New City America

BEAUTIFICATION/Five more areas vote to form Community Benefits Districts/Neighborhoods will tax themselves to improve themselves

Friday, August 12, 2005 (SF Chronicle)
By Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Joining their cohorts from Union Square, property owners in five other San Francisco commercial areas have voted overwhelmingly to tax themselves to pay for steam-cleaned sidewalks, flower boxes, graffiti removal, security and other amenities.

The Castro, Noe Valley, Tenderloin, the 2500 block of Mission Street and Fisherman's Wharf will soon have their own Community Benefits Districts. The Board of Supervisors finished approving the new entities this week.
"It makes residents feel safer, it makes the neighborhoods more appealing, the merchants get more foot traffic -- everyone benefits," said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has backed the special districts since he was a supervisor. "Every neighborhood will want one of these. I guarantee you our biggest problem will be processing requests."

In the next few months, the city hopes to organize districts for Japantown, lower Fillmore Street, Market Street and Yerba Buena. It is hoped that other neighborhoods, including Chinatown, would follow. A community benefits district is similar to a business improvement district. The money is raised through property taxes and then spent by a board comprising property owners, merchants and residents. The districts expire after 15 years. BIDs typically expire after five years and usually comprise only business owners.

The new districts will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for each shopping area, ranging from $75,000 for the 2500 block of Mission to almost $1 million for the Tenderloin. The money -- typically $970 a year for a standard 2,500-square-foot shop -- will be collected on the December property tax bill and disbursed in January.

The money will be spent by a district committee comprising residents, merchants and property owners. State law dictates what the money can be spent on -- cleaning, beautification, safety, advertising and neighborhood identification, such as banners.

Each district can tailor the projects to its own needs. The Tenderloin, for example, will spend most of its money on sidewalk cleaning and safety, while Fisherman's Wharf will focus on advertising, green space and sidewalk improvement.

The city will continue its street-cleaning services in these neighborhoods, but the Community Benefits Districts will offer services not provided by the city, such as graffiti removal on private property, tree maintenance and sidewalk cleaning.

Perhaps contributing to the boom is dissatisfaction with city services. In the 2005 city survey, only 43 percent of residents said they were pleased with the cleanliness of sidewalks, a drop of 5 percent from the previous year. Only 23 percent said they were happy with the condition of the city's pavement.

But the sudden rush of Community Benefits Districts was also influenced by legislation that was introduced by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and passed unanimously last year. The legislation made it easier for neighborhoods to form the districts by lowering the number of votes needed to pass. Also, the Mayor's office offered matching grants for neighborhoods that
wanted to form the districts, and also helped streamline the process with the treasurer's office, elections department and other agencies. Without centralized coordination from the Mayor's office, it was nearly impossible for the different agencies to work together.

"San Francisco had this Byzantine law and was way behind the times," said Peskin. "There had been a lot of ideological opposition to them." San Francisco might be the last city to discover Community Benefits Districts. There are 2,000 of them in the United States and Canada, most of which were formed within the past 15 years. Los Angeles has 35. New
York has more than 50. Oakland has six. Berkeley has three. "It just wasn't a focus in the past," said Newsom. "So many departments are involved, it really has to be driven out of the mayor's office, and that didn't happen in the past."

Opponents of Community Benefits Districts charge that such districts favor wealthier neighborhoods, because only the wealthy can afford to tax themselves.

Promoters say the new Tenderloin district is proof otherwise. Property owners, including such diverse interests as the Hilton hotel, St. Anthony's and the federal government, joined forces with homeless advocates and residents to create the district.

"Just because people are poor doesn't mean they like living in squalor," said attorney Elaine Zamora, who helped establish the Tenderloin district. "If Union Square can have something like this, why not the Tenderloin?" Another argument against the districts is that the city should be providing those services.

But the city is not responsible for graffiti removal from private property or some of the other amenities that merchants and residents say they want. Some property owners say they already spend hundreds of dollars a year cleaning the sidewalk, removing tagging and maintaining street trees, so the district tax will actually be a bargain.

In the Castro, a busy residential neighborhood that also attracts millions of tourists, the new district is much needed, merchants say. "When you have clean, safe, inviting streets, it's going to make people want to spend their time and dollars," said Paul Moffett, owner of P.O. Plus on Castro who, along with accountant Herb Cohn and Supervisor Bevan
Dufty, helped create the new district. "How can you not want something that will make the neighborhood prettier?"

District organizers hope to hire local youth to do the sidewalk cleaning and other jobs, so that the money would stay in the district. The Castro hosts two of the city's largest gatherings, the Castro Street Fair (100,000 people) and Halloween (500,000 people). The annual Pride parade attracts close to 1 million. The sheer volume of people passing through is bound to lead to problems.

"The condition of Castro Street is grimy. It needs freshening up," Moffett said. "I hate to say 'dirty,' but it needs to be maintained better. We want to bring back freshness and vitality to this neighborhood."

CHART:
Benefits Districts dollars
Here's how much each district will receive. The money will be collected on
the December tax bill, every year for the next 15 years, and disbursed in
January.
-- Noe Valley: $219,000/Formed by New City America
-- Castro/Upper Market: $393,000/Formed by New City America
-- Fisherman's Wharf: $591,000/Formed by New City America
-- 2500 block of Mission Street: $75,000 (renewable for five years)
-- Tenderloin: $932,000/Formed by New City America

For information about forming a district, go to:
http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?-id=32040

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