HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.090722
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REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2022
Co-Chairperson Charles Cunniffe called the meeting to order at 8:44 am.
Commissioners in attendance: Angi Wang, Kiki Raj, Bill Dinsmoor and were present. Amanda Tanaka, Jeb
Ball, and Terry Butler were absent.
Staff present:
Nicole Henning, City Clerk
Other attendees:
Alycin Bektesh, ACRA
Commissioner Comments:
Ms. Raj said she is supporting Brad Matthews to keep his food truck at the Eagles. It was recently
removed by the city.
Mr. Cunniffe asked if the Dreamery truck is ever open. He said it’s closed every time he goes by. How is
this doing a service to the community?
Ms. Raj said that Mr. Matthews had his food truck less than two weeks, and it was on private property.
It sounds like they were kicked off by the zoning department. Ms. Henning said she can reach out to
Community Development and get more information to update them or have someone come advise at
next meeting.
Mr. Cunniffe began the discussion on the living lab recap.
Ms. Wang said she and Jeb went to council for public comment and she invited a bunch of other people,
and no one showed up. Jeb gave our presentation and council thanked us, but they still extended it after
we left. The data we gave them was clear and they obviously don’t care about the feedback. We
suggested working together with them to figure out a solution.
Mr. Cunniffe said people should get off their bikes in the downtown core. It’s the bikes that create the
issue.
Ms. Raj said that other cities are talking about banning e-bikes. Mr. Cunniffe said regular bikes are also a
problem.
Mr. Dinsmoor said it’s not a radical notion anymore. Ms. Wang said she rides her bike to town every day
and doesn’t mind getting off it and walking it part of the way. She said Jeb texted her his idea this
morning, to have a block party to celebrate the dismantling of the lab. We should consider what that
might look like.
Ms. Wang said she wanted Jeb to put this topic on the agenda because she wants to streamline the
judging process for the Saturday market. She wants it automated, so the vendors are all applying online.
Mr. Cunniffe said you don’t want to exclude the crafts people who aren’t tech people. Mr. Dinsmoor
said he doesn’t disagree. They both said they enjoy coming in to look and talk about the vendors
together. Mr. Dinsmoor said we need a hard copy.
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REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2022
Mr. Cunniffe said being able to touch and feel is important, and he said he wants to see the crafts in
person. It’s part of the market. Mr. Dinsmoor agreed.
Ms. Raj said she would also prefer to do it online.
Ms. Wang said the tallying takes so much time for Jeb and there is human error.
Mr. Cunniffe said the risk is that someone is out there, and everything is starting to look the same
because they all hire the marketing person to do the work. He mentioned Bendon Adams.
Ms. Wang said the person who does this is $40.00 an hour so we would need to advocate for a budget.
Mr. Dinsmoor said this is budget time coming up for the city. If we want to try one more time to get
money and get a few of us together to ask council, we should. Ms. Henning said all of the supplementals
have been approved already and it the money would most likely come from the clerk’s budget. We
would need to request money for the spring supplemental instead. Mr. Cunniffe said we need to think
about the Jerome balcony for 4th of July.
Mr. Dinsmoor asked Ms. Bektesh about a poll that ACRA did. She said they currently have one going
around right now. She wants to do an in-person feedback forum not with the city.
Mr. Cunniffe asked what percentage of business owners in the core are ACRA members. He mentioned a
postcard from the city.
Ms. Raj said we should have free valet parking for Aspen locals. Ms. Wang said a parking structure would
solve a lot of problems.
Mr. Cunniffe said with different leadership, we would have a parking structure under Wagner Park. If
you want to do that for a better future, you would do that now.
Ms. Raj said it would be nice to not keep talking about the same thing over and over again.
Mr. Dinsmoor said it seemed to him, that the process to have CCLC carry the scroll for the 4th of July,
was messy. He doesn’t like the way that it happened. He doesn’t want to move forward with them just
dumping stuff on us. He suggested regularly meeting with the city manager.
Ms. Bektesh said she’s impressed with how many people CCLC has engaged and having such a huge
database of contact. You guys have such a voice and can really make an impact.
Mr. Cunniffe said a voice is a good thing if the other side has ears.
Ms. Bektesh asked how involved they are in the lodging piece. Mr. Dinsmoor said we had to include the
lodging group in the past. But ACRA is a lodging group and people decided to invest their time in ACRA
and not here.
Ms. Bektesh asked if this group has an opinion about the STR tax.
They said they’ve never been asked.
Ms. Wang said that it will deter people from coming here and make it more exclusionary. Mr. Cunniffe
said the visitors are wealthier.
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REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 7TH, 2022
Ms. Raj said she doesn’t like the middle-class visitors at all. They should stay home.
Mr. Dinsmoor said they need to decide what they want to focus on for the next year.
Mr. Cunniffe asked if CCLC did a resolution with their mission statement. Ms. Henning said she will find it
and send it to the group.
Mr. Cunniffe said the lodging piece should be restored because it’s all connected.
Ms. Raj said there are not anymore lodging places like Terry’s.
Mr. Dinsmoor said they should start to encourage Kathy to groom someone to take over the Saturday
market and suggested Samantha Haverman.
Ms. Wang motioned to approve two sets of minutes from 8/3 and 8/17; Mr. Dinsmoor seconded. All in
favor, motion carried.
Mr. Cunniffe exited the meeting at 9:45 a.m.
Ms. Bektesh exited the meeting at 9:50 a.m.
Ms. Raj motioned to adjourn; Mr. Dinsmoor seconded at 9:52 a.m. All in favor, motion carried.
_____________________
Nicole Henning, City Clerk