MID BIA Renewal: 

gET tHE fACTS

WHAT ARE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREAS (BIAs)?


CLEAN, SAFE & SUSTAINABLE


We all want Downtown Seattle to be clean and safeHow we get there MATTERS!


NOW is the time for our City Council, the MID Ratepayer Advisory Board and DSA as the MID Program Manager to truly re-imagine the program as has been promised.


Want to Know More?  CONTACT & SUBSCRIBE to UPDATES 

Only 40% of MID BIA Ratepayers voted to approve the renewal petition.

WA State law allows Business Improvement Areas to be renewed based on percentage of Ratepayer assessment base instead of Ratepayer popular vote.

The City of Seattle knowingly re-instantiated a flawed Ratepayer assessment system:

City of Seattle OED:  "I am not sure without more research how we can defend that the condo ratepayers will essentially be paying more [than apartments]."

Response from Assistant City Attorney:  "I agree that we need to have a more clear cut narrative between condos and apartments, this merits consideration."

2023 OED Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) 

2023 OED Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) Benefit Renewal Analysis

TAKE ACTION

The Seattle City Council will vote to approve a new ordinance in May 2023.

WHY SHOULD I CARE? ...

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONCERNS...   (click here to expand)

Critical nuances of BIA implementation since 2013, driven largely by myriad assessment ceilings, are set to be copied and pasted into another decade of the MID BIA.  Assessment ceilings simultaneously create unequal and inequitable discrepancies between similarly situated Ratepayers (+- $15,000/year).


ASSESSMENT CEILINGS

HOW DOES THE CURRENT ASSESSMENT CEILING MODEL WORK?


PARCELS MATTER









READ THE EDITORIAL

MID BIA Renewal Editorial - December 2022.pdf

DATA DASHBOARD

eXAMPLE ASSESSMENT ALIGNMENT ERRORS

MID BIA Unassessed SqFt - Partial Belltown Snapshot

Section 3.5 of the MID BIA Bylaws (adopted and updated in 2013) states that Board members serve three (3) year terms with a two (2) consecutive term limit.  N.B. 8 current RAB members have exceeded this limit.

Multi-family residential Rateapyer assessments (21.72% of 2021 figures) are woefully underrepresented by holding only 11.5% of RAB positions.  Furthermore, owners and managers of multi-family residential housing (multi-billion dollar REITs, the CWD Group, etc.) do not represent market-rate apartment tenants,  low-barrier and/or rent controlled unit tenants, nor condominium unit owners.

Business owners, nonprofits and voluntary Ratepayers and others hold 25.7% of RAB positions yet pay 0.38% of the assessments. 

2022 - 2023 Ratepayer Advisory Board Composition Summary
2022 - 2023 MID BIA Ratepayer Advisory Board

CURRENT MID BIA DELINQUENCIES

MID BIA RENEWAL Assessment RECOMMENDATIONS

EQUITABLE RECOMMENDATIONS for the NEXT DECADE (RENEWAL)

Historical MID BIA Assessment STRUCTURE

MID BIA Ratepayer Assessment Changes over Time
MID BIA 2023 - 2033 Renewal Petition to Establish.pdf

VOICE YOUR THOUGHTS and constructively engage about the MID BIA renewal...