Over the last 20 years, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), also known as Special Improvement Districts (SIDs), have been established in neighborhoods across Newark, from the Newark Downtown District (NDD) organization in the city’s Central Business District to the Mount Prospect Partnership (MPP) along the Mount Prospect Avenue corridor in the North Ward to the Ironbound Business Improvement District in the South Ward.
According to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, these districts “collect a special assessment on the commercial properties and/or businesses in that area,” which “is granted to a municipally-assigned District Management Corporation” (DMC) like the NDD or the MPP.
In Newark, according to the City, there districts “have helped revitalize commercial corridors and catalyze economic development throughout the City by delivering supplemental services such as sanitation and maintenance, public safety, capital improvements, beautification, district representation, [and] business development.” In fact, new improvement districts were recently created in Newark, including the Bergen-Lyons-Clinton SID in the South Ward and the upcoming West Ward SID.
Now, another improvement district could be coming to Newark, this time along the Bloomfield Avenue corridor and surrounding blocks in the North and Central Wards. According to a legal notice, plans are advancing for the creation of the Bloomfield Avenue-Lower Broadway BID, which would include Bloomfield Avenue from Bloomfield Place to the Belleville border, Broadway from Broad Street to Gouverneur Street, Broad Street from Grant Street to Bloomfield Place, Clay Street, and Clark Street.
City officials held three public meetings regarding the proposal at the Vince Lombardi Center during the winter, and the ordinance to create the new BID was passed by the Newark Municipal Council on first reading on June 27th. City records show that the DMC would be known at the Bloomfield Avenue/Lower Broadway Alliance (BALBA), and that “the property and business owners and residents in attendance at the three public meetings expressed strong support.” The BALBA’s Board of Directors would include Municipal Council members, the Mayor, a member of a local organization, and elected representatives from the area.
The Newark Municipal Council approved the BID on July 12th.
