Asheville’s Downtown Association hosted a meeting to sing the praises of Business Improvement Districts, or, as they are called in North Carolina, Municipal Service Districts. Representatives from Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and Greensboro told of the successes their MSD’s are achieving with the special taxes levied on their behalf. Their stories had to be half-truths, because they said nothing bad. People were anxious to have their taxes raised to have unelected bodies perform basic roles of government being neglected as local governments moved on to bigger things like branding themselves, visioning master plans, micromanaging development, and providing housing and food.
One of Chapel Hill’s objectives was to strive for social equity. Charlotte’s achieved this by making everybody pay something – except nonprofits – and the districts could be jerrymandered to exempt special people. The presenters seemed to try to appease free marketeers by using their lingo, but they used it in the wrong places. The purpose was to create a New Urbanist vision. Charlotte’s MSD bears the American-insensitive name CCCP, which may or may not stand for Charlotte Center City Plan.
Based on the questions from the savvy members of the business community present, the MSD people appeared to receive a cool reception. The Downtown Master Planners, however want to go full steam ahead while neither city council nor city staff has discussed the matter.
