Page 48 - Bloomberg_Businessweek

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Saving Main Street

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The mayor’s best-known effort is a zoning
ordinance that prevents formula businesses—
city planner jargon for chains with standard-
ized stores such as Starbucks Corp. and
Target Corp.—from occupying more than
30 percent of the ground floor of commercial
areas of buildings. The city council enacted the
rule in 2015 to preserve the “distinctive sense
of place and unique neighborhood character”
of downtown, the ordinance states. “You don’t
Formula-business restrictions want small business owners who’ve stuck with
have helped independent shops the city through the bad and the good to get
across the U.S. survive squeezed out,” Fulop says. “There’s a real risk
to the long-term health of the city when you
look at where retail is going.”
At least 30 cities and towns across the
Like many elected officials, Jersey City Mayor country, from San Francisco to McCall,
Steven Fulop talks a lot about the need to sup- Idaho, have enacted similar rules. Some ban
port small businesses. Unlike many, he’s put all chain stores from certain neighborhoods;
policies in place to help owners survive rent others cap how many such businesses can
hikes, secure low-interest loans, and get expe- move into an area; still others require approval
January 29, 2018 dited business permits. More than 600 small on a case-by-case basis. Stacy Mitchell,
businesses have opened since Fulop became co- director of the Institute for Local Self-
Edited by
Dimitra Kessenides mayor of New Jersey’s second-biggest city in Reliance (ILSR), an advocacy nonprofit for
and David Rocks ILLUSTRATION BY 731
2013. “We’re seeing a renaissance,” he says. sustainable community development, says
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