The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association is exploring the idea of a Business Improvement Area, or BIA.
What is a Business Improvement Area?
Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) are funding mechanisms for business district revitalization and management. Local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance, improvement, and promotion of their commercial district.
BIAs are conceived, designed, and managed locally by those who are paying the assessments.
- Every commercial property (including multifamily residential buildings) in the district is required to pay their fair share. The funds collected are used to provide services for the mutual benefit of the businesses and/or properties being assessed.
- Each BIA is governed by a ratepayer’s advisory board that is responsible for creating bylaws and making key decisions on programs and services, budgets, goals, policies, and staffing.
- The City collects the assessments on behalf of the BIA and reimburses monthly expenses.
BIAs may use their funds for the following kinds of services:
- Clean and Safe Programs
- Marketing and Promotion
- Business and Economic Development
- Public Realm Improvements and Planning
- Advocacy
- Professional Management and Organizational Development
It is important to note that BIA services are supplemental to City services and are not intended to displace any service that is currently being provided.
City BIA website for more information: Business Improvement Areas – Economic Development | seattle.gov
A BIA in Roosevelt and Ravenna:
The map to the right is one person’s imagining of what the geographical boundaries of a BIA could be. The orange area is the Core Business District. Yellow is the Ravenna Corridor. Blue is the North Quadrant. Green is the Far North Triangle. While it is desirable to be inclusive, we must also consider that the more geography we cover, the more commercial property owners we must convince to join to get to 60% buy-in. One possibility to consider is beginning with the Core and then, when others see how wonderful the BIA is, incorporating them into it (though this requires going through the approval process all over again).
