BID sought by Bedford businesses

By Yvette d'Entremont - The Weekly News
BEDFORD - Sackville, Spryfield, Dartmouth and Halifax all have business improvement districts, but Bedford hasn't had anything comparable since the 1980s.
If a group of local residents and business owners have their way, Bedford will soon become HRM's eighth business improvement district.
"The response we get all the time is 'Why doesn't Bedford have one?' and that's where this all started," said Thomas Nolte, acting chairman for the future Bedford Business Improvement District organizing and implementation committee.
The committee is already off to a good start. On Nov. 26, they held their first planning meeting at the TD Bank in Bedford.
"We've had a lot of positive response, and about 22 people came that first night. We were told there have been similar meetings where you might get three people," Nolte said.
"And four people said they'd like to be on the board. That was our goal for the night, so I found this amazing because it's hard to get people to come out, let alone want to be active and to volunteer."
Those who attended the Nov. 26 meeting discussed their desire to see new signage, crosswalk upgrades, and were eager for the networking and marketing opportunities a local business improvement district could provide.
"This isn't against amalgamation, we're about reviving Bedford's community pride," Nolte explained. "Also, if you have 300 or more businesses going to a councillor with one voice, that's different than just one person asking for something."
Nolte said the organization's structure would likely be similar to that of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, but the group won't limit its membership to businesses along the Bedford Highway. The consensus at the meeting was this would go beyond a main street project.
"We proposed and want to go ahead with opening this up to all of District 21, including the new Bedford West and even a bit further down and including Larry Uteck Boulevard," Nolte said. "If areas like the Bedford Commons, or Hammonds Plains Road near the RIM (building) decided to go on their own at a later date, we could scale down. But we didn't want to start out by excluding people."
In addition to helping create a distinct and unified identity for Bedford businesses, organizers believe a BID would attract more customers and new businesses. They also said it would enable local businesses to share marketing initiatives and allow them to access grants and programs available to BIDs for improvement initiatives.
"The idea is to draw more people to Bedford, to make them aware it's a great place to shop and live," Nolte said. "We've estimated around 400 businesses are here, probably more with the outlying areas, but at least 400 on the main drag of Bedford."
The group will meet at least twice more in January and February. A registered letter will be sent to all businesses in District 21 and will include information and a ballot.
"The letter describes the area tax rate, what could be achieved by a BID, and will introduce the board," Nolte explained.
"If we get 50 per cent plus one (vote) yes, it will be established. Our estimated starting date would be April 1, when HRM's fiscal year begins."
The acting committee encourages business owners in District 21 to forward their email addresses so organizers can keep them informed via newsletter.
"It takes awhile to collect the information for all the businesses, so any jump-start they can provide would be appreciated," Nolte said.
More information about the initiative is online at www.shop
bedford.biz. Businesses interested in having their names added to the organizing committee's mailing list are asked to email Nolte at thomas@buylocalsavelocal.com or Grant Walker at quan
tum2000@ns.sympatico.ca.
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca