Rob Ritzenthaler reports that in its first month, the Greater State Street Business Association has already recruited between 60% and 70% of more than 100 business and property owners on the thoroughfare as dues-paying members. "I didn't expect that there would be this much enthusiasm," says Pic-A-Book co-owner Dan Waisman. "You know, you work on these things sometimes and you get the feeling that no one's interested. Well, there were a lot of people interested." Established by the merger of State Street Business Watch and the Upper State Street Business Association, the new group aims to address the city bureaucracy's perceived antipathy toward downtown merchants. Waisman adds that the group's goals include a 25-cent downtown shuttle-bus service for State Street, nearby parking ramps and the GEF buildings - a proposal the city rejected two years earlier. Waisman sells Pic-A-Book in 1996 and devotes himself to the business next door, Poster Master, until last year, when he retires. What is he doing in retirement? "Nothing," Waisman says. "Playing a little poker."
That great street
From the Isthmus archives, Feb. 26, 1988