The pros and cons of doing business on Broadway were brought into focus Thursday during the Greater Broadway Business Walk.

More than 100 businesses were polled to get a pulse on the area's current business environment, part of an effort to retain and expand business.

Vagrants and panhandling are regular headaches for Broadway business owners, civic and business leaders learned. At the same time, business owners said they appreciate edgy, urban Broadway's central location, freeway access, supportive neighborhoods, diversity and recent decrease in crime.

Nearly 40 people fanned out along the commercial corridor, visiting 117 businesses Thursday morning. Their goals were to find out how business is going, see what's working and learn about the problems facing business owners. The event was organized by the Sacramento Metro Chamber, Greater Broadway Partnership and the city's Economic Development Department.

"This really is about building and furthering a relationship with these businesses, because we're all in this together," said Matt Yancey, the chamber's director of business and economic development. He explained the process and goals during a breakfast at Beatnik Studios, 2421 17th St.

The group included Broadway business owners, Economic Development staff Lorrie Lowry and Dean Peckham, and City Councilman Rob Fong, who grew up in the neighborhood.

Ethnically and economically diverse Broadway supports a mix of businesses — most of them family-owned. Some, like Setzer Products, Ruhkala Monuments and Saccani Distributing Co., have been in families for generations, said Teresa Rocha, executive director of the Greater Broadway Partnership.

"Most of the businesses on Broadway are not small — they're micro," Rocha said. "A lot of them are working really hard to end up each day with a good living."

Sacramento's landmark Tower Theater, with its Art Deco architecture and historic neon sign, help define Broadway at its center.

The street contains a high concentration of ethnic restaurants, as well as banks, national chains like Target, auto-parts stores, gas stations, a bait and gun store, and a fish market. KXTV Channel 10, the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery and warehouses anchor the west end of Broadway, while state agencies and fast-food restaurants anchor the east, known as Upper Broadway. Liquor stores, money lenders and a porn shop also make their homes on the street.

Artsy endeavors such as Beatnik Studios, a photo studio and gallery, have opened more recently.

Most business owners seemed to say that business was down since last year, anywhere from 10 to 50 percent. But some reported business was about the same or even getting better.

Hands down, problems such as aggressive panhandling and people camping behind businesses seemed to plague proprietors from one end of Broadway to the other. On Thursday, people slept in the shade of bus stops while one panhandled on the sidewalk, yelling at those who did not give him money.

"We have issues with panhandling," Cherie Prasad, store manager of the Walgreens at 1401 Broadway, told Fong's group, which included Lowry, business owner Royce Ann Ruhkala Burks and Fong's staffer, Lisa Nava. "That's my biggest customer complaint: panhandlers."

There are also problems with people relieving themselves on the property — sometimes within view of customers and staff — or suffering from mental instability or drug and alcohol problems, several said.

"Most of them are harmless. They hang out and panhandle. So we go (to nearby businesses) in groups," said Bea Franchetto, business manager of the Sacramento Business Journal. "But once in awhile, we get someone who is ranting."

The problem with vagrancy is no different on Broadway than other parts of the city, Rocha said.

"We have a lot of people walking around in this district," she said. "We don't have the robberies, burglaries and violent crimes other places may be experiencing."

The Greater Broadway Partnership hired security guards for the corridor, but it was expensive and didn't solve the problem. Homeless people were just pushed from one area to another. The business improvement district will continue to work with the city to find a better solution, Ruhkala said.

Business owners were encouraged to report problems to 311, but vagrancy and panhandling should be reported to police non-emergency at 264-5471, according to city staff.

Speeding, lack of parking and reduced business due to furlough Fridays also were reported, especially on Broadway's eastern end. While proprietors up and down the corridor said crime had decreased, a few reported serious crimes including blatant drug dealing near the Broadway light-rail station, illegal businesses in backroom shops and a recent armed robbery inside a fast-food restaurant.

Business owners said they appreciated the five-day-a-week street cleaning, graffiti cleanup and the security guards paid for with their dues to the Greater Broadway Partnership. They said they would like to see the area become safer for pedestrians and cyclists, with the addition of bike lanes and 25 mph speed limit enforcement.

Others suggested promoting the street's unique and diverse businesses and creating a trolley system between downtown and Broadway.

The information gathered during the event will be used by the business community and the city to help Broadway's businesses.

Outside Chinatown Buffet — one of the many ethnic restaurants giving Broadway its identity today — Fong said he wants to help transform the one-time transportation corridor into a walkable main street, with businesses serving nearby neighborhoods, but without an attempt to copy successful Midtown.

"I think it'll sort of define its own way," he said.

Photo by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.