NYC’s BIDs do a great deal and need some help doing it

New plazas, Open Streets and Open Dining — the latter hanging by a thread due a stalled bill to make it permanent — helped New York City get through the pandemic and remind us how much street use has changed in recent years, beginning with Times Square’s plazas in 2009. These paradigm-changing uses of streets have made such a difference that Mayor Adams — to his enormous credit — created the role of chief public realm officer last winter to advance the many public space goals in his December 2022 “New” New York action plan. Indeed, 10 of the 40 goals in that report relate to public space.

But the sustainability and expansion of these new public spaces — especially in less resourced areas — is at great risk unless that city better supports its key partners in improving, managing and programming those spaces, most especially small Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) around the city. That is the key to bringing the vibrancy and economic activity associated with great public spaces to all neighborhoods.

The report “Go Local!: Nurturing Neighborhoods and Advancing Equity,” outlines how to do just that.

BIDs citywide are the single greatest non-governmental investor in public spaces. According to the Department of Small Business Services (SBS), in FY2022 all BIDs citywide invested $187 million in their neighborhoods, held more than 3,200 public events, maintained 176 public spaces and installed 154 art installations.

By law, BID funds must be used for improving public spaces in between and adjacent to business, rather than for any individual property. That spending, combined with collective advocacy and service to the whole district, is what in turn helps the 23,000 storefront businesses in 76 neighborhood BIDs, 38 of which are in low- and moderate-income areas.

Nonetheless, what we found is despite decades of success in reviving commercial corridors and public spaces, smaller BIDs face profound challenges. These BIDs, which now constitute two-thirds of all BIDs, are difficult to create and sustain in less-resourced neighborhoods. Among all 76 BIDs, one-third have only one full or part-time employee, and another quarter have only two full-time employees.

Better supporting small BIDs is an easy way for the city to achieve its public space and neighborhood development goals, especially in areas that have historically lacked investment.

Yet instead they face huge bureaucratic and organizational hurdles: soaring insurance premiums gut-punch small BIDs, complex permit requirements and lack of access to power cripple programming plans, adversarial concession agreements treat small BIDs the same as giant for-profit corporations, and grant reimbursements arrive 6-12 months after expenses. Direct financial support and technical assistance from the city to support local capacity is insufficient, especially in economically challenged areas.

To enable and empower small BIDs and others like them, the city must first reduce “pain points” and trust community partners who often feel stymied. “They say we are partners but their actions show they don’t really trust us,” says one small BID director. We propose a Trusted Partner Program which frees BIDs with a track record of success from the myriad of duplicative and adversarial requirements which effectively knock small BIDs out of the box.

Second, develop capacity to support place-based partnerships by creating a Public Realm Task Force to explore short- and long-term ways to empower, support and better coordinate the agencies and allies within government that support community partners like BIDs. Consider creating an independent but affiliated nonprofit which can help SBS and the Department of Transportation support their public space partners.

Third, explore new funding options to ensure that smaller BIDs and less resourced neighborhoods can sustain and take advantage of the value created through their public realm and commercial corridor activations and improvements. That means looking both within and beyond New York for relevant precedents. Those could include direct government grants or contracts for services; channeling support through intermediary nonprofits; and looking at value capture and community wealth building tools, including tax increment financing, community land trusts, or mechanisms which retain some portion of incremental fees and taxes within targeted communities.

Jane Jacobs once said: “Citizens of big cities are forever being berated for not taking sufficiently active interest in government. It is amazing, rather, that they keep trying.”

Despite that, for almost 50 years BIDs and other neighborhood-based nonprofits have created vibrant places and generated jobs at no net cost to taxpayers. With a few focused actions, the city can advance equity and nurture more neighborhoods by helping those who help them.

Tompkins is the principal of SharedCitySharedSpace, NYU Marron Fellow and adjunct professor of urban planning. He is the past president of the Times Square Alliance, past chair of the International Downtown Association, and the founder of Partnerships for Parks.