I had this question recently asked of me, since I work at a DT business. They also asked if we had a membership. I said we canceled our membership a few years back for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons was they moved most of the festivals to 4th and Phillips, so we couldn’t put a booth in front of our store, besides the fee and commission DTSF would charge on the booth wasn’t profitable. Secondly, when we asked DTSF what they ‘do’ for the membership fee they said besides being listed in their magazine, they swept the sidewalks and watered plants (even though that stuff is city owned and will have to be maintained by the city anyway).
The inquirer was wondering why most of the DT restaurants were listed in their magazine and not ours. I said, they basically punish you for be not being a member by not listing you, which is silly on a couple of levels;
1) It makes DTSF and the magazine look inaccurate, people visiting SF from another city may be following the map in the magazine and asking themselves why certain restaurants are not listed.
2) We pay a membership fee to DTSF whether we want to or not. DT businesses pay a special property tax assessment that subsidizes DTSF. So even if you are not a ‘member’ of their organization, you are still ‘paying’ into them.
I have often argued that we should eliminate DTSF as an ‘organization’ and just sub-contract the magazine and website out to a marketing firm. Eliminate the memberships and just pay the tax assessment, and include ALL downtown businesses on the website and magazine (since they are ultimately paying a special tax to support the organization anyway.)
DTSF often reminds me of the SF Chamber of Commerce. I consistently here members of the Chamber complain about the ‘benefits’ of their membership, and what exactly are they?
Chamber’s and Neighborhood retail organizations across the country offer their members specials. Like discounted health insurance for their employees, or discounted liability insurance. Special leased discounted parking fees. Other cities also have several ‘festivals’ throughout the summer, almost every weekend. In Austin, Texas, for instance that has a DT strip about the same size as ours, closes off the main drag every Friday and Saturday and has a street party, something I have suggest DTSF tries for a summer.
Last year a couple of DT business owners protested the special tax assessment, and for good reason, they asked the question ‘What is the benefit?’
Good question.