The 3rd Avenue Bid – Some Strange Things
A group of people have been working on forming a BID (Business Improvement District) on Third Avenue. We know a decent amount about BIDs.
1) The 3rd Avenue Bid is having a community meeting 0n July 25th at 10:00 am or 7:00 pm. Most people are away that week. You can RSVP here. BUT why wouldn’t this group wait until the Fall to have this meeting?
2) The steering committee has property owners, business owners and people who rent property on the Avenue. There are no Asian women on the steering committee. Shouldn’t Justin Brannan and Andrew Gounardes’ representatives make sure that the steering committee matches the ethnic makeup of the merchants or at least includes one person to translate for all the stores (we have a lot of nail salons). See here. We hope this will be corrected (and we will update if it is corrected)
3) The steering committee meets during working store hours. This would limit who could be part of it. After work hours would be needed if they wanted a diverse group as newer owners would not be listed.
4) We are unsure why a writer for a local paper and a festival organizer were considered for this process, which will involved imposing a tax on commercial property owners. The festival organizer would profit from a BID. He should recuse himself as this is a property tax that isn’t going to go away.
5) The type of businesses represented by the steering committee appear to be real estate/banking. Why is this so disproportionate?
6) The business owners on the steering committee are mostly from large businesses. What about all the small shops that we love? If people are voting to raise the property tax of the buildings on 3rd Avenue, we want to know that the small shop owners and merchants see a benefit to this and aren’t just given another financial burden with no benefits.
7) The steering committee is composed of a lot more men than women. Is this proportionate to the number of proprietors on 3rd Avenue? We aren’t sure on this, but someone must have the numbers to share.
8) One member of the steering committee is listed as a property owner….but he’s a developer. Why isn’t his business listed?
9) The last thing that concerned us was that one member of the steering committee said:
“The Merchants can be a lobbying voice for political issues.” From prior elections, residents prefer that the merchants stay neutral on political issues if they don’t vote in this district. In the past, we actually have saw some merchants support politicians who gave tax breaks to developers in Manhattan….and not to small business owners in Bay Ridge.
While we think some members of the steering committee have the best intentions for Bay Ridge, we think a steereing committee that doesn’t represent the diversity of 3rd Avenue Merchants needs some fresh blood. We’ve watched so many loved businesses close their doors (see here) and we want to see businesses here thrive.
Councilman Brannan gave the BID $36,000 last Fall, so he knows what the Steering Committee looks like.
Brannan’s staffer is seen in pictures with the steering committee, so he knows who is on the committee as well.
The Third Avenue Merchants social media accounts are not helpful to the merchants. The Fifth Avenue Merchants do a great job of highlighting their shops and events (or at least sharing the great reviews and pictures from residents). Why can’t the Third Avenue Merchants give access to stores and not do flashbacks all the time? Highlight these stop owners and the great products and services they are selling!
Hugs,
marlene
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