By Charlie Ban
FOR THE VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Monday, January 12, 2009
Vandergrift entrepreneurs and organizers have been busy recently, opening businesses, planning a farmers market and other improvements to the borough.
The Vandergrift Improvement Program, Inc, a nonprofit community development corporation, has been in the middle of the action, recruiting businesses to fill vacant properties and renovating the streetscape though its Main Street program.
The organization operates through the National Trust for Historic Preservation and since 2005 has distributed more than $30,000 in grants for commercial facade improvements
Main Street manager Shaun Yurcaba said vacant storefronts make up about 40 percent of the Main Street area, defined for the program as parts of Grant, Columbia and Washington avenues, with an emphasis on Grant and Columbia.
“We still have a long road with the economy, but we’re making progress here,” she said.
“We’ve had a lot of visitors that have followed up and are keeping track of the success we have and have contacted us in regards to their interest in moving here.”
The project has also been able to secure funding for several projects.
The Department of Community and Economic Development has awarded a $40,000 grant for a feasibility and planning study for a farmers market. The Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance has pledged almost $1,000 to the Vandergrift Fine Arts Festival, now in its third year, planned for late May and early June.
State Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park, has obtained $25,000 grant for redeveloping Memorial Park and renaming it after Wayne Teeple, the late founder of the Vandergrift Improvement Project.
Yurcaba said all of the efforts will culminate to provide the next step in the borough’s development.
“Our goal is to show people Vandergrift is livable and investment-worthy and build off of that enthusiasm,” she said.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
Several local entrepreneurs have caught the Vandergrift fever recently.
Tanya Tillman opened Cafe Naomi on Columbia Avenue partially to add a coffee house and small bakery to the area, but also to honor her mother, Naomi Farrar, a former Babcock & Wilcox employee who died after a battle with cancer.
“My mother would bake for days, and she and my grandmother taught me a lot,” she said.
In addition to offering Tillman’s mother’s and grandmother’s traditional selections, Cafe Naomi sells Syrian bread, once a staple of the now-defunct Bitar’s in New Kensington.
Her friends Shayle and Brandon Prorok do cake decorating and her son, Dan, helps out while she works as a residential aid at Passavant Memorial Homes.
In the first month, Cafe Naomi has started to gather some regulars while Tillman expands the menu.
“People are kind of ‘cookied out’ now after the holidays, so we are selling more soups and sandwiches,” she said.
A minor rebound in the local economy and a renewed emphasis on community planning convinced Mark Carino to reopen Carino’s Restaurant on Grant Avenue, which has been closed for almost three years.
He has retooled the restaurant’s format, simplifying the menu, which dropped prices to $13, from $20 to $35 a meal.
“You have to be sensitive to customers’ circumstances,” he said. “If they’re going to cut back, they’re not going to eat out, and you’re making it easy for them by setting prices so high.
“I closed when I saw the market was going flat,” Carino said. “I didn’t see anyone in Vandergrift being proactive about keeping businesses in the area.”
While Carino commuted from his Allegheny Township home to stints cooking for the Professional Golfers Association Tour and NASCAR, Vandergrift got serious about business retention.
Vandergrift Variety on Grant Avenue and Solomon’s Tires on Washington Avenue have also opened in the past year.
Pam Clemence opened her specialty pet store, Pampered Puppies, also along Grant Avenue, without any assistance or coaxing from the Main Street program.
Shortly after she moved to Vandergrift, she noticed a multitude of dogs, but no groomers.
She does not sell puppies and kittens, but in addition to various grooming services and all-natural shampoos, Clemence offers a variety of exotic animals, including snakes.
“Dog grooming has really taken off, but in general, business has taken off slowly, but it’s only been a few months.”
Tillman, a long-time Vandergrift resident typifies the program’s goal: “You used to do all your shopping in Vandergrift, and at some point that stopped,” she said. “I’m not sure if it is because of the malls, but we’re starting to turn that around now.”
Carino said even without money to give, the VIP organization would be a success.
“When you have people in the community like that, changing the attitude, it’s attractive to businesses,” he said. “It’s nice to know you have a resource.”
Main Street manager Yurcaba said: “It’s a good indicator that people see that there’s something special about Vandergrift. It’s a positive momentum that they want to be a part of.”
