New leader for times square BID.

Parke Chapman

Times Square's Business Improvement District announced last week that Tim Tompkins will be their new president. Tompkins will be the third president of the BID, whose founder--Gretchen Dykstra--was recently named Commissioner of Consumer Affairs.

He brings a strong track record of government and non-profit experience to bear on his new post. Back in 1995, Tompkins founded the Partnerships for Parks, an initiative meant to spur community support for parks. Under his leadership, the organization grew its budget from $50,000 to $2.6 million. Prior to this job, Tompkins worked for the New York City Economic Development Corporation as senior project manager for 42nd Street development.

"Tim Tompkins brings bands-on experience working to spur the renaissance of the Times Square area to the position of president of the BID," said Robert Kaufman, chairman of the board of directors at the Times Square BID.

"His diverse background working in city government and with the Parks Department will be very valuable to the BID," said Kaufman.

The search for a new president was, in the words of another BID chair, "exhaustive."

"Tim is extremely perceptive about the challenges facing Times Square and is very familiar with the area through his work at the New York Economic Development Corporation on the 42nd Street development project," said Virginia Milhiser, chair of the BID's search committee.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity and challenge of leading Times Square into the future. As a longtime resident in the neighborhood, I am also committed to working closely with all those who pass through, work in and care about Times Square," said Tompkins.

Property owners in the district pay a mandatory assessment collected by the city and returned in full to the BID. The fees are approximately .3% of the assessed value of commercial buildings. Residential owners pay $1 per year. The BID has an annual budget of $6 million.

Beyond promoting the area, the BID also works on sanitation, security and business advocacy issues. It was founded 10 years ago.

The Giuliani administration sought to limit the power of BID's throughout the city, because property owners reported managerial abuses at several BID's. Also, some owners saw the assessments as unfair. But in 1997, Gretchen Dykstra--then president of the Times Square BID, issued a Code of Professional Standards and Practices that was aimed at correcting the problem.

It is doubtful that the new administration will hold BID's in such contempt, given some of Bloomberg's campaign remarks.

"We should encourage the creation of Business Improvement Districts in areas that are not experiencing economic resurgence, because BIDs have been successful across the city," wrote Michael Bloomberg shortly after Sept. 11 in the Gotham Gazette, an online newspaper.