NJ Grant Put To Work ‘Beautifying’ Downtown Bloomfield

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Center Alliance recently put a state grant to work beautifying the downtown streetscape – including flowers and new trash receptacles – and it isn’t done yet, the nonprofit says.

Thanks to a grant commitment received earlier this year from the State of New Jersey Main Street New Jersey Office, the Bloomfield Center Alliance (BCA) has added a few things to the downtown’s streetscape to help beautify the commercial district, it reported last week.

They include:

FLOWERS – “Earlier this summer, [the BCA] purchased and installed brackets and flowering plants on 16 light poles located along the blocks of Broad Street, Glenwood Avenue, and Washington Street. The white, red and pink flowers were in place from early June through the fall, and will soon be removed for the winter season. The BCA will bring these flowers back every spring as yet another element it has brought to the downtown to beautify and transform the downtown district.”

NEW TRASH RECEPTACLES – “More recently, the grant program enabled the purchase of twelve new trash receptacles which are now in place at key locations in the district. The new cans were secured to either replace a damaged receptacle or to be situated at a corner or crosswalk that did not have one. In addition, the BCA also purchased thirty blue, gold, and green decals for the trash cans. The colorful stickers display the name of the district and the request to ‘Please Keep Bloomfield Center in Bloom!’ The decals were placed on receptacles located around high traffic areas, primarily Bloomfield Center’s Six Points Plaza and on the first blocks of Glenwood Avenue and Broad Street.”

The BCA will also be using the program to purchase new, custom-designed vertical pole banners that are being created with the help of Bloomfield College. They will be unveiled next spring, the nonprofit said.

“We are so grateful to the state of New Jersey for making resources like the Main Street New Jersey Transformation Grant available to business improvement districts like ours,” said Ollyn Lettman, director of the Bloomfield Center Alliance.

“The funds we received from this initiative allows us to make large scale purchase of things we need to really make noticeable improvements that help attract new businesses, residents and investments to Bloomfield Center,” Lettman said.

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