BID Members Share and Applaud Each Others’ Ideas

The Peekskill Business Improvement District held a well-attended annual membership meeting where downtown owners and tenants shared ideas to promote and improve the city. Also, the BID board counted the final tally of votes for new BID Association board members at the meeting, which was held at the Thursday night. The newly elected board members will be announced early next week.

The three hour meeting and dinner (catered bygenerated positive conversation about how business owners can help each other, the common challenges they face and how the BID can best serve its members. The BID’s new director Jason Angell, tenant board member John Sharp and chairperson Jeannette Phillips opened the meeting welcoming the crowd and emphasizing past successes (such as Jazz Fest, Italian Festival, the farmer's and antique markets and the Peekskill Makes Me Merry Campaign, among others) and future plans.

Peekskill's BID was created in 1995 to increase business in the city's downtown area and is run by the Peekskill Business District Management Association (Association).  It is funded with $100,000 annually from the special assessment on taxable commercial properties. The Association consists of 11 board members and three city representatives.

“This is your BID so I am here to present the budget and get ideas,” Angell told the group of about 40 attendees, all business owners and tenants. Angell and Sharp encouraged all members to volunteer, get involved, attend meetings and share ideas.

After thanking all past and current board members, Angell reviewed a two-page handout that highlighted 2011 BID finances and 2012 BID budget. The audience applauded him on having the 2012 budget completed and printed out for them to review. The 2011 budget showed that because the BID did not use all its tax-based $100,000 funding in past years, the Association now has a $77,000 fund balance from which to draw. The 2012 budget will be spent mostly on events (see the breakdown at the end of the article).

The BID plans to expand upon foundations of past initiatives, Angell said. One idea he presented that resonated with the crowd was to expand the farmer’s market to include specialty food and beverage stands to introduce new customers to downtown restaurants and bars. He explained that economic research proves that public markets have good spill over effects for the surrounding businesses.

He also explained that the BID will redesign its website to better represent Peekskill’s downtown. The board has already sent out requests for proposals for a redesign of the website and received 5 or 6 bids on the work.

The board also wants to keep festivals going and use the Paramount as an anchor for the downtown.

The group discussed a successful meeting between business owners, Angell, the city of Peekskill’s Economic Director James Slaughter, Director Lisa Reiss and others where they discussed marketing and cross promoting last week.

The 2012 budget also sets aside money for promoting “the pieces that make Peekskill such an attractive place,” Angell said.

Following his presentation of the budget and plan, Angell asked the attendees what issues they face as business owners in Peekskill.

The group discussed the need for better parking in the city, an updated map of the downtown area, a better looking gazebo, promotion of the artists lofts in the downtown and of each other and a need for BID branding.

After about an hour of discussion the owner of the Kurzhal’s building, Gabriel Arango, enthusiastically addressed the crowd as the last speaker of the night.

Arango exuberantly explained how happy he was to see city officials at the meeting (Councilwoman Drew Claxton, Councilman Andrew Torres, Acting City Manager Brian Havranek and staff from city planning were present) and that more people should get involved. Arango offered to help in anyway he could.

“The most important thing is that we love what we do and make money!” Arango told the crowd.

Details on the 2011 and 2012 budgets:

Over the last several years the BID did not spend its entire $100,000 budget provided by the downtown business tax base, which has left the BID with a $77,000 fund balance for 2012 and the future.

In 2011 BID revenues amounted to $140,607 and expenses equaled $123,81, which left the BID with a 2011 budget surplus of $16,746. The antique and farmer’s markets represented significant returns with every dollar spent on the flea market resulting tin $2 of revenue and every dollar spend on the farmer’s market resulting in $2.81 of revenue. Those numbers support expansion plans for coming years.

The 2012 BID budget is $135,189. Angell explained how much would be spent in the following eight areas:

• Downtown support fund: 5 percent
• BID website: 5 percent
• General Administration: 29 percent
• Farmer’s Market Expansion: 9 percent
• Insurance/Legal: 8 percent
• General Advertisin: 7 percent
• Flea market: 5 percent
• Events: 32 percent

What do you think of the BID’s ideas and plans for 2012?