The Durango Business Improvement District just received a newly appointed board member from the city of Durango. We want to welcome Ericka Curlee to the board.
Curlee and her husband, Don, own two businesses – Louisa’s Movie House now located in Town Plaza, and Louisa’s Electronics at 22nd Street and Main Avenue. Not only will Curlee help represent retail and uptown (what we are calling North Main Avenue) on the board, she also recently completed an infill development project at 22nd Street and Main Avenue that houses Louisa’s Electronics and includes two residential units above the store.
This type of infill development project is great for uptown, as well as for Camino del Rio. Mixed-use developments will not work every time, but in many cases they are appropriate and will breathe new life into the uptown business corridor.
We are excited to work with Curlee and welcome her to the board.
At the next BID Coffee and Conversation meeting, to be held Friday March 10 from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at First National Bank of Durango, BID will host a City Council candidate forum.
The forum will be focused on issues important to BID and our constituents, so topics to be discussed will be relevant to Downtown and Uptown issues and concerns. Potential topics for discussion include panhandling, parking, infill development, beautification and cleaning, and safety.
BID will also make time for attendees to ask their own questions.
This is a great opportunity to learn what the candidates running for City Council think about issues important to the heart of our community.
BID’s marketing committee is working on three new initiatives for 2017. First is a new “shop local” campaign designed to encourage our local citizens to spend their discretionary shopping and entertainment dollars locally in Downtown and Uptown businesses. In 2016, we experienced a decrease in sales downtown in April, May and September. BID’s shop local campaigns will occur in these months to encourage more local shopping.
BID is also working with MiloMedia to update our website.
MiloMedia gave our site a major upgrade about 18 months ago. We are now adding new and improved content so BID’s site is the go-to place for all things related to Downtown and Uptown. Watch for our new site to roll out in May.
BID is also in process of updating the two downtown directories, located at the Train Depot and Buckley Park.
We are creating a new map and a new list of businesses to help people find the stores, shops and restaurants they are seeking.
timw@downtowndurango.org. Tim Walsworth is the executive director of the Durango Business Improvement District.
