PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS:  Advancement of the innovative Public Private Partnership (“PPP”) paradigm continues to attract owners of individual sites and properties to voluntarily join with their neighbors to both preserve and strengthen their interests and community. The prospects of retaining a pro rata interest in the site, of being able to relocate but stay in business when desired, of development bonuses through a PPP, and being able to influence selection of developers; are all much more appealing to owners than the lurking possibility of an eventual eminent domain redevelopment which will not involve their interests at all.

Many current owners are already making maximum use of relatively small properties, with ventures declining both in sales and market appeal. Individually, they are locked into their sites. Collectively, they can mutually enhance their ability to sell or reinvigorate their businesses with appealing new construction and an ongoing interest in their sites. Holders of some larger parcels often face a checkerboard of unmotivated surrounding smaller parcels, frustrating their highest and best use as well. The PPP concept offers all of them several rare and flexible mutually beneficial opportunities.

PPP participation is also a key element of Federal funding for sustainable TOD, with the realistic potential to bring critically needed additional funds to Stamford.  The East Side is a densely populated neighborhood of diverse ethnicity and income, with a nexus of roadways, bus and rail operations.

The East Side Partnership has both identified and coordinated support for TOD as a natural stimulus for a “village” of density advantaged construction of workforce housing surrounding a new “reliever” railroad station serving both the New Haven Division and the New Canaan Branch of Metro North. The site, along Myrtle Avenue under I-95, is abuts the CT Transit service depot, another major intermodal plus. Area residents will benefit by being able to meet nearly all their daily needs without having to drive. Walking distance shopping, employment opportunities, and convenient mass transit will all help make that possible.

Existing housing stock on small residential lots retains much of its original 19th and early 20th Century appeal and charm.  Energy conservation, renovation and basic maintenance efforts can inexpensively maintain this stock of “starter” homes for many current and new Stamford residents.  The ESP has successfully championed six amendments to Stamford’s Zoning Regulations, prohibiting unsafe and environmentally damaging activities, such as paving over of front yards and illegal curb cuts.  Families and residents of the East Side – as well as other older Stamford neighborhoods – will enjoy the beauty and safety of these homes, lawns, trees and gardens, instead of asphalt.  These changes not only represent aesthetic improvement, but contribute to controlling drainage and runoff, making them as much a natural resource to these neighborhoods as their diversity.

KELLIE’S COMMUNITY GARDEN:  The ESP, in cooperation with the Domus Foundation, has created what we believe to be the largest urban on-campus community garden in the state, at 83 Lockwood Avenue. This has become an integrated part of the Domus curriculum as well as a career development and nutritional education component, serving both the Domus students and the area’s residents. That service will continue to be expanded over the next 24-months into an on-going and self-supporting Farmers Market  serving not only  Domus students and families, but the East Side community, as well as  and the entire City of Stamford.

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH:  The ESP has entered into a relationship with the Outreach staff of Domus to increase its services to students, the unemployed, as well as to businesses in its core service area.  Domus Outreach interviews and evaluates persons seeking employment or better jobs, and refers them to The East Side Partnership for placement. The Partnership is then able to place these individuals with the appropriate employers—primarily—but not exclusively in the East Side, as dictated by available jobs.

DOMUS MODEL FUNCTIONING OFFICE: Chartering one of the most unique educational programs in the United States, the ESP has expanded its offices into a new facility located within Trailblazers Academy, the Domus facility at 83 Lockwood Avenue. This “model office” will serve not only as an extension of the ESP’s administrative facilities, but also as a crucible for career development and professional training.   The goals for this new program not only include the self-actualization of Domus and Childcare Learning Center students, but also area residents, and the community.  The ESP’s practice of involving students in meetings has already proven to have a lifetime impact on many individuals, teaching how they, themselves, can make positive changes in their environment.

BUSINESS SUPPORT & CHANGE-MAKING:  The ESP’s ongoing work and support of area properties continues to improve conditions. The stalled supermarket conversion in the Clark’s Hill Shopping Center has been moved off dead center. A new IGA Fresh market is expected to open there in September. The ESP is also actively engaging brokers for Fortunoff Outdoors, a major bicycle shop, and other businesses into contact with area property owners. The ESP’s constant efforts to build cooperation among purchasers and sellers helps facilitate change, while, at the same time, the ESP strives to diversify and attract next generation businesses to the East Side.  The ESP also helps promote existing businesses, such as Marinaro Express, which is expanding into a full-service communication provider.

CLEAN, SAFE, AND GREEN: The ESP’s slogan is an agenda.  It is promoted in a series of Street Banners funded through a State OPM Grant to enhance and promote the local business environment. 

“Clean” is reinforced by students retained to remove debris daily from East Main Street; as well as routine cooperation with the City of Stamford’s Citizen’s Service office for removal of major items from area streets. Graffiti removal within 24-hours is just another component of the ESP’s tireless efforts to contribute to the East Side’s cleanliness and safety.  

The ESP promotes “Safety” through its close relationship with the Stamford Police Department, and serves as a conduit to and from area residents and businesses regarding suspected illegal activities, as well as help solving crimes, and working to eliminate three massage parlors. Command officers assigned to the East Side are in routine contact with the ESP. Most recently the ESP has begun a capital campaign to support and expand the Stamford Police Department’s K-9 Unit.

“Green” goes beyond Kellie’s Community Garden. It extends to gardens all along East Main Street, planters along the roadway, replacement of dead or damaged street trees, weed and debris removal from vacant properties and the State’s rights-of-way.  Finally, the successes and lessons learned from Kellie’s Community Garden have led to an application for a federal grant to support a community farmer’s market as well as a second Community Garden on Crystal Street.

NEIGHBORS LINK INITIATIVE: The ESP is participating with other leaders from Stamford’s corporate, civic, non-profit, educational and religious communities to implement the healthy integration of recent immigrants into the community and workforce. This is much more than an attempt to “manage” the day laborers who gather on local streets waiting for employers to pick them up. An indoor facility will attract many of those men, who now wait for work in bitter cold or unbearably hot weather, and also improve conditions for the local retail environment.

This facility will be patterned after the very successful Neighbors Link agency, which operates a multi-function center for immigrants in nearby Mount Kisco, New York. The Neighbors Link model includes both English and general education, job training and placement, “green” cleaning, advocacy, recreation, a food service ‘canteen,’ childcare, homemaking and family counseling services. It is an inclusive, voluntary, and attractive center for new immigrants.

The Stamford Initiative is planning to have a local facility identified, funded, and in operation by early 2011.