A Green and Resilient Gowanus
Our Vision
The Gowanus Improvement District Formation Effort is a community-led effort to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in Gowanus, that would specifically focus on advocacy for and management and programming of the public realm in Gowanus. Through the Gowanus Improvement District we aim to ensure the maintenance of the public realm in Gowanus, to guarantee that all members of the community can enjoy emerging parks and public spaces, and to reinforce a vibrant live-work neighborhood.
What Will a Gowanus BID Do?
Prioritize local businesses and residents
Support community-led programming and marketing, such as public art, performances, outdoor markets, promotion of local businesses and education, to help keep our unique neighborhood vibrant.
Advocate for a more resilient neighborhood
Speak out for investment and agency coordination in flood mitigation, stormwater management, remediation, streetscape improvements and other capital projects, while providing direct support to residents, businesses and property owners.
Create thriving waterfronts, parks and streets
Provide consistent, expert maintenance of waterfront esplanades and supplemental maintenance of parks and streetscapes. Open spaces will be clean, green and accessible to the entire community.
Why now?
Sparked by an EPA-led Superfund clean-up of the Gowanus Canal and the de Blasio administration’s neighborhood rezoning, Gowanus is slated for a significant increase in capital investment and development in coming years, including investments in parks and public space. This includes both approximately 12 acres of waterfront esplanades developed on private properties, approximately 6 acres of new public parks on top of CSO tanks and planned for Gowanus Green, and new street trees required of new development. Together, these can be a cohesive and vibrant network of public spaces centered on the Gowanus Canal, supporting a community that has long been underserved by park space.
Through years of planning and community input, it is clear that a coordinated approach to the management of existing and future waterfront esplanades, parks, streets, and other public spaces is necessary to ensure sustainable care, accessibility, and vibrancy of the public realm. For nearly a decade, the Gowanus community has consistently advocated for sustainable investments in the public realm as part of planning processes led by local elected officials and the NYC Department of City Planning (DCP), including Bridging Gowanus (2015) and the Gowanus Neighborhood Planning Study (2016). This advocacy continued as the City introduced the Draft Zoning Proposal (2019) and throughout the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), where the formation of Gowanus Improvement District was specified as a condition of the Community Board’s approval of the Rezoning proposal. As part of the final Rezoning approval (2021) by NYC City Council and the Mayor’s Office, the City committed to a series of comprehensive neighborhood investments in housing, infrastructure, public space, community amenities, and workforce development as part of the Points of Agreement. Within this document, the City outlines a commitment to support community efforts toward the formation of a Gowanus Improvement District to be focused on “stewardship, access, and public programming of new and existing waterfront esplanades, public parks, and streetscapes.”
Get Involved
What is a BID?
A Business Improvement District (BID) is a nonprofit entity that provides services within a defined geographic area. The specific services are chosen by that community’s stakeholders, and funded through an assessment on the properties within its boundaries. By law, the existence of a BID does not reduce or replace services provided by the City of New York.
BIDs deliver supplemental services such as maintenance of the public realm, horticultural and public space improvements, supplemental sanitation pick-up and visitor services, community-driven programming, capital improvements, and technical assistance for businesses and residents. Since its inception over twenty years ago, the City’s BID program has contributed over $930 million in supplemental services to invigorate our neighborhoods.
The 76 BIDs in New York City are as diverse as the neighborhoods they serve. The BID model allows local stakeholders to define what services the neighborhood needs, and how best to share the costs. Across New York City, individual BIDs produce an iftar during Ramadan to celebrate Yemeni merchants (5th Ave BID, Bay Ridge), train young entrepreneurs in public housing (Myrtle Ave Brooklyn Partnership), pick up litter in public plazas (Flatiron), organize and run Open Streets (Park Slope-5th Ave), and maintain public parks (Union Square Partnership). This hyperlocal model of community service is well-suited to Gowanus, which has a mix of 19th-century homes, public housing, industrial uses, and soon-to-be-developed lots, each with its own unique relationship to the historic canal.