Patty Brosmer

Before business improvement districts became a household name, there was Patty Brosmer.

The native Washingtonian was enlisted more than two decades ago to help get the legislation passed enabling BIDs to support the District’s various business communities, and when the time came for the Capitol Hill BID to select its first executive director, the role just seemed too good to pass up.

Fueled by an assessment on its commercial property owners, the BID’s budget has grown from around $450,000 in 2003 to nearly $3 million, bolstered by innovative programs like Ready, Willing & Working that kept the streets of Capitol Hill clean and safe while creating good jobs for homeless and formerly incarcerated men. The model proved so successful that several other improvement districts have contracted out work to the Capitol Hill BID’s “men in blue,” a team that’s grown to over 50 people who have used their jobs as building blocks for a better life.

What attracted you to the role after helping to establish the Capitol Hill BID as a consultant? When it was time to hire the executive director, as it was called at the time, not president, I just fell in love with the board and I was so comfortable. I’ve always loved Capitol Hill. Even when I was a kid, I’d skip school and take the bus and sit in on Senate hearings, and just wander the halls of Congress. That’s when they’d let anybody in at any time.

What were those early days like? It was just me, at first. I remember our first tax billing, I was sitting on my floor, in my bedroom, in my pajamas, folding up 500 tax bills and stuffing them in envelopes. It was very hands on in the beginning and it still is. I mean, we only have a three-man management team so you’ve got to love your job to make all this happen with just three people.

Was it hard establishing yourself as a woman in the business improvement district world? It’s very common, so I hit no glass ceilings where that’s concerned. I think, in the beginning, the selection committee, before I was even hired, they literally said I can’t see her picking up trash. They thought the public space, sanitation part was a man’s world, but I’ve literally been out in the pickup truck picking up trash before. So yeah, luckily, I have not experienced that kind of slowdown in my career.

What's been your proudest accomplishment? You know, it’s amazing when, if somebody has been incarcerated or been homeless, they’re pretty downtrodden, and once they get their first paycheck going and they get respect, you know, the dignity of work, they get to feel that.

Advice for a younger version of yourself? I would probably say that your failures will, in the end, lead to your biggest successes, and not to freak out if you get fired from a job or if you don’t get that job. There’s always something better around the corner. That’s been my experience, absolutely. People are afraid of failure, and I think it’s really what makes us stronger.

How do you get your mind off work? I have two vegetable gardens I tend to, and they really keep me busy during the summer. I have 60 tomato plants, 25 different varieties of tomatoes, but I love giving away the tomatoes. They’re all organic and all heirloom, so that’s one of my hobbies. And I collect sea glass, and I also love to drink chardonnay.

Favorite restaurant on Capitol Hill? Trattoria Alberto is my favorite restaurant. I would go to lunch there on Wednesdays. We call it Lunch Club, because the wine distributors and liquor distributors come in, and they all know each other, and it it’s just kind of fun. During the summer, I bring a bunch of tomatoes, and the chef will make up a big salad for everybody.

What else would you be doing if not this? This is the job I always hoped I'd have in that it fulfills every part of me. When you’re first starting out, you’re like, I’ve got to have a purpose in life, and, you know, I did some modeling in my 20s. That wasn’t fulfilling to me. It was ego satisfying, but it wasn’t fulfilling.

What's your guilty pleasure? Online shopping. For seeds, and I do online auctions. I’ve got probably 300 packs of seeds, different varieties of tomatoes that I’m dreaming of growing, when I have time.

The basics

Patty Brosmer, president, Capitol Hill Business Improvement District