ASHEVILLE – The Asheville City Council approved a downtown business improvement district amid passionate and often frustrated opposition in its second and final vote June 11. Before the meeting, a small crowd gathered in the street to protest, accompanied by marching band drumming from the chambers.
After the vote, a thunderous roar echoed across the downtown streets.
Jen Hampton, leader of the Asheville Food and Beverage Coalition, a coalition that supports local service workers, said she just can't get rid of language in the original proposal that would have instructed people employed by the BID to address activities that are deemed “unusual.”
“That's Asheville,” she said at the hearing, urging the City Council to vote against the BID. “We're not normal. We're a city of creative weirdos, and we want it to stay that way.”
What exactly did the council approve?
At the meeting, council approved a resolution to guide requests for proposals for contractors to run the BID.
The BID vote passed 6-1 with only Council Member Kim Loney voting no. This vote sets the boundaries of the BID and establishes the tax rate. The City Council adopted the resolution with unanimous support. A BID (municipal service district), as defined by state law, is a mechanism for providing complementary city services within a specific area.
The plan leverages an 8-cent tax (per $100 of assessed value) levied on downtown property owners to fund additional services in the city's central business district. The BID is estimated to generate a budget of $1.25 million and is approved annually by City Council.
There are 66 BIDs in North Carolina that are “place-making focused,” according to Jason Epley, executive director of the North Carolina Downtown Development Association.
The vote to pass seemed a given to some, after it received 5-1 approval in the first mandatory vote held a month ago (Council member Sheneika Smith was absent).
“We kind of knew when the first vote passed,” said Sara Fiori, business administrator at Crafted Edge, a downtown store that brings together local knife makers and sells artisanal kitchenware.
“At this point it feels like a disadvantage,” she said. Attempts to get more involvement in the process, or even to have representation on the board that ultimately guides the BID, have been largely ignored, she said.
All of the roughly 20 public commenters who attended the June 11 meeting spoke in opposition to the BID, with concerns similar to those heard throughout the process, including displacement of the city’s homeless population, uncertainty about what shape the BID would ultimately take, reluctance to have another unelected board throwing around taxpayer money, and further “privatization” of public spaces.
Despite the new parameters set for the resolution, Chairman Baron Northrup said the unresolved issues within the proposal “have compounded the problem.”
“The reason this resolution is wrong for the BID is because this BID is wrong for Asheville,” Northrup said.
Before the discussion, Mayor Estelle Manheimer said members of the steering committee, who helped craft the proposal along with the Chamber of Commerce, the Asheville Downtown Association and other organizations, are supportive but will not be present to speak after a committee member's car was vandalized last week.
“The task force obviously does not feel safe and therefore cannot be here tonight to talk about this,” she said.
Where did this suggestion come from?
The initial BID proposal was submitted by the Asheville Downtown Association and the Chamber of Commerce and carried the slogan “Clean and Safe.” The Chamber contracted with an outside firm, Progressive Urban Management Associates, to conduct a feasibility study and develop a legally required BID operational plan.
Calls for a BID were stepped up in the spring of 2023, with funding for a feasibility study provided, which also came at a time of growing protests from downtown business owners over what many felt was an increase in crime downtown.
According to Asheville Police Department crime data released in January, citywide crime decreased from 2022 to 2023, with violent crime down 18% and property crime down 13%.
In a presentation to a City Council committee on April 23, APD reported that crime continues to decline, with violent crimes in the city down 9% from Jan. 1 to March 31 compared to the same period last year, and property crimes down 6%.
Zach Wallace, the chamber's vice president of public policy, said the chamber and the ADA intend to jointly respond to the RFP request.
“I appreciate the yes vote and the final ordinance (and) resolution,” Wallace told the Citizen-Times in an email dated June 12. “We submitted the proposal with the understanding that it was a starting point, but we believe the final proposal reflects the goals expressed by community stakeholders throughout this process.”
He said the BID is a “proven tool” that Asheville can now add to “preserve and further the decades of investment and pride in our downtown that belongs to all of Western North Carolina.”
“Pretentious decoration”
The proposal was first formally presented to the City Council at a public hearing in April.
That's where Susan Griffin first spoke out: She's a downtown resident and a vocal supporter of the city's last business improvement district, which was established in 2012. Though a district was established, a lack of funding ultimately stalled the effort.
But the BID does not have her support.
She told the Citizen Times on June 12 that the biggest problem with the current proposal is that it is “top-down” rather than “bottom-up.”
“This is something that's being imposed on the community, it's not actually something that the community created,” she said. Griffin called it a “sham” and said it wouldn't bring about any change without stronger baseline services.
“This entire process completely ignores the needs of those who will bear the costs – the downtown residents and tenants who have no one to pass the costs on to,” she said.
The BID's approval came the same night the City Council passed a $250.9 million budget that included a property tax increase of 0.63 cents. Buncombe County's proposed budget also includes a 5% property tax increase, or 2.55 cents.
“There's a lot going on at once,” Griffin said. “At some point, downtown became an unlivable place. When are we going to have a say?”
What does this resolution do?
The resolution was drafted by City Council Member Maggie Ullman less than a month after the initial vote. Ullman told the Citizen-Times on June 12 that the resolution was created with input from other council members and community stakeholders.
A lot of it, she said, is to ensure “public accountability,” meaning provisions to ensure BID service providers comply with all public records and open meetings laws.
She said this can be seen not just as pressure washing and trash removal, but also as being a more active presence downtown.
“They can connect with people who are on the ground,” she said of the “dedicated unarmed community stewards” or ambassadors, who will be trained in anti-racism, mental health first aid, de-escalation and equity, according to the resolution.
“Community Stewards will be visible and proactively engage with residents, provide wayfinding and assistance, provide on-call safe escorts, and connect homeless community members to resources such as community responders, community paramedics and homeless service providers,” the resolution states.
The original proposal suggested creating a committee focused on large property owners, and the new resolution proposes a committee made up of 17 voting members serving three-year terms.
- 4. Commercial Property Owners
- 4. Business Landlord
- 3. Homeowners
- 3. Housing Landlord
- One representative from Block, a historically black business district.
- 1 A representative from Continuum of Care, the collaborative planning organization leading the city's response to homelessness.
- 1. Everyone
Ullman said the services include security, hospitality and cleaning services, as well as “special projects” such as beautification, capital improvements, parking infrastructure and landscaping.
“To me, this is a way to complement existing services and support a quirky, yet inviting, clean and safe downtown,” she said. “This gives the BID the city dedicated funding to enhance the downtown, and we're doing it through a public-private partnership.”
What if that doesn't work? Parliament would be responsible for voting on both tax rates and the budget. Service providers would be required to report to Parliament at least annually.
“If the BID doesn't perform as expected, it could be effectively eliminated at a future council meeting,” Councilman Sage Turner said at the meeting June 11. “Don't think this will last forever. There is always an opportunity to change it, improve it and develop it in whatever way.”
more:'Clean and safe' for whom? Asheville City Council hears concerns about proposed BID
more:The Downtown Asheville BID was approved by City Council on a 5-1 vote, the first of two required votes.
Sarah Honosky is a city affairs reporter for the Asheville Citizen-Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Have a news tip? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message me on Twitter at @slhonosky. Support local daily journalism by subscribing to the Citizen-Times..
