May 23, 2002 3 min read

The Uniontown Downtown Business District Authority sent up a trial balloon this week in noting that it might levy an assessment fee on property owners within the central business district. This is one balloon that ought to burst. Granted the DBDA is strapped for cash. Voluntary membership dues are off. Grants that kept worthwhile programs afloat barely exist. This is what happens when an authority loses its directions and places the day-to-day operations in the hands of an incompetent manager.

The board recently hired Leigh Anne Sperry to breathe new life and direction into the DBDA. Rather than flirt with a quick money grab that would do nothing more than irritate the remaining downtown business owners who could rightly charge they are receiving little bang for their bucks, the board with Sperry should look first at rebuilding the program.

The DBDA at one time had a mission and goals and was instrumental in securing grants and low-interest loans to aid building owners in undertaking renovation projects that brought wiring, plumbing, roofing up to code and programs that worked on facades to make the downtown buildings more attractive to passersby. But after long-time director Laury Podolinski resigned in 1998, her replacement dropped the ball and the board failed to hold her accountable. By the time Paula Patterson left last summer, the authority was merely a shell. That it lost the dues of long-time members should serve as a warning to the board that support comes when people believe an agency is working for them; it falls when services are lacking.

This doesn’t mean the authority cannot grow strong again and even surpass where it was when Podolinski left. But it will take time, commitment, leadership and a strong sense of purpose. These are traits that Sperry as the new executive director must bring to the authority. She has the grant-writing and organizational skills necessary for the task and has already demonstrated an enthusiasm for hosting downtown events.

What Sperry and the board must now do is harness input from downtown merchants and professionals and develop a new five-year strategic plan as it allowed the former plan to lapse. Committees that brought talented and creative people together to address areas such as finance, civic improvement, marketing must be reactivated.

When the business community sees that the DBDA is serious again about uniting downtown property owners for shared goals, it will respond with financial commitments.

To demand money without a strong organization and purpose will do nothing more than drive people away from downtown and will do little to fill vacant storefronts.

The DBDA needs to continue to get its house in order before considering a mandatory bailout by the small businesses that it is supposed to help.