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Tag: tax hike

  • Tax hikes coming to some Southeast DC businesses — and they welcome what it means – WTOP News

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    The Soul of the City BID will span Congress Heights and some adjacent neighborhoods in Southeast. The new taxes get reinvested into those areas — leading to the improvement of local businesses.

    D.C.’s 13th Business Improvement District has been signed off by the D.C. Council, and once the mayor’s office gives it the go-ahead later this month, tax hikes are coming to businesses and the owners of multifamily housing units in part of Southeast D.C.

    And there’s excitement about what it all means.

    The Soul of the City BID will span Congress Heights and some adjacent neighborhoods in Southeast. The new taxes get reinvested into those areas — leading to the improvement of local businesses.

    When it gets final approval, it’ll be the culmination of 10 years of work from Monica Ray.

    “It’s transformative, bringing the power and the leverage of a guaranteed income stream to this part of the city,” Ray said. “This BID has the unique task of bringing together historically disconnected corridors — Wheeler Road, Southern Avenue, Alabama and MLK — and they’ve been adjacent across communities, across neighborhoods.”

    “This BID takes a unique take on bringing those together strategically for planning, for collaborative advocacy, and of course, to fight back on those things that are hurting our communities right now,” she added.

    Typically, BIDs focus on using the tax revenues toward branding, marketing, safety and beautification work. But Ray said Soul of the City will also use it for workforce development opportunities.

    “This means that we really have backing and funding for what we really want to do,” said Keyonna Jones, who owns and operates an art studio and retail store in Congress Heights. “We can build a future that we can see.”

    “I feel like we’ve lacked support for a very long time. It felt like that, at least coming from a business perspective,” said LeGreg Harrison, CEO of The Museum DC store. “Now that we have this … the city has assured us that they think we’re important, right? Important enough to give us cleaner streets, make business and retail more attractive.”

    There’s also a sense that it adds legitimacy to an area that often feels forgotten — until something bad happens.

    “It is so pleasant, it is so beautiful,” Harrison said. “We are the soul of this city.”

    And Ray said that one soul will beat with one heart. After years of each neighborhood operating in their own silos, this BID will invite collaboration among them in ways that didn’t exist before.

    Organizers hope this expression of confidence from the city will also change the perception people — and businesses — might have of the neighborhood going forward.

    “This really means that the city is behind us. They believe in what we’ve done, what we have plans to do,” Jones said. “When the city gets behind you, you really know that you’re doing good things in the area.”

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    John Domen

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  • VIDEO: New Jersey man dances at town hall meeting to protest property tax hike

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    Mhm Mr. Tilly, I started your time. Um, How was everyone’s weekend?

    VIDEO: New Jersey man dances at town hall meeting to protest property tax hike

    Updated: 6:01 AM PDT Sep 6, 2025

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    Americans are famous for our creative dissents against taxes — just take the Boston Tea Party. Last week, a New Jersey man carried on the tradition at a town meeting by dancing to express his response to a property tax hike.In a video livestreamed on Cranford TV-35, Will Thilly, a candidate for the Cranford township committee, gets out of his seat and dances his way up to the podium. An official tells him, “I started your time,” and Thilly holds up his finger as he continues dancing.He pauses to grab a bottle of water and pieces of paper before asking the audience about their weekends. “Did you know I could do the backspin? Anybody?” he says. “Wanna see me do the backspin? No? I’m gonna do the backspin.”After proceeding to do so and unsuccessfully motioning for the audience to applaud, Thilly jumps into his remarks.”Well, why did our taxes go up so much? We were told the referendum was going to bring it up for an average household about $400,” he says. “And mine went up, like, 900 bucks. I think we were told, like, that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up, like I said, 400 bucks on an average assessed home.””So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did much more than that,” he goes on. “And what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”Thilly then moonwalks back to his seat.”Thank you, Mr. Thilly,” Cranford Mayor Terrence Curran then says, according to NBC. “I like the interpretative dance.”Cranford is a town of less than 25,000 people as of the 2020 census, located 18 miles southwest of Manhattan. Thilly’s campaign website says he is running to “tell you the truth, to fight for what you need, and to defend our Town and schools,” explaining that he opposes “$150 million in 30-year tax exemptions to billionaire developers” for a development in his town.

    Americans are famous for our creative dissents against taxes — just take the Boston Tea Party. Last week, a New Jersey man carried on the tradition at a town meeting by dancing to express his response to a property tax hike.

    In a video livestreamed on Cranford TV-35, Will Thilly, a candidate for the Cranford township committee, gets out of his seat and dances his way up to the podium. An official tells him, “I started your time,” and Thilly holds up his finger as he continues dancing.

    He pauses to grab a bottle of water and pieces of paper before asking the audience about their weekends.

    “Did you know I could do the backspin? Anybody?” he says. “Wanna see me do the backspin? No? I’m gonna do the backspin.”

    After proceeding to do so and unsuccessfully motioning for the audience to applaud, Thilly jumps into his remarks.

    “Well, why did our taxes go up so much? We were told the referendum was going to bring it up for an average household about $400,” he says. “And mine went up, like, 900 bucks. I think we were told, like, that was from the schools or something? But the school referendum said it would only go up, like I said, 400 bucks on an average assessed home.”

    “So I wanted to know why it went up, if it did much more than that,” he goes on. “And what extra expenses were incurred by the schools that weren’t told to the public when we voted on that referendum?”

    Thilly then moonwalks back to his seat.

    “Thank you, Mr. Thilly,” Cranford Mayor Terrence Curran then says, according to NBC. “I like the interpretative dance.”

    Cranford is a town of less than 25,000 people as of the 2020 census, located 18 miles southwest of Manhattan. Thilly’s campaign website says he is running to “tell you the truth, to fight for what you need, and to defend our Town and schools,” explaining that he opposes “$150 million in 30-year tax exemptions to billionaire developers” for a development in his town.

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