Initiate Your Own Commercial Revitalization and Historic Preservation Program
1. Organize!
RAP, the catalyst for change on 72nd Street, is an extension of LW's long-time mandate to promote architectural preservation on the Upper West Side. Through RAP, we have organized community members who care about our neighborhood's future and this street in particular. LW! developed a "master list" of businesses, building owners and city agencies, along with their contact information, so that everyone could stay "in the loop." We held meetings to define common goals and, together, committed ourselves to bringing about positive change.
2. Identify the problems; Define your objectives.
Just what is so special about 72nd Street? What were the factors undermining its identity? In her Columbia University Master's thesis, LW! intern Kristen Pracher documented the street's history, shedding light on its interesting architecture and describing its physical decline. 72nd Street suffered from many years of misguided incremental change. Some of the most egregious changes, garish signs and mundane storefronts, were ill-advised efforts to enhance the retail environment. By 1997, 72nd Street was so plastered over with advertising signs and badly designed commercial schlock that its historic architecture was unrecognizable. RAP's chief objectives: 1) eliminate visual clutter, and 2) resurrect the historic character of the street.
3. Think Big; Start small.
While all of 72nd Street needed work, RAP decided to focus its efforts on the single block from Broadway/Amsterdam to Columbus Avenue. We took photographs of each building to identify problems; these photographs became our "inventory" of work to be done. We also collected historic photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives' collection of 1940s tax assessment photos to guide us in rescuing architectural features that often lay just beneath the surface. These proved to be invaluable sources of inspiration, helping individual property owners and businesses to think differently about their facades.
4. Rally Community Support; Build and Maintain Relationships.
Change of any kind often meets with initial resistance. To generate awareness and support for RAP, LW! used its widely circulated newsletter to draw attention to 72nd Street, its history and troubles, and the need to find solutions.
We enlisted the support of 72nd Street merchants and property owners via telephone, in-person visits, and flyers. We joined forces with (former) Council Member Ronnie Eldridge, who facilitated meetings with 72nd Street retailers, Community Board 7, and the NYC Department of Business Services . Even so, progress was hard-won. Owners' enthusiasm for ideas that sounded good in theory often fizzled when it came to removing their own signs or canopies. That's why relationships are so important. Get to know your neighbors and be prepared to show them in words, in pictures, whatever it takes - how their participation can benefit their businesses as well as the entire neighborhood.
5. Discover your "Tool Kit"
In tackling West 72nd Street, we discovered many useful, often overlooked municipal rules and regulatory processes governing streetscape appearance.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) enforces the NYC Zoning Resolution , and the Building Code of the City of New York . Both codes regulate signs and awnings--their size plus the information that appears on them. DOB issues permits for signs, awnings, lighting fixtures, flagpoles, as well as the installation or demolition of storefronts. Many of the "problems" we identified were actually illegal (i.e., owners had never secured the necessary permits). Once alerted, DOB was generally responsive in issuing violations and fines, giving owners incentive (and us leverage) to remove clutter.
The Building Code outright prohibits some sign types from specific areas. For example, one section (RS-7, Art. 17 "Outdoor Signs and Display Structures: Projecting Signs") restricts projecting illuminated signs from certain streets and avenues, including 72nd Street. This rule enabled RAP to clear up several trouble spots.
Similarly, Section 2-03(f) of the City's Highway Rules restricts the placement of canopy on certain streets. RAP petitioned the Department of Transportation (DOT), which regulates the installation and maintenance of sidewalk canopies, to designate 72nd Street a "Restricted Street" prohibiting all canopies. We used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to determine whether canopies had permits in the first place. None did!
72nd Street between Columbus and Broadway/Amsterdam Avenues is part of the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. In areas designated as historic districts and for buildings designated as individual landmarks, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) reviews façade alterations, including the installation of signs, awnings, exterior lighting fixtures, and flag poles, for their "appropriateness" to the historic context. Like the DOB, the LPC can issue violations and fines for alterations made without permits.
Rules and regulations are one thing. But, for every "stick", we tried to offer a "carrot". Capital funding from the New York City Council enabled RAP to match individual efforts to clean up storefronts with streetwide improvements, such as new sidewalks, curbs, and lampposts coordinated by the NYC Department of Design and Construction, as well as the planting of street trees by the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation . Each fiscal year, council members allocate funds toward capital projects in their districts, ranging from wiring schools for internet access to renovating parks to improving streetscapes such as West 72nd Street. Council members always keep an eye out for worthy projects and look to constituents to bring ideas to their attention. RAP was allotted $1,050,000 for West 72nd Street improvements. Lobby for these funds!
6. Marketing
RAP looks for opportunities to promote the 72nd Street commercial district through special events and advertising to attract shoppers, invigorate business, and encourage investment. LW! newsletters documenting RAP achievements were sent to a mailing list of over 10,000. We assembled and circulated a brochure entitled "Stroll, Stop & Shop on West 72nd Street" advertising 72nd Street businesses. Each holiday season, RAP works with building owners to raise money to install snowflake lights on each of the block's 14 new "bishop's crook" lampposts, a festive tradition that draws shoppers and visitors to the street.
7 . Follow through, and follow up!
Determination can be contagious. Incessant, insistent jawboning and good organization show that you mean business. If changes occur on schedule, as promised, and in a sensitive manner, early resistance should dissolve. Be persistent! Citing violations is relatively easy, but staying in touch with owners and city agencies to make sure that problems are actually resolved can make the difference between success and failure. Create a system for tracking changes and recognizing individuals whose cooperation contributes to the project's success.
8. Celebrate!
After years of hard work and steady improvements, LW! held an Awards Ceremony to celebrate the collaborative efforts of all of our RAP partners.
Everyone - from merchants to building owners to government agencies - was honored for their role in the revitalization of 72nd Street. Acknowledging those who contribute to your project's success encourages their ongoing participation in the future.
Picking up on this positive energy, Commerce Bank and Manhattan Media recognized the businesses of 72nd Street with a special Small Business Award in 2003.
9. ... But don't rest on your laurels.
72nd Street will never be a finished product. It is a living, breathing piece of the city that will continue its evolution. The key to long-term revitalization is creating a framework that balances change, which is inevitable, with preservation of the special qualities that give a street its identity; as the 72nd Street experience shows this takes a lot of hard work and vision.
