BID, in partnership with the University of Great Falls, to get better feel on downtown Great Falls business climate

Starting today, business owners in downtown Great Falls will have a chance to stand up and be counted.

The Business Improvement District will conduct a survey of downtown businesses to better understand its constituency, as well as answer the questions of business or property owners contemplating a move downtown.

By LAURA POLLAND Tribune Staff Writer

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040203/localnews/340882.html

"Many people ask me how many people work downtown," said Greg Madson, director of the BID. The most recent information he has is nearly a decade old, reporting approximately 8,000 workers in 1995.

Other common questions are income levels and the types of business downtown.

Survey questions include full-time and part-time employment, total payroll and standard industrial classifications. The categories align with U.S. Census Bureau business data, which provides detail down to the zip code level.

The BID covers the area bounded by River Drive, 7th Street, 2nd Avenue South and the alley between 1st Avenue North and 2nd Avenue North.

Senior business students from the University of Great Falls http://www.ugf.edu/ will conduct the survey, going door to door over the next few Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Madson assured business owners that the information will remain confidential. Data will only be published in aggregate, ranging from the whole downtown district to a one-block radius.

Contact information may be used to keep businesses abreast of things like the reconstruction of Central Avenue this spring.

The data will go into the BID’s geographic information system, an electronic set of maps already including layers of information such as parcel size and parking spaces.

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For more info about BID: http://downtowngf.sofastweb.net/ws/homepage3.php?page_id=3146&PHPSESSID=2bded341599975bfef37821cb2c062c2

Phone: (406) 453-6151

Fax: (406) 727-5431

Email:

Downtown Great Falls

419 Central Avenue

Great Falls, MT 59401

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Madson said he had long wanted to add information on individual businesses, but lacked the manpower.

The students conducting the survey are part of UGF professor Deborah Hanson’s new commerce integration class, designed to help students apply the business strategies they have studied.

As well as designing and conducting the census this semester, students will critique and design Web sites and write business plans for local business people.

The census project is a win-win-win situation, Hanson said. In addition to helping the BID and being of use to the business community, students will gain valuable experience.

"The more real-life a concept can be made, the more pertinent and relevant students find (it)," she said. "It puts arms and legs on the concepts rather than being in the abstract."

Hanson said going door-to-door may be intimidating, especially for the younger students. Both she and Madson expressed appreciation for businesses who cooperate with the survey.

Madson, an adjunct professor at the university as well as BID director, said survey participants can direct their questions to him at 727-5430.

Established in 1989, the Business Improvement District is funded by property owners. It is charged with downtown revitalization through economic development, real estate development, short- and long-range planning, grant programs, and physical and environmental enhancements.

Polland can be reached at or by phone at (406) 791-9812