Business

Property owners react to BID challenge

LYNN BOSCHER

LYNN BOSCHER

WESTFIELD – In the wake of the introduction of a petition to dissolve the city’s Business Improvement District, property owners in Westfield are weighing in with their reaction to the situation.
Due to a provision in a state law signed in August of 2012, property owners within the BID boundaries who chose to opt out of the once-voluntary organization are now mandated to become members and pay fees to the district every year, a practice which isn’t sitting well with some downtown property owners.
“The legislation is unfair and unrepresentative,” said Lynn Boscher, a city resident who owns retroactively mandated property in the district. “When the renewal vote went through, there were 36 votes cast out of 105 members, with 30 for and 6 against. So with this law, those 30 people, those very few, represent very many.”
Boscher believes the option to opt out of the district should still be available to retroactively mandated members or to simply let everyone in the BID vote, “not just 30 members.”

MAUREEN BELLIVEAU

MAUREEN BELLIVEAU

The former Executive Director of the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce pointed out what he feels is a commonly held misconception, that while it is called the Business Improvement District, he feels it represents a different group.
“The BID has nothing to do with business owners — it is based on property ownership,” Boscher said. “It could care less about business owners. It is a geographic ownership group.”
He adds that, of the five or six BIDs he is aware of statewide, three are now closely examining their organizations due to the August 2012 legislation.
“I pay about $600 (in dues), so we’re small potatoes,” Boscher said. “But some BID members are paying in the $4,000 range. But then you have Noble Hospital, your churches, the YMCA — they don’t pay. It’s a tax.”
Thomas Rockwal, owner of property on 61 School Street, concurs.

JEFF DALEY

JEFF DALEY

“It goes by your valuation, so I think I pay about $200, but it’s almost like a tax,” said Rockwal, who also questions what services the organization really provides. “All this is for is for putting flowers up and getting bands downtown.”
Rockwal says he knows of property owners in the city who pay in excess of $2,000 annually for their property, and wonders why so few cities statewide have business improvement districts of their own, one of many questions people such as Attorney Patricia Hebert are taking directly to the organization.
“When I got my bill, which clearly says on it “not a tax bill”, I called Mo (Belliveau, executive director of the BID),” said Hebert, who owns property on 71 Court Street. “She said all members get their property shoveled.”
Hebert said that her property never gets shoveled and is going to bill the BID $195.50 for services she claims she hasn’t received.
She also said that the city has purchased maintenance equipment, including a machine which picks gum off the street, which has led her to question whether these purchases have let the city off the hook for services she already pays taxes for.
“What’s the city doing now? It looks like double dipping,” said Hebert, who said she requested a list of membership, as well as a list of the 30 members who voted in favor of renewing the organization, from Belliveau, which she hasn’t received.
Hebert went on to call the BID a “politically engineered organization” and wonders what the role of Mayor Daniel M. Knapik is in it.
“I’m going to be outspoken on this,” Hebert said. “What constituted a quorum on the vote? Is it a quorum of membership or a quorum of who was there (for the vote)? We (opt-out members) weren’t allowed to even vote. It was all haphazard.”
When asked about her interaction with Hebert, Belliveau said that they did have a discussion, and that she explained that snow removal was part of the BID’s services, a service she said that is not performed by the city.
“I haven’t been made aware (of businesses not getting their snow removed),” Belliveau said Monday. “The BID team is limited in terms of when a storm happens.”
Regarding equipment such as the gum remover, Belliveau confirmed that the BID does own a machine with that purpose, and when asked about being asked for the a list of renewal voters, Belliveau said that such a conversation never took place.
“She didn’t ask me for a list,” said Belliveau. “And I don’t know if I would feel comfortable giving, or could even legally give out, the names.”
Belliveau said that the there haven’t been any more calls or letters than usual regarding the petition.
City Economic Development Director Jeff Daley, who was part of the original team who formed the organization when he was running the Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce, still believes in the organization, though he said he understands the viewpoint of petitioners.
“I see both sides of the coin. I see the value in the BID, and I believe it has helped bring people back downtown,” he said. “I’m not too sure about the law. If people don’t want to be a part of it, they should have that right and the BID should prove itself to them.”
“The people who run the BID, they’re a group who works very hard,” Daley continued. “The city is going to continue supporting it — we’ve put over a quarter million dollars into the downtown through various grants. But it’s up to members of the BID to determine it’s fate, and if it does go away, the city will continue to support it’s businesses.”

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