darryl holter article


darrylholter downtownnews


darrylholter


   darryl holter twitter

Darryl Holter, Shammas Group: How to Build a BID
The Early Days Of the Figueroa Corridor Partnership

Share

Category: Darryl Holter Los Angeles, Shammas Group. Figueroa Corridor Partnership

WITH THE SUPPORT OF FATHER-IN-LAW NICK SHAMMAS AND
Figueroa stakeholders like the USC President Steven Sample, Shammas Group CEO Darryl Holter began to gather resources to build a business improvement district. He traveled to an International Downtown Association conference with Carol Schatz, leader of Central CiothAssociation, Councilmember Rita Walters, and her then chief-of-staff, Jan Perry. As he learned the nuts and bolts of building a BID, Holter also began to solicit Figueroa stakeholders.
darryl holter ceoshammasgroup

Darryl Holter Shammas Group CEO


“I’d tell the property owners, ‘We want to fix up the neighborhood, we want to make the district better. ‘They’d ask how we were going to do it and I’d tell them we were basically going to raise their taxes. They told me I was crazy.”

But Darryl Holter persisted. He convinced the property owners that the money would be wholly re-invested back into the area, that they would control their own budget, hire their own people to keep the area clean and safe, and make their own decisions free from any political interference.

Plenty of the owners still weren’t convinced. “But between me and the university, and couple of others I picked up early on like the Automobile Club and the Orthopaedic Hospital, we had the numbers, “Holter says. “So the others stared to fall into place.”


Darryl Holter persisted. He convinced the property owners that the money would be wholly re-invested back into the area...


It was an interesting time, Darryl Holter recalls. Stakeholders who didn’t know each other previously met and became friends because they were working toward the same goal. There were focus groups, task forces, and numerous meetings – they BID’s organizers had to come up with a funding mechanism, determine how each owner would be assessed, and they had to sure new investment. Both the Figueroa Corridor Partnership and the Downtown Center BID were approved by City Council at the same time, and founded in 1998 – joining the L.A. Fashion District BID to begin Downtown’s robust BIDs.