My conversation with Damla Erten, owner of Sencha Tea Bar and founder of the Uptown Community Coalition, about her opposition to the creation of a business improvement district for Uptown. The push for a BID comes from the Uptown Association, which represents their member businesses in the area. Damla says the problem with a BID is that it gets voted on only by property owners, not by renters or businesses that lease their spaces, and amounts to an extra tax smaller businesses can't afford. And even if the services live up to what's being advertised, some of them are so basic they should already be covered by regular property taxes. We also get into Uptown transportation politics and the Hennepin Avenue reconstruction.
For more on the Uptown Community Coalition: https://www.instagram.com/uccmpls/
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