We vote NO on the BID             Don't BID Us Out

A Business Improvement District (BID) is typically a geographical region where every business pays into a fund and the money is used to provide a variety of services for that business community. It is a pot of money funded by the businesses and administered by a board of volunteers and sometimes a paid staff.

Typically services include business improvement strategies, property development, trash removal, sidewalk cleaning and district advertising. There are more services, these are just examples of what other BIDs have spent their money on.

It has been propositioned by opponents of this BID: the new developers moved to the 18b because of the cool vibe. If they really want to be part of the community they should be shopping the small businesses, buying local art, going to local gyms and theaters, using existing services and helping keep rents accessible to residents and artists instead of trying to change the landscape to fit their bottom line. They came here for the vibe. Now it seems they are trying to increase their property values quickly by changing that vibe to be more sanitized. This isn't the only opinion against the folks pushing the BID. It is just one of many. In fact there are too many to list and not create a tome.

We are a very diverse community with an extremely diverse set of interests. What appeals to the single story apartment renters doesn't necessarily matter to the big property developer. Small business owners have different needs than home/condo owners. The high rise residential apartment owners don't have the same concerns as artists.

While everyone in the area wants the 18b Arts District and Gateway District to improve, the businesses and residents who have signed this petition vote NO on the currently proposed BID for a variety of reasons.

• Some don't like that the proposed area has expanded far to the north and to Las Vegas Blvd to include many properties not in the 18b Arts District and the portion of the Gateway on Main, Commerce and Casino Center down to Wyoming that have naturally grown along with the 18b.
• Some don't like that the assessment is being voted on only by owners and not by tenants who will live with it (and in most cases, pay for it).
• Some don't like that the assessment can increase without a vote and in other BIDs *has* increased, sometimes by very large amounts.
• Some don't like the proposed services. They say they already pay for and/or perform those services and resent having to pay for those who can't be bothered .
• Some can't afford the tax increase.
• There are worries that the very nature of a BID is undemocratic; everyone pays but just a very few make decisions.
• Others dislike that there is no election process for the board. The existing members bring on whomever they like and the community doesn't get a say.
• There are fears over potential mishandling of money as has been documented in BIDs in other cities.
• There is a strong fear of homogenization that will be necessary in order to govern such a large area.
• Some feel the only businesses to benefit will be the large scale developments while the single proprietors and low-income residents will be priced out.
• There's the issue that while we started as an art focused community, the newer players are growth focused and art is being pushed out in favor of this growth. The community has already seen a sharp increase in rents because of the fast paced business growth.
• There is a very real fear that with the promise of more and faster business growth, that art is losing out as many new developments are not using local artists or putting any art at all in their build-outs. (There has already been a giant faux pas by the BID board relating to their promise to protect our artists but then stealing their art and modifying it.)
• Some fear this BID will greatly speed up the current gentrification beyond a natural pace thus changing the face of the 18b to be more like  other “bougie” communities.
• There are also other reasons against it not listed here.

Note: there are rebuttals proffered for each of these concerns. And some of proposed services sound nice. It is a complicated issue. 

Not everyone signing below agrees on why they don't want this BID but they All Agree the potential benefits do not outweigh the potential mishandling, unfair representation, gentrification, homogeneous treatment, etc. We all say – Don't BID Us Out!

Join the original 18b The Las Vegas Arts District community in keeping the vibe in the Arts District and allowing our community to continue to develop at an organic pace. Pressure the land owners to respect the neighborhood they bought into and vote NO.

Sign this petition. You do not need to be a landowner. We want the decision makers to understand that we do not want the BID.

SAY NO BID