Village Life: What we mean by Economic Vitality in Woodfords Corner
In 2014, neighbors Eric Larsson and Andy Schmidt, and launched a Facebook group trying to raise important questions about traffic, safety, urban planning, and how the future MDOT project would have on Woodfords Corner and surrounding neighborhoods. In 2015, myself and another group of neighbors, unaware of the FB page, and annoyed by the accumulated trash, organized the first annual Railroad clean-up. We hung up posters asking for help and got the city to bring trucks to haul the trash away. Thirty people came to the that first community event and all at once, we had energy around caring for the corner. People who had never met before were carrying big loads of trash, laughing and sharing ideas about how to make the corner better from the ground up, not waiting for some top down changes to happen. .
Back then, Woodfords Corner had a bleak reputation. Most people thought of the area as a difficult, unsafe and unattractive because of the dominance of Forest Avenue traffic and a very gnarly intersection. This bad reputation is fair—many commercial buildings were empty, some poorly maintained, sidewalks and crosswalks challenging and often very dangerous, graffiti and trash abounded. Not surprisingly, no one really paid attention to the corner as a whole and the history and potential that existed. As the second busiest intersection in the state, it seemed like the Forest Avenue “traffic canyon” was destined to remain as it was, and basically, Woodfords Corner was to be avoided.
This reputation obscured so much that was great about the Corner. There are four beautiful surrounding neighborhoods—Deering Center, Deering Highlands, Woodfords-Oakdale, and Back Cove, with a mix of single-family, duplexes and multifamily dwellings. Several of these neighborhoods have strong neighborhood associations. There is a full range of diversity—age, race, income, education, backgrounds and interests. There are more than two hundred small businesses within a half-mile walk of the intersection, and a large portion of them are immigrant and/or minority-owned and operated. There is a Metro line with several stops along the corridor. There are multiple historic buildings, six public green spaces, nine ethnic markets, coffee shops, bagel places, and a slew of new restaurants—Maiz, Woodfords F&B, Local Press, Tipo, Bird & Co. And there are our legacy businesses—those that have been here for many decades—Big Sky Bakery, Great Lost Bear, Bayou Kitchen, Merrill Seafood, Mr. Bagel, and Dunkin Donuts. There is a consignment boutique, art gallery, multiple auto garages, and specialty services. There are salons, barbershops, lawyers, investment advisors, tattoo artists, counselors, and massage therapists. There is a Metro line and now some better bike lanes. There are four houses of worship, three social clubs and many small non-profits. There are several murals and two newer art sculptures – Luminous Arbor and Hopeful that give character to the heart of the corner. One could (and many of us do) meet most of their needs within this half mile radius. But how to change the reputation and the experience of the Corner?
In 2016, we held our first community conversation to focus our community energy. More than thirty people shared what they love about the area, what is challenging, and what they want. This conversation and the many other public conversations since are what guide our work and clarified our mission.
Friends of Woodfords Corner works to preserve the diversity and unique history of Woodfords Corner and foster a thriving, welcoming, and sustainable village hub.
Thriving, welcoming, sustainable village hub. It’s always come down to a safe, walkable, useful, attractive, and pleasant commercial district. We want restaurants, markets, stores, services, green spaces, gathering spots, housing, safe walking and biking, Metro service, and public events. Just like other urban village centers.
In 2017 we became a formal volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, focusing our work on the revitalization of the hub. Since we were not a traditional neighborhood association, we explored models to help us focus our work. In 2018 we learned about the Main Street America program and after a thorough application process and a lot of hard work, we were officially welcomed as a Main Street Affiliate in 2019.
In the Main Street model, there are three major transformational strategies we use to making Woodfords Corner more of a vibrant hub.
DESIGN – How do the publics spaces look, feel and function from the ground? Safe, walkable, attractive, interesting, useful?
ECONOMIC VITALITY – What businesses and services do the local folks want? How can we help our local businesses attract customers from near and far? How can we encourage commuters to stop and spend time and money in the corner?
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT – How do people find out about what’s here to do, see, learn, purchase? What would attract people to come out and engage with neighbors and businesses?
FWC has done much to create those community events and projects that make the intersection feel more like a hub. We’ve kept the conversations going through our newsletters, social media, and events like CornerFEST, Third Thursdays, Design Your Neighborhood, Corner Conversations, Meet the Candidates, History talks and walks, Garden Tour and much more. Scroll through our webpage and our blog archive to see our work over the past 7 years. All volunteers, we see our role as catalysts—weaving people together as neighbors, patronizing and promoting businesses, initiating beautification and community improvement projects. We want the residents around Woodfords Corner to feel it is easy and pleasant to live here and create a village that allows everyone to thrive.
So as the pandemic restrictions begin to lift and we can start moving back out into the world more easily, we ask you to get involved, whatever way works for you. Order from a local restaurant, check out a grocery store, take self-guided walk to see the historic buildings or our murals, learn about our non-profits, come to our next Conversation on Zoom, volunteer at an event, donate, tell your friends and neighbors. Let’s make the village we want to have.
