Sebastopol's two biz groups pledge cooperation—and perhaps a merger
Sebastopol's two biz groups pledge cooperation—and perhaps a merger
The Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce and the Sebastopol Downtown Association have agreed to cooperate and perhaps merge in the near future
The Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce and the Sebastopol Downtown Association (SDA) are working closely to create a new structure that they hope will benefit all businesses in Sebastopol.
For years, local business owners have been puzzled by the existence of the two separate organizations, whose missions (to support local business and increase economic activity in town) are almost identical.
The Chamber, which is a membership organization supported by yearly dues from its business members, supports businesses throughout Sebastopol, doing business mixers, ribbon-cuttings for new businesses, and sales promotions. It also does other community activities, such as the yearly Christmas Tree Lighting and the Apple Blossom Festival each year, which is a fundraiser for the Chamber.
The Sebastopol Downtown Association is a semi-governmental body that represents a subset of businesses in the downtown area only. It is supported by yearly fees paid by businesses that reside inside the boundaries of the Downtown Sebastopol Business Improvement District. (The SDA fee is tacked on to the city’s business license fee and passed along to the SDA’s board.) Like the chamber, the SDA has traditionally done yearly promotional activities, such as radio and print ads touting downtown Sebastopol’s charms as a shopping district, the summer sidewalk sale, and holiday promotions.
Both organizations represent business interests to the city council during council meetings.
Despite the obvious crossover, for years there’s been little communication and coordination between the two groups. But all that’s changing.
Several months ago, former councilmember and then SDA president Michael Carnacchi called together a meeting with the Chamber, the Barlow, Relaunch Sebastopol (the city’s economic development initiative, which is wrapping up this month) in an attempt to get everyone on the same page. Several other meetings followed.
“At one of these meetings, somebody asked the question, ‘What’s the difference between the Chamber and the SDA?’ and we didn’t really have a good answer to that,” said Adam Bulbulia, the owner of Bridging Worlds Behavior Services and the newly appointed President of the SDA Board of Directors.
“It was like, ‘Well, the SDA is focused on the downtown, and the Chamber is focused on the whole town, essentially, but the SDA was already saying, ‘If we really want to enhance the downtown, we have to consider the whole town’ and we were starting to envision that way anyway,” he said.
“When Adam Parks (owner of Victorian Farmstead Meats) came on the SDA board, he was really pushing the idea of us working more closely together, and we all resonated with that. There were questions about organizational structure and legalities and all of that, but we thought, ‘Well, what if we just get it going and work together as if we’re one organization or with the goal of aspiring to be one organization. It seems like it would be more cohesive for the businesses of the town than having two competing entities.”
“It just seems like it makes sense,” said Myriah Volk, director of the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce. “It makes much more sense to me that everyone’s working together—rather than there being this subtle sense of competition between the two groups. I think everyone’s on board now and ready to move forward.”
“We don’t know exactly how that looks yet in terms of organizational structure,” she said. “Like maybe the SDA would become a district of the Chamber of Commerce— the downtown district—with the longer term goal of having multiple districts: the Barlow district, the downtown district, the north, the south, and so each district has their own leadership or committee, and it’s all underneath the umbrella of the Chamber. So that we’re all one ultimately. Because we do all have the same intention, right? If it’s my job as the chamber director to help businesses be successful, why wouldn’t we collaborate?”
“We decided the first step is to combine forces, but SDA will remain financially independent and also self-governing for the time being, and then moving forward, it’s just a step-by-step process as we find out what is the ultimate best solution for everyone.”
Volk and Bulbulia kicked off this new cooperative effort by walking around downtown together, talking to business owners.
“We are planning weekly walks through town together to visit business owners in person with the intention of a more hands-on relationship moving forward,” Volk said. “We are also now working more collaboratively with the leadership at The Barlow for a more unified Sebastopol as a whole.”
This isn’t the first time the Chamber and the SDA have been combined. According to Carnacchi, several years ago, when the SDA was having trouble recruiting people for its board, the city contracted with the Chamber to run the SDA. Local business people later reclaimed it, and it’s been run independently ever since.
“We know that there has been closer collaboration in times past,” Volk said. “Understanding the history of it will be key. Like, how was it done before and was it successful? If there was an unsuccessful attempt to do this at some point, we need to learn why it wasn't successful and what could we do different this time?”
Volk thinks the SDA and the Chamber can play an important role this year, especially with the city’s finances in disarray.
“Because of the situation financially with the city right now, for us to step up and work together is important because the city needs that revenue from the sales tax. And if we can work together on events or whatever it takes to get people here and shopping, there's power in numbers, and we absolutely can help the situation.”
Bulbulia agrees. “We all want the town to work for everyone,” he said, “so why not work together.”
Find out more
The Sebastopol Downtown Association is holding a meeting for SDA members, other local business people, and the general public to discuss the concept and ramifications of cooperating and perhaps merging with the Chamber. The meeting is Monday, July 10, 6:30 pm at Hopmonk Tavern.