While the buzzwords of “support small businesses” and “buy local” have only increased in importance since the pandemic’s onset, we found it appropriate to provide a bit more depth to our inner workings as a collective of small business owners. As such, we hope that this post can be used and reused as a quick reference for information about us and the organizations we work with, public and private.

The Statehouse

Looking to the origin point of our nonprofit improvement district starts at the public venue of the Ohio Statehouse. While we’ve never conducted official business in the iconic capitol building, our very existence comes from its resident lawmakers and their latest approval of Section 1710.02 of the Ohio Revised Code. As of this past Monday, the legality of our existence is amended as follows:

“A special improvement district may be created within the boundaries of any one municipal corporation, any one township, or any combination of municipal corporations and townships within a single county, or counties that adjoin one another, for the purpose of developing and implementing plans for public improvements and public services that benefit the district.”

Although the concept of special improvement districts (SIDs) originated in Canada in the 1970s, Ohio first adopted legislation that formalized rules surrounding our creation, responsibilities, and scope on January 1st, 2012. Given this legal basis, our group was conceived at the next political step down: the Columbus City Council.

The Columbus City Council

Consisting of seven presiding members, the Columbus City Council conducts business along with Mayor Ginther, Auditor Kilgore, Attorney Klein, and other elected officials. The then-chair of Small and Minority Business Committee, Shannon Hardin (now the Council President), met with us in a public hearing of what would become the East Main Street SID on March 20, 2017. Upon eliciting signatures from at least 60% of businesses with storefronts along the East Main corridor from Bexley to Whitehall, we launched in fall of 2017. This marked our addition to the growing list as the sixth SID within the Columbus area, joining ranks with the likes of Capital Crossroads, Discovery District, Morse Road, University District, and the Short North.

Since our creation, we have been overseen by the same Small and Minority Business Committee, a committee of the Economic Development segment of the Columbus City Council’s Development Department. To this extent, our oversight depends on the officials that you elect. Our re-authorization this past March means that our list of community-betterment activities will continue to grow in working towards our mission of “clean and safe, into the future.” As for what we have planned, that depends on who all attends the next meeting at our headquarters, more or less:

Epstein Memorial Chapel

Although Epstein Memorial Chapel isn’t a taxed member-business of our district, we’ve enjoyed the chapel as meeting place because of our connection via David Levy, our Vice Chairperson. With a September meeting date to be determined, we ask that you look out for a announcement soon! To ensure that you receive word, be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter (linked in footer below).