12-13-09 Today's Fresno Bee Article re: PBID

Today’s' Fresno Bee article about the downtown PBID: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/1746436.html



First, Fresno will not miss out on the vote to create a Property Based Improvement District (PBID).


PBIDs have been in existence in sunny California for about 15 years. The first was formed in Sacramento. Here is a link to their website: http://www.downtownsac.org/DSPAPP/V/about/index.html


There are about 80 PBIDs in California, in cities like Visalia. Here is the description on the http://www.downtownvisalia.com/  website's About Us page:


DOWNTOWN VISALIA ALLIANCE

A second special benefit assessment district to improve the downtown was formed in 2001. As a group of property (owners), the Alliance also known (as) PBID, formed a coalition with Downtown Visalians and is providing environmental and business improvements in an approximately 70 block area.


PBID operates on a budget of $1.7 million and through a contract with Downtown Visalians the group has implemented programs to provide 24 hour security, graffiti removal, additional parking and other capital improvement projects. Their investment now creates continued downtown health and wealth.

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The current assessments of for the Fresno Downtown Association is about $35,000 (that's right, 35 thousand, I didn't miss any zeros). Compare that with the Visalia budget of $1.7 million. The Fresno PBID is only going to raise about $750,000.

My point is that PBIDs are normal. The steps that our new Downtown and Community Revitalization department are taking are normal. My assertion is that if there is any controversy about the PBID in downtown Fresno, if should be: Why has it taken us so long? If Visalia could pull this off in 2001 and Sacramento could form theirs in 1995, then what the heck is our story?


Who is to blame? Is it a few lackluster property owners who speculate on real estate but don't want to pony up for any real change? Is it a public that has downtown so low on the priority list that they have not elected representative's who are knowledgeable or committed to revitalization? Is it the media for failing to educate the public about standard revitalization processes and then holding elected officials accountable for whether or not they implement them? Does it matter who is to blame or should we focus forward and do the hard lifting of revitalization?


The majority of the work to form the downtown PBID is being done by a committee of volunteers, some property owners, some committed citizens, with the help of a PBID Consultant ( http://www.pumaworldhq.com/  ), and financed by a loan from the City of Fresno. In every case that we researched, the host city or redevelopment agency had financed the formation of their downtown PBIDs...again, this is normal.


There is a flaw in the Fresno PBID process. In the same spirit that this web log is trying to increase transparency, I will also use it to acknowledge mistakes, because there are always mistakes. At some point the PBID committee, and I assume the PBID consultant, decided to create an arbitrary deadline of December 15th. The response that I have received from the PBID committee is that this was done to try to get downtown property owners to have a greater sense of urgency to return their PBID ballots. I think that we can now see that this was a mistake. It should have been stated that December 15th was a goal and not a deadline, because in fact, the only real deadline is to have the ballots returned by April to get the assessment onto the December property tax bill. This is the explanation as to why the City did not miss the PBID vote.


We will occasionally make mistakes. Those who work for us and with us will also occasionally make mistakes. That is inherent in the nature of DOING.


The other potential flaw is that I am not a micro-manager. If I have to do everyone else's work, then I am not managing resources very well. While none of us like to make mistakes, I accept that they will happen.


Revitalization, especially at the early stages, is focused on making some big changes. We have some big pieces to put into place first like: the Specific Plan, codes action against negligent property owners, finding new responsible investors, the PBID to unify the long term priorities of property owners, focus City attention back on the urban area, investment incentives, improvement of downtown infrastructure...


Some of these items will happen more easily than others. Some might not pass their first hurdles and will have to wait for better timing, support and capacity. All of this is normal, all of the other cities that have revitalized have gone through these challenges. The real question is...will we persevere? Will we acknowledge a mistake when it is made? Will we continue forward, even when things get tough? Do we have the inner drive necessary to achieve success as a community?


I hope that the downtown property owners in Fresno will vote to assess themselves and to band together to tackle their collective priorities. I know that this is probably the worst possible time to ask them to do so. It is in the best interest of all downtown stakeholders that we improve the value of their investments. Other places have found the PBID to be a successful tool toward this goal.