The Durango Business Improvement District owes a huge debt of gratitude to Bob Allen, who has served on the BID board of directors since 2005 and will be ending his time with BID at the end of this month. He has brought a wealth of ideas and knowledge to BID over the years.

I joined BID in January 2013, so I have had the pleasure of working with Allen for the past four years. Allen owns Allen and Associates, a real estate consulting and appraisal business in downtown Durango.

Over the past 30 years, Allen has gained incredible insight into our local economy. He prepares an annual presentation for the Wells Group that analyzes the local real estate market and delivers the presentation at the Community Concert Hall to attendees. If you are interested in real estate and the broader local economy, consider attending this year.

Allen has worked for many local businesses and for many local projects over the years. These include Bank of Colorado, First National Bank of Durango, Bank of the San Juans, Brennan Oil Company, Mercy Medical Center, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, plus numerous attorneys, individuals and developers.

In addition to volunteering his time for the BID board, Allen has served on many nonprofit and community groups, including Trails 2000, the 9R School District Superintendent search committee, the La Plata County Forum, the Downtown Durango Vision and Strategic Plan Steering Committee, and the city of Durango’s Transportation and Parking Demand Management group.

I have learned a lot from Allen about how to interpret statistics and local economic indicators. He has taught me how to forecast trends and how to tie statistics together that correlate. He has true insight into our local economy, and in particular into downtown and uptown (what we are calling North Main) in Durango.

Allen helped create a collection of local economic indicators that BID constantly monitors. These include sales and lodgers tax collections, parking data, vacancy rates for retail stores downtown, enplanement and deplanement figures at the airport and more.

He has long warned of the increasing threat of internet shopping and how that can hurt our locally owned, independent businesses. He is also an extra set of eyes and ears for BID, constantly walking around downtown and speaking with local merchants about what is good and what could be better. Allen also lead the effort at BID to keep the Courthouse located in downtown.

Bob, thank you for your service to BID, and to our downtown and uptown businesses over the years. You will be missed.

timw@downtowndurango.org. Tim Walsworth is the executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District.