12-16-09 Another crazy day

This'll be a short one, just the facts ma'm.


8:00 I met with the representative of a new tenant that we are trying to attract to a downtown location. It looked like they would be making a decision tomorrow, but I found out that they have postponed their decision until January. We really are working hard at getting this one. Hopefully we'll have something good to report in January...stay tuned.


9:15 Press conference to announce that Penstar has purchased the historic Bank of Italy Building. This was a nice one for the "wins" column. This was a culmination of efforts from code enforcement and the city attorney’s office who have been prioritizing enforcement against negligent downtown property owners. When a new potential owner put the building in escrow, but who needed additional investors, we introduced him to Penstar. We didn't know if they had followed up with each other until we got word that they were working together to close the purchase. The City Manager's office, code enforcement and the City attorney had to move quickly to clear some issues on the title to ensure that the deal went through. It was a good team effort that proved successful.


I spent much of my day running between Council offices double-checking and providing answers to questions about the items that we have on the agenda for the downtown. There have been some questions that might cause some delays, but they are thoughtful questions and everyone seems to be interested in keeping things moving forward. Whether we have delays or not, I feel pretty confident that we'll still be making progress. So many of these items are complex, and the timing with other issues facing the City just makes them more so.

12:00 Amy Huerta and I met with Will Fleet, Ken Hatfield and John Coakley at the Fresno Bee. We met to discuss how we might do a directory of locally-owned restaurants and retailers. This would be a valuable tool for people who want to support our independent businesses. We'll meet again in January after the City's new business license software is operational. Disclaimer: The Bee brought in salads for lunch.


1:30 I had my one on one meeting with the Mayor. It was short, because of the number of issues that we both had to attend to that needed last minute attention. We'll continue the meeting tomorrow.


2:30 We had a run through with the folks who will be presenting at tomorrow's Council meeting.


4:00 The Mayor hosted a holiday party in the foyer at City Hall


5:00 I had a haircut at The Loft in the Security Bank Building. I read an article in Fresno Magazine that featured an imaginary debate with Reza Assemi and me. In reality, we did not have a conversation, but our separate interviews were pieced together to make it seem like a point/counterpoint discussion.

6:00 I went to the chamber of Commerce for an award presentation for Reza Assemi.


7:00 My son Cole is home from college (Saint Mary's in Moraga). It was great to have dinner with him!