Community Board 2 voted on Thursday to hold a public hearing, possibly in April, on the proposal to set up a business improvement district in Hudson Sq., after which the board would reconsider its previous resolution approving the BID. In November, the board recommended approval for the BID, but concerns were subsequently raised that there had not been adequate notification of affected property owners. “The question was ‘Was the support that initially seemed to be there there?’” said Jim Smith, C.B. 2’s chairperson. “It was done properly [by Board 2] in November, but since then, the question arose.”
Lisa LaFrieda, a board member and BID opponent, last month said she had 50 letters from property owners who did not want to be in the BID. At last month’s C.B. 2 meeting, it was mentioned that she would submit them to the board to consider. However, Smith, asked if the board had reviewed the letters, last week said, “Lisa had raised the issue whether there was any real depth of support for it in the community — I never saw any letters — that was sufficient to reopen the issue.”
The BID’s new proposed northern boundary is at Clarkson St., so LaFrieda’s meat business would not be in it anymore.
At last week’s meeting, C.B. 2 member David Reck, a leading proponent of the BID, did not contest the board’s plan to hold a public hearing on the proposed BID and then revisit its previous resolution.
