"How can we save our beloved mom-and-pop shops from gentrification?"

"Much of suburban and rural America long ago said farewell to the corner store or local watering hole. People gather instead to buy their dry goods at Wal-mart and meet for drinks at Applebee’s. But a few of the nation’s more densely populated cities have continued to provide a healthy environment for small independent retail stores, restaurants, cafés and bars, establishments that function as essential and beloved links in the community.

These establishments aren’t just window dressing. They’re a big part of the reason that living in the city feels different and exciting. They’re the amenities that make neighborhoods attractive and valuable, touted by real-estate agents looking to close the condo sale or make the high-end apartment rental. And they’re in danger...

In San Francisco, a city traditionally open to government intervention and regulation, voters just passed Proposition J, a measure to assist some endangered longtime business owners with cash grants. Prop J joins existing restrictions on chain stores in some of the city’s neighborhood shopping districts.

Elsewhere, a timetable for action remains elusive. In New York, a proposal that would require landlords to offer 10-year leases and submit to binding arbitration when negotiating rents has been stuck in committee for 30 years...

“I think it’s really ripping the heart and soul out of our city,” says Kevin Hunsanger, a co-owner of the beloved Green Apple Books in San Francisco. “Especially when it comes to bars, because we don’t have places to gather and meet and converse anymore. Coffee shops are now becoming office spaces. Nobody communicates anymore. Bookstores are (among the) few (places) where you can really go and spend time. There are fewer and fewer places where people can just get together and talk with each other.”"

http://interactive.nydailynews.com/2016/04/save-mom-pop-shops-gentrification/?utm_source=nextdraft&utm_medium=email

FB: "In some parts of the world, cities see enough value in certain types of businesses that they actively protect or even subsidize them. Since 2004, Paris has had the Vital’Quartier program, in which the city’s planning department buys buildings in historic neighborhoods and leases space at reasonable rents to cafés, bookstores and the like. In Buenos Aires, the Bares Notables program certifies drinking establishments deemed of cultural importance. And in London, the Assets of Community Value program allows a neighborhood’s residents to nominate places like pubs in recognition of their “social interest.” Since 2013, designated businesses qualify for tax breaks and grants, and there is also a “community right to bid” that allows neighbors to organize and propose a cooperative plan for businesses if the properties go up for sale."