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Economic Development Committee Looks for a Way Forward

Lisa Maldonado and Brian Saunders, co-chairs of the Economic Development Committee called a summer Zoom meeting to assess what the committee has been up to and to plot a future course.  Eventually fourteen people showed up.  Brian asked each person there to assess these two points – what has been done and what should be done in the future.  Emily Edwards of Small Business Services admitted she had missed a lot of meetings but said the survey of businesses on Franklin had been valuable and perhaps more surveys were needed.  Adrienne Grande said the committee should do walks in the area to get to know business owners.  Barry agreed that surveys were needed to find out what business owners wanted and Traci Nottingham agreed about a survey.  Rachel Atkins said it was hard to engage merchants who are always short of time; however, she thought Medgar Evers College could be a resource.  Tiara Robertson of Bridge Street said that resources like the business center at the main branch of the library and Chase Bank were useful, but it was important to find a way to get these resources to merchants.  Sharese Parris of the North Nostrand Avenue Merchants Association said technical help like accountancy is needed and more could be done to bring community members to the merchants instead of those people shopping elsewhere or on-line.  Adrienne said Franklin Avenue had put up banners, maybe the same could be done on Nostrand Avenue.

Photo of Nostrand Avenue 16.1

There was talk of creating a map and directory of businesses on-line.  This might help to make connections with the community.  A bit of confusion arose when Nadej from the St. Marks block association said the large fees for Open Streets were a hindrance.  She said charges up to $5,000 excluded many merchants.  Tiara pointed out the Open Streets program on Franklin charges no such fees. Courtney advocated finding grants.  Lisa suggested getting block associations involved.  Brian mentioned reaching out to Sanitation, Small Business Services, the Health Department and Consumer Affairs.  Emily said bringing in the SLA Committee from Community Board 8 might help.  Lisa said the committee might help with matching job seekers with employers.  Tiara told about programs Bridge Street runs to train young people.  Rachel said reaching out to developers to hire local help might work.

Soon the one hour time set aside was up.  Lisa said another Zoom call would be held on August 11 and asked that everyone think of three things that could be done to deal with three important challenges.

My own assessment is that the committee had one notable failure.  Its plan to give prizes for winter lights hardly enlisted any merchants on Nostrand.  This initiative proposed by Crown Heights North Association showed a gaping disconnect.  Virtually no one was interested.  Two other programs, one from the Central Library and another from Chase Bank had good information, but very few merchants showed up.  Despite the presence of the merchant association, no merchants have shown much interest in what the committee is up to.  There have also been charges that the merchant association has been attacking Crown Hill, trying warn off customers and demanding space in the building.  My feeling is that a new merchant association is needed, one that could give guidance to the Economic Development Committee and take advantage of the resources they have and also follow up on the many ideas they have for helping businesses to survive and thrive.  A strong link between the committee and the people actually running businesses has yet to be created.  A large and growing merchant group might be the essential piece missing.

– John DeWind