Nearly half the membership of Novato’s business improvement district voted to defund it last fall, and the controversy has prompted the question: Are such districts helping small businesses stay afloat?
Whether a BID can help small businesses stay alive depends on the situation, experts said.
“Generally speaking, BIDs are good things if merchants are struggling to market themselves,” said Robert Eyler, head of the Marin Economic Forum and a professor of economics at Sonoma State University.
“Novato and San Rafael (business improvement districts) are doing a good job,” Eyler said.
Marin leaders rejoiced at the news that the county was judged California’s best to live in, while remaining mindful that there is still room for improvement.
Rob Eyler, head of the Marin Economic Forum, offered a note of analysis in his response.
“I think it shows that Marin is not only attractive, but also a by-product of its location. There is likely wealth migrating in from San Francisco and the greater Bay Area looking for a more suburban existence,” Eyler said.
“This is where Marin’s housing market is very much related to the greater Bay Area as the most desirable place (weather, proximity to SF, amenities, schools) in a very desirable regional globally,” Eyler said.
Population growth in Marin picked up significantly in the last half of 2012 and first six months of 2013, according to new census data.
Robert Eyler, chief executive of the Marin Economic Forum and a professor at Sonoma State University, said, “Part of that is probably the fact that the housing market has stabilized; the job market has continued to grow; and incomes have continued to grow, so there is not an economic reason for people to leave Marin as there was during the financial crisis.”
Eyler said the increase in housing prices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, due to the tech boom, also may have made housing in Marin more affordable, relatively speaking.
