, and city programs. The community-based participants in the commercial revitalization effort and the merchant organizer can address these problems by administering a program that provides merchants with small loans or grants, which are distributed with no or few strings attached.
Businesses on Grand Street in the East Williamsburg section of Brooklyn have successfully used funds from a revolving loan fund, which was created by the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation, to support the implementation of a commercial revitalization strategy. A revolving loan fund is a pool of money that a community-based organization first leverages and then makes available to small businesses through low-interest loans. The community-based organization typically establishes an interest rate that covers only the administrative and default costs of the program, as opposed to a bank, which sets its interest rates high enough to make a profit. Also, revolving loan funds administered by community-based organizations usually are willing to make higher risk loans than traditional banks. The loan fund created by the St. Nicholas Neighborhood Preservation Corporation targets funds either to businesses that have been denied by other loan providers or for activities that do not qualify for traditional loans. Many merchants on Grand Street have used loan funds for physical improvements to their buildings, a need that was also identified by our survey.
Publish a Newsletter Specifically for Businesses in the Area
The merchant organizer, with the assistance of any volunteers from the West Side Park business community, should develop a newsletter for businesses located along Springfield and South Orange Avenues. The publication of a merchant-oriented newsletter can serve two goals, reinforcing a sense of community among business owners and disseminating information. The newsletter could serve as an effective resource for listing both resources and meetings, and for sharing information about different business assistance programs. In one interview conducted for Part I, a bank executive said that she often does not know where to go to advertise the bank's products and services to businesses. Perhaps even more important, the inclusion of "success stories" about businesses obtaining loans or other assistance could help dissipate some of the cynicism present among merchants and raise expectations about what kind of change is possible.
While initial funding and technical support may be required from an outside source, the cost of a publishing a newsletter is minimal. Furthermore, future costs could be offset by the inclusion of advertisements paid for by consultants and other business assistance programs.
Create a "Buy Local" Campaign
This type of campaign would consist primarily of a public education and promotional campaign designed to encourage neighborhood residents to spend their money at local businesses. The Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, a coalition of community-based organizations in Roxbury, Massachusetts, successfully organized this type of campaign in support of its neighborhood revitalization program. In the case of South Orange and Springfield Avenues, the merchant organizer could initiate the campaign with the assistance of the Newark Community Development Network (NCDN). The participation of both merchants and community-based organizations in a "Buy Local" campaign could help build trust between them, and inspire merchants to take a more active role in the revitalization process.
Implement Community-Based Crime Prevention Programs
Evidence from other cities indicates that policing strategies that incorporate police officers into the fabric of a neighborhood are effective approaches for addressing crime (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1994). The merchant organizer, with the participation of neighborhood-based partners, should initiate the following activities to begin the process of addressing the existing crime problems in West Side Park:
- Organize neighborhood watches to increase the visibility of crime prevention efforts
- Invite the Newark Police Department to hold crime prevention workshops to increase awareness about safety issues
- Pressure the Newark Police Department to take a proactive role in facilitating a community policing effort that addresses the causes of crime, such as the large number of poorly lit vacant lots in the Central Ward that attract drug dealers, instead of just reacting to reports of illegal activity
This year's merchant survey (available in Part I) and the report entitled Needs Assessment and Analysis of Crime and the West Side Park: Volume 4, prepared as part of Project Community's 1997 report to CHDC, offer important information for designing crime prevention programs. In this year's survey, merchants indicated that burglary, vandalism, drug dealing, loitering, and vehicle damage were the types of crime that had the greatest impact on their businesses. A more visible police or security force presence, in the form of officers walking the beat as opposed to riding in squad cars, may help reduce these types of crime. Another strategy would be to create a neighborhood watch program; this type of program is especially appealing since residents surveyed for last year's report stated that a neighborhood watch program would make them feel safer.
Volume 4 of last year's report also made two recommendations that are directly relevant to implementing a crime prevention program. First, the Newark Police Department should inform affected communities of the crime prevention strategies available for their use. Second, a coalition of neighborhood-based partners -- including the Newark Police Department, neighborhood residents, the local community-based organizations, local businesses, and the Newark Housing Authority -- should form a crime prevention coalition that would implement a coordinated and comprehensive strategy aimed at reducing crime in the neighborhood.
Other Options for Accomplishing Phase I Goals
There are additional strategies the merchant organizer and community-based organizations can use to address the goals of Phase I - building trust among merchants, connecting merchants to sources of capital, developing a neighborhood identity, raising expectations, generating support for merchant-led revitalization, and identifying leaders who can sustain the revitalization effort. Like most of the other activities associated with the first phase of the CRP, these initiatives will require the leadership of the merchant organizer, but they can be implemented at virtually no cost and they are designed to impact the bottom lines of West Side Park businesses. All of these activities are designed to help build trust between merchants and existing neighborhood institutions, demonstrate the benefits of collective action, and further develop the identity of West Side Park's commercial corridors. Examples of activities include:
- Developing joint advertising or promotional materials, such as a neighborhood business directory
- Encouraging certain types of businesses, such as the convenience stores or salon/barbers, to engage in cooperative buying from wholesalers
- Collaborating to offer delivery service of goods to customers outside the neighborhood. For example, the numerous convenience stores, fast food establishments, and restaurants in the area could create a "menu" of their different types of food and offer delivery to businesses located nearby (e.g. UMDNJ) or downtown
- Sponsoring a "clean-up day" in conjunction with local community-based organizations
Moving to Phase II
The ability of both the merchant organizer and neighborhood merchants to accomplish the goals of Phase I will define whether the revitalization effort is prepared to enter its second phase. If merchants have established a neighborhood identity, developed a sense of trust among each other and with other community-based organizations, and the merchant organizer has both identified a group of leaders among the merchants and sold merchants on the concept of merchant-led revitalization, then the revitalization will be ready to enter its second phase. The most significant difference between Phases I and II is the presence of a merchant organizer during the first phase.
