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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.01022008COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES January 2, 2008, Chairperson, Bill Dinsmoor called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Terry Butler, Mark Goodman, Shae Singer, Fred Ayarza and Roger Haneman. Don Sheeley and John Starr were excused. Commissioner comments: Shae said the biggest problem at the Highlands was parking. It costs $12. no matter how long you stay. Vendors were disturbed about the fee. Most of the vendors broke even. Mark said the fireworks were blocked off the day before on the mall with fencing which affected businesses. Marked asked Kathy to find out why it was barricaded. Was it for safety etc. or what? Shae said she thought Tom Rubel said the trees in the malls cost $5,000 each to light. That seems high. Shae asked Kathy find out from Tom if that figure is correct. Kathy said she will follow up and also find out if the Parks Dept. hires someone to hang the XMAS lights. Shae said the led lights put out the cold light and you can get frosted lights. You can also get a frosted bulb. Mark said he feels we should have a light designer hired or volunteered to help the Parks Department. Have Chris Tyler come in and offer a bid what it would take to do a design for our malls. Bill pointed out that this is the New Year and we need to know if the electric problems are solved for the Saturday Market. Kathy said she already contacted Ron Christensen to see if lighting on the east side of the Hunter Street could be installed as the vendors are doing newer designs etc. and lighting would enhance their product. Bill also asked if there is some way lighting could occur in Conner Park. Terry Butler said she gets guests five times a winter from Orlando, Florida. He rents a car and parks in parking a and b. New Years eve he got towed. The tower pulled the car and ruined the bumper, luckily he took insurance. Terry said she had a map and went to the parking area to make sure everything was OK. Terry pointed out that no one told her about a new map. There is no parking left. The impact on her hotel and lack of parking is COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES January 2, 2008, problematic. The snow build up in town and the construction is a problem for small lodges. I'm afraid I will loose people over this situation. Fred said he has an experience also. People came from Snowmass and asked where to park. UPS had ten trucks out and you couldn't get out on West Cooper. They turned around and went back to Snowmass. The area was blocked for two to three weeks. Bill said in general the concerns of businesses will not be addressed in the future unless we have a contact or something binding, possibly the BID. Shae said the ACRA only represents their businesses. CCLC should represent all businesses. CCLC should step up and become the voice of the businesses. It is out charge to represent the businesses. Shae said CCLC has had difficulty and friction with previous council members. We need to put that away and have a new positive outlook. Mark said he is strongly in favor of that. Mark said he would be glad to give .25 a square foot for the BID because everyone who has a business would be contributing to the BID, instead of the ACRA who only supports their members. Andrew Kole, public said the Streets Department was ill prepared for all the snow. If you want to be effective you need to pick a topic and pound it in the ground. City council doesn't care about parking because they don't want cars in town anyway. Shae brought up that it would be a profit rent if five parking spaces from an individual lodge such as the ST. Regis could be rented for Terry's hotel. Some lodges have excess parking spaces. Bill said the only time we got something some was when it was a specific thing. When you look at the overall effectiveness we get very little done overall. Bill went over the BID for the benefit of the two new members. Bill asked Kathy to find out if lodges can get parking spaces in the garage. Bill suggested Tim Ware and Randy Ready come to our next meeting. Parking is being taken over by construction parking. Shae said the St. Regis has empty spaces. Why can't we have overnight parking for small hotels? COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES January 2, 2008, Kathy handed out a survey for the work session Monday night with the ACRA and the special events committee. CCLC wanted to know how many events are on the books in the various parks. Terry, Mark and Bill said they did not get the e-mail with the survey and they are members of the ACRA. Some of the CCLC members will attend the work session with council and give a report at the next meeting. Bill said a cooking demonstration could benefit the market. The chef could provide samples and could sell the item. It could be filmed and they could get a hold of the cable company. Plum TV might be interested in shooting a show. The three largest events in Aspen are skiing, MAA and the Saturday Market. Bill said we need to get an ad in the paper for someone to spear head a cooking demonstration. If that occurs then it solves the issue of food on-site. The chef could provide food. Kathy said the agriculture vendors want to discuss the food demonstration. Down lighting: Kathy said Jeff Rice just came back from vacation and couldn't come to the meeting. Election of officers: Terry Butler, Chairperson Tie vote for Vice-chair. Nominees Mark Goodman, Shae Singer Vote will be decided when Don Sheeley is present at the next meeting. MOTION: Bill moved to adjourn; second by Terry. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. ~~' Kathlee J. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk