MACMILLAN Business Improvement Districts in the United States: Private Government and Public Consequences

This book examines how privatization has transformed cities, particularly through the role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the revitalization of America’s downtown. These public-private partnerships between property owners and municipal government have developed retail strips across the United States into lifestyle and commercial hubs. BIDs are non-profit community organizations with the public power to tax and spend on services in their districts, but they are unelected bodies often operating in the shadows of local government. They work as agents of economic development, but are they democratic? What can we learn from BIDs about the accountability of public-private partnerships, and how they impact our lives as citizens? Unger explores these questions of local democracy and urban political economy in this age of rampant privatization and the reinvention of neighborhoods. Review “Abraham Unger provides readers with a new lens for understanding the inner workings of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). … The author’s in-depth analysis and methodological approach to reviewing New York BIDs will serve countless practitioners and academics studying internal complexities of BIDs and the role of government and private sector and may ultimately lead to improved levels of accountability and transparency in BIDs and improved models of governance in PPPs.” (Haris Alibašić, Public Administration Review, Vol.78 (1), 2018) Review “Abraham Unger’s penetrating examination of business improvements districts provides a long overdue look at the theory and practice of growing reliance upon private-public partnerships in running American cities.  Probing how private partners of government actually behave once they take on governmental ambitions and purposes, he finds that their public spiritedness is often uneven and highly dependent on local leadership effort. It is a major contribution to our understanding of the new urban politics.” (Paul Kantor, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, Fordham University, USA) From the Back Cover This book examines how privatization has transformed cities, particularly through the role of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in the revitalization of America’s downtown. These public-private partnerships between property owners and municipal government have developed retail strips across the United States into lifestyle and commercial hubs. BIDs are non-profit community organizations with the public power to tax and spend on services in their districts, but they are unelected bodies often operating in the shadows of local government. They work as agents of economic development, but are they democratic? What can we learn from BIDs about the accountability of public-private partnerships, and how they impact our lives as citizens? Unger explores these questions of local democracy and urban political economy in this age of rampant privatization and the reinvention of neighborhoods. About the Author Abraham Unger is Assistant Professor of Government and Director of Urban Programs at Wagner College, USA, and Senior Research Fellow at the Carey Institute for Government Reform. Unger is a member of the Staten Island Borough President’s Strategic Policy Advisory Committee.