Downtown Action Organization reports more street-level service and special projects; budget draws mostly from property assessments

The Downtown Action Organization gave the City Council a yearly update Tuesday on clean-up, beautification and business-support work in Santa Rosa's central business district.

Cadence Henkel Allinson, executive director of the Downtown Community Benefit District management organization (the DAO), told the council the district covers about 159 parcels and 112 property owners and that assessments for the district totaled about $564,000 in 2024. The DAO's board adopted a 2025 budget similar to prior years and funds street-level services as its largest expenditure.

The DAO contracts with a private company, Next Street, to run the district's street-level team — widely known downtown as the Blue Shirts — which Allinson said operates seven days a week and changes hours seasonally. In 2024 the team recorded roughly 9,500 trash sweeps, 1,681 graffiti cleanings (up to 12 feet), nearly 3,000 landscaping tasks, 1,457 bulk-item removals, 209 human/hazardous-waste cleanups, about 300 instances of information provided to the public, 550 proactive business checks and 910 quality-of-life checks or requests for assistance tied to unsheltered individuals.

Allinson highlighted several 2024 special projects funded outside the assessment budget, including a Rosie the Trolley pilot, new planters and banners in Courthouse Square (now maintained by the DAO) and new lighting in the Redwoods. The organization also supports the city's VBL (Visible Business Linkage?) project and works with the separate plaza community benefit district.

Looking ahead, the DAO's 2025 priorities include updating the management district plan (an ad-hoc committee drafted changes approved by the DAO board in February), conducting an assessment audit of district properties, reviewing an upcoming parking study to identify downtown recommendations, seeking funding for permanent family-friendly activations, launching a universal window-covering strategy for vacant storefronts in April and better engaging new downtown residents and property owners through info sessions and community meetings. Allinson said the DAO hopes to work more closely with other downtown districts on unified marketing and to advocate for spending park impact fees in the downtown station area.

Council members thanked the DAO for its work, noting visible improvements downtown since the DAO began in 2018. No formal action was requested or taken at the meeting.