This morning, businesses in or near the downtown are going to get a visit from Benicia’s Economic Development Board (EDB) for the city’s first-ever Business Walk.

As part of the Business Walk, EDB members will be visiting local establishments and talking to the owners or managers about their businesses and how to build relationships with the community. Mario Giuliani, the city’s economic development manager said other cities have hosted Business Walks with great success, and it was even outlined as a goal in 2012’s Business Development Action Plan.

“It’s one of those things where we’re trying to go down the list and take care of some of the actions spelled out in the 2012 Business Development Action Plan,” Giuliani said. “What followed was our market study and other economic development documents. It was one of those things we had the bandwidth to do over the summer, we had the Economic Development Board be able to participate, so the timing worked out well for us to do it this September.”

The EDB, along with Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and City Manager Lorie Tinfow, will be initiating a kickoff at City Hall at 10 a.m. this morning. From there, the EDB will split off into teams of two to walk through First Street, Solano Square and Davies Square to conduct face-to-face interviews with local business owners.

According to Giuliani, the teams will focus on three specific areas: how business is doing, concerns owners have about their business climate and suggestions for building a stronger business community.

“Our hope is that one of those three (questions) will bring about a conversation or dialogue and that we can take away some notes and comments that we’ll be able to put together in our database,” he said.

Giuliani does not predict the groups will be able to talk to every single business in the designated areas, but they hope to talk to as many as they can— chain establishments included. The goal, he noted, is to build connections between the local businesses and the city staff.

“It brings City Hall to that business and gives them an opportunity to communicate,” he said.

He also said it would be an opportunity for the economic development department to gather data to look over.

“For example, if they are noticing issues that we can track and quantify, that will help City Hall be responsive and to take the action to address something, whether it’s parking or homelessness or road conditions or public safety or conditions of street lights,” he said. “Having that dialogue with those business owners will help.”

The EDB plans to conduct Business Walks on a quarterly basis. The next walk is slated for December where groups will visit businesses in Southampton and in the shopping centers along Columbus Parkway.

“We’re excited about it,” Giuliani said. “We want to bring City Hall to the businesses.”

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