Can someone explain why we need an undemocratic business improvement district in Silver Spring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because your business district has been dying for over 5 years?

OP here - yes I think it would be great to bring more business here, but there is a lot of research on BIDs and how they are a giveaway to the wealthy. What I love about downtown SS is not the chains but the small Ethiopian, Colombian, Haitian, etc businesses that have been a lifeline to us during the pandemic. I understand they will not be represented and that's a real problem for me.

How is it a giveaway to the wealthy?

It is a self-taxing mechanism to collectively market the area and take care of other tasks that the County should be, but isn't doing. Where do the wealthy benefit?

The wealthy get more representation and therefore a better opportunity to shape the board's decisions to their benefit. They said the quiet part out loud. It's actually written into the law. Should we start running county elections that way?

[Anonymous]

What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because your business district has been dying for over 5 years?

OP here - yes I think it would be great to bring more business here, but there is a lot of research on BIDs and how they are a giveaway to the wealthy. What I love about downtown SS is not the chains but the small Ethiopian, Colombian, Haitian, etc businesses that have been a lifeline to us during the pandemic. I understand they will not be represented and that's a real problem for me.

How is it a giveaway to the wealthy?

It is a self-taxing mechanism to collectively market the area and take care of other tasks that the County should be, but isn't doing. Where do the wealthy benefit?

The wealthy get more representation and therefore a better opportunity to shape the board's decisions to their benefit. They said the quiet part out loud. It's actually written into the law. Should we start running county elections that way?

Which "quiet part" are they saying out loud? Which "wealthy" would get more representation, on what? This is about the County Council (elected by citizen residents) allowing certain property owners to tax themselves for the purpose of mutual benefit, so how does it apply to running county elections?

There is a valid argument, in my opinion, that BIDs provide services that local government ought to be providing. But the same is true for HOAs, as well as for developers who are required to build public infrastructure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

Who would be taxed without being represented?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

Nonsense. The people who put this in place either are elected officials or subject to them. There’s no lack of representation.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't SS downtown have something like Bethesda, call Bethesda Urban District? Why it is not working in SS? Why does SS need a different org to manage the area? There area lots off apartment around SS metro but the small mall has few stores. The bathroom in that mall was dirty as hell three years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't SS downtown have something like Bethesda, call Bethesda Urban District? Why it is not working in SS? Why does SS need a different org to manage the area? There area lots off apartment around SS metro but the small mall has few stores. The bathroom in that mall was dirty as hell three years ago.

The Bethesda Urban Partnership is its own non-profit corporation; it's a business improvement district (BID). The Silver Spring Urban District is a county-managed program; it's not a BID.

https://www.bethesda.org/
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/silverspring/redshirts.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So, what does the Rockville Planning Department do?

Rockville, Gaithersburg, Takoma Park, and Poolesville all have planning authority because they were incorporated before M-NCPPC was given planning authority over Montgomery County and Prince George's County. The City of Silver Spring would be incorporated afterwards.

https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2005/g28/7-105.html

"(b) Except as provided by agreement under this section, neither the Commission nor the Montgomery County Planning Board nor the district council may exercise any planning or zoning power or jurisdiction within any municipal corporation that existed as of June 1, 1957, as provided under subsection (a) of this section. A municipality that incorporates after June 1, 1957 may not exercise planning, zoning, or subdivision power unless expressly provided for in this article."

Poolesville also has authority over its water and sewer.

NP Thank you for explaining that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't SS downtown have something like Bethesda, call Bethesda Urban District? Why it is not working in SS? Why does SS need a different org to manage the area? There area lots off apartment around SS metro but the small mall has few stores. The bathroom in that mall was dirty as hell three years ago.

The Bethesda Urban Partnership is its own non-profit corporation; it's a business improvement district (BID). The Silver Spring Urban District is a county-managed program; it's not a BID.

https://www.bethesda.org/
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/silverspring/redshirts.html

No, the funding for the Bethesda Urban Partnership is different and the board composition is different. Jawando actually proposed doing an urban district corporation for Silver Spring instead of a BID. But he was outvoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

Nonsense. The people who put this in place either are elected officials or subject to them. There’s no lack of representation.

Rarely do we vest an unelected board with taxing authority. Rarer still is a board whose composition is determined by how much land someone owns or how much money they make. There are good reasons this is rare. The council’s own staff said the proposal was inequitable. Riemer pushed ahead anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

Nonsense. The people who put this in place either are elected officials or subject to them. There’s no lack of representation.

Rarely do we vest an unelected board with taxing authority. Rarer still is a board whose composition is determined by how much land someone owns or how much money they make. There are good reasons this is rare. The council’s own staff said the proposal was inequitable. Riemer pushed ahead anyway.

Lots of unelected boards have financial authority. Here's one example: https://www.wsscwater.com/governance

Also, lots of unelected boards have their compositions based on various characteristics (including landownership).

You may disagree with the idea of a BID, but the reality is that there are lots of BIDs in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What benefit? Cleaner streets? More activities planned to draw people to the area? more collective marketing? Ya, sure they benefit, but they are playing a tax to cover the costs. I still don't get the complaint.

Are you familiar with taxation without representation?

Nonsense. The people who put this in place either are elected officials or subject to them. There’s no lack of representation.

Rarely do we vest an unelected board with taxing authority. Rarer still is a board whose composition is determined by how much land someone owns or how much money they make. There are good reasons this is rare. The council’s own staff said the proposal was inequitable. Riemer pushed ahead anyway.

The taxing for a BID is still done by the government, who then puts the money into the account managed by the board and staff. Or, in some places, the tax is part of the jurisdiction forms, but the money goes directly into their account. Either way, it isn't the BID that has the taxing authority.

[Anonymous]

Who is responsible for putting up all those speed cameras in Silver Spring, including on subdivision roads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who is responsible for putting up all those speed cameras in Silver Spring, including on subdivision roads?

What are you talking about, specifically? Where in Silver Spring are there "all those" speed cameras?