Domestic and International Affairs

Release Date: Monday, October 31st 2011

DowntownDC BID executives are called on occasionally to share information, experiences and insights with both national and foreign visitors, as well as Downtown businesses, organizations and religious groups. This month, Richard H. Bradley, the DowntownDC BID’s executive director, was invited to Victor Stanley co-founder Stan Skalka’s home, where he spoke with 35 property owners from Oslo, Norway, about how the BID works to improve Downtown and help promote and retain businesses. Victor Stanley, a leading site furnishings manufacturer based in Dunkirk, Maryland, produced the DowntownDC BID’s new recycling cans and has hundreds of litter receptacles on Oslo streets.

Locally, Bradley also spoke to the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association, emphasizing the BID’s role in creating a remarkable urban experience in Downtown through critical partnerships and innovative thinking. He noted the National Mall and Downtown are beginning to merge into one destination as the DC Circulator expands to connect them; that people have more transportation options—the Circulator, Capital Bikeshare, and streetcars (coming in 2013); sidewalk cafes have proliferated and are an indicator of the new Downtown; crime dropped to 3.2 incidents per day in 2010, from 7.4 per day in 1999; and the Downtown ecoDistrict, the framework of which was created last spring, will help drive energy use down. Beyond 2011, the Marriott Marquis convention center headquarters hotel will transform Downtown’s ability to attract large meetings, and the CityCenterDC mixed-use development now underway will position Downtown as a regional shopping destination.

In addition, Rick Reinhard, the Downtown BID’s deputy executive director, briefed a Swedish delegation on BIDs. He also entertained questions, led the group on a tour of the New York Avenue Sculpture Project and the Downtown SAM headquarters building (1229 New York Avenue), which uses wind power.  The group was comprised of 23 property owners interested in U.S. cities in general and BIDs in particular. They met with two New York City BIDs before coming to DC.