Reasonable Demands?

BID proponents want to beautify downtown Northampton. They want more street lights, more street cleaning, more trees, and more flowers. Apparently they're willing to pay for it all. They want to convince other property owners and businesses to pay too, mind you; but anyway, reasonable demands, yes?

We're facing a global economic crisis. Sure, businesses will feel the pang, but can we deny that it is the poor and those who are already at the economic and political margins who will suffer the most? Can we deny this suffering? Will we? And where are our priorities? The state guide for forming BIDs in mass itself states clearly that the purpose of a BID is to improve the business climate. I'm skeptical that at a time of economic crisis, when, without a doubt, more people will be homeless, more people will go hungry, and more people will freeze to death, that we should be placing our priorities with enhancing the "business climate." It would seem to me that our priorities should lie with the formation of safety nets, in a society where the basic necessities of life are not guaranteed, whether by government or any other entity. We need to be turning to each other and to community.

Local businesses should be looking to a strengthening of the local economy for their survival in these hard times, not relying on an influx of tourists or other economic outsiders to sustain themselves. We then need to look towards improving community as a whole, which in light of systemic inequality must mean empowering the oppressed. The homeless need their own spaces, to live and to create. The hungry need sustainable food sources under their own control. The underserved youth need access to arts and music. Let's rethink our priorities.