Bend’s downtown is more than the streets, the buildings, the businesses, the people, the pursuit of parking. It’s a composite creature. With care, it grows. With neglect, it dwindles.

Bend’s downtown is still the envy of many other cities. Keep it that way. If you are a downtown building owner, support the Downtown Business Association.

Its funding through an economic improvement district is once again up for renewal. The Bend City Council is scheduled to vote on the matter this week.

Graffiti, trash, concern about safety, snow on the sidewalks — all those will shave away a downtown’s stature. It can happen fast. It doesn’t matter how wondrous the experience is the restaurants or how terrific the services and the items for sale. If downtown is not a good place to be, it will not be the place where people will be.

Downtown in the early morning, you see the work being put in to clean up, to hang the latest decorations, banners and lights. The Downtown Business Association does maintenance, beautification, marketing, and helps organize many events to drive more people downtown.

The money to continue it would come from a $.30 per square foot assessment on the commercial property downtown. It would raise about $300,000. It is not a new fee but a renewal of the fee that has been in place. It is a couple cents higher than what was charged in the past.

Is the work of the association worth it? That’s something building owners decide. If they choose to assess themselves, yes they will pay. But they and anyone who goes downtown would pay a different kind of price if they don’t.

A strong downtown may seem like one of the least of Bend’s worries today. Don’t let it slip.