With "guys in suits" having replaced the "artists, weirdos and blue-collar families" that surrounded Adam Davidson while growing up in the Village in the 1970s, he wonders if mom-and-pop shops can survive the neighborhood's extreme gentrification.
With Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren replacing the mom-and-pop stores from his youth, Davidson, an economist, wonders how the few locally owned stalwarts have managed to survive. What Davidson found surprised him: it wasn't those that re-made themselves to keep up with the changing tastes of the neighborhood that remained, it was those that did not.
"Perhaps these small business survivors weren't the smartest or fittest. They were run by unusually risk-averse businesspeople who sold a product whose value just happened to grow in lock step with the neighborhood."
"Michael Stewart, who co-owns Tavern on Jane, put it more bluntly. He's surviving, he said, because he's not an especially ambitious businessman. Stewart's sales have risen over the past few years, but he takes home less money than he used to. He pays three times as much in rent as he did on his first lease, in 1995. Food costs more, too. 'If I just cared about the money,' he said, 'I'd have closed a long time ago.' Instead, he'll remain open 'as long as the place is covering the costs.'"
FULL STORY: Can Mom-and-Pop Shops Survive Extreme Gentrification?

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
Large investors are quietly buying up dozens of properties in Altadena, California, where a devastating wildfire destroyed more than 6,000 homes in January.

Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
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Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont