At its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, the Downtown Benicia Alliance (DBA) heard reports on traffic concerns, tree lighting and the planned resurfacing of First Street, among other items.
The DBA represents businesses on and adjacent to First Street and strives to represent and support business owners through facilitating communication and advocating for changes and improvements.
DBA Board Chair Leah Shelhorn and board member Tom Hamilton had met with city of Benicia staff and written a letter to Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani regarding concerns about parking enforcement. Board member James Morgan suggested a warning notice be issued to violators. Giuliani was in attendance at the meeting and advised that the DBA meet with Interim City Manager Steve Salomon to discuss priorities. Shelhorn stressed that limited-time parking spaces need to be kept available to customers to make it easier for people to patronize downtown merchants.
Board member Tom Hamilton expressed concern regarding the power grid that supplies First Street, an underlying issue to consider when discussing the DBA contract with Civitas to provide and maintain string lights around the trees all along First Street. Questions discussed among board members and Giuliani included the current division of the DBA into districts, how businesses are assessed for their contribution to the contract, whether or not the cost of living allowance would apply to those assessments, and how the maintenance contract could be improved. Giuliani recommended a partnership between Civitas and the city.

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