Building Bridges – and Trust – to Improve Newark Retail
By Heidi Reijm
Published: July 1, 2010
The beginning wasn’t pretty. Business owners in Newark’s Lower Broadway neighborhood had endured a lot over the years – shifting populations, crime, disinvestment and municipal neglect – but they had somehow hung on. So when a local community organization, La Casa de Don Pedro, identified Lower Broadway as a target for commercial revitalization, merchants suspected the group was sticking its nose where it didn’t belong.
The Bloomfield Avenue corridor, lined with shops, benefits from heavy pedestrian use and 20,000 daily bus passengers.
Heidi Reijm
In retrospect, the suspicion was unfounded. But it was emblematic of the complexities of developing and implementing a commercial revitalization plan.
LISC’s Greater Newark and Jersey City office had selected La Casa to be the lead agency in its Sustainable Communities initiative (called Greater Newark Neighborhoods) because of its credentials and track record. La Casa enlisted MetroEdge (LISC’s market analysis firm) to conduct a retail market study and planning process for the Lower Broadway corridor. This coincided with a commitment from Newark’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) to invest $2.4 million for streetscape improvements.
In tandem, these projects could change the face of Lower Broadway and “attract new customers because of the street improvements while getting them to come back because the insides of the stores would look nice, too,” said Roberto Frugone, La Casa’s economic development director.
Learning to trust
On paper, sure. But because of conflicts with previous La Casa staff members, merchants were loath to participate in an effort led by La Casa.
“Their mistrust ran deep,” said Larisa Ortiz Pu-Folkes, who organized some of the early meetings with La Casa and MetroEdge, “and resulted in some very personal conflicts. But by creating a forum in which they could discuss their challenges, the participants slowly learned to respect each other. That engagement was the most important, difficult and rewarding part of the MetroEdge process.”
Organizers from La Casa visited with store owners on Broadway to bring them into the effort.
Heidi Reijm
Like many central city neighborhoods, Lower Broadway had suffered from decades of disinvestment and a messy transition from a manufacturing and industrial hub to a residential and commercial community. Broadway boasted a diverse mix of businesses, but the shabby awnings and odd quiltwork of storefronts were uninviting. Streets were littered and crime – or at least the perception of it – was high. Business owners had formed a merchants association a decade earlier, but it had been inactive for several years.
To get businesses involved, organizers from La Casa spent many hours visiting stores, listening to merchants’ complaints, and promising a process that would lead to real results. La Casa built a stakeholder committee that, in addition to the merchants, included funders, city council representatives, police officers, other nonprofit organizations, Newark’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the UEZ. The committee’s inclusion of entities with real resources, power and commitment to Lower Broadway demonstrated to the businesses that there would be concrete outcomes to the process.
Studying the market
The MetroEdge study was conducted in three phases. The first presented national and local retail market data to the stakeholder committee, which was surprised at some of the findings. The traffic volume and density of middle-income households was way beyond anyone’s expectations. Suddenly, businesses began to see new local potential.
The second phase involved interviews and focus groups with businesses and nearby residents to learn about their retail needs and their perceptions of the commercial corridor. Hearing from existing and potential customers was an eye-opener.
“Getting merchants and residents in the room at the same time was [really] beneficial,” said Fragone, La Casa’s economic development director. “There was no filter and they could hear directly from people who should be shopping in their stores.”
Merchants thought the lack of parking discouraged shoppers. But customers cited cleanliness, safety and product offerings as the biggest reasons they didn’t shop in the neighborhood. Many of these individuals were residents or workers who live or spend time in and around the corridor.
The final phase focused on developing a year-long workplan that would address the corridor’s biggest concerns and make the most effective improvements. That plan was guided by the Phase 2 findings and included goals around street cleanliness, safety, parking, retail development and marketing. Stakeholders took responsibility for next steps, and the final report, findings, and workplan were announced publicly in November 2009.
Volunteers painted over graffiti to help improve the area's image.
Roberto Frugone
Since then, La Casa and LISC have organized a graffiti clean-up day that recruited volunteers to beautify the corridor. Over the holidays, La Casa held a raffle for merchants to win professional storefront decorations, and several businesses greatly benefited from festive window designs. Police officers involved in the stakeholder committee have continued to play a big role addressing safety issues, namely on the surrounding streets so they could be used as additional parking for residents and neighborhood workers.
In addition, LISC supported a parking study to determine current patterns as well as recommend improvements. One likely change is that the corridor will use back-in-angle parking to create more spaces. Building on the initial streetscape investments, the UEZ followed the MetroEdge study with an announcement of the selection of the Lower Broadway corridor for an additional $800,000 to fund façade improvements. To help strengthen existing businesses, LISC has also been developing a technical assistance program in collaboration with Rutgers University Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development as well as Newark’s Brick City Development Corporation.
“These kinds of resources should keep the businesses involved and continue to build trust,” said Robin Brown, LISC’s Sustainable Communities program officer in Newark.
As LISC embarks on a full-fledged quality-of-life planning process with a much broader set of resident and community stakeholders, the MetroEdge process has taught the partners valuable lessons. Identifying concrete solutions, large and small, is important, and acting fast on short-term projects helps build trust and credibility. More critical, though, is allowing many people to be involved, and creating a place where voices can be heard, listened to, and respected as important perspectives in the community.
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