11/6/09 Causal Friday

I started the day with another morning run. this time under cloak of darkness. I know that we all seem to have a penchant for street lights, but Ilike to be up before sunrise and see the stars and moon in a place without them.

7:30 I enjoyed a nice walking tour of the Fulton Mall with Dr. Hoff, the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services. He's a long time Fresnan and downtown enthusiast. We had a good conversation about how downtowns work, past planning mistakes and future opportunities working together. Their impact on the Lowell neighborhood could be fantastic. I had a coffee and breakfast sandwich from the Parsley Garden afterward....mmmm.

9:00 I had my weekly one on one meeting with our department's Administrative Manager George Smith. George keeps us on track with some of the process stuff. He is also a burgeoning grant writer, along with his many other credentials. He is currently writing a grant that would help to eradicate some of our Lowell neighborhood homes of pests.

10:00 Dawn Steel (FPU alum), Elaine Robles and I headed to Fresno Pacific University to meet with faculty members to discuss their possible participation in our efforts to revitalize the Lowell Neighborhood. They we enthusiastic and helpful in breainstorming the best ways to have a long term engagement with faculty and staff. Resources continue to build for the neighborhood revitalization effort. My personal belief is that we have all the resources that we need to solve our problems, we just need to focus and learn to wrok together. Well, it is actually happening.

We ate at a great little Mexican Food place on Kings Canyon. I can't remember its name and it isn't showing up on Google maps. It is over by Castillos. Handmade corn tortillas were fantastic.

2:00 I met John Rayomnd (Fresno Redevelopment Agency) at Full Circle Brewery (no beer for us) to meet with the owners Don and Bill. The meeting was for me to introduce them to the redevelopment agency and to talk about the Chinaton Redevelopment project area.

3:30 We hosted a meeting at City Hall with City management and staff and downtown developers to discuss potential fee waivers and deferrals to encourage downtown development. We had a great turnout. The concept is to spur development activity during the formation of the specific plan so that projects will be included in the planning process. Our focus in the Fulton mall area, but all areas within the foot print of the plan are included and would receive benefits under our proposal. coupled with improved zoning and code issues, a property based improvement district, an entertainment district and revitalizing downtown neighborhoods, reduced City fees could be another layer to encourage revitalization.

5:15 I met back at Full circle to meet some friends and to listen to some music from Evo Bluestein and a great group of local musicians.

It is 9:50 and I am about down for the count.