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DSA expands focus to include areas other than downtown
By Stephanie Salmons
The Downtown Sylva Association is expanding it’s boundaries, Director Kyle McCurry told Sylva leaders last Thursday (Sept. 18).
“Our goal is to make sure that people outside of the (downtown district) also have the opportunity to be served,” he said at the town board meeting.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, DSA president Marybeth Druzbick said there has never been a specific boundary for the DSA or its predecessor, Sylva Partners in Renewal.
“We don’t think Main Street is the only vital part of our community, and we’re working on offering DSA services further outside of where we traditionally focused,” she said.
The DSA is taking steps to see if their services would be valued outside of the group’s traditional service area, Druzbick said.
“People think of DSA as Main and Mill streets, from the Coffee Shop to the Courthouse,” she said. “We’re working on determining if businesses out Grindstaff Cove, the corridor to Dillsboro, and to Rite-Aid are interested in joining. We want to focus on marketing Sylva as a destination, not just that (downtown) area.”
These first expansions are “exploratory,” Druzbick said.
“We may go out and find that people aren’t interested,” she said. “Then again, we might go out and find that they are.”
Response has thus far been good, Druzbick said, adding that as of Friday, DSA has received several new memberships.
Eventually, the group would like to be able to include the entire city limits but is starting with areas adjacent to DSA’s traditional base because the group “does not have unlimited resources,” she said.
“The town board has said there is a desire to have a merchant’s business association,” Druzbick said. “Instead of someone having to start from scratch, we’re expanding ourselves to be more responsive to people outside of our traditional area.”
The group recently created a Merchants Relations committee “in anticipation of trying to be more responsive,” she said.
As a part of that committee, each area of town will be given a certain number of “block captains” – current board members who will check in with businesses on a regular basis.
“It’s creating a liaison committee to check on these businesses,” Druzbick said. “If there’s a business out toward Dillsboro, they’d know who the block captain is and whether there’s an issue the DSA could help with.”
Most block captains are assigned to the downtown area because that is where the highest concentration of members are located, she said. However, once memberships pick up in other areas of the town, more block captains will be added in those areas.
The DSA has been controversial in recent years due to disagreements with regard to town funding.
Funding for the DSA was slashed from $20,000 to $2,000 in 2006 but jumped back to $12,000 in this year’s budget.
“The only problem I have with (DSA funding) is that it’s still not a citywide organization,” board member Harold Hensley said in March during a budget workshop “If you sponsor them, you’re sponsoring one group with all taxpayers paying for it.”
Hensley also spoke out about the group’s funding two years ago as did board member Ray Lewis.
At that time, Lewis said that since the money in question would be used specifically for the downtown area, he was hesitant to approve the town’s contribution. By giving DSA $20,000, it could deprive businesses outside downtown of financial support from the town, he said then.
When asked how the move to expand will affect town board members, Druzbick said “there’s really no reason why it won’t go over nicely. We were asked on a number of occasions to see if there’s an interest, and we’re trying to be responsive to what’s been asked.”
McCurry agreed and said that if the community seems to want an organization that serves the entire town, then the DSA will try to “meet in the middle.”
Although the group’s efforts are currently turned toward areas adjacent to downtown, Druzbick said that anyone interested in joining the group may do so, regardless of their location.
“I’m really excited,” she said of the group’s planned expansion. “For me personally, this has been a long time coming. This is an opportunity for merchants and small business owners to have a voice, and we welcome any business owner.”
The plan for expanding the organization has flowered within the last month or so, McCurry said Tuesday.
“I talked to numerous members of the community, and they wanted us to continue the work we’ve done but wanted to help other areas as well,” he said.
Some members were initially concerned about the growth, he said, but the group’s focus won’t necessarily change,.
“We still serve the downtown area, where we’ve always been and that has the most representation,” McCurry said. “The only thing it does is it continues to contribute to Sylva as a whole. We’re changing our positioning from downtown to the whole town.”
A new business in any part of town benefits the entire town, McCurry said.
“The DSA plans to support businesses in Sylva as it always has,” he said. “We don’t look at ourselves as having borders. Our goal has always been to support businesses and contribute to a thriving community.”
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