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A ROW OVER business group Dublin Town has stepped up a gear as members of the initiative vote on whether or not it has a future.
As previously reported by Fora, a number of businesses that form part of the capital’s Business Improvement District (BID) – marketed as Dublin Town – launched a campaign to abolish the scheme.
Yesterday, the ‘no to BID’ side – fronted by councillor Mannix Flynn – outlined in a nine-point manifesto the reasons why it wants to do away with the initiative.
However a few hours later, Dublin Town – which has sent legal letters to both Flynn and Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) chief Adrian Cummins over their public criticism of the scheme – issued a strongly worded statement rejecting many of the points.
With everything from the effectiveness of Dublin Town to the level of opposition enjoyed by the ‘no’ side in dispute, these are the key claims and counter-claims flying between the two sides:
How many businesses oppose Dublin Town?
Not-for-profit organisation Dublin Town was set up 10 years ago, originally under the name Dublin BID. Its job is to represent and promote businesses in the city centre.
It provides services like cleaning graffiti off buildings and maintaining flower displays around the city. It also runs promotional initiatives like ‘Dine in Dublin’.
All businesses in the BID catchment area are automatic members of the scheme. In addition to the normal commercial rates paid to Dublin City Council, they must pay a levy equal to 5% of their rates bill to support the running of Dublin Town.
The companies in the scheme vote every five years on whether to renew it or not. A vote is taking place now and members have been asked to cast their ballots by 17 July.
Pushing its case yesterday, the ‘no to BID’ campaign said that it is supported by 800 businesses in the city centre.
Dublin Town immediately questioned the figure, adding that the opposition side had flip-flopped on how many businesses it counted in its ranks since first collecting signatures for a petition in March 2015.
It claimed that the ‘no to BID’ figure has jumped from 500 to 700 members and back again.
However a spokeswoman for the ‘no’ campaign told Fora that the 800-member figure is based on an email database and qualitative data collected from petitioning companies around the city.
Footfall – up or down?
One of the major concerns voiced by the ‘no’ campaign is how Dublin Town has affected footfall in the city centre – a key metric for any customer-facing business.
The opposition camp claimed that footfall has declined by more than a third in the last decade, with 52 million fewer pedestrians in the city centre last year compared to 2007.
Conor Keoghan, a member of the ‘no to BID’ campaign, told Fora that this figure was based on an analysis of week-on-week data supplied by both Dublin Town and its predecessor, as well as figures published on the government’s open data website.
Dublin Town, on the other hand, says that footfall has increased since 2011 – although that benchmark comes from a low-point during the financial crisis.
When asked by Fora if it was misleading to compare different dates to those used in the ‘no’ side’s figures, a spokeswoman said Dublin Town couldn’t comment on figures before 2010 because it was “not in existence” before then.
“Dublin Town began to track footfall data in the city from 2010,” she said in a statement.
Our footfall data is tracked by Springboard, who are international experts in footfall data tracking. Dublin Town has no input into how this data is presented.
However, Keoghan said he believes the data put out by Dublin Town is “an abridged figure” and raised concerns that an increase in cameras monitoring footfall on city streets was leading to ‘double counting’ and distortion in the figures – a claim Dublin Town strongly denies.
Restaurants group
In its statement yesterday, Dublin Town also singled out the RAI CEO Cummins for criticism. Together with Flynn, the restaurant lobby boss has been a vocal opponent of Dublin Town in its current form.
Dublin Town claimed it was aware of a letter sent by 19 restaurants to RAI president Liam Edwards asking that the organisation remain neutral in the ongoing vote.
“These businesses were concerned to see Mr Cummins vociferously calling for a no vote and speaking at the press conference for the ‘no to BID’ campaign,” it said.
Cummins told Fora that it is the RAI’s policy position that the BID levy is “not fit for purpose and must be amended”. He said this position has been ratified by the RAI’s national council.
“The BID tax is a double taxation measure on businesses,” he said.
The Restaurants Association of Ireland would like the BID levy scrapped.
The council’s role
As mentioned, one of the services provided by Dublin Town is graffiti-cleaning.
‘No to BID’ has said that businesses’ annual rates to Dublin City Council should cover this service as their contributions already made up a large chunk of the local authority’s income.
However, Dublin Town has maintained that the council will not replace or fund such a service if the organisation ceases to exist.
A spokeswoman for the group said that Dublin City Council’s chief executive Owen Keegan has confirmed that the council only provides a budget for graffiti removal from buildings owned by the council.
“There is no provision for graffiti removal from private properties,” she said.
Dublin City Council confirmed to Fora that it only removes graffiti from its own property and street furniture.
“As regards private property, the legal responsibility rests with the occupier / owner for removal,” it said in a statement.
Note: This article was updated to include comment from Dublin City Council.
Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie
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“But it’s totally normal to have wildfires in January” said every Facebook expert.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: Why are you having hissy fits on here about facebook posts that “trigger” you? I’d say something if the wildfires were happening here in Ireland, but they’re not. Happening the other side of the world. Get a grip clown.
@Marvin Dollery: the only one I see having a hissy fit is you. Truth hurts I suppose…
@Marvin Dollery: Absolute state of this. The standard of conversation in the comments section has become significantly worse since your account appeared.
@Jason Memail: he’s outraged at everything and takes this comment section way too seriously, which I suppose you do if you live in social media bubbles all day.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: You think Facebook experts are bad now, wait til the crappy guardrails come off in a few weeks! But don’t worry, Zuck is doing it to save the world. With a bit of software. And 50% of it is minion memes.
@Jason Memail: So because you dislike what I have to say, you think my account should be removed? Isn’t that the very principle ye leftists proclaim to defend? Seems ye have gone full circle. Nice attempt at “white knighting”. Dumbrell is far from a damzel in distress.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: Here a chart of Global Temperatures and CO2 Levels last 2000 years:
https://imgur.com/gallery/global-temperature-co2-levels-last-2000-years-5ioVzFY
We have a problem. And temperatures for the last 65 million years:
Current global temperatures are warmest in c. 125,000 years, CO2 levels are highest in c. 15 million years and they continue to rise rapidly.
And here’s a study showing forest fires (intensity) are the worst in 10,000 years:
Kelly, R., Chipman, M.L., Higuera, P.E., Stefanova, I., Brubaker, L.B. and Hu, F.S., 2013. Recent burning of boreal forests exceeds fire regime limits of the past 10,000 years. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(32), pp.13055-13060.
@Marvin Dollery: master of deduction yet again. Jason never mentioned that your account should be removed and how do you know he is a “leftist”. He only makes the (IMO correct) observation that the standard of your comments is deplorable.
@Name: At least I use my name. And by the way, it’s only your opinion. Everyone has one.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: Don’t read Facebook, read science based fact. Here’s a fact. In the area burning today there is vegetation which drops seeds in pods that can only open when exposed to…fire. Yes, climate change can alter local conditions which can make wildfires more likely, but in this particular instance damage is man-made only in the sense that man chose to build homes in areas where fires are not only likely but are essential to the lifecycle of local flora. High time the planning authorities took some responsibility for what’s occurring rather than point the finger at people who have the audacity to own a car or want to heat their homes.
@Ronan Mc: In fairness, libel action against defamation or slander should be taken by the courts. Not by some meta subsidiary. Everyone active on platforms should know how to properly sue someone. Including the journal comment section which is a goldmine.
@Name: He or she is not outraged about anything. He or she is desperate for attention, good or bad. Mute them.
@Ollie McGlinchey: A tolerant little lefty weirdo aren’t you Glinchy. Mute anyone you disagree with incase it hurts precious folks feelings. Grow up.
After the last fires Trump recommended that fire breaks between areas need to be implanted but got no support by the ever negative media, maybe he can get things moving when he gets back.
@thomas molloy: taking advice from trump on forrest management is like taking advice from bertie ahern on bank accounts…….both havent a clue
@Tom Newell: what is a forrest? Do you mean forest?
@Tom Newell: He also said that they should sweep the forest floors. Fire breaks would not have made an ounce of difference in 75 mph winds!
@thomas molloy: State of California is preparing to sue Trump for inaction and denial of global warming, causing wide spread destruction.
@thomas molloy: except he never said that at all. He never mentioned “fire breaks”. He did talk about how the forestry service looked after the wilderness there and used the example of Finland “raking their forests” to prevent forest fires. Much to the amusement of Finns who do not rake their forests. Do you honestly think that Trump knows what a fire break is or how they work? As it happens fire breaks would not have done anything to prevent these current fires all of which started in brush in residential areas. The wind is driving them and embers from early fires are travelling through their via wind and causing fires elsewhere. They are crossing the many roads and highways in the hills. Not a lot could be done to prevent these fires sadly
@thomas molloy: impossible. Embers can travel several kilometres airborne. Fires can also start spontaneously in 0-10% humidity. Trump knows as much about managing forests as he does about every other topic. Virtually nil. May the Divils spawnings drag him to Hades and burn the Cheryl Cole off of him.
There’s an ad for a firewood in Northern Ireland placed in this article.
Very tactful. Lol.
@Fergus O’Donnell: lol. You really are hilarious.
looks like Gaza
@eoin fitzpatrick: There are definitely more Jews in Hollywood than in Gaza.
@eoin fitzpatrick: except they are not being starved to death and drones arent shooting wounded kids on the ground.
They should ask the Australians for help on how to put the fires out
Terrible news, but the thing dominating my head right now is the song Open Up by Leftfield.
@David Guiney: indeed, and what a brilliant track! Leftfield and Lydon – what a combo
California should sue Trump for inaction on, even causing, global warming.
No sympathy for them.
@DAN TEDSON: how sad it must be to be you.
@lastfewchocices: on the contrary, enjoying this karma immensely. Burn Hollywood, burn.
@DAN TEDSON: karma for what?
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