As the director of the Downtown Alliance, I have been privileged to serve the downtown business and property owners for more than 10 years. Six of those years have been spent directing the Special Improvement District of which the council has now voted not to renew.

Working with the business and property owners through these years, I have seen remarkable strides being made downtown. When the original Business Improvement District was formed, downtown was asleep. No new investment was coming into the city's core. Buildings were vacant and business activity was declining. Rampant apathy was in place from the business owners.

Since formation of the Downtown Alliance, downtown has turned around and investor confidence has been restored.

The Provo Downtown Alliance, with its active and dedicated committee members and board of directors, has embarked on a journey of creating and maintaining the core of the city. One of the main values of the Downtown Alliance is the prevention of blight, and the preservation of property values.

We are concerned that the many programs the alliance has started and is currently operating will soon cease to exist. Among the many programs are events such as The Sampler Platter Restaurant Tour, the Safe Halloween Downtown Trick-or-Treating event, First Fridays Gallery Stroll and the Easter Shop Hop. In addition to these events, the Downtown Alliance co-sponsors many other events including the Freedom Days celebration, The Crèche and Candy Window exhibits during WinterFest, and numerous events run by the Provo Arts Council.

Our public arts program includes Sculpting Civic Pride (sculptures on loan from local artists displayed downtown) Cultural Murals (historic Provo mural at 187 W. Center St.) Storefront Galleries (local artists' work fills the windows of vacant properties to create a lovely downtown stroll and market the property to potential tenants or buyers).

The alliance's beautification efforts have benefited the entire city. Our efforts include having the kiosks cleared off and high traffic sidewalks cleaned each week. Banners, street signs and hanging flower pots in the summer are also provided by the alliance. Each season the alliance sponsors coordinated downtown décor such as white lights, wreaths on businesses' front doors, flower pots and patriotic buntings.

All of these programs are run on a budget of less than $150,000 annually. Because we are a private organization we have been able to accomplish a great deal with very little. The reason the alliance works is because it is an organization run by the business and property owners. They are the ones making the decisions on where the money is spent.

I earnestly hope that the Downtown Alliance and the City Council can come up with a solution that will continue to benefit our downtown business and property owners and one that encourages them to stay involved.

Susan Bradford is executive director of The Downtown Business Alliance of Provo.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.