Fair Lawn chosen for federal program to help revitalize Broadway business district

Fair Lawn has been chosen for a new federal program that will help fund a revitalization of the Broadway business district.

The section along Broadway, which is a highway thoroughfare in the borough, is in “desperate need of transformation,” said Ryan Greff, executive director of Fair Lawn Main Street Inc.

Fair Lawn Main Street Inc., the borough's administrative management for two special improvement districts, was recently chosen as one of 65 organizations throughout the country for the International Economic Development Council’s Economic Recovery Corps. This new fellowship program aims to address long-standing economic issues across the country that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Economic Development Council, which is a nonprofit that serves economic developers, was able to bring the fellowship program to life after being authorized by the CARES Act and a $30 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. Fair Lawn was the only town in New Jersey to be selected for the new program.

The federal program will fund a full-time person to specifically focus on revitalizing Broadway for the next 2½ years, at a cost estimated at $275,000. Greff thanked the New Jersey Business Action Center, within the State Department, for its help on the application to the fellowship program.

“One of the big challenges that exist during the pandemic that they noticed was capacity,” Greff said. “Let’s say you had all these resources, you give them to a small town, but they don’t have the bandwidth to do anything with them. This program was meant to be a support system to assign someone full time to work … having a full-time person on the revitalization of Broadway is immensely helpful.”

One future goal of the revitalization effort will be bringing public art to the NJ Transit train station on Broadway. Greff also said there will be an effort to bring more greenery to the area to make the district something “we have a sense of pride in as a community.”

Tiolora Lumbantoruan, the Economic Recovery Corps fellow who started working in early February, is in the process of reviewing analyses done by the organizations around the borough to see what ideas there were in the past. This, along with conversations with other stakeholders, is helping her get a sense of what priorities will be for Broadway and ways to make the district “friendlier.”

The goals will be to continue to support existing businesses, make an environment that is inviting for future business and increase pedestrian safety, Lumbantoruan said.

“It will be exciting, and I think the fact that this is a highway going through a town is an interesting and exciting challenge,” Lumbantoruan said. “Talking with local stakeholders, they’ve all been open and excited, and you can see the passion for their city.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fair Lawn NJ picked for federal program to help revitalize Broadway