The proposed New Bedford business improvement district retracted — and found to be illegal

NEW BEDFORD — The proposal to create a "BID" or "business improvement district" in downtown New Bedford did not meet state legal requirements, city officials have found. The findings were announced at Monday's City Council Committee on Finance meeting , where BID detractors — many of whom have come to be loosely organized under the name "No BID New Bedford" — had been rallying on the steps outside City Hall.

"We had been working on determining whether the requirements under the Mass General Law were met and found the exclusions that were originally proposed cannot be excluded, including all properties within the street boundaries," stated a letter from Acting Assessor Pamela Davis, read and accepted into the record on Monday. "It was found that the requirements would not be met."

A letter from City Clerk Dennis Farias, also read and accepted into the record on Monday, revealed the proposal had been retracted before the failure to meet criteria had been confirmed.

"While numbers and calculations had not been completely finalized at the time of the petitioner's withdrawal, it had become very apparent to both the assessor's office and myself that the petition would in fact not meet the criteria as defined in Mass General Law," Farias' letter read.

A letter signed by the proposal's submitter, New City America President Marco Li Mandri, officially informing city officials of the proposal retraction, was also read into the record. The Committee on Finance voted to dissolve the public hearing on the matter and forward it to the full City Council for a "no further action" vote.

As stated in past Standard-Times reporting, state law dictates that 51% of the total assessments generated from all the participating BID real properties, and 60% of the real property owners within the BID, must petition in favor of the BID.

According to Jenny Newman-Arruda, owner of TL6 The Gallery on William Street and a key organizer for No BID New Bedford , and her husband Joseph Arruda, who spoke to The Standard-Times after the meeting, the proposal's failure to meet state criteria came after some businesses were found to be excluded from the district.

Get some background: Controversial New Bedford Business Improvement District plan being withdrawn

"They just kind of gerrymandered around all the property owners and the people who were putting up resistance," Joseph Arruda said.

"It's like a very aggressive HOA," Newman-Arruda said describing her take on the nature of BIDs, noting businesses in a BID are beholden to rules set forth by those selected to make decisions. "BIDs put in place by New City America don't benefit people like me who have a small, renting business."

As outlined in past reporting, BIDs are pitched as a way to boost property values, create real estate demand, and bring more business to places like retailers and restaurants. This requires businesses located within the BID to pay into it in order to fund improvements. Opponents have countered that BIDs favor larger businesses to the detriment of small business owners and local residents, expressing the view that BIDs serve as a vehicle for gentrification.

City Councilors criticize Mitchell Administration's handling of BID proposal

In the meeting, some city councilors were outspoken on their opinions that the BID proposal hadn't been handled properly by the city administration; although Mayor Jon Mitchell would later challenge that notion in a prepared statement provided on Wednesday.

"I am appalled and outraged that this administration would force this bid through without doing their due diligence," said At-large City Councilor Shane Burgo, who'd later go on to call the matter "a waste of time for everybody involved." "This is a dereliction of duty that we see often with this administration."

Burgo expressed gratitude to city resident Rose Miller, who he and demonstrators outside said was instrumental in bringing the proposal's unsuitability to light through her research, which he suggested led to the assessors' findings as presented Monday night.

"If not for her bringing this forward, we would not be here tonight to be able to see that they didn't meet this threshold," Burgo said.

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"I think the worst part about it," said Ward 4 City Councilor Derek Baptiste, "is that the administration was going to allow this and actually jerk people around without doing their due diligence ... and look at the work that they've done and look at how they've changed, and look at how communities have come together to fight it."

"Luckily we were able to come to the conclusion that it wasn't properly before us but not before this administration caused civil unrest throughout the downtown and throughout the city," Ward 3 City Councilor Shawn Oliver said. "Next time if something like this comes in front of us, I would hope that the administration, who prides themself on being correct, has their i's dotted and their T's crossed."

"What transpired here was a land grab, and it didn't happen," said At-large City Councilor Brian Gomes. However, Gomes said concerns for a "cleaner" and "safer" downtown that were highlighted during the process of considering the BID would not go unaddressed. "I'll be filing a motion at the next City Council that we meet with the downtown business community and find out exactly what the concerns are...."

Mayor Jon Mitchell would support a 'thoughtful' future BID; says residents brought proposal forth

Despite demonstrators and the City Councilors placing onus for how events around the BID proposal unfolded on the Mitchell Administration, Mitchell — in a written statement — referenced that it was brought forth by property owners, not himself. He has however expressed support for the idea, which he reiterated via email on Wednesday.

“I applaud the initiative of downtown property owners to establish a business improvement district. Such districts have become a popular and effective means of increasing demand for small businesses, and that’s probably why there are over a thousand of them in the U.S.," Mitchell wrote. "If business owners downtown or elsewhere in the City come forward with a thoughtful proposal for a new BID, I would look for ways for the City to support it.”

'But this isn't the end...'

While BID detractors rallying outside of City Hall in the time leading up to the meeting's 7 p.m. start on Monday were glad for New City America's retraction, some suggested it was not necessarily a victory lap.

"I'm so proud of our reaction to this thing that could have been so detrimental to our community, but this isn't the end. Who or what is going to try to take advantage of the city next?," said Elissa Paquette, owner of downtown clothing shop Calico and president of Downtown New Bedford, Inc. Paquette went on to encourage more locals to run for office. "If we had a City Council that we could count on, we wouldn't have been so anxious about what was going to happen."

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Newman-Arruda and Arruda told The Standard-Times they would not be surprised to see another attempt at creating a BID in New Bedford at some point. As noted in a previous report , small property owners and tenants were not in favor of the idea of a BID when one was attempted starting in 2015.

"How the BID got retracted the first time is because they heard us, they heard that we don't want this," said speaker Marcus Coward.

A speaker who identified himself only as Mwalim, and as a Mashpee Wampanoag elder, suggested there was an element of racism involved in how the city government operates beyond the case of the BID.

"Part of the situation that's going on with the city of New Bedford, when we look at the downtown area, when we look at the arbitrary ordinances that are placed in front of businesses and organizations that either are owned by, operated by people of color, or work in alliance with, we see sidewalks broken up, we see interesting ordinances that deny the access or the use of buildings in public spaces," Mwalim said. Mwalim spoke of instances of being blocked from pursuing public art and other "free speech" endeavors in public community spaces, and that groups like the Oversoul Theatre Collective, Inc. — where he serves as artistic director — are uniting to "fight against" such challenges.

Since word of New City America's intent to retract its BID proposal began spreading last week, Newman-Arruda told The Standard-Times "someone from the Riverside, California BID contacted me and was like, can you tell us how to get out of the BID we're in?"

Information found at riversidedowntown.org says that BID began in 1986.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: The proposed New Bedford business improvement district retracted — and found to be illegal