PATCH

By Miranda Levingston

The neighborhood is getting its first Business Improvement District, which will fund street safety and beautification.

EAST HARLEM, NY — There's going to be a new Business Improvement District in Manhattan along East 125th Street to support the small businesses lining the corridor between Fifth Avenue and Second Avenue.

Following a unanimous City Council vote to approve a new Business Improvement District at the end of May, first reported by Crain's New York Business, the vote will now go to the mayor's desk to be signed, before being approved by the New York State Comptroller.

The Business Improvement District will be entirely operational by January 2026, with an annual budget of $750,000. The budget could increase to $1 million after three years with a board vote.

For the uninitiated, a Business Improvement District, known as a BID, is a designated area where property owners are charged a fee that goes toward sanitation and public safety, as well as programs to promote local businesses.

Long-plagued by litter and crime, the BID is going to make a big difference for the 14 blocks within the new district's boundaries, Carey King, the executive director of Uptown Grand Central, said.

"Often, people have negative things to say when they walk through this district, and how chaotic it is, and how it scares people off sometimes," King said.

King said part of her neighborhood's problem is that the area is split by council districts and community boards. However, a new BID gives the neighborhood a chance to have a single voice, she said.

"We're really excited that we're starting to build consensus and support to be stronger going forward, to make the street a better place."

Uptown Grand Central is a non-profit that provides additional sidewalk and street-cleaning services to the area, and organizes events to support small businesses like the Harlem Night Market.

The non-profit's planning for a BID began in 2021, but the idea for a BID started more than 10 years ago with an association of local businesses, King said.

Now, with the BID distinction, Uptown Grand Central will be able to hire more cleaning staff, a public safety coordinator, and programming staff to support the businesses and run engaging community events.

"Up until now, we have just been a little nonprofit and fundraising where we can — we get some city dollars, we get some donations, but we never really knew where it was going to come from and how much of a cleaning team we could support," King said.

As part of the BID, King said Uptown Grand Central will hire a public safety coordinator to streamline communications between local street outreach groups for homelessness and addiction, as well as the NYPD.

"What's really amazing about this whole process is that we didn't have a single no vote at any stage," King said. "No one from the community said no; all the ballots were positive, and when we went to the city council, that was unanimous as well."