THE FASHION CENTER BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (FCBID) has been providing services to the Fashion District community for 10 years now, so this year we thought it was time to update our look and our message. Accordingly, we declared 2003-2004 the year of the facelift!

It started last spring when we launched “Authentic New York,” an identity campaign designed to let the world know that the Fashion District is about more than fashion – it’s where “authentic New Yorkers” work, live and play! This unique neighborhood is centrally located, ripe with history and replete with pre-war architecture. Known as the home of fashion and design, the Fashion District is also home to a variety of other creative industries, from advertising to set design, and boasts hot Off-Broadway theater and dining. The Fashion District is “Authentic New York.”

Using our new signature colors of yellow, green and black, along with the “Authentic New York” tagline, we introduced the campaign through redesigned lightpole banners and updated graphics on our Information Kiosk and Gateway Information Pylons. While we were at it, we gave the Kiosk a facelift too. Next, we outfitted our sanitation clean team with new green uniforms and yellow barrels, and we added “Authentic New York” graphics to our corner waste receptacles.

Then, we gave the whole district a facelift of sorts when we installed a uniform street signage system. Using a new system specially designed for us and approved by NYCDOT, we installed new regulation signage on dedicated poles throughout the district. This allowed us to remove the old signage that had long cluttered our lightpoles and was often dirty and damaged. The new signage is cleaner and easier to read, and our lightpoles look like new too!

We also spent much of this past year working on a news box program. We commissioned the award winning Antenna Design to create a multirack news box just for the Fashion District. Still in development, our newsbox program will allow us to give our corners a facelift by removing the unsightly plastic newsboxes that currently clutter them. Participating publications will be relocated into the new, FCBIDmaintained multiboxes, which are scheduled for installation some time in 2004-2005, pending approvals.

While we worked on our own image, we encouraged property owners to do the same by giving their facades a facelift too. In January, we published Make a Grand Entrance, a user-friendly guide to the six simple things that property owners and ground floor retailers should do to bring out the wonderful architectural detail on many of their authentic New York buildings and just generally to make their premises more attractive and their businesses more profitable. We distributed the guides along with an offer of a $1000 incentive that the FCBID is offering to those who undertake some of these important improvements.

Since “Authentic New York” is not just a look but a message too, we launched Eats & Seats, a restaurant and theater promotion to let the world know that the Fashion District is about more than fashion. “ Authentic New Yorkers” know they can find good eats and Off-Broadway seats in the Fashion District. Throughout the month of January, discounts were offered at participating Fashion District theaters and at local restaurants offering pre- and post-theater dining. Through direct mail pieces, promotional materials in the theaters and restaurants, and advertisements in Crain’s and Time Out New York, Eats & Seats encouraged New Yorkers and tourists alike to make an “Authentic New York” night of it by going out on the town in the Fashion District.

Using cutting edge technology, we were also the first BID to develop a colorful, interactive video display to promote our wide variety of local restaurants, businesses and amenities. Using a touch screen that may be accessed though the window of our Information Kiosk, the display reinforces the “Authentic New York” message and provides extensive information about the FCBID, the Fashion District and our 5000 local businesses – all at your fingertips and available 24 hours a day.

And of course, we continued to patrol and clean the district, to provide business-to-business information, and to offer outreach services to those in need. These activities are all part of our mission to make the Fashion District a cleaner, safer, more visually appealing neighborhood.

We thank all of our constituents and those in City government who are our partners in this effort. It’s been a successful ten years, during which much has been accomplished. But much is also left to be done. We look forward to working together with you for the next ten years and beyond as we strive to make this “Authentic New York” neighborhood an even better place to live, work or do business.

George S. Kaufman, Chairman & President & Barbara Blair Randall, Executive Director

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