Building On Existing Assets. Building For Gallup’s Future

By Francis Bee, Executive Director, Gallup Business Improvement District (Gallup BID)

Downtown Gallup is an attractive and sustainable center of civic life, the arts, and cultural experiences for community activities that celebrate its multicultural heritage. It offers opportunities for prosperity with strong connections to its authentic culture and history that embraces diversity. Gallup supports a balanced mix of uses and services for people living, working, visiting, and enjoying downtown.

Gallup Business Improvement District’s (BID) long running successful improvement programs including the BID sign grant reimbursement program and fac?ade improvement program, continue. BID-managed outdoor events, including the monthly Arts Crawl events and the annual Rt. 66 Freedom Ride Flight & Cruise event, have resumed after the lessening of the impact of Covid 19.

In addition, Gallup BID is working with legal and financial professionals to expand the scope of its existing programs. BID will notify property and business owners within the BID District when the terms and conditions are approved and programs launched.

Downtown improvement goals include:

• Create collaborative partnerships between public and private entities to provide effective programs and facilities.
• Promote downtown public art and cultural events
• Encourage property owners to upgrade vacant and underutilized commercial property within the downtown district.
• Develop quality housing downtown.
• Create vibrant and attractive gathering places that encourage people to hang out and socialize.
• Promote a mix of uses in Downtown including: retail, office, arts and entertainment, hotel accommodations, and medium-to-high density residential areas through expanded use of historic buildings, selected infill, and expansion along transition areas.
• Sponsor ongoing arts projects in the downtown area, for example the artwork painted by local muralists on concrete trash receptacles and restoration of large pots decorated with Native American motifs. These artworks attract visitors.
• Continue to encourage City of Gallup to upgrade infrastructure and enhance the usability and aesthetics of alleyways through Pedestrian Improvements, while still allowing service access.
• Create conceptual level ideas to encourage mixed-use ?development on vacant lots, for example, the BID’s conceptual work on various sites
• within the district and the surrounding areas.
• Encourage and support 2nd floor residential developments within the core commercial area of the District.
• Support large-scale mixed-use residential development on the fringes of the downtown district.

The Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) ordinance should be amended to include provisions in support of cultural facilities and retail business development and to accommodate claw back of unspent resources.

Gallup BID participates in a regional economic development ecosystem that will produce plans and projects that are actionable, measurable and repeatable. We need to produce economic results for the region.

The Economic Development Organizations for the communities in NW New Mexico examined the merits of working, as a group alliance, with the National Development Council (NDC). NDC is a 50-year-old nationwide non- profit that trains, mentors and provides funding opportunities to communities.

We have executed an MOU among the member organizations in our Regional Economic Development Partnership (REDP) alliance and an Agreement with NDC and Gallup Business Improvement District, Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation, NW NM Council of Governments, Cibola Communities Economic Development Foundation, City of Farmington, 4Corners Economic Development Corporation (San Juan County).

The Gallup Business Improvement District Board of Directors believes that all of this work is necessary to make Historic Downtown Gallup a more vibrant commercial district with strong consumer appeal, as well as an excellent place to live and work. Gallup BID is the lead coordinator and fiscal agent for REDP. We will produce needed improvement for Gallup, our region and the State of New Mexico.

Gallup BID thanks our community and the City of Gallup for continued support.