©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount Airy business district makes strides
by JENNIFER KATZ

Plans for a Mt. Airy Business Improvement District, stretching from Cresheim Valley Drive to Washington Lane, are one step closer to fruition after the latest steering committee meeting Monday. The committee, comprising more than 35 property and business owners, met to determine the parameters of the BID, said Ken Weinstein, co-chair of the steering committee.

Weinstein, who owns the Trolley Car Diner, said that the idea to create a BID came after the Ambassador program, a clean and sweep initiative, faltered early last year.

“After the ambassador program ran out of money, we realized we needed to find another solution,” Weinstein said.

Local business leaders decided that a “sustainable” source of revenue was needed to implement an improvement program, said Cicely Peterson-Mangum, director of the Avenue Project for Mount Airy USA, a nonprofit community development organization.

“The BID will provide income for street cleaning, landscaping and safety programs,” Peterson-Mangum said.

A BID is a mandatory program, Weinstein said. Business and property owners in the designated district would be assessed a fee, usually a small a percentage of their real estate tax, which would finance the BID’s agenda. Although the steering committee has yet to decide precisely the amount of the assessment, Weinstein said members were considering 15 or 18 percent.

“We need to determine how big [in terms of money] we want the BID to be and how much we afford [as business owners],” Peterson-Mangum said.

One of the challenges facing the steering committee, in fact, is just what the revenue expectations should be, said co-chair George Butler of Butler Prestige Photography.

“Mt. Airy doesn’t have the same amount of business density of other communities,” said Butler, who has owned and operated his business in Mt. Airy since 1987. He has lived in Mt. Airy since 1970.

“But the BID can unify the community by drawing all of the stakeholders together over areas of common concern,” Butler said.

Weinstein said that at the top of the agenda for Monday’s meeting was setting the BID agenda. “Several program committees met over the last couple of weeks to sort out what our priorities should be,” he said. “And what has become clear is that cleaning and safety are the most important items for us right now.”

The president of the Mt. Airy Business Association, Michael Kleiner, said that Mt. Airy has done well at attracting new high-grade businesses, but fears that cleanliness and safety issues may interfere with their ability to thrive.

“The new businesses that have come in are really the kinds of businesses we want to keep,” said Kleiner, who owns a public relations website design business. “And if we can create a general feeling that it’s safe to walk and get rid of some of the debris on the sidewalks, more people will be comfortable here and we will be able to market the area better.”

Kleiner said the BID would help increase a sense of well being through efforts to increase street lighting and also help efforts with the city police department to gain more bike patrol officers. Additionally, the BID would provide financing for professional street cleaners.

Butler said that a likely component of the BID’s agenda would be to visit area schools to communicate to young people a sense of pride and responsibility in caring for the community.

“You can’t give them pride in their community,” Butler said. “The only thing you can do is show them by example what it is like to have pride in your community.”

The committee will finalize its BID application next month and Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller will present it to City Council for approval.

Two more meetings are scheduled. On June 1, the committees are to meet with representatives from other areas BIDs in the Hagan Amphitheater at the Lutheran Theological Seminary on Germantown Avenue. Guests may include Matt Bergheiser of the BID in Trenton and Rob Kettell of the Roxborough BID, Peterson-Mangum said.

On June 5, the steering committee will hold its final meeting to make final decisions on the assessment amount and any other outstanding issues. If approved, the BID would be in effect for five years.