October 20, 2025 • 14 mins
One of the most iconic neighborhoods in New York is geting a glow up: The Village Alliance Business Improvement District (BID) has announced the launch of Project Green, a five-year, $2 million fundraising campaign to dramatically increase greenery across one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods, Greenwich Village. Our guest is Scott Hobbs, Executive Director of the Village Alliance, leading the organization’s first comprehensive streetscape initiative in over 20 years.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for listening to get connected. So one of the
most iconic neighborhoods in New York is getting a glow up.
The Village Alliance Business Improvement District has announced the launch
of Project Green. It's a five year, two million dollar
fundraising campaign to dramatically increase greenery across Greenwich Village. Our
guest is Scott Hobbs, executive director of the Village Alliance. Scott,
(00:34):
thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You can find out more about the organization at Village
Alliance dot org. The Village Alliance is a bid, a
business improvement district. Not everybody knows what that does, so
what does the bid do?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Sure? So, the Village Alliance of the nonprofits that serves
Greenwage Village. We are funded primarily by the small businesses,
which we're very proud that four out of five businesses
in Greenwich Ville are independent businesses that are mostly mom
and pop and we provide additional sanitation in public safety
services to the neighborhood. That's our primary focus. We've been
(01:11):
in existence since nineteen ninety three, and then we also
take care of public spaces and foster community amongst our businesses.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So can you start by maybe sharing what Project Green
is and why the launch now?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yes, So we launched Project Green in late August of
this year. The purpose of this was really to raise
funds to support enhancing the streetscape along our commercial corridors.
There are a lot of business improvement districts in New
York City, there's over seventy and a lot of them
(01:48):
are very well funded. We are a district that does
not have the tremendous amount of commercial real estate in
which we make our assessment off of, like Midtown Hutson
Square Meatpacking District, because we have mostly small businesses, which
we love, but it creates some challenges. So some other districts,
our neighbors, you know in Hudson Square and Meatpacking have
(02:11):
poured millions of dollars into their streetscape in recent years,
and Greenwich Village, which is you know, an historic, older neighborhood,
is at risk of falling behind. So we really saw
this as an opportunity to raise money to catch up
and to improve our streetscape, you know, for the better
of the neighborhood. The challenge is is that, like I said,
we don't have those commercial properties. And so that's why
(02:33):
we kicked off this fundraising because I cannot burden my
small businesses with that are already operating in a very
expensive market to do these capital programs. But we we
think that they're valuable and worth doing. So that's really
where this came from.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So can you map out a little bit of where
your areas of focus will be. They're not necessarily the parks,
They're not Washington's Park or further demo. There are different areas, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
So the the main spine of our district is eighth Street,
you know, and we've seen incredible investment in small businesses
we have you know, we have two Michelin Star restaurants
now on the on the block. We have sixth Avenue
from thirteenth Street down to West fourth Street, and then
we have Astor Place, which we manage on behalf of
the department transportation for the city. And then we have
(03:20):
a little bit of Saint Mark's Place each part of
the district. The plan is really the first comprehensive plan
we've had for the entire district in twenty years, so
there's different areas of focus. So eighth Street really has
really small tree beds that are not up to current
park standards. It's not really good for tree health, it's
not really good for retention during the increasing storms that
(03:43):
we've been getting. So the eighth Street corridor and sixth
Avenue is really focused on enlarging those tree beds and
adding greenery there. The eastern portion of the district focused
around Astor Place because of the subways there, the R train,
the six there's subsurface in structure prevents us from putting
in ground trees and we've actually seen because there aren't
(04:04):
trees on these corridors, we've had vacancies on our storefronts
that linger longer, and as people know, vacancies also attract
some negative uses to the neighborhood. So we came up
with a plan to put in very large planters that
could support shade trees so that these parts of the
districts can also benefit from the greening. And so I
mean that's really a lot of the district. And then
(04:25):
University Place also has a similar challenge to the east
part of the district. That's mostly because those buildings are
much much older, so there's old coal cellars underneath the
sidewalks that prevent trees from being planted, So we have
planters for that part of the plant too.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
The city is so interesting in some ways because you
forget how thin some of the streets are. There's only
so much you can do with some of this. I
want to go back to something you had said that
is kind of interesting about when there's no trees, the
businesses stay vacant for longer. Talk about perhaps how does
adding more greenery enhance and support the businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The greenery really makes the more attractive environment for pedestrians.
Pedestrians are more apt to walk down those streets, and
in a world with a lot of digital media and
online shopping, we lose a lot of that that foot
traffic or sorry, those sales, so you're really getting more
of a casual user walking by. We have found that
areas that don't have greenery just stay vacant longer, are
(05:20):
harder to rent, and then they also you know, create issues.
So that's why we really see this as an economic
success because the more beautiful the district, the more pleasant
it is to walk down. The more support we get
to these small businesses goodness.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
In some way, you've basically said, let's make them more instagrammable.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
God, I hope not. I'm all about I'm all about
in real life. Life happens in reality. If you can,
if it helps bring people in real life, I'm all
for it. But yes, you know, some more supporting these
small businesses would require you to be there in person.
So yes, I hope. I hope it attracts more people
in person.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't think that's the worst thing that. Let me
get back that in just a second. But I'll tell
everybody again who we're speaking with, which is Scott Hobbs.
He's executive director of the Village Alliance. We're talking about
the newly launched campaign project Green to Green the District.
Our guest is Scott Hobbes. He has served as executive
director of the Village Alliance since July twenty twenty two,
guiding the organization through a period of growth with a
(06:20):
focus on public space enhancements, business engagement and cross sector collaboration.
This is the Village Alliance's first comprehensive Streetscape initiative in
over twenty years, aiming to enhance sidewalks and plausas throughout
Greenwich Village. You can find out more at Village Alliance
dot org. You're listening to get connected on one six
point seven light FM. I'mina del Rio. So you have
(06:42):
people coming in as tourists, but the village is also
interesting because of this intersection of longtime residents and students.
What impact do you expect this to have on the
community there.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, I have to say that one of the strengths
of our district is that it is very much a
live district because it is very mixed use. And we
saw that during the pandemic. We saw other i would
say more tourists. Heavy parts of the village, like Bleeker
Street saw huge decline when everything was closed, and and
(07:14):
Eighth Street, which is our, like I said, our backbone.
It really stayed stable because we have that residential base.
We've also seen, you know, the streets north of Eighth Street,
I'm talking about ninth, tenth, eleventh, those are all like Brownstone,
beautiful blocks. They all have invested because they block associations
in those blocks, and so it's just really upgrading that
(07:35):
that portion of the district students are a major component
of our district, but also tourists are a major component
as well, just because of its we are just one
block north of Washington Washington Score Park, so we hope
that encourage encourages more people to visit, but it also
provides a great place for people who live here already.
I mean, I would say that the business mix here
(07:57):
is really local. We do have these world class restaurants
that appear in in parts of our district, but it's
not really like we're designing Times Square here, right. This
is not really for This is really for New Yorkers,
and it's really New York businesses. And I'm talking about
really small businesses. We have Classic a Rapist, which is
a really small shop right on a street. We have
(08:18):
Cafe Oh on Sixth Avenue. I mean, we have all
of these really small businesses that are just trying to
make it in what is a very difficult market.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So I'm also curious just thinking about sort of a
wider picture the city. In the last of course it's
been over a decade now, perhaps the city has been
you know, adding bike lanes, and in the last couple
of years there's been all these rat mitigation efforts. I
wonder have those made a notable difference in the village
or a notable difference for businesses in terms.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Of rat mitigation. I think the I think getting bags
of trash off the street is positive overall for the city,
for the residents, for the businesses. There's a little bit
of an adjustment there, but I think that that that's
been overall positive. Bike lanes, I mean, we have one
on sixth Avenue that runs up that really is I
mean a lot of our businesses are We're turning into
(09:10):
our service economy right. People shop online, so the businesses
that are succeeding are mostly places where you have to
be in person. This is restaurants, this is nail salons's hair,
hair places, things where you have to be there. We've
seen a huge uptick in delivery, and so I do
think that these bike lanes do make it safer for
those people who are delivering food to other people. But
(09:32):
I haven't seen a huge impact in terms of business
as a result of bike lanes or the result of
containerizing trash.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Let me go back to the project. So one of
the interesting points about this campaign is that it doesn't
rely again, as you mentioned on small businesses footing the bill,
So how is the fundraising structured to make that possible?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So we structured so, like we said, is a two
million dollar campaign over five years. We think this is
a very achievable goal. We've had a couple of big
property owners, buck Bunder and Warren at New York University
right a lot of their faculty housing is on Eighth Street.
They kicked off the project and they supported. We also
got a huge investment from New York State Senator Brian Cavanaugh,
(10:15):
which will allow us to do a lot of Eighth Street.
But we're hoping that because there's so much there is
so much opportunity here, there are so many residents with means,
and these businesses cannot be saddled with having to pay
for this capital. That we're hoping for an outpouring of
support from the community to support our own community.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So this is a five year project. Why have you
mapped it out so far into the future.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So we did it in a five year project because
we just think it's a sustainable pace of fundraising. The
truth is, this whole project was designed to be implemented
very quickly. We're using city standards. There's nothing bespoke about this.
I don't have to go to the Public Design Commission.
This is all stuff that's already approved by the city.
Just upgrade our infrastructure. And what that allows us to
(11:02):
do is when we get funding. So if we get
donations from individuals, we can do corridors almost right away,
like I'm talking in a matter of months. So five
years is just really to set the pace of it.
But like if we have three million dollars tomorrow, we
can implement this in the next year. Like it's really
it's really designed to move quickly, but we want to
do it at a pace that we think we can achieve.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Is there a specific spot where you plan to start first?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So we already have started. We've added ten new planters
on Lafayette Street in front of Aster Place between eighth
and Astor Place the street, and then we've done that,
We've expanded the tree beds on Eighth Street between University
and Fifth Avenue with the support that we got from NYU.
(11:48):
We're working through the details of the state's procurement process
to be able to do more stretches with that money
from our state senator. And so, like I said, and
then as we build momentum, and as we get more funding,
we can do more. We're sort of hoping that also
that the improvements will be sort of an advertisement for
the program in itself. I think people will see pretty
quickly that the neighborhood is getting more investment in greenery,
(12:10):
and hopefully we'll want to contribute as well.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And to that point, whether people are individuals or businesses,
are people of means institutions, what is your pitch to
them to get involved in how can they get involved?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's really to support small businesses. I mean in the
sense in the heart of New York City and one
of the most historic neighborhoods. It's really an investment in
our city. And I think that it's a worthwhile investment.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And what do you think that success will look like
for Project Green? And you said you've started, but what
will you be searing, say a year from now?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I mean, success will look like if I could get
two thirds of the project done in the next year,
that would be a major success. But I also think
that as we start to do the bigger elements, which
are those tree those tree planters that we can support
shade trees on areas that don't have a lot of greenery.
I would like to see those spaces start to lease
up so that we can, you know, we can improve
(13:06):
safety in that part of the district. And it's just
like an opportunity to just create more opportunities for small businesses.
One of the reasons we're such a home for small
businesses is also because our storefronts are very small, So
any investment in that area that it could attract people
to come in is an investment in a small business
as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And what have been the what has been the response
or the input so far from the local businesses.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So I think the local businesses are excited about the
project because we haven't been able to complete any corridors
directly in front of businesses. We haven't seen that yet.
That is yet to come, probably in the next few
months as we start to put more treebed expansions online.
I know property owners that have struggled to lease their
(13:52):
properties are thrilled by this project and hoping it gives
a chance for there to be more more opportunities for
small business in parts of the district where we've seen
under investment.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You can find out more at Village Alliance dot org.
Slash Project Green Scott Hobbs is the executive director of
the Village Alliance. Thank you for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thanks for listening to get connected. So one of the
most iconic neighborhoods in New York is getting a glow up.
The Village Alliance Business Improvement District has announced the launch
of Project Green. It's a five year, two million dollar
fundraising campaign to dramatically increase greenery across Greenwich Village. Our
guest is Scott Hobbs, executive director of the Village Alliance. Scott,
(00:34):
thank you for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
You can find out more about the organization at Village
Alliance dot org. The Village Alliance is a bid, a
business improvement district. Not everybody knows what that does, so
what does the bid do?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Sure? So, the Village Alliance of the nonprofits that serves
Greenwage Village. We are funded primarily by the small businesses,
which we're very proud that four out of five businesses
in Greenwich Ville are independent businesses that are mostly mom
and pop and we provide additional sanitation in public safety
services to the neighborhood. That's our primary focus. We've been
(01:11):
in existence since nineteen ninety three, and then we also
take care of public spaces and foster community amongst our businesses.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
So can you start by maybe sharing what Project Green
is and why the launch now?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yes, So we launched Project Green in late August of
this year. The purpose of this was really to raise
funds to support enhancing the streetscape along our commercial corridors.
There are a lot of business improvement districts in New
York City, there's over seventy and a lot of them
(01:48):
are very well funded. We are a district that does
not have the tremendous amount of commercial real estate in
which we make our assessment off of, like Midtown Hutson
Square Meatpacking District, because we have mostly small businesses, which
we love, but it creates some challenges. So some other districts,
our neighbors, you know in Hudson Square and Meatpacking have
(02:11):
poured millions of dollars into their streetscape in recent years,
and Greenwich Village, which is you know, an historic, older neighborhood,
is at risk of falling behind. So we really saw
this as an opportunity to raise money to catch up
and to improve our streetscape, you know, for the better
of the neighborhood. The challenge is is that, like I said,
we don't have those commercial properties. And so that's why
(02:33):
we kicked off this fundraising because I cannot burden my
small businesses with that are already operating in a very
expensive market to do these capital programs. But we we
think that they're valuable and worth doing. So that's really
where this came from.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So can you map out a little bit of where
your areas of focus will be. They're not necessarily the parks,
They're not Washington's Park or further demo. There are different areas, correct.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
So the the main spine of our district is eighth Street,
you know, and we've seen incredible investment in small businesses
we have you know, we have two Michelin Star restaurants
now on the on the block. We have sixth Avenue
from thirteenth Street down to West fourth Street, and then
we have Astor Place, which we manage on behalf of
the department transportation for the city. And then we have
(03:20):
a little bit of Saint Mark's Place each part of
the district. The plan is really the first comprehensive plan
we've had for the entire district in twenty years, so
there's different areas of focus. So eighth Street really has
really small tree beds that are not up to current
park standards. It's not really good for tree health, it's
not really good for retention during the increasing storms that
(03:43):
we've been getting. So the eighth Street corridor and sixth
Avenue is really focused on enlarging those tree beds and
adding greenery there. The eastern portion of the district focused
around Astor Place because of the subways there, the R train,
the six there's subsurface in structure prevents us from putting
in ground trees and we've actually seen because there aren't
(04:04):
trees on these corridors, we've had vacancies on our storefronts
that linger longer, and as people know, vacancies also attract
some negative uses to the neighborhood. So we came up
with a plan to put in very large planters that
could support shade trees so that these parts of the
districts can also benefit from the greening. And so I
mean that's really a lot of the district. And then
(04:25):
University Place also has a similar challenge to the east
part of the district. That's mostly because those buildings are
much much older, so there's old coal cellars underneath the
sidewalks that prevent trees from being planted, So we have
planters for that part of the plant too.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
The city is so interesting in some ways because you
forget how thin some of the streets are. There's only
so much you can do with some of this. I
want to go back to something you had said that
is kind of interesting about when there's no trees, the
businesses stay vacant for longer. Talk about perhaps how does
adding more greenery enhance and support the businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
The greenery really makes the more attractive environment for pedestrians.
Pedestrians are more apt to walk down those streets, and
in a world with a lot of digital media and
online shopping, we lose a lot of that that foot
traffic or sorry, those sales, so you're really getting more
of a casual user walking by. We have found that
areas that don't have greenery just stay vacant longer, are
(05:20):
harder to rent, and then they also you know, create issues.
So that's why we really see this as an economic
success because the more beautiful the district, the more pleasant
it is to walk down. The more support we get
to these small businesses goodness.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
In some way, you've basically said, let's make them more instagrammable.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
God, I hope not. I'm all about I'm all about
in real life. Life happens in reality. If you can,
if it helps bring people in real life, I'm all
for it. But yes, you know, some more supporting these
small businesses would require you to be there in person.
So yes, I hope. I hope it attracts more people
in person.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't think that's the worst thing that. Let me
get back that in just a second. But I'll tell
everybody again who we're speaking with, which is Scott Hobbs.
He's executive director of the Village Alliance. We're talking about
the newly launched campaign project Green to Green the District.
Our guest is Scott Hobbes. He has served as executive
director of the Village Alliance since July twenty twenty two,
guiding the organization through a period of growth with a
(06:20):
focus on public space enhancements, business engagement and cross sector collaboration.
This is the Village Alliance's first comprehensive Streetscape initiative in
over twenty years, aiming to enhance sidewalks and plausas throughout
Greenwich Village. You can find out more at Village Alliance
dot org. You're listening to get connected on one six
point seven light FM. I'mina del Rio. So you have
(06:42):
people coming in as tourists, but the village is also
interesting because of this intersection of longtime residents and students.
What impact do you expect this to have on the
community there.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, I have to say that one of the strengths
of our district is that it is very much a
live district because it is very mixed use. And we
saw that during the pandemic. We saw other i would
say more tourists. Heavy parts of the village, like Bleeker
Street saw huge decline when everything was closed, and and
(07:14):
Eighth Street, which is our, like I said, our backbone.
It really stayed stable because we have that residential base.
We've also seen, you know, the streets north of Eighth Street,
I'm talking about ninth, tenth, eleventh, those are all like Brownstone,
beautiful blocks. They all have invested because they block associations
in those blocks, and so it's just really upgrading that
(07:35):
that portion of the district students are a major component
of our district, but also tourists are a major component
as well, just because of its we are just one
block north of Washington Washington Score Park, so we hope
that encourage encourages more people to visit, but it also
provides a great place for people who live here already.
I mean, I would say that the business mix here
(07:57):
is really local. We do have these world class restaurants
that appear in in parts of our district, but it's
not really like we're designing Times Square here, right. This
is not really for This is really for New Yorkers,
and it's really New York businesses. And I'm talking about
really small businesses. We have Classic a Rapist, which is
a really small shop right on a street. We have
(08:18):
Cafe Oh on Sixth Avenue. I mean, we have all
of these really small businesses that are just trying to
make it in what is a very difficult market.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So I'm also curious just thinking about sort of a
wider picture the city. In the last of course it's
been over a decade now, perhaps the city has been
you know, adding bike lanes, and in the last couple
of years there's been all these rat mitigation efforts. I
wonder have those made a notable difference in the village
or a notable difference for businesses in terms.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Of rat mitigation. I think the I think getting bags
of trash off the street is positive overall for the city,
for the residents, for the businesses. There's a little bit
of an adjustment there, but I think that that that's
been overall positive. Bike lanes, I mean, we have one
on sixth Avenue that runs up that really is I
mean a lot of our businesses are We're turning into
(09:10):
our service economy right. People shop online, so the businesses
that are succeeding are mostly places where you have to
be in person. This is restaurants, this is nail salons's hair,
hair places, things where you have to be there. We've
seen a huge uptick in delivery, and so I do
think that these bike lanes do make it safer for
those people who are delivering food to other people. But
(09:32):
I haven't seen a huge impact in terms of business
as a result of bike lanes or the result of
containerizing trash.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Let me go back to the project. So one of
the interesting points about this campaign is that it doesn't
rely again, as you mentioned on small businesses footing the bill,
So how is the fundraising structured to make that possible?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
So we structured so, like we said, is a two
million dollar campaign over five years. We think this is
a very achievable goal. We've had a couple of big
property owners, buck Bunder and Warren at New York University
right a lot of their faculty housing is on Eighth Street.
They kicked off the project and they supported. We also
got a huge investment from New York State Senator Brian Cavanaugh,
(10:15):
which will allow us to do a lot of Eighth Street.
But we're hoping that because there's so much there is
so much opportunity here, there are so many residents with means,
and these businesses cannot be saddled with having to pay
for this capital. That we're hoping for an outpouring of
support from the community to support our own community.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
So this is a five year project. Why have you
mapped it out so far into the future.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So we did it in a five year project because
we just think it's a sustainable pace of fundraising. The
truth is, this whole project was designed to be implemented
very quickly. We're using city standards. There's nothing bespoke about this.
I don't have to go to the Public Design Commission.
This is all stuff that's already approved by the city.
Just upgrade our infrastructure. And what that allows us to
(11:02):
do is when we get funding. So if we get
donations from individuals, we can do corridors almost right away,
like I'm talking in a matter of months. So five
years is just really to set the pace of it.
But like if we have three million dollars tomorrow, we
can implement this in the next year. Like it's really
it's really designed to move quickly, but we want to
do it at a pace that we think we can achieve.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Is there a specific spot where you plan to start first?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So we already have started. We've added ten new planters
on Lafayette Street in front of Aster Place between eighth
and Astor Place the street, and then we've done that,
We've expanded the tree beds on Eighth Street between University
and Fifth Avenue with the support that we got from NYU.
(11:48):
We're working through the details of the state's procurement process
to be able to do more stretches with that money
from our state senator. And so, like I said, and
then as we build momentum, and as we get more funding,
we can do more. We're sort of hoping that also
that the improvements will be sort of an advertisement for
the program in itself. I think people will see pretty
quickly that the neighborhood is getting more investment in greenery,
(12:10):
and hopefully we'll want to contribute as well.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
And to that point, whether people are individuals or businesses,
are people of means institutions, what is your pitch to
them to get involved in how can they get involved?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's really to support small businesses. I mean in the
sense in the heart of New York City and one
of the most historic neighborhoods. It's really an investment in
our city. And I think that it's a worthwhile investment.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
And what do you think that success will look like
for Project Green? And you said you've started, but what
will you be searing, say a year from now?
Speaker 3 (12:43):
I mean, success will look like if I could get
two thirds of the project done in the next year,
that would be a major success. But I also think
that as we start to do the bigger elements, which
are those tree those tree planters that we can support
shade trees on areas that don't have a lot of greenery.
I would like to see those spaces start to lease
up so that we can, you know, we can improve
(13:06):
safety in that part of the district. And it's just
like an opportunity to just create more opportunities for small businesses.
One of the reasons we're such a home for small
businesses is also because our storefronts are very small, So
any investment in that area that it could attract people
to come in is an investment in a small business
as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
And what have been the what has been the response
or the input so far from the local businesses.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
So I think the local businesses are excited about the
project because we haven't been able to complete any corridors
directly in front of businesses. We haven't seen that yet.
That is yet to come, probably in the next few
months as we start to put more treebed expansions online.
I know property owners that have struggled to lease their
(13:52):
properties are thrilled by this project and hoping it gives
a chance for there to be more more opportunities for
small business in parts of the district where we've seen
under investment.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
You can find out more at Village Alliance dot org.
Slash Project Green Scott Hobbs is the executive director of
the Village Alliance. Thank you for being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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