Hi! I am a board member of the Livingston Business Improvement District. Our board is responsible for many things people probably don't know about. We are responsible for:
- the downtown flower baskets each year,
- downtown trash cans and trash removal year round
- downtown graffiti removal
- supporting the downtown business improvement district in many ways, most notably with our robust visitor marketing campaigns that focus on educating for responsible visitation/recreation during the summer season, and bringing more, visitors to the area during our "off season" cooler months.
The board's meager annual budget is $44,000, it is funded by tax payer dollars only from the designated district. our budget has not increased since 2011, and it's not set to increase again until 2031. As you can imagine, it is challenging to meet the inflated costs we now face on a budget from 2011. The focus of this fundraiser is to be able to replace our outdated and not eco friendly flower baskets. Each year that I have been on the board we had to reduce our flower baskets in order to stay on budget. I know that flower baskets seem like a small thing, but I truly believe they bring joy to residents and visitors alike and they bring beauty to our downtown to promote more visitation to our shops, and dining locations in the downtown area, which keep our retail and dining shops viable all winter long.
Our fundraising goal is $5000, with this money we will replace all of the old flower baskets with baskets called "waterless" baskets. These are baskets that require SIGNIFICANTLY less watering and maintenance than our current baskets, due to there water saving design. We hope this will allow us to maintain or even increase our basket numbers due to spending less on the actual daily care for the flowers.
*If there are any mistakes in my data or explanation of LBID activities, budget or flower baskets it is my personal error and unintentional.
