Author: Jonathan B. Justice
and Robert S. Goldsmith
Summary:
Business improvement districts (BIDs)-”special districts usually governed by business and property owners-”have been portrayed by some observers as private governments serving narrow commercial interests and by others as policy tools-”instruments employed by states and general-purpose local governments to mobilize resources and advance public purposes. We use data from case law, case studies of local practices, and a statewide survey of New Jersey’s BIDs to argue that they can best be understood as genuine public-private partnerships that serve simultaneously as instruments of public policy which advance general public interests and as self-help entities which serve more particular interests.
