Responding to retail decay in Friendship Heights (DC/Montgomery County, Maryland)

 I've written about the decline of this once thriving commercial district:

-- "Friendship Heights and the production of retail decay," 2020

The retail killer Ashkenasy (they wrecked a couple locations in Baltimore including Harborplace, and haven't been great managers of Union Station's retail) owned Mazza Gallerie for awhile, it went into foreclosure.  Once home to a Neiman-Marcus department store, now closed, it's going to be torn down and redeveloped into retail and housing.

WTOP reports that DC and MoCo are working to create a business improvement district to help improve the area ("Friendship Heights BID? DC and Montgomery Co. are working on it").

In the beginning of my Main Street days (2002) districts like Dupont Circle pushed for being included. 

I scoffed, saying that they had plenty of resources, and neighborhood commercial districts didn't.  The reality is that then successful districts like Friendship Heights and Georgetown still faced voracious competition, but from the suburbs ("Turnabout is fair play: why Topher Matthews/GGW is wrong about TIF incentives for a department store in Georgetown," 2012).

So I was missing the point. The lesson from Main Street and BIDs and the original Downtown management program in Corning New York in the early 1960s, is that _all_ such districts need ongoing management so they can be their best, compete with other districts, recruit, stay on top of possible negative changes, etc.

So now that FH is super duper languishing they are considering creating a business improvement district. Obviously this should have been done years ago, especially as department stores began to falter and DC invested in other areas, as did Montgomery County.

Paul Levy, director the Center City Business Improvement District in Philadelphia, is retiring

Public art bus shelter program in Downtown Philadelphia.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "The man who helped revitalize downtown Philly is ready to step back after 30 years leading Center City District."  From the article:

A longstanding critique of BIDs is that they heighten urban inequality by providing additional semi-private services to higher-income areas that can afford them. That increases disparities between neighborhoods and quiets a potential constituency for stronger public services citywide.

Levy dismisses that argument, noting that Center City is an economic hub and revenue generator for the rest of Philadelphia.

“I’d like you to go on to City Council and propose $31 million of funding for sidewalk cleaning, public safety, and lighting in the downtown,” Levy said this week. “They’re taking care of the rest of the city. They’ve got constituents who need services more than we need services. That’s the basic politics.”

Since CCD’s creation, the city has bounced back by many measures — especially in Center City and the neighborhoods around it. While never reaching the heights of the first half of the 20th century, Philadelphia’s population began growing again, the tax base recovered, centrally located neighborhoods revitalized, and crime ebbed (until recently).

Nationally, he has been a force for change and innovation at a scale that is unusual.  They've pushed a lot of interesting programs forward.

His successor, Prema Katari Gupta, has experience at two other Philadelphia BIDs which are also quite creative, the University Center District and the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Times Square Alliance Streetwatch program for reporting problems in the public space

One of the people I follow on Flickr is the photographer Elvert Barnes (Elvert Barnes on the web.)

He is incredibly prolific and a careful observer and documenter of the public space, and is especially active in DC, Baltimore, and New York City.

A recent upload in my photo feed was from last fall, and showed a public art campaign posted on a trash can in Times Square, where the public spaces are managed by the Times Square Alliance business improvement district.  (More about this later.)

As we all know, it's a highly frequented area--with more than 365,000 daily visitors pre-covid, and almost that many today, even while most office workers are still working from home, and is the site of major events including New York City's New Year's Eve party with as many as 100,000 people all in one place for the ball drop at midnight ("The Impressive Logistics Behind Times Square’s New Year’s Eve," National Events Pros).

STAND WITH US poster by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya on trash receptacle along Broadway between West 45th and West 46th Street in New York City, NY on Tuesday night, 24 August 2021 by Elvert Barnes Photography

I happened to notice a sticker on the can, promoting contacting the TSA when people see problems.  It wasn't particularly distinct as an element of the photo, but it piqued my interest.

Image courtesy of the Times Square Alliance.

It piqued my interest because it's relevant to things I'm addressing in Salt Lake, serving on the board of an independent park, and a member of the Friends group of a city park, a big issue is quality of maintenance of the public spaces, vandalism, restroom maintenance, etc.

Neither my park nor the city parks are particularly good about providing information or signage giving contact info on problem reporting.  Obviously, there is 911 for emergencies, but do you use that for a restroom issue in a particular park?  Do complaints sent to 311 or the city's reporting app get properly reported to and addressed by parks entities, especially independent parks?  Etc.

I keep arguing that not providing that kind of signage "reduces" "eyes on the street" and lets problems fester.

So the idea of not just seeing something, but doing something, is highly appealing.

I got the opportunity to talk to Regina Fojas, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff of the TSA about their Streetwatch program. So here goes.

Maintenance of public spaces is a key element of public safety.  The whole concept of "broken windows theory" ("Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety," Atlantic Magazine, 1982) is based on the findings that high quality maintenance in public spaces reduces the likelihood of disorder.  

It should be obvious that the 2000s period of urban resurgence was sparked by a significant decrease in urban crime, which is still the case, despite rises in murder in the covid era, and the Republican painting of cities as cesspools of crime and decay ("The real story about crime Republicans won’t tell you," Washington Post).

But even so, no agency has enough staff on the payroll to report and monitor everything.  Citizens can be an important element of "eyes on the street" in reporting problems earlier, facilitating quicker attention to resolving nuisances and other problems.

Many communities lack a clear process for reporting and addressing problems in the public space.  Problems such as graffiti, people in mental health crisis, sanitation, etc., bother people and make them feel unsafe, making it that much harder for cities to compete with the suburbs for commerce and residential location.

Although many local governments have online apps and 311 reporting systems for problems, it's often unclear to people who report problems that the government has responded, agencies may seem to lack  a "bias for action," and the reporting back on whether or not the problem was resolved is minimal ("Unresolved versus Closed as a determination in handing City inspection/service matters," 2018).

Like most places, New York City has city-provided reporting mechanisms, 911 and 311.  Business improvement districts provide an additional layer of reporting, both from reports by public safety staff and community ambassadors and the means for public reporting.

In addition, BIDs like the Times Square Alliance also have some capacity to address issues on their own separate from the city through sanitation staff, equipment (the Downtown DC BID has a gum removal machine used on sudewalks), and other means.

Times Square Alliance Streetwatch program is another layer for paying attention to the public space.  In addition to the reporting of problems by BID staff, the earliest iteration of the "Streetwatch" program, allowed people to report problems to the BID by telephone and email.

The program has since been expanded, and is promoted by the stickers affixed to street furniture throughout the Times Square district.

To me, the beauty of the latest iteration of the Streetwatch program is fivefold:

-- strong brand

-- there is a call to action that is particularly direct: "see something, do something,"

-- provides multiple ways to report problems -- phone, QR, messaging, email, and anonymously through the report it® online app.

--  complements and extends reporting of problems by Times Square Alliance staff, and is 

-- supported by a 24 hour call/dispatch center.

report it® is a reporting tool that doesn't require the reporter to provide contact information.  

It's a relatively new addition to the Streetwatch program, implemented last year, when during covid's peak, Times Square was seemingly empty compared to it being a busy office and theater district, and so problems seemed much more visible and frequent, even if the number of incidents wasn't much different from before ("As Times Square suffers, Alliance tries to soften the blow," amNY).

The addition of QR and messaging reporting modes, along with the ability to report anonymously, gave people a means to report problems and have more control over the quality of public spaces that they frequented--as residents, as employees of businesses in the Times Square district, or as visitors-- and spaces that they feared may otherwise be in decline without their taking action.

The app has a variety of reporting and tracking tools to manage response, identify problem areas, etc.  It also provides a way to reach back to the reporter, still anonymously, through a chat function.

Since the report it® element has been added to the Streetwatch program, TSA has received about 200 reports.  It may not be an astounding number, but that's because they already have multiple systems for reporting problems.  

In communities where reporting systems are more distant between the specific place where the problem occurs, where you report it, and the various levels in between, report it® seems like it would be a good addition, especially provided within a broader branded initiative like Streetwatch and its multiple elements.  (I'm thinking Parkwatch for Salt Lake...)

Again, having signage, stickers, etc. with information on how to report problems and a call to action is the very first step that many public agencies seem to have forgotten.

Who should I call to get fixed this broken toilet in Sunnyside Park?  There's no information posted anywhere.

A system like report it® gives more control to public space management organizations like BIDs and park systems to address problems more quickly than they would through the multi-step and separated 311 reporting system.

 A much emptier Times Square.  Photo: Gary Hershorn, Getty Images.

Times Square in 2017.  Photo: Michael Grimm.

From "The Brilliant Simplicity of New York's New Times Square," Wired Magazine.
 

Homelessness and TSA's response: Community First initiative.  I asked if TSA has social workers on staff, to address homelessness and other issues, as a number of BIDs do have such staff ("Helping Homeless Through Business Improvement Districts," National Center for Excellence in Homeless Services), in a manner that doesn't have to involve police.  

They do not, but they have developed a program called Community First, working with nonprofits in their district that do have dedicated staff with the expertise and range of applicable resources to help.  

Community First was developed during the pandemic, when NYC closed congregate housing for the unhoused, and moved them to hotels with single rooms.  A lot of those hotels were in the Times Square district.

This led to a greater number of people "being on the street," and more issues being played out in the public space and needing to be addressed ("Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances," 2020), while at the same time recognizing that the unhoused are one of the constituencies of the community and deserve being treated with respect and humanity ("Community First: A Unique Approach to Street Outreach," Center for Court Innovation, "A new group to help Times Square emerge from COVID-19 pandemic," City & State).

A final word.  One of the last points that Regina made is that we need to:

-- "find and apply solutions, rather than simply be problem spotters."

I love that.  It reminds me of my line about the Greater Greater Washington blog, that there's a fine line between whining and critical analysis. 

Along with the directness of "see something, do something."

Tools like report it®, as elements of branded reporting initiatives like Streetwatch and helping programs like Community First allow us to act, not just notice something and walk on by, doing nothing.

A special thank you to TJ Witham, VP of Communications for the Times Square Alliance, for his quick response to my initial query and for lining up Regina Fojas for an interview.  Too many agencies blow off queries from serious blogs (maybe now they just ignore email?), which is a pain.  Another reason why Times Square Alliance is a BID to learn from.

One problem in public space management is the desire to be unique | Does San Francisco really needs its own $20,000 trash can

Flickr photo by Elvert Barnes of a trash can in Times Square, branded with a public art campaign addressing harassment of Asian Americans.

There is a big tension in public space management over maintenance--its cost, vandalism,  restrooms (an issue that I'm dealing with now in Salt Lake)--and the quality of urban design, street furniture, and the aesthetic environment of the place.

The primary reason that business improvement districts and parks conservancies ("Creating a Parks Conservancy That Fits," Parks & Recreation) were created was to provide for a higher level of maintenance and care than can normally be provided by a city or county agency, because they don't focus on just one place, but many.

Sugarhouse wayfinding kiosk/pylon.  They are supposed to be stocked with maps and there is a QR code for more information, but these resources haven't been funded or updated in an ongoing way.

(There is criticism of these types of entities over the source of money, concerns about privatization, the ability for civic input into their operation, etc. See Public Spaces/Private Money: The Triumphs and Pitfalls of Urban Park Conservancies, Trust for Public Land.)

But the cost can be exacerbated by groups seeking to be more distinctive by having street furniture unique to them, like creating their own designs for trash cans instead of buying them from Victor Stanley and branding them.  Another big thing is designing their own bike racks, instead of focusing on making bike parking better overall.

Another problem with this is creating unique appurtenances that don't work very well, as they haven't been tested elsewhere in real life situations.  For example, the wayfinding pylons created by the Salt Lake Redevelopment Authority for the Sugarhouse Business District.

A prototype of the Salt and Pepper trash can seen near the Embarcadero and Ferry Building in San Francisco. Photograph: Eric Risberg/AP.

This has come up in San Francisco with their design of a new trash can that costs $20,000 per copy ("Rubbish! San Francisco’s $20,000 designer trash can struggles to contain trash," Guardian).

I'd rather buy 20 cans for the same amount of money.  And figure out how to add an evening maintenance shift. 

Years ago this came up in Arlington with the $1 million bus shelter ("Arlington County's bus shelters and a public realm framework of quality," 2013, "I guess I do have some issues with the Arlington bus shelters ," 2014).  The criticism was unfair because it was a prototype and they were testing new approaches, and at scale it would have been cheaper, but the problem is that the cost of street furniture and other initiatives by government are an easy target for anti-taxers and conservatives, and an easy story for the media.

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This is also an issue with transit systems and their heavy rail cars.  Most every transit system designs their own.  If they used similar or the same designs, likely they'd be cheaper, easier to build, and more reliable.

A PCC car still in operation in Antwerp, Belgium.  Flickr photo by Tie 62.

The brilliance of the PCC streetcar was that it brought standardization and savings to transit systems looking to save money.

Metra/Chicago creates a well priced German style all-mode transit pass

 Last week, I wrote a post, "Montreal first North American city with German/London style fare pass good on all transit, even local railroad services," after charlie called our attention to how the transit system in Greater Montreal is moving to a German style all-modes-in-one fare media system, which is really the first example of this in North America.

It appears that Metra, the commuter but 7 day/week railroad serving Chicagoland (mostly serving Illinois, with one line to Wisconsin, while Indiana is served separately from Metra), is sort of kind of backing into a similar system.  

In the past they've had a monthly pass, ranging from $116 to $275 depending on distance ("Metra to offer new $100 monthly pass, the latest change to draw back riders," CT), plus two add on pass options for local transit--a peak CTA rail and city and suburban bus pass ($55) or suburban only bus pass ($30).

But earlier this month, to stoke ridership in the face of pandemic decline, they've moved to a $100 monthly commuter pass.  And since they've announced a $30 add on city and suburban local transit pass, for a total of $130 ("CTA and Pace to offer new pass for Metra riders, as commuting habits change," Chicago Tribune).  

This is a significant reduction in price, as little as 1/3 the cost for some riders compared to previous rates.

Now it's not available in reverse, in that a CTA/Pace monthly pass for $75 can't add full rail access for $55.  But it's a start.

In a way, the Metra combo is better than the German options, because those increment higher based on zones, where due to the pandemic fall in ridership, Metra has shifted to a flat rate pass.

Conclusion: Desperation can lead to innovation.  In working in revitalization, I used to compare DC--a strong real estate market, and Baltimore--a weak real estate market, a lot, making the point that Baltimore had a "desperate willingness to experiment because they have no other choice."

Chicago's Nederlander Theatre and a busy Randolph Street on March 12, 2020, in downtown Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Metra and the Regional Transit Agency (RTA) are desperate because the pandemic has crashed visitorship and commuting to Chicago, destroying their ridership and revenues.  

At the same time, workers are liking telecommuting because it cuts the time and cost of telecommuting.  Bosses do like outsourcing the cost of office space to workers at home, but at the same time, want to see people in the office, out of the belief (which I believe) that people accomplish more when interacting.

With such significant reductions in transit cost, this is an economic development strategy for Downtown Chicago.  Fortunately, Chicagoland has a dense center city and commuter railroad transit network where they can pull this off.

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I was talking to someone who knows someone who works for the Utah Transit Authority, who told him that the cost of collecting and process money is roughly equal to the revenue collected, so that the authority could move to a free transit system at no cost*.  But the Utah Legislature--70% Republican, 90% Mormon--is opposed to providing free transit.

* Note that in high transit use systems, the fear of moving to free transit is based on a rise in ridership, requiring more personnel and more equipment, so it would cost more and revenue would drop significantly as well.

Why isn't a U Street nightlife task force not a standing function already?

It's been so long since I attended some presentations in DC about dealing with night time management, by a guy based out in San Diego I think, maybe 15-18 years ago.  

They featured Jim Peters, principal of the Responsible Hospitality Institute.  I think he did some consulting with some of DC's business improvement districts.

-- "The Nighttime Economy," ICMA, article by Jim Peters
-- Planning, Managing, and Policing Hospitality Zones, RHI, 2006
-- "Hospitality Zones," Meesterlijk Gastheerschap blog

Although interestingly some of the strife in the Adams Morgan Business Improvement District is over funding for night time security ("Adams Morgan public space management + Adams Morgan Day," 2021).  And I mentioned night life management as an A-M issue in one of my earliest blog entries in 2005.

WTOP reports ("DC council member assembles U Street nightlife task force") that the Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, wants to create a nightlife task force for U Street.  From the article:

Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau has created a task force to address “violence and vitality” along D.C.’s U Street corridor. Recent incidents have included a Saturday night stabbing and an early Sunday morning double shooting. 

“Since my time on the (Advisory Neighborhood Commission), I have been working to support a vibrant U Street corridor that is welcoming and safe for residents, businesses and visitors, and a continuation of the legacy of ‘Black Broadway,’” Nadeau said in a news release. 

“It’s clear we need better coordination and resources to address the serious safety issues that persist.” The task force will include community leaders, representatives from the police department, the attorney general’s office and the Alcoholic Beverage Regulatory Agency. “I know we can solve the problems we are facing,” Nadeau said. 

The task force is expected to convene in June and have a series of meetings.

But given that nightlife districts always have issues, especially in cities like DC, why isn't this a standing function.  Especially when Councilmember Nadeau has been in office for almost 8 years.

And how's the DC "Night Mayor" working out anyway? ("The Vision Thing and DC's Night Mayor appointment," 2018).  

-- Economic Impact of DC's Nightlife Industry, 2020, DC Mayor's Office

Management and security needs to be built into dealing with the night time economy.  Like any potential nuisance, the best way to ward off problems is to manage them.  

-- "Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances: Part 3," 2020

I mean, look at what has been happening in city nightlife areas, not just the crimes on U Street, but shootings in Sacramento ("3 alleged gang members charged with murder in Sacramento mass shooting," ABC News), Charlotte, North Carolina, and across the country.

I've suggested that one way to pay for it could be a 5% sales tax surcharge on night time service at bars, restaurants, and related businesses and cultural facilities in particular entertainment districts as a way to pay for it. It makes sense to charge people consuming the place at the time when there is increased risk of problems.

-- Nighttime.org
-- Global Nighttime Recovery Plan, Nighttime.org
-- "How the night-time economy helps build cities," MIPIM World Blog
-- "Economic Development After Dark," IEDC Journal
-- "Club and Bar Operators Flex their Economic Muscle and Collaborate with the Community," Bar & Restaurant

Real estate intermediation as a hindrance to further projects: Amtrak seeks to "condemn" the retail lease at Washington Union Station

Real estate development is complicated, involving land, buildings, uses, construction, finance, and ownership. It is typical for projects large and small to be divvied up in various ways--parking operations outsourced, retail operations separately managed, certain buildings, especially hotels, being sold off, etc.

What happens then is the loss of the sense of a "common interest" and common goals.  Instead the various interests have and pursue their own interests.

It's the parking lot operator at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue SE being uninterested in providing special parking rates to crafts vendors at Eastern Market, because when they bought the rights to the parking operation, that wasn't built into the contract.

Or trying to sell a bike parking concept to an multi building mixed use retail and apartment development, but one of the buildings was sold off and the new owner wasn't interested, and to work, the concept needed to be applied to the entire project.

Or how department stores at shopping malls own their sites separate from the malls.  So Lord and Taylor at White Flint fought the developer's plans to redevelop the area ("Jury awards $31 million to Lord & Taylor in White Flint dispute," Washington Post).  They were successful, because the original contract had a very static definition of how the property was to operated.

And this isn't limited to for profit operations.  It's a problem especially with "public-private partnerships" between governments at various scales and private interests operating as contractors.

JFK Airport, with some terminals privately owned and others not, has problems of coordination and service quality as a result ("Privatizing (Dulles and National) Airports," 2018).  

Similarly, the City of Chicago, by selling off parking operations and city-owned parking structures under 99 year leases to raise short term capital ("A lesson to cities that they need to be very careful when leasing assets to public private "partnerships"," 2012), has created problems as well.

The State of Maryland's PPP to build the Purple Line ended up with one concessionaire abandoning the project and the state having to find a new construction "partner" with the end result of a four year delay in the project ("New construction contract for Maryland's Purple Line signed," Post).

And of course, sports stadiums and arenas ("I’ve studied stadium financing for over two decades – and the new Bills stadium is one of the worst deals for taxpayers I’ve ever seen," The Conversation).

In short, these aren't partnerships, but contracts, and when interests are "intermediated"--split up and out over multiple parties--when circumstances change it can be very difficult if not impossible to get the various interests to agree to act "together" and revise how they operate in order to create better outcomes.

How Union Station operates today is much different from when it first opened in 1907, when trains were the primary form of long distance transportation in the United States.

This is the case with Union Station in Washington, DC.  Amtrak wants to add significantly to the operation there, making it into a new and much bigger hub on the Northeast Corridor service ("Amtrak moves to seize control of Union Station," Post).  

Union Station is unusual is that it is the only train station in the country owned by the US Department of Transportation, a result of the bankruptcy of Pennsylvania Railroad.  Because it's owned by USDOT, I've argued that the station should be treated as a testbed for best practice.

The station further declined as passenger rail travel declined.  An attempted revival of the station for the Bicentennial didn't have much traction, but USDOT has assigned operation of the station to the Union Station Revitalization Corporation, and the station reopened in the late 1980s as a train station and retail center ("A grand station offers a model for Philadelphia," Philadelphia Inquirer).  At some point after the reopening, to raise fund, USRC sold a 99 year lease to operate the retail side of the station.  

People walk through Union Station in Washington, July 25, 2012. Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail service, plans a $7 billion expansion of Washington, D.C.'s Union Station with the goal of making it a high-speed rail and commercial hub, Amtrak said on Wednesday. The proposal calls for doubling the number of trains that can be handled at the crowded site, the second-busiest Amtrak station in the country. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst ("Amtrak plans $7 bln upgrade of Washington, DC, station").

Since then the lease was re-sold to and is now held by Ashkenasy Acquisition Corporation, a firm which has developed a "specialty" in owning these kinds of "festival marketplace" assets.  

The problem is that in multiple instances Ashkenasy has run these assets into the ground, such as the ruination of Harborplace in Baltimore ("Judge takes Baltimore's Harborplace out of owner's control, paving way for possible sale," Baltimore Sun).

From the Post article:

Amtrak’s filing makes the case that acquiring leasing control will allow the railroad to repair the train tunnel “so that safety and stability are maintained.” Completing that project soon is critical to replace structurally deficient beams, girders and columns, said the railroad, and avoid collapse, which would have significant effects on train travel. 

Amtrak said it also plans to expand ticketing and waiting areas, improve accessibility and passenger flow, and add more passenger amenities while increasing capacity to meet future demand. Amtrak said that it “lacks both the space and control to make much needed improvements” at Union Station, which carries more than 5 million rail passengers annually and is a top stop in the Northeast Corridor, the backbone of the nation’s passenger rail system. The station was designated a historic landmark by the District in 1964 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Amtrak, arguing that Ashkenasy is not willing to work with them to accomplish improvements, calls instead for a "condemnation" of the lease through eminent domain.  If successful, they will have to buy out the lease.  

Festival marketplaces share characteristics with big train stations. Interestingly, "festival marketplace" type spaces are not just places like South Street Seaport in Manhattan, Faneuil Hall in Boston, Harborplace in Baltimore, but also train stations like Union Station in DC, and Penn and Grand Central Stations in New York City.

This is especially true in European and Asian cities where train stations are hubs of retail and community activity beyond the strict function of transportation.  Stations like Saint Pancras and many others in London, Gare de Lyon in Paris, the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, etc. are great examples

Train stations are a form of business improvement districts, even if under a single owner's control.  And such spaces need a lot more "partnership" and cooperation between various interests than typical real estate assets.  

This is why "business improvement districts" have been created in various places, to provide extranormal services, creativity, and promotion than could be provided by any one particular interest.

A great book I am two years behind in reading, Learning from Bryant Park, offers a lot of insight into these issues and how to best manage multifaceted public spaces like parks, business districts, and train stations.

Another issue is public planning processes can be needed in private ownership situations.  I wrote about this extensively in terms of Reston Town Center and paying for parking.

Conclusion.  Disintermediating ownership interests in complex property development and management can be extremely problematic in the long term, as operating conditions and goals and objectives change over time, and contractual relationships are not flexible enough to allow for changes in how these relationships work financially and operationally.

It's easier probably to keep the ownership in house, even if you contract out certain operations, so that changing the terms of the relationship isn't so difficult it means a trip to court. 

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Southeast Corridor not on the table.  WRT Union Station, it's a shame that Amtrak isn't using the revitalization and expansion of Union Station as the way to leverage the creation of higher speed service further south (see "More need for redundancy/"hardening" in the DC area rail transit system: Amtrak's temporary shutdown of service south of DC").

These extensions would contribute to the creation of a Southeast high speed rail corridor complementing the Northeast Corridor, conceptualized as an extension of the existing rail assets. 

-- Southeast Corridor Project

-- "FRA issues Southeast HSR DEIS," Railway Age

-- DC 2 Virginia Southeast Rail Corridor

Adams Morgan public space management + Adams Morgan Day

AMD, 2012.

Adams Morgan Day was once one of the premier street festivals in DC.  

I have fond memories because in 2000 or 2001 I picked up the "Restore the Core" report at the Sierra Club booth.  It was also the site of my first date with Suzanne.

The report was about smart and more intensive growth, transit, etc., and it helped propel me from being interested in urbanism to actively being engaged in urban revitalization (also spurred by a proposal by BP to build a big gas station at the foot of the gateway to my then neighborhood; "360 Apartment building + Giant Supermarket vs. a BP gas station, which would you choose?").

Over the past ten years, because of competition between different community interest groups (there was the Adams Morgan Main Street program which is now defunct, a merchants association, community associations, and now the Adams Morgan Partnership, the business improvement district) and maybe impropriety, a couple of times the AMD went from a big street festival to being unable to get permission to close the street, which is an issue this year too.  

Adams Morgan Day is this Sunday, but it won't be a big street festival, but some stuff on plazas and side streets.

18th Street, the main thoroughfare in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, in 2017. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)

Renewal of the Adams Morgan Partnership BID.  A few weeks ago there was a Post article, "Fight over Adams Morgan nonprofit splits business community," and a follow up op-ed, "The Adams Morgan Business Improvement District board needs an overhaul," with complaints about the Adams Morgan Partnership BID, in advance of the statutory re-approval process.

Some of the complaints are that the top two directors make about 25% of the total budget (about $250,000), and even though the original business plan didn't call for additional police support at night--the district is a major evening entertainment destination, it was instituted immediately after the BID was created at the cost of $200,000-$300,000 annually.

This created a lot of tension.  

There is a divide between the businesses dependent on the entertainment economy and the non-entertainment businesses, plus the usual group of "gadflies" who don't favor group approaches or paying more taxes--the BID tax is 19 cents per $100 of assessed value.  

(My joke is that independent business people are independent for a reason.  They don't like working for or with other people and usually they aren't good at thinking about the business district as a district.) 

I think another issue is the nature of the organization.  Most of the city's BIDs are dominated by large properties like office and apartment buildings, and the people participating in the organization from the member/taxpayer side tend to be more sophisticated than their counterparts in smaller commercial district revitalization organizations. 

The Adams Morgan Partnership is an outlier in that there are very few large properties, instead most are small.  This is why the tax rate for AMP is higher per $100 of assessed value than it is in the city's other BIDs.

FWIW, I think that the AMP does some really great branding and marketing work.  

They have some good proposals for gateway treatments.  They sponsor a Porch Fest in the neighborhood, but I don't see how that will help the business district ("Adams Morgan PorchFest will feature more than 45 bands," WTOP-radio) as it's more of a community event.

But I don't think they've been very good at thinking more broadly about promoting the business district, not just the interests of particular businesses ("Food truck issue revisited," 2013), and haven't necessarily been good advocates for urban design ("Five examples of the failure to do parks and public space master planning in DC," 2021), such as the Columbia Road Plaza matter.

To be fair to the AMP, it's tough to develop retail in DC, especially for Adams Morgan as the city invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the DC/USA (Target) shopping center in nearby Columbia Heights ("Where's the there? To get visitation to neighborhoods there must be destinations worth visiting," 2013). 

And there are multiple nearby competitive commercial districts, including for night life too such as Dupont Circle, U Street and 14th Street,  and Downtown and Georgetown are pretty close too.

Every neighborhood wants its retail district to be thriving, but there aren't enough residents to support that many retail districts across the city.

One possible solution.  I think that the entertainment establishments could do say a 1% to 5% tax surcharge on checks, to generate the revenue necessary to pay for additional police support at night ("No way! Baltimore Downtown Partnership says crime declined when they added patrols").  

I don't know what the gross sales tax revenue is on the entertainment establishments in that district, but it's probably enough.  The same could be done in Georgetown, on H Street, U Street, etc., as needed.

Sure the businesses will complain, especially in the pandemic environment.  But most patrons won't notice or care about slightly higher checks.  And the people generating the demand for extra security would be the ones paying for it.

Colorado allows a similar kind of surcharge, theoretically a "historic preservation surcharge" which they say isn't a tax, for Denver's Larimer Square district and Union Station ("Public improvement fees as sales tax add ons," 2016, "What's in Store for Larimer Square, Denver's Most Historic Block?," Westworld).  It's 1% for Larimer Square and 3% at Union Station (retail sales are lower).  If we knew what the sales tax revenues were in Adams Morgan, we could figure out the right rate.

The AMP BID was re-approved.  But I'm sure that such ideas weren't floated as part of the re-approval process ("D.C. renews Adams Morgan business improvement district but urges change," Post).  From the article:

The Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSLBD) also urged the nonprofit Adams Morgan Partnership to “very seriously” consider calls by members of the business community to overhaul the BID’s governance, including making changes to the bylaws. ...

Critics said the nonprofit organization under Stavropoulos and Executive Director Kristen Barden operated with too much overhead expense and too little transparency or accountability. Critics also accused the BID of devoting most of its energy and funding to programs, such as the use of subsidized police officers for late-night security, that mostly benefited businesses along 18th Street NW on weekend nights. 

 Several questioned whether the benefits of the BID were worth the additional tax burden. Lapan — whose business is moving to Union Market for reasons that have nothing to do with the BID — said the organization should develop more sophisticated ways of measuring the benefits of its programs for neighborhood businesses.

My experience with these processes in DC is that they aren't particularly evaluative or aimed at generating iterative improvements.

Another priority should be fixing whatever problems there are with holding Adams Morgan Day ("Events as drivers of activity for traditional commercial districts").

But doing a surcharge to fund the night time police presence and using the bulk of the BID fees for business development, public space management, and improvement could go a long way towards assuaging problems.

No way! Baltimore Downtown Partnership says crime declined when they added patrols

The whole policing thing is complicated these days over arguments about defunding versus creating a more expansive approach to public safety, and shifting some calls from police to other types of social resources.

The problem in the argument is that yes, police often do bad things--warrior policing is usually overkill, killing people in custody isn't good, there is structural racism in how policing is performed, which has extraordinarily negative consequences, and for many types of "social problems" police officers aren't necessarily the best initial responders.

But at the same time, there is crime and it needs to be suppressed, criminals need to be apprehended and punished, etc.

But too often, because some/many police do bad things, there is a kind of nullification concept, that "criminals" aren't really criminals because police do bad things.  This is a specious argument.  

Assaults, killings ("Man accused of killing father dining with family at Miami Beach café appears in court," WSVN-TV, "Tony Robinson Charged In Chicago Stabbing Death Of UMD Doctoral Candidate Anat Kimchi," WJZ-TV/CBS), robberies, burglaries, organized and notorious shoplifting ("San Francisco repeat offenders responsible for retail theft, police say," ABC/SF), hit and runs ("South Dakota Lawman Who Ran Over Man Cuts No-Jail Deal," Daily Beast), turnstile jumping ("Mayhem at Penn Station shows how far NYC has sunk," New York Post), etc. are bad, and the people who commit such crimes need to be apprehended and punished.

From the article on the killer of UMD PhD student Amit Kimchi:

As you can as well, there’s a homeless encampment that’s adjacent to where this crime scene is,” said Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown. “We suspect this likely is a homeless person that’s secreted himself in the bushes and came out and committed this heinous crime.”

In such an area with high pedestrian traffic, why aren't there more patrols, like what they're doing in Baltimore's downtown as discussed below.

As importantly, my experience living in DC in the late 1980s and 1990s when crime was particularly bad (although a friend says the 1970s were even worse, although the murder rate wasn't as high) reinforced to me the importance of order, that public safety was a key element in why people chose not to live in cities, and that there is a fine line between order and disorder and that when you let crime slide, it only gets worse.

Wrt the last point see the book The Future Once Happened Here and Moynihan's essay "Defining Deviance Down," subtitled "How We've Become Accustomed to Alarming Levels Of Crime and Destructive Behavior."

Noxious uses like rampant, visible drug use ("OD death toll mounts in Washington Square Park, including 3 last week," New York Post), homeless camps, tagging/graffiti, and misuse of public spaces and facilities ("The party is FINALLY over ... for now: NYC's Washington Square Park goes silent as DJ who hosted raucous parties that caused late-night chaos is arrested," Daily Mail versus "Welcome to Washington Square Park, Capital of Woke Bohemia," The Nation) are other signs of disorder that are difficult to live with for residents, and are feared by nonresidents as a sign that cities are out of control..

Police time and community involvement.  I myself belief in the concept of "broken windows" in terms of order and community maintenance as a way to reduce crime, which is much different than how most police departments translated it into practice, as "zero tolerance policing."

A big issue with crime and crime suppression is the use of police time.  Speeches by Herman Goldstein, who coined the term "problem oriented policing" and Ronald Clarke, upon their acceptance of Stockholm Prize in Criminology, are well worth reading in thinking about how to better deal with crime.

Clarke opines that a lot of crime reduction has come about from initiatives by property and business owners, recognizing that it's better to take proactive steps to reduce the opportunity for crime, than to deal with the consequences afterwards.

In Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence, Professor Patrick Sharkey argues that among other factors, increased community involvement has led to a significant decrease in crime as well.

Baltimore.  So I am not surprised that the Baltimore Downtown Partnership finds that more focused use of police officers in the Downtown area served by their business improvement district has resulted in less crime ("Downtown Partnership says crime has gone down after more patrols were added," WBFF-TV).  More focus, more resources directed where they are needed ought to have positive outcomes.

From the article:

"How do we work together? How do we collaborate?" says Thomas Akras, chief of operations management for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. "It's a partnership with the city of Baltimore. It’s a partnership with the sheriffs office, the U.S. Marshal’s, the University of Maryland Police Department, even the Capitol Police. What we do is we share our deployment scheme every single day with the Baltimore City Police Department." 

Akras heads up the new security effort that’s been underway downtown since March. They’ve hired more law enforcement to patrol 106 blocks downtown, specifically Maryland State Police and Baltimore City Schools Police. "The Baltimore City School Police are specially trained to deal with young people, to de-escalate situations, to mediate situations," Akras says. They’re out 7 days a week. ...

"Our officers we have in the field are on the same radio system with the Baltimore City Police Department. They will engage and, if they are called for support, will help support the Baltimore City Police Department and enforcement. They act as an extra layer," he explains. 

Six school police officers work Monday through Thursday. Eight are on duty Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to midnight. On top that Maryland State Police are working as well, second jobs for them.

"On any given night, we have an additional 10 to 12 officers in the downtown area doing walking deployment, engaging with citizens, conducting business checks. This is on top of the private security force that we use, Wolf Security. They also do business checks and report and make observations," says Akras. "The results have been pretty impactful." 

Most of the crimes happening are assaults and larcenies. Crime has gone down over the last few months. This summer, looking just at July for example, they’ve seen the lowest numbers in the last four years with 121 incidents.

The End of Policing.  Is a great book that offers a lot of food for thought on rethinking how we respond to many types of social problems with police, that we've criminalized the problems, and what we're doing isn't working ("Towards a public safety model that is broader than policing" and "The opportunity to rearticulate public safety delivery keeps being presented").

Seattle study on police response and public safety.  Seattle recently received the results of a study that found that as many as 50% of calls received by 911 could be resolved by other than a police response ("Report: Nearly half of 911 calls to Seattle police don't need officer response," Seattle Post-Intelligencer).  The study, by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, classifies events in tiers:

• Tier 1 – Most likely can be handled by an unarmed/community response. 
• Tier 2 – Can be handled by an unarmed/community response, with police resources co-dispatched nearby for safety.
• Tier 3 – Police resources are primary dispatch tasked with quickly ensuring the safety of the scene and then turning the response over to a community/unarmed co-responder. 
• Tier 4 – Police are the primary responder

providing a framework for the creation of a broader "public safety" approach to crime and social problems beyond criminalization and a police-first response that may not be effective ("Seattle plans to add special response for some 911 calls that don’t need armed police," Seattle Times).   

Community Safety Partnership concept.  I've argued that the BID concept of more concerted public space management needs to be extended beyond commercial districts, to those areas that for whatever reason, need a similar increase in attention and public safety focus ("Creating 'community safety partnership neighborhood management programs as a management and mitigation strategy for public nuisances").

Crystal City Business Improvement District promotional video

In updating the previous piece, I came across this promotional video from the Crystal City BID.  It might be a little too fast and jumpy for me, but it definitely puts forth the image of Crystal City as being well-located, very much transit-connected, with a lot happening, plenty of retail amenities, events, and walkability, in short, an interesting place to live.

(Oddly, it doesn't say much about it being a business center in its own right.)

Testimony on adding residential buildings as paying members of business improvement districts in Downtown DC

I wrote earlier about the Downtown DC Business Improvement District's proposal to include multiunit residential buildings as an eligible class of property in its assessment district.

-- "If apartment buildings are "forced" to join Business Improvement Districts, there must be a way for residents to be represented on BID boards independent of property owners"

I am fine with the inclusion of such properties as residents are big beneficiaries from the programming and public space management activities by the BIDs. And I don't see a justification for resident owners -- in cooperatives and condominiums -- of being excluded since they garner significant appreciation in property values as a result of a BID's management, planning, and maintenance activities. But I do think more attention needs to be paid to ensuring the inclusion of residents on BID boards and committees. This is my testimony from a couple weeks ago.

Testimony

Bill 21-905 “Downtown DC Business Improvement District Amendment Act of 2016

Committee on Finance and Revenue

Council of the District of Columbia

Wednesday November 16th, 2016

Thank you Councilmember Evans and members of the Committee for the opportunity to speak to you today about Bill 21-905 concerning the inclusion of multiunit residential buildings in the assessment class for the Downtown DC Business Improvement District.

Including residential properties in BID districts makes sense. Such property types are already included in other BID assessment districts elsewhere in the city. It is eminently reasonable to include these types of properties in the assessment district for the Downtown DC BID.

The importance of formalizing the inclusion of residents in BID governing and oversight processes. However, Bill 21-905 affords the opportunity to raise an important issue, inclusion of residents in BID governing and oversight processes.

BIDs in and around the Central Business District especially are increasingly mixed use districts including commercial office and retail properties, civic assets, and residential buildings among the many property types represented, although only some are assessed the BID tax. It was not anticipated when the process for creating BIDs was developed in the late 1990s that these geographies would become home to thousands of residents mixing with commercial activities.

The act and regulations enabling the creation of BIDs allows for a diverse membership on BID boards, including residents, although in reality such boards are dominated by commercial property owners, as it is commercial properties that provide the bulk of the assessment revenue which funds BIDs.

Currently, only the Mount Vernon Community Improvement District includes residents, albeit representatives of resident owner-occupied buildings, that is condominium properties, on its board.

No BID has a broad category of representation for residential tenants even though increasingly BIDs are populated by residents and ultimately the assessment is paid, pro-rata, by residential tenants as part of their rent.

The Council should address in its consideration of this bill, and when other relevant BID matters come before Council, including reauthorization of BIDs and the creation of new BIDs the representation of residential tenants on BID boards.

Ensure resident tenants, not just resident owners, can serve on BID boards. This is especially important because by default BIDs are the primary planners and managers of their geography, including the public spaces therein, it is important to raise the matter of lack of direct representation of non-property owning residents, that is, tenants, on BID boards. Building owners are represented on BID boards but it cannot be presumed that they can adequately represent tenants in terms of their interests as citizens in the neighborhood in which they reside.

In San Francisco, the Dogpatch and Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefits District specifically includes a board representation category for tenants. Similarly, in the Charles Village Community Benefits District in Baltimore, which includes a variety of residential property membership categories, including even single family properties, in its assessment district. These offer models going forward for the inclusion of residential tenant members on BID boards. In DC, the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee has members appointed by various organizations, as well as a community member who is elected by the board, but any resident is eligible for nomination. These and likely other models demonstrate that it is possible to include residential tenants on BID boards.

It has been suggested in testimony that the Downtown BID will add staff to address resident participation and engagement issues, hold various public meetings, etc. But it is still important to offer the opportunity for tenants to be on the BID board, although we must recognize that many residents may not be interested in serving, and may have shorter term goals and interests when compared to property owners.

Inclusion of condominiums and cooperatives in BID assessment districts. Some testimony today referenced the new Southwest DC BID, which will include apartment buildings but not cooperatives or condominiums. Similarly, earlier testimony suggests that there could be financial hardship on the part of condominium owners, especially as they age, if condominium buildings were to be included in the eligible assessment district.

I argue that condominium owners benefit extraordinarily in terms of added appreciation and property value from the services of BIDs, which indirectly and directly improve the area around residential properties in their districts. There is no real justification for condominium and cooperative buildings to be automatically excluded from eligibility for assessment in BID districts because it is not in the public interest to support “free riders.” It is reasonable for condominium and cooperative owners to pay into BIDs, in recognition of the extraordinary financial benefits that they reap from BID services.

Thank you for the opportunity to offer this testimony.

Public improvement fees as sales tax add-ons

The entry on municipal finance discussed wide-scale funding mechanisms, including county and regional sales taxes.

It didn't discuss community specific sales taxes, which are quite common.  For example, in Georgia they have what are called SPLOSTs, which stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes, which communities mostly use to fund infrastructure and revitalization programs.  The state legislation authorizing the program limits the charge to a maximum of 1%.

Interestingly, an airport improvement program in Lafayette, Louisiana was funded by a temporary sales tax upcharge of less than one year's duration, which raised the $32 million needed ("Temporary Sales Tax Raises Funds for New Terminal at Lafayette Regional," Airport Improvement Magazine).

In Colorado they have a program called Public Improvement Fees, which are sales taxes that aren't called sales taxes.  What's interesting is that they can be assessed at either a community-wide or sub-community district scale .

-- "Public Improvement Fees as a Development Finance Tool, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
-- Special District Association of Colorado

For example, in Denver, the Larimer Square district has a "Historic Preservation and Restoration Fee," a 1% surcharge on retail and restaurant transactions.  The monies are used to fund physical improvements in that commercial district.

Instead of providing tax increment financing to the redevelopment of the Garden on Havana shopping center in Aurora, the city allowed the development to assess a PIF on sales transactions there, as a more direct way to fund improvements.

This is done by creating a special purpose taxing district.  Colorado has many types of special districts because counties are legally limited in the services they offer.  Mostly, this funds programs such as water, libraries, or parks.  But one type, "metropolitan districts," are used to support site/area/district specific programs which can provide either public or private benefits.  Metropolitan districts are the entities which collect and manage the fee revenue.

 Except for the funding method, sales taxes instead of property taxes, it's comparable to how cities allow for the creation of business improvement districts, which are funded by a property tax surcharge agreed to by a majority of property owners.

Business district and community branding: tougher than it needs to be and DC's Golden Triangle district as an example

The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District covers the area between Farragut Square and Dupont Circle. The BID has invested in public space improvements including a landscaped median on Connecticut Avenue, arty bicycle racks, banners, and programs a number of events in Farragut Square.

Farragut Square is a great asset to build upon, and the Connecticut and K Street intersection might just be the busiest pedestrian intersection in the city.

One of their innovative ideas has been to place movable tables and chairs in Farragut Square, making it easier to eat lunch, as Farragut Square is one of the key staging areas for the city's armada of food trucks.

The problem with the district's identity is that other than the Metro Stations and Farragut Square, there aren't many distinguishing characteristics.

The commercial district is mostly modern office buildings with some hotels, including the Mayflower, the National Geographic Museum, the Sumner School Museum and Archives, and the YMCA.  The three Metro stations serve about 70,000 riders daily during the work week.  The amount of housing is miniscule.

There are branches of some clothiers such as Burberry, Brooks Brothers, Johnston & Murphy Shoes, while H&M replaced the now out of business Filenes Basement, Nordstrom Rack and the upscale locally owned Rizik wedding boutique, but there isn't critical mass.

There are a bunch of restaurants although chain branches have been closing, and a strip of legacy small commercial buildings on M Street NW and Connecticut Avenue.

I've thought that if the adjoining property owners were willing, it would be possible to change the building uses around the square to a serious concentration of retail, comparable to Union Square in San Francisco, which is anchored by major department stores, but DC doesn't quite have the population to pull it off.

The BID has had difficulties in recruiting retailers ("Golden Triangle is having to work harder for retail tenants," Washington Post).

Plus this area faces ferocious intra-city competition for high profile retailers from Downtown, Georgetown, and the new CityCenter development.

New banner campaign:  fail?  The BID has just launched a new banner campaign and I don't think it's very effective in pushing forward branding and identity objectives. 

Failed branding isn't unique to the Golden Triangle.

I have written about this issue from time to time using Baltimore ("More (pathetic?) city branding efforts... (Baltimore)") and Georgetown ("Georgetown: A subtle but important difference between branding and identity-positioning") among other examples.  (Although the Georgetown post was written about the previous, not current, leadership.)

The banners list the name of the Golden Triangle with the web address, and the street name on which the banner is hung.


Inset from the city's business district profile publication for the Golden Triangle district, DC.  One problem with office workers is that they don't do much retail shopping, other than for convenience goods.

The need to take the district's branding to the next level.  People already know the street names.  What needs to happen is a leveraging of the prominent streets from an individual to a collective identity, to define the area as a distinct and differentiated "district."

In short, the focus needs to be on defining what the Golden Triangle business district is and why it matters.

It happens that earlier in the week, while riding the Metro I saw a well-designed shopping bag featuring the names of New York City streets and key landmarks/attractions (like the Empire State Building), but I wasn't able to get a photo of it.

This business district needs to do a full-fledged branding and identity exercise producing various elements that collectively reinforce a clear definition for the district, which doesn't currently exist.  See "(DC) Neighborhoods and commercial districts as brands."

Ironically I think this is a function of the district's "success" at getting control of the perceptions of an "inner city" district as being dirty and unsafe.  

Now that the Golden Triangle BID has successfully moved the district forward, it needs to take identity and branding to the next level.

Some of the collateral items could include:

- street sign toppers
- banners but with different imagery  (e.g. map + street names + images of landmarks)
- maps in bus shelters which exist already, but better supporting a common visual identity and brand
- shopping bags

But these are merely "delivery vehicles" as part of an integrated and comprehensive branding, promotion, and identity system."

I've been meaning to work up a post on neighborhood-commercial district focused digital kiosks at Metro stations, modeled after the kiosks in use in the NYC Subway system, but with a major focus on the local offer and intra-district events.  That could be an element as well.  The problem with the NYC kiosks is that they don't do much other than show subway maps and ads.  There is great potential for the delivery of sub-city information.


A street sign topper with the designation of the Queen West Art & Design District in Toronto.  (Photo by Erkin Ozberk.)


A shopping bag with street names.  (The NYC imprinted bag I saw was much more visually exciting.)


A shopping bag showing a city skyline.


Adams-Morgan has "funner" maps in bus shelters than Golden Triangle.


Golden Triangle bus shelter map.