 SMITH STUDENTS - READ THIS!
Not only does the BID leave all of us, especially low income people,
open to civil and human rights abuses, but Smith College, by opting
into the BID, has signed up to pay an unspecified amount in "negotiated
agreements." Smith is paying to have unjustified control over the city
around it while our work-study hours are cut and our financial aid may
be endangered. 62% of Smith students receive financial aid of some
kind. Do we really want our funds to be cut in favor of an undemocratic
plan for a small elite of businessowners and Smith college to make
important municipal decisions behind closed doors which should be
decided at open meetings by city government? And with the 43% increase
in property taxes, and thus in rent and prices, do we really want
downtown to become too expensive for us to shop and live in? Smithies have the power to stop the BID! Smith was gerrymandered into the district encompassed by the BID so it could get enough votes for it to be approved by law. Smith land makes up 95% of the 51% of total assessed property value in the district that has to be represented in order for the BID to be voted on. Tell Carol Christ that we don't want our tuition money to be spent on gentrification, undemocratic control of the city, privatization of public space, and power for people who want to exploit the poor and criminalize poverty. If resistance is powerful enough, she will be forced to withdraw Smith's signature, and the BID will no longer be eligible for consideration by the councilors. OUR SCHOOL, OUR TUITION DOLLARS - NOT IN OUR NAME! | 10 Reasons to Oppose the Northampton BID (Business Improvement District): 1. Gentrification - part of a larger program of removing low income people to make way for upscale luxury business and whiter, more affluent people. 2. Forced displacement of panhandlers & homeless --the BID proposal still includes language about pushing panhandlers out of public space, legislation which was tabled in the council because of overwhelming community disapproval. 3. Rising rents & prices--opting in to the BID will raise property taxes by 40%, which will raise the rent of tenants & thus prices for customers all over downtown. 4. Privatized police --rent-a-cops or off-duty police patrols with little constitutional restraint or oversight--private police have a long history of civil & human rights abuses. 5. Waste of money--$35,000 of your tax money paid to developers while the homeless freeze to death for lack of food, shelter, and social services. 6. CLEAN Team "volunteer labor"--court order community service participants and work-release prisoners would be employed cleaning for businesses as opposed to true community service such as working for a shelter or serving for a soup kitchen. 7. Exploitation of homeless for free labor - It is strongly implied in the text of the BID plan that “homeless trainees” would serve as a free labor pool for cleaning projects under the guise of a social service. 8. Creating a culture of snitches & informants--Both the CLEAN Team & "tour guides" planted through the city are instructed to be extra "eyes and ears"--obviously, they would be instructed to report crime by people whose presence hurts the marketability of the town, such as the homeless, rather than, for example, crimes that might be committed by businness owners. 9. Privatizing public space – the BID would turn public space such as streets and sidewalk to a privately managed tourism oriented zone, complete with rent-a-cops and tour guides. 10. Loss of democracy - the BID transfers local government powers from elected officials to the BID Board of Directors, meaning a loss of democracy & accountability. Letter to the City Councilors About the BID More about what's wrong with the BID "City shouldn't yield control over future of downtown" by Daily Hampshire Gazette To the editor: It appears that the mayor, the Chamber, Dan Yacuzzo and friends were willing to scrap their plans for a panhandling ordinance if it jeopardized the Business Improvement District. The BID, as we have heard in testimony, will be a much more potent force for regulating what happens downtown than was the now-tabled proposed ordinance. Downtown could soon not be a public space which includes business but a business space which regulates the public. Once approved by the Council, we will not be easily rid of the BID. Those who are concerned about the future of Northampton need to know the BID will mean much more than just new holiday lights and flowers boxes. In agreeing to the BID, the Council is relinquishing control of many crucial aspects of city government and handing them over to downtown businesses. Now we can vote our elected officials out if we disagree with them. This will not be true once the unelected business owners of Northampton are making decisions on behalf of themselves and the BID, not its citizenry. This is the time to let your councilors know that you favor public accountability and democracy. Say no to the BID. Lois Ahrens Northampton |