11-16-09

I'm off track already.  A day late on my blogging.  As we left off on Thursday, I drove to Shasta/McCloud on Thursday night to pick up my son Cole at his school (Saint Mary's College) in Moraga.  We arrived at the house where we were staying at 2:00a.m.  We fished the McCloud River on Friday and the Upper Sacramento River on Saturday and Sunday.  It was absolutely gorgeous up there and the fishing was great.  It was wonderful to be able to have a long drive with my son and have time to really catch up.  I am revitalized and ready for some revitalizing.

Monday morning.  Most of the day was very internally focused.  Not me personally, I mean internally focused on our department.

I started the day at 8:30 with a meeting at the Newsroom Cafe on Kern and L Street in the newly remodeled Virginia Hotel.  Vic, the proprietor,  said that lunch business is really picking up and that the Workforce Investment Board employees that just moved in are proving to be loyal customers.  The meeting was with Linda Calandra, former city councilmember, who now does fundraising for the Library's foundation.  We were joined by Elliott Balch and Jan Minami.  The discussion was about the newly formed DT FACES nonprofit, fundraising, the nonprofit's employee compensation, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals as a resource.

At 9:30 I met with Fernando Santillan who works with Amy Huerta on our Local Business Initiatives.  Fernando is building up the CPA Affinity Group and the Community Banks and Credit Unions Affinity Groups.  We were discussing the possibility of getting the banks and accountants, along with Fresno State accounting students and Bank on Fresno, to coordinate with our Lowell neighborhood revitalization efforts to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit, free tax preparation, open more bank accounts, financial literacy programs.  This is how these efforts can really stack up together.

10:00 we had our weekly management meeting with Amy Huerta (Local Business Initiatives) Elliott Balch (Downtown Revitalization), Elaine Robles (Neighborhood Revitalization) and George Smith (Administration).  Most of the time was spent reviewing our budget and individual budgets.  George has created a report so that our department's budget mirrors a standard budget report.  It helps us to understand where we are and would also be easier for anyone who wanted to see our budget to understand.

11:00 Specific Plan Update meeting with Wilma Quan, who is the Project Manager, and Elliott and Elaine.  We finalized our draft of the Scope of Work which will accompany the contract with Moule and Polyzoides the consultants for the downtown zoning and code overhaul.

12:00  We had a meeting with First 5 who are working with us toward a proposed downtown childcare center headquarters.  We expect to take an agreement to the City Council within a few weeks to keep this project moving forward.  A downtown daycare center would be a great service to downtown employees and residents.

1:30  Elliott and I met with the City Manager Andy Souza and Deputy City Manager Nicole Zieba.  We have a brief meeting on Mondays to align the City departments with the downtown revitalization efforts for the week and to track our progress.

From this point on I worked with Elaine on the final touches for the Lowell Neighborhood Meeting #3.

The meeting in Lowell started at 5:30 in the cafeteria at Lowell Elementary.  We had a very full house with residents, City staff, and partnering agencies.

Council President Cynthia Sterling started the meeting with a welcome and then introduced the Mayor.  The Mayor got things going and talked about long term commitment to the revitalization effort.

I gave an overview of the evening's agenda and an overview of how our department coordinated the revitalization effort.  We had a slide that listed the concerns/needs that the neighbors have expressed to us and then City departments gave an update on their efforts.  Chief Dyer started the program off by showing how their activities in the neighborhood are leading to more community engagement in fighting crime.  Every department showed the tangible results from the coordinated effort in the neighborhood.  I'll try to see how we can put to powerpoint online.  Here are some picture that photographer and Lowell resident Steve Skibbie took last night Lowell Meeting #3 photos.

The neighbors gave us their input/feedback on what a revitalized Lowell neighborhood looks like and suggestions on how to get to the goals.  It was one of the best community meetings that I've ever experienced.  The room was filled with a very positive energy.  Elaine, the whole Downtown and Community Revitalization team and all of the departments did a fantastic job last night in coordinating the event.  The neighborhood is pulling together like gangbusters (now there's an interesting word).

Signing off for now.  Back on track tonight, I hope.

The happy downtown revitalization fisherman,