11-18-09 Ups and Downs

5:00 I had a good walk and run at the gym this morning. The other guy on the treadmill already had VH1 on the television. I'm so glad that it wasn't the financial news or other nonstop talking news. It's nice to hear a little music and to hear some of the new music, instead of more negative blather from the cable news networks. The dog got her walk when I got back.


8:00 We had our weekly Downtown and Community Revitalization Department staff meeting. We are all aware that the budget cuts will make changes. We are reminded that the only things in our control are our efforts. Everyone in our department is committed, hard working and skilled. The times that we get to work with groups like this are rare in life, so they should really be savored. I appreciate the opportunity to work with these wonderful people.
We celebrated George Smith's first Federal grant which he submitted this week. Ray Arthur shared the benefits and processes for us to take better advantage of social networking. Elaine Robles reported on the Lowell Community meeting's results, Elliott had a long list of downtown accomplishments, plus a potential new investor. Amy Huerta reported on the successful Technology Affinity Group meeting on Tuesday. Kelly Trevino is catching up after bring her 180 colleagues to town last week for a conference. Wilma Quan has finished the draft scope of work and is circulating it to other departments for comment and has completed the draft of the staff report for the upcoming City Council meeting in December. I tell ya, this group is firing on all cylinders.
10:00 I met with Reza Assemi and Assistant City Manager Bruce Rudd to go over some items that need to be cleared up for Reza to get the Iron Bird Lofts open. If you haven't been through them yet, you should arrange a tour, they are very cool. Folk should start moving in on December 1st.

11:00 A meeting with another potential downtown investor who is interested in primarily new construction north of the Fulton Mall. This is a new investment group/developer for downtown Fresno, but they have national experience, although they are headed by a local guy.

12:00 Elaine Robles and I met with Council Member Westerlund to get up to speed on the work and research he was doing to eradicate irresponsible multi-family property owners. This has been a major reason for the specific and community plans and also through our partnership with code enforcement. There are thousands of housing units at risk in Fresno and the Central Valley. Property owners who neglect their properties to the point of unhealthful living conditions or even to the point beyond repair are doing real harm to everyone. These properties breed crime and concentrate people in horrible conditions, creating poverty magnets. We are developing every tool possible to try to reverse this trend.

1:30 I had a one on one meeting with the City Manager Andy Souza. This is an opportunity to bring Andy up to speed with our department's activities and also to get direction about our department and also in my role as a department director.

3:00 Wilma and I met with John Dugan the new Planning Director (he's really more like a planning guru!) and Jerry Bishop who is the Assistant Planning Director who helps us with our code enforcement efforts. Reza joined in part of this meeting to see if we could knock down a few of his roadblocks. After Reza left we worked through some of the other issues facing downtown projects and also went over the historic survey and research component of the scope of work for the specific plan.

3:30 Wilma Quan and I had about 15 minutes for our weekly one on one. Wilma is fully emerged in her role as the project manager for the specific plan. She is searching for additional funding for certain components and is coordinating the whole planning team, from sewer engineers to architects.

4:00 we have a meeting for all department directors to begin the process of understanding the depth of the budget buts that will be proposed at the City Council meeting in the morning. I'll have more to say (write) about this tomorrow night.

5:30 I went to a wonderful event honoring Brian King for his leadership award from the California Wellness Foundation. It was a very upbeat affair. Brian inspires! The event was held at Marisol (Nicola's for us old timers). A really nice crowd was on hand to congratulate Brian.

Like I said at the beginning. Highs and lows. But I know that we are all working our hearts out, and are beginning to get traction from our combined efforts. We'll just focus on what is in our control, celebrate the victories and do what we can, while we can.