Legislation is being drafted by the Department of the Environment to set up new public-private partnerships to provide "cleaner, greener, safer streets" in designated urban areas.
Called Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), the initiative is being supported by the Dublin City Centre Business Association, which represents the city's main retailers, and is likely to be piloted in the O'Connell Street area.
The idea of establishing BIDs in Ireland was inspired by the success of similar schemes in New York - notably in Times Square, where a once sleazy part of town has been transformed over the past 10 years by concerted area-based management.
Senior executives of the DCCBA, accompanied by Dublin Corporation's financial officer, Mr Michael Redmond, and representatives of Dublin Civic Trust, recently visited New York to see the results and talk to the Times Square BID team.
Mr Shaun Rimington, president of the DCCBA, said they were enormously impressed by what they saw and believed the idea should be applied in Dublin, starting with the O'Connell Street-Henry Street-Talbot Street area.
"The BID concept has been widely acclaimed in New York as the catalyst which has rejuvenated many of the inner-city areas and reopened public spaces for the citizens," Mr Redmond has told members of Dublin City Council.
BIDs are funded by a compulsory levy on landlords and tenants in a designated area, based on a percentage of rateable valuation. Funding is collected by the city administration and passed on to the BID organisation under contract.
The initial decision to establish a BID is voluntary, usually requiring the support of at least 51 per cent of the property owners/occupiers. But once it is established, it becomes legally-empowered and everyone in the area must pay the levy.
Mr Redmond emphasised that residents in a BID area would be charged only a nominal sum - in New York it is $1 per year - to entitle them to representation on the BID's board. The local authority would also be represented.
Each BID organisation would have a wide range of functions, supplementary to the services provided by the local authority, in street cleaning, landscaping, public safety, marketing, event promotion and street furniture.
Based on the New York experience, resources would be focused on street cleaning rather than enforcement of litter laws. This would include removal of litter, graffiti and illegal fly-posting as well as power-washing streets.
Mr Tom Coffey, chief executive of the DCCBA, said he could envisage an O'Connell Street area BID providing and maintaining its own lined litter bins as well as "lots of flowers and shrubs", seats and other street furniture.
He also emphasised that any BID organisation would be publicly accountable, through publication of an annual report, as well as seeking renewal of its mandate from property owners/ occupiers based on its performance.
It is expected that legislation to provide a framework for establishing BIDs in Dublin and other urban areas will be introduced in the Dail early next year at the latest.
