Neil Fraser
May 19, 2003
WHAT does Rob Walsh have in common with Carl Weisbrod; Tim Tompkins; Michael Weiss and Barbara Askins?
I don't know other than that all of them share a passion for their city and their jobs which relate in one way or another to New York City's Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).
Rob is the Commissioner of Business Services and is responsible, amongst other things, to the Mayor for the oversight of the city's forty-four BIDs whilst the others are the Presidents of four distinctly different BIDs operating in four distinctly different areas of New York City; Lower Manhattan, Times Square, Metro-Tech Brooklyn and 125th Street Harlem respectively.
From time to time over the next six months, Citichat will look at some of the work of each of these BIDs that we can learn from and that could enhance our own efforts in Joeys. We'll start this week with Times Square.
Times Square BID
The Times Square BID is the primary organisation responsible for the ongoing rejuvenation of Times Square. Its latest Annual Report records the following observation from the BID Chairman; "Times Square, which for so long represented what so many feared about New York, has come to represent what so many love about New York. This year, again and again and again images of Times Square were beamed to the world as a symbol and centre of our city's resilience, energy and freedom."
I certainly remember my first visit to New York back in the early 1970s and the warning; "Don't go Times Square after dark in fact don't go to Times Square at all unless you are going to the theatre. If you do walk around, watch out for your wallet and passport, preferably leave them behind."
Well that's the message that so many visitors are still given about the inner city of Johannesburg usually by those who should know better but are just not interested in learning where we are at.
In those days, Times Square was the Capital of Sleaze. It had more strip joints and adult entertainment businesses concentrated in one area than anywhere else in New York if not in the US. With the sleaze came crime and grime and drugs and prostitution and …you name it, Times Square had it all, in abundance and then some!
Over the past twenty years, through the determination and vision of a relatively small number of people, backed by their BID Board, Times Square has gone through a miraculous transformation from Sleaze Capital to the definitive twenty-first century Urban Centre for Entertainment Retail.
As an aside, that time period alone provides perspective in regard to city revitalisation. Like Times Square, we too spent many years in coming to grips with the basics, and whilst our local economy and culture won't give birth to as vigorous a child, we see the positive signs starting to emerge from that foundational period.
The Times Square BID provides many 'normal' BID services but enhanced through numerous innovations. For example their supplementary cleaning
(27 full-time and 25 part-time sanitation workers collected 1, 181 tons of trash in 2002) but they also photograph and take action where necessary against trash violations and undertake experiential pilot projects such as coating light poles with anti-graffiti, sticker-proof coating.
The 52 Public Safety Officers enhance security by preventing crime, displacing illegal hawkers, protect property and discourage inappropriate behaviour.
When the BID picked up an increasing trend in night time crime they brought the matter to the local police's attention which resulted in more police being made available at night.
They also operate a 'flash system' which disseminates important information on police activities, street closures, public events, demonstrations, movie shoots, transportation issues and all disruptions to normal activity. This is provided to BID members and the immediate neighbours of the BID.
New lamp fixtures are being provided by the BID along restaurant Row to provide greater illumination and enhance security. A major investigation into pavement and traffic island widening is being undertaken to maximise and improve pedestrian space.
Then there is their work on social issues. They have a number of interesting services for the homeless including "Gardening for Life" through which previously homeless seniors are taught to seed, water and maintain plants in planters and on medians of certain streets.
But what clearly differentiates the BID is their marketing and the scale of their events. The most well known of these is 'Times Square New Year's Eve' which is televised through much of the world and watched by tens of millions, 'Taste of Times Square' is a huge outdoor food festival and 'Broadway on Broadway' attended in 2002 by over 50,000 people, features live performances by the casts of nearly every current Broadway musical plus previews of what Broadway has in store for the new season.
I have included some statistical information on Times Square at the end of this Citichat for those who may be interested. But, amongst all of its impressive statistics and programmes, it is what has been done in the public domain that is for me so exciting.
Times Square is the only neighbourhood in New York City where commercial establishments are required by law to display illuminated signs. This goes back to the formative years of the 1980s when bylaws were introduced which require that all buildings facing Broadway and Seventh Avenue have to feature illuminated supersigns.
Today that signage covers over 67,000 square feet of rentable signage space valued at over $140 million and adds over $75 million to taxable property values. Rents for signs range from $400,000 to $4 million per year. I think that there is a lesson for us in their approach.
At the moment we see our metropolitan area increasingly scarred, defaced and polluted through the injudicious use of giant advertising billboards. There are only three beneficiaries, the advertiser, the city and the sign companies and one only has to look at the financial results of the last mentioned to see who gets the biggest benefit!
A focused approach, which uses signage as a major value-add to an area such as Times Square, would dramatically increase the number of beneficiaries. We need a more entrepreneurial approach to public domain signage and Times Square can teach us something in this regard.
The other Times Square BID initiative that we can benefit from adopting albeit in a scaled down local version, is their Visitor's Centre. This doesn't just offer the usual tour booking and information facilities but has a host of other attractions; souvenirs, theatre and sightseeing booking facilities, stamps and transport cards, ATMs, internet access, free walking tours and free audio-video e-mail postcards.
You can even have your photo taken and broadcast on a huge Times Square signboard. The Centre also employs a number of multi lingual tourist counsellors who have welcomed more than 4 million visitors since the Centre opened, nearly one-and-a-half million in 2002 alone.
This is something for which we have been trying, unsuccessfully to raise initial funding over the past year and my visit has motivated me to try harder.
Innovation seems to underpin the exciting approach of the Times Square BID.
Some stats:
Commercial: Today Times Square offers 21.8 million square feet of commercial space, 3 million of which came on line during past year alone. Asking rates for its only 8% vacancy is in the order of $49 per square foot. That is in comparison to $29.8 in 1996 when vacancy rates were about 24%!
It boasts over 600 retail stores covering 1,4 million square feet including 178 restaurants and 245 entertainment venues. Prime retail commands up to $550 per square foot.
The BID is bullish on retail potential. It points to the growing market that its own residential component represents (5,000); the number of employees within reasonable shopping distance (245,000); the increase in number of employees in its own area (258,000 up 13% since 1996) with a concomitant increase in buying power and the 26 million visitors who came to Times Square in 2002!
Based on a visitor intercept survey carried out by the BID in July 2002, 20% of all tourist spend occurs in Times Square representing $1,020 billion.
And on the Entertainment side, 35% of out-of-town visitors come to Times Square primarily for entertainment, drawn by its 39 Broadway theatres but more and more by entertainment offered by cabarets, comedy clubs and dance clubs but also by the sheer entertainment offered by retail establishments themselves.
This doesn't only pull in tourists - 54% of local visitors and 50% of area employees enjoy some form of entertainment in Times Square at least once per month.
Times Square has the highest pedestrian count in the city, 253,183 people pass through the Times Square subway stations on an average weekday, 32,814 through buses and 180,000 via the Port Authority.
There are 33 hotels offering 15,500 rooms - 25% of all hotel rooms on offer in New York. By 2006 a further 1,000 rooms will have been added bringing an additional $80 million in spending.
