December
2002
Feature: Finding
a blueprint for urban success
What
makes Mill Hill's residents so fond of their neighborhood?
By
Joe Emanski
When the holidays roll around, it's natural for Trenton's thoughts
to turn to Mill Hill. The 36th annual Christmas House Tour of
homes in Mill Hill takes place this year on December 7, and like
always, the residents of one of Trenton's eight historic residential
districts will show off what they've done to fill their homes
with holiday cheer. Typically, between 16 and 18 of Mill Hill's
approximately 250 homes are on the tour, and visitors can take
guided walks through the proudly decorated row houses.
But what is it about this remote enclave in the center of New
Jersey's capital city, bordered by Front Street, Stockton Street,
Broad Street and the U.S. 1 expressway and bisected by Market
Street, something that makes its residents proud to be a part
of?
"Community for me is what it's all about," says Jim
Carlucci, a brewing consultant and Mill Hill resident. "If
you reside within a community, you socialize together, work toward
the same goals."
Yes, yes. But what does that mean? Is it simply rhetoric? Anyone
can say that they love their neighbor, hug their dog, and watch
the backs of those around them. But who actually does that?
The people of Mill Hill, that's who. These folks aren't spouting
a party line. They're living the dream.
Rebuilt by members of all ages, colors and sexual preferences,
Mill Hill embodies community with its 134-member strong Old Mill
Hill Society, frequent town meetings, and an active and politically
savvy population. And work.
"We've had to work really hard for our success," says
Kevin Williams, who with his wife has resided in Mill Hill for
three years. "We do security walks on nights and weekends.
We have a neighborhood bulletin board 'e-group.' Mill Hill attracts
professionals to live and work here. It attracts people who want
to rebuild. The inner city is the new frontier."
Mill Hill suffered a rash of break-ins a year ago. The neighborhood
watch worked closely with the police to catch the perpetrator.
Helping neighbors in need makes community a daily focus of one's
personal life. Those who value such things should perhaps be looking
for a home there. They're going fast, and not just for couples
beyond child-rearing years, or for members of the gay and lesbian
community, both groups of which have been instrumental in giving
Mill Hill a sense of self-respect. Mill Hill is as diverse as
ever. Six babies were born in the neighborhood in the past year,
a fact that should not be lost on critics of Trenton's historically
underperforming school system.
To Williams, the real driving factor behind a successful contemporary
urban neighborhood is home ownership.
"Homeowners tend to care more about their homes," he
says simply. "If the city could improve home ownership to
reverse the 45 to 55 ratio (of owners to renters), we'd get ahead
of the game very fast. Ninety percent of the time, if they have
a problem, the house is landlord-owned."
To that end, this year the community recently lobbied successfully
against a plan by Nexus Properties to develop two-family housing
in Mill Hill. Nexus will be developing homes in the neighborhood,
but they will be for single families-a situation more palatable
to potential homeowners.
Projects like the House Tour has also played a role in Mill Hill's
restoration. With money brought in by the tours, the Old Mill
Hill Society has created a redevelopment grant that enables homeowners
to fix facades and bring their homes up to landmark standards.
In 1964, Trenton Mayor Arthur Holland moved his family to 138
Mercer Street-basically saving a neighborhood slated for demolition.
In 1966 they held the first Christmas House Tour.
Even a few years ago, the neighborhood was plagued by an all-too-common
Trenton blight-a drug den.
"We got rid of it, but in the 70s and 80s, drugs were a problem,"
says Williams. "In the 80s Mill Hill really started coming
back to what it is today." Now, says Williams, there are
only eight homes still unoccupied, five of which are currently
undergoing restoration.
Sometimes the restoration of a Mill Hill home is a personal labor
of love-someone with a dream, falling in love with the shell of
a building, buying it, and building it back into something special,
a piece at a time. In recent years, restoration has often been
the work of Atlantis Properties, a group formed in 1995 by Mike
and Debbie Raab and architects John Hatch and David Henderson.
"Atlantis was formed when the neighborhood was eighty percent
done and really was created to finish the neighborhood,"
says Henderson, who moved to Trenton in 1990. "We saw the
houses that were done were selling immediately. The shells sometimes
would sell, but they sold much more slowly. As residents, we were
kind of impatient. We love old buildings and two of us are architects
and we love restoring them. That plus neighborhood objective plus
business objective led to Atlantis."
The most recent Atlantis-restored property under contract exceeded
a $200,000 sale. A privately-owned home on the 100 block of Jackson
Street is on the market for $299,000, and Atlantis Properties
is believed to have one under contract that will close for more
than that.
That's not tops for Trenton, says Henderson-Hiltonia and Cadwalader
Heights have seen numbers closer to $400,000 recently. But it's
still a far cry from 1996, when Atlantis sold its first restored
Mill Hill home for $103,000.
However, for Atlantis, work is slowing down, not because of a
market downturn but because the work is almost done. The question
then is, what next? Can Atlantis work the same magic with other
parts of the city?
"At the moment we are looking at a lot of possibilities,"
says Henderson. "Other than what we own, there are only a
couple things left to be done, so we are thinking about what's
next."
Henderson agrees with Williams on home ownership.
"If you want to look at what's the formula for Mill Hill,
it's resident stakeholders coming in restoring buildings to a
very high standard," he says. "The neighborhood has
been very single-minded on what needs to have happen for it to
work, and it's basically held. All the outside developers who
have come into the neighborhood have stayed true to its vision."
Conceivably, Atlantis Properties may move on to another neighborhood
in Trenton where there's a community willing to rebuild and homes
in need of restoration. Many Mill Hill residents are ready to
assist their fellow historic districts and City Hall in implementing
a sort of "Mill Hill Plan" in other areas of Trenton.
"We want to help other neighborhoods, and they're appreciative
to see us out there supporting them," says Williams. It's
almost as though now that Mill Hill is nearly complete-although
the Market Street commercial district could use some more work-Mill
Hill is ready to extend the aura of its community focus outside
its nominal borders.
So is all perfect in Mill Hill? The answer, of course, is no.
"We're not crime free. We have had occasional very serious
incidents," admits Carlucci. "But in every neighborhood
that has a serious and organized community organization, crime
is down."
He cites the Broken Window Theory, which proposes that neighborhoods
where the cars are beat up and have broken windows see more criminal
activity. Well-maintained cars, clean stoops and painted doors
can be as effective a crime deterrent as an armed patrolman. But
in cases where confrontation with rabble-rousers is called for,
Carlucci for one is not afraid to step up and make his feelings
known.
"I've confronted people-I won't tolerate it," says Carlucci.
"I truly believe we set the tone for what we will accept."
Words like "gentrification" and "displacement"
also have significant meaning in discussions of urban revitalization.
Particularly for renters, rising property values mean rising rent
costs, and in some cases, long-term Mill Hill families who did
not own their homes have had to leave behind years of investment
in the community that didn't include dollars and cents.
"I guess you can say it happens, but it hasn't happened overnight,"
says Carlucci. "For those who owned their homes, [the value
increase] has been a benefit." While many Mill Hill homeowners
have realized significant gains on their investments, many are
still living in their homes and improving their community, and
haven't sold them at a great profit.
Williams, for one, isn't buying the notion that people who can't
afford to stay in Mill Hill will be unable to find housing elsewhere.
"There are lots of places where people can live," says
Williams. "We have housing for all income levels. It would
be nice if we could use a program to help people get some equity-let
them serve as an example." But to Williams and Carlucci,
an increase in property values is a socioeconomic boon to anyone
who is invested in the neighborhood.
As for Trenton's notoriously high property tax rate, Williams
and others are willing to rationalize. "Other municipalities
are catching up to Trenton in tax rates," he shrugs.
Crime, schools, jobs, taxes-these are concerns for Mill Hill still,
as they are for other communities. But, corny as it may sound,
they're in it together. Once every neighborhood in Trenton is
fully on board with being that corny, the city will see the sort
of results it seeks in areas outside of Mill Hill.
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