Seattle Press on Line - Denny Regrade Residents Resist Business Improvement District

'It seemed a little screwy to me,' says resident.

Denny Regrade Residents Resist Business Improvement District

Joan Algarin got Regrade residents together.

Aug 16, 1998 -- The Downtown Seattle Association is backing away from a proposal to include the Denny Regrade and the International District in a large Business Improvement District (BIA) in which a few downtown buildings would have more voting power than thousands of residents and small business owners in the area.

A BIA is a special taxing area permitting businesses to fund special services like security patrols and street clean up. They are financed through property assessments. In a vote on whether to establish a BIA or what policies are followed, votes are allocated according to assessed valuation. The more valuable your property, the more votes you have.

Joan Algarin who owns a condominium apartment on Second Avenue in the Regrade said she first found out about the proposal in 1997.

"It seemed a little screwy to me. The regrade would be totally disenfranchised.

According to Algarin the 1997 proposal provided that the Seattle Downtown Association would manage the enlarged BIA for 12-1/2 percent of revenues.

"This was apparently to be done without competitive bidding," Algarin said. The more I heard about it, the more I thought it was a bad idea."

In January, Algarin started talking to people in her building and other buildings.

"We formed an ad hoc committee to fight being swallowed whole by downtown," she said. " We had representation from all the condos in the Regrade, and we started raising a stink, including sending letters to the city council," she said.

Algarin said that a few years ago, the Regrade was primarily a business area, but in the last six years 5, 800 residential units have been built and another 6,000 are projected by 2014.

Recently, the Denny Regrade Community Council took a position against joining the proposed enlarged downtown BIA. Several other community organizations and building associations have the question on their agenda in the next few weeks.

Kate Joncas of the Downtown Seattle Association told the Seattle Press, "We are going ahead with a petition process to form a single Business Improvement Area from three downtown neighborhoods, the retail core, First and Second Avenues, and the waterfront. Their boards haven't acted officially on it, but there's a substantial amount of interest. and we're inviting the Denny Regrade neighborhood and the International District to join if they want to. Greater size will help provide better public safety and street sweeping services.

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