Property owners in downtown Cleveland will pay five more years of assessments to support street-cleaning crews, safety escorts and development programs. City Council voted Wednesday on the last piece of legislation to reauthorize a special improvement district, funded by property owners and managed by the nonprofit Downtown Cleveland Alliance.
View full sizeJason Briggs, foreground, and Marion Luke, employees with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, use pressure washers to scrub and spray the sidewalk along West Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue last summer. Cleveland City Council voted Wednesday to renew assessments on downtown businesses for such services for five more years.Cleveland City Council voted Wednesday on the final piece of legislation to reauthorize a special improvement district, which covers properties between West 10th and East 18th streets and Front and Carnegie avenues. Property owners in the district collectively pay more than $3 million a year to support clean-and-safe programs and marketing efforts. The district was created in 2005 and was set to expire this year. The reauthorization covers 2011 through 2015.
A renewal required approval from property owners representing at least 60 percent of the district. The effort garnered 66 percent support before the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, the nonprofit group that manages the district and represents property owners, asked the city to sign off.
"The reauthorization really represents an $18.8 million commitment over five years on the part of property owners," said Joe Marinucci, the alliance's president and chief executive officer. "Given the economic challenges of the last two years, I think that's just a great affirmation of the property owners' commitment to downtown and commitment to Cleveland."
Two owners publicly opposed the renewal, saying that the services they receive are not worth the assessments they pay. "We have a cleaning crew ourselves, and we don't see anybody protecting us," said Maurice Abood, vice president of Aladdin's Baking Co., a Carnegie Avenue business that protested the reauthorization.
Some owners who do not object to the district still declined to sign support petitions, largely because of concerns about the economy and their lenders' reactions. But all property owners are required to pay assessments, which vary based on a property's value and lot lines.
In exchange for their dollars, downtown owners want to see more businesses on Euclid Avenue and more tenants in office buildings. The alliance is hiring two people to run a business-development center, which could open in late summer in the Arcade on Superior Avenue. And the nonprofit group recently hired three Cleveland companies -- Twist Creative, DigiKnow and Falls Communications -- to craft a marketing strategy for downtown business development.