The entire question sent to us was "What can a management district do about deteriorating and vacant retail buildings or even ugly commercial signs since my understanding is that a management district ONLY has authority over public right of way?"

The question leads the reader to the conclusion that without "authority" nothing can be done. That is not true. Management Districts make a difference by:

• contacting and pressuring the owner to correct the situation;
• focusing business development efforts to market the location and its neighbors;
• working with code enforcement agencies so their authority is brought to bear on the apathtic property owner;
• working with the law enforcement to minimize and hopefully prevent vandalisim and graffiti from making the property worse;
• improving the nearby areas through grants that raises the property values and makes the vacant property more likely to sell to someone who will fix it and;
• maintaining a grant program that can supplement the funding needed by a potential new owner/operator to make their projected operation solvent so they will pursue it.

In regard to the "ugly commercial signs" part of the question the City and County share responsiblity for enforcing their codes and permitting for on-premise and off-premise signs. The City code does address off-premise signs in the ETJ and that area includes FM-1960. The County's regulations address on and off-premise signs. R1960 does not propose that the future management district attempt to take over those responsibilities. What could be done is the same type of efforts cited above to help existing agencies accomplish their purpose.

The orginal question also leads the reader to conclude that a management district has authority over public spaces. That also is not true as the district's do not take over the highways from the state or the streets from the County or City. The districts do not take over the parks. Partnering with existing governmental agencies is the key to success of any management district.  Such partnering allows for the leveraging of financial capital but also human capital.  Please come to this site for the full story without any "spin".