Just a couple weeks after Marquette students went out to improve areas of Milwaukee for Hunger Clean-Up, legislation is being proposed that would help communities do the same all year.

This week a proposal to allow neighborhoods to create Neighborhood Improvement Districts, also known as NIDs, was introduced into the Wisconsin assembly.

"The basic idea is people will gather together and pool their resources to get something of value to really improve their area," said State Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee), a co-author of the bill.

The proposal would allow municipalities to let their neighborhoods form a NID after neighborhood property owners petition the city, Richards said. A board would then manage the NID for the area.

"There's quite a lot of local control here," Richards said. "These are all self-funded."

Once in place, the NID would raise all its money to finance its decisions. These boards would be looking to improve the area, and so they could pool their resources to buy things such as flowers, playground equipment or lighting.

The NID could disband if people who own more than 50 percent of the property in the area decide to end it.

The current proposal is the result of two years of discussion and compromise with business owners and communities, Richards said.

"We're trying to make sure everyone's interests are protected in this," Richards said.

The legislation would not impact Marquette, because it is a tax-exempt area, according to June Moberly, executive director of the Avenues West Association, a non-profit organization for community improvement. The association covers 90 square blocks in Milwaukee, including Marquette.

"What (the NID) would be is a taxing authority," Moberly said.

It would charge additional taxes above the property taxes, she said.

"I cannot see that happening in a large geographic area," Moberly said. "It certainly would not be easy to create one for a large area because there are so many different interests."

Richards said the NIDs are intended for larger cities, but they could also be in smaller communities.

The original legislation was for Residential Improvement Districts, but they changed it to neighborhoods so that a few businesses could be represented as well, Moberly said.

Moberly said some subdivisions may want to form NIDs.

"I can see it happening in a smaller geographic area," she said. "The property owners are the ones who make the decision."

The NID legislation is modeled after the Business Improvement District (BID) law, which was passed in Wisconsin in 1984. BIDs allow businesses within the area to work toward improving the district.

Richards said BIDs such as the Third Ward and Downtown in Milwaukee have been successful.

Some examples of the BID programs downtown are information kiosks, landscape and graffiti removal crews, and downtown public service ambassadors who give information to visitors.

Bob Bauman, alderman of the city's 4th district, which includes Marquette, said he supports the bill and it would be good for cleaning up neighborhoods.

Bauman said the bill could create a situation where wealthy neighborhoods end up buying services, such as street cleaners. This might create resentment and inequality between wealthier and poorer neighborhoods, he said.

"It's something that on the surface appears to be a very good idea," Bauman said. "But there's a dark side to it which we have to be careful of."

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 28 2005.