Renton resident Jean Ragland tries to keep all of her shopping local and doesn’t frequent The Landing and Southcenter, nor downtown Seattle if she can help it. She wants to be able to meet all of her needs in downtown Renton, but she’s having trouble doing so.

“I would like to, as everybody else, see it revitalized into businesses that could complete the consumer circle rather than just the antique stores and the pawn stores,” Ragland said.

She was one of about 100 people who turned out for a meeting of the Renton Downtown Partnership to see what might be the future of the downtown core. The partnership’s board of directors held a community-wide gathering Monday night to solicit input from area business owners and residents on how downtown Renton could grow.

Mayor Denis Law opened up the discussion saying that while The Landing has enjoyed huge success for its mix of housing and retail, it is not the downfall of downtown Renton. It’s a matter of getting the right dynamic downtown, he said. He envisions the core to be more of a neighborhood than a thoroughfare with people shopping on pedestrian-friendly streets, not just passing through.

Several people in the audience brought up the issue of crime downtown and Law said that the perception of crime is greater than the actual numbers, although the numbers aren’t down, he said.

“It is my hope that we will have a regular, highly-visible police presence,” Law said.

That was good news for Ragland and others who attended the meeting and complained about areas such as the transit center being overrun with lawbreakers and trash.

The Renton Downtown Partnership seeks to enhance the image of downtown, improve its appearance and expand the commercial sector, according to its board members. It is a group of business owners and residents, who volunteered to organize to “help the historic elements of downtown pave a way for Renton’s future,” a release stated.

The City of Renton and the Renton Chamber of Commerce formed a partnership to bring the National Main Street Program to Renton. The partnership has adopted the program as an approach to revitalization.

The program’s website boasts a 30-year history with turning around historic downtown communities. That approach centers on four concepts: organization, promotion, design and economic restructuring.

Monday’s meeting sought to recruit more volunteers to four committees under each of those headings.

This was the third time the public has been invited to participate and a lot of foundational work has been achieved since the partnership was formed, according to Ben Andrews, co-lead of the organization committee.

“This is an energy thing, this is a team thing,” Andrews said to the audience.

A long-term goal of the partnership is to have a business and operations tax credit for businesses to contribute donations to the partnership and receive a tax credit. The partnership first has to become a nonprofit and hopes to start accepting donations as soon as this January. Businesses can receive 75 percent of what they contribute back a year later with the tax credit.

Currently, funds for the state’s Main Street Program are in jeopardy, organizers said, because they are tied up in the state budget negotiations. No budget proposals that have been put forth, so far, have included enough funding for the programs that are already active in this state.

“So we’ve done a lot to reach out to politicians to let them know that the main streets in Washington are depending on the Main Street Program to help revitalize our downtowns,” said Nick Hill, partnership president. “And Renton is one of those communities that would greatly benefit from the Main Street Program.”

The state Main Street Program is funded through the state and at the city level funding has more to do with in-kind support from the state level program than actual dollars at the city level.

Regardless of state funding, the business and operations tax credit is still in effect, Hill said.

The verdict on whether the Renton Downtown Partnership is the vehicle to the kind of change Renton needs was mixed at Monday’s meeting. All those interviewed agreed that Renton needs to grow its commercial sector, but how to do that got varying answers.

Business owner Nick Vacca of Legendary Martial Arts Supply said his business has been broken into four times in the last year, twice in the last two weeks. He hadn’t made his mind up about the partnership yet, but came to the meeting hoping for some discussion about crime in the area. Vacca is looking for the police to step it up. He’s considering moving his business out of the city, if he doesn’t see change immediately.

“I just know something down here in Renton has to happen and happen quickly and I don’t see this type of organization doing anything quickly,” Vacca said.

He said he would listen, but would become disinterested if the organization looked like another layer of bureaucracy.

Others were much more optimistic of the effort. Resident and President of Arts Unlimited Paul Hebron compared it to doubters who cut Michael Jordan from his high school basketball team and others who told Oprah Winfrey she would never make it in television.

“So it’s not how many times you fail or how many times or how many years ago you failed,” Hebron said. “It’s how many times you get up and you keep trying.”

Hebron was confident that the partnership could be the vehicle for change in downtown Renton.

“I think you have this many business owners, property owners out here; you’ve got the mayor and representatives from city council, so that’s a step,” he said.

Currently, the partnership has between 50 and 60 volunteers committed to the project. They run the gamut from business owners to nonprofits to the arts to community organizations.

Hill was surprised at the number of people who turned out to the meeting. It was more than he expected.

“There’s a lot of interest in what’s going on in downtown Renton and I think there’s a lot of positive energy and a lot of people who want to improve Renton and make it a better place for everybody,” Hill said.

For update on the Renton Downtown Partnership or to reach its members look for the organization on Facebook, or email rdp@gorenton.com.