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Western Regional Advocacy Project

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Business Improvement Districts

Business
Improvement
Districts
Factsheet
BIDs
&
Criminalization
Neoliberal
Governance,
Business
Improvement
Districts &
Privatizing
Cities
San
Francisco
BID
Factsheet
Portland
ESD
Factsheet
Portland, OR. Dirty and Dangerous:
The Story of Clean & Safe (Print Zine)
SoMa
West
CBD
Factsheet
Portland Media Advisory: Audit of Enhanced Services Districts
Portland ESD Audit Response Survey Toolkit
L.A. 
BID
Factsheet
Portland, OR. Dirty and Dangerous:
The Story of Clean & Safe
Audit Review Survey Critique and How to Improve
End Clean & Safe (endcleanandsafe.org)

 

BIDs, Pigs & Private Security:
How BIDs use public money to target poor and homeless people

Download the PDF file .

Artwork

Block by Block Privatizing Public Space
Downtown Portland
The creation of BID and the rise of Anti-Homeless Ordinances
BIDs Destroy Communities

#bidsdestroyourcommunities

Street Speak Podcast by Street Sheet a publication by the Coalition On Homelessness San Francisco: How business improvement districts are privatizing the block

In the past couple of decades Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have been greatly expanding and criminalizing the presence and activities of poor people all over the country.

How California business improvement districts use policy advocacy and policing practices to exclude homeless people from public space.

UC BerkeleyLaw Report Homeless Exclusion Districts
UC BerkeleyLaw Report Homeless Exclusion Districts
Download Now!3015 Downloads
Do you know what a Bussiness Improvement District is? Read UPDATE Fact Sheet
Do you know what a Bussiness Improvement District is? Read UPDATE Fact Sheet
Download Now!4447 Downloads
Que es un BID? Distritos de Desarrollo Comercial | Pagina de Hechos
Que es un BID? Distritos de Desarrollo Comercial | Pagina de Hechos
Download Now!1417 Downloads
Locked out, Gentrified, Criminalized. 11 by 17 Poster Union-Printed (in-stock)
Locked out, Gentrified, Criminalized. 11 by 17 Poster Union-Printed (in-stock)
Download Now!1104 Downloads
  • Press Release

  • Report Release Media News Articles, Video & Pictures 

THE POLICY ADVOCACY CLINIC AT UC BERKELEY SCHOOL OF LAW RELEASES CALIFORNIA BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS REPORT. HOMELESS EXCLUSION DISTRICTS

The Policy Advocacy Clinic at UC Berkeley School of Law conducted a study for the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) to understand the effects Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have on houseless communities in California.

Patrolling and controlling our public spaces, sidewalks, streets, and parks, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are privatizing our downtowns and main thoroughfares. Our public spaces are becoming corridors and shopping centers that are welcoming consumers with open arms and excluding everyone else. Most particularly impacted by this emerging trend are the houseless communities that see areas to rest and sleep, free from harassment and criminalization, shrinking.

A BID is a special, legal subdivision of the city, with the legal authority to create their own districts, effectively claiming ownership over neighborhoods. The city collects assessments (taxes) from property owners, including city property and public spaces within the district, and then distributes that money to the BID. The BIDs can use those funds however they see fit to serve businesses within the district with little to no public oversight.

This study “Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People from Public Space,” is the first of its kind and contains groundbreaking research on how BIDs impacts our local communities and reflect the impacts of BIDs across the country. The report analyses the several ways in which current BID policy and policing practices violate California law and infringe on the legal rights of homeless people. The UC BerkeleyLaw Policy Advocacy Clinic surveyed approximately 189 BIDS in 69 of California’s largest cities to study the relationship between BIDs and houseless people. Clinic student Shelby Nacino states “Our research shows that BIDs have been successful in pressing state and local lawmakers to criminalize homelessness.The growing number of BIDs since the legislature gave them greater authority and autonomy in 1994 correlates strongly with a striking increase in anti-homeless laws.”

The study found that “BIDs violate California law when they spend property assessment revenue on policy advocacy… BIDs may violate additional state laws when they spend assessment revenue collected from public properties within their districts on policy advocacy… BIDs and their agents may violate state, federal, and international law through their policing practices, including the infringing on the legal rights of homeless people.”

BIDs have been at the forefront of the criminalization of homelessness, gentrification, and displacement of poor people across the country. In the Bay Area, we see and experience the backlash of BIDs’ influence on public policy, privatization of public spaces and policing every day. Unfortunately, the repercussions of BIDs are visible not just in the Bay Area. Benjamin Dunning from Denver Homeless Out Loud stated that business districts in Denver started to take sections of sidewalk away. “This was public space, and they were offering it up to private business… The business improvement district made environmental changes to make it more difficult for homeless people to exist in that area.” BIDs are privatizing public space across the country and with privatization comes policing, criminalization and displacement of the houseless, buskers, street vendors and the local poor.

“BIDs will go Block by Block to ensure that every sidewalk, street, and park serve to benefit the businesses that are in the district. Public Space has become nothing more than the hallways of a shopping mall and if you are in that hallways you better be there to shop, or someone might chase you out.” says Paul Boden of WRAP.

With the release of this study “Homeless Exclusion Districts: How California Business Improvement Districts Use Policy Advocacy and Policing Practices to Exclude Homeless People from Public Space,” we hope to bring greater awareness to how our shiny new shopping spaces are created, and what goes into their creation–mainly our tax dollars and our freedom.

Business Improvement Districts 

In the past couple of decades Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have been greatly expanding and criminalizing the presence and activities of poor people all over the country.

What is a BID?

A business improvement district (BID) is a special, legal subdivision of the city. BIDs have the legal authority to create their own districts which effectively positions BIDs as the owners of these neighborhoods. BIDs are funded from disbursed city collected assessments (taxes) from property owners, including city property and public space, within a district. The BIDS can use those funds with very little public oversight in any way that they see fits within the framework of business improvement.

To create a BID, a petition is circulated to property owners in a district. This is usually initiated by business owners who plan to run the BID. The percentage needed for approval varies but generally it is 51% of petitions that are turned in although larger property owner’s votes carry greater weight. After a proposed district collects enough votes of support, the city holds a public hearing and votes on whether to establish the BID.

What do BIDs do?

BIDs spend money on the following types of activities:

Security with ambassadors or private officers, patrol public spaces (sometimes armed and with the use of electronic security systems).

Drafting and promoting legislation that privatizes community space for business interests and criminalizes poor and homeless people, and anyone who is not a consumer. They lobby local and state legislators to push legislation that supports the targeting, harassment and exclusion of homeless people, poor people, street vendors, and buskers from their districts.

Opposing legislation that seeks to protect street based people from criminalization including those that attempt to overturn sit-lie ordinances.

Controlling the architecture and aesthetics of the district including creating parklets, holding festivals, and cleaning public spaces.

Many BIDs hire private companies to implement ambassador programs that provide districts with “safety, cleaning, hospitality, outreach, and landscaping services.” In addition, Ambassadors work on behalf of the BID and wear special uniforms to distinguish themselves from the general public and from local cops (even though sometimes they can be confused for cops). BIDs are also known to hire private security or in some situations retired cops, working hand in hand with local law enforcement. Some BIDs claim to offer services, outreach, referral and resources to poor and homeless people. However, in most cities, the needs of the poor far outnumber viable services so often that the outreach that BID employees provide is superficial to non-existent.

TAKE ACTION – What You Can Do:

With BIDs playing an increasingly greater role in controlling our public spaces in our cities and states, and in creating laws that criminalize poor and homeless people, it’s important to take action and say NO to BIDs!

Tell your local government:
Stop all public funding of BIDs
Ask for the immediate disbanding of BIDs
Cancel all special agreements with BIDs
Demand more public oversight

Document (video, photos, take notes) incidents of BID harassment of vendors, poor people, buskers, homeless people, and send your documentation to wrap@wraphome.org and your local groups fighting BIDs.

Ask your local business if they support BIDs. If they do not, ask them if they would be willing to put signage in their windows. If they support BIDs, don’t patronize their business!

Download the facts, click here >>>>>

 

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Urgent Help Needed Grants Pass is facing over 100 Urgent Help Needed 
Grants Pass is facing over 100F temperatures for the next 4 days Our homeless neighbors have no shelter, no shade & no water. Please help by donating bottled water or funds - we'll put every drop to good use! 
Venmo | Helen Cruz 
https://account.venmo.com/u/Helen-Cruz-30

Let's come together for those left in the heat, every bottle & dollar makes a difference
Community spirit and perspective and a cool organi Community spirit and perspective and a cool organizing training!
With sweeps and fascist policing/immigration tactics ramping up all over the country, we must make sure our initiatives to fight them are informed by, come from and are supported by the people who are directly impacted!!! Street outreach is how we do this!
https://conta.cc/46GwXKG
Join WRAP on Tuesday, July 22 on zoom at 3pm pt | Join WRAP on Tuesday, July 22 on zoom at 3pm pt | 4 pm mt | 6 pm et for a training on the different methodologies, context and implementation of street outreach! There will be examples from WRAP members who represent organizations in different states who have been fighting back against criminalization and sweeps in their communities.
Accountable organizing through street outreach! 

With sweeps and fascist policing/immigration tactics ramping up all over the country, we must make sure our initiatives to fight them are informed by, come from and are supported by the people who are directly impacted!!! 

Street outreach is how we do this! 

📣 WRAP : STREET OUTREACH TRAINING 
🗓️ Tuesday, July 22 | 🕒 3pm PT | 4pm MT | 6pm ET
🎟️ RSVP : bit.ly/wrapoutreach 
✉️ Contact joemae@wraphome.org for any questions

Read More: https://conta.cc/3ZXkCxS
Last year, on April 22nd, I stood with over 700 pe Last year, on April 22nd, I stood with over 700 people from around the country in front of the US Supreme Court demanding that the court focus on proven solutions to homelessness like housing, and not on things like handcuffs and jails that make homelessness worse. Months later, SCOTUS shamefully decided that homeless people are not included in the Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment and could be ticketed or arrested for simply sleeping outside. https://conta.cc/44m9rjl
The city continues to sneak in their sweeps of our The city continues to sneak in their sweeps of our friends and neighbors to nowhere. They sneak their sweeps in and hope those that care and give a sh&! against this violence won’t show up. We will do all we can to challenge this and won’t let the city block us from the community care they are afraid of.

Join us for a virtual gathering to learn how to show up, how to build community care. July 10th from 7-8:30pm. DM us for more info.

#sweepskill #fucksweeps #stopthesweeps #stoptheharrellhorrorshow #communitycare #showup
🏠Housing is a human right, and it is about time 🏠Housing is a human right, and it is about time our communities actually accept this!

On June 28th 2024, Grants Pass v Johnson was overturned (a case that had required cities to not criminalize the unhoused if adequate shelter was not provided by the city). On June 28th from 10am-12pm, we are asking our community to gather on the Missoula Courthouse lawn to show our city that we don’t support the ways they are criminalizing unhoused Missoulians. 📣

After the rally, from 12-2pm we will hear from various local organizations that are impacted and addressing this issue in our community. 🫂 From those working in the legal system to renters to mutual aid groups, our entire community is impacted by the overturning of Grants Pass v Johnson, the closure of the Johnson Street shelter, and the criminalization of unhoused Missoulians. Municipal elections are coming up this year and it is critical that we show city council where our priorities lie.
The Sovereign Roses Virtual Alumni Chapter invites The Sovereign Roses Virtual Alumni Chapter invites you to WRAP with the Roses! Learn more about the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) and a potential Project I.M.P.A.C.T area we’re exploring. WRAP is dedicated to ending homelessness and poverty by uplifting the voices of those directly impacted and advocating for systemic change rooted in justice and equity.
Discover why WEE believe that partnering with WRAP is a powerful step toward making a real, sustainable difference in our communities.

📅 Date: June 30

🕔 Time: 5:52 PM CST

📍 Zoom:
Meeting ID: 98812438845
Code: 567524

🌐 Learn more about WRAP: www.wraphome.org (http://www.wraphome.org/)

Together, we can push for change, challenge injustice, and build impact that lasts. Don’t miss this opportunity to get informed and get involved!

#GammaSigmaSigma #ServiceSorority #SRVAC #WRAP #Projectimpact #GSS #SFE #ServiceFriendshipEquailty
June 28th marks the One Year Anniversary of the Su June 28th marks the One Year Anniversary of the Supreme Court making it illegal to be homeless. Join me in the fight to push back! Helen Cruz
June 28 4-7pm | Echo Park Lake, LA for more inform June 28 4-7pm | Echo Park Lake, LA
for more information: @lacanetwork_official
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