Sisyphus’ boulder is back at the bottom of the hill: the Old Town BID proposal has been killed yet again.
Boyd Walker from the Anti-BID Coalition said in an email that City of Alexandria officials confirmed the vote and that the BID will not be moving forward:
Ballots were sent to the 479 property owners in the proposed district, and 247 voted, over 50% of the eligible properties.
The official result: 162 voted no. 85 voted yes.
ALXnow reached out to City officials and Old Town Business (OTB). Two City officials confirmed that the BID ballot failed and one confirmed the vote totals from Walker.
The BID proposal required a $0.10 service district tax added onto the real property tax, currently $1.11 per $100 of assessed value. In exchange, the BID would help market Old Town, create more events, offer a mentorship program and more.
The BID required support from 60% of the properties in the proposed zone — mostly along King Street and the waterfront.
The vote came even after the City Council reframed the BID approval process to make it easier to pass, excluding “no response” votes from the total rather than including them as votes against the BID.
The BID proposal only received 34% support.
“The defeat of the BID proposal demonstrates this was an ill-conceived and incompetently structured proposal and it was viewed as wrong by nearly 2/3rd of the affected businesses,” Walker said. “The advocates misled the city council and city staff with their claims of support. This is the third failed attempt by the same group of people who keep pushing a BID to help their own personal interests at the expense of the vast majority of Old Town businesses.”
