Business improvement district

Go for it.

So, Santa Barbara County implemented a 1% mandatory fee on direct-to-consumer wine sales to fund a marketing push for the Wine Business Improvement District.

And there's been a lot of pushback on that.

It happened here.

To bid or not to bid? That is the question.

And today on CityCast Las Vegas, we'll explain what the proposed business improvement district would do in the arts district that the current 18B board isn't already doing.

And to answer that, we're catching up with Derek Stonebarger, who owns Rebar and sits on both boards.

Plus, artist Vogue Robinson and executive producer Laila Muhammad join us to dig into why the city of Las Vegas is ripping grass out of 15 parks.

I'm Jesse Merrick, and here's what Las Vegas is talking about.

All right, Derek, so we got to start here just because there's been a bit of a stir caused on Instagram.

Recycled propaganda put out a post essentially showing that the bid had printed flyers and even on their website and used AI to alter some of the murals in the arts district, which is kind of wild because obviously this is the business improvement district.

A lot of people worried about what that improvement looks like.

No one is organizing anything.

So we started the process about nine months ago for me to become the executive director and president of the Special Improvement District of Bale, New Jersey.

And we finally just got our EIN number.

So that is going to hit the ground running this fall.

Welcome back to TIP today.

Now, Tranmil Business Improvement District, or BID, is a five-year initiative aimed... at making the town centre safer, more attractive, more vibrant, while supporting local businesses and encouraging greater footfall.

Now, the organisation is working with local businesses, Tipperary County Council, the Chamber, Gardaí Community Groups, and it has now appointed its first CEO.

May Stokes took up the role this month and she will lead the delivery of a bid 2026 to 2031 business plan.

Just for people who might still be a little unclear about As to what BID is, I tried to sum it up in the introduction.

Your version of it is what, May?

Yes, so BID is a business improvement district and essentially it's a separate company that's set up by business owners in Clonmel to help improve the business environment in Clonmel and attract business, traffic, footfall, people into the centre of town and revitalise the centre of town.

And it's run and owned by the businesses themselves.

She wants to bring more loading zones for businesses to the city, as well as visible active street safety and a more vibrant city center.

Heart of the City receives about $5 million of funding per year through Auckland Council's Business Improvement District targeted rate.

Chair of the council's Planning, Policy, and Development Committee, Richard Hills, was one of those who raised concerns about Viv Beck being too negative in the past.

You know, I've had people from overseas come and say, [laughs] "I googled some things and it sounded, um, you know, a certain way in the city center, but actually being here and walking around and seeing all the upgrades and seeing, uh, the great things going on and when there are events on, you know, it's a completely different picture."

Today on CityCast Las Vegas, you recently heard us talk about the proposed business improvement district that some developers want in the Arts District, and now a handful of business owners in the area are speaking out against it.

Executive producer Laila Muhammad will join us to break it all down.

Then, criminal defense attorney and writer David Figler also gets in on the party to dive into the latest drama surrounding flock cameras in the Valley.

In the meantime, though, this is CityCast Las Vegas.

I'm Jesse Merrick, and here's what Las Vegas is talking about.

you All right, Layla, look, initially we were talking about the business improvement district that some property owners want to bring to the arts district of it being potentially a good thing, but now some local business owners apparently are speaking out against it.

What's going on?

Yeah, so that business improvement district petition was launched recently for the arts district, like you said, by a group of property owners and business owners.

I think it's important that you mentioned the perception piece, too, because I do think there are parts of downtown.

You look at the downtown Spokane Partnership House and Business Improvement District, and that's noticeably different than next to 7-Eleven, for example.

And so I think it is definitely that perception where people might think that the worst part of downtown is all of downtown, but that's not the case.

No.

So very involved with the bid and the downtown.

And you're right.

I mean, when you're in the business improvement district downtown, you can visibly see the difference, right? It's literally like you're...

You can almost tell where all the lines are on it based off of where they work and what that changes if you kind of travel south further between the railroad tracks and the freeway.

... really like Herald Square.

Maybe they're involved in, like, the Harolds- Herald Square Business Improvement District or something.

Okay.

It's pretty gnarl-

Uh, but here's a question worth asking.

How many people in this province start a shift wondering what's waiting for them at the front door? Now, the Business Improvement Areas of BC is out with a new survey today.

It's a small, only 100 businesses organization.

They say up, say that up front, but the numbers here are lopsided enough to be very interesting.

68% are worried about what crime is doing to their staff.

More than half say it's making hiring harder.

Well, joining us now to talk about what they're seeing is Jeremy Hayton, President of Business Improvement Areas of BC.

Jeremy, thank you so much for your time.