Tracy hasn’t always had the best reputation as a place to run or start a business. In fact, some officials and business people admit it was downright dismal.

For Mayor Brent Ives, learning about the city’s less-than-stellar reputation came as a surprise.

“I didn’t find out until I was mayor what kind of reputation Tracy had with the business community,” Ives said.

But Ives insists that the perception, whether rightly or wrongly earned, is changing.

“We’re the only city in this county that’s doing anything proactive in terms of economic development,” he said. “I think businesses are going to have a hard time finding places to build (that are as welcoming as Tracy).”

Ives and other officials at City Hall tout several efforts they say have made Tracy more “business friendly” — a term Ives says is really shorthand for bringing more jobs to town.

“The best thing I can do is to give (a Tracy resident) a job in Tracy,” Ives said, who added that homegrown jobs are the key to putting the city and its residents on more stable financial footing during a time when the unemployment rate in San Joaquin County hovers at 16½ percent, according to California’s Employment Development Department.

But Ives and other Tracy officials don’t most vigorously tout big-ticket economic efforts, like enticing a Macy’s to move into the stagnant West Valley Mall with $2.75 million of city capital improvement money or using $10 million in redevelopment funds to revise the downtown streetscape.

Instead, people like Andrew Malik, the city’s development director, say strategies such as refining the city’s business permit process are what will truly make a difference for Tracy’s economy.

About 1½ years ago, Malik said, the city began to simplify its permitting systems and make them more transparent, including an online tracking system that lets applicants find out in real time the status of each request.

He also said that the city has become more flexible about fast-tracking the review for business development, citing as an example the ongoing construction of WinCo Foods near the West Valley Mall. City inspectors and engineers have worked to reduce WinCo’s break-ground-to-opening timeline from eight months to six.

The upshot of those efforts, Malik said, is that the city now has one of the friendliest and fastest permit processes in San Joaquin County. And business folks, he insisted, are starting to notice.

“In fact, when we did the Home Depot and Crate and Barrel distribution centers, the contractor basically said, ‘Years ago, I’d done work in Tracy, and it was difficult to get through the process,’” Malik shared. “He said ‘This is a new day, and I will tout Tracy, and I would love to come back and do projects in this town.’”

City Manager Leon Churchill, whom Ives credited with guiding the city on a more business-friendly bent, agreed with Malik. Churchill boasted that Tracy recently got a pair of business referrals — which he said he couldn’t yet disclose — because other nearby cities couldn’t process their permits fast enough.

But he said rebuilding the city’s reputation as the place to do business in the Central Valley takes more than just a leaner bureaucracy.

“It’s also about having the ability to make relationships with people in the business community,” he said.

Dan Schack has been a member of Tracy’s business world for decades and is now the interim president of the Tracy City Center Association, a group of downtown business and property owners that formed this year to boost the fortunes of Tracy’s historical heart.

He agreed that the city’s efforts regarding business development are more than just lip service.

“The city of Tracy has been trying to recover from a perception out there in the business world as being very onerous and non business-friendly,” Schack said.

“Since our new city manager, Leon Churchill, has come on board, he understands — and I’m very confident that he is committed to changing that perception and has been working very, very hard to change that.”

Schack cautioned, however, that significant progress could be difficult to detect at first.

“Just like everything, not everything works according to plan, and I think everyone realizes it’s a time thing,” he said, though he remains bullish on the city’s future, especially if, he said, the entire town adopts the same proactive outlook.

Brian Nokes, whose Tracy Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep and Hyundai outfit recently purchased Stan Morri Ford and converted it to Tracy Ford, agrees with Schack’s optimism.

“A lot of retailers, including ourselves, think Tracy’s on the verge of turning around,” Nokes said after moving into his position as Tracy Ford’s president.

He also praised the city for its help with his company’s purchase.

“They’ve been great,” he said. “I think the city’s definitely been more business-friendly.”

Signs of contention

Not everyone shares the same rosy view of the city’s relationship with entrepreneurs, though.

In the past two weeks, about 30 letters were mailed to various downtown Tracy businesses telling them that at least one of their advertising signs is in violation of city code.

Several outfits downtown sport non-conforming signs that have garnered complaints, according to Ana Contreras, head of Tracy’s code enforcement department.

“We repeatedly get complaints from the community about illegal signs,” she said, including those of the A-frame and banner varieties, in use by several businesses.

Kimberly Matlock of the city’s planning department said banner signs and other “non-permanent” displays are allowed only on a temporary basis, because they don’t hold up over time.

One of those downtown businesses is Shorter’s Rib Pit and Catering on Ninth Street, which has a professionally printed banner high on the building’s façade.

Dave Shorter, who owns the barbecue joint along with Donelle Shorter, says he feels as if the city is working against his efforts to run a successful business. From his perspective, he said, the city’s business-friendly focus has been “just talk.”

“What they don’t understand is that you need all the customers you can get,” he said.

He added that, while he is in the process of figuring out a permanent sign, placing burdens on entrepreneurs hurts the vitality of the city itself, not just the targeted businesses.

According to Matlock, the process to get a permanent sign is one of the fastest and simplest in the city.

“We understand that not everyone knows all the codes, and we’re here to assist… and help you through the process,” she said, emphasizing that city planners want to work with business owners instead of against them. “We’re really interested in making the process as smooth as possible.”

Permits for business signs carry a flat rate of $456, unless a property owner has a special pre-agreement with the city, which can reduce that charge. Matlock also said a business owner would need to take out a building permit before any permanent sign could be installed.

According to Shorter, that’s a hurdle for him and others trying to stay afloat in a tough economy.

“To hinder me in that way is just not fair,” he said.