Hillcrest Business Association Executive Director Benjamin Nicholls

Q: What is the HBA’s mission statement?

A: To improve the neighborhood of Hillcrest physically and economically.

Q: How do you improve Hillcrest physically?

A: There is a whole palette of physical improvements to the neighborhood. We clean the streets every second day. We trim all the trees in the neighborhood. We maintain all the little pocket gardens. We are just about to install beautification lighting in medians on the east end of University. This year we installed 36 trashcans, doubling the number of trashcans in the business district. And we empty them all.

Q: How do you improve Hillcrest economically?

A: We have probably some of the best promotional events that take place from any business improvement district. We have the most successful restaurant-walk event in the city – we have more participants and we charge more than downtown, and we sell out every year. Our farmers market is the most successful and long-standing farmers market in the city. CityFest just celebrated its 30th anniversary and we get 150,000 coming out. The Hillcrest Mardi Gras is growing faster than any other Mardi Gras event in the city – the attendance at downtown’s Mardi Gras is dropping off; our attendance is skyrocketing.

Q: The American Planning Association named Hillcrest a “Great Place in America” in 2007. How do you keep that momentum going?

A: Throughout the last 20 years, since the older neighborhoods have been redeveloping, Hillcrest has always led the way. We’ve said we’re going to do signage first, we’re going to do the farmer’s market first, we’re going to do mixed-use development first. The Uptown Center was planned 20 years ago and is still a model for how you create housing and village-y commercial and centers of attraction – and Hillcrest did it first. Everybody’s doing a dance about Liberty Station – well, they just took our idea, and that’s great because that means that Hillcrest is a leader. And so today our challenge is on the same level: How are we going to show the way into the future? We need to step up again and re-engage again. From what I see in terms of our activists and our businesses and our community leaders, we’re right on track to do that.

Q: What are the steps to that future?

A: We are in the middle of a community plan update process. We have just begun in the planning process to dream up the ways that this community is going to develop over the next 20 years. So step one is let’s get the community plan done right and we’re going to work hard on that over the next two years. The challenge with that is Hillcrest is going to change and it’s going to grow and people want to live here and open businesses here, and so how do you accommodate that growth without ruining your neighborhood?

Q: Is density the answer?

A: I’m not saying we need to become a denser neighborhood. We need to be able to find ways to welcome our new neighbors in a way that doesn’t ruin our neighborhood. Our business community is a product of the people that live here. How do we continue to attract the type of people that will continue to grow this business district the way that we want it?

Q: What is that demographic you seek?

A: We don’t want to attract the jet-set class. We want to attract middle-class families who have kids and so they come to the stores for the kids. They want to go out to the restaurants. They want a neighborhood environment. They don’t want to live out in the suburbs. They want to live in a community. And the empty nesters – most retired people, they don’t want to live out in the middle of nowhere, disconnected. They want to go out to the theater, they want to go out to restaurants, they want to have community. They don’t want to be tucked away in some tower or out in the suburbs. So those are two clear demographics that we have to keep in this neighborhood. Similarly, a gay couple in this community, they want to shop, they want community, they want to be close to the community assets that we have, whether it be Diversionary (Theatre) or the Center or Village Hillcrest.

Q: Some people might be surprised to hear you say Hillcrest is a family-oriented neighborhood.

A: When I say “family” I am acknowledging that the broader definition of “family” is what has worked for Hillcrest in the past. And those families have really built this business community through their patronage – whether you have kids or not, whether you’re gay or straight. My version of family is you get to define your own family. But when you look at the families that live here, it’s a pretty attractive demographic for any business community.

Q: How has the gay demographic influenced Hillcrest?

A: I think it’s predominantly a real positive for the neighborhood in two ways. The gay community really has adopted Hillcrest and is engaged with Hillcrest and wants Hillcrest to succeed and is a huge part of why Hillcrest has succeeded and is the premier urban neighborhood in the city. But part two, the gay demographic makes us a more diverse and accepting community because they are more accepting of diversity. And so it’s no wonder that this ZIP code is the highest voting ZIP code in the country. Why is that? It’s because we have an engaged community. We have a welcoming community and a diverse community, and I don’t want to say that that’s all due to the GLBT community getting engaged in Hillcrest but you can’t discount it. The institutions that support the GLBT community – the Center, the GL Times, the Pride organization – are key pillars in our community and we’re better for it.

Q: What has been the HBA’s greatest success?

A: If I could point to one thing that I think stands out, it’s the farmers market. When the Hillcrest Farmers Market started 12 years ago, farmers markets were just getting going. There wasn’t a Little Italy Farmers Market; there wasn’t a La Jolla Farmers Market. So we really led the way there.

Q: Why is the farmers market so popular?

A: I think it’s popular because the kind of people who live in this neighborhood really appreciate that kind of interaction. You have supermarkets these days out in the suburbs that say they have a “farmers market” – they change the name of their produce section to “farmers market” because we’re so successful and people want what we have in these older neighborhoods. They want community; they want local markets.

Q: The HBA hosts the summer CityFest event. What does it bring to the neighborhood?

A: We’ve really retooled it to make it a celebration of the neighborhood spirit and the energy and enthusiasm and vibrancy of Hillcrest. It’s a traditional street fair but one of the things we do is we offer free booths and free opportunities for fundraising to community organizations. So it’s not just a street fair, it’s a street fair that celebrates community and celebrates urban living.

Q: What kinds of businesses does the HBA hope to bring to Hillcrest?

A: We have a great restaurant and nightclub community. We have a pretty good retail community – I’d love to strengthen the retail side of things. We have a reasonable professional services industry, mainly medical. So how do we grow the retail and the professionals? I would love to put another story on top of all of these businesses and fill them with architects and designers and professional people – and lawyers, let’s get some lawyers up here. Then those business owners and their employees will walk downstairs and buy a sandwich, walk around the corner and buy a shirt. But we have to have the space for them and we have to have the developers who want to build the space for them. And if you’re an architecture firm, you’re not going to take B grade offices, you’re going to take AAA offices or you’re moving to the suburbs. You need good offices you can bring your clients to.

Q: Much of the HBA consists of small businesses. How do you advocate for them within city government?

A: We work with City Council to try to create conditions for growth in Hillcrest. We’re making sure that City Council and the mayor remember that 90 percent of the business in this town is small business – less than 10 employees. We don’t have giant manufacturing plants. If you look at the mayor’s presentation on revenue, over 50 percent of his revenue is coming from the cash registers in neighborhoods like this. So one of my roles is to remind them who’s paying the bills.

Q: What is the biggest challenge Hillcrest is facing?

A: The big gorilla in the room is density. How do we engage with that debate? The way that many neighborhoods do this is they become polarized and then it’s the NIMBYs vs. the developers – politicians get caught in the middle and suddenly nothing happens and then 20 years down the road you’re not the neighborhood you thought you were because nobody did anything. I don’t think we’re going to be that way. I hope that Hillcrest can come up with a third way that continues to have this neighborhood grow into the leader that it’s always been. So how do we engage with that growth and keep our character? That’s something the community is going to have to work out. I have complete confidence that Hillcrest is going to be able to do that. As a community we are poised to show the way to the rest of the city again. We did it right the first time – we’re going to do it right the second time too.

Christy Scannell es una escritora y editora independiente que vive en North Park.