The following open letter was addressed to the mayor and City Council.
An unanticipated obligation will prevent me from speaking at the public hearing on June 24, so I take this opportunity briefly to state my views on the proposed BID. For 35 years I have practiced law in my own building on South Columbus Street, between King and Prince Streets. My law firm would be within the jurisdiction of the BID. I oppose the BID.
I support the imposition of additional taxes to improve public services. My opposition to the BID has nothing to do with financial considerations.
The BID represents another example of the regrettable privatization of public functions. This is all the rage. The president proposes to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system. Public schools, now derided as “government schools,” are facing serious challenges from publicly assisted private schools. The list goes on. The notion of the common weal — or of a commonwealth to serve it — is fading from public perception, in favor of “what’s in it for me.” If the large businesses that will dominate the BID seek more enhancement to their neighborhood than their elected representatives provide, they are free to fund it privately — a kind of civic charity both self-serving and beneficial to the public.
Your greatest responsibility is deciding what civic functions to fund and how to do so. That is not merely your right; it is also your obligation. You have been elected to make the tough choices. So just do it. Don’t authorize an independent body to raise taxes and then disclaim your responsibility for their imposition. That is disingenuous as well as predicated on the notion that your constituents are fools.
Thank you for considering these thoughts.
Vic Glasberg
Victor M. Glasberg & Associates
Alexandria