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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.011613 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 16, 2013 Vice-chair, Don Sheeley called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, Riley Tippet, Kiki Raj and Terry Butler. Hana Pevny, Andrew Kole and Siam Castillo were absent. Riley moved to approve the minutes of January 2nd second by Terry. All in favor, motion carried. Public Comments Bruce Berger owner of BB kitchen restaurant Parking is critical and we have environmental issues with cars going around and around trying to find parking. Bruce said losing spaces on restaurant row is not a good idea. Other restaurants are concerned about giving extra outside seating on Hopkins. A lot of retailers are also concerned. The further you have to park away the more difficult it is to get people to come into town or your restaurant. Steve Barwick said the idea is to have parklets. You would sit out near the curb and there would be a railing around the area and seating. This would only be during the summer. There are two possible sites. Council has talked about Galena Street being a pedestrian street for years. Don asked how many parking spaces would be lost. Steve said two to three in front of each restaurant. Adam Frisch, councilmember said tying it in the commercial area is not a good idea. It would be best to try it more on the peripheral of town. Video European Christmas Bill said we need another idea for Aspen other than skiing. We don't see anyone until the 23rd of December. A destination area for people to come here without snow. It would be a real game changer for Aspen. I would like to see an XMAS market here in Aspen. Take the best elements from all the other markets and incorporate them here. There is lighting, music and kiosk. Xmas gift shopping is key to make this work. Bill said there is only one here in the US and that is in Chicago. Steve Barwick said there is one in Denver. 1 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 16, 2013 Bill said this is a "driver" without snow. Terry said it would be like Food and Wine and the Saturday market. It would run from Dec.I s' to XMAS. Debbie Braun said there is a big opportunity to pull in the arts and culture because they are doing a year round calendar. I do see this as a destination event down the road after two years or so. Riley said anything like this gives Aspen a different appeal. Maybe there is a play outside or something like that. Kiki said it needs to be a sophisticated event. Steve said retailers are a concern. The CCLC needs to do their homework with them and reach out. Bill said we need to take the videos and have people able to see it on the city site. We also need a business plan and we need to get momentum behind it. Each market has its own theme. We would need not spiced wine and be able to carry it around the malls. One market had cinnamon pastries and prune people. Adam Frisch said we need more people in town. A couple days of rain won't hurt people from coming back. This is a tool to get people in town. We also need by in from the community. People come in the summer because there are things to do. Debbie said our funds are for marketing and we don't market in the winter. Adam said the path is that we need people to come to town. Terry said you hire someone professional. We had solid money behind the bike event. The government needs to help the community. As a hotel/business owner you have five months of revenue to pay for a year rent. Kiki said this is something to promote local businesses and we need to focus on that. 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 16, 2013 Debbie mentioned the marketing alliance group which would be a good outreach. They may have good ideas. Bruce Berger said people won't get on planes to come here they will drive. The fourth of July people drive here for the fireworks. You need to give them a reason why to come here. Adam said you need a one paragraph and do a survey to see if people are on board and acknowledge that there is a problem without snow. Terry said this requires a strong leadership. We have a problem to solve and this is one of the ways to do it. Do the theme and attach the YouTube site. Debbie said she will get back to CCLC on the forum dates. Debbie said she will do a survey once CCLC gets a few questions. You need to show how it is referenced to the community plan and small town character. Stephen Elsperman from the Parks Department said they are doing electrical work in Wagner Park. There has been a lot of discussion on the timing to do this and should Wagner be turned into a special event area. Bill said the street sweepers come out on Main Street and do Paepcke Park and the sweepers drive down the street. They should sweep the sidewalks instead of driving down the street. Stephen said we need to take care of the public sidewalks. We need to make sure the snow is packed in an area. Sidewalks are not part of the open space fund. Bill said people get off the bus by Paepcke and that area needs to be done first. MOTION: Riley moved to adjourn; second by Terry. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:05 Kathleen J. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 3