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Steamboat Springs — In a panel discussion and film screening tonight, Off the Beaten Path Bookstore co-owner Ron Krall hopes to unite downtown businesses and community members "to start talking about this economic climate before we find ourselves affected by it."

"The Survival of Downtown" community forum, sponsored by Off the Beaten Path and Mainstreet Steamboat Springs, will address the relationship between independent local businesses and the Routt County residents who frequent them, Krall said. The discussion starts at 6:30 p.m. today at Centennial Hall with a screening of the documentary film "Paperback Dreams," followed by a panel discussion and community dialogue.

"Paperback Dreams" tells the story of two independent bookstores in San Francisco and their struggle to stay afloat.

Krall said the talk will address how community members see local businesses and how those businesses best can serve them in an economic recession.

"What we would hate to see happen is that businesses change or disappear and people say, 'Well, if only I'd known,'" Krall said. "Or businesses say, 'Well if only I'd known that this is what I need to do to meet the needs of the community, I could change, I could meet those needs.'"

Mainstreet manager Tracy Barnett said part of the discussion will focus on what locals want from downtown businesses, and it will build on the "Downtown Bound" local shopping campaign that started during the 2008 holiday season.

Since it was founded in 2004, Mainstreet has focused on revitalizing and preserving downtown Steamboat Springs. Many of the organization's discussions have addressed how to enhance the downtown business district in the long term, Krall said.

"Given everything that's happening in our economy in our town and in our country, (we thought) that this would be a good time to renew the conversation, maybe with more urgency," Krall said.

He hopes tonight's discussion will touch on "what do we need to do right now, to make sure that the downtown that we have and want doesn't disappear before our eyes," he said.

After the film screening and a panel discussion with local business owners and other community representatives, the floor will be open for audience conversation. An economic downturn - evident locally in reduced work hours and fewer available jobs - can permanently change a town's business climate, Krall said.

"Our goal was really to just make sure that we start to talk and kind of share what it is we want before it happens to us without us realizing it."