I started the day a t 4:45with two miles on the treadmill at the gym because it was raining. On the way there, I saw an older guy running in the rain, just wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Arrrrgh. It's not enough to have Coach Carter, now I have this guy pushing me too!? I watched VH1 videos while I was running, and had Lady GaGa's Bad Romance song in my head all day...which I admit, I liked.
7:00 I met Christor Ammon at the Chicken Pie Shop for breakfast. He was my shadow for the day. My old buddy Smitty had suggested him Chris is from Milwaukee and was a Peace Corps volunteer. It was great to have him along for the day, I hope that it was worthwhile for him. I don't think that I'll have shadows on Fridays in the future, by Friday it's hard enough to put together coherent sentences.
8:30 Chris and I met Elliott Balch at John Dodson's office, SJVTech at L and San Joaquin. John has been in downtown since 1971 and has started many tech companies. It is important to build on the anchor businesses that we have. Many downtowns have had great success with start-ups inhabiting cool old buildings.
10:00 We had a meeting with the team that is working on the High Speed Rail plan and design. Stefanos Polyzoides and David Sargent atteneded. These two gentlemen will be leading the Specific Plan Team for our downtown redesign of City zoning and development laws and policies. It was important that they hear about the HSR and also for the HSR folks to hear about our revitalization efforts.
12:30 We went to lunch with David and Stefanos at Sheherds' Inn. Wilma, Elliott and David Schecter were on hand for lunch. We discussed the HSR meeting and the upcoming presentation to the City Council next Thursday,
2:00 Chris, David, Stefanos and I toured the areas for the proposed high speed rail station and walked through Freso Station, the historic depot at Tulare between H and G.
4:00 Fresno Bee reporter George Hostetter interviewed Andy Souza, Elliott Balch and me regarding the Property Based Improvement District for downtown Fresno. We'll see how it comes out in a day or two, I'm sure.
5:00 I took Chris Ammon back to his Tower District home. I hope that he enjoyed his day and learned a little about our revitalization efforts. Chris spent some time with Amy Huerta at the end of the day to learn about the Local Business Initiatives too.
7:00 My wife and I headed to McLane Stadium to watch our alma mater Bullard High School in their Valley Championship football game. It was a great game, 4,000 high school football fans on a rainy Friday night. Congratulations to our friend Donny Arax and the team! It was a hard fought victory.
Saturday
Elaine Robles and I met at Patio Cafe for breakfast and then worked at my house on a couple of PowerPoints unitl a little after noon. We have a couple of meetings and presenations on the neighborhood revitalization plans and efforts on Monday.
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