ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Business owners in downtown Rochester are working to form a Business Improvement District, commonly known as a BID. They say while the city has helped facilitate the revitalization of downtown, more needs to be done to support and enhance the area.

If a BID is approved by the Rochester City Council, all property owners within the district would pay a new and separate tax. Committees will then be formed to make decisions on how the money is spent within the district. The draft proposal of the downtown bid estimates roughly $2.2 million would be collected annually. 

The draft district map encompasses most of the old inner loop. From the train station, down and around the Eastman School of Music, around the Museum of Play and Geva Theatre and across the river. It includes all or part of: Plymouth Avenue, State Street, Broad Street, Main Street, St. Paul Street, Court Street, Clinton Avenue, Chestnut Street, East Avenue, Union Street and Howell Street. 

Victoria Van Voorhis moved her business, Second Avenue Learning, from the suburbs to Tower 280 to be part of the downtown Rochester revitalization effort years ago. “We’ve come a long way, I love seeing people walking dogs and pushing strollers and playing on Parcel 5, but I think we could do a lot more,” she tells News10NBC. That’s why she’s in support of a downtown BID. “Sometimes the wheels of local government grind slowly and they’re designed to do that, but a BID can be a bit more responsive and nimble,” she adds. 

While the proposal would be the first downtown BID in Rochester, there’s been a much smaller BID in the High Falls section of the city for decades.

“It’s such an efficient way to spend money because it’s our money and we decide how to spend it,” says Kathy D’Amanda, the owner of MillRace Design who is a member of the High Falls BID. 

D’Amanda says the tax is minimal and the money has been used to build a historic walking tour, install new park benches, better lighting and nicer trashcans, host free summer concerts, put in seasonal plantings and add holiday décor, among other things. “We were able to really identify the things that we needed and we wanted in our area,” she says. 

While dozens of local business and political leaders seem to be onboard with the idea of a downtown BID, including Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello, there is a local group fighting even the concept of it. 

No BID Roc calls the idea a “hostile takeover of downtown.” They said, “While we have not had time to fully review the proposed district plan yet, BID’s by definition take voting power and voice away from residents and hand it to the largest property owners.”

Downtown tenants seem most concerned that the extra tax their landlords will have to pay, will be passed along to them. When asked about that by News10NBC at a press conference on Tuesday, the Executive Director of the “Partnership for Downtown Rochester” Galin Brooks said, “Downtown today has about 30% subsidized or regulated affordable housing, we’re an organization that helps to advocate for a greater mix for everyone, we’ve heard from some folks in our community engagement, there’s a desire for more workforce housing, that kind of missing middle that we know is a problem everywhere.”

Van Voorhis is a tenant herself. “It’s worth it to me, to pay a little bit more as a tenant to have a community that really is thriving and vital,” she says. “Do I think that the burden is going to fall disproportionately on low-income tenants, no I do not, because the people who are part of this BID formation are passionate about Rochester and want to see it thrive.”

More information on the downtown BID proposal here.

See the map of the proposed district here.

Full statement from No BID ROC:

“The RDDC’s push for a Business Improvement District that they would control is a direct affront to our community. Using taxpayer funds to support the ambitions of a few at the expense of many is not just unjust, it’s undemocratic. The overwhelming opposition from informed residents is a testament to this. We unequivocally oppose any policy that prioritizes private interests over public welfare and community development. The RDDC’s BID is a solution in search of a problem. For over a decade wealthy property owners looking to consolidate their power have sought to turn downtown into a special tax district that they control. While we have not had time to fully review the proposed district plan yet, BIDs by definition take voting power and voice away from residents and hand it to the largest property owners. We believe the community has raised too many important concerns for RDDC to continue with a plan developed through unrepresentative focus groups and staged engagement. We reiterate our call to Rochester City Council to stop theRDDC’s hostile takeover of downtown and end this BID effort.”