Downtown Group Hires First Executive Director

To help promote downtown and attract visitors and shoppers, Joseph Honescko has been hired as the Downtown Anaheim Assn.’s first executive director.

Honescko, a 20-year Anaheim resident, will be responsible for promoting and organizing special events for downtown, building membership for the year-old association and overseeing property maintenance.

“It will be a real plus to have an individual working full time to promote downtown Anaheim,” said John Machiaverna, co-chair of the association’s steering committee.

“This gives us someone on-site who can coordinate different promotions,” said Machiaverna, a downtown jewelry store and coffeehouse owner.

Honescko, who assumed the post this month and will have an office downtown, has extensive expertise in property management, city officials said.

“We feel real lucky to get somebody with his kind of background,” said Robert M. Zur Schmiede, redevelopment manager.

The association is a public-private partnership of property and business owners that is designed to promote, maintain and develop the new downtown.

Honescko’s experience includes serving as senior vice president with JMB Realty Corp. in Century City, where he was involved in the revitalization of a shopping center, city officials said.