On the list of interesting things the energized economic development folks in Brookfield are taking on is a retail incubator program.
Just plain cool.
Modeled after similar projects in Berwyn and Batavia — do only the “B” towns get this program? — this will comprise a batch of six or seven small indie shops gathered in Progress Park starting next June. They will be housed in colorful sheds, open three days each week and run by entrepreneurs interested in figuring out if their dreams can translate into a semi-bricks-and-mortar retail world.
Entrepreneurs will be recruited by Brookfield, chosen by a special committee and then supported through their first year with ongoing training about all aspects of getting a shop up and running.
Best-case scenarios are that a shed-retailer could grow into a permanent storefront retailer in town and also that it creates an intriguing destination for local shoppers looking for hand-crafted and unique products and gifts.
Good for the village for funding this project, to the Bank of Brookfield for a potential sponsorship, to the Chamber of Commerce for seeing this as an opportunity for greater retail vitality and not a threat.
Mike Garvey, Brookfield’s village president, is among the enthused. He thinks the village will be looking for a larger location and more sheds this time next year. He may well be right.
Better roads through maintenance
Digging a failed street down to the dirt for rebuilding is more dramatic, more expensive and more annoying for drivers but Riverside has figured out that investing in streets well before they fail is worth finding the money to do.
The village’s engineering firm presented village trustees with an updated assessment of its streets, based on an actual engineer eyeballing 30 miles of local roadways early this year. She was looking for cracks, potholes and “other signs of distress,” explained the methods of rating the streets, and said that ongoing investments have had a positive impact on the streets.
The key is finding the funds — $1.5 million was the top tier being suggested — to do the sealing and pothole patching steadily and widely in the village. This sort of street maintenance, she said, can add 3-5 years to the life of an expensive public asset.
This is the stuff of good governance.
We’ll know soon if Riverside voters approved the street referendum which would add about $250,000 to the annual pot of road money. Some of that could go to this smart maintenance effort.
Shoutout to RB
It is not easy to place in the top 10% of high schools in the state. Now Riverside-Brookfield High School has done it for the second straight year.
The state measures several things in its ranking of schools, including the graduation rate, absenteeism and test scores. At RB, graduation rates are rising, teacher retention is very strong and, in a post-COVID world, absenteeism is still a challenge.
Overall, a lot of good news in this report. Based on a lot of hard work at the school.