DCI has been listening to our district partners and members, and we understand there is a need for information sharing, networking, and coalition building to support the work that you do. DCI is proud to announce a forum just for you! Designed to address the needs of special districts, including business improvement districts (BIDs), downtown development authorities (DDAs), and urban renewal authorities (URAs), DIDs Forums are part of Downtown Colorado, Inc.'s Development & Improvement Districts (DIDs) Program, created to provide overall benefits targeted to special districts, including education and advocacy.

2013 Member-Only Educational & Networking Forums

DIDs forums allow members to network, discuss current events, and participate or listen to discussions on targeted topics. Networking forums are held on the second Thursday of the month (2:00PM – 4:00PM)  at the Colorado Municipal League office (1144 Sherman Street, Denver).

Educational events are open registration and aimed at imparting information on specific topics such as proposed legislation, policy, or for sharing strategies for implementation.

Register Now!

2013 DIDs Forum Calendar

Jan 10: Telling the Story Behind Small Business Districts. Profiling historic embedded commercial districts is a great way to inform marketing and business attraction materials. The process takes a look at the typical architecture and design in embedded commercial districts, the settings and demographics of surrounding neighborhoods, and reviews the historic businesses and uses. This session will engage professionals and commercial district leaders who have taken on this process to review their successes and suggestions for improving the process going forward. Speakers:  Jane Daniels, Colorado Preservation Inc.; Kim Grant, City of Arvada; Annie Levinsky, Historic Denver.

Feb 14: Restoring the Heart of Colorado’s Communities. Colorado’s urban renewal legislation provides communities with tools specifically created to allow the public sector to entice the private sector to redevelop challenging, blighted, and often expensive infill parcels. This tool has proven results in helping to clean up pollution in brownfields, save historic places, and re-energize communities. Unfortunately, most of Colorado’s public and elected officials are not aware of the benefits of this tool. Join this session to jumpstart public relations on a local, regional, and state-wide approach to sharing the urban renewal story. Tentative speakers include: John Batey, Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority; Katherine Correll, Downtown Colorado, Inc.; Mark Radtke, Colorado Municipal League; Christina Vincent, City of Thornton , and Erin Goff

March 14: Innovative Approaches to Activating Vacant Spaces. From art installations to pop-ups, communities around the state and around the world are finding new benefits to activating underutilized spaces in downtown alley ways, store fronts, and infill opportunities to create gathering spaces, unique showcasing opportunities, and to better position properties to attract redevelopment. Come to this session to hear some innovative programs and develop some easy take home projects! Tentative speakers include: Jamie Licko, Centro Inc; Sean Maher, Downtown Boulder Business Improvement District; Kimberlee McKee, Longmont Downtown Development Authority; Ginger White, Colorado Creative Industries.  

Apr 11: Leveraging the Lessons of the Past. Understanding the past is the key to the future! This session will look at historic design and development patterns and assessing how they contribute to contemporary success including connections to transit, pedestrian friendliness, building on a human-scale, and transparent store-fronts. Speakers:  Marc Cittone, Department of Local Affairs;  Annie Levinsky, Historic Denver.

May 9: Downtowns and their Role in Regional Initiatives. As the importance of downtowns, commercial districts, and towns centers to our nation’s economy, our environment, and our culture becomes ever more clear, we invite the Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP) to discuss regional events, initiatives, and concepts to help us all maintain and build energy and success in our downtown areas. Downtown Denver Partnership (DDP) will provide an overview of the Urban Leadership Symposium as well as to identify the key themes and ways that each state can continue building on the ideas and concepts shared at the Symposium.  Speakers: Brittany Morris Saunders, Downtown Denver Partnership, Rob Cohen, Urban Leadership Symposium Chair and Jason Mathis, Executive Director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. 

Jun 13: Gaining Consensus to Fund Your District. More and more we hear communities who are trying to get dedicated funding for the downtown, to develop a mechanism for community members who don’t live in town to have a vote, and to identify one entity to serve as the downtown champion. Yet, despite the best of intentions, getting a mechanism in place proves harder than it seems it should. Most times the public awareness piece before the vote is the trick to creating and funding a Downtown Development Authority or Business Improvement District. Join this session to hear success stories as well as lessons learned for greater future success. Tentative speakers include: Tracy Barnett, MainStreet Steamboat Springs; Gayle Jetchick, Havana Business Improvement District; Scott Shine, Montrose DDA; Marshall Vanderwall, 

Jul 11: Identifying and Activating Historic Commercial Districts. Colorado is a gold mine of history embedded in the built environment. This session will review the process of a windshield survey of Denver’s historic embedded commercial districts, highlight local and national case studies  of active districts, and look at the process for rebuilding character with transformational projects. Speakers:  Marc Cittone, Department of Local Affairs; Jane Daniels, Colorado Preservation Inc.; Kim Grant, City of Arvada; Annie Levinsky, Historic Denver.

Aug 8: Developers Bottom Line. Downtown Colorado, Inc. works with a variety of groups focused on redevelopment to maintain character while encouraging the right kind of growth and economic vitality in a community. Planners, economic developers, and community groups often experience a disconnect when working with developers. This session will look at the development community to better understand their bottom line in choosing projects and working for mutually beneficial redevelopment. 

Oct 10 DID: Promoting Character in Embedded Commercial Districts. In Colorado, we are lucky to have a variety of incentives & tools to encourage appropriate investments and maintenance in our historic districts. This session will review how to use overlays/design standards, façade improvements, tax credits, and special designations to encourage property owners to celebrate the character! Speakers:  Marc Cittone, Department of Local Affairs; Jane Daniels, Colorado Preservation Inc.; Annie Levinsky, Historic Denver.

Nov 14: Managing Up: Understanding and Working with a Board of Directors. Downtown district organizations whether Main Streets, Downtown Development Authorities, Creatives, of Chambers all work with boards and councils to govern the work of the organization. Listen to practitioners and board members to develop an understanding of some of the challenges and tricks that work to make these relationships more effective and mutually beneficial. Speakers: John Batey, Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority; Laurie Findley, Town of Granby; Gayle Jetchick, Havana Business Improvement District; Kimberlee McKee, Longmont Downtown Development Authority.  

What Did You Miss?

Check out recaps from past forums:

January 11, 2012: Using TIF to Establish a Line of Credit

February 8, 2012: Layered Organizations: Effective or Overkill Summary

March 14: Other Taxing Entities and the Bottom Line: How to Get to Yes for Redevelopment

May 9: Small Business and Job Creation

June 13: Energy Partners' Bottom Line: Understanding Light Pole Policies

July 11: Telling the Redevelopment Story

Pueblo Urban Renewal Authority Presentation Slides

Colorado Springs Urban Renewal Authority Presentation Slides

2011 Forum Recaps: 

February 9, 2011: Colorado's URA Impact Report, Anne Ricker, Ricker Cunningham

March 9, 2011: California's Redevelopment Under Siege, Brad Segal, PUMA

April 13, 2011: Banking on Abandoned Properties Recap

May 11, 2011: Economic Development & Creative Industry Strategies for Revitalization Recap

June 8, 2011: Negotiating Public-Private Development and Reimbursement Agreements in Tough Financial Times Recap

Aug 10, 2011: Agricultural Land Restrictions and Urban Renewal Outline

Sep 14, 2011: Getting on Board with Transportation Recap

Oct 25, 2011: Urban Renewal Developer Breakfast Summary

2010 Forum Topics:

• Special Districts and the New Economic Reality Development & Improvement Districts (DIDs
• Cultivating Public/Private Partnerships Encouraging Residential Uses in Your Tax Increment Finance (TIF) District
• Redefining Your Suburban Commercial District as a Downtown Core
• Planning with Transportation Departments for Signage, Parking, and Noise in a Downtown District
• Managing Business Improvement Districts (BIDs)
• Marketing a Suburban District to the Development Community click here to fill out form

Do you have a session topic you would like to see discussed? We are currently in the process of creating our 2011 schedule and we want to hear from you! Email us at events@downtowncoloradoinc.org with your session ideas and we will do our best to incorporate it.