New York City celebrates Small Business Month and “Business Improvement District Day” (BID Day), hereby referred to as BID, as Mayor Adams and Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Kevin Kim announced on May 6th a nearly $7 million increase in investment plan for BIDs to promote tourism and economic development, subsidize BID insurance fees, and assist in developing public realm vision plans.
In addition to being “Small Business Month,” May 6th also marked the second annual BID Day, with many BIDs across the city launching a series of promotional campaigns, community clean-ups, and celebratory events including open streets and public space activations. Mayor Adams mentioned that since taking office, over $27 million has been invested through SBS into BIDs and other community development organizations, with an additional nearly $7 million investment announced on that day.
The $7 million investment plan is divided into three parts:
(1) $5.3 million designated for subsidizing BIDs and community organizations to promote tourism and economic growth;
(2) Creation of a new “Trusted Partners” program to simplify red tape regulations that govern BID operations and allocating $500,000 to establish a grant program managed by SBS to assist BIDs in dealing with rising insurance costs;
(3) Providing over $1 million through public-private partnerships to under-resourced BIDs to assist in developing district-wide public realm vision plans, planning near-term activations, and long-term improvement projects. The three BIDs preliminarily selected for grants in 2024 are Capitol District 161st Street BID in the Bronx, Brownsville’s Pitkin Ave BID in Brooklyn, and Sunnyside Shines BID in Queens.
On that day, SBS also released the “2023 Fiscal Year New York City BID Trends Report,” which indicated that in the 2023 fiscal year (from July two years ago to June of the previous year), NYC BIDs collectively invested $194 million in local communities, fostering the prosperity and development of nearly 300 miles of commercial corridors and around 24,000 storefronts.