Officials with the Rochester Downtown Development Corporation were in High Falls Wednesday getting input from area businesses about a concept the RDDC feels could help better market downtown businesses.
It's called a 'Business Improvement District' and it involves special fees that would be charged to businesses that are participating. Those revenues would be used to provide marketing and other services that the city can't afford.
Heidi Zimmer-Meyer, the executive director of the downtown development corporation says by working as a group, city businesses could accomplish more than they could operating on their own.
“What you’re able to do with a smaller group of properties or as an individual property is far less than what you get when everybody pools their funds and so you’d have a lot more in the way of events, you’ve got market tracking, there will be safety services, also a lot of marketing and promotion for the whole downtown environment.“
There are still several other public meetings scheduled before the process moves forward. It's possible the new district could be in place in the summer of next year.
