Some Mott Haven business owners are finding themselves separated from plum new tax benefits by the width of a car.
This is because the yellow line that divides traffic on East 138th Street -- long a boundary for census tracts -- also marks the boundary of the Bronx empowerment zone, the latest federal revitalization program for distressed urban neighborhoods.
Employers on the south side of the street enjoy a fresh batch of federal tax credits that brighten the business climate. But underscoring the harsh indifference of political geography, 10 paces away, business owners on the north side can only drool -- or fume.
"I think this is an example of bureaucratic foolishness and shortsightedness," said Brian Lewis, whose company leases 15 storefronts on the north side of the street. "I can understand drawing boundaries, but not on one side of a retail corridor."
Here, on the north side of East 138th Street and in the shadow of the 10 towering Mitchel House projects, a shopper can buy frozen croaker, chimichangas, fresh cabbage, a plaid comforter and a claw hammer -- all without crossing a street.
"It's a very important retail strip," said Alex Saavedra, of the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Cooperation. "It has problems, like drugs and crime, but it's a very thriving area."
The empowerment zone is the centerpiece of President Clinton's urban revitalization movement. In New York, one of six cities chosen for the designation, state and city leaders pledged to match federal money. The funds were touted to provide $300 million to beleaguered areas of Manhattan and the Bronx over 10 years.
The borough's portion, which includes Mott Haven, Port Morris, Hunts Point and the Yankee Stadium area, had been expected to reach $5.1 million a year, or $51 million over the life of the program.
But recent balking by the state and city, and budget cuts to the federal department of Housing and Urban Development, have endangered the program's full funding.
"It has become too small a number to think about," said Lee Stuart, a coordinator for South Bronx Churches, a coalition of congregations that organizes around issues such as education, public health and economic development.
But whether or not the full funding arrives, the zone has already changed tax rules for businesses inside its boundaries.
By offering credits for employing zone residents or purchasing new equipment, these new rules can favorably shift a company's bottom line.
Robert Maseda's Best Pets shop, located just south of the line at 416 E. 138th St., is adjacent to a five-story brick skeleton he calls "the city-owned building that destroyed my life."
Two years ago, fire swirled through the abandoned shell, leapt to Maseda's building and consumed its roof. It cost him $48,000 to replace.
Maseda had hoped that the empowerment zone might fund the renovation of the charred building and begin the storefront-by-storefront improvements that bring back a block.
It won't.
But it will offer annual tax credits of up to $3,000 for each of his eight employees who live within the zone, which in turn may free up cash for Maseda to expand -- or fix that building.
Across the street, at 401 E. 138th St., where plastic streamers signal the grand opening of the renovated Pioneer Supermarket, Maseda's neighbors receive no such benefit.
Pioneer is an eight-aisle market that employs 37 people, many of whom live inside the zone. If the border shifted just 10 yards, and assuming 20 of its 37 workers lived within the zone, the company's employee tax-credits could reach $60,000 a year. Forty percent of the cost of new equipment -- such as electronic scales and cash registers -- could also be claimed, up to $37,500.
Together, these credits might have averaged nearly $2,000 a week. But when the boundary was drawn, Pioneer missed the windfall by 10 yards.
"We had advocated that more of the Bronx be included in the empowerment zone, but it never came to fruition," said Kevin Nunn, of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. As its president, Nunn supervises zone administration.
The empowerment zone had a population cap of 200,000 residents. Planners also sought a mix of residential and industrial neighborhoods, to include vacant lots and buildings for development.
And after wrestling with Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, most of the city's zone fell across the river in upper Manhattan, leaving stores like Pioneer hanging on cloud eight.
Now Lewis said he expects to have even more trouble leasing his five vacant shops.
"If we were included in the zone we probably could attract somebody to open a store," he said. "But now it will encourage vendors to move from one side of the street to the other. It's absurd."