East Falls business leaders and Councilman Derek Green toured our business corridor last week to discuss issues facing local growth and development.
As a Councilman At-Large, Derek Green focuses on issues affecting Philly as a whole, as opposed to our Curtis Jones who is elected to serve a local district. Last Wednesday, Green came out to East Falls to get a vibe on our commercial corridor — to walk our streets, and talk informally with neighborhood business leaders about their goals and concerns.
The tour, organized by the East Falls Development Corporation’s Gina Snyder, started at Legacy Tennis (which kindly provided a van), and followed Ridge up to Midvale for a detour to BuLogics. On the way, Felicite Moorman filled Councilman Green in on a recent neighborhood survey that indicated the Number One new business desired in East Falls was a coffeeshop. He seemed happy to hear about plans underway to renovate a red-painted rowhome into an espresso bar with community space for artists and Etsyers to sell and promote their latest efforts.
Meanwhile, Mike Untermeyer of 4th Street Cookies (coming soon!) chatted up fellow newcomer Brian Beard, whose Allstate Insurance branch opened earlier this year, a short ways up on Ridge. Both are looking forward to engaging East Falls’ community and creating their own special niche here.
Ryan Buchert invited the group inside BuLogic’s buzz-worthy new office, formerly a supermarket and a movie theater before that. These days, the treehouse-like space is loosely subdivided into work and — perhaps oddly — play areas for their team of engineers, who are basically free to come & go as they please.
Perks include unlimited vacation (!), snacks out the wazoo, a kegerator, foosball table, game and movie nights, yoga and massage… Musical instruments are scattered around, too, along with bright green bean bags & fresh flowers. It’s all very “Silicon Valley” with an East Falls spin.
Reps from other local businesses included Lolita Sanders (Dobson Mills), John Park (How Properties), Jim Williamson (Slices Pizza), Gerald Simons (Mellow Massage and Yoga), and Jasmine Fields from Trolley Car Cafe, where the tour finished with lively conversation over lunch. Brian Higgins, a rep for Councilman At-Large Allan Domb also joined the day’s activities.
Gina Snyder was extremely happy with the tour: “We greatly appreciated Councilman Green’s and Domb’s interest in the East Falls Riverfront Business District and economic development. I was happy to bring together a great community of business people who are excited to be working together and were happy to show off our village and the new things we have planned.”
The East Falls Development Corp. is dedicated to the economic revitalization of East Falls for the benefit of East Falls. They are always taking new volunteers. Check out their website: EastFalls-PA.com
The East Falls Business Association meets regularly on topics such as taxes, marketing, PR, and more, with the focus on local traffic sharing, networking and collaboration of all kinds. If you own a business here — or aspire to! — the EFBA is a great place to connect with other entrepreneurial types for information, inspiration, and more.
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