Business association to meet

The Downtown Carson City Business Association will hold its inaugural meeting tonight to recruit members and form committees.

Maxine Nietz, a Carson City marketer and one of the founding members, said the mission of the group is to "have a unified voice to deal with the city."

"We've walked into over 100 businesses to tell them about this," she said. "We want to start the process of organizing committees for whatever issues are top priorities. We want to be very pragmatic about the process."

The meeting is set to start at 5:30 p.m. at Comma Coffee, 312 South Carson St. The group will discuss its mission, as well as membership duties. The public is invited to attend.

The association, created last month following the dissolution of the Downtown Merchants Association, covers a geographical area beyond Telegraph Square, including businesses located between Fleischmann Way to 10th Street in the downtown corridor.

With the backing of a large pool of area businesses, and a corporate designation, the group will be able to procure city funding for events and encourage locals to get more involved in supporting mom and pop operations, Nietz hopes.

The group's organizers say they intend to work with the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, a body that encompasses member businesses throughout the city and beyond its borders.