PfH Gets Earful in a Contentious 2-Hour Meeting

Haddonfield's business improvement district (BID) officials fielded questions, comments and rants from a small group of business owners Wednesday evening as part of a strategy to be more accessible.

The freewheeling meeting was quickly taken over by several very vocal business and property owners who spoke out of turn and frequently peppered board members from the Partnership for Haddonfield, the borough's tax-funded, business improvement district, with questions and comments.

"You're treated like crap if you're a business owner in this town," said Dave Welsh, owner of the Haddonfield Running Company shoe and apparel store on Kings Highway East. "I don't think this town helps any stores. Instead we get harassed about things like signs in our windows."

Welsh said a borough code enforcement officer once came into his store and dropped a piece of trash on his counter. He said the piece of paper with his store info on it was blowing around the street and the official tersely told him it needed to be cleaned up. Welsh said the action was inappropriate and he had a customer in the store at the time.

The nine volunteer board members, two alternates, two paid staff members and Commissioner Jeff Kasko, who oversees the PfH for the borough Board of Commissioners, sat in front of a long, conference table at the head of the room. They struggled to keep comments civil and implored the 15 attendees in the Municipal Hall auditorium that seats 150, to “keep it positive.” The 5:30 p.m. meeting was scheduled after several recent published reports about storeowners who were unhappy with the PfH and in particular, Lisa Hurd, the retail coordinator.

Hurd is one of only two part-time paid employees for the PfH. She makes an annual salary of about $44,000. The other paid staff is Rosalie Shapiro, the board administrator who makes $14,900 yearly.

In 2004, the borough established the Haddonfield Business Improvement District, a commercial zoning area within which additional taxes are levied on property owners to fund townwide shopping and cross-promotional efforts.

Haddonfield also established a management corporation, the Partnership for Haddonfield (PFH), then to oversee the use of these funds. In 2010, the PFH tax totaled a quarter of a million dollars, or 65 percent of its budget; another 26 percent, or $101,357, came from a percentage of its prior year surplus.

Bad timing? 

The board meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 8:30 a.m., a time some shopkeepers say is inconvenient for them.

Chairperson Susan Hodges, an attorney at Archer & Greiner, opened Wednesday evening’s meeting by reading several emails from businesses. One initial complaint was about promotions on two consecutive nights last week. The Girls Night Out promotion on Thursday was followed by First Friday. Both encouraged storeowners to keep shops open late but some complained the consecutive promos were poorly planned and First Friday fell on a Jewish holiday.

Other complaints revolved around the Tanner Street construction project that has dragged on for a year and has severely affected some merchants on the narrow gateway into the heart of the Kings Highway business district.

“None of the night promotions work for us,” said Wendy Kates, from the vintage shop, Stardust Memories. “Nobody walks down Tanner Street.”

One of the reasons night traffic is down on Tanner Street is because new streetlights have yet to be installed after a belowground and up remake of the street. The project was scheduled to be done in mid-September but is still not complete.

PfH members tried to explain that construction projects on Tanner Street and Ellis and Potter streets, two main thoroughfares into town, were out of their jurisdiction and controlled and planned by the borough and county.

But some participants weren’t buying it.

“I’ll say, chairperson, I rate your performance as a fail,” said a well-dressed man in an oxford shirt and tie who initially declined to identify himself to a reporter. “I don’t think you’re an advocate for our business district. If you look at your resume, you have no retail business experience. I don’t care if your resume is weak. Become an advocate of downtown. Don’t just take it to build up your resume.”

Hodges, the PfH chairperson, sat stoically during the man’s withering 10-minute rant before responding.

“You really don’t know me personally and if you did I don’t think you’d be saying that.”

The man was later identified as E. Guy Elzey III, whose family is one of the largest commercial property owners in Haddonfield. Elzey said he helped establish the borough business improvement district in 2004.

“Initially, the BID was very effective,” Elzey said. “I’ll tell you right now it’s ineffective. It suffers because the merchants and the landlords have a lack of respect and confidence in the BID.”

Elzey quickly left the room after holding the floor for nearly 15 minutes in a back and forth with Hodges. After he left, another merchant in the audience apologized to Hodges for what he said were “inappropriate” comments.

There were some bright spots for the PfH.

Matt Titus, owner of A Taste of Home deli, said he supported the PfH.

“The entertainment, the promotion, the advertising to bring these events together pay my rent,” he said. “The gentleman that was totally out of line, his real issues, whatever they were, were not being addressed.”

Several others also spoke about the benefits of the PfH and that most of its members are volunteers. Even Welsh, who peppered the board with questions and comments during the session, said afterward, he thought he was getting his money’s worth from the PfH.

“It’s money well spent,” said Welsh of his portion of rent that goes for the BID tax. “I don’t pay anything for marketing.”

There were also a few laughs.

There was a discussion of having a Halloween event on Tanner Street. Shopkeeper Kates said:

“Tanner Street is perfect for Halloween. It’s dark and scary.”

Titus said he thought he’d be bored at the two-hour meeting, but concluded.
“My God, this was electrifying.”