Ivette Zeik-Fernicola of Leonardo Jewelers, was elected to serve as Chairwoman of the EAP, marking the first woman to lead the downtown development corporation which administers the Elizabeth Avenue Special Improvement District (SID). Fernicola follows Manuel P. Sanchez, Esq., who chaired the board for the past two years. Fernicola served as Vice-Chairman for five years and co-chaired the EAP\'s Image & Appearance Committee since 2001.

Ivette has a strong focus on beautification and cleaniness initiatives, promotions and children\'s events and keeps a keen eye on safety and security issues. As one of her first initiatives as Chairwoman, Ivette has created weekly walking tours of the district to reintroduce the EAP to newer merchants as well as to go over merchants Visual Enhancement Study assessments. Upon completion of the walk, Ms. Fernicola said,\"I feel it was a great initiative, we had a chance to speak with merchants, clerks and receptionists, explaining to them our mission while compiling a very important database containing an email blast list to alert merchants about district events, street closings or other important meeting notices\". Fernicola believes it is very important for businesses on Elizabeth Avenue know who the EAP is and how to contact the office for any number of reasons. \"Remember, the EAP works for you, the business owner, merchant and store owner, manager and I wanted to make sure that they were all aware of it\" said Fernicola.