Credit union gets federal OK, needs $300k

By Troy Licastro and Tony Reyes
Bengal News West Reporters
          The Good Neighbors Federal Credit Union, a proposed credit union on the West Side that is two years into development, received primary federal approval to become a credit union in September, but must still raise $300,000.

          The organizers have started a crowd-funding campaign to raise the money, which will help support a grant application, said  Clinton Parker, a member of VISTA AmeriCorps, one of the organizers.
           The grant application would be to become a CDFI, or a community development financial institution, which is  a federal charter for any organization that’s helping develop a community-based access to capital. If and when the proposed credit union does become a certified CDFI, it can then apply for grants, and those grants will go towards hiring a full-time fundraiser to get the rest of the money. 

          To help in the process of raising money the credit union has established a partnership with PUSH Buffalo, whose main goal is also to help the people of the community that need it the most.

          “It’s something that we think our members can benefit from and people in the neighborhood should have,” Lonnie Barlow, communications director at PUSH said. “Instead of dealing with a big corporate bank, whose bottom line is basically just making money, no real social conscience, we hope that they are successful and could work for the community and grow.” 

          According to the credit union organizers, one in four people on the West Side, Riverside and Black Rock, don’t have access to basic financial services in this area. A credit union would offer a resource to fill the gap. It will protect people from things like predatory financial services, check-cashing services and rent-to-own companies. It will do this by offering all the financial services people need without the high interest rates big banks have, organizers said. 

          The people of the community have responded well to it also.

          “I think this is a great idea,” Betty Cordone, a West Side resident said. “I think it would help people buy homes and fix them up, so there aren’t so many abandoned.” 

          The credit union will serve anyone who lives, works, worships or volunteers anywhere west of Elmwood Avenue from City Hall to Kenmore Avenue and Vulcan Street. Customers are considered "members" and  buy shares in the company for $15 to $20 in order to use the credit union.

          “I think that they can make a big difference on the West Side,” Barlow said. “We started out with a couple of organizers 10 years ago doing our thing on the West Side and look at what PUSH has grown into.”

          The project is still at least two years away from opening its doors if everything goes to plan, and the search for a location is still on, but a location somewhere on Grant Street is the most popular choice as of now. 

Sweetness 7 awaits liquor license renewal

By Ryan Beiter and Jonny Moran
Bengal News Reporters 
      If you have gone to Sweetness 7 Café, 220 Grant St., recently in hopes of grabbing a beer while relaxing in the upbeat atmosphere, you were most likely told to visit the other location on Parkside Avenue.  
      Sweetness 7 has not been able to serve alcohol since early March, and owner Prish Moran said it is because of a legal matter. 

Prish Moran, on the cafe liquor license:
 

     
      Moran said her lawyers have advised her to incorporate her café separately from the rest of her building, which consists of storefronts and a performance space. The move has delayed the renewal of her liquor license, which she's had for two years. 

      Moran owns all the buildings on her block, which she bought for renovation in 2007 for $112,000. Besides the Sweetness 7 building, Moran owns five storefronts on the block, seven apartments and a church that she says she's building into a performance space. 

      Moran's attorneys originally advised her against spending the money to get her café incorporated separately from the rest of the building space. 
     “They’ve been under the same corporation for eight years, and no one ever thought my café would work,” Moran said. "But it’s worked quite well.” 

      The café's inability to serve alcohol at her Grant Street location stemmed from her unknowing of just how complicated the process of branching off from her building was. While Moran said the Liquor Authority has taken longer than expected to pass her application, she expects to be able to serve alcohol again within the next few weeks. 

      “It takes a long time to get a liquor license,” Moran said. “It’s kind of silly, but the law is the law so I didn’t mess around and stopped serving liquor until the transition happens ...It’s like applying for a new license, so the timing was just a bit off. Nothing’s changed with the corporation, but with the way the law’s written, I have to apply as a brand new applicant. “ 

      The Flying Bison Brewing Co. and Community Beer Works stickers on the windows of Sweetness 7 are indicative of Moran’s passion for seeing local business thrive. “We sell only local draft beer,” Moran said. "We sell a lot of it." 

          She said craft beer has been popular with college students, who would often come in and drink a few while working on schoolwork. 

      Moran estimates that a quarter of Sweetness 7's business comes from alcohol sales, but she won't know for sure until the end of tax season. Still, she said, business hasn't changed that much in the weeks since alcohol's absence. 

     Joel Standard, a cook at Sweetness 7, said the café is not typically sought out as a drinking location, but customers appreciate the option. 

     "This isn't a place where people typically come to drink, but sometimes a customer may want a mimosa or bloody Mary with their meal, or a shot of whiskey in their coffee," he said. 

Caffé Aroma, 957 Elmwood Ave., is another local coffee shop that serves beer, wine and liquor. Their alcohol sales closely resemble Sweetness 7's, with a majority of their sales being in craft beer and whiskey for coffee, according to barista Jon Bonini. 

     While she has been able to serve alcohol at her other café, Moran said there will be a slight change coming that will add to their selection.
      "My Parkside location currently has a beer and wine license, but will have a full liquor license before summer," Moran said. 

Grant St. bustling again, a shop at a time

Jeanenne Petri owns Westside Stories with her husband Joe

By Amber Rinard
and Dallas Taylor
Bengal News West Reporters
          Grant Street is not just a street, but its own little community.

When you walk down the street, you can smell all the different ethnic foods, hear the sounds coming from the shops, and see the different nationalities and races coming together to shop and work in one area.

             On a two-mile long street, three small stores are starting to revive the area into what it used to be.  A neighborhood.

Westside Stories, Press Raw Food & Juice, and Sweet_ness 7 are rebuilding the neighborhood by establishing a relationship between each other and the customers that regularly shop there.

Jeanenne and Joe Petri, owners of Westside Stories, 205 Grant St., opened the bookstore in June four years ago. Since then, they have been working to enhance the neighborhood to make it a better place.

            The Petris originally chose to live on the West Side, because before they met with their real estate agent   they had coffee at Sweet_ness 7 Café, and loved it so much that they decided to buy whatever house was the closest to it.

            “We chose to open the shop in the neighborhood because we firmly believe that a strong retail corridor really helps to create a vibrant neighborhood,” Jeanenne said. 

Jeanenne Petri, on the value of a neighborhood bookstore:

            Her older customers tell her there used to be bustling shops up and down Grant Street. 

          “A lot of old timers will talk about what an interesting place it was to grow up, and it’s great to see that revival coming back,” Jeanenne said.

            Westside Stories works together with many of the other stores on the street to create a place that is special and valuable.

            Esther Pica, owner of Press Raw Food & Juice, 197 Grant St., is a friend of the Petris.

          “We all tend to look out for each other. Knowing that they’re next door, gives me a sense of comfort,” Pica said.

            The stores on Grant Street also benefit from each other.

 “What makes this little part of Grant Street work is that the bookstore and I, and even Sweet_ness 7, we all share the same customer base,” Pica said.

            Many people discover the bookstore by going to Press Raw Food & Juice, and others discover the restaurant by going to the bookstore.

            “We’re more of a destination,” Pica said. “You pick up your juices; check out the bookstore, you stop for a meal, where as if we were just here isolated by ourselves maybe people could rationalize not making a special trip just to go to one place.”

            Dan Moscov, Manager at Sweetness 7 Café, 220 Grant St., said  businesses benefit from the others' traffic and benefit the community by creating neighborhood jobs.  

            “It’s great for the community to have small businesses,” Moscov said.

            When walking down the street, you can feel the sense of community between the store and the customers. Customers will stop into these stores simply to talk and see what is going on. 

            There is a great vibe that comes from Grant Street. The customers support their local small businesses and the businesses work together to change the West Side into a great community. There are over 40 languages spoken in the area, yet they are all united as one.  

            “We like being someone’s neighborhood bookstore, where they can stop in and see if they can find something interesting to read or something that inspires them,” Petri said.