Downtown Crossing could feel a whole lot more desolate in the coming days. If the Downtown Crossing Business Improvement District (or simply ‘BID’) gets its way, that is. In an effort to spruce up the area, the BID is preparing to clean house – and without much regard to small businesses or pedestrian activity in the area.
Millennium Partners LLC is scheduled to begin renovating and restoring the Burnham Building (more commonly known as the Filene’s Building) in Downtown Crossing this summer. The project will be followed by the construction of one of Boston’s tallest towers since the John Hancock was built in 1976.
Not letting an opportunity go to waste, the Downtown BID has told all of Downtown Crossing’s pushcart vendors they’ve got to go. The alleged reasoning behind the decision was that construction activity would require the vendors to move elsewhere for the duration of the project.
The BID was designed and appointed by Mayor Menino, with the intent of placing a voluntary fee on all downtown businesses in order to maintain the quasi-public agency tasked with keeping the area clean and lively. Soon, the fee became mandatory for all downtown, and now, it has become apparent that too much power was gifted to the group.
Realizing that simply allowing the pushcart vendors to move to other locations nearby made too much sense, the BID – in all its brilliance – deemed it the perfect opportunity to weed out the vendors they did not want. The option will be given to apply for a permit in the new pushcart program being designed by the BID.
However, there is no guarantee that any of the vendors will successfully attain a permit, or that they will be able to remain in the hollowed out retail Mecca. For years, the pushcarts provided merchandise, food and produce, and friendly interaction to the thousands of pedestrians which flow through Downtown Crossing every day – even now, during the neighborhood’s darkest hours as retail vacancies are running at their highest rates ever.
Despite a stalled project leaving a torn building and a gaping hole at their backs, the vendors persevered in keeping the streets active and welcoming. But now, with the fate of the neighborhood suddenly looking brighter, the BID is attempting to shut down these small businesses in order to maintain a sterile, corporate feel.
If the goal is to keep people out of the streets and make Downtown Crossing less interesting, the BID is doing a fine job. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but the real intent behind the Downtown BID should be to improve the area in order to attract the most pedestrians, tourists, and new residents and companies as possible.
Mayor Menino did come out to blast the plan, even giving a 60-day extension to the current pushcart program before the BID’s plan goes into effect. However, the mayor should have realized the BID was wielding too much power at its inception. Curbing the agency then would have been a smart move, but instead they were simply given more power with the mandatory tax on all downtown properties.
The time is now for Mayor Menino to put an end to the dissolution of the vendor program, reign in the BID’s power, and see to it that Downtown Crossing flourishes. For far too long the city has let this neighborhood struggle, and it is never time to allow small businesses be terminated.
