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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.092017COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 Ms. Raj called the meeting to order at 8:34 am. Commissioners in attendance: Kiki Raj, Amanda Tanaka, Terry Butler and Erik Klanderud. Staff in attendance: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Mitch Osur, Parking Services Director APPROVAL OF MINUTES: There was not a quorum to vote, so the minutes from September 6th will go on the next agenda. PUBLIC COMMENT: Siam Castillo She mentioned that she used to serve on the CCLC board and is present to speak on the issue of the market closing an hour earlier. She spoke with Ms. Strickland who recommended she come to the board meeting. Ms. Castillo said she feels that most people are upset and against the market closing early. Mr. Osur asked what percentage of the vendors want to close early and Ms. Castillo said she feels it is 75 to 80 percent who do not want to close early and there is a difference between aggies and arts; but overall, she wants to help get an answer to help solve the problem. Mr. Osur mentioned that last Tuesday night, he went to council and discussed three things: the Shop Aspen campaign, two shows at the ice garden, and a show that ACRA used to run on the street. Council strongly suggested that we close the market at 2:00 p.m. because they are getting complaints from the other retailers in town. Ms. Castillo said she still wants the market vendors to have a voice and she doesn’t feel that closing the market early is going to help that group of retailers in the long run. Mr. Klanderud commented that if one hour will help temper down the swell that’s developing, it seems like a small concession to make. Mr. Raj said that so much of this seems made up and that people need to evolve with the times. Ms. Castillo said they did lose two markets this year and it has effected the vendors a lot. Mr. Osur said it’s about compromise and he does think they should do a survey. He suggested that they need to survey all the businesses in town and if they say to close at 2:00 p.m., we should take that into consideration as well. We have to be able to defend this stance to go back to Barwick. Ms. Tanaka said she agrees with Mr. Osur and said it’s important that both sides are surveyed. She said the market does affect her business on Saturdays, which have always been her slowest days, but she just doesn’t know if one hour is going to make a difference. Mr. Osur suggested that they test it and do it for a year to see how it goes. Mr. Klanderud said they have to be careful when doing surveys in person because it’s influenced. You need to make sure you have an unbiased survey. An iPad survey could be a good idea so they complete it in front of you, but you can’t see how they are responding. Ms. Raj asked Mr. Osur what came of the art fair discussion with council and he said they decided to move forward with it for another year. Mr. Klanderud said there was concern that if the city cut off that revenue, it would fall back on the parents of the community to make it up. He also mentioned that of all the art shows, he sees the Scott Fetzer show being the one to fade away due to disorganization and miscommunication. Regarding the ACRA show, council would like city staff to move it to Rio Grande park, but others would like to see it stay on Monarch because it activates the street. He said they still don’t know if they’re going to move it, but says they’re all staying for at least another year. Mr. Osur said what frustrates other people is two fold and they said it either hurts or kills Saturday business. We have to think about compromise to show that we care. The market vendors pay $460.00 to be in the market for 2 million dollars worth of business and that is what upsets the other retailers. The message being sent isn’t very good. Ms. Tanaka said she appreciates the vendors hustle as she is doing her own hustle and she respects them. The market brings vitality and she happens to think it’s nice that it’s open until 3:00 p.m. Mr. Klanderud addressed the idea that has been brought up to have the market move to the Rio Grande park. He said this is such a conundrum because it used to be about bringing people to town and activating the core on the weekend so it’s a lose lose situation. Mr. Osur said we should use an hour or two to discuss only the market during a November meeting and make some decisions. We need to invite Ms. Strickland for the November 1st meeting and plan to have the survey back by then and go through a white board exercise. Mr. Osur wondered if the market should be changed from Saturday to Sunday like Vail did. Ms. Butler said that Vail is a different animal because people can go to the market and head home to Denver. Ms. Butler said that at her hotel, her Sunday people who are paid up through lunch, take off in the morning and head back to Denver so she doesn’t feel anyone would stick around for market shopping. She also feels that some of the aggies won’t want to come into town on Sunday. She’s a true believer of not fixing something that’s not broken. If you start messing with something that is successful, things start to go haywire. We don’t want to cut into some heavy profits. It’s good to talk about all of the options though. What makes the market is where it is located and adding that extra leg on Hyman is what saved the market a long time ago. She mentioned that she’s been with the market now for 20 years and it started out only with the aggies and years later they added the crafts. Mr. Osur observed that food is mostly bought by the locals and the crafts are mostly bought by tourists at the market. Ms. Raj and Ms. Butler both agreed with him. Ms. Tanaka noted that there is a childrens store located in Vail that she works with closely and she’s going to get some feedback from them about them changing their Saturday market to Sunday and how it affected their business. Ms. Butler said that in Vail, everything is owned by the same corporation and is a well oiled machine. In Aspen there is more government against private owners and it’s easier to have more success over there than here. Mr. Klanderud said that Grand Junction is a great place for Aspen to branch out to. Ms. Tanaka said she had great success doing a pop up for a lacrosse tournament and had a lot of Grand Junction families buying from her. Mr. Klanderud said it is the fastest growing area and there are a lot of Aspenites buying property or relocationg there. It is warm and growing and they are buiding retirement facilities similar to Heritage in Carbondale. Mr. Osur mentioned that at the next meeting, Mr. Dinsmoor needs to report back on the December Kringle market and see what else we can do that isn’t extremely expensive. 50% of the people who come during Christmas, don’t ski anyway, but it is more to be seen and to party in December. Mr. Klanderud said we need to check out Georgetown and see what they do for their market and during the month of December. Mr. Osur said they need to come up with ideas and pressure Ski Co. for free lift tickets the first two weeks of December and it would fill the town. Ms. Raj motioned to adjourn at 9:36 a.m., Ms. Tanaka seconded. _________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk