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Speaker 1: Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven Light FM.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to get connected. So one of the

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Speaker 2: most iconic neighborhoods in New York is getting a glow up.

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Speaker 2: The Village Alliance Business Improvement District has announced the launch

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Speaker 2: of Project Green. It's a five year, two million dollar

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Speaker 2: fundraising campaign to dramatically increase greenery across Greenwich Village. Our

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Speaker 2: guest is Scott Hobbs, executive director of the Village Alliance. Scott,

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Speaker 2: thank you for being on the show.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: You can find out more about the organization at Village

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Speaker 2: Alliance dot org. The Village Alliance is a bid, a

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Speaker 2: business improvement district. Not everybody knows what that does, so

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Speaker 2: what does the bid do?

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Speaker 3: Sure? So, the Village Alliance of the nonprofits that serves

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Speaker 3: Greenwage Village. We are funded primarily by the small businesses,

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Speaker 3: which we're very proud that four out of five businesses

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Speaker 3: in Greenwich Ville are independent businesses that are mostly mom

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Speaker 3: and pop and we provide additional sanitation in public safety

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Speaker 3: services to the neighborhood. That's our primary focus. We've been

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Speaker 3: in existence since nineteen ninety three, and then we also

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Speaker 3: take care of public spaces and foster community amongst our businesses.

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Speaker 2: So can you start by maybe sharing what Project Green

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Speaker 2: is and why the launch now?

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Speaker 3: Yes, So we launched Project Green in late August of

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Speaker 3: this year. The purpose of this was really to raise

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Speaker 3: funds to support enhancing the streetscape along our commercial corridors.

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Speaker 3: There are a lot of business improvement districts in New

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Speaker 3: York City, there's over seventy and a lot of them

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Speaker 3: are very well funded. We are a district that does

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Speaker 3: not have the tremendous amount of commercial real estate in

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Speaker 3: which we make our assessment off of, like Midtown Hudson

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Speaker 3: Square Meatpacking District, because we have mostly small businesses, which

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Speaker 3: we love, but it creates some challenges. So some other districts,

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Speaker 3: our neighbors, you know in Hudson Square and Meatpacking have

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Speaker 3: poured millions of dollars into their streetscape in recent years,

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Speaker 3: and Greenwich Village, which is you know, an historic, older neighborhood,

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Speaker 3: is at risk of falling behind. So we really saw

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Speaker 3: this as an opportunity to raise money to catch up

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Speaker 3: and to improve our streetscape, you know, for the better

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Speaker 3: of the neighborhood. The challenge is is that, like I said,

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Speaker 3: we don't have those commercial properties. And so that's why

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Speaker 3: we kicked off this fundraising because I cannot burden my

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Speaker 3: small businesses with that are already operating in a very

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Speaker 3: expensive market to do these capital programs. But we we

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Speaker 3: think that they're valuable and worth doing. So that's really

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Speaker 3: where this came from.

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Speaker 2: So can you map out a little bit of where

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Speaker 2: your areas of focus will be. They're not necessarily the parks,

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Speaker 2: They're not Washington's Park or further demo. There are different areas, correct.

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Speaker 3: So the the main spine of our district is eighth Street,

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Speaker 3: you know, and we've seen incredible investment in small businesses

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Speaker 3: we have you know, we have two Michelin Star restaurants

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Speaker 3: now on the on the block. We have sixth Avenue

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Speaker 3: from thirteenth Street down to West fourth Street, and then

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Speaker 3: we have Astor Place, which we manage on behalf of

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Speaker 3: the department transportation for the city. And then we have

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Speaker 3: a little bit of Saint Mark's Place each part of

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Speaker 3: the district. The plan is really the first comprehensive plan

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Speaker 3: we've had for the entire district in twenty years, so

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Speaker 3: there's different areas of focus. So eighth Street really has

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Speaker 3: really small tree beds that are not up to current

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Speaker 3: park standards. It's not really good for tree health, it's

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Speaker 3: not really good for retention during the increasing storms that

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Speaker 3: we've been getting. So the eighth Street corridor and sixth

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Speaker 3: Avenue is really focused on enlarging those tree beds and

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Speaker 3: adding greenery there. The eastern portion of the district focused

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Speaker 3: around Astor Place because of the subways there, the R train,

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Speaker 3: the six there's subsurface in structure prevents us from putting

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Speaker 3: in ground trees and we've actually seen because there aren't

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Speaker 3: trees on these corridors, we've had vacancies on our storefronts

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Speaker 3: that linger longer, and as people know, vacancies also attract

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Speaker 3: some negative uses to the neighborhood. So we came up

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Speaker 3: with a plan to put in very large planters that

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Speaker 3: could support shade trees so that these parts of the

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Speaker 3: districts can also benefit from the greening. And so I

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Speaker 3: mean that's really a lot of the district. And then

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Speaker 3: University Place also has a similar challenge as to the

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Speaker 3: east part of the district. That's mostly because those buildings

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Speaker 3: are much much older, so there's old coal cellars underneath

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Speaker 3: the sidewalks that prevent trees from being planted, so we

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Speaker 3: have planters for that part of the plant too.

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Speaker 2: The city is so interesting in some ways because you

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Speaker 2: forget how thin some of the streets are. There's only

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Speaker 2: so much you can do with some of this. I

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Speaker 2: want to go back to something you had said that

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Speaker 2: is kind of interesting about when there's no trees, the

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Speaker 2: businesses stay vacant for longer. Talk about perhaps how does

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Speaker 2: adding more greenery enhance and support the businesses.

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Speaker 3: The greenery really makes the more attractive environment for pedestrians.

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Speaker 3: Pedestrians are more apt to walk down those streets, and

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Speaker 3: in a world with a lot of digital media and

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Speaker 3: online shopping, we lose a lot of that that foot

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Speaker 3: traffic or sorry, those sales, so you're really getting more

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Speaker 3: of a casual user walking by. We have found that

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Speaker 3: areas that don't have greenery just stay vacant longer, are

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Speaker 3: harder to rent, and then they also you know, create issues.

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Speaker 3: So that's why we really see this as an economic

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Speaker 3: success because the more beautiful the district, the more pleasant

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Speaker 3: it is to walk down. The more support we get

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Speaker 3: to these small businesses, goodness.

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Speaker 2: In some way, you've basically said, let's make them more instagrammable.

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Speaker 3: God, I hope not. I'm I'm all about. I'm all

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Speaker 3: about in real life. Life happens in reality. If you can,

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Speaker 3: if it helps bring people in real life, I'm all

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Speaker 3: for it. But yes, you know, some more supporting these

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Speaker 3: small businesses would require you to be there in person.

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Speaker 3: So yes, I hope, I hope it attracts more people

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Speaker 3: in person.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that's the worst thing that. Let me

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Speaker 2: get back that in just a second. But I'll tell

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Speaker 2: everybody again who we're speaking with, which is Scott Hobbs.

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Speaker 2: He's executive director of the Village Alliance. We're talking about

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Speaker 2: the newly launched campaign project Green to Green the District.

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Speaker 2: Our guest is Scott Hobbes. He has served as executive

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Speaker 2: director of the Village Alliance since July twenty twenty two,

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Speaker 2: guiding the organization through a period of growth with a

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Speaker 2: focus on public space enhancements, business engagement and cross sector collaboration.

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Speaker 2: This is the Village Alliance's first comprehensive Streetscape initiative in

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Speaker 2: over twenty years, aiming to enhance sidewalks and plausas throughout

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Speaker 2: Greenwich Village. You can find out more at Village Alliance

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Speaker 2: dot org. You're listening to get connected on one six

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Speaker 2: point seven light FM. I'mina del Rio. So you have

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Speaker 2: people coming in as tourists, but the village is also

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Speaker 2: interesting because of this intersection of longtime residents and students.

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Speaker 2: What impact do you expect this to have on the

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Speaker 2: community there.

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Speaker 3: Well, I have to say that one of the strengths

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Speaker 3: of our district is that it is very much a

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Speaker 3: live district because it is very mixed use. And we

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Speaker 3: saw that during the pandemic. We saw other i would

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Speaker 3: say more tourists. Heavy parts of the village like Bleaker

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Speaker 3: Street saw huge decline when everything was closed, and and

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Speaker 3: Eighth Street, which is our, like I said, our backbone.

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Speaker 3: It really stayed stable because we have that residential base.

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Speaker 3: We've also seen, you know, the streets north of eighth Street,

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Speaker 3: I'm talking about ninth, tenth, eleventh, those are all like Brownstone,

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Speaker 3: beautiful blocks. They all have invested because they block associations

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Speaker 3: in those blocks, and so it's just really upgrading that

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Speaker 3: that portion of the district. Students are a major component

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Speaker 3: of our district, but also tourists are a major component

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Speaker 3: as well, just because of its We are just one

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Speaker 3: block north of Washington washingt Score Park, so we hope

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Speaker 3: that encourage encourages more people to visit, but it also

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Speaker 3: provides a great place for people who live here already.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I would say that the business mix here

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Speaker 3: is really local. We do have these world class restaurants

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Speaker 3: that appear in in parts of our district, but it's

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Speaker 3: not really like we're designing Times Square here, right, This

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Speaker 3: is not really for This is really for New Yorkers,

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Speaker 3: and it's really New York businesses. And I'm talking about

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Speaker 3: really small businesses. We have Classic a Rapist, which is

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Speaker 3: a really small shop right on a street. We have

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Speaker 3: Cafe Oh on sixth Avenue. I mean, we have all

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Speaker 3: of these really small businesses that are just trying to

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Speaker 3: make it in what is a very difficult market.

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Speaker 2: So I'm also curious just thinking about sort of a

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Speaker 2: wider picture the city. In the last of course, it's

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Speaker 2: been over a decade now, perhaps the city has been

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Speaker 2: you know, adding bike lanes, and in the last couple

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Speaker 2: of years there's been all these rat mitigation efforts. I

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Speaker 2: wonder have those made a notable difference in the village

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Speaker 2: or a notable difference for businesses.

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Speaker 3: In terms of rat mitigation. I think the I think

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Speaker 3: getting bags of trashle off the street is positive overall

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Speaker 3: for the city, for the residents, for the businesses. There's

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Speaker 3: a little bit of an adjustment there, but I think

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Speaker 3: that that that's been overall positive. Bike lanes, I mean,

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Speaker 3: we have one on sixth Avenue that runs up that

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Speaker 3: really is I mean a lot of our businesses are

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Speaker 3: We're turning into our service economy right. People shop online,

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Speaker 3: so the businesses that are succeeding are mostly places where

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Speaker 3: you have to be in person. This is restaurants, this

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Speaker 3: is nail salons's hair, hair places, things where you have

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Speaker 3: to be there. We've seen a huge uptick in delivery,

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Speaker 3: and so I do think that these bike lanes do

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Speaker 3: make it safer for those people who are delivering food

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Speaker 3: to other people. But I haven't seen a huge impact

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Speaker 3: in terms of business as a result of bike lanes

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Speaker 3: or the result of containerizing trash.

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Speaker 2: Let me go back to the project. So one of

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Speaker 2: the interesting points about this campaign is that it doesn't

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Speaker 2: rely again as you mentioned on small businesses footing the bill,

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Speaker 2: So how is the fundraising structured to make that possible?

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Speaker 3: So we structured so, like we said, is a two

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Speaker 3: million dollar campaign over five years. We think this is

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Speaker 3: a very achievable goal. We've had a couple of big

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Speaker 3: property owners, buck Bunder and Warren at New York University

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Speaker 3: right a lot of their faculty housing is on Eighth Street.

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Speaker 3: They kicked off the project and they supported. We also

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Speaker 3: got a huge investment from New York State Senator Brian Cavanaugh,

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Speaker 3: which will allow us to do a lot of Eighth Street.

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Speaker 3: But we're hoping that because there's so much there is

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Speaker 3: so much opportunity here, there are so many residents with means,

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Speaker 3: and these businesses cannot be saddled with having to pay

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Speaker 3: for this capital. That we're hoping for an outpouring of

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Speaker 3: support from the community to support our own community.

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Speaker 2: So this is a five year project. Why have you

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Speaker 2: mapped it out so far into the future.

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Speaker 3: So we did it in a five year project because

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Speaker 3: we just think it's a sustainable pace of fundraising. The

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Speaker 3: truth is, this whole project was designed to be implemented

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Speaker 3: very quickly. We're using city standards there's nothing bespoke about this.

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Speaker 3: I don't have to go to the Public Design Commission.

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Speaker 3: This is all stuff that's already approved by the city.

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Speaker 3: Just upgrade our infrastructure. And what that allows us to

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Speaker 3: do is when we get funding. So if we get

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Speaker 3: donations from individuals, we can do corridors almost right away,

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Speaker 3: like I'm talking in a matter of months. So five

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Speaker 3: years is just really to set the pace of it.

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Speaker 3: But like if we have some million dollars tomorrow, we

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Speaker 3: can implement this in the next year. Like it's really

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Speaker 3: it's really designed to move quickly, but we want to

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Speaker 3: do it at a pace that we think we can achieve.

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Speaker 2: Is there a specific spot where you plan to start first?

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Speaker 3: So we already have started. We've added ten new planters

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Speaker 3: on Lafayette Street in front of Aster Place between eighth

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Speaker 3: and Astor Place the street, and then we've done that,

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Speaker 3: We've expanded the tree beds on Eighth Street between University

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Speaker 3: and Fifth Avenue with the support that we got from NYU.

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Speaker 3: We're working through the details of the state's procurement process

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Speaker 3: to be able to do more stretches with that money

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Speaker 3: from our state senator. And so, like I said, and

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Speaker 3: then as we build momentum and as we get more funding,

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Speaker 3: we can do more are We're sort of hoping that

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Speaker 3: also that the improvements will be sort of an advertisement

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Speaker 3: for the program in itself. I think people will see

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Speaker 3: pretty quickly that the neighborhood is getting more investment in greenery,

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Speaker 3: and hopefully we'll want to contribute as well.

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Speaker 2: And to that point, whether people are individuals or businesses,

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Speaker 2: are people of means institutions, what is your pitch to

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Speaker 2: them to get involved in how can they get involved?

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Speaker 3: It's really to support small businesses. I mean in the

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Speaker 3: sense in the heart of New York City, in one

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Speaker 3: of the most historic neighborhoods. It's really an investment in

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Speaker 3: our city. And I think that it's a worthwhile investment.

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Speaker 2: And what do you think that success will look like

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Speaker 2: for Project Green? And you said you've started, but what

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Speaker 2: will you be searing, say a year from.

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Speaker 3: Now, I mean, success will look like if I could

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Speaker 3: get two thirds of the project done in the next year,

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Speaker 3: that would be a major success. But I also think

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Speaker 3: that as we start to do the bigger elements, which

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Speaker 3: are those tree those tree planters, that we can support

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Speaker 3: shade trees on areas that don't have a lot of greenery.

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Speaker 3: I would like to see those spaces start to lease

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Speaker 3: up so that we can, you know, we can improve

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Speaker 3: safety in that part of the district. And it's just

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Speaker 3: like an opportunity to just create more opportunities for small businesses.

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Speaker 3: One of the reasons we're such a home for small

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Speaker 3: businesses is also because our storefronts are very small, So

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Speaker 3: any investment in that area that it could attract people

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Speaker 3: to come in is an investment in a small business

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Speaker 3: as far as I'm concerned.

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Speaker 2: And what have been the what has been the response

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Speaker 2: or the input so far from the local businesses.

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Speaker 3: So I think the local businesses are excited about the

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Speaker 3: project because we haven't been able to complete any corridors

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Speaker 3: directly in front of businesses. We haven't seen that yet.

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Speaker 3: That is yet to come, probably in the next few

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Speaker 3: months as we start to put more TREEBT expansions online.

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Speaker 3: I know property owners that have struggled to lease their

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Speaker 3: properties are thrilled by this project and hoping it gives

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Speaker 3: a chance for there to be more more opportunities for

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Speaker 3: all business and parts of the district where we've seen

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Speaker 3: under investment.

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Speaker 2: You can find out more at Village Alliance dot org

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Speaker 2: slash project Green Scott Hobbs is the executive director of

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Speaker 2: the Village Alliance. Thank you for being on Get Connected.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and

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