A Closer Look: Can BIDs Help Slow Gentrification?
From growing up in Berkeley, CA to going to art school to being a member of the NYC folk music community, I’ve consistently been part of progressive social circles throughout my life. That being the case, I’ve often had to carefully consider how to frame talking about my work in “economic development”, as those words can sometimes be misunderstood or misinterpreted (back in 2017, when I told my mom I got a new job as an economic development consultant, she assumed that meant I “sold out and went corporate”). Given this background and lens, I try to carefully consider what equitable economic development means, and how tools like business improvement districts can amplify already existing neighborhood assets, without driving out the long-time residents who make NYC so unique and diverse.
Lately I’ve been working on an exciting BID formation project in North Williamsburg, a neighborhood which has gentrified very quickly in the last 20 years. In evaluating the responses to a neighborhood needs assessment survey, over and over again I heard long-time residents lament that expense increases – from the cost of rent to the high-end retail that’s flooding the neighborhood – are driving them out. As one anonymous survey respondent lamented, “All this improvement is nice but it comes at a devastating cost of unaffordable rent. You will end up losing the very residents who fill out this survey.”
A Business Improvement District (BID) is a public/private partnership in which property and business owners make a collective contribution to the maintenance, development and promotion of their commercial district. In plain language, a BID assessment is a “tax” of sorts – it’s an additional cost to property owners, no matter which way you slice it. But, compared to rent hikes that tend to follow the type of gentrification we’ve seen in neighborhoods like Williamsburg, the BID assessment is nominal, and provides real value you can see on the street, as opposed to going straight to landlords’ pockets. But all of these things taken into consideration, I’ve been very interested in what BIDs can do to actually combat gentrification. As I mentioned in a previous Perch blog article about the Coney Island BID formation, a question that lingers in my mind with every BID formation is “how can a BID strike the balance between providing services that make the area cleaner and safer, while still preserving the character and culture of the neighborhood?” I asked some colleagues who run business improvement districts, and came up with some great examples that I wanted to share (and huge credit to my amazing colleagues who are out there tackling these challenges every day!). See below:
BIDs celebrate the culture of the neighborhoods that they represent. One of the things that makes NYC so magical is its unique and diverse neighborhoods, which have cultural communities right at their heart. BIDs can be a great tool for amplifying culture that already exists in neighborhoods. I’ve seen countless examples of this from my brilliant BID director colleagues, but just a few worth highlighting: when my friend Amanda Zenteno took over managing the Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID, she wanted to highlight the vibrant Arabic culture on 5th Avenue, and in addition to the traditional Christmas lights that BIDs are so often known for, she installed Ramadan lights along the avenue to coincide with the Muslim month of fasting, prayer, and reflection. Other examples: The Belmont BID’s Ferragosto celebration celebrates the neighborhood’s Italian culture with delicious food and live entertainment, and the Flatbush Nostrand Junction BID hosts “Triangle Junction Tours,” to educate Brooklynites on the history of The Junction and its buildings, while also promoting its wide array of small, largely immigrant-owned restaurants and shops.
BIDs foster hyper-local economies. BIDs provide the infrastructure for small businesses to forge connections with one another. Of course, one might argue that this can happen on its own, without the existence of a BID, but I’ve seen so often that business owners tend to keep to themselves and don’t always go out of their way to forge relationships if there’s not some unifying force encouraging this type of connection. From business-to-business tools like networking events and business owner WhatsApp thread to programs that connect businesses to local residents like “shop local cards” and “taste” events, BIDs are so often the instigators of these types of connections which help foster hyper-local economies within neighborhoods. And ultimately, business owners want to do business in a place where they can collaborate and share resources with their neighbors, and residents want to live in a place where they feel connected to their neighborhood businesses, so this work makes for a better neighborhood experience overall.
BIDs can respond quickly to on-the-ground conditions. Because of the flexible nature of BID budgets, BIDs are often the only organizations nimble enough to mount quick responses to changing local conditions. We saw this during the pandemic, when many BIDs quickly shifted gear from producing large scale events to focusing on sanitation and technical assistance to business owners in navigating EIDL and PPP loans. Many BIDs have served as a fiscal conduit for charitable contributions to buildings affected by fires. The Sunset Park BID raised $136,000 for a building where 54 units were displaced; the BID, as a trusted local and long-standing nonprofit, was the only entity nimble enough to mount fundraisers and collect and distribute donations, with high confidence from the community.
BIDs support small businesses. The City is not always the best at disseminating information on the ground; when there’s a new NYC rule, regulation, or grant program, BID staff walk door to door with translated materials to help businesses keep up. This was absolutely essential during the pandemic, when business districts with BIDs fared significantly better than those without. From my experience working with the North Flatbush Avenue BID, it’s the small businesses who actually benefit the most from BID services. When the BID outreach team comes by to deliver information about a new regulation or resource, these are the businesses who are more likely to have the owner working behind the desk to receive and make use of the information. My colleague James Ellis has always done an intentional job of soliciting sponsorship for events and programs from the larger corporations in the BID – forcing the big businesses to give back to their local communities.
BID can help building owners avoid fines and reduce taxes. Whether it's RPIE reporting, or informing building owners of new obligations like Local Law 52 gas inspections, BIDs help building owners keep their properties profitable, so they don’t have to sell out. BIDs also partner with property owners to seek quality tenants that support the community. Many BIDs execute retail attraction campaigns, helping property owners fill vacant spaces, and fielding inquiries from businesses that will service the needs of the neighborhood.
BIDs amplify the voices of their constituents (which most often are the small businesses and property owners who actually live in the neighborhood). For example, when Mayor de Blasio piloted Clear Curbs in 2018 on North Flatbush Avenue (Flatbush between Grand Army Plaza and Barlclays), within one month of the program launch, small business owners in the district had suffered a 20 percent loss of business, as a result of lack of customer parking, militant ticketing, and an “unwelcoming feel” on the Avenue. The North Flatbush Avenue BID staff were able to elevate this issue with the appropriate city agencies and elected officials, and after several months of persistent advocacy were successful in getting the Mayor to end the pilot.
BIDs act as advocates for getting better City Agency services in neighborhoods that are often neglected, and maintain strong relationships with local City agency reps and elected officials. Whether it's getting derelict vehicles and bikes removed, or acting as a watchdog during a large capital project, BIDs are often the loudest and most persistent voice calling for fairness and equity in the allocation of city services. During countless major construction projects around the City, BIDs have held the NYC Department of Design and Construction accountable for considering the needs of businesses when determining timing for water shutoffs, traffic lane closures, etc, and often launch marketing campaigns to let the public know that businesses are open in spite of the dust and noise.
BIDs are local spending controlled by local representatives. While a BID assessment might be considered a “tax” by some, it’s different from your property taxes which come out of your bank account and directly into the City’s coffers to be spent in some other neighborhood. Every penny of the BID assessment goes directly back to the commercial district, where the people who live, do business, and own property in the district get to decide how to spend it. Because who sits on a BID board? It’s typically the property owner who actually lives in the neighborhood, not the big faceless corporation. The type of people who commit their time to being part of a local effort to beautify the neighborhood are usually the people who actually really care about the character of the neighborhood. (When it comes to board composition, I would argue for updated legislation that allows for stronger representation of commercial tenants – right now the minimum board composition is 7 property owners to 1 commercial tenant, and for every commercial tenant who gets added, a property owner must get added as well. I say this because so frequently the commercial tenant is actually the one paying the BID assessment by way of their commercial lease, and is most often on the ground every day and directly impacted by the investments of the BID. But that’s a topic for another article!)
And a final point – picking up trash, removing graffiti, gardening, and tree care are not necessarily drivers of gentrification. As we’ve seen in North Williamsburg, in my neighborhood in Crown Heights, and in neighborhoods all over the city, gentrification is driven by market forces, and can happen very easily on its own without the presence of a BID. The argument that these types of services drive gentrification seems to simultaneously suggest that neighborhoods like Woodhaven, Sunset Park, Cypress Hills, East Harlem, etc, don’t deserve their commercial corridors to be clean and well maintained. BIDs are organizations where self imposed assessment dollars are obligated by law to stay in the local community and are managed by locals – one might argue that this is actually the opposite of gentrification.
In summary: forming a BID is an economic development tool that has to be used gently and with nuance and awareness of the local community (like a paring knife, not a machete). If leveraged with care, BIDs can actually be incredible tools for creating genuine, unique neighborhoods with thriving local economies.
