3:00 Wide awake. My brain decided to stress out. What a perfect time to think about all of the things that could go wrong. My daytime brain focuses on the list of all things possible. Occasionally the 3:00a.m. brain likes to focus on the list of things that could go wrong. Finally after reading for a bit I went back to sleep.
Fortunately my 8:00a.m. meeting had cancelled last night, so I could sleep a little longer and still make it to the gym for 2 miles on the treadmill.
9:00a.m. We had a wonderful weekly staff meeting. Fernando reported on his weekend in at the Start Up Weekend in Los Angeles. Elaine reported on the upcoming Christmas Day in Roeding Park to feed the homeless and the families that live on motel drive. Amy reported the both Sanger and Visalia have confirmed their participation in a best practices workshop on enforcement of unlicensed contractors. The workshop will be at lunch on December 15th. Let me know if you are interested. Ray reported on the e-newsletter. Angela brought us up to speed on the DT FACES events nonprofit. Jenna told us about the State of Downtown Breakfast. Kelly had an update on the discontinuation of the Municipal Restoration Zone.
The real treat was our AARP volunteer Ysabel. We heard about her kids, her life growing up in a migrant farm working family. She told us about her work as a prison chaplain. It was another great example of how the people around us have such rich lives and stories.
10:30 We had a meeting to review the scope of work for the Fulton Corridor Specific Plan and the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan. This meeting included Wilma Quan and me from DCR. John Dugan, the Planning Dept. Director, Keith Bergthold, Assistant Planning Dept. Director, Darrel Unruh and Arnoldo Rodriguez both City of Fresno Planners. We had members of the team from Moule and Polyzoides on a conference call to review the scope so that we can get ready to take the contract to the City Council. There were very few changes or concerns, everything has been very thorough.
11:30 I met Jim Ford, ol' college buddy for lunch at the Cosmo. You should see the pastrami on rye that those folks are putting out. I had the tri-tip; I just couldn't bring myself to deviate from an old favorite.
Jim is putting together a start-up company that features an organic fungicide. I love being around the energy and excitement of a start-up company. Jim is experienced in his field and is an extremely hard worker. I have no doubts at his ability to get through the obstacles that face entrepreneurs.
1:00 We had our monthly update with the companies that have been awarded the contracts through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. There still seems to be a shortage of homes on the market within the guidelines of the NSP. It appears that investors are buying up many of the homes to keep as rentals. This is not what our downtown neighborhoods need, as they started off with low homeownership rates before the real estate bust. The next step is to contact the owners of vacant houses in the Lowell and Jefferson neighborhoods to see if any of them are willing to sell.
2:15 I had a meeting regarding a Fresno State grad student who is interested in doing his thesis project focused on the needs for technology in the downtown revitalization effort. The resources just keep coming out of the woodwork. This baseline of information about existing I.T. infrastructure and best practices about the use of technology by other cities in their revitalization programs will be valuable, and frankly, probably not something would could have gotten to any other way. More to follow!
3:00 Member of the downtown business community presented the Mayor an update on their progress for the establishment of the Property Based Improvement District (PBID). The meeting included: Tom Richards (Penstar), Saundra King (Security Bank Building), Jim Koch (downtown and Chinatown property owner), Art Farkas (Krazan and Associates), and Jan Minami (Downtown Association Executive Director). The DTA is going to post progress and updates daily. This privately led effort will continue it one by one approach to meet with property owners and to build support for this important effort.
4:00 I met with Aren Hekimian a local music promoter who is very enthusiastic about music and event promotion in downtown Fresno. Aren has great revitalization instincts and has travelled enough to know how downtowns, music and culture mix together. I look forward to working with him to create the entertainment district that is our goal.
5:00 Fernando, Dawn and I met at El Torito for Taco Tuesdays and to brainstorm ways to integrate the downtown revitalization effort with Fresno's Leading Young Professionals. We discussed ideas like field trips to other downtowns, to a year long monthly program to introduce people to our downtown, to involvement with students at Lowell Elementary. They'll discuss this at their next FLYP board meeting.
That's it. Tonight I'm pretty sure that I'll sleep well. Here's a picture of Ellis sleeping with her stuffed elephant toy:
Posts
Sweet puppy. :-)
ReplyDeleteT