A business improvement district is boosting Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood even as the area is poised for more growth as a center for education and medicine.

The nonprofit Oakland Business Improvement District builds partnerships with businesses, institutions, and property owners to help create a more vibrant area through a tax paid by members. Executive Director Georgia Petropoulos said her nonprofit organization is working to support the Central Oakland area as a destination neighborhood.

Petropoulos was the guest speaker at the Pittsburgh Mastermind meeting this month.
“All the money we raise is used in a specific geographic zone,” she said.

Business Improvement Districts, also known as BIDS, are enabled by local legislation and permitted to levy a tax on property owners within the service area, to offer additional improvements, such as new lighting, signage, and more. The Oakland BID, formed in 1999, is supported by more than 250 businesses, Petropoulos said.

This year the organization will collect about $470,000 in a special tax paid by members, and raise additional funds to support its activities. Programs include matching grants for ADA compliance, sidewalk cleaning, graffiti abatement, marketing the area, and more.
Larger cities across the country—such as New York and New Orleans—have successfully used BIDS to increase investment in business districts.