Raritan Avenue continues to ride the storm

As Highland Park's economic strategists wait out the Great Recession, business owners and residents report a mixed bag of results.

James McCrone, executive director of the non-profit organization Main Street Highland Park (MSHP), says development of the downtown "is not strictly political or governmental; it is a process."

"Though the downtown is "far from a finished product, it is definitely a work-in-progress that has had its successes and continues to move forward."

"Maybe one of the biggest assets in the community is that Highland Park is known as being very safe to live and work in," says Mario Diaz, who manages Highland Printing Center and also owns a specialty printing business, Feather Print. "That has been my experience here. Between the borough government and Town Hall this is a very good place to do business."

 

While he's hopeful about the future, Diaz says parking continues to be an issue downtown. Additional parking "would make a significant difference," especially to his business, he says -- an opinion shared by George Morga across the street at Everybody's Barber Shop.

 

Morga says the downtown area has made advances in recent years, but that parking and the lack of a cogent theme along the H.P. stretch of Route 27 could be important to drawing more people to town.

"Just relying on people who live here to patronize businesses will not do it. I think cultivating the artistic community is important because that gives people a reason to come to town," Morga said.

This sentiment too was echoed by Diaz, the printer, noting that Highland Park's artists create a "dynamic of the overall community, that draws people" to the borough.

One detractor to the community, Morga said, can be relations between landlords and tenants. He cites a retail store in his block that closed last spring, rather than accept a rent increase near the depths of the recession.

The store has been empty for eleven months. "I wonder how much good getting another $300 per month was, when the actual result was a store left totally empty for as long as this has been," Morga said.

McCrone of MSHP noted that tenant-landlord relations are part of his group's agenda. They work closely with borough hall and business leaders to support and nurture the traditional downtown.

"Main Street works with all of the borough's (115) businesses. Most are owner-operated, with the exception of some stores like Stop 'n Shop and Rite Aid, among others."

"Last Wednesday, the town held a public meeting about redevelopment and I spoke, endorsing a project that would replace the closed-down Sunoco station in town," McCrone said. (More on that in next week's Mirror - Ed.)

Main Street's committee chair Paul Lanaris, who owns and operates NJ Best Home Inspections from Highland Park, said that Main Street has made a significant impact in town, and credits Tete Peruvian Restaurant and White Lotus Home as coming to town because of efforts that began with Main Street. In addition, Feather Print's owner, Mario Diaz, said the organization has helped to define the downtown and create a more business-friendly environment than Highland Park is already known for.

Meanwhile, Lanaris said as a resident he is looking forward to a downtown experience that is more focused on pedestrian traffic rather than vehicular traffic. Ironically, this often-heard wish is in some tension with merchants' desire for more parking for motorists. Yet, Lanaris says, the town has seen positive movement forward in this and it is a matter of townspeople and merchants coming together for positive change.

In all, McCrone said there are about 200 business people in town that are active, to one degree or another, with Main Street. As well as Lanaris' Organization committee, MSHP sponsors committees to address Design, Economic Development and Promotions in the downtown.