{"id":160272,"date":"2026-03-11T13:18:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/160272\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:18:34","slug":"northside-bid-proposal-moves-forward-as-organizers-seek-to-gather-support-from-williamsburg-property-owners-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/160272\/","title":{"rendered":"Northside BID proposal moves forward as organizers seek to gather support from Williamsburg property owners \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposal to create a Northside Business Improvement District<\/a>\u00a0in Williamsburg is entering a critical phase, as organizers begin mailing ballots to property owners and businesses whose support will determine whether the district moves forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The proposed district would cover a large portion of Williamsburg\u2019s north side, stretching from North 15th Street to Grant Street and from Bedford Avenue to the East River. If approved, it would fund additional neighborhood services \u2014 including daily sanitation crews, graffiti removal, street beautification and community programming \u2014 through an assessment on local property owners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supporters say the proposal is a response to years of rapid neighborhood development that has outpaced city services.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 20 years ago, the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront was rezoned, and since then we\u2019ve seen a phenomenal amount of new development, new businesses and new activity in the neighborhood,\u201d said Council Member Lincoln Restler, who represents the district and sits on the BID\u2019s steering committee. \u201cWilliamsburg is a destination for people from all over the city and beyond, and our infrastructure just hasn\u2019t kept pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"northsideCouncilmember Lincoln Restler spoke with Brooklyn Paper about the BID process, what residents may expect and responded to BID criticism. File photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Restler added that the area\u2019s density \u2014 from residents to tourists to nightlife visitors \u2014 makes it unusual among neighborhoods without a BID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is another community in all of New York City that has the same density in terms of businesses, residents and visitors as the north side that lacks a business improvement district,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we need these supplemental services to keep our neighborhood clean and green and dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

A long planning process\n<\/p>\n

The proposal has been in development<\/a> for several years. Organizers formed a steering committee in 2023 with the city\u2019s Department of Small Business Services, which oversees BID formations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Katie Denny-Horowitz, executive director of the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance and a member of the steering committee, said the process started with a broad community needs assessment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a fair amount of time ultimately getting almost a thousand residents to respond to the survey,\u201d Denny-Horowitz said. \u201cThat gave us information about what the people who live here, the stakeholders, feel are the priorities and what they would want this BID to do if it were formed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the survey results, sanitation emerged as the community\u2019s top concern.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing on the ground \u2014 and what we heard from the community through our needs assessment \u2014 is that sanitation is their number one concern in the area,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have overflowing trash containers, sidewalks that are not well-maintained, and our parks department is deeply underfunded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters say the BID will help fill those gaps through a public-private partnership model used across the city. Brooklyn currently has 23 BIDS, including the recently formed district in Coney Island<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe BID model is one that the city has really adopted since the 1970s,\u201d Denny-Horowitz said. \u201cAlmost 80 neighborhoods across the five boroughs have adopted this model as a way to provide additional services in their own neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

What residents might notice first\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

If the district is approved, organizers say the most immediate changes would focus on street cleanliness.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first order of business is cleaning up the streets,\u201d Restler said. \u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s just too much garbage across the streets of our neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, sanitation workers would operate seven days a week.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be a dedicated team in the neighborhood seven days a week picking up garbage and thoroughly cleaning the streets,\u201d Restler added. \u201cThat reduces the presence of rats and improves our collective quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"trashStreet cleanliness and trash pickup would be among the first issues addressed by the BID, supporters say. File photo by Kirstyn Brendlen<\/p>\n

Other proposed services include sidewalk power washing, graffiti removal, holiday lighting, landscaping and tree planting, public art installations and neighborhood events.<\/p>\n

Denny-Horowitz said the goal is to improve daily life for both residents and businesses.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a neighborhood that\u2019s rapidly growing as Williamsburg is, it deserves the quality of life that the residents there deserve,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now we\u2019re walking down our sidewalks and they\u2019re covered in trash or ice. Having a BID could really help address that day-to-day experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the BID would be funded\n<\/p>\n

Like other improvement districts, the Northside BID would be funded through tax assessments on property owners within the district boundaries. Commercial property owners would pay more than residential owners, and the assessments would be calculated through a unique formula<\/a> based on factors like lot size and assessed value. Residents can see their calculated tax assessment on the Northside BID\u2019s website.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

But organizers emphasize that the money would remain in the neighborhood.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single penny raised from neighborhood small businesses, waterfront condos and commercial property owners is invested back into the BID,\u201d Restler said. \u201cOne hundred percent of the new assessment goes back into our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

A board of directors composed of property owners, business representatives and residents would oversee how the funds are spent.
\n\"NorthsideSince its inception in 2023, the Northside BID proposal has gone through surveys, steering committee formations and will soon head to the City Council for approval.\n<\/p>\n

The steering committee also developed a formula to determine how much different properties would contribute, with larger commercial properties expected to pay more than small businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ask the largest commercial property owners \u2014 the owners of hotels, big supermarkets and office buildings \u2014 to contribute the most,\u201d Restler continued. \u201cWe ask waterfront condos to contribute their fair share and small businesses to contribute their fair share so that all of us together can make the north side an even better neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to criticism\n<\/p>\n

Critics have raised concerns that the BID could contribute to the privatization of public spaces in Williamsburg \u2014 a criticism commonly leveled at improvement districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Groups like the Berry St. Alliance<\/a> have been vocal in this effort, claiming that \u201cBIDS\u00a0centralize decision-making power in the hands of large property owners and large corporations, overshadowing the concerns and needs of residents, small landlords and small business owners while increasing the cost of rent for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already have an organization in place to manage taxation and land use, it\u2019s called the City Council. Residents of our community entrust their power to the City Council to act on their behalf. City Council should not hand over that power and responsibility to a private company, a.k.a. BIDs!\u201d<\/p>\n

Restler rejected that characterization.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion of the privatization of the neighborhood is misleading and inaccurate,\u201d he said. \u201cBusiness improvement districts are a proven model that really works.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to several BIDs within his council district \u2014 including those along Atlantic Avenue and in Downtown Brooklyn \u2014 that he said have improved the quality of life by organizing events, advocating for small businesses, and maintaining public spaces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are community organizations that make our neighborhoods even better places to live,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

The balloting phase\n<\/p>\n

The campaign is now entering the formal support phase.\u00a0Ballots are being mailed to property owners and businesses within the proposed district. Organizers must gather enough support before the proposal can move to public hearings and, eventually, to the City Council for approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Denny-Horowitz said outreach will intensify in the coming months.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re tabling all over the neighborhood, going door to door and trying to get neighbors to host meetings with their neighbors,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of this is word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

A volunteer group, \u201cFriends of the Northside BID,\u201d is helping to spread information and encourage participation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to encourage everybody who gets a ballot to vote yes and send it back right away,\u201d Restler said.\n<\/p>\n

If approved, the district would represent one of the largest and most comprehensive BIDs in Brooklyn, covering both commercial corridors and residential streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a model that I\u2019m deeply invested in as a way to supplement city services and significantly improve our collective quality of life,\u201d Restler said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A proposal to create a Northside Business Improvement District\u00a0in Williamsburg is entering a critical phase, as organizers begin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3866,98,37291,100,99,288,15133,66121,119,2986,5013,66122,3075,9877,66123,9,24,12,370,6445,66124,66125,63,55640,48421,4799,13716,66126,4304,41886,1424],"class_list":{"0":"post-160272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-bid","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-development","11":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","12":"tag-brooklyn-news","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-business-improvement-district","15":"tag-cleanliness","16":"tag-coney-island","17":"tag-department-of-small-business-services","18":"tag-homeowners","19":"tag-katie-denny-horowitz","20":"tag-lincoln-restler","21":"tag-local-government","22":"tag-neighborhood-services","23":"tag-new-york","24":"tag-new-york-city","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newsletter","27":"tag-north-brooklyn","28":"tag-north-brooklyn-parks-alliance","29":"tag-northside-bid","30":"tag-nyc","31":"tag-property-owners","32":"tag-sanitation","33":"tag-small-businesses","34":"tag-survey","35":"tag-tax-assessments","36":"tag-trash","37":"tag-urban-policy","38":"tag-williamsburg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}