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Village Alliance 2016 Annual Report

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Village Alliance 2016 Annual Report Enhancing the Eve ryday VILLAGE ALLIANC E FY 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Dear Ne ighbors, The past year has been one of intense marketing assistance and a variety of programs construction and capacity building at the Village aimed at increasing district foot traffic. Alliance, with major new streetscape projects, This January, the Village Alliance welcomed our marketing initiatives and community events at the new Marketing and Events Manager, Will Lewis, forefront of our agenda and accomplishments. to head up new marketing programs, guide We briefly discuss our work below, but hope you external communications and prepare us for take a moment to read this Annual Report and upcoming efforts at Astor Place. We have already learn more about our service to the community. expanded our digital presence and host of New streetscape construction is evident throughout community events, giving us the opportunity to the district, as both Ruth Wittenberg Triangle and broaden our audience, educate neighbors about Astor Place become neighborhood destinations. our services, and ultimately build strategic Pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements were partnerships that benefit the community. implemented along Sixth Avenue and 8th Street, Over the past two decades the Village Alliance while dozens of new planters now enhance 8th has been a major force in cleaning up our Street and University Place. These upgrades make streets, beautifying public spaces and promoting while our neighborhood more beautiful and green, the best the Village has to offer. We hope to see the changes nearly complete at Astor Place will you out on 8th Street, in Astor Place and transform the area from transient space to the throughout the district supporting our local district’s town square. businesses, attending events and in general We are always looking for ways to help our local enjoying the Village’s magnificent quality of life. merchants succeed and grow their business in We thank our stakeholders for your continued New York City’s challenging regulatory support, and welcome feedback on how we can environment. Our new loyalty card program, make the neighborhood a better place to live, Village Access, seeks to connect local residents work and visit. with local retail options by offering incentives not available anywhere else. The Village Alliance also offers educational and networking William Kelley Martin Dresner opportunities to our business community, free EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PRESIDENT ON THE COVER : Originally constructed as individual rowhouses in 1834-5, then- landlord Sailor’s Snug Harbor hired architect Harry Wiley Corbett in 1916 to convert much of 6-26 East 8th Street into apartments along with the north side of Washington Mews. Cited as a key example of early adaptive reuse, Andrew Dolkart mentions the buildings’ gardens as the oldest surviving example of a bold concept to unify rear yards into harmonious common space for residents. NYU acquired the properties in 1949, and in 2010 completed a meticulous façade restoration that brought out the surprisingly bright hues of the Mediterranean-inspired design, including replacement tiles from the Moravian Tile Works, source of the glorious original ceramic work. Marking the 100th year of these historic buildings, NYU’s careful stewardship merits receipt of the 2016 Norman Buchbinder Award. St re etscape Construction is nearing completion on the transformative Astor Place/Cooper Square Revitalization Project. While there are still a few short months of work left until all four of the new public spaces are open to the public at the end of the summer, the Village Alliance has been working with local government and community stakeholders so that the space is well-managed and can be enjoyed by all. We expect the plazas We had a successful year implementing the to be fully operational in September 2016. Follow Village Gateway vision, a multi-faceted approach our new “Astor Place NYC” social media channels to activate, beautify, orient and inform both on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on our visitors and residents at one of the busiest entry new information portal, astorplace.nyc . points to Greenwich Village. Through our Formal approval to reinstate the beloved mosaic advocacy efforts, the City implemented safer poles at Astor Place was also achieved this past pedestrian crossings along 8th Street and year. Jim Power, also known as the “Mosaic Man”, developed strategies to increase bicycle use of the has been creating his Mosaic Trail in New York corridor. This past summer we were able to place City’s East Village for over 30 years as a way to 25 new landscaped planters and two public art beautify and document the neighborhood’s installations in the district gateway, greening the history. The call to preserve the mosaic poles neighborhood and creating a “human-scale” as part of the streetscape first stemmed from environment for our main commercial outreach efforts in 2013 to discuss future thoroughfare. The final component of the project programming of the new plazas. Over the past is currently under construction with the year, a working group comprised of community expansion of Ruth Wittenberg Triangle, which advocates and representatives of the City of New will extend seating opportunities for pedestrians , York came together to develop a solution to include wayfinding signage and shorten restore the poles to the streetscape near their dangerous crossings along Sixth Avenue. original location in a manner befitting their The Village Alliance is also busy year-round caring importance to the community. for trees, tree pits, hanging baskets and other public landscaped areas in the Central Village. Our major streetscape project this spring was to install uniform planters and upgrade tree pit treatments along the University Place corridor between 8th and 13th Streets. This long- contemplated project now creates a greenway along the axis connecting two of the city’s great parks, Washington Square and Union Square. Small Businesses This past year saw This spring the the introduction of Village Alliance our neighborhood launched a new merchant loyalty campaign to program, the raise the profile Village Access Card , of Greenwich offering deals and Village’s incentives at dozens of local businesses not original Main available anywhere else. Launched last summer Street. The and expanded again in February, so far we have #My8thStreet distributed thousands of cards to local residents campaign will and employees in Village zip codes and look highlight the forward to expanding the program again this people, places summer. To get your free card and discover how and lifestyles of you can support small businesses in Greenwich one of the most Village, visit villagealliance.org/deals. iconic streets in New York City. Building on our popular summer Saturday guided Working with tours, we wanted to offer a way to draw additional photographer visitors to the neighborhood throughout the year Julie Brown, we will feature dozens of images of who would support our local merchants. To do so, stores, restaurants and services that make our we created a web-based, mobile-friendly app for corner of the world unique, quirky and vibrant. use on any type of phone that offers 25 curated Starting out on our digital channels, the walking tours, focusing on everything from art, campaign will progress to themed weeks and architecture and literature to food and pop culture events throughout the coming year. (villagealliance.org/tours). The Village Alliance also supports local businesses by distributing thousands Our neighborhood social media channels of neighborhood shopping and dining guides to continue to engage over 15,000 followers under NYC hotels, the tag “Greenwich Village NYC,” reflecting our tourist and intent to provide content that appeals to the university broader neighborhood as well as to those interested information in learning about and/or visiting Greenwich centers, and Village. Follow us on Facebook (Greenwich Village also at our NY), Twitter (@GrnVillageNYC) and Instagram Village (@GreenwichVillageNYC) for the latest Information neighborhood news, events and business Booth at Ruth information. If social media is not your focus, then Wittenberg visit our website, villagealliance.org, and subscribe Triangle. to our monthly e-newsletter, The Village Beat. Commun ity Eve nts The Village Alliance has been actively increasing applications and software to grow their audience. our visibility in the community, largely through We also hosted a networking happy hour with the community events, often in partnership with local Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of businesses or advocacy organizations. This gives us Commerce to foster connections between our the opportunity to broaden our audience, educate local business community, both within the district neighbors about our services, and ultimately build and throughout downtown more broadly. Beyond strategic partnerships that benefit the community. small business interests, we also partnered with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation In September, the Village Alliance produced the to present a lecture on Village housing policies in 13th Annual Taste of the Village benefit for the 60s which drew a sold out crowd. Washington Square Park, offering an opportunity for local restaurants Neighbors came to provide samples to out “on the road” nearly 500 guests. with the Village Producing the event Alliance on a in conjunction with Saturday afternoon the Washington in May at the fourth Square
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