近距离内射合集

We鈥檝e heard worse ideas, and they can鈥檛 hurt, not too much anyway.

Albuquerque city and business leaders are proposing a series of tax initiatives in hopes of changing the economic landscape of Downtown. In layman鈥檚 terms, making it safe to have a beer Downtown again without the heightened risk of getting shot, as one Downtown property owner recently put it so bluntly.

City officials are planning to implement a Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, district in Downtown Albuquerque. They also plan to urge business owners in the Downtown area to re-establish a Business Improvement District, or BID.

Both are taxing mechanisms widely used in other cities across the nation to boost commercial efforts, and both mechanisms have either failed, succeeded, or had little effect in other cities.

Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation and Douglas Peterson, the largest property owner in Downtown, explained both taxing mechanisms well in a joint op-ed in the Sept. 15 Sunday Journal.

A TIF allows tax revenues to be focused on a targeted area. However, properties outside the TIF subsidize it by paying taxes to support government services in the TIF district.

City officials estimate a Downtown TIF could produce roughly $200 million over 20 years. A Downtown TIF would shift tax revenues from other areas of Albuquerque to Downtown. It鈥檚 a trade-off, plain and simple, shifting revenues and resources from one part of the city to another.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 great about the 20-year growth timeline is we can plan; we鈥檙e not living year to year by the budget we鈥檙e given,鈥� said Terry Brunner, director of the city鈥檚 Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency. 鈥淲e can see into the future how much revenue is coming in and then anticipate the opportunities that are Downtown that we can invest in.鈥�

A business improvement district is much different. A BID, as Gessing and Peterson explained, 鈥渋s a privately managed governance tool whereby property owners vote to agree to pay additional 鈥榯axes鈥� in order to have some kind of private sector involvement that does things government can鈥檛 or won鈥檛 do. In Downtown this has typically meant cleaning up trash and provision of other supplemental services.鈥�

Peterson, an attorney and outspoken critic of the Keller administration鈥檚 handling of Downtown, knows a little about BIDs. He is a two-time member of the former Downtown BID鈥檚 management agent, the 鈥淒owntown Action Team.鈥�

Peterson and Gessing are skeptical of imposing additional property taxes onto Downtown property owners without first resolving crime and vagrancy.

鈥淭he former Downtown BID failed because it built a hierarchical, wasteful administration, including Keller fundraiser Brian Morris as the Executive Director, and spent more money throwing parties and holding nonsensical meetings than improving public safety,鈥� they wrote on Sept. 15.

Peterson and Gessing are calling for Mayor Tim Keller to 鈥済et tough on crime Downtown and elsewhere,鈥� saying the market for office, retail and restaurant space in Downtown is 鈥渟oft to say the least.鈥� They are also appealing to the governor and Legislature to do more to diversity New Mexico鈥檚 economy, but we can鈥檛 wait a decade or more for state lawmakers to rescue the Downtown and make it a destination more than a place people avoid.

We鈥檙e going to have to do it ourselves, and Mayor Keller gets that.

鈥淒owntown has to save itself, but we鈥檙e going to help,鈥� Keller said at a news conference last month. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e going to put skin in the game, and we鈥檙e going to be there because we鈥檙e part of Downtown.鈥�

The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce made a great point in a Sept. 19 op-ed when chamber leaders said 鈥淭hriving American cities generally have thriving downtowns.鈥�

Put another away, decaying cities always have decaying downtowns.

鈥淪uccessful downtown areas provide a city鈥檚 residents with comfortable and trendy urban housing, a dense economic base with significant public and private sector jobs, and recreational opportunities 鈥� including great places to eat, shop, and enjoy art, culture, sports or music,鈥� chamber leaders wrote on Sept. 19. 鈥淭he economic benefits of a thriving downtown are felt citywide, producing significant concentrated revenue and playing a key role in attracting visitors 鈥� business and personal.鈥�

There鈥檚 no denying any of that.

However, the chamber also acknowledges that Downtown must become 鈥渁 safe and welcoming place for residents, visitors, workers, and businesses alike鈥� to make significant investments in housing, infrastructure, amenities, and attractions possible.

It is indeed a chick-and-egg situation. Which will come first, public safety or economic investment? The chamber, and Gessing and Peterson, are correct. We must have both, and simultaneously.

That is why we support both the proposed TIF and BID. While shifting resources from other areas of the city to Downtown is fundamentally unfair, we鈥檝e got to try something.

Capturing more of the tax revenue produced in Downtown and re-injecting those funds into public and private Downtown development projects could catalyze Downtown growth. Downtown is something we all should be willing to invest in. It鈥檚 the heart of our city and reflects on all of us.

And BIDs are, as the chamber notes, a national best practice relied on by most successful cities in the 近距离内射合集 States.

鈥淯nder a BID, downtown property owners organize and equip themselves with resources to uniquely promote and beautify downtown, support and plan events, add targeted security, create recreational opportunities, and more,鈥� chamber leaders wrote.

And as Brunner noted, a BID allows businesses to run their own services, such as parking, marketing and security, creating greater buy-in.

鈥�(B)usiness owners and property owners can petition the city to do a study and create a Business Improvement District, and then assess a fee across those property owners that that group of property owners then can use in their own interest to promote their businesses,鈥� Brunner explained. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really, in a sense, a business rights-, property owners鈥� rights-kind of organization.鈥�

Empowering Downtown businesses to improve their lots with specific services will create more buy-in, and hopefully produce less finger-pointing. But without real improvements in crime and homelessness, and enhanced laws to keep dangerous criminals and repeat offenders off our streets, neither a TIF nor a BID will matter much.

Nonetheless, a Downtown TIF and BID are solid proposals if coupled with public safety improvements. And saving our Downtown is worth the effort.