From the Indianapolis Star:
Massachusetts Avenue and Fountain Square have arrived.
Once declining Downtown cultural districts, they are bustling with activity. New restaurants are eager to open their doors. Bars are packed with crowds. Merchants and performance venues are picking up steam.
Now, neighborhood and business leaders in both areas are pitching what they see as the next step — a step that, depending on the place, is getting differing receptions:
A new tax promoted as key for the greater good.
Owners of non-residential property would pay into a fund for beautification efforts, promotion and other improvements to boost business.
But where there is talk of a new tax, there is debate — especially on Mass Ave.
Supporters point to Fort Wayne and hundreds of other communities around the country that have created such economic improvement districts to make an area not just a collection of merchants but a destination.
For David Andrichik, owner of the Chatterbox Jazz Club and president of the Massachusetts Avenue Merchants Association, the tax is a tool “to allow communities to assess themselves a little bit extra” to invest in future success.
Detractors question the expense and the necessity.
“How much do they need to sustain our neighborhood?” said Bill Pritt, a property owner who operates the restaurant Forty-Five Degrees and YoguLatte. “It’s never going to satisfy these people. That’s the bottom line.”
While Fountain Square appears to have embraced the idea — a firm proposal awaits city approval — Pritt and others on Mass Ave. have lobbed accusations of underhandedness as supporters have worked to build support.
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See the full article here:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013305100083
