Business leaders hoping to establish a business improvement district in downtown New Bedford have withdrawn their proposal, ending a fierce debate over whether property owners should pay additional fees to spruce up the neighborhood and market it to visitors.
In a letter sent to the City Council president on Monday afternoon, a consultant leading the effort, Marco Li Mandri, said the BID’s supporters “are ceasing their efforts to have the plan and petition adopted.”
The City Council was expected to vote on the plan next week after tabling the matter to review legal concerns raised by the BID’s opponents. It was unclear whether the petition had achieved the legal thresholds of support from property owners within the proposed district’s boundaries.
In the months since Li Mandri first introduced the proposal, the BID became a focal point for widespread fears about gentrification in New Bedford. Small businesses quickly hung signs opposing the BID, and protesters crammed into the latest City Council meeting where the proposal was being discussed.
Critics suspected the BID’s mandatory fees would increase rents downtown, and that any beautification projects and advertising campaigns the BID funded would primarily benefit investors looking to profit off the neighborhood’s turning fortunes.
Li Mandri and other supporters argued the BID would actually help small businesses by bringing foot traffic into a neighborhood still recovering from the pandemic and the unexpected departure of a local arts college last summer.
Jay Lanagan, a local real estate consultant who’s worked on several redevelopment projects downtown, said that even if landlords did pass on the full cost of fees to their tenants, rent increases would likely have been about $30 to $50 per month for a small retail space.
Still, Lanagan said the BID’s supporters were far less vocal than the BID’s critics.
“It didn’t feel like anybody wanted to fight for it,” Lanagan said. “And frankly, you shouldn’t fight for a BID. It should be something that people are interested in doing.”
In an interview in May, Li Mandri indicated that he would not try to establish a BID in downtown New Bedford again if the proposal failed to go through this summer.
“I’m done,” Li Mandri said. “I’m not going to spend another three years of my time and my staff’s time trying to put this thing together.”
