The Rochester Downtown Development Corporation has proposed
the creation of a downtown business district that would, for a fee, provide
enhanced services to property owners within the district’s borders.
The district would consist of 13 neighborhoods — everything
within the inner loop and also High Falls, Upper East End, and the
Monroe-Alexander neighborhood. High Falls, Upper East End, and Monroe-Alexander
are included because developers and investors are now considering those areas
to be part of downtown, says Heidi Zimmer-Myer, president of the RDDC.
Zimmer-Myer gave a brief presentation on the proposed
district to members of City Council recently. Council members had concerns
about the size of the new district, as well as neighborhood identity.
The district would be created by collapsing the Main Street
Enhancement District, Downtown Special Services, and the RDDC into a new
organization, the Rochester Downtown Partnership. The partnership would be
governed by a 15-member board of property owners, tenants, and city appointees.
The services provided for property owners would fall into the
categories of cleanliness and maintenance; safety and hospitality;
beautification; and market support. Some of the services would be litter and
weed removal; sidewalk cleaning; limited snow and ice removal; decorative
lighting; event production and programming; and support of neighborhood groups
and business associations.
The service fees haven’t been established yet. Zimmer-Myer is
supposed to give a more detailed report to Council members in the coming weeks.
One of the major concerns about the proposal, according to
Council President Loretta Scott, is how to preserve the individuality of the
neighborhoods if they’re all lumped together into one big district.
Zimmer-Myer says that individual identity is crucial and can
be honored in many different ways. If there was a banner program, for example,
the banners would be customized for each neighborhood, she says. The same sort
of thing could be done with holiday decorations, she says.
The marketing of the different neighborhoods would be
individualized, Zimmer-Myer says, and some of the services would undoubtedly be
different. Animal waste removal would be a bigger issue in the East End, for
example, than it would at Four Corners, she says.
“Each of these neighborhoods has an architectural vernacular
that’s unique,” Zimmer-Myer says. “It has a mix of commercial and residential
and institutional [uses] that are unique. And the history and the stories about
each one are quite individual. It would be throwing the baby out with the
bathwater to run roughshod over that.”
A majority of property owners within the proposed district
would have to sign a petition in favor before the district could be formed,
Zimmer-Myer says. She says she’s not sure of the exact percentage, but it has
to be considerably more than 51 percent.
The state comptroller and City Council would also have to
approve the formation of the district.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2014.
i hope it works of course. obviously exclusive but who cares if it plants a seed. who will shop? where will they park? what will they sell? clean, well lit, safe, all essential ingredients. i thought most of the money was in the eastern burbs? what about eastview mall? a competitor?
Another fee? I already pay association fees for my condo. How much is this fee going to be and why don’t my taxes already cover this?
What if RDDC contracts with private service providers for what is described in the article? A trial season (summer) or year based on a budget from collected fees. If your neighborhood buys in more then you receive more services.