I got up at 5:00 and got out of the door about 20 minutes later than usual. It is amazing how a few minutes can make such a big difference how many people are out and about. If we start at 5:00 we might see 2 or 3 people. Start at 5:20 and we see dozens by the time we're done.
7:00 meeting at the Chicken Pie Shop. I saw horrible news as I walked in the front door. The CPS is going to start opening at 8:00. I will lose my beloved breakfast meeting spot. It looks like the weekends will be the only time I'll be able to eat eggs and chicken livers at my favorite place.
I met Kurt Madden for breakfast. He is a long time friend, a former boss, and is currently the chief Technology Officer for Fresno Unified. He is also the Board Chair for the Economic Development Corporation. We have a bunch of initiatives to coordinate with FUSD, but we're primarily focused on keeping them informed and involved in our work in the Downtown Neighborhoods (Southwest, Lowell, Jefferson, and Southeast).
9:00 I met with Council Member Lee Brand, who is also the new Redevelopment Board Chair, and RDA Executive director Marlene Murphey. I have been approached by two local developer and several of their partnering investors to discuss a possible development in the Fulton Mall area. I wanted Lee and Marlene to know about this potential project early in its formation.
10:00 Local Business Initiative Manager Amy Huerta and I met to plan for our upcoming presentation to the Fresno Chamber’s Executive Committee meeting on 1/19. We will be giving them a report on our growing Independent Retailers and Restaurants group.
11:00 Elaine Robles and I drove to the Fresno Regional Foundation office at Palm and Shaw to meet with a group of people who are interested in pursuing the Promise Neighborhoods proposal that is being championed by the Obama Administration through the Housing and Urban Development department. The project will identify 20 urban cities who are willing to develop a program modeled after the Harlem Children’s' Zone. http://www.hcz.org/
12:00 Uncle Harry's in Fig Garden. Elaine and I met with Dr. Lynnette Zelezny who is helping Dr. Welty and Fresno State coordinate the upcoming Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities' conference in Fresno http://www.cumuonline.org/conference/index.htm . Our joint efforts in Lowell will by highlighted at the conference. This will bring university presidents to Fresno. Block the dates, they'll also bring some speakers to town that you won't want to miss.
1:00 Elaine and I jetted over to the Oaxaca Restaurant at Chestnut and Belmont for a presentation to the new Belmont Merchants' Association. We gave them information about the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan. The Downtown Nieghborhoods Plan stretches all of the way to Chestnut and would fix outdated land use issues in all of the older neighborhoods. The plans have led to the decline of single family dominated neighborhoods and have allowed the proliferation of low quality apartments that have deteriorated to a state where they are boarded up, are unhealthy for their residents and have destroyed the character of their surrounding neighborhoods. This trend must be reversed. Additionally, the ugly streetscapes and parking lot dominated shopping centers are a result of plans, they actually conform to our plans. This is what needs to be changed.
2:00 We continued our meetings with Council Members to give them a presentation on our proposed long-term strategy for land use planning for the City. General Plans must be updated every 10 years, and that would mean ours is due for an update in 2012. Our Fulton and Downtown Neighborhoods plans would be the first to incorporate form-based zoning and would become the cornerstone for the future plans. Form-based zoning has to do with building sizes, how buildings are placed on their lot, how much building should go on how much land, how much can be used for parking...form-based doesn't focus on uses as much as it focuses on how a city will be physically built. It has great potential for helping to bring growth back into the city and transportation corridors and to make us much more comfortable for pedestrians.
4:30 I met with a group of people who either were in the last Citizens' Academy ( http://www.fresno.gov/Government/MayorsOffice/CitizensAcademy/default.htm ) class or are in the current Citizens' Academy class for a walking tour of the Fulton Mall. The requested the tour last week, so we got it booked and they had 10 or 12 folks show up. It was fun to do the tour as business and activity were winding down on a Friday and as things got dark. It was a perfect opportunity to talk about how a healthy downtown should be winding-up. How an entertainment district would function and the importance of a lively downtown in keeping and attracting talented people to our community.
6:00 After the tour ended, I checked my phone and had a couple of text messages from Andreas and Anna Borgeas. They were over at Full Circle after work. I joined them for a porter and listened to some great music before heading home. http://www.fullcirclebrewing.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment