Had been active in Tucson’s Rio Nuevo plan

Two central, if low-key, players in downtown redevelopment have stepped down.

Donovan Durband, executive director of the Downtown Tucson Partnership and its predecessor Tucson Downtown Alliance, resigned after working with the organizations since 1999. He became the alliance’s executive director in 2001 and continued in that role as the alliance was reconfigured as the partnership last year.

“I’ve decided to move on,” said Durband, whose last day on the job is Friday.

Durband’s resignation caught partnership Chief Executive Glenn Lyons off guard.

Rio Nuevo construction manager Bill O’Malley left two weeks ago, although his official last day is recorded as Aug. 22 in the city Human Resources Department. O’Malley joined the Rio Nuevo office in February 2005.

O’Malley was overseeing the Tucson Origins and Depot Plaza projects. That has involved removing 115,159 cubic yards of garbage from the footprint for Mission San Agustín and the garage for Tucson Origins, plus digging the hole for the three-level underground garage at Depot Plaza behind the One North Fifth Apartments.

“(O’Malley’s) projects are being managed by others,” Rio Nuevo director Greg Shelko said. “There will not be any hiccups because we have a lot of other people working on downtown.”

Most of O’Malley’s duties will be assumed by Fran La Sala, an assistant to City Manager Mike Hein principally overseeing construction and infrastructure projects.

“I’m assuming some of his construction and oversight on Depot Plaza and the West Side,” La Sala said.

Durband has been involved with the downtown alliance/partnership since the beginning, in 1998. As executive director, he launched the Downtown Parade of Lights, Dillinger Days, Madonnari Chalk Art Festival, and the recently restarted Downtown Saturday Night. He started the downtown Web site and the Downtown Tucsonan publication.

Durband served on the boards of the Warehouse Arts Management Organization (WAMO) and the Downtown Links Citizen Advisory Committee.

“We appreciate his participation in WAMO,” said Susan Gamble, owner of Santa Theresa Tile Works, 440 N. Sixth Ave. “He believes the arts are a part of downtown and needed to be part of the planning for revitalization.”

Mary Lou Focht, owner of Old Town Artisans, 201 N. Court Ave., was a longtime board member at the alliance but was not asked to join the board of the partnership.

“The aim for the alliance was to have a clean and safe downtown and support downtown businesses,” Focht said. “He carried that very far. As far as safety goes, we now have more police protection, which came about because of the alliance’s efforts.”

Focht suspects Durband was forced to resign.

“I know of no one left now to show some transparency of what the city manager and staff are up to,” Focht said.

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Donovan Durband, executive director of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, supplied this note about his 10-year tenure at the organization and its predecessor, the Tucson Downtown Alliance:

I worked with the first executive director Carol Carpenter when she was working for the City forming the Business Improvement District and then after she became the director of the new organization, Tucson Downtown Alliance – while I was working on my master’s in planning at the U of A.

I came on staff in May 1999, became interim executive director that September when Carol left, then worked with Paige Kurtz when she was here from July 2000 to May 2001. At that point, I was appointed executive director, a title I have held ever since.

So it’s been over nine years with the alliance/partnership on staff, and 10 if you include prior volunteer service.

I helped to stabilize the organization after it had gone through a very rough time soon after it was formed, managed the Purple Shirts (security staff) and worked to bring in additional revenue to the organization. In 2002 we added to the security and maintenance program with a small marketing program, creating the Downtown Web site (www.DowntownTucson.com), starting the Downtown Tucsonan, and then the next year we started putting on special events. We’ve just published the 75th issue of the magazine. We’ve grown several events, including the Parade of Lights, Dillinger Days, Madonnari Chalk Art Festival, and recently restarted Downtown Saturday Night.

Annual revenue for the Tucson Downtown Alliance increased from $600,000 a year in 2001 to $1.1 million in 2007.

I worked closely with the city on many projects, including the streetcar planning, the Congress Street Master Plan, facade program, Downtown Destinations Signage Program, and Tax Increment Financing extension. I represented the downtown on many committees and boards, such as Downtown Links and ParkWise.

Formed the Downtown Neighborhoods Advisory Committee as part of our board and organizational structure in 2002, to promote communication between neighborhoods and downtown businesses. Worked closely with the Downtown Merchants Council, which is part of the Partnership.

Co-founded the Downtown Stakeholders group in 2005 to broaden the participation among diverse downtown constituencies, and to work more closely with the city on various projects such as the Fourth Avenue Underpass and Infrastructure. Represented the Tucson Downtown Alliance in 2007 as it became the foundation of the new Downtown Tucson Partnership, worked to ensure that the various constituencies were adequately represented on the Board.

I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last decade in helping to keep downtown going through difficult times, promoting major projects and opportunities that will help downtown to reach its potential.

Right now I need a break. I’ve given Downtown my all over the last 10 years, and probably need to restore some balance. My dad passed away a few months ago, and that plus the family reunion in Iowa that followed his passing was a reminder of how fast time goes and how easy it is to lose sight of what’s important.

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