The Role of Downtown Organizations in Economic Growth
- jared2766
- Sep 17
- 27 min read
Title: The Vital Role of Downtown Associations in Economic Development
Introduction
Welcome to our deep dive into how downtown associations shape
urban spaces and drive economic and community growth. In a recent episode of the Capstone Conversation Podcast, host Jared Asch sat down with Chloe Shipp, Chair of the California Downtown Association, and Kathy Hemingway, Executive Director of the Walnut Creek Downtown Association, to explore the dynamic roles their organizations play in evolving communities.
Understanding Downtown Associations
Downtown associations are pivotal in nurturing vibrant economic and social ecosystems within urban locales. Chloe and Kathy shed light on their organizations, which offer support beyond what typical city services can provide. They respond quickly as private entities, providing advocacy, strategic planning, and a local touch in support of business and property owners.
Listen to the full episode at www.capstonegov.com/podcast or on your favorite podcast app by searching "Capstone Conversation".
Impact of Events and Programs
Events and programs curated by these associations are vital in not just attracting but also retaining foot traffic. Kathy highlighted how events like the Walnut Creek on Ice and the Art & Wine Festival significantly boost local businesses by drawing visitors from surrounding regions, while Chloe discussed the importance of strategic partnerships, emphasizing the benefits of San Jose's collaboration with the Jazz Society.
Innovative Adaptations Post-COVID
The pandemic catalyzed changes in how communities use public spaces, leading to outdoor dining and curb management innovations. As Chloe mentioned, what's essential now is ensuring downtown areas remain clean, safe, and engaging. Kathy elaborated on the evolution of Walnut Creek’s outdoor dining frameworks and how such changes have been integrated into their community planning efforts.
Retail and Office Space Transformation
The retail sector is navigating the impact of e-commerce, pushing downtowns to innovate. Both Chloe and Kathy highlighted initiatives to bolster retail presence, ranging from micro-retail units to incubator programs supporting small businesses. Additionally, the reevaluation of vacant office spaces is underway, with cities exploring conversions into residential or mixed-use developments to increase foot traffic and vitality.
The Essential Advocacy Role of Associations
Downtown associations, exemplified by the California Downtown Association, provide crucial advocacy at the state level, elevating issues such as downtown revitalization and legislative reform. This advocacy ensures that downtowns receive the support they need from the state to thrive and adapt to changing economic conditions.
Conclusion
Downtown associations are the lifeblood of urban centers, driving economic development and fostering community identity. As we navigate post-pandemic realities, the role of these associations becomes even more critical in adapting to new norms and ensuring the vibrancy of our downtowns.
Get Involved
To learn more about downtown associations and participate in their transformative efforts, visit the Walnut Creek Downtown website at walnutcreekdowntown.com and the California Downtown Association at californiadowntown.com.
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See below for a Full Transcript
Welcome to the Capstone conversation where you learn about what's happening in the Greater East Bay. I am your host, Jared Asch.
Welcome to today's episode of the Capstone conversation. Today we're gonna talk about how downtowns play a key role in economic development and driving community identity. We are joined by Chloe Ship and Kathy Hemingway who run downtown organizations
okay, so today we are joined by Kathy Hemingway of Walnut Creek downtown and Chloe Ship.
Chloe is the chair of the California Downtown Association, and Kathy serves as the membership chair of the organization. Chloe, can you tell us more about your background and then about the association, and then we'll let Kathy introduce herself.
So my background started at the ca San Jose Downtown Association.
I spent about 11 years there from 2013 to just last year in a variety of roles. Starting as a part-time membership person and leaving as. the deputy director for the San Jose Downtown Association, and I worked in clean and safe as well as membership marketing events and promotions.
So a Jill of all trades. And now I work for a firm called Progressive Urban Management Associates that works with downtowns across the country on formation of these assessment districts as well as strategic planning and urban planning.
Kathy.
So I'm the executive director with the Walnut Creek Downtown Association.
And I've been with the organization for 17 years, started out as a part-time coordinator for Walnut Creek on Ice, which is celebrating its 20th year this year. Continued on in various roles event planning and associate director, and then became the executive director after a couple of stints, as interim ed through the years, but became officially the executive director in November of 2017.
Chloe and I have been working together since I think December of 2017
and talk about how is San Jose structured? Walnut Creek is very different. You're talking urban. Suburban Metro ES in Walnut Creek. Talk a bit of the difference of these organizations that are out there that are downtown associations and what do they do?
We are a business improvement district. And our members are our business owners and operators. ours are servicing the businesses as opposed to a property business improvement district which is a P bid.
Yeah. And in the state of California there are commonly three different mechanisms that you'll see for these assessment districts, the business improvement district that Kathy and the team in Walnut Creek manage.
There's also the property based improvement districts that are typically found in your larger communities. And then there are also community benefit districts. They all have slightly different structure. But can provide similar services ranging from events and marketing advocacy. And kind of place leadership all the way through clean and safe and beautification services.
In San Jose, they actually have two assessment districts layered on top. So they have a business improvement district just as they do in Walnut Creek. That started in 1988. And then they also have a property based improvement district, which started in 2008.
Property based improvement districts in California didn't come into play until the late nineties. So there are some older organizations that have both assessment districts under one umbrella.
And as we evolve you, you talked a lot about some of the things that. They can do, and we're gonna talk today a little bit about the downtowns and how they play in our economy, but also how things are changing as retail changes.
Talk about the importance. You hear places like Antioch, Dublin, wanting to develop downtowns. You hear places like Fairfield wanting to revive, like Fairfield's economy has developed away from its downtown. Their shopping centers, their shopping districts are not where their downtown strip is. Talk about what is the importance of the associations in.
driving that, what is, and what is the importance of those downtowns?
So for me, I always think of it first and foremost is downtown is everybody's neighborhood. And if your city center isn't thriving then that can have ripple effects throughout your entire city. I think a lot of the reason folks are looking at creating these assessment districts or some sort of management entity.
They want local control. And that's essentially what these entities are hyperlocal means to provide services within a neighborhood. And because they in the state of California are quasi-governmental. They're outside of the realm of what the city can do.
They're providing supplemental services, but they can also provide them a bit faster than your city can because it's a private entity managing this district on behalf of either the property owners, if it's a property based improvement district, or the business owners, if it's a business improvement district.
I would say that the advocacy role is very important to our work being that advocate for the business owners to the city, the state and federal. That portion of it and just being that connector between the business community and the city council or whoever and then city staff as well.
Yeah, I think that's important. So we talked a little bit about. why that organizing around. Downtown art festivals or block parties, how does that help the local businesses? Why are those events drivers? Kathy, you mentioned the ice rink.
How does that help these local businesses? And let's look at the role of the associations supporting driving traffic.
Yeah, for our local events, it's really, being able to provide community events and programming that attracts its residents. First off our downtown residents and then, the neighborhoods surrounding, but then also, especially in Walnut Creek situation, Walnut Creek is a regional destination.
So we, again, people that are visiting and coming to our programs. From the six 80 corridor and then out in the East County. And then a lot from San Francisco, whether folks are working out in San Francisco and then coming back home or maybe sometimes they wanna escape the June gloom and come in to Walnut Creek during the summertime to enjoy some of our downtown programming.
That's a little bit about, how I view that, and it's just really being able to also create programming that takes place at our business communities front door. So that when they're coming down for a Locust Street Festival or head West Marketplace type of event, they can also see the businesses that are nearby and can pop in and visit them for the first or time or their regular errands.
Yeah, and I would say, similarly in San Jose you've got a base of folks who are working within the downtown core that you wanna keep after work hours. And then San Jose does tend to be a bedroom community for the greater Bay area. And so being able to engage people back into downtown when they're home is really key.
A large entity like the San Jose Downtown Association. Typically produces a small number of large scale events and then works with a lot of partner 📍 organizationsto ensure that there's a breadth of programming within the community as well. 'Cause you can't put on 365 days of events yourself, but you can help pave the way for others.
And one of the things that Kathy mentioned earlier around advocacy, that's been a thing, a large chunk of where we see some districts spending their time is advocacy around events. Whether it's bringing down the permitting threshold or challenges within your city or county to make those events happen, but also educating.
Property owners and business owners on how the event can actually benefit them. I was just in Long Beach for the 30th anniversary of the Vans Warped Tour, and that was an 85,000 person event taking place in downtown Long Beach. Over the course of two days, the Downtown Long Beach Association spent time educating the folks around that.
Event space that, hey, you're gonna have to staff up, you're gonna have to be prepared for this. But also you can tap into some of the marketing and events and promotions attached to this larger scale event without having to put a lot of effort in. so a lot of times these districts are bridging those gaps for small business owners and the larger things happening in downtown.
Chloe, do you have an example of that partnership that you were discussing?
Yeah, so a longstanding partnership in San Jose is with the San Jose Jazz Society. They have an annual summer fest that's gonna be taking place this August. predating me they've been working with the Jazz Society probably for the last 20 years on putting out information on the events.
Both directly to the business owners in preparation, but also to the various lists that they manage as well as doing some clean and safe work in advance of the event. That's what the other side of that partnership looks like, is using the clean and safe team here in San Jose to be prepared when you're gonna have 20,000 or more folks coming in for a three day event like the summer jazz festival.
And Kathy, when you talk about that attraction, one of the things it's run by a different organization. The Walnut Creek Art and Wine Festival is held by the chamber, but it's always been held. Away from the downtown at a big public park, this year it was next to downtown.
Did the downtown businesses feel it? Did people say, Hey, I don't want this fried food. I'm gonna go have a nice dinner. Did people go to the Walnut Creek, Nordstrom's? 'cause hey, I drove in from another town. I might as well shop while I'm here. What were the benefits of that change this year?
Yes all of the above. It was a great opportunity for people to spend the entire day in downtown Walnut Creek, so they could take Bart over and then hop on a shuttle or walk over to Civic Park. And 📍 thenthey would be there all day enjoying some of the.
food and fair from the festival itself. But then meet other friends or continue the afternoon or evening by walking down to Broadway Plaza to run some errands or getting over to, the traditional downtown for restaurants to be able to enjoy dinner and keep going.
So yeah, it was definitely a positive experience even the businesses could feel that impact. As soon as Saturday afternoon we had a business owner show up for a volunteer shift in our booth, and was pleasantly surprised to see that uptick in the lunch business.
Oh, good to hear. So let's talk about post COVID. There was a big push to always support your local restaurants, even ordering for pickup. There's big movements from San Jose to Walnut Creek and everything in between to increase outdoor dining programs in our relatively stable.
Climate that we have in the Bay Area. Talk about what are some of those trends that you're seeing? How are businesses shifting?
We're still working through some of the programs that continue through COVID and, just fine tuning them.
And I say we meaning the city. With that strong partnership. They are conducting currently a curb management, plan. So we've assisted with identifying property and business owners to work with them on focus groups and providing feedback on what's working right now.
One in particular is a 15 minute parking spot that people could drive into and grab, food to Go or. run a quick errand. We're seeing that was really popular, a couple years ago and maybe not so much. Now it's being used more so by DoorDash and third party delivery drivers who kind of park themselves there until they get.
The next order. How can we help, turn that over and make that be a useful spot for the businesses. And then also talking a little bit about some hotspots that those third party delivery drivers are con congregating in. Can we identify a spot within the downtown where they can all hang out and park until they need to?
Move on for to deliver their foods. And then the safety portion of it is always definitely a conversation with the Walnut Creek PD department. Also of the more people that we want to get within their, the downtown we want it to be a very walkable space, which I think it is, but we're seeing people tend to drive a little faster and not pay as, close attention to those traffic lights. Further discussion about that, as well as micro mobility. We're super excited about the seeing more of the motorized scooters and e-bikes. That are finishing that last mile or so to the downtown. But we're also looking at how to safely bring them into the downtown and park and store them.
And so some things that we've, grown accustomed to over the last couple of years, but are certainly needed to tweak as each year goes
Has the outdoor dining programs that are still underway have now that we're a couple years past the stay at home orders, are they thriving?
Are they helping the restaurants increase it by just giving them more tables? Or are they seeing customers who weren't coming before?
It is a little bit of both. We've had a new program that rolled out after the emergency order was lifted. We've had one business that built a pod so a public outdoor dining structure.
Walnut Creek Downtown's been working with the city for about a year in discussions about how to update that program and streamline the guidelines as well as the rent and some of the permitting process. we were fortunate to have city council approve a hundred thousand dollars to go towards.
And a faster process and a new program that could be instituted by December 31st of this year. 10 businesses will be able to realize $10,000 towards one of their dining structures, which not only provides extra dining tables, which, if it's you're looking at maybe one, maybe two parking spaces, you could.
Get maybe 12 tables maybe 12 four tops on there. However it's also 📍 beingused as a great marketing tool. So one of our businesses has a darker facade, so they're excited to be able to have that outdoor presence. On the curb to show people that they're open for lunch.
And if you see diners that are out there and reminding folks from a couple blocks down the street that there's more to see to the north or south of our main streets there.
Interested in attracting more retail into your downtown areas, check out last week episodes for retail attraction strategies.
And Chloe, what are you seeing changes post COVID?
So I would say on large scale, what we're hearing from folks is that the fundamentals of a downtown matter now more than ever.
Is it clean? Is it safe? Is it engaging to be in this space? And outdoor dining is definitely one of those things that I think has become a fundamental for those folks that are spending time in downtown and a lot of municipalities. Much like Walnut Creek are working on ways to make those curb cafes permanent, whether it's streamlining permitting like in Walnut Creek, or working with a downtown association to create a standard set of plans that are already pre-approved.
It's a project that San Jose has been working on through some grant funding from the Knight Foundation. The other thing that we're seeing is the recognition at the state level that these. Nice to haves have become need to haves in our downtowns.
And so we've seen the implementation of the state's first entertainment zone in San Francisco on Front Street. And that allows for flexible use of this space around, your liquor permits and how folks are able to use the existing businesses within that event zone footprint. And sell alcohol as a part of the event.
So adding more revenue into your existing businesses who sometimes don't sell as much alcohol. If you've got, say, a small concert, 'cause people are going to the event producer, they can then. That legislation has expanded statewide now with that pilot in San Francisco showing the best practices.
And so cities across the state are now working on their ordinances to implement these entertainment zones, which is a really exciting new opportunity for downtowns.
Let's, there's a couple points there I want to hit on. First on the alcohol sales, which makes sense that it increases revenue, it's easier to do. There's this big talk that Generation Z isn't drinking as much alcohol. I've read things that say it's true. Things that say it's false. What are you hearing?
Is that even a conversation?
Yeah I, we haven't seen a great decline in our alcohol sales. I'd say they're pretty consistent with last year. That might be, a little telling there. But it's, we are definitely getting creative with our non-alcoholic services and providing those with our bar regular, alcoholic beverages.
So that's definitely something that and there's just a lot more available, there's some creative products out there and they're approaching us to be able to partner with them at some of our programs I think our businesses, I know our businesses are also doing that, so not only could it translate in alcohol sales for them, but it could also translate into hopefully the the mocktails and also food and beverage down the road as well.
Yeah, I we're also seeing an uptick in folks looking at more creative mocktail menus. As a result, it seems to be the standard when a newer restaurant with a bar component opens. The other thing that we're seeing on large scale is that folks are looking for experiences. not just, everyone still does love like an October Fest on Front Street in San Francisco, but they wanna see a more robust event with multiple opportunities, whether it's music and live art, like live painting or performance or interactive elements, or retail people are just, they're looking for more, essentially when they go out and they spend their leisure time. And so we're seeing larger scale events, take that on.
We're also seeing an uptick in, large scale musical acts using downtown as their venue. So a really great example. Is a electronic musician called Fisher. He's a dj. He just performed in both downtown Denver and downtown San Jose in spaces that typically were not used for a large scale concert.
The Downtown Hollywood Partnership also did a daytime rave. On Hollywood Boulevard. And those kinds of experiences are what people are looking for. They're in their community and they have a lot to offer.
I want to hit on this a little bit more because you guys are talking about how the downtown associations, part of their thing is to drive customers in there, and you're talking about an entertainment experience.
Kids activities come up a lot, and I've had a number of conversations with the city of Concord as an example. They've attracted a lot of kids. Activities, trampoline parks, ninja warrior courses, things like that. But it's in an industrial area that's close to the highway, possibly cheap rent,
And because they're in this industrial sort of area, they're not attracting foot traffic to anything. What do you think about that type of interactive entertainment? Is there something maybe not on Main Street in downtown Walnut Creek, but in walking distance to another area? I don't know if you have any thoughts, kids, businesses, or other things that are similar?
The Wal, the Walnut Creek on Ice comes to mind. It's still within Civic Park, which is, technically downtown. That's one opportunity for us is, and using that east side, but then just the variety that a city can offer, not only in its downtown, but the perimeter areas and neighborhoods as well.
Just it's a win-win for everyone, for residents and visitors of that city when you have so much going on that you can pick and choose.
If within a walkable distance you can you get more foot traffic, right? And I've been that parent and it, I'm only like 15 minutes from that zone.
But by the time I drop a kid off to the time I have to go back, it's 15 minutes each direction. 30 minutes for an hour and a half party isn't a lot of time. And so I'd love to be able to walk somewhere. To an err or two and make use of it. Even work at a Starbucks right, or a local coffee shop. Instead of being there, have a nice walk, which Walnut Creek or downtown San Jose offer in those entertainment districts.
So I'm a big believer that you should have those things, at least on the peripheral, to create more foot traffic. Just like the concerts seem pretty cool too.
Very successful. What about retail trends? Have you seen post COVID, the increase in online shopping? How is that impacting these downtowns?
Is that why you need more entertainment experiences, less retail?
For Walnut Creek, we're fortunate that we have a Broadway Plaza may search property that's within our district that is extremely successful. I think they're at like 98% occupancy right now. it's a wonderful place to be able to shop and dine. The traditional downtown that has the majority of the space right now is restaurants.
We have over 120, 130 restaurants just within the downtown, which is a huge amount of menus to, to manage. But our retail outside of Broadway Plaza. Yeah it struggles definitely on North Main Street. Our organization and some of the property owners and partners are looking at different ways of how we can 📍 activatethe traditional downtown with a stronger retail and the city even conducted a retail survey and plan a couple years ago to be able to look at that a little bit more closely.
So it's while. We do have our struggles with that. We also are trying to make sure that we're accommodating for those current and future retailers to come into the downtown so that the loading zones are appropriately managed and those 15 minute parking zones and such so that people can pick up their online orders and be able to grab and go.
So that's a little bit of how we're doing it, but we've got some more work to do to be able to identify some strong retailers that we think are gonna be a great addition to the downtown.
Yeah. And San Jose is a little different than Walnut Creek. We have two very high performing malls Santana Row and Valley Fair.
Two miles from the downtown core. And our city or the Downtown Association very quickly recognized you're not gonna be able to recruit Apple out of Valley Fair. That's not gonna work. And as a result, have really focused in on small micro businesses who are looking to create.
A retail space within downtown. And back in 2017 the Downtown Association and San Jose made, were able to install four micro retail units on San Pedro Street in a city garage. And that essentially it's called moment. Became an incubation space for businesses with the intent to hopefully have them fill space in vacant storefronts in downtown within the PBI boundaries.
And has seen folks fill in spaces within the P bid as well as outside and other parts of San Jose. Largely driven by. Amount of space they needed and what the rent was. But fortunately the program expanded last year and now has additional locations closer to San Jose State's campus on the east side of the district.
And so that level of success is where we've seen real movement in San Jose. There are also some legacy retailers here in downtown, but. They're not concentrated in one area. And that's been an ongoing challenge which we've seen in other downtowns that traditionally haven't been, dry goods, traditional retail heavy.
Trying to get that up and running into today's market is a challenge, but if you have some sort of incubation program that can really help bridge the gap with
your smaller businesses.
Yeah, it's, it ranges. So I would put them firmly in the maker realm, which is pretty wide.
One of the really successful tenants is called Tiny Makes Things, and she makes keyboard. Cap covers. I always get it wrong 'cause it's not my realm, but essentially you can customize a keyboard through her business. And she has a very large Instagram and TikTok following of folk and Twitch of folks that are doing like PC gaming and really into customizing.
But we're also seeing a lot of kind of small scale makers that are doing t-shirt stickers, those type of goods as well as. Plant shops. That seems to be like the new froyo. plant shops seem to be something that folks are into as well.
Right now
Yeah, we have a really fun plant shop that's also it's a husband and wife business. And so she runs the plant shop and within the same space, he runs the barber shop. And so it's a salon and plant store that is just on the perimeter, but unique use of the space.
There's a store in downtown Brentwood that the association there took me to, and I think it's three stores in one. One is plant and the other third is I wanna say it's homemade soaps and household items like that. And it blended them all together.
I think about that when you're there as a unique way to bring in three business owners who were friends to fill one retail space that might've been too expensive and not self-sustaining, right? It hits different times of the day and ITT attracts hell, the mom who's there, oh, do I need plants or do I need it for a house warming party?
Are you seeing with downtowns, particularly those not in your cases, but from the association perspective, the towns that are giving new birth to their downtowns or looking to develop, what are you seeing in those communities?
So one of the things that we're seeing on large scale is folks reevaluating their commercial office spaces within their downtown core. And, as work life continues to change there are these large scale vacant office spaces that are driving occupants. See, down to 70, 60% in some downtowns.
And so we're seeing a large scale reevaluation of these properties and whether they can be moved into residential. Here in San Jose, we had a mostly defunct hotel tower that converted into San Jose State student housing. And so looking at your mix, do you have enough residents? Do we have too many office spaces or hotels that are no longer serving?
A purpose really can be transformative. And in the case of converting a hotel, it's a lot easier to put in residential than it would be if you're looking at some older, maybe class B office space.
Yeah, I would say, we don't have as much office within our downtown and even at that, it's, maybe 25 to 28% vacancy rate right now.
Which is. definitely impacting our lunch business that continues as well as some of our services. So those who are working downtown and then would go to the cleaners or, the shoe repair place. that's been a little bit difficult to have them, come to grips with and be able to manage that on a annual basis.
Efforts that we've been trying to spin those a little bit is just working a lot closer with our economic development department and our partners with Visit Walnut Creek and the Chamber of Commerce. And then even the arts over at the Lecher Center. Just trying to figure out different ways that we can utilize.
the downtown public gathering spaces to attract more people. And really, those amenities in addition to our already, bustling restaurant and retail scene is a huge draw to those office, folks that are coming in. One of our office buildings is almost at full capacity just across the street from the bid. And we have been told that, one of the most successful stories are because they are those businesses are close to the amenities the downtown offers.
It's, capitalizing on what we have, but then really working together to identify what's.
I'd also throw out a trend that we've discussed, but I'll spell it out, is foot traffic. There's a lot of cities that I've seen have good downtown bones, but the businesses have trouble surviving 'cause there's not enough foot traffic.
And if you are, you have crime issues, you don't have enough local residents. you can't even just attract a coffee shop and get them to stay afloat if there's not enough foot traffic that people can walk through, build upon. And I think that's important.
And Chloe you talked about legacy retailers that are all spread out though, right? And that's a struggle for them a little bit.
one of my favorite retailers here in downtown San Jose, they're called Hammer and Lewis. They've been around since the twenties. They are a destination retail location for their longtime customers.
But if you don't know that they exist you probably wouldn't just pop in and walk in And so for these folks that are in an island. Space like that where they're all by themselves. It really is key to look at what kind of programming adjacent to or for the entire downtown.
That's key. And one of the things that we've seen success here in San Jose is really looking at mapping out that retail and being very intentional and very explicit with the folks that come into downtown that it exists and this is where it is and what the opportunities are. You still can't make folks go and take those walks.
And so it's all about do you have programming within that space on a regular basis or does someone else have it? How are you communicating it out to folks? Because a business like Hammer Lewis is not doing a large amount of outreach and marketing on their own. They're really just all about. Their store and continuing to provide the same quality clothing experience that they always have.
And so being able to introduce new folks through something like Small Business Saturday to a business like that can be a really huge help. And those tools are available to any neighborhood business district. You don't have to be a downtown association. Or a formal entity but they really can create a program that makes it much easier to share out very quickly what you've got going downtown.
Yeah. So let's talk about associations for a minute. What kind of work does the association do? Why should other associations or cities looking at creating them partake, how can they learn? What are some of the benefits to that?
Specifically with the California Downtown Association,
Yeah.
Yeah. CDA has been around since 1971 and the entity's goal is essentially to advocate on behalf of and educate. The staff and boards of downtown assessment districts throughout the state. And so we really concentrate our efforts into two spaces, the education side and we do that through an annual conference in partnership with the International Downtown Association.
Our next conference is going to be May 26th. In Long Beach. And that's really a great opportunity to bring together the professionals working within this realm to talk about best practices and the challenges and opportunities they're seeing within their own downtowns. It's also a great place to maybe borrow best practices and bring them back within to your downtown at scale.
The other side is the advocacy work that we do on behalf of the districts. Typically, a lot of these assessment districts don't have staff focused on state level legislation and advocacy, and so this can be a huge help for those entities because they're not having to track the thousands of bills that are proposed, discussed, and run through.
Our state legislature and we're able to distill those down and report out on the items that will impact downtowns and how assessment districts run within the state of California. And that's been a huge boon for those organizations that can't work on that themselves. But we also rely on our larger districts who do an amount of statewide advocacy to chime in and share how these.
Kathy, you wanna add anything?
I think that covers it really. the legislative advocacy has ticked up quite a bit over the last two years and I'm really pleased and proud to see, the efforts that have been accomplished.
And then also CDA is getting noticed to be more of a partner in supporting bills and legislation and our representatives in moving forward efforts that are really gonna make a difference within our downtown. So just the notoriety and increased partnerships that we have on that state level has really been a big accomplishment over the last two years.
Yeah it's been interesting to see our state electeds understand better what a business improvement district or what a p bid is, and just how many of them there are. This year is actually the first time an entire suite of legislation was proposed on downtown revitalization. So assembly member Matt Haney out of San Francisco is the current select committee chair on downtown revitalization.
And so there's been parts of work that he and others have brought together as a full legislative package. In my tenure in this industry, that has not occurred. having folks within our state legislature understand that downtowns are the lifeblood of communities and that they need support now at the state level, really has been a huge shift within the legislative world.
Just having that exposure to those, through visits up to the capitol or or meetings and you, or participating in press conferences. It just really elevates everyone's knowledge as to what's happening in Sacramento instead of hearing about it after everything's been voted upon and decided.
There's a lot of dialogue that I can bring too. The city council, but then it also can translate over to our board of directors and just bringing, a couple of those bills and conversations to that really hyperlocal level that they feel like they, they are able to have a say and do have a voice in some of the discussions that are happening at the state level.
Giving the locals guidance too. Hey, we need you to go talk how these plans help your area to your legislator. Go with that package. Before we head out, let me ask a question from a different perspective. If I am a small business owner retail restaurant and I say I want to go to downtown, wherever.
Do I go to the association first? Do I go to the city? What happens if I like, here's the idea, but I don't even know how to build the business. How do I get help or how do I figure out where to be?
The great thing is that there's so many resources, so you can get, a variety of answers to help support, make that decision.
and another example of a partnership is with Walnut Creek downtown and the Chamber, and then city being able to introduce, a size up Walnut Creek which is an online platform that allows interested entrepreneurs or new businesses to tap into the current market and existing market to see what type of businesses are within our downtown what their numbers are looking like and just help too.
Give them and create an educated decision. And then Walnut Creek, the creek downtown, we can give you the day-to-day information about what our business owners and operators are dealing with and, if there's vacancies, how we can make those introductions set up some collaborations. The Chamber has a much wider scope, so you're able to, maybe you can't afford to set up your business within the downtown, but then there's a neighborhood shopping center that might be a better fit in the long run. And then it's also accessibility that we can provide directly to city staff.
And so being able to break down those barriers and we've been so proud of the city staff that've been able to really have a lot of hands-on meetings So you get the full package, but you do have to make sure that you're tapping into all of those resources to really ultimately make that decision as to where you're gonna land and if you're gonna land in a particular city.
Yeah, and I would say that the experience that Kathy and the folks in Walnut Creek are able to provide is consistent with other downtowns and economic development teams at their respective cities. We are seeing some of the larger scale downtown associations take on a staff level position for technical support.
That can range from, warm handoffs to brokers and property owners with vacant spaces all the way through kind of time intensive work around your city and county permitting processes. 'Cause a lot of times if you have a great idea, you're not thinking that you may need a health permit or where to even start with how to get that health permit.
Nine times outta 10 small business owners. Don't finish the form right when submitting or don't do it correctly when submitting for building and plan check. And so having someone who can handhold and assist you through that. Can be really key. We've even seen here in San Jose businesses that are located in other communities that want that same level of technical support from an application standpoint, because they've learned lessons in those other municipalities around how long it can take from the moment you sign your lease to the day you start operating fully permitted.
And so I think that kind of trend is something we'll probably continue to see within our downtowns. Whether it's the downtown association itself or city staff specializing in that technical support for a specific location.
Okay. And how does everybody find out more about your organizations in the downtown?
For Walnut Creek downtown, it's Walnut Creek downtown dot com. Very easy. And we've got a website that is full of links to our business community as well as links for all of our events. We're halfway through our event season right now, and are excited to finish out 25 with the bang.
And then it also provides links. As business resources for our members so they can find out all of the free member benefits that come with their membership including marketing and a variety of different ways to support them and then volunteers. That's. We haven't even touched on the volunteers, but they're a huge backbone of our organization through board of directors and committees focus groups, and then of course our events.
Definitely take a look at our website@walnutcreekdowntown.com.
Chloe.
Yeah. So you can find out more about the California Downtown association@californiadowntown.com. And if you're interested in learning more about assessment, district formation and strategic planning, you can head over to puma world hq.com for our Progressive Urban Management Associates website.
Awesome. I appreciate both your times. I've been wanting to have this conversation for a while, but I think recent trends, this is a good time and we're gonna combine this with a retail podcast focused specifically on retail trends and retail attraction.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
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