BID ANNUAL REPORT
ROCKRIDGE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT, FY 2022-2023
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
1. Any proposed changes in the boundaries of the BIMD or in any benefits zones within the district:
There are no proposed changes to the Rockridge Business Improvement District boundaries or benefit zones.
2. Improvements and activities provided in FY 2022-2023:
Please see attached Accomplishments for this year to date and attached 2022-2023 proposed budget
3. Estimated costs for providing the improvement and services in FY 2023-2024:
See attached budget for more detail.
Expense Category % Amount
Organization 39 $110000
Marketing 21 $60,000
Streetscape and Security 18 $50,000
Capital Projects 18 $50,000
Reserves (needed to cover March/April expenses in 2023) 5 $15,000 TOTAL 100% $285,000
4. Method and basis for levying the assessment:
A) Assessments are based on business revenue of our merchants in the District. Assessment table attached.
B) We are NOT requesting an Assessment increase for the upcoming fiscal year.
5. Surplus or Deficit for FY 2023-2024 to be carried over from a previous fiscal year.
Carry Forward from 2022-2023 is anticipated to be: $15,000 Capital Projects available funds: $50,000
6. The amount of any contribution to be made from sources other than BID/CBD assessments to be levied.
We received marketing Grants in the amount of $945 from merchants.
Exhibit A
Income
Gross BID Revenue $220,000
Capital Projects Carryforward $50,000
March/April Carryforward $15,000
Total Income $285,000
Expense
Organization $110,000
Marketing & Promotion $60,000
Streetscape & Security $50,000
Capital Projects $50,000
Reserves (needed to cover March/April expenses in 2023) $15,000 Total Expense $285,000
RDA, a Rockridge Business Improvement District
Proposed Budget
March 2023 to February 2024
Rockridge BID Key Accomplishments For 2022
The Rockridge District Association made a significant investment in marketing and events in the 2022 period in response to the economic fallout from covid closures, inflation, and economic pressures facing our merchant community. Every industry in our district was impacted, including our numerous second floor medical offices that drew foot traffic to the commercial corridor. The RDA responded swiftly to draw out locals and attract new visitors through the programs outlined below.
We launched a successful live music event called Rockridge Rock-N-Stroll as a trial in 2021. In 2022, we decided to make this a permanent monthly series and voted to invest a majority of our marketing resources to building the event over the course of the year. The concept is a relatively low-cost — and therefore sustainable —event series with a high impact on day-of sales for our Rockridge stores, restaurants, salons, spas, and other businesses. Though our 15 (or more) local street musicians —dotted along the full length of College Avenue — is our lead feature, the merchants also participate by offering big sales, hosting pop-up vendors, offering free tastings, conducting give-a-ways, and other attractions to bring people into their shops.
Additionally, we frequently introduce a theme to the event, like our highly successful Pup Promenade and our recent Rock-N-Hunt scavenger hunt. Our goal is use Rock-N-Stroll to attract neighbors and new audiences to our Rockridge’s businesses, giving them a reason to visit again and again. By all reports, merchants are reporting an increase in sales and foot traffic on Rock- N-Stroll event days.
The Rockridge District Association developed a closer working relationship with the neighborhood residential association, the Rockridge Community Planning Council, partnering on a wide range of projects from the Annual Halloween Parade to informational workshops on building secondary dwelling units. The neighborhood association also publishes the Rockridge News, a residential delivery newspaper, which now regularly features the activities of the RDA and stories about our merchants based on news that we gather and pitch. Our PR efforts extend to regular press releases and idea pitches to all Bay Area media. This effort has rewarded us with frequent coverage — whether it be about RDA activities or individual merchant profiles — from KTVU, Montclarian, Oaklandside.com, and other local media outlets.
In addition to earned media, we invested in ongoing paid advertising in Oaklandside.com and the Rockridge News to promote our events.
We published a new pocket-book guide to Rockridge and distributed four thousand copies around the community. There is also a digital version available online and that was sent to community partners like Visit Oakland and local Air-BNB hosts. The Guide models after stylish “look books,” profiling an individual merchants on each beautifully designed page. The project was partially subsidized by participating businesses at the low cost of $100 per page.
The previously mentioned Halloween Parade was previously produced by our residential association. In 2021, we partnered with them, taking the lead on the marketing and getting merchants along College Avenue to participate by passing out candy, offering free face painting, and other fun kids’ activities. We drew a significant number of families and school-aged groups to the area. Some merchants reported that it was the busiest sales day they had since covid.
Though we previously have had holiday shopping season campaigns, we invested more in marketing this past year than in recent history. This included helping merchants to light their storefronts in addition to the holiday lights we had displayed. We added outdoor live music to the busiest weekends (Friday-Sunday) leading up to Christmas. And we invested in advertising in local media outlets to help drive foot traffic to shops and web traffic to the online shopping directory we created for the season.
The Rockridge District Association produced a series of shopping Guides around Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, and the holiday season. The Guides consisted of featured items for sale at our shops and links to purchase them online. We also rounded up dozens of gift cards you can purchase from Rockridge merchants and continue to feature them on our website.
Finally, we committed to drawing more attention to a large, and uniquely Rockridge, business sector, and that is our mental health professionals. We created a comprehensive directory of each of their practices (over one hundred of them) on our website and added a detailed mental health resource directory which we regularly promote. The task of identifying these businesses was made challenging by a high turnover due covid closures (where they primarily operated by Zoom for two years). We used our research to help the City of Oakland identify these often “under the radar” businesses to ensure they had business licenses and were paying Rockridge assessment fees.
We believe the marketing efforts we invested in this past year will pay dividends as we build upon it moving forward. Our website traffic has increased 186% in the first 9 months of 2022 over all of 2021, our mailing list grew from zero to two thousand, we have strong local residential and media relationships, and our merchants are seeing an increase in business activities as a direct result of our work.
Name Officers OY Business: Business Address: Phone: (510) Email Address: Elected/Re‐ Elected
1 Veronica Bhonsle 2005 VERO 6052 College Ave 985 ‐0406 [email protected] 6/17/2021 2 Susan Bernosky T 2006 Strahan Ins Svcs Inc 5940 College Ave 450 ‐9050 [email protected] 6/16/2022 3 Robin Pennell VP 2013 Jarvis Architects 5278 College Ave 654 ‐6755 [email protected] 6/17/2021 4 Katy Winter 2017 Vita 6034 College Ave 917 ‐843‐2758 [email protected] 6/17/2021 5 Andrew Snow 2018 Golden Squirrel 5940 College Ave 735‐9220 [email protected] 6/16/2022 6 Monte McClain S 2019 College Presbyterian 5951 College Ave 658 ‐3665 [email protected] 6/17/2021 7 Stephanie Walton P 2021 Community at Large 332 ‐1965 [email protected] 6/17/2021 Operations Manager Chris Jackson
Marketing Manager Jody Colley
RDA Board 2022 ‐ 2023