Seattle Press on Line - Belltown Residents Say No to Downtown Business Improvement Association

Belltown Residents Say No to Downtown Business Improvement Association

By Wallis Bolz

Apr 21, 1999 -- By Wallis Bolz

Some Belltown property owners don't want to be taxed twice for essential city services, and they're resisting the new Downtown Business Improvement Association (DBIA) incorporation effort. The No BIA! Coalition is urging fellow Belltown property owners to refrain from signing a petition for inclusion in the DBIA.

The proposed DBIA is a self-taxing district that pays for private security patrols, street cleanup and marketing programs. Condo owners pay significantly less than commercial/mixed-use property owners, in part because the assessment reflects the benefit of the BIA to the property owner. The City collects and distributes the assessment: $3.5 million.

Nine BIAs exist downtown, but the DBIA proposes to include only 5 of those: the Waterfront, Retail core, 1st/2nd Avenue, Pioneer Square District, and Denny Regrade BIAs.

Barbara Hartley of the No BIA! Coalition contends that BIA services essentially replace city services: cops, litter pickup, and graffiti removal. And the members of the Coalition would rather not spend tax money on downtown image marketing campaigns. 14 percent of the DBIA budget is allocated to marketing, with another 6 percent to research and development.

Dave Gaba, President of the Belltown Community Council and a member of the Belltown Campaign for DBIA agrees with Hartley to a point. "But we all know the city is not going to provide the core services. This is an issue created by City Hall. The real problem is the lack of services."

"We originally opposed it," said Gaba. And then, according to Gaba, the Downtown Seattle Association lowered the proposed residential property tax assessment considerably and revised the governance proposal. In March, the Belltown Campaign for DBIA mailed the incorporation petition to property owners within the Denny Regrade BIA boundary. They need Belltown property owners who represent 60 percent of the district's total assessed property value to sign the petition.

It's clear that the No BIA! Coalition lacks the support of one key city councilmember. Councilmember Jan Drago, who chairs the Business and Economic Development Committee, remarked in a recent City Council briefing that "new condo owners don't know what the Regrade used to look like before the Business Improvement Association."

A public hearing will be held on May 19. The city council will then vote to establish the DBIA and disestablish existing BIAs, with the exception of Pioneer Square, which will continue to operate.

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