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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.08012007 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 1, 2007 Chairperson, Bill Dinsmoor called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Terry Butler, Mark Goodman, Don Sheeley, Shae Singer and John Starr. Staff present: Jackie Lothian, Deputy Clerk Discussion of composition of board. Mark pointed out when you get to a certain size group the dynamics change. Andrew Kole, public suggested that the CCLC request a budget. Bill said at one point they sponsored a rotational art sculpture program. CCLC can be the liaison with existing events to establish what might be done to maintain and/or enhance the event. Example: HBO and Comedy Arts Festival which are now lost. Shae said the BID should not replace the CCLC. The BID would be an entity funded by monies that landlords and tenants have. The CCLC needs to continue on to be an open voice of the community. Saturday Market update: Shae said there are numerous tourist coming to the market and it is packed. Vendors ask the purchasers and you can see all the locals every week. The market is very successful and the vendors and farmers are contented. John discussed the market moving another block. Bill said we are remiss if we do not pursue any ideas about the market that come up. Bill asked about the food demonstrations. Shae said last week Carl from the Aspen Club had person issues that came up and he was not able to attend. Don asked about serving and selling food. His wife used the ACRA booth last week and if someone can get a hot dog or coca cola while they are running around it would enhance the market. Shae said she feels we should revisit the food issue next year. We have offered to all the local restaurants to be involved in the cooking demonstration and they can demonstrate and sell food for $4. or less. If they are a member ofthe chamber they can also sell food and hand out samples. We have gotten a minimal response. 1 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 1, 2007 Bill said he understands why restaurants don't come because it is difficult to change schedules and get people to come etc. You need to find equipment etc. that is scrutinized by the health department. The cooking demonstration is a change in the business model that is extremely difficult to execute. Bill said when we started we made an agreement with the restaurant association that the farmers market would not be a side show that you get at fairs. Shae said there is coffee from Jeffs Italian ice available to vendors while they are setting up. Don said he feels not selling some kind of food at the market is archaic. It is a convenience thing to grab a hot dog and not go to a restaurant. Terry and Shae said we are missing the boat not having food. Shae mentioned Dish who used honey from the market and greens etc. from the market to do their demonstrate. We also had a lady from Grand Junction demonstrating fruit and vegetable carvings. Shae said she is behind Don and Terry because we have asked restaurants to participate and they choose not to. If people need food we should figure out a way for vendors to provide it. John said if we want to revisit the expansion there is a public process that we need to follow. The little tent is a pass by and if we can't get the restaurants to do it maybe we should revisit not having the food demonstrations at all. Shae said restaurants said it was too costly so Kathy and I came up with the food demonstrations as an alternative. Andrew Kole said the hot dogs work because people can handle them and if you eat a hamburger you need a place to sit. Food worked better in the park in the past because we had a stand and chairs. Maybe demonstrations occurred there also. The idea to expand would be at the end of E. Hopkins where there would be a stage etc. That was the suggestion four years ago. It would be a T and there would be a speaker there etc. Bill said we should annually review the footprint that we are using. At the last revisit we were proposing to move to Galena and the conclusion was that CCLC wanted the retailers to come to us for the exploration. Regardless of where we go we would need people on that block to be pro- active. 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 1, 2007 Terry said she talked to Curious George who said it was a terrible year for retailers and he would like CCLC to engage getting people downtown. He is speaking for the Hyman Street mall. Bill said our budget was taken away and we need to address if we get it back what we would do with it. We could have someone do an indebt market research. Bill said one thing that he sees at the market is that it is so sunny and bright and he would like to see shading at the market. He saw one in Ashville, North Carolina. We could investigate that with our budget. Terry said people say they would like to stay at the market longer but it is too hot. You would get bigger spenders and dwellers if we could come up with that fairly quickly because it is important. John said he feels we could find local sponsorship. Mark said if we were too expand the market we might want to do more publicity and have a cooking contest between three restaurants and generate excitement. Don said he likes the idea of going down Hopkins to mid block. Why can't we just expand it? Andrew said part of the issue was paying for the parking spaces. Another big issue was the traffic flow etc. Residents were also opposed. The issue is what could we put out there that we don't have if we expanded. The ACRA members have the opportunity to use the market and they choose not to. MOTION: Don made the motion to look into and explore the possibility of servingfood at the market for next year, motion second by Shae. All in favor, motion carried. Mark said he is in favor of expanding the market but moving the market to Mill Street would be the best scenario. Merchants will benefit and the park is right there. It is a much more pleasant venue. Mark said there needs to be a corporate name or idea over every booth. Terry also said they need to be properly signed. Bill also said a little more information about who the vendors are is important to have available in their booths. 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 1.2007 Andrew suggested a standardization of signs next year and that the booth fee be increased to cover the cost of making them. Terry also agreed that we need an identification sign. Terry said we need to do everything we can to make this market grow and that includes food. We need to expand on our advertising and keep people interested in our market. All this should be in consideration when we ask for our budget from the City Council. Bill said that is a great segue into our budget. We talked about the $40,000; membership and the renewal date of the ordinance that created the CCLC. Bill said most people do not know on council what the CCLC does. Bill said this board is an idea generator. People come to us or we come up with thoughts or opportunities that we want to explore in the City. Some require capital to do. We would like a budget to demonstrate the viability of some of these ideas. Mark said we need to identify to Council who we are. We are a group of volunteers who are business minded, local people who are working and being proactive for our community. Shae felt that the CCLC ordinance is one issue and the BID is another issue. It is not appropriate to have it in the same conversation with Council. Don also agreed that they are two separate entities. Mark and John said they would be willing to discuss the BID if it comes up. Bill said the ACRA asked Don and me to be on the public affairs committee. Don said he feels the committee will be a political action committee at some point. A survey went out to all the members asking what they think are the most important things. Transportation was #1 and housing employees was #2. Ifwe get the business sensed people to get behind transportation improvement we will gain members. The ACRA is figuring out how they can be more effective in dealing with council about some of the issues that come up. 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 1, 2007 Bill said the ACRA wanted a representative from the CCLC on the board because they knew we were concerned about the effectiveness of the ACRA getting involved in issues. Don pointed out that right now the ACRA doesn't have a voice in the government and that is a problem. Shae agreed that at the meeting the ACRA board made it very clear that they want to start having a voice in the community. They took a vote to endorse the Aspen Mountain Lodge project and it was endorsed 100% by the board of directors. Bill said the ACRA needs educated by the entrance issue. Building infill structures and new highways in Aspen makes the problem worse by itself. The ACRA could be proactive in creating a bike program. The ACRA could also take the lead in preservation of water rights. Andrew said starting to create a voting block would be a worthwhile investment for the ACRA. John said water rights could also be a BID issue. Budget Taste of Aspen -$10,000 New Event - $5,000 Core improvements - $5,000 Wayfaring - $5,000 Misc. - $5,000 Saturday Market shading - $10,000 John said the concept was CCLC wouldn't spend it unless there was some reason too but you would have it in a budget so you could have the conversation. Anything over $10,000 would need to be signed offby the City Manager. John said it would be nice for the CCLC to go to Council and say this is what we have done this year. We need to keep communicating with the City Council. Me/etiBg-~JLg!J9;J.l2..~.m. .1(4~/ j /4A z;?~) KathleertJ. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 5