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MassDevelopment TDI team reports progress on High Street trash, BID planning and small-business grants
Summary
Kevin Forte of MassDevelopment’s TDI update the Holyoke Redevelopment Authority on a three-part strategy — trash collection and streetscape work, formation of a business improvement district and a TDI equity grant program that has funded downtown storefronts — and urged local partners to sustain gains if TDI funding ends in August.
Kevin Forte, MassDevelopment TDI project lead, told the Holyoke Redevelopment Authority on Feb. 19 that the High Street Experiment is entering a more sustainable second year focused on cleanliness, safety and targeted capital investments.
Forte said TDI’s downtown work has concentrated on basic appearance and operations, and highlighted three initiatives: a trash-can and pickup program, formation of a business improvement district (BID) and a TDI equity grant program for small storefront businesses.
"A large focus for us has been the basics. So safety and security, cleanliness, and just the general appearance of the downtown," Forte said. He described TDI-financed purchases and outreach that led to placement of 18 trash cans on High Street and a once-weekly sponsored pickup service that he said has been received positively by business owners.
The TDI team also has been working with a consultant retained via the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development to design a BID. Forte said a successful BID would create a private fund, drawn from property owners and businesses in a defined area, to pay for supplemental services — for example, continuing trash pickup, landscape maintenance and events — but cautioned the legal formation process is “incredibly complicated,” requiring property-owner majorities and formal city approvals.
On TDI equity grants, Forte said the program has now put money into multiple downtown firms: "This round we have $374,000 that were invested in 5 businesses in the downtown," he said, and he noted prior rounds of roughly $280,000 and $370,000 in earlier years. He said the grant program has moved under a statewide "one-stop" administration and that the state has allocated $1 million to the program, though how additional locally raised funds will be managed is still under discussion.
Forte said the TDI contract supporting local staff runs through Aug. 31 and that staff are preparing to leave tools and institutional knowledge in place should the state or TDI not extend local funding. "If TDI actually ends on August 31, then that's a legacy that's gonna go into the next year," he said.
Board members pressed on safety and housing as related issues. The board and Forte discussed visible open-air drug activity and a transient population downtown; Forte said increasing businesses and foot traffic, together with collaboration with police and mayoral offices, are among the strategies being pursued. Board members also urged the city to consider covering the modest ongoing costs for trash pickup rather than relying on private sponsorships.
Forte said TDI has also funded landscaping, planters and tree-pit cleanup and that the program is testing small blocks of planters to evaluate maintenance needs and public response. He said several additional storefronts are in early stages of opening and that concentrated cluster growth is necessary to create sustained downtown activity.
