Commercial Revitalization Plan For Sprinfield and South Orange Avenues

COMMERCIAL REVITALIZATION PLAN FOR SPRINGFIELD 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

Report prepared by

Spring 1998 Community Development Studio

Principal Investigators:
Jacob E. Avidon
Julie Burkley

Faculty Advisors:
Stephen Finn
Lisa J. Servon

Project Community
Center for Urban Policy Research
Department of Urban Planning and Policy Development
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Civic Square 33 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1982

Executive Summary

Part III of this report contains specific recommendations about how community-based organizations in West Side Park can sponsor and initiate a commercial revitalization effort along Springfield and South Orange Avenues. These recommendations represent a synthesis of the framework for developing a neighborhood-based revitalization effort outlined in Part II and the specific conditions of West Side Park described in Part I. To develop the recommendations, it was necessary to both formulate goals for a commercial revitalization plan and understand how it would operate in West Side Park, before evaluating the potential for establishing a Special Improvement District (SID). Thus, Part III of this report reviews:

Establishing a framework for the commercial revitalization process of West Side Park
Understanding how the specific conditions in West Side Park shape the potential of a commercial revitalization effort
Formulating a vision for how the area could look
Answering the question of whether a SID is an appropriate mechanism for West Side Park
Outlining a strategy for the commercial revitalization of West Side Park

We conclude that it is too early to consider forming a SID on Springfield and South Orange Avenues. However, the research in Part II of this report reveals that the creation of a SID in a neighborhood-oriented commercial district is the result of a fairly long organizing process, often three to five years; the actual formation of a SID is often the culmination of this organizing effort. Therefore, we have approached the challenge of commercial revitalization in West Side Park by developing a Commercial Revitalization Plan (CRP) that focuses on specific activities appropriate to the neighborhood's current financial and physical conditions, and the existing level of merchant commitment. The conditions present along Springfield and South Orange Avenues suggest that the organizing process will take somewhat longer than in the case studies upon which Part II is based, with the first phase alone taking anywhere from three to five years to complete.

The specific recommendations for the CRP are divided into several phases, which are defined by both the contributions of existing neighborhood institutions and the capacity of local merchants. The goals for Phase I of the CRP are to:

Generate interest among merchants about the potential of collective action
Build trust not only among the merchants, but also between the merchants and outside actors
Raise merchants' expectations about the possibility of change
Create a neighborhood identity
Increase the financial stability of local businesses
Increase the capacity of merchants to organize and implement activities

Some of the recommendations included in the first phase include hiring an organizer to work with businesses, establishing a loan or grant program for merchants and creating a newsletter specifically for local businesses.

Merchants should assume a greater leadership role during Phase II of the CRP. While community-based organizations should still be involved in the commercial revitalization process during the second phase, their role should shift from one of leadership to support. Specifically, the goals for Phase II are to:

Formalize merchant cooperation

Facilitate merchant leadership in the implementation of the CRP

Encourage merchants to make a greater commitment of time and/or money to joint activities

Increase the capacity of merchants to advocate their own interests

Promote the neighborhood to city residents

A few examples of the recommendations for Phase II include forming a merchants' association, establishing a community loan pool that requires greater initiative and organization from merchants, and organizing sidewalk sales and other coordinated promotional events.

If merchants believe that their efforts have impacted both the neighborhood and their individual businesses, they will most likely be interested in setting goals beyond those set out for Phase II. The experience of other neighborhood-based commercial revitalization efforts indicates that it may take more than five years before merchants are ready to set new goals and take on additional challenges, although this is often the stage when a SID is created. Based on the case studies outlined in Part II of this report, some long-term goals might be to:

Further expand the clientele of their businesses
Establish a business environment in West Side Park that attracts private investments to reduce the number of vacant lots and properties
Improve the streetscape on Springfield and South Orange Avenues so that the neighborhood's commercial corridors can more successfully compete with Broad Street in Downtown Newark and Irvington, just west of West Side Park
Establish the coalition of merchants as a non-profit organization
Hire staff to perform some of the tasks that volunteers performed in Phase II, such as publishing a merchant newsletter, coordinating joint advertising and joint promotional events, and interacting with partners beyond the community

Finally, this document includes recommendations for New Community Corporation's business incubator, which will be located one block from interstate highway I-280 and several blocks from downtown. This incubator can provide important technical and secretarial assistance to businesses along Springfield and South Orange Avenues, and it would be the ideal location for new firms, such as a delivery service company, that could participate in the CRP.