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Improvements set for heart of the city
(by Mark J. Bonamo - February 29, 2008)
When Leo Pflieger looks out his office window at Main Street in downtown Hackensack, he likes what he sees. Almost.
“When we started in January 2004, we knew we had a business district that had a reputation only for Bergen County services, homeless, jails, jury duty and so forth,” said Pflieger, executive director of the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance, less formally known as the Upper Main Alliance. The organization coordinates the improvement efforts in the downtown Special Improvement District that spans Main Street from Atlantic Street to Clinton Place.
“What we did was try to make the public aware that Hackensack does have a real downtown business district here. There are restaurants, there is retail, and there are services. It has an identity now. But there still is a lot more than we want to do.”
A walk down Main Street with Pflieger and Jerome Lombardo, chairman of the alliance, revealed that many of the plans of the group have been executed, with more improvements soon to come meant to keep Hackensack’s main artery pumping for years to come.
A new direction
Standing in front of the Johnson Public Library, Lombardo pointed out his vision for the business district as he strolled down Main Street.
“We just helped to renovate the building the Bohemia is in,” he said, pointing to the Colombian/Ecuadorian restaurant situated diagonally across from the library at the corner of Camden and Main streets. “After a $50,000 traffic study completed last year, we decided that we want to make Camden Street a two-way street. Right now, traffic moves away from the district one way. We hope to bring traffic up from River Street into the district.”
Walking half a block down Camden toward State Street, Lombardo pointed out the expanded parking lot with 70 metered spaces for shoppers, up from only 10 just a few years ago.
“Don’t tell me that we don’t have parking in downtown Hackensack,” he said. “We have plenty of parking.”
Around the corner inside the Bohemia Restaurant, owner Jorge Suquitana spoke about how the improvements generated by the efforts of the Upper Main Alliance are helping to boost business.
“Lately, things are working well,” Suquitana, 35, said, noting that the alliance helped him set up the new façade placed over his establishment.
“I just hope to see even more people, more stores and more traffic coming our way.”
Signs of the times
With a 2007 project and program budget of more than $260,000 generated through a special assessment on commercial properties located within the district, the alliance is looking to the future. Pflieger noted that the alliance applied for a 2007 community block development grant and a $100,000 zero interest loan from the state Department of Community Affairs for a citywide signage program. The signs, similar to those recently set up in other Garden State cities such as Jersey City and Newark, are designed to guide drivers to the Main Street shopping district, city landmarks and entertainment destinations. According to Pflieger, the signs will be up by the end of 2008.
Pflieger also sees Main Street going green.
“The long-term mission of the organization is to create a streetscape program, which would ultimately lead to new sidewalks, streetlights, shrubbery and trees,” said Pflieger. “This past year we planted nine trees on the west side of Main Street, and in the spring we are hoping to plant nine more trees on the east side of the street.”
Pflieger knows that Main Street is in many ways still a diamond in the rough. Certain storefronts are more drooping than dazzling. But Pflieger and his alliance associates are willing to do whatever it takes to make Hackensack’s own Champs-Elysees brightly shine.
“What we have here in Hackensack is unique,” he said. “We have a variety of ethnic restaurants and retail stores. We have a mix of everything. When the time comes, we’ll use those tools as part of the streetscape program for recruitment to fill those vacancies. The best time to do that is when you have something to sell people. Now we do. We are moving forward.”
For more information, visit www.uppermain.org.
E-mail: bonamo@northjersey.com
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