Business View Magazine | June 2019

264 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 utilizing wind and solar electricity. We received a grant from the State of New Jersey for integrating up to 14 electric vehicle charging stations; we’ll be rolling that out later this year. To meet the needs of people with low and moderate income, we’re creating a community solar program which would allow them to utilize solar energy from other parts of the state, if they can’t afford to install solar panels on their homes. “We’re changing to LED lighting, which is more energy efficient, and transitioning our municipal fleet to hybrid vehicles. We’ve also imposed a ban on single-use plastic bags. In terms of transportation, we’ve adopted a pilot program for e-scooters and we already have a robust bikeshare program. In size, Hoboken is one square mile and a very walkable city. We’re trying to identify as many mobility methods as possible to avoid the necessity of using a gas-fuelled car.” BVM: Do you have a heritage downtown you’re revitalizing? Mayor Bhalla: “The southern half of Washington Street is generally considered our downtown. We, actually, just finished a $27 million Complete Streets program to integrate conduits for a sub- surface micro-grid under that street – in the unfortunate event of another superstorm, we are working to maintain power at critical points, such as City Hall, hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and seniors’ buildings to address public safety and critical needs of the community during a crisis. The Complete Streets model on Washington St. includes curb extensions to make it more pedestrian friendly, upgrades to traffic signals and crosswalks, and upgrading all the sub-surface water mains and service lines. That project is 99 percent complete and a major accomplishment for the city over a number of years. “We’re in the process of creating a special downtown business improvement district to sustain and benefit local small businesses - everything from marketing and branding to streetscape improvements and it’s up to the business improvement district as to how they allocate their resources. That’s another initiative we’ve undertaken as a city to revitalize our main