City Centre Businesses Join Forces to Combat the Recession
The newly established Dublin City Business Improvement District which is made up of almost 2,000 businesses in the city centre, today (Wednesday 11th March) launched a six month programme of initiatives that will enhance the appeal of the city centre as the number one location for shopping, recreation and business development. The programme was devised to help city centre businesses combat the current challenging economic climate.
Speaking at the launch of the 'Programme of Improvements' Dublin City BID, Chief Executive, Richard Guiney said, "We have been working with the businesses in the area to develop a comprehensive programme of improvements and enhancements that will help to make Dublin City Centre an even more attractive place for people to shop, visit and do business in. We want to encourage people to come into their Capital City and enjoy all that it has to offer including Ireland's premier flagship stores, a myriad of cultural activities, theatres, cinemas, galleries and museums, world famous hostelries and top international restaurants."
Established last year by the businesses in the Business Improvement District area (from Parnell St to Stephen's Green), Dublin City BID has an annual budget of almost €2.5m to deliver a range of additional improvement services for the area. Where introduced in other countries around the world, typical Business Improvement District services and initiatives have proven to increase footfall, decrease crime and increase overall trading performance for businesses in the area.
DBID Programme of Improvements Includes;
1. Area Marketing
Dine In Dublin Promotion
Teaming up with participating Dublin restaurants in April, the BID will coordinate and support a unique week-long dining promotion whereby people can enjoy a four-course meal at a singular and set promotional price across participating restaurants. The objective is to encourage people who work in the city to stay and dine in the city after traditional work hours.
New Role & Expansion of Street Ambassador Team
When launched last year, the BID introduced a team of eight of Ireland's first ever full-time street ambassadors whose role has been to monitor the city centre's cleanliness, identify improvements that can be made and identify security issues. From next week the team will increase to twelve ambassadors and will take on a new customer- focused role in welcoming people to the city centre and providing information on events, transport options, directions and suggestions of places of interest for visitors to the city centre.
2. Cultural Promotion
Cultural Initiatives - One City, One Book
Dublin City Business Improvement District has teamed up with Dublin's 'One City One Book', which this year features Bram Stoker's Dracula. To help promote the rich cultural and literary resources of the city centre, the BID will sponsor the production of the 'Wedding Re-enactment of Bram Stoker' in St Anne's Church, Dawson St on April 2nd & 4th and engage the city's many book shops in promotional activity around the event.
Family-Fun Programme: 'BIDs for KIDs'
As part of its ongoing 'BIDs for KIDs' initiative to encourage families to enjoy their Capital city, the BID will host a month long programme of FREE weekend traditional puppet shows in various venues across the city centre in the Summer.
3. Environmental Enhancement
Street Cleaning
As part of its annual environment enhancement budget, more than half a million euro will be allocated to providing additional cleaning services for the city's streets including mechanical street sweeping and washing. Other services also include detailed cleaning and cigarette butt removal. These services are over and above those delivered by Dublin City Council which are now benchmarked.
Street Planters
From hanging baskets to street planters the BID will invest thousands of euro in the 'greening' of the city centre and in particular will focus on the city's side streets beginning with Capel St, Talbot St, Dawson St and South Great Georges St.
Graffiti Removal in the City Centre
As research has shown the physical environment of an area directly relates to its economic performance and the BID aims to have all of the city's existing graffiti removed from the streets by the end of May. To date the organisation has removed 1,200 sq metres of graffiti from the city's streets and from next week it will double its efforts by doubling its graffiti removal team. Based on current trends it is anticipated that the city will be graffiti free and remain so from Autumn.
4. Community Relations
Ana Liffey Drug Project Partnership
Dublin City Business Improvement District will establish a long-term partnership, at both strategic and street level, with the Ana Liffey Drug Project to develop long-lasting solutions that reduce the problems, for those directly affected by substance misuse and homelessness, and for the wider community in the city centre as a whole.
