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The Washington Heights Business Improvement District (BID) did something on Thu., June 30 that it had not done in years: it voted new members onto its board of directors.
The eight new members had been serving temporarily for several months, but the official vote made them permanent.
It is one of the many steps the BID has taken over the last year to regain its footing.
“We are doing things right for the first time,” said board Chair Elba Arias, branch manager of the W. 181st Street Banco Popular branch, who has served on the board since 2000, but only became Chair last year.
The BID stretches along W. 181st Street from Fort Washington to Amsterdam Avenues and includes a few side streets. Its mission, funded through property taxes on the buildings in the district, is to improve shopping conditions for area merchants.
During several conversations over the past month, Robert Walsh, the commissioner of the City’s Department of Small Business Services who oversees the city’s 64 BID’s, said that he is very pleased at how the BID has “gotten its house in order” since last summer.
In June 2010, the BID board voted not to renew the contract of long-time Executive Director George Sanchez. The then-board chair, Vincent Apicella, and other members left the board, paving the way for an influx of new blood, including the hiring of current Executive Director Angelina Ramirez, who started in September.
At the BID’s annual meeting on June 30th, at which area merchants were in attendance for the first time in recent memory, Ramirez reported on the BID’s accomplishments.
There is a new office in a professional setting, replacing the former location in a walk-up apartment owned by the previous board Chair.
The BID leased some of the office space to a NYC Business Solutions Center, the first time both agencies have been housed under the same roof.
Sanitation services were outsourced, saving on overhead.
New contracts for auditing, bookkeeping, and insurance saved about $60,000.
New partnerships with local organizations and the Manhattan Times have helped to spread the word about the BID’s mission.
“The workers are much more visible, the streets look better, graffiti is being cleaned faster. They are getting back to basics,” Walsh said during a phone interview earlier this month. “Angelina has done an extraordinary job.”
Despite these successes, Walsh said that it is still going to take a couple more years to completely untangle the BID’s finances.
In reviewing past budgets, he was alarmed to find that the BID had paid $56,000 – nearly a tenth of its budget – for a Web site, www.prideoftheheights.com, that is no longer functioning.
For that amount, “I’d be expecting the Web site to microwave, slice, dice, and do everything in between,” Walsh said. “It shouldn’t cost $56,000.”
Other expenses that Walsh said “left me scratching my head” include a long-term contract for a copy machine and a settlement with a landlord for rent owed on a space that was never leased. Those items will account for close to $60,000 over the next couple of years.
Walsh said he is considering opening a case with the city’s Department of Investigation to learn more about the expenses and uncover any wrong doing.
Asked why, if the BID had been poorly managed over a number of years, did it take so long to change leadership, Walsh said that the former Executive Director had resisted his efforts to steer him in a different direction.
“It’s hard [to change] when you have a number of board members fiercely defending the executive director, saying he’s doing a good job,” Walsh said.
Looking forward to goals for the next fiscal year, Ramirez said the BID is researching new trash receptacles that would regularly compact garbage so sanitation crews could focus more on picking up litter on the sidewalks. The existing cans quickly overflow so workers spend an inordinate amount of time emptying them. Between February 1 and June 16, Ramirez said, the BID sanitation crew hauled away 11,500 bags of garbage and cleaned up 91 instances of graffiti.
To help reduce littering, the BID is working with local nonprofits that serve youth – such as Fresh Youth Initiatives and Alianza Dominicana – to create an anti-littering campaign.
The BID is also likely to serve as ground zero in one of the most polarizing local issues as Community Board 12 tries to rein in the proliferation of street vendors.
Walsh said the BID also applied for, and will receive, a $40,000 community development block grant for activities such as storefront improvements, marketing, and fighting vacancies. It’s the largest block grant this community has received, Walsh said.
With so much to look forward to, the BID leadership has also reflected on the progress made, as highlighted by a recent honor. Arias received a Leadership Award on Tue., July 12th as one of 14 Neighborhood Achievement Awards passed out at Gracie Mansion.
“When the BID was in disarray, she put her reputation on the line and took charge,” Walsh said of Arias during the award ceremony.
“We are going in the right direction and that’s what makes it so rewarding,” said Arias, who recently changed her last name from Pichardo. “The greatest accomplishment has been making the BID’s presence better known in the community. Now everybody knows what the BID is and what it does.”
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