Author Blog: The Formation of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Low-Income Immigrant Neighborhoods of Los Angeles

This is an author-produced blog post to introduce upcoming Urban Affairs Review articles. This article is now available in OnlineFirst. 
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The Formation of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in Low-Income Immigrant Neighborhoods of Los Angeles

Wonhyung Lee

Assistant professor, School of Social Welfare, 

University at Albany, SUNY

Business improvement districts, or BIDs, are local organizations that aim to revitalize commercial areas. BIDs are self-help organizations in which property or business owners collect funds to improve and promote their retail corridors (Briffault 1999; Houstoun Jr. 2003; Hoyt 2005; Lewis 2010). The collected funds are used for street cleaning, beautification, or security reinforcement in a designated boundary. BIDs have clearly demonstrated benefits for promoting commercial areas over the last two decades. Large and small, BIDs have multiplied rapidly: from about 400 in 1999 to about 1,000 in 2010 across the United States (Cook and MacDonald 2011). BIDs are sometimes referred to as community improvement districts (CIDs), special improvement districts (SIDs), or special services areas (SSAs) contingent on the state legislature.

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