Arts-Based Planning For Downtown

"Deborah Nieto Leber foresees a special district in downtown Cranford where visitors can tour artists' studios and gain a greater appreciation for their works.

Leber's dream may become reality, depending upon a study now under way to determine whether the Downtown Management Corp. should make an effort to attract artists into the area.

'Essentially we are looking to develop an arts community, and we are looking at the entire downtown, not just a particular street,' [said Kathleen Miller Prunty, the corporation's director.]

'There are some long- and short-term goals, with the long term being the actual purchase of a building that would house working artists,' Prunty said."