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Livable Memphis, a nonprofit organization, teamed-up with the Broad Avenue Arts District. Using a borrowed and adapted concept from the Better Block Foundation, the groups gathered

volunteers and persuaded business owners to open temporary shops and restaurants. * Vacant storefronts were cleaned and painted * People who dreamed of opening a business were permitted to

occupy some of the vacant storefronts as demonstration businesses * Opaque materials were removed from occupied storefronts to provide for friendlier and more inviting floor-to-ceiling

windows * Cafes were extended onto the sidewalks In addition, the team redesigned the street-level public spaces to illustrate how better infrastructure can breathe life into a commercial

district. By focusing on bicyclists and pedestrians instead of cars, the team:  * Re-striped the 60-foot-wide Broad Avenue, adding crosswalks and protected bike lanes * Angled and positioned

on-street parking as a protective barrier for bike lanes and to increase parking spaces * Essentially instituted a "road diet" that required vehicles to slowly ease (rather than

speed) through two lanes while people walked and bicycled nearby * Turned a vacant parking lot into a skate park * Enhanced street infrastructure by positioning street trees along the

sidewalks and storefronts * Created a "bump-out" to help slow traffic by placing large planters filled with 10-foot cedars next to vehicle traffic lanes * Installed antique-style

street lamps to provide better lighting ambience and security Local artist and event volunteer Tom Clifton helped paint the event's pop-up bicycle lane. Photo courtesy Livable Memphis

THE COSTS AND CREW The project received logistical and financial support from the Hyde Family Foundations, the Binghampton Development Corporation, the Memphis Regional Design Center, the

City of Memphis and the Community Development Council of Greater Memphis/Livable Memphis. OUTCOMES AND NEXT STEPS The event surpassed the organizers' expectations. Original goals

targeted a turnout of 5,000 people; estimates are that 13,000 people attended the event. "At first we were concerned that the bicycling would take away from business, but we quickly saw

it was helping business twofold,” said Pat Brown, business manager of T. Clifton Art. "You did have people biking, but it also helped narrow the street and slow people down. All of a

sudden, people were noticing businesses they hadn't noticed before because they were speeding by at 45 miles an hour or more." Added David Wayne Brown, president of Splash

Creative, an advertising agency: "We demonstrated that inner-city, old neighborhoods can be revitalized. Everything doesn't have to be suburbanized, where we tear down the trees

and build something new." Since the demonstration project, Broad Avenue and the Binghampton neighborhood has seen more than $25 million in investments, the opening of more than two

dozen new businesses and more then 30 property renovations. The temporary streetscape remained after the demonstration project. A more complete and permanent version will replace it when the

Hampline path is constructed.  Through the Mayor's Innovation Delivery Team (now Innovate Memphis), a new program — MEMFix — was begun as a citywide cosponsored version of the

"New Face for an Old Broad" Pop-Up Project. OTHER SOLUTIONS At least two, whimsically-designed MATA bus stops have opened in Binghampton and several interactive public art displays

have been installed. In addition, developer Eric Goode said the area's "guerrilla-style revitalization" has prompted him to turn a 12,000-square-foot former warehouse on

Broad Avenue into a retail and restaurant space. LEARN MORE * Read a Livable Memphis Recap of the "New Face for an Old Broad" Project _Page published Summer 2016_