The goals of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)are to make business blocks look better, attract more customers, and draw good merchants to vacant properties. Currently there is a stark contrast in funding and benefits between Manhattan BIDs and those in the outer boroughs.
In a recent article by the Bronx Bureau, Urban Policy Professor Rachel Meltzer is quoted, saying “When you have the smaller BIDs, you just are not at a scale where you can really benefit from economies of scale…Maybe a third of your budget is going towards administrative cost, and that leaves very little for actual service provision. So economically, it’s harder for it to make sense and make an impact for the smaller BIDs.” The article also refers to Meltzer’s 2012 study, which demonstrated that BIDs are more likely to form, and reap benefits, in neighborhoods that are already at an economic and political advantage.
