Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Development Corporation, and Jan Lee, third-generation Chinatown property owner and one of the members of the Coalition Against the Chinatown BID, consider whether or not a business improvement district designation is a good idea for Chinatown. Also, Erik Engquist, a reporter who covers New York City politics and government for Crain's New York Business, weighs the pros and cons of BID designations for New York City neighborhoods.

Despite the defeat of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan, New York is still in the running for $500 million in federal funds to reduce traffic congestion, along with 8 other cities. How would other cities put the grant to use? Peggy Catlin of the Colorado Department of Transportation and Bernie ...