Beneath Lark St BID Drama, An Existential Question

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist over at the Times Union has been reporting about some drama/bad blood between a certain prickly individual who was on the Lark St BID Board and current board members, staffers, and the outgoing Executive Director. But the squabbling isn’t important. What’s important is this quote from the guy’s attorney:

“It’s his belief that because the BID is really there to benefit the merchants, it would be better off being a merchants association,” Keenan said. “And, frankly, if that were to happen, they could get what they want in regard to him. If there are no more tenants, then there’s no more R.A. to represent the tenants.”

I have no idea about the merits of the case one way or another and I don’t know any of the parties involved for that matter. That being said, the person behind this quote is downright wrong and not someone who should be on the board.

The Lark St business owners are not alchemists nor do they regularly prune cash from money trees; their success is tied to vitality of the neighborhood and that includes its residents. Turning the BID into a Merchants’ Association doesn’t make the residents evaporate.

Not that I think BIDs are perfect entities but they at least foster cooperation from all the parties affected in their boundaries. Which is a far better scenario than the business owners of the neighborhood coming together to be a political lobbying clique, what a merchants’ association is basically.