There’s a new Business Improvement District (BID) being advocated in Park Slope to join the North Flatbush BID and the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID, this one covering Seventh Avenue between St. John’s Place and Sixteenth Street. The Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, joined by Park Slope business owners, institutions, and residents, has been at the forefront of this work. In recent months the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has become a full, important partner in this effort. Three members of the Park Slope Civic Council Board – I am one of them – are active on the BID steering committee.
The Civic Council was formed in 1896 as the South Brooklyn Board of Trade. In its early days it served as a chamber of commerce and predates the founding of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in 1918. In 1959 the Board of Trade was re-incorporated as the Park Slope Civic Council and our mission is vastly greater than what the Board of Trade’s was. One thing hasn’t changed, though. The Civic Council recognizes that a healthy business sector is essential to the vitality of our community and will act to help ensure that vitality. I say this in part to respond to a letter I received recently in which the sender stated that the Civic Council “cares too much about business” and not enough about “the concerns of residents.” The idea that businesses and residents inhabit different silos in our community is, frankly, astounding.
What exactly is a BID? A BID is chartered by legislation passed by the City Council and signed by the Mayor to provide certain defined services that usually include marketing (promoting businesses in the BID zone), putting on special events, and trash pickup. The BID assembles a staff and develops a budget for the services it provides, paid for by assessing commercial and residential property owners in the BID zone. A BID is not the same as a merchants’ association; the latter (the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce is one example) is paid for by members’ dues.
Some people have asked why BIDs should exist to do work the City should be doing. As far as trash pickup is concerned I might agree, but here we are. One can live with a declining level of municipal services – meaning, in this case, less frequent trash collections – or one can opt for and pay for a cleaner street. Others have said that with commercial rents in our community being as high as they are, who can afford an annual BID assessment on top of that? A Business Improvement District exists to improve business, meaning to get more people into stores and buying things. There’s a separate discussion that could be had about commercial rents. If a card store were to sell one or two more greeting cards a day, the annual assessment would be pretty well paid for. A clean street is an attractive street and an attractive street can be marketed successfully. Those of us who have been working on the Seventh Avenue BID initiative for a while see a fair amount of apathy: somebody else will do what needs to be done. It’s hard to get actively involved in promotions when running the store and meeting the rent are never-ending concerns. Once again, a Seventh Avenue BID will get more people to patronize the businesses on Seventh Avenue, making for a better business climate. In October I was invited to the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID’s strategic planning meeting and I had the pleasure of meeting and working with merchants who really want to make a better Fifth Avenue and will take the time to do so. I look forward to seeing the same spirit on Seventh Avenue.
I urge property owners, businesses and residents to register their support for the Seventh Avenue BID. Go to http://www.parkslope7avebid.com to find out more about the BID, the boundaries of the BID zone, and to show your support. You will be asked to sign an endorsement letter. And I urge our BIDs – now two, in the future three – to work together to reduce costs where they can, for example by common purchases of goods and services, and to not compete against each other. Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Seventh Avenue each has a distinct character – they always have – and their businesses can be marketed successfully without the BIDs engaging in a zero-sum game. It’s a big community and there’s room for everybody.
Let’s make a better Seventh Avenue a reality. Support the Seventh Avenue BID.
Michael Cairl is President of the Park Slope Civic Council.