ABSTRACT

The chapter discusses some overall strategies and approaches that Business improvement districts (BID) employ as they work with local governments, and then focuses, in detail, on how BIDs and local governments work on specific kinds of issues. It deals with the different approaches and identifies issues that emerged from the analysis that may be useful for future BID research. The chapter presents a survey of practices and approaches used by BIDs to work with local governments. The BIDs and city governments have worked out areas of expertise, and have evolved relationships and processes to allow for a great deal of collaboration. The importance of establishing working relationships between the BID and the city professional and political leaders was consistently emphasized by the survey respondents. The program areas that consistently require the most coordination with both the BIDs and cities include policy advocacy, safe, clean, and attractive programs, and economic development.