[0:16] Going down another room sounds
[0:26] we zip through.
[0:30] Uh,
>> be a long one. How many
[0:34] » city council?
>> How many do we need for
[0:36] » people? We need five. You fine.
>> I know. I'm just I'm on call up the
[0:42] street
>> and and
[0:46] Gary's going to be late, so it'll be
perfect. this slab end
[0:56] » meeting can start as long as I read it
soon as we have five people but if
[1:00] somebody leaves we just can't vote on
anything
[1:05] » so I should start it
>> and
[1:09] well your bylaws already say that to
pass something city council you need you
[1:14] have to vote well there has to be at
least five votes any affirmative to move
[1:19] some of these side.
>> We can tell, right?
[1:22] » Yeah, we can go.
>> Six.
[1:25] » We can get
>> Oh, it's six now, isn't it? Oh,
[1:28] » 59.
>> Hi.
[1:30] » Hi.
>> What?
[1:34] » So, who who's all meeting in there?
>> City council is meeting in there.
[1:39] » Just on the bike.
>> I think there's a lot of trails council
[1:43] people there because they're talking
about reserve bluffs easily. Oh, that
[1:47] they're doing that. Okay.
>> Okay.
[1:49] » Okay. Now, all the clocks in the room
say 6:00. So, we can officially begin
[1:54] this meeting of the downtown management
board on August 18th. That's 6 pm. We
[1:59] are sitting with quorum. So, we'll get
rolling with our consent agenda. I'd be
[2:06] happy to entertain a motion on the
consent agenda if somebody wanted to
[2:10] extend it.
I would like to make a motion to pass
[2:13] the consent agenda as it reads.
>> Thanks, Robin.
[2:17] » Second.
>> Thanks, Joe.
[2:19] » All those in favor say I.
>> I.
[2:23] » All those opposed, same sign. Motion
carries.
[2:26] » We will move on to public comment.
I don't see anybody in here. They're
[2:31] next door. So, moving on to new
business. Uh, let's see. We're starting
[2:38] off with discussion and possible
recommendation on the 2027 programs and
[2:43] services budget. Turn it over to Miss
Tweet.
[2:52] » It
[2:55] sorry about that
[3:02] doublesided drawn off.
[3:22] Oh, guess I got Hang on. Sorry.
Nope. Not
[3:55] I don't have people to help
the science wants to be
[4:09] up. I don't know.
>> Share your screen. Is that what you're
[4:12] doing?
>> There we are.
[4:16] Should be sharing. All right. There we
go.
[4:23] There we go. Okay. Uh proposed 2027
programs and services budget.
[4:30] Good evening, Noah.
[4:36] » Uh major revenue categories.
[4:44] Uh for the budget assessments, a pro
proposed increase of 3.2%
[4:52] is estimated to raise $129,000.
Uh sponsorships and program revenue. uh
[5:01] we have about a 34% proposed reduction
shown with the removal of the trolley
[5:07] and sounds of summer sponsorship but
that uh we are our proposed budget
[5:13] revenue is 27,500
and then the remainder of the major
[5:20] revenue category is programs and
services
[5:24] um which we're proposing at about a 1%
increase over what was budgeted for 2026
[5:30] at 39,390.
[5:37] On the expenditure side, uh total again
the total budget for 2027 is proposed at
[5:44] $200,700.
Uh on events, total of events is
[5:50] $64,000.
The largest expenditure in that category
[5:55] are for winter weekend winter wonderland
weekend at 25,000
[6:00] and sounds of summer at 13,000.
Um and now that win the 25,000
[6:07] some of that it's um
let's see look at the line item but we
[6:13] have a large expenditures but a lot of
that is then also under revenue because
[6:19] we have um the ice sculptures.
So we have
[6:25] projected 12,000 in re. So the total net
expenditure actually for winter
[6:33] wonderland weekend is 13,000 which is
the same as summer. So those are our two
[6:38] big uh event expenditures.
Uh the budget is proposing keeping
[6:44] economic enhancement at 6,000
and then marketing and promotions at
[6:50] 108,500.
Included in that category is the staff
[6:56] expense to implement which means wages
and um benefits
[7:02] um
and that's at 185. And then overhead
[7:07] which includes uh office operations at
22,000.
[7:16] » How much of the marketing and promotions
is wages? Is it broken out again?
[7:19] » I'm sorry.
>> How much of the marketing and promotions
[7:21] is wages?
>> Uh that is 80. I believe
[7:27] » that's the new hire.
>> Correct.
[7:31] » Including benefits.
>> $80,000 plus benefits.
[7:35] 65
[7:40] 80 wages and benefits.
[7:49] So again, the total budget is 200,700
which is 14,721
[7:56] less than the current year budget
primarily due to the loss of trolley
[8:02] sponsorship.
Um
[8:06] so this is a breakdown uh our current
year assessment so that what we are
[8:12] increasing at 3.2%
is about 64% of our budget. We're using
[8:19] about 20% of our budget is coming from
previous year assessments
[8:25] um which is called the fund balance. 14%
is program revenue and then there the
[8:31] mis miscellaneous fees and interest and
then expenditures marketing and
[8:37] promotions and again that does include
the staff to carry out those marketing
[8:41] and promotions at 54%
uh events which is either
[8:49] um
purchasing thing for the events or it's
[8:53] primarily the expenditures or marketing
of the events Um, and then overhead is
[8:58] at 32%, overhead is at 11%, and economic
enhancement is at 3%.
[9:09] So, I am happy to answer any questions
or I can pull up the
[9:14] uh year
projected year end to budget if you
[9:20] like.
[9:26] I I'm not asking for any changes to the
budget, but I'll just, you know, for
[9:31] discussion purposes call out and it's
it's been like this for for some time,
[9:36] but it's always a bit of an irony to me
that our biggest event expenditure is a
[9:41] winter event, which at least from my
perspective is is uh counter to certain
[9:49] marketing fundamentals, right? that
you're going to get more juice out of
[9:52] the squeeze in the summer than you do
with a winter. So lead time for
[9:57] retailers and restaurants. I always
value that fact that that's our biggest
[10:04] community is a little counter to how I
think about timing with spend around
[10:09] marketing. Um and it's again it's been
like that for a while. I just think you
[10:13] think about it long term. Um
so it's you know
[10:18] » well and it again I mean it looks like a
lot more but as I said it's about the
[10:22] same
>> right when you bring out the revenue so
[10:26] we are spending the same amount on our
biggest winter weekend
[10:32] um visitor-wise
our numbers on that weekend are probably
[10:38] I trying to remember if they were higher
than open house last year. It's I think
[10:43] it was I thought it was sex.
>> Yeah, I don't remember. But
[10:49] » either beat
>> I think it either beat open house or it
[10:52] beat um it I don't think it beat
sidewalk sales. So I think it beat open
[10:56] house.
>> Yeah. And sidewalk
[11:01] » Yeah, because and again because winter
weekend is the whole weekend we're
[11:04] counting the people is how many people
are here for the whole weekend.
[11:09] » Um
>> opposed to a single day.
[11:11] Yeah.
>> Yeah. And it's Well, and we get a lot of
[11:15] revenues off of the sponsorships for the
ice sculptures and stuff like that. So,
[11:20] some of it just kind of is money
changing hands, but um I I understand
[11:26] what you're saying. Um
>> and then out of curiosity, how many of
[11:30] the movies got have gotten cancelled so
far this summer?
[11:34] So far, we cancelled one and we have
we've rescheduled the one to this
[11:40] Friday, but I'm watching the weather
because as of right now, rain is
[11:45] projected for Friday, but and we so I
haven't been really promoting that we're
[11:50] doing it Friday because I don't want to
promote it on camp.
[11:54] » So, we have six weekends. Is it? I don't
>> Five weekends we've six, but we didn't
[11:59] get another
>> Yeah. sponsor. just,
[12:01] » you know, for what it's worth, we're
canceling,
[12:04] you know, a third of the movies. I love
the movies in the park. You know, sure
[12:09] it's a lot of labor and expense to do
it.
[12:12] » Uhhuh. Yeah. Well, yeah. Each of the
movies is $500 with shipping. Um because
[12:17] we get the DVDs. Um and yet it it's late
nights,
[12:24] » but people do love it. They really
>> charming. Yeah.
[12:27] » Um
[12:30] » but it it's one of the I mean it's the
sounds of summer we had to cancel too.
[12:35] » Yeah.
>> And it's just one of the and that's
[12:38] that's the good thing that we're going
away from sponsors for that event
[12:44] because then we don't you know but for
movies in the park the good thing about
[12:48] the movies in the park if we cancel a
movie get a credit the following year.
[12:53] So that means if we get five sponsors
next year, we actually have six weeks of
[12:58] movies. So it's not a total loss,
but it is when you're dealing with the
[13:05] outdoor stuff, it's just
>> the movies in the park were always just
[13:09] like, you know, ever since we lost the
downtown movie theater, there was this
[13:13] desire to bring back some of that
energy.
[13:17] » Yeah.
>> You know, I don't know if we're still on
[13:20] track to do that. I don't know if the
conversation should shift back to how we
[13:23] get a movie theater downtown again. You
know,
[13:26] » we've had that discussion,
>> but you know,
[13:30] » we may be running out of this point.
>> Oh, yeah.
[13:34] » Well, I mean, I think too, just to play
off what you're saying, like you see the
[13:37] comments on, you know, social media
about, you know, festival festival by
[13:41] the Bay and like some other bigger
events. Do we have an in something that
[13:45] we could, you know, figure out how to
have like a big event for Paskki that
[13:50] people are excited about? You know,
sidewalk is cool, but you know, that's a
[13:53] lot of work. Um, you know, we talked
about closing down the street overnight
[13:56] and doing music on, you know, on Hot
Street or Main Street. You know, like I
[14:01] think that would be a big draw. Um, but
I do I think it's, you know, for events,
[14:06] I think it's, you know, how do we put
our heads together to do something
[14:08] that's, you know, a big draw for this
area,
[14:11] » right?
And is it a down? Yeah. I mean, it was
[14:16] at Bayfront Park, but but and and I I
almost think that's also why the
[14:22] hometown block party was so successful
because people were just really wanted
[14:28] that kind of event. And it was very much
a community event where non all the
[14:34] nonprofits showed up, churches showed up
that I mean, everybody took a piece of
[14:38] it and brought their people with them.
So
[14:41] » that was the third
party.
[14:43] » What was it called?
>> I remember
[14:47] that hotel block party.
>> Yeah.
[14:50] » Potl.
>> Yeah, it was a great event.
[14:53] » A lot of lot of people there.
>> They had a potluck and they grilled a
[14:56] bunch.
>> And that was what organization do that?
[14:59] » It was the Fourth of July group who kind
of spearheaded it for the 250th. Are
[15:05] they continuing as a group at all or
they just
[15:08] » No, they've they've been a group for I
think that was their
[15:11] » stars and stripes
>> maybe it's like exploring some kind of
[15:15] long-term partnership with them to
downtown
[15:18] » community pot lock. It can be pretty
lowfi and kind of cool.
[15:22] » Yeah, I think those guys probably
>> would want to have a conversation.
[15:28] though
>> cuz they they build it as
[15:32] I talked to them a little bit and they
were like, "Well, we really only want to
[15:35] do it one year, but everybody kind of
liked it." So,
[15:39] » we should be a victim of their own
success.
[15:42] » So,
>> I think it's definitely worth the
[15:44] conversation.
>> Like, I'd be curious too to see how the
[15:48] beards uh fall fest goes too, you know,
see, you know, getting individual
[15:53] businesses that kind of group up
together
[15:55] » to do something, how that goes. If
there's a big draw, then you know, we
[15:58] know there's a draw for something like
that.
[16:01] » Yeah. Emily did tell me she realized
afterwards it's actually the um
[16:06] » Bo Mountain.
[16:12] It's just something to take people from
there and bring them here. So, I mean,
[16:17] it's one of those things in the summer,
everybody is having events, so you're
[16:20] going to be pulling people from
somewhere, right?
[16:24] » Yeah. competing for attention.
Yeah. Cool.
[16:30] There's some good thoughts though and
definitely probably
[16:35] maybe something we should consider
before we finalize the budget.
[16:39] » What's that?
>> If we want to look at something like the
[16:42] block party or
>> Yeah. I mean that Well, we currently
[16:46] fund them at this year. We increased
them from a,000 to,500
[16:52] » for the fireworks. I know that. Well,
it's just for the Fourth of July group.
[16:57] So, what they actually use it for.
>> Got it.
[16:59] » I do know that group's actually meeting
and they're not 100% sure they're going
[17:05] to continue doing the fireworks.
So, um so I but yeah, I mean we do have
[17:14] the 1500 in. I guess we can always come
back and amend.
[17:17] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[17:18] » Um unless I mean that's fine. want to
put more in now, too. I'm sure they
[17:24] would love that.
>> Well, I think we should
[17:28] » without anything concrete.
>> Yeah.
[17:29] » Yeah. I think it'd be hard to do that,
but just the appetite of having
[17:34] something in the summer makes sense. Um,
but I think also this year you did a
[17:39] nice job of finding
areas that we could limit spending to
[17:45] try to get ourselves a little bit more
to walk ourselves towards a more
[17:50] balanced
budget, if you will. So,
[17:53] » yeah, I mean, we clearly need to pump up
our program revenue or find some other
[18:00] source of revenue
>> contribution from the general fund
[18:04] perhaps.
>> Yeah. Right. God forbid.
[18:10] » Uh any other questions?
Now we are early. It's the August
[18:17] meeting. Um you know, if there's
questions, there's things you want
[18:22] revisited.
We can postpone this until
[18:27] next month or um if you're ready, we
could move it forward to city council.
[18:38] We have to wait to find out about like
the holiday parade for how what that
[18:42] turns out to be.
>> We could we have that meeting Thursday.
[18:48] Um
[18:52] » because
that if that and if we decide that we're
[18:57] not having it, where are we putting
that? So
[19:00] » true. Let's see. So right now we have
we're projecting revenue of 2500 and
[19:05] expenditure of
[19:12] » three. So we're really only projecting
spending $500,
[19:18] » but we may not get that level of
sponsorship either or multiple sponsors.
[19:23] Who knows?
So,
[19:27] we could
I mean that that's going to be the
[19:31] question is
if it turns out the band is not
[19:37] interested in being in the holiday
parade, do we go forward with the
[19:40] holiday parade?
[19:46] So, so that will be it's probably a good
reason to postpone action or
[19:52] recommendation, I guess.
Good. We will hopefully have an answer
[19:57] for on the public for next next month
and then I will also likely schedule the
[20:05] DDA by annual meeting for next month as
well.
[20:10] » Okay.
Uh all right then.
[20:18] Perfect. Thanks everybody. Moving
shifting gears a little bit to the DMB
[20:24] document amendment review and approval.
>> Okay. Uh this was discussion about the
[20:32] inconsistency between the bylaws and the
meeting contact policy. Uh so in your
[20:38] packet you have a red line version
unless I printed it black then it's just
[20:42] black line. Uh so it's changing the
conduct policy just to say provided that
[20:48] a quorum is present which has five
members a majority of those members in
[20:52] attendance on a meeting shall be
required to adopt a motion that has been
[20:55] made and supported except for any motion
that is passed on to city council for
[20:59] its approval. Must have the affirmative
vote of five members.
[21:06] » Support.
>> I have support. Do I have a second?
[21:09] » I'll second.
>> We have a second. Um, all those in favor
[21:14] say I.
>> I.
[21:16] » All oppose. Same sign.
That was easy. Motion carries,
[21:22] » buddy.
>> Easy.
[21:24] » Um, let's see. Then we'll move on to
reports by downtown management board
[21:29] committees and staff and block it.
>> Block it just in case. Um, okay. So this
[21:37] month we did not get a quorum for
marketing and promotions and we did not
[21:41] get a quorum for the design committee.
Uh parking mobility and accessibility
[21:45] met and you do have those notes. A
couple um updates from what is in the
[21:52] notes from April.
Uh on the payment repree
[21:59] you had um so so they sent out 286
letters.
[22:06] Uh the tickets just the ticket amount
owed is 67,820.
[22:13] Um, as of today,
we have um
[22:23] much paid $2,15
and I think that's on eight or nine
[22:28] license plate numbers. Um, but it was
100 staff hours, $225 postage.
[22:36] Um, we've gotten I don't know how many
more letters they've gotten returned,
[22:41] but it was 19 on the 11th
and um,
[22:47] » so when how long does it last again? I'm
sorry.
[22:49] » Sorry. Or expires date of August.
>> No, September. It's two months.
[22:53] » Oh, September.
>> Yeah.
[22:55] » So far, we've spent about as much in
labor as we've received in revenue.
[22:59] » Yeah.
So,
[23:03] yeah. No, we are offering two months.
was the month of August and September.
[23:06] » Thought it was July.
>> No, September, February.
[23:10] » Yeah. Uh so that's the update on that.
And then the committee also did talk
[23:17] about April and I had met with um
representative of Hong and I'll pass
[23:24] this along if anyone wants to check out
the QR code. So they are a company
[23:30] similar to pay mobile but they also
offer you can you can just scan the QR
[23:38] code and pay. You don't have to download
the app. So you know we do know a lot of
[23:44] people just don't want to download apps.
So you can pay that way. Um, so there's
[23:52] they're fairly new, but they do have
contracts with several campuses. Like I
[23:58] think they just started at Penn State.
Um,
[24:03] I mean, it see
[24:09] that that you would we'd have to add to
wherever we're putting it. A thought we
[24:14] had of maybe trying this would be
talking to Grain Train because the other
[24:19] thing that they will offer is um 15
minute
[24:26] uh 15 minutes free.
So that has always been the issue of
[24:30] Grain Train is that their people are
just in and out and they don't like
[24:33] standing at the pay station. So, if we
could try this in the Petri lot and get
[24:39] green train to really kind of work with
their owners and members on you know
[24:44] what, it's really easy. You don't have
to stay in the pay station. You just
[24:48] scan this QR code. And if we could even
get them to maybe pay the first 15
[24:55] minutes or I don't know, but we thought
that would be a good lot to maybe do a
[25:00] test.
>> Is this just this is on top of having
[25:03] park mobile? It's not
>> doesn't replace it.
[25:06] » It's just another
>> it's um an additional way to pay. Um and
[25:13] then yeah, there's a lot more like I
guess you could call it a sponsor
[25:18] opportunity is my understanding. So
exact. That's why we thought the Petri
[25:22] would make sense because um individual
businesses could opt in to cover a
[25:29] portion of like a park um like one of
their customers parks if you will. So
[25:35] like um yeah so and it's they can decide
the duration too. But um I think what we
[25:43] kind of chatted about was
not many not everybody likes to put Park
[25:49] Mobile or just an app in general on
their phone. But if you can just go
[25:53] straight to a website and pay that way
then or if you don't have the space on
[25:57] your phone to download another app or
whatever like that's that's what this
[26:02] offers. So, it's kind of just another
piece of technology to help make it more
[26:08] seamless for people to be able to pay
for parking.
[26:11] » Take a picture of your license plate,
too. So, you don't have to like enter in
[26:15] your license plate number. You can take
a picture of it. It uploads.
[26:18] » Yeah. If you just scan that code, it
takes you right to that page.
[26:21] » So, does does downtown do we have to pay
for that service to have the QR codes
[26:27] put on? Is that like
>> It take a percentage, I'm sure.
[26:30] » There's a station.
>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's like Mock Park
[26:33] Mobile over the years we've tried to get
the payer to pay more and more.
[26:37] Originally, we paid all the credit card
fees and we've slowly backed off of that
[26:41] because nobody else does it.
>> So, um,
[26:46] so yeah, there there definitely are
charges, but
[26:51] they clearly are. I mean, they're much
smaller. So, Park Mobile was bought out
[26:57] by Arrive, which is this company that's
buying up all of these parking related
[27:02] things. So, it could well be they become
part of RI, but as of right now, is a
[27:07] Canadian company. Honk, I get it.
Um,
[27:15] so yeah,
>> there's a talk with the parking division
[27:19] so they know like this is going to be
they're on honk. They're not going to
[27:23] get a ticket randomly because like is
that something like the parking meter
[27:27] like have to know about oh they're
paying a honk?
[27:31] » Yeah. The ambassadors will have to check
park mobile and they'll check the honk
[27:35] to see if it's paid there. Um and then
they can run the um license plates. If
[27:42] they don't have their permit then they
don't have their permit. But that's
[27:45] » another lay layer of complexity for the
parking attendants.
[27:48] » It is. Yeah.
>> I was saying thank you.
[27:50] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. it. I mean, I think it's it's
[27:54] always worth considering these things,
but um and then another thing we
[27:59] discussed is to your point, Becky, is it
would have to be the same cost for us as
[28:04] it is for Park Mobile other than why
would we want to bring that in? So, we
[28:08] were going to push back on them for
that, too. So, it's, you know, why would
[28:12] we why would we need you, if you will,
if you you can't even match what we're
[28:16] currently paying. So,
>> um so yeah, that's
[28:20] » I mean, I like the idea. I I personally
don't like the one station that is there
[28:26] and and I have a permit so that's
actually where I park most of the time
[28:29] now. But I mean I can't tell you how
many times when I'm walking to my car
[28:33] and stuff that I see people there and
they're just like can't figure it out.
[28:37] Yeah.
>> No idea what they're doing.
[28:38] » This honk is a little more I think user
friendly.
[28:43] » Mobile had something that you could just
do a QR code and do that. Like that
[28:47] doesn't make sense to me that they don't
at this point have something that you
[28:51] But for me and for a lot of people, they
have the app, but you go to so many
[28:55] other towns now and it works with just
about everything else. So at least that
[29:00] part is good if you do download the app.
But
[29:02] » true.
>> I don't get the I don't think you want
[29:05] to pay anymore. For sure.
>> The biggest issue with those stations is
[29:08] always that you have to have your
license plate number. You didn't know
[29:11] you had to have your license plate
number. So there's this like this you
[29:15] get there and it's like back to my car.
Like people are putting their credit
[29:19] cards in and they're like trying to and
it's not reading it and they're it I
[29:24] mean I watch them. They're not having
fun. They're frustrated.
[29:28] » Yes. Just watch them.
>> There's nothing I can do.
[29:32] » Take a ticket.
>> I'm running late.
[29:35] » So honk you could go longer than 15
minutes. The idea is like you know
[29:40] » you can offer your first 15 minutes free
and that goes which I it seems like
[29:44] we've talked to Park Bubble about this
as well. Whether that's something we can
[29:48] do or not, I can't remember. But
>> the alternative with Park Mobile is to
[29:52] number the spaces,
right? And then there's some kind of
[29:56] signage that says remember, you know,
>> right?
[29:59] » So then then you're clued in that when
you go to the station, you already
[30:03] remembered your number, but that also
means tons of signs,
[30:07] » which you could do like I think it's in
Quebec or was Montreal. So they still
[30:13] had the poles for the parking meters,
but then it had a number on top.
[30:17] » Yeah, that's kind of the alternative.
>> So at least people get I mean I guess a
[30:21] little number could be the shape of a
parking meter because people think
[30:24] they're cute.
>> Well, they have that in Trevor City and
[30:26] they still have the poll, but it's got
the number of your spot on.
[30:31] » It's much more user friendly
>> than license pl. Yes, that is the crux
[30:37] of I think so many of the issues is like
>> probably
[30:40] » some old person they can't see they got
the sunlight blasting that screen saying
[30:44] enter your your your license plate
number and you're like
[30:49] » there's a couple I help people it's like
just flip your card around like
[30:58] » I have what are you gonna do
>> we definitely we have seen record
[31:03] numbers in the last month of park rubble
juice. So I think part of it is just
[31:08] takes people time to move to new
technologies.
[31:13] » Well, and there's there I mean to your
point Becky like so many other places
[31:17] are using it. So that's definitely a
benefit to Park Mobile. So
[31:21] » um so I mean because you can go use it
in Traverse City,
[31:25] you can go park on the beach in Florida.
>> I've used it in Colorado.
[31:29] » Yeah. So
>> we're going to Canada tomorrow. Maybe
[31:33] I'll find Honking
[31:37] B.
>> 15 minutes.
[31:42] » Um, so
do you
[31:47] think we should talk to Grand Train
about possibly using it? No,
[31:51] » I don't. I just think it's another layer
of complexity.
[31:54] » I just got one more question on that,
too. So if I go park in the great train
[31:57] parking lot, get the free 15 minutes and
then run over to mighty fine.
[32:02] Who? So gray trains going to pay for
that?
[32:05] » Well, again, we'd have to work with them
whether they where they're going to
[32:09] » Yeah.
>> make anybody pay for that 15 minutes.
[32:12] » So it's kind of like our
>> it was my understanding that it was kind
[32:16] of like our holiday sponsorship. So like
we would partner with Honk and Honk
[32:21] somehow figures out a way that they they
know how much to build grain train if
[32:27] you will. So it could be the equivalent
could be like if if I if the Perry
[32:33] wanted to sponsor I don't by the way but
we wanted to sponsor um the Elks lot or
[32:38] something like that like we could and
then we could sponsor the first 15
[32:42] minutes. It it it's just that particular
lot we've been getting that feedback
[32:47] especially because we transitioned over
to the pay station. So that's why we
[32:51] were targeting that particular lot.
>> But it's basically they aggregate all of
[32:56] those 15minute park
instances and then build that particular
[33:02] business if they want to sponsor it. So
it that's how I understood it. Maybe
[33:07] that's
>> I think there was also the ability
[33:12] to
somewhat like the
[33:16] store or restaurant to have a code.
>> Oh, that was the other thing.
[33:20] » If you wanted if someone came in was a a
gas truck customer of yours and you
[33:25] wanted to
>> pay for their parking, you could just
[33:28] give them a code and it would
>> their their parking would just get built
[33:32] to you for that time.
>> Yeah. which is a, you know, that is a
[33:36] nice hospitality thing that would making
that easier for people if they wanted to
[33:40] is is a plus. But
>> yeah, they stay for five hours and hit
[33:45] you with the bill.
>> Yeah. I mean, but it's it's your choice
[33:47] to like do it or not. I mean, same
thing. I wouldn't, you know, someone
[33:52] $5 drink.
But like,
[33:56] » you know, someone does something else.
You could obviously
[33:59] » Yeah. And it was that part to me was
like a
[34:05] It it felt like a validating a a parking
ticket, you know, like
[34:09] » Yeah.
>> So, but there's it's a nice like there
[34:13] was some nice features.
>> I like the idea of it. I just think that
[34:17] the timing isn't the best and to add
something to one lot that people are
[34:23] already trying to get used to to
>> Yeah. So, and so that we can do that
[34:27] » and not have it in all the other lots if
they go to some place like it just seems
[34:31] » and every time an attendant checks a
space they got to check two systems.
[34:35] » Yeah, it's a lot a lot more.
Well, the other part is that we were the
[34:43] parking committee was talking about is
is eventually balancing out the ability
[34:48] to get all these meters andor pay
stations
[34:53] and what is going to be the easiest for
all our our guests of downtown to pay at
[34:58] and do that consistently and it doesn't
take thousands of dollars and hours to
[35:03] go collect and maintain.
And so can we find a good medium between
[35:10] those things and having a third way to
pay I don't think is necessarily the
[35:16] right way if you could pay are there and
spark mobile and this but that is coming
[35:21] down the pipeline of like buying more
meters and
[35:25] » not being able to get some of the meters
that we you know all those types of
[35:28] things. So there will be a transition at
some point that we have to be up. I
[35:33] assume we're in regular communication
with Park Mobile about the most current
[35:38] » Yeah.
>> solutions that they're offering.
[35:40] » Yeah.
>> I think they got a pretty good gig that
[35:45] they're like, "Yeah, sure."
[35:50] » Mobile that is collecting stuff.
>> All right. Well, we'll hold off on that.
[35:56] Uh then
[36:02] uh says parking, mobility,
accessibility. Um so again, marketing
[36:06] and promotions committee didn't have a
quorum, but we had a couple members who
[36:10] were there. So we had discussion, a
little bit of sales, um sidewalk sales
[36:16] recap.
Uh visitor numbers were up. Uh I tried
[36:22] surveying downtown. I got four
responses. So the four responses were
[36:27] all quite posit
sales were either up or constant. Um
[36:34] people enjoyed the entertainment and as
the committee has talked particularly
[36:41] these years when we are don't have a
nation to compete with making it more of
[36:47] an event and keeping the streets closed
at night maybe having bands at night but
[36:53] maybe also having more bands and
entertainment during the day. Um the
[36:59] idea this year had come up on Upper
Mitchell just because it's completely
[37:03] dead. The street's dead car show.
Something,
[37:07] you know, we probably want it to be kind
of a cool car show, not just any old car
[37:11] show, but
>> something to fill the street and draw,
[37:14] you know, people. Um so that's the
marketing and promotions company's going
[37:20] to look at that some more. Um
downtown day is Saturday, September
[37:27] 26th.
Uh last year for that we did a
[37:33] architectural elements scavenger hunt.
Um this actually is also the day that uh
[37:40] they're doing that October Fest in the
alley that's spearheaded by Beards and
[37:46] Fox and Hound. So they're going to close
that section of Paskki Street. Um,
[37:52] so for down, so the committee is also
talking about things to do for downtown
[37:57] day. One of the surveys that came back
on sidewalk sales said that they still
[38:04] get comments about why we don't do
Where's Waldo anymore? And it's like
[38:09] » we had Where's Waldo for a long time if
I recall. Um, so I thought maybe for
[38:15] downtown day we'd do something Paskki
specific and do Where's Young Hemingway
[38:23] and do little paper cutouts of our
statue of young he and hide him around
[38:29] downtown.
>> I always wondered why Waldo was the
[38:31] Paskki stone
>> wasn't a Paski stone.
[38:34] » We're going to do a hunt for something
in downtown Paskki. It start I mean that
[38:38] I can tell you the start of the Where's
Waldo was Mlan and Aken was able they
[38:42] were doing was a Where's Waldo like 50th
Yeah.
[38:47] » anniversary and then everybody loved it
so it just kind of kept going.
[38:51] » But other than that, yeah, it should
something more local to us.
[38:54] » I mean the number I jump off the boat
most days. The number of people that are
[38:58] just down there looking at Possi stones
is absurd. like the fact that we don't
[39:03] if we're going to do a hunt, I just
think that's something that we should be
[39:07] playing up towards.
>> Yeah.
[39:11] » So, and then I also thought, you know,
we don't do any
[39:17] um like 5ks.
>> So, do we do maybe it's not a 5K, maybe
[39:23] we start small. We do a downtown dash
and we do we've never done a run just on
[39:28] the downtown Greenway corridor. So, we
just start at point A, go to point B, or
[39:34] we start there, and we go down through
the tunnel, through the river valley, up
[39:38] the stair tower, down Michigan Street,
and back. I don't I mean, it could be a
[39:41] 2K. I don't know. But
>> could be a fun run with your kids,
[39:46] » right?
>> Right.
[39:48] » I think Bay Harbor used
a paint run.
[39:52] » Oh, yeah. Color run.
>> That was YMCA used to do that, too.
[39:57] » My friend says they made running worse.
[40:06] So, so that's not that, but we have it
on our event calendar. So, we'll come up
[40:11] with something. It's we have a month for
that. Um, and then trick-or- treat
[40:15] actually falls on Halloween this year.
We have for trick-or- treat and also for
[40:21] witches night, which is a grandpa
shorter sponsored event. Um, the dancing
[40:26] witches are coming for both events. Um,
we considered closing the 300 block of
[40:34] Lake for Witches Night,
but public safety wasn't thrilled about
[40:39] it. And
>> Mark, well, it wasn't the whole
[40:43] committee, but there are pros and cons
again to closing the street. I mean, if
[40:48] if we only closed that block and we had
the dancing witches on that block, then
[40:52] the other participating businesses on
Howard and Mitchell, people may never
[40:56] make it over there. So, we aren't going
to close this the streets. I don't know
[41:00] where the witches are going yet for
that. But trick or treat, the streets
[41:04] are closed. So, um,
Dog Days of Summer, this was also
[41:10] something last year. I don't know if she
did it before last year, but last year
[41:13] we lashed on to Dog Days of Summer and
we just did dogs on the trolley. This
[41:17] year we did a few more things, but I
just found it interesting.
[41:24] um the Facebook reach we have gotten and
of course it's like kids and dogs you
[41:28] know I mean people love this stuff but
so we had over you I mean almost 40,000
[41:35] Facebook views on this um
>> and the interesting is is the vast
[41:41] majority are not our followers. So um
you know we we trying to do the
[41:46] scavenger hunt.
I'll have I think I'll have to post the
[41:50] QR code. I was trying to be really
sneaky and it would be really hard, but
[41:54] it turns out nobody's doing it, so I'll
have to make it a little easier. Um,
[41:59] but so that's just we typically had
nothing going on in September or nothing
[42:04] going on in August and nothing going on
till the end of September. So at least
[42:09] those are um
something. So So those have both gone
[42:15] pretty well. Um I've emailed you all
about our staff person starting. So, she
[42:21] starts September 14th. So, she'll be
here for your September 15th, baby.
[42:27] Um,
let's see what else. Oh, I just wanted
[42:31] to show you
[42:39] decided to not
[42:49] ask a quick sidewalk question.
>> Yeah. What are what I had one person
[42:55] complain to me and asked that I share
the complaint about outside businesses
[42:59] taking up space on the sidewalks. I'm
agnostic on the subject, but I just
[43:03] didn't know what barometer we're using
now in terms of
[43:06] » So, we did try to get um outside vendors
that was the marketing committee again
[43:14] because we have so much empty space on
Mitchell and then you know the realtors
[43:18] don't do don't put anything out. So we
had the nonprofit, a lot of the
[43:22] nonprofits we tried to get a few other
outside vendors
[43:26] that fiat they actually reached out to
be but so we charge them $100 which we
[43:34] can review what the fee is but to
participate they pay us $100 and so we
[43:41] had uh the vintage clothing store and
uh the Fiat which was some event company
[43:49] that reached out to me and I thought it
was it add a lot of excitement to that
[43:56] section of our but um I think having
outside vendors is a lot better than
[44:02] having
>> empty spaces
[44:07] » and yeah
>> it's always a balance I think the
[44:09] question
>> just a balance and and there is a cost
[44:12] so I mean
>> you know
[44:16] » $100 for two days is way more than an
assessment do 500
[44:20] » and that could be a way to raise money.
I mean a thousand bucks for two days at
[44:23] sidewalk sales is
>> right how many how many guests you're
[44:27] how many people are you going to get to
see
[44:29] » but the tension is always like are they
competitive with an existing downtown
[44:32] retailer right so there there should if
we're going to do it there needs to be a
[44:37] clear standard
>> that was I mean that is what's been
[44:39] talked about is that if to be
non-competing for the most part but
[44:44] » right
>> on that day does it even
[44:47] » but it's hard to it doesn't matter I
mean I was say with there
[44:51] Dan Webbers used to have a thing right
around the corner from us and it only
[44:55] helped us because then more people are
coming down looking at winter stuff or
[45:00] whatever
>> during the so for two days it's like
[45:06] » I don't care.
>> And I thought I had um
[45:12] July visitor numbers 2025 versus 2026
um but it's not in my PowerPoint. Um but
[45:23] uh
definitely sidewalk sales number
[45:27] actually Saturday was higher than Sunday
or Friday which
[45:32] » isn't usually happen. Um and it was
about 2,000 more visitors per day than
[45:39] last year.
>> It it felt packed
[45:42] » to me at least. But
>> there were record days for us like both
[45:46] bar and above.
>> You were very busy. was an absolute zoo
[45:50] at opening on Friday. I thought there
was going to be a stampede to
[45:54] » I was like what if
[46:01] » but yeah it was both days were very busy
I thought
[46:07] » we did a lot of product so that was
good.
[46:10] Yeah,
>> Saturday was a slow start, but it then
[46:14] it just kept going and that was amazing,
which was really cool for Saturday. I
[46:19] don't know if that was Venetian. I don't
know if that people up here
[46:23] » for not having Venetian, but it's great.
>> So, next year it's the 30th and 31st of
[46:30] July.
>> Yeah. Whatever we did this year, again,
[46:35] » perfect weather.
>> Perfect weather. Yeah. All of that. If
[46:39] we can plan for that, that'd be great.
>> That'd be great.
[46:45] » Any
has anyone happened to do any business?
[46:50] I know it's busy. So,
>> unfortunately, I have not done my
[46:55] homework on that. Amy, not gone. And I
only have two in my purchase.
[47:03] » Oh, you got
my block. You're right. And then I have
[47:07] train and
All right.
[47:11] » Either way, my answer still
>> sitting on my desk somewhere.
[47:16] » Yep.
[47:19] » And I we might need to be uh more
specific for ourselves on that and just
[47:26] say
>> we don't think starting in the summer
[47:29] the right time to start.
>> That's what I'm saying. It's like
[47:31] » it's if it's always just looming over we
should be talking to our people on our
[47:36] block. That's a little bit different
than like, hey, we're gonna we do it
[47:40] like this month
>> in the fall and spring. It's like here's
[47:43] what's going on.
>> It's a little easier
[47:47] often easier to give people constraints
and say you got to do it within these
[47:51] than to just leave it wide open. So, and
I'm saying that to myself.
[47:56] » Yeah. Well, maybe it's
>> Yeah. Maybe it's a you got to hit
[47:59] everybody in April and you got to hit
everybody in November type of thing, you
[48:02] know, like it's
>> make sure everybody's ready to get going
[48:06] in April and make sure everybody's still
alive in November. I don't know.
[48:10] » That's just me talking to myself. So,
>> November is a good This is slow timeish.
[48:17] » Yeah. Then you have all this stuff going
on. This was Yeah. Well, yeah,
[48:21] » but I'm certainly not a retailer, so
maybe that's not the right
[48:24] » Yeah.
>> right motive. So
[48:28] » certainly not.
>> I think the only downside of doing it in
[48:32] those times is that critical issues will
not be at top of mind for me.
[48:36] » True.
>> True.
[48:37] » Like so sleepy people are like
>> it's slow is people
[48:43] » at least you get to meet the people
though.
[48:45] » Sure.
>> You know you build on it. It's
[48:48] » still got to first make the contact and
show face,
[48:50] » right? It's hard for you to have time
and then be like, "Oh, I got time, too."
[48:57] » Yeah.
>> I guess something's better than nothing
[49:00] in that whole program. So,
>> it's a place to start and get it, like
[49:05] you said, on our calendar side. It's not
going to happen for me if I don't have
[49:08] some deadlines of when and how we want
to do it. And then
[49:12] » then as we get used to it, then to me,
it's something that you grow that you
[49:16] can make. And if they know who you are
and there's critical things, then at
[49:19] least they can then reach out to you on
your own or on their own say, "Hey, this
[49:24] critical thing happened. I'd like to
talk to you at some point." I can make
[49:28] time for that much easier than trying to
go see everybody
[49:33] as Mr. business card says block.
[49:41] » We'll get your name.
>> Yeah.
[49:44] » Anything?
I think we're we don't have any city
[49:50] representatives this evening. So I think
>> no action on the vacant properties and
[49:56] government street.
>> I haven't heard anything more
[49:59] » negotiations but
>> and actually though I got a call from an
[50:04] appraiser
is it last week which is my guess is the
[50:08] appraiser that's working on it
>> that project. Yeah,
[50:14] » because I think Shane had indicated he
said he can't go in the buildings.
[50:19] » He can't. Oh, yeah. No, we can't. Yeah,
>> we can't. What?
[50:23] » The appraiser can't go in the building.
[50:27] » Smart.
>> The news building for sale. That's kind
[50:30] of
>> I think we have some pictures already
[50:34] » of the inside of the building. So,
>> the news building.
[50:36] » Oh, the news.
>> Yeah. Oh, news. Yes.
[50:39] » Interesting. outside the district that
is on the market.
[50:45] » Bring it on in.
>> Is that David's building?
[50:49] » Yeah.
>> You said anything somewhat.
[50:54] » That's cool. That's a cool
[50:58] » know the downtown market in Grand
Rapids.
[51:02] » Yeah.
>> If that was like a downtown market, that
[51:04] would be cool. Stalls.
>> Oh,
[51:07] » for smaller. We need like something
where there's smaller vendors that can
[51:11] like get their foot going and then take
over retail spaces and then you'd
[51:16] constantly be
>> incubator
[51:21] the pipeline to full store
>> like the if the back
[51:27] » trucks of the retail.
>> Yeah. Yeah. If the back lots doing that
[51:29] or or you guys have some too like if
you're able to start off on a restaurant
[51:35] in the food truck world then like move
your way up.
[51:39] » Same thing.
>> Stay
[51:45] as long as you can.
>> Yeah. Okay. On that note, um is there
[51:51] anything else we want to go over this
evening?
[51:56] All right. Being that there's nothing
else to come before this board, I'll
[52:00] call us to journ. Thank you everybody.