Business Owners Unite Against a SID

At , owners of businesses in the proposed Special Improvement District (SID) came out to voice their displeasure about the .  This was the first gathering of business owners to discuss the SID since the public forum on July 20 at .

Following a presentation by the committee’s chairperson, Robyn Fields, the owner of , the owners had an opportunity to explain why they feel an alternative approach is necessary.

Sam Tolley, the Senior Vice President of , as well as the new president of the South Orange Chamber of Commerce, asked the BOT to consider teaming with the Chamber to try and solve some of the problems with the business district.

Why not partner with the Chamber of Commerce to solve these problems in a community-based approach without the need of imposing assessments on local properties,” said Tolley.  “Take a look around you, in this room, we have evidence of what a grass roots movement, coming from the heart and spirit of this community can do.”

Tolley was referring to the Clean Sweep South Orange members in the room.  The volunteer based group, founded by South Orange resident Matt Mattheiss and his son, Derek, walks down the streets of South Orange and picks up litter and helps cleans the streets for businesses.  The Chamber of Commerce funds the group and has purchased the apparel and supplies for them.

“As business owners and professionals, we are here offering our complete support and cooperation to accomplish whatever the Board of Trustees identifies as the needs (of the business community),” said Tolley.  “And here’s the best part, we will do it for free.”

Leslie Pogany, the owner of , agreed with Tolley, saying that she supports volunteer based programs in South Orange and also is in support of investing in the town to make it better.  However, she doesn’t want the SID to control the investments.

“As a business owner, I am opposed to the SID,” said Pogany.  “As a property owner, I really would love to see us cooperate and do whatever you’d like to have done.  We can get it done.”

Elaine Harris, a lawyer and property owner in South Orange, declared that the owners will be providing a written response to the recommendations of the SID advisory committee.  She agreed that volunteerism is the way to go to improve the business district in town.

I absolutely know we could voluntarily raise more money than any assessment which would be forced against the business community,” said Harris.  “People, who give from their heart and soul, give better then when they are told what to give and have no control of the outcome.”

Fernando Cabrera, the assistant Vice President of Affiliated Managements, brought up that the five year projections offered by the committee, could not be accurate considering the state of the state’s economics.  He also said that it’s not the time to try and be like other towns.

“These are not to times to try and keep up with the surrounding towns that are in this geography,” said Cabrera.  “These are the times for fiscal responsibility and these are the times to work directly with the merchants who help the community to be what it is.”

Yanick Ranieri, owner of , said that if the town gave a tax credit to the merchants, they would be motivated to beautify the town and hopefully attract more foot traffic.  However, she worried that an assessment would cause businesses to raise prices, which could hurt businesses.

Tony Wonski, owner of , urged the BOT not to take the report by the committee at face value.  Wonski, who had become a regular at the advisory meetings by the end of the process, did not feel that businesses were consulted during this process.

“I strongly believe that the committee’s opinions were formed very early in the process and the views and concerns of the majority of the stakeholders have been avoided or ignored,” said Wonski.

Randy Schmitz, controller of , felt that the committee was not looking at the needs and concerns of the businesses and instead focusing on their own.

“I think one of (the business owners’) major concerns here is how the money is going to be spent by the SID,” said Schmitz.  “Their concerns are that (the SID) is going to use it for their own initiatives and not for the greater good.”

Peter Pollo Jr., owner of various properties in town, felt it would be “irresponsible” of the BOT to impose an assessment in this economy.

Not all of the opinions were negative about the SID.  Ross Fields, the merchant liaison of (MSSO), as well as the husband of committee chairperson Robyn Fields, explained that when the couple started Robyn Ross, MSSO helped them while the Chamber was “nowhere to be seen.”  He felt that since it is challenging times, a SID can help with costs.

A familiar face returned to Village Hall as former Village President Bill Calabrese came in support of the business owners.  Calabrese brought up how parking was and still is the biggest problem with businesses downtown.  He says the problem started with the installation of parking meters in the 1980’s and has grown since.

“People did not want to come downtown anymore because they did not like the aggravation of looking for money, putting it in the meters, coming back and finding that they had a ticket because they never came back in time because they liked getting out of their car and they liked walking to four or five stores to shop and then go home,” said Calabrese.

Calabrese’s point was he saw the parking authority grow until it became an autonomous agency and there is a possibility that the same could happen to a SID.  Calabrese stated how it was not the right time to add extra burden and bureaucracy to businesses. 

“Why would a property owner want to pay twice as much for services that he expects to get with the taxes that he pays,” said Calabrese.

He said the government should be helping to improve the downtown which would help businesses raise revenue and thus would pay back the government in taxes.

Joseph Kika, a resident in the proposed district, worried that if an assessment is passed on property owners, they will pass it on to the tenants of their business. 

South Orange resident Tom Morris brought up that bureaucracy is holding back some businesses.  He brought up how a business on Sloan Street had moved due to high rent.  When the business tried to move to another vacancy in South Orange, they couldn’t due to certain ordinances that disallow some businesses from being on certain floors of buildings. 

“The thought occurred to me how dumb that was,” said Morris.  “In a time of economic…depression, we lost a longtime business.”

Morris felt that adding another government agency is what was upsetting the businesses and felt that the recommendations of the committee were too “idealistic” to work and that the report seemed to be “disconnected from the real world.”  He felt that the idea of a SID and the tensions being caused by it were unnecessary. 

“I’ve been here, my wife and I and our family for 31 years,” said Morris.  “We love this place, it’s a great place, and this is a wonderful town.  It’s the spirit of the town.  What I see happening now is more and more divisions coming in and in a time in an economic downturn, to put this pressure on businesses, it doesn’t make sense to me.”

Video of the full public comments section from Wednesday’s meeting and all Board of Trustees meetings in general can be viewed on the South Orange Village website here.