As I watched the city council meeting last night, riveted by the public hearing on the proposed Business Improvement District which brought out some of the city's heavy hitters, I couldn't help but wonder.
The opponents argue that the BID is too costly, not democratic and unnecessary due to Main Street's status as one of the top main streets in all of the country, as evidenced by recent awards bestowed upon it. Proponents point to some empty storefronts, panhandlers and graffiti and counter that Main Street is in a state of decline and is in dire need of some TLC and oversight. Both sides are somewhat demanding in their tone.
Largely absent from the debate on either side however, is objective quantitative evidence concerning Northampton's economy. For instance, what is downtown's gross domestic product, that is, the value of all good and services traded in a year. There is a figure for this, we just don't know what that is or what it has been doing. Has it been growing or shrinking and by how much? In line with that, how many total transactions take place annually downtown, and how has that figure been doing? Some merchants claim that aggressive panhandlers have cost them business-well, how much business? What has been the trend over the last decade in the turnover of commercial properties and vacancies? How many-how often? How about some visual displays of the blight that allegedly has taken hold downtown? Some people think it looks fine while BID Steering Committee member Dan Yacuzzo asserts that anyone who says downtown looks as good today as it did ten years ago is being dishonest.
For a city government that prides itself on its sophistication and global awareness, I find this lack of evidence problematic. It leaves the city council in the position of deciding what to do largely based on anecdotal evidence, hearsay and possibly on the strength of personal political relationships that might exist. When significant persons in Northampton weigh in in favor of the BID, persons like Pat Goggins, Dan Yacuzzo, Judith Fine, Joe Blumenthal, Bruce Fogel, Laurie Fenlason, Doug Kohl and the like, councilors tend to listen. On the other side is Eric Suher, David Pesuit and Alan Scheinman and somewhere in the middle is William Newman. All prominent folks in Northampton's policy making processes squaring off from opposite sides of the aisle on this issue, seemingly unaware of the ordinary citizen that may be observing the debate. If there is a cabal that runs Northampton its facade seems to be showing signs of cracking.
Moreover, basic economic theory indicates that increases in taxation result in blocked trades and a general reduction in commerce and there are various tax areas that are ripe for increases presently. For example, besides the 43% increase in property taxes for those who opt into the BID, the state is considering increasing its sales, meals and hotel/motel occupancy taxes, creating a local option meals tax and expanding the bottle bill. There is talk of creating candy and liquor taxes and an internet sales tax. The gasoline tax might be increased which would further dampen tourism travel and the hospitality trades. What happens if gas prices rise again on top of that? There is to be the aforementioned local property tax override vote, presumably in March, in the hopes of addressing a projected $6 million gap in the city's fiscal year 2010 general budget. In addition the city will likely look to increase its fees and penalties and the state and federal governments respectively will probably take a look at raising income taxes too at some point.
There may be other unintended consequences if the BID is adopted, like blocks of downtown that go unkept if property owners opt out. We could have one block cleared of trash, graffiti and panhandlers while the next block is left as it is. Will this lead the city to pull some of its resources from BID areas and focus on non-Bid areas? Will opponents stage protests and rallies which could scare away customers and make the perceived panhandling problem seem mild by comparison? Will someone organize a boycott? How much additional traffic will BID promotional activities generate? If the BID is adopted will voters be induced to vote NO on the general override this spring?
While BID proponents exclaim that they are acting in the best interests of the city at large, they also repeatedly make narcissistic statements like, "WE need to rebrand Northampton," and "Northampton was resurrected by people like ME," and, "WE want more." I've got news for these chest-thumpers, there is a base of Northampton citizens and business owners that will remain here for generations, through good times and bad. People who modestly plan ahead for downturns in the economy, people who live within their means and for the most part they ain't goin' nowhere. Repeatedly last evening people spoke at the podium of how they came here in the mid-1970s and made something from nothing. Well, that may be true, but aside from their personal holdings, they don't own downtown, unlike the owners of a mall. How about this, why don't we make legislators out of the voters and add the BID question to the spring override ballot in order to advise the council. Remember, commercial property owners collectively pay less than 20% of the local tax levy, the balance is picked up by the ordinary homeowner. Shall we let this majority decide?
I surmise that what's really happening here is some of these folks are in a panic and are likely experiencing financial or capital losses or both. They took some risks and sunk money and sweat equity into their downtown businesses and buildings and watched their wealth and influence boom. Many were appointed to city boards and commissions as well as to the boards of local private agencies and they direct much of the policy making in town. Unfortunately the vested ownership of private buildings downtown has become consolidated into the hands of fewer and fewer people, and now these people are duking it out in front of the city council. Eric Suher alone boasts ownership of twenty properties, Jordi Herold now owns four, Doug Kohl bought Thornes Market to go along with his residential real estate developments and other downtown properties, Joe Blumenthal of Downtown Sounds recently purchased the neighboring Pleasant Street Theatre building and the list goes on and includes other risk takers that are also policy makers. Like the married couple of school committee member Lucy Hartry and planning board chair Frandy Johnson who own the Dunkin Donuts building downtown for instance. Blumenthal sits on the Northampton State Hospital Citizens Advisory Committee and the Central Business Architecture Committee. Yacuzzo and Fogel sit on the CAC, etc., etc. The list goes on extensively and there is plenty of cross membership on boards and committees among the BID players. Perhaps these folks took their growing equity and leveraged themselves into increased landholdings and are now in an unfortunate position of seeing that equity evaporate. Ah, the risks of capitalism and the free market. Entrepreneurs love it when the trends are upward, and freak out when the opposite occurs and the result is infighting and a break down in their networks. It would be humorous if it wasn't so serious with ramifications for innocent community members looming. What is needed here is dispassionate decision making, not further self aggrandizement.
Finally, there is the equity issue surrounding of the use of city resources. If it is true that the city charged BID opponents for planning department staff time and information while not charging BID proponents, as alleged by a BID opponent, the city is not playing fairly in the interest of informed debate and should correct this disparity forthwith. Moreover, has the city scrutinized each of the three hundred plus signatures submitted in favor of the BID as it did those included on the Smith College Education Use Overlay District petition? I wonder…
