03-10-10 Wednesday

7:00 Amy Huerta (Local Business Initiatives) and I headed out to Wawona Farms ( http://www.wawona.com/shop/default.asp ) to meet with Bill Smittcamp. We were there to strategize about the Fresno Food Show. This is an event that would put local food producers in contact with our local food producers from growers to processors to boutique cheeses to Ruiz Foods, to wineries. We'd get buyers from grocery stores and restaurants to see what we produce all in one place.



9:00 We had the agenda conference for the City Council Meeting on March 18th. Our department doesn't have much on, just a revised contract with the Economic Development Corporation and Fresno State's Office of Economic Development. The contract was already approved, but one of the parties needed a language change for the financial tracking.


At the following directors' meeting I gave a report on the Downtown Plan meetings that we had just held. I also talked to the group about a possible downtown tenant that we were going to be giving a tour to later in the day.


10:00 I met the potential downtown tenant and gave them an overview in our department's conference room. We have a good aerial map in there that is good for illustrating our strategy. We then walked over to introduce them to the Mayor. She talked about how the revitalization of urban Fresno is her #1 priority and how she is following through in her administration. The group walked away talking about how what a great mayor we have. She is phenomenal in these meetings.


I accompanied them on a tour of the Fulton Mall and a couple of downtown buildings. We had lunch downtown. They toured several other buildings on their own throughout the day.


2:00 I had a meeting with Council Member Sterling to give her a briefing on the tenant and the tour and also to follow-up on the downtown plan meetings, which she attended.


2:30 We had our weekly Downtown and Community Revitalization management team meetings with George Smith, Elaine Robles, Amy Huerta, Wilma Quan and Elliott Balch. We continue to discuss the shifting prioritization demands now that the downtown plans are underway. We also spent some time talking about our interns and how to maximize their experience and their work product.


4:00 Amy Huerta and Alex Villa organized the second meeting of the Independent Retailers and Restaurants affinity group. We had a great turnout from locally-owned businesses like: Whitie's Pets, Sierra Nut House, Pismo’s Restaurant, Not Just Paper, BJ's Country Kitchen, Joe's Steakhouse, Tower Hot Dogs and several others. Their priority issue is to do an educational outreach about why the community should buy from locally-owned businesses. The Mayor was on hand to hear their thoughts and discussion and to give her thoughts and support. We held the meeting at Full Circle Brewery. It was the first time that most of the group had been there. It was nice to see some of the local restaurants finding a locally-made beer.


6:00 I had a phone interview with Alice Daniel, who is a local freelance writer, who is doing a story of the Fresno area as a good place to do business. The article will appear in an in-flight magazine.


6:30 I met one of my recent students, Stephanie Roberts about her idea for a downtown business, at Million Elephant Bar. Several students from different eras attended the downtown plan meetings. Mark Harris and Christian Long both did an event in the Security Bank Building last Saturday. Urban Entrepreneurship students are everywhere!