San Diego's Little Italy district has inspired a local attorney to bring a similar concept to the town of Gates, on a smaller scale.
Silvano Orsi has registered a nonprofit corporation, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association, to seek an initial $500,000 in funding for the project from the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council. He says that could bring some much-needed redevelopment to the Lyell Avenue/Spencerport Road corridor.
"Some of the facades and buildings need work, or there needs to be sidewalks installed,” he said “The aerial cables that you see - telephone and power lines - could be modernized and buried and the area could be beautified with this project."
Orsi said the improvements would attract new retail and business investment, and fill many of the vacant plazas in Gates, and, if properly funded, could become an ideal place for millenials to live, work and play.
Gates town supervisor Mark Assini tells WXXI he supports the concept, but questions how to create a Little Italy district without leaving some other businesses out.
Orsi said the answer is simple.
"How does Chicago, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, Buffalo, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Syracuse, and Utica - how do they address it? They do it by being inclusive, and that's very easy. You promote all the cultures that make up the neighborhood, and you provide entertainment for all the cultures that are there."
The proposed Little Italy district would be bordered on the east at Lee Road near the Diplomat Party House and to the west near Long Pond Road.
Orsi's proposal includes a walkway bridge and sign at the corner of Howard and Spencerport Roads, a dog park, and a community kitchen and sports fields at the long-vacant Colonial Plaza on Spencerport Road.
A second phase of the project would require more than $2 million in funding, Orsi said, and include further roadway and sidewalk improvements.
Assini stressed that private investment would also be critical for the effort to succeed.
