This book examines how privatization has transformed cities, particularly through the role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the revitalization of America’s downtown. These public-private partnerships between property owners and municipal government have developed retail strips across the United States into lifestyle and commercial hubs. BIDs are non-profit community organizations with the public power to tax and spend on services in their districts, but they are unelected bodies often operating in the shadows of local government. They work as agents of economic development, but are they democratic? What can we learn from BIDs about the accountability of public-private partnerships, and how they impact our lives as citizens? Unger explores these questions of local democracy and urban political economy in this age of rampant privatization and the reinvention of neighborhoods.

Initiated and governed by property or business owners under the authorization of state and local governments, business improvement districts (BIDs) have received a very mixed reception. To some, they are innovative examples of self-governance and public-private partnerships; to others, they are yet another example of the movement toward the privatization of what should be inherent government responsibilities. Among the first books to present a collection of scholarly work on the subject, Business Improvement Districts: Research, Theories, and Controversies brings together renowned leaders in the field to compile the highest-quality theoretical, legal, and empirical studies into one comprehensive volume. Investigating fundamental concerns at the core of the debate, as well as potential solutions, this groundbreaking resource: Tackles the need for improved problem solving and efficiency in service delivery Examines new and innovative policy tools for both the public and private sectors Evaluates whether BIDs do ignore the needs and voices of residential property owners Discusses the challenge created by social segregation in cities Addresses lack of accountability by BIDs to the public and elected representatives From different perspectives, leading practitioners and academics analyze the pros and cons of BIDs both in the United States and around the world. They look at their impact on urban planning and retail revitalization, consider their legal implications, and explore ways to measure BID performance. Filled with case studies of urban centers including San Diego, Atlanta, New York, Toronto, and Capetown, and state models such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, this examination bring together essential information for researchers as well as those leaders and policy makers looking to adopt a BID model or improve one already in place.

Initiated and governed by property or business owners under the authorization of state and local governments, business improvement districts (BIDs) have received a very mixed reception. To some, they are innovative examples of self-governance and public-private partnerships; to others, they are yet another example of the movement toward the privatization of what should be inherent government responsibilities. Among the first books to present a collection of scholarly work on the subject, Business Improvement Districts: Research, Theories, and Controversies brings together renowned leaders in the field to compile the highest-quality theoretical, legal, and empirical studies into one comprehensive volume. Investigating fundamental concerns at the core of the debate, as well as potential solutions, this groundbreaking resource: Tackles the need for improved problem solving and efficiency in service delivery Examines new and innovative policy tools for both the public and private sectors Evaluates whether BIDs do ignore the needs and voices of residential property owners Discusses the challenge created by social segregation in cities Addresses lack of accountability by BIDs to the public and elected representatives From different perspectives, leading practitioners and academics analyze the pros and cons of BIDs both in the United States and around the world. They look at their impact on urban planning and retail revitalization, consider their legal implications, and explore ways to measure BID performance. Filled with case studies of urban centers including San Diego, Atlanta, New York, Toronto, and Capetown, and state models such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, this examination bring together essential information for researchers as well as those leaders and policy makers looking to adopt a BID model or improve one already in place.

This comprehensive book covers the theory and practice of Business Improvement Districts or BIDs - partnerships between local communities and governments established to revitalize neighborhoods and catalyze economic development in a region. In this book, author Seth Grossman demonstrates the ways in which BIDs work, pull stakeholders together, and acquire funds to manage the difficult process of community revitalization especially in urbanized, threatened town centers. BIDs also blur traditional lines between public and private organizations, and their governance raises critical new questions about democratic representation, accountability, transparency, and responsiveness. As this book illustrates, BID managers act as public entrepreneurs, and management in the public realm requires community development skills (community planning, organization and leadership) and economic expertise (jobs, business development, housing and public infrastructure). Through an in-depth examination of Business Improvement Districts and their managers we begin to see that the future of public administration might no longer be contained behind the walls of formal government, with an increasing number of public administrators defining and creating public solutions to real life commercial problems. This book is essential reading for all practicing urban and regional administrators and government officials, as well as students studying public administration, public management, and urban and regional politics.

Jerry Mitchell provides a comprehensive analysis of business improvement districts (BIDs) public-private partnerships that shape city places into enticing destinations for people to work, live, and have fun. Responsible for the revitalization of New York s Times Square and Seattle s Pioneer Square, BIDs operate in large cities and small towns throughout the United States. Mitchell examines the reasons for their emergence, the ways they are organized and financed, the types of services they provide, their performance, their advantages and disadvantages, and their future prospects.

Downtowns are more than economic engines: they are repositories of knowledge and culture and generators of new ideas, technology, and ventures. They are the heart of the city that drives its future. If we are to have healthy downtowns, we need to understand what downtown is all about; how and why some American downtowns never stopped thriving (such as San Jose and Houston), some have been in decline for half a century (including Detroit and St. Louis), and still others are resurging after temporary decline (many, including Lower Manhattan and Los Angeles). The downtowns that are prospering are those that more easily adapt to changing needs and lifestyles. In The Heart of the City, distinguished urban planner Alexander Garvin shares lessons on how to plan for a mix of housing, businesses, and attractions; enhance the public realm; improve mobility; and successfully manage downtown services. Garvin opens the book with diagnoses of downtowns across the United States, including the people, businesses, institutions, and public agencies implementing changes. In a review of prescriptions and treatments for any downtown, Garvin shares brief accounts—of both successes and failures—of what individuals with very different objectives have done to change their downtowns. The final chapters look at what is possible for downtowns in the future, closing with suggested national, state, and local legislation to create standard downtown business improvement districts to better manage downtowns. This book will help public officials, civic organizations, downtown business property owners, and people who care about cities learn from successful recent actions in downtowns across the country, and expand opportunities facing their downtown. Garvin provides recommendations for continuing actions to help any downtown thrive, ensuring a prosperous and thrilling future for the 21st-century American city.

"This study is the first systematic effort in more than a decade to identify all of the business improvement districts (BIDs) in the United States as of September 2010 ... We also conducted a national survey of these business improvement districts to identify funding sources, budget information, performance reporting, organizational structure and services provided. This report summarizes the results of this work"--Page 4.

An examination of how the (hyper)local is the locus of real change Many of America’s downtowns, waterfronts, and innovation districts have experienced significant revitalization and reinvestment in recent years, but concentrated poverty and racial segregation remain persistent across thousands of urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. The coronavirus pandemic magnified this sustained and growing landscape of inequality. Uneven patterns of economic growth and investment require a shift in how communities are governed and managed. This shift must take into account the changing socioeconomic realities of regions and the pressing need to bring inclusive economic growth and prosperity to more people and places. In this context, place-based (“hyperlocal”) governance structures in the United States and around the globe have been both part of the problem and part of the solution. These organizations range from community land trusts to business improvement districts to neighborhood councils. However, very little systematic research has documented the full diversity and evolution of these organizations as part of one interrelated field. Hyperlocal helps fill that gap by describing the challenges and opportunities of “place governance.” The chapters in Hyperlocal explore both the tensions and benefits associated with governing places in an increasingly fragmented—and inequitable—economic landscape. Together they explore the potential of place governance to give stakeholders a structure through which to share ideas, voice concerns, advocate for investments, and co-design strategies with others both inside and outside their place. They also discuss how place governance can serve the interests of some stakeholders over others, in turn exacerbating wealth-based inequities within and across communities. Finally, they highlight innovative financing, organizing, and ownership models for creating and sustaining more effective and inclusive place governance structures. The authors hope to provoke new thinking among place governance practitioners, policymakers, private sector leaders, urban planners, scholars, students, and philanthropists about how, why, and for whom place governance matters. The book also provides guidance on how to improve place governance practice to benefit more people and places.

The "livable city," the "creative city," and more recently the "pop-up city" have become pervasive monikers that identify a new type of urbanism that has sprung up globally, produced and managed by the business improvement district and known colloquially by its acronym, BID. With this case study, Susanna F. Schaller draws on more than fifteen years of research to present a direct, focused engagement with both the planning history that shaped Washington, D.C.'s landscape and the intricacies of everyday life, politics, and planning practice as they relate to BIDs. Schaller offers a critical unpacking of the BID ethos, which draws on the language of economic liberalism (individual choice, civic engagement, localism, and grassroots development), to portray itself as color blind, democratic, and equitable. Schaller reveals the contradictions embedded in the BID model. For the last thirty years, BID advocates have engaged in effective and persuasive storytelling; as a result, many policy makers and planners perpetuate the BID narrative without examining the institution and the inequities it has wrought. Schaller sheds light on these oversights, thus fostering a critical discussion of BIDs and their collective influence on future urban landscapes.