Broadway Tax District on Ballot for Property Owners this November

The South Broadway corridor may get its own General Improvement District this winter. Similar GIDs in RiNo, 14th Street and the Ballpark area have raised extra taxes from businesses and residents to fund security, beautification, maintenance and rebranding efforts, and the proposed Broadway district would do the same if approved in the upcoming November 4 election.

“Broadway’s a very unique place in that it’s mostly independent entrepreneurial businesses; there’s very few chains, and it’s got a flavor all of its own compared to anywhere in Denver,” said Baker Historic Neighborhood Organization President Beth Fluto. “Security is going to be the biggest feature in my mind for the GID because it will allow them to have two 24/7 security guards on the street, patrolling the street and the alleys. The businesses really need more security and safety.”

Headed by the Broadway Merchants Association (BMA), the proposal was approved by city council to appear on the ballot this November, when commercial and residential property owners within the bounds of 6th Ave., I-25, Broadway Ave. and Lincoln St. will vote on the measure. As the enclave around the Safeway at Alameda and Broadway is already part of another metro district, it will not be included in the Broadway GID.

To some of Broadway’s small business owners, the plan seemed lopsided. “There’s a huge swath of the community that uses the Broadway Corridor,” said Spencer Madison, co-owner of Sputnik Bar. “All of those surrounding neighborhoods benefit from the Broadway Corridor, but yet this tax burden is just going to be placed on the property owners in the map area. That doesn’t seem exactly equitable.”

According to the Broadway Merchants Association website, the GID will collect a little over $1.1 million in additional property taxes from commercial and residential property owners within the GID’s boundaries. More than half the budget will fund an unarmed security team of two “safety ambassadors” who will patrol the area around the clock.

Roughly $335,000 will go towards maintenance, cleaning and landscaping; about $56,000 will go towards neighborhood marketing and programming (including Broadway’s annual Halloween Parade); and the remaining $111,000 is allotted for administration fees and paying a district administrator to manage GID services, community events and paperwork.

For longtime business owner Tony Fleith, the GID is a much-needed opportunity to clean up the area. Fleith has owned Li’l Devils Lounge, a bar and patio situated on Broadway just north of Alameda, for the past 15 years. 

“We get a lot of vandalism and a lot of homeless,” Fleith noted, adding that he was looking forward to the GID “making Broadway a little safer and more beautiful.”

Though Fleith will be unable to vote on the measure because he rents the space where Li’l Devils is located, he supports it and believes the plan’s security measures are a step in the right direction.

“They’re probably going to have more resources than we do and more clout,” Fleith said, noting that he and other business owners don’t have time to care for everyone. “They might have more opportunity to help people on the street and get (them) the resources that they need—mental health; if they put themselves in danger, if they’re OD’ing, or if they need medical treatment, they can probably recognize that better than we can.”

Madison sees things a little differently. Though he agrees that Broadway struggles with “drug use and abuse” and homelessness, he also worries about rising rents, which have forced out neighborhood staples like Mutiny Cafe and the Hornet. He also questions the role of the safety ambassadors.

“They’re proposing this private security mostly to deal with the homeless population. If that’s what the security is for, shouldn’t that already be provided by the city?” Madison questioned, noting that the city was “obviously not” doing enough along the Broadway corridor. “Why is it the business improvement district’s responsibility to take care of what is essentially a community problem? It’s a community problem. It’s not just a one-and-a-half block problem.”

One of Mayor Mike Johnston’s major campaign promises was to end homelessness in Denver. He says his administration has moved more than 6,200 people into housing since he took office, though some housing advocates contest this. However, according to this year’s Point in Time survey, Denver still has at least 2,100 unsheltered unhoused residents, some who GID-sponsored security details have been tasked with “managing” in the absence of adequate city resources. 

“I think our biggest concern with Business Improvement Districts or General Improvement Districts is that sometimes we see them hire private security or deploy outreach groups that don’t have a lot of experience working with people experiencing homelessness,” said Cathy Alderman, who works with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. “When we see those organizations take a more police-like approach, it creates more opportunity for conflict because people feel like they’re being targeted when they haven’t really done anything wrong.” 

Alderman worked with planners of the Ballpark GID, where CCH’s offices are located, to advocate for more compassionate outreach rather than a “security-heavy” approach. So far, Alderman says, she’s been happy with Ballpark’s outreach teams. 

BMA Director Luke Johnson said his priorities for safety ambassadors were stopping open drug use, intervening in dangerous situations, and responding to “possibly violent” homeless people when police cannot respond quickly enough.

“We’re just a little neighborhood organization trying to raise some money to keep the streets safe,” he said, adding that he thought not all homeless people wanted services. “We’re not going to fix homelessness in Denver.”

This was echoed by Fluto. “It’s up to the city to take care of the drugs and more of the homelessness and those issues,” she said. “We can’t ask our safety ambassadors to be experts at everything. That is really a city-level need.”

Madison, for one, wants to know more about how the ambassadors would be trained, something that Johnson acknowledged hadn’t been discussed yet. 

“If you’ve got people with the right training to address the community that needs the help – the houseless community, the folks that are having drug problems or mental health problems – if you have the properly trained people to engage with those folks, then it could have a benefit,” says Madison. 

Rising costs across the board

The financial impact of the GID remains somewhat unclear and will vary by business. Fleith thinks he’ll actually save money, since he will only pay an equal share of the GID’s taxes instead of the higher rates he pays now for his corner location. He was also excited about the maintenance plan.

Madison was more wary. Broadway’s slew of independent businesses is already struggling to keep up with rising rent and operational costs, he said. Though Sputnik is in a long-term lease with a set rent, Madison noted that their “triple net” costs—property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs—change by the year and would likely increase should the GID pass. 

“My landlord’s going to have to absorb this cost, which is obviously going to trickle down to me,” Madison said, questioning what would happen if other small businesses were unable to keep up. “Do we get a bunch of corporate businesses taking up those spaces? Because that’s kind of what’s happening in RiNo.”

Fluto said that rent is “going up everywhere,” adding, “Anytime you have more success, the rent goes up. I really am hopeful with the GID. It’s going to be much more inviting for new businesses to come in and for small businesses to be safe and successful.”

To Johnson, the potential for higher rent is a risk he’s willing to accept for safety. “I certainly don’t hope that rents go up to a point where it pushes people out,” he said. “That’s absolutely not the goal, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that we want to not do anything so that prices will stay low because crime’s bad in the neighborhood.” 

Madison clarified he is not against the GID but still has questions about how its services would overlap with the city’s maintenance, marketing and beautification programs. Though he acknowledged that these questions would likely be addressed if the measure passes, one thing was certain: as a renter, he would not be able to cast his vote in the Nov. 4 election.

“I might have a horse in the race,” Madison said. “But I don’t have a voice in how this is implemented, how it’s written or how these funds are raised.”