Welcome to the creative crossroads of the East Side. We are the original 'lifestyle' center that malls try to recreate. We are a community. We are a destination. We are unlike any other area in Milwaukee. You'll find old school mixed in with new. We buzz with the energy and vitality of creatives-in-training alongside longtime Eastsiders who make Milwaukee what it is today. We're the bike hub between lakefront and river trails. This is where you're going to leave your car while you get everything done and then some in just a few blocks.
The East Side Business Improvement District is responsible for the management, promotion, and staffing for the commercial area. The services include marketing, events, litter maintenance, graffiti removal, landscaping, holiday lighting, and business recruitment, and economic development.
We are the East North Avenue business neighborhood also known as The East Side Business Improvement District #20. More than 100 businesses are located within the BID. As of 2020, the BID’s property values total more than $185 million.
A Business Improvement District is a quasi-governmental organization established by property owners within the district to develop, manage and promote the district and to establish an assessment method to fund these activities. It is managed by a board of directors appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the common council. Municipalities are authorized under Wisconsin State Statute to create "business improvement districts" (Sec. 66.1109).
More in-depth reading is available through the Local Government Center.
Members of the BID Board are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The Board is responsible for submitting an annual Operating Plan which includes goals and budget and proposed assessment formula that funds the BIDs activities. The BID Board meets monthly.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – David Smulyan
A group of area business owners met several times in 1996 to discuss issues in the district. They spent months educating themselves about Business Improvement Districts, talking to people who had formed B.I.D.'s in other parts of Milwaukee, and seeking input from the Department of City Development before deciding to form The East Side BID. Area business owners circulated a petition to ask the City to begin the formal public process to form a B.I.D. for this commercial neighborhood. The City and local business owners held several public meetings discussing the plan in 1997. That fall, the East Side Business Improvement District #20 was approved by the City Plan Commission, Zoning, Neighborhoods, and Development committee of the Common Council, and signed into law by Mayor Norquist on 9/23/1997.
The City of Milwaukee's Click4Action portal allows you to report an issue or request information through the Click4Action app and website so that requests are logged and routed, accountably and quickly, to the City divisions which will provide the requested services or information. Click4Action allows you to request services/information regarding sanitation services, street maintanence, street signs, the Health Department, and more here.
Brought to you by the East Side Business Improvement District.
