Germantown group unites to relaunch special-services district

FOR THE GROUP of nine Germantown residents and business owners tasked with relaunching the now-defunct Germantown Special Services District, getting property owners to buy-in may not be an easy job.

The district, first established in 1995, didn't exactly become what business owners had envisioned, and went dormant in 2011. Now, a plan is in motion to relaunch the district, led by Councilwoman Cindy Bass.

"I think part of the uphill battle is just the fact that this isn't like starting fresh. There was something before that didn't work as well as we would've liked," said Sylvie Gallier Howard, a neighborhood resident and member of the steering committee organized by Bass. "Part of it is convincing people now that the GSSD is going to do a better job than before."

At the steering committee's first public meeting last month, Howard and other committee members explained the plan for the district and the additional tax that business owners would be assessed. The group is developing a five-year plan that will eventually go to City Council for approval.

The tax for special-services districts throughout the city, according to Howard and Denis Murphy, the city Commerce Department's manager of business-improvement-district programs, runs between 5 percent and 20 percent of properties' real-estate taxes. They said the tax in Germantown's district will likely be 10 percent to 15 percent of the real-estate taxes in the area.

The money will eventually be managed by staff hired to run the district, Howard said, and will be used to provide services such as cleaning.

Some business owners were hesitant when they heard about the tax.

"What are the pros? What will they do with [the money]?" asked Mark Lightfoot, who owns Philadelphia Hair Co. on Germantown Avenue near Price Street. "As long as it got up and running again, I would support it."

Mohamad Sakar, who owns Gennaro's Famous Pizza on Chelten Avenue near Wayne, said if business owners see real change from the district, he supports it.

"If we're just paying money for nothing, that's a different story," he said, adding that trash cleanup and parking near his shop are issues he'd like to see addressed.

About a block away, at Wired Beans Cafe on Chelten Avenue near Pulaski, Germantown native and cafe owner Robert Wheeler, 37, also a steering committee member, said he sees Germantown getting better with the district being re-established and other development coming into the neighborhood.

"Everyone cares about Germantown," Wheeler said of the steering committee. "There are so many good people putting their minds together."