By the Coral Gables Gazette editorial board

Coral Gables is exploring whether to bring back a Business Improvement District. The city commissioned expert consultants. It organized stakeholder roundtables. It invited property owners, restaurateurs, retailers, and residents. It set the table for a conversation about how the next era of the downtown should take shape.

And almost no one came.

Across several sessions, attendance varied from modest to sparse. The roundtable intended for residents drew exactly one person. He stayed for more than an hour, offered thoughtful commentary, and spoke candidly about what he believes the city does well and where opportunity remains. His presence was welcome, but his solitude was instructive. A city cannot build a BID without the community—because a BID, by definition, exists only if those who fund it and those who live with it choose to stand behind it.

The city should not interpret low attendance as apathy. Civic disengagement often signals a design problem, not a lack of interest. A modern downtown operates across many rhythms: work schedules, family obligations, cultural calendars, and unpredictable transportation patterns. A single format or narrowly publicized session cannot capture a genuine cross-section of local voices. If Coral Gables intends to ask property owners to fund a new district—possibly through assessments tied to location, property value, or commercial use—then the city carries an obligation to gather input that reflects the breadth of the people it hopes to serve.

The city begins this discussion from a position of strength. The downtown is stable. Streets remain clean. Restaurants perform with resilience. Public spaces attract families, professionals, and visitors. Consultants who have worked with struggling cities around the country made note of this. Coral Gables does not need a BID to survive. If it chooses to create one, it must be because the community sees a shared opportunity to elevate its civic life even further.

Still, the conversation cannot move forward on the basis of guesswork or limited engagement. The downtown faces real challenges that a BID could help address: clusters of dark storefronts, inconsistent lighting, a need for stronger cultural programming, and occasional gaps in signage that weaken a visitor’s sense of place. These issues matter. They shape perceptions of prosperity. They influence foot traffic and restaurant revenue. They contribute to the long-term value of residential and commercial properties. The question is not whether challenges exist—the resident who attended the roundtable identified them with clarity—but whether the community endorses a specific approach to solving them.

If the city wants a BID to succeed, it must frame the discussion around tangible improvements. Residents and property owners should be able to see, plainly, what a BID could deliver: lighting upgrades, storefront activation plans, cultural partnerships, façade initiatives, coordinated events, and maintenance schedules that match the expectations of a world-class downtown. The community should also understand the governance model—how board members are chosen, what authority they have, how budgets are approved, and what accountability mechanisms will protect contributors from uncertainty.

The city has an opportunity to design a public-engagement strategy that matches its ambition. That strategy should be broad. It should include digital surveys, storefront pop-ups, targeted outreach to residential buildings, multilingual communication, and sessions scheduled outside standard work hours. It should emphasize transparency and clarity instead of abstractions. A proposal that relies on assessments must be grounded in trust, and trust emerges only when the community sees how decisions are made and how resources are stewarded.

Coral Gables thrives when it pairs thoughtful planning with civic participation. The city’s strongest projects—from Miracle Mile streetscape improvements to the protection of historic neighborhoods—have grown from a foundation of broad community involvement. A new BID, if it is to serve as a tool for cultural vitality and economic health, must be rooted in that same tradition. A process that reaches only a handful of stakeholders risks producing a district without the consensus required for long-term success.

The resident who attended last week’s roundtable demonstrated what is possible when the city hears from the people who experience the downtown every day. His praise reflected genuine appreciation for what Coral Gables has built; his concerns reflected equal clarity about where the city still has room to grow. His voice added depth to the discussion. The next phase requires many more voices like his.

Coral Gables is strong. But a BID can only be as strong as the community that chooses it. The city must design an engagement strategy that invites everyone in—and gives them a reason to participate. Only then can the Commission decide whether this is the right tool for the future of the downtown.

A BID without the community is not a BID at all. It is an assessment without consent. Coral Gables can do better, and the next steps should reflect that conviction.