Hartford council holds hearing on Parkville Special Services District; supporters praise cleanup and safety plan, residents raise governance concerns

The Hartford City Council held a public hearing Monday on an ordinance to create the Parkville Special Services District, a business improvement district (BID) that backers say would fund cleaning, marketing and public-safety services in the Parkville neighborhood.

Supporters told the council the BID would provide a dedicated revenue stream for neighborhood services and help the area manage recent growth; one registered commenter said the ordinance as written gives too much voting weight to large property owners and could divert community-benefit funds away from smaller nonprofit providers.

The ordinance, introduced by the mayor’s office and described in a cover letter read by Councilman John Gale, would amend chapter 28 of Hartford’s municipal code to authorize the Parkville BID under Connecticut’s general statutes. Proponents said the district would cover roughly 400 taxable properties within boundaries that run north to West Boulevard and Capitol Avenue, east near Park and Pope Park, south to Flatbush Avenue and west to Prospect and Newpark avenues. Funding would come from a special assessment on taxable properties; proponents estimate roughly $180,000 annually, using an initial levy described in the ordinance as a two-mill assessment for fiscal year 2025.

Mary Coursey, who said she…