Business Improvement Districts and the Shape of American Cities

Jerry Mitchell

Description

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.
1. The Shape of City Places

2. Historical Connections

3. The BID Approach

4. The Organization of Innovation

5. Making a Difference

6. Evaluating Evaluations

7. The Prospects for BIDs

Notes
Index

Sujets

• Central
• National

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791479001
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Business Improvement Districts

and the Shape of American Cities

SUNY series in Urban Public Policy

C. Theodore Koebel and Diane L. Zahm, editors

BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS AND THE SHAPE OF AMERICAN CITIES

Jerry Mitchell

S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, ALBANY

© 2008 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Mitchell, Jerry, 1956– Business improvement districts and the shape of American cities / Jerry Mitchell. p. cm. — (Suny series in urban public policy) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780791473092 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Central business districts—United States. 2. City planning—United States. 3. Urban renewal—United States. I. Title.

HF5429.3.M58 2007 307.3'33160973—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2007007877

To Mary

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One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Notes

Index

Contents

The Shape of City Places

Historical Connections

The BID Approach

The Organization of Innovation

Making a Difference

Evaluating Evaluations

The Prospects for BIDs

1

15

39

55

73

95

111

121

145

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ONE

The Shape of City Places

CITIES CHANGE , yet remain the same. This simple observation is the key to everything that ever has or ever will occur in cities. Inevitably, cities have moments of ascendancy, interludes of stability, periods when they barely sur vive, and occasions to recreate themselves in order to flourish and prosper again. New York City, for instance, soared with the advent of office towers, department stores, and mass transit at the turn of the twentieth century, sank into the despair of poverty, crime, and suburban flight at midcentury, only to rise again as a hub for finance, entertainment, and tourism at the dawn of the twentyfirst century. Human affairs—economics, diseases, demographics, and public poli cies—cause cities to change, as do natural occurrences—tornados, earth quakes, and sunny days. Yet even as these variables play out in the course of history, there is at least one feature of cities that withstands the effects of time, namely, the central gathering points that furnish cities with their char acter and sense of community. Whether it is Copley Place in Boston, Pike Place Market in Seattle, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Little Italy in San Diego, Clark Street in Chicago, the Strand in Galveston, the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, or Times Square in New York City, cities of all sizes and shapes have special places that endure as life evolves in and around them. Ask anyone where they are at and most anyone will know, even though peo ple may disagree on their exact size and shape, or precisely what they should be called (a downtown, the central business district, main street, a plaza, a square, a pedestrian mall, a public place, or something else). A city would not be a city without these places, even when new architecture appears, even when one generation views them differently than another, and even when the public uses them less. Sprawling retail stores and spacious shopping malls have certainly traumatized thousands of central business districts, yet most of these districts survive, albeit struggling at times, but still surviving.

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