An effort is under way to re-establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in the Midway/Pacific Highway Corridor community that would border Old Town, Point Loma, Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach.
A BID is a defined area, within which businesses pay an additional tax or levy to fund projects within the district’s boundaries for public improvement. Improvement projects typically include such things as street cleaning, providing security, capital improvements, construction of pedestrian and streetscape enhancements and marketing or promotions.
Victor H. Ravago, a Midway Community Planning Group member, informed the city advisory group recently of progress being made in forming a new Midway BID.
“I’ve been trying to mobilize business leaders,” said Ravago, general manager of Hampton Inn in the San Diego-SeaWorld/Airport area.
Ravago said he has been working with the San Diego BID Council, an umbrella group overseeing the operations of 18 separate BIDs citywide. About 25 percent of the city’s small-business operators are located within the boundaries of one of the city’s 18 BIDs.
“Our goal is to reinstate the existing (dormant) BID in Midway,” Ravago said noting the objective in reestablishing a BID would be to “get some grants and corporate sponsors to get some serious dollars so we could beautify the area and also enhance safety in the neighborhoods.”
Ravago said an initial informative meeting to lay the groundwork for establishing a new BID is planned for a date and place in April.
He said the primary challenge in getting a new BID up and running is to “get a buy-in from all the business leaders in the area.”
The entire region could benefit, said Ravago, because “we really do believe Midway is a gateway community to those neighborhoods.” He said collaboration is essential to coexistence and “there are a lot of shared common goals between all the particular neighborhoods.”
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