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DTBIA board votes to continue as district, and executive director announces resignation.
 Diana Koron listens to the discussion of the future of the Downtown Tracy Business Improvement Area. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
The Downtown Tracy Business Improvement Area board voted to continue as a business assessment district for about 70 businesses and hire a new executive director after Diana Koron announced her resignation.
A dozen downtown merchants attended the meeting, and most agreed they’re tired of seeing few results from their membership in DTBIA.
Several of the businesses owners said they’re frustrated that only a few downtown merchants do all the work to put on 17 events throughout the year — First Fridays, holiday parades, two wine strolls and a Christmas open house — but every downtown storefront benefits from the foot traffic.
 Ken Cefalo of Main Street Music is DTBIA’s president. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Many merchants are also upset that some businesses pay less than others to be in the group but reap the same benefits.
Owners of retail businesses in the original assessment district — the core of downtown retail, which runs along 10th Street and Central Avenue — are required to pay $475 a year. Owners of nonretail businesses are required to pay $425, and businesses that are on the outskirts of the district are not required to be a part of the association or pay anything. Several volunteer members pay $125 a year.
Koron suggested the board drop the assessment fees, which make up $34,000 of the association’s annual budget, and instead run only the events that pay for themselves — the two wine strolls and the Christmas open house. But most of the business owners at the meeting said that if they did that, it would be tough to go back to the fees.
 Bill Carey (right) of Tracy Wine Cellar speaks as Mike Corbett of the Great Plate looks on during today’s meeting. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
Ken Cefalo, president of DTBIA and owner of Main Street Music, said he’s in support of allowing the city to run the association for a year.
“The city knows that the trend is moving away from malls and into downtowns,” Cefalo said. “For the first time, downtown businesses and the city are headed in the same direction.”
Several other merchants said they don’t trust the city to run DTIBIA.
“I’m afraid for what the city will do to us if we disband,” said Millie Comber, owner of Miss Millie’s Learning Loft. “They’d kick us out to the curbside. We should just hang in there.”
Some were concerned that the chamber, which is a business group open to all Tracy businesses, would allow all businesses to benefit from downtown events.
Dave Tillman, the chamber’s new executive director, said the chamber couldn’t do everything DTIBIA does.
“We wouldn’t even begin to want to take that on,” he said. “I think we (the chamber) best serve the entire community.”
Within a year, DTBIA will most likely be transformed into a nonprofit organization, which means downtown property owners could possibly join. The city’s economic development department requested $50,000 to hire a consultant to look at turning DTBIA into a nonprofit. The city’s budget goes before the council for approval June 3.
“We’re all busy running our businesses,” Cefalo said. “I think that we could potentially do more things if we had an organization (whose) sole purpose was to put on activities downtown.”
Koron said she won’t renew her $36,000-a-year contract, which expires in July, because she doesn’t have time to balance the DTBIA executive director position and her second job as director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
“It was getting to be a bit much,” said Koron, who said her goodbyes with tears.
The group didn’t talk about who to hire for the next director or how many events to have each year.
The next DTBIA event is the Wine and Cheese Stroll, which is Friday evening.
• We want to hear what you have to say. To reach Tracy Press reporter Danielle MacMurchy, call 830-4221 or e-mail
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