VIBRANT STREETS

Vibrant Streets is an initiative created to encourage successful neighborhood retail environments from the grassroots up. The focus of the program is to give neighborhoods the tools to create a Vibrant Street of their own, regardless of population, ethnic composition, location, income, or budget. The Vibrant Streets Toolkit can be used by retailers, businesses, merchants associations, government agencies, neighborhoods, and community groups to make incremental, measured improvements in their commercial districts to attract shops and restaurants. Vibrant Streets originated from a study completed by Streetsense of Bethesda, Maryland, in April 2012. Announced by Mayor Vincent Gray, the DC Vibrant Retail Streets Toolkit became the foundation for all of the research that has taken place to date. At the presentation of the Toolkit, Harriet Tregoning, Director of D.C.s Office of Planning, stated, The District of Columbia has all the ingredients to be an extraordinary retail city. The Vibrant Retail Streets Toolkit provides the framework to help achieve this vision. Following the release of the DC Toolkit, a Vibrant Streets website was created, 14 Vibrant Streets webinars drew over 350 participants from almost 300 communities, and the initiative's founders, Heather Arnold and James McCandless, were invited to speak in New Orleans, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Richmond, VA; and Washington, DC. Vibrant Streets objectives: To help communities grow economically by promoting business and development, creating jobs, expanding their tax base, increasing property values, and improving quality of life; To create a point of intersection for the residents, workforce, visitors, and students of a community and through that intersection a sense of investment in each other and well-being for one another; To educate communities about the fundamental aspects of retail business operations and site-selection decision-making; To foster physical and social connections between Vibrant Streets retailers and surrounding residents; and To give neighborhoods the necessary tools to become change-agents and advocates for the type of market-appropriate retail they desire. In 2012, the International Downtown Association awarded Vibrant Streets a Downtown Merit Award for its contributions to research in the field of downtown revitalization.

VIBRANT STREETS

VIBRANT STREETS TOOLKIT

MANAGED

RETAIL-APPROPRIATE

MIXED

SAFE

CHAMPIONED

ANCHORED

WALKABLE

UNIFIED

THE STEPS DEFINED: MANAGED: A Vibrant Street needs a single entity (i.e., a non-profit organization, a business improvement district, a majority property owner, a merchants association) to organize, represent, and oversee interests that impact the entire street. RETAIL-APPROPRIATE: Demand for retail uses in a Vibrant Street environment must exist to successfully sustain stores, eateries, and services. Additionally, retail uses have basic architectural, dimensional, and utility requirements that must be met. Finally, retailers have the best opportunities to thrive when surrounded by other retailers. MIXED: The mix of retail establishments on a Vibrant Street should correspond to its customer bases retail needs. CHAMPIONED: Retailers make significant personal or corporate investments in their establishments. They are more willing to make a commitment where another public or private entity has made a similar investment. ANCHORED: The most notable Vibrant Streets are integrated into the community that surrounds them. Anchoring a retail district with a civic or cultural use or activity creates additional exposure for commercial establishments, but also provides non-commercial, complementary activity along the street. WALKABLE: The most reliable customer base for any retailer is the surrounding community (residents or members of the workforce). A walkable, connected street increases the retailers ability to capture reliable, regular sales. UNIFIED: Creating an authentic brand or reason to be for a Vibrant Street draws customers can easily and more often to an experience, rather than to individual establishments.

VIBRANT STREETS TOOLKIT