1/9/08

Administrative

 +  Successfully relocated the DVO headquarters within the new Visitors Center in the Masonic Lodge at 101 S. California Street. When our conference room is organized we can have more meetings within the office. Testing a new board meeting location this week: Affinity Bank’s conference center.

+ Professional Development:  I’ve engaged the Ventura County Nonprofit Leadership Council’s Strategic Planning Institute: we have been invited to participate in five consultative workshops to assist DVO with the development of a strategic plan; includes a facilitated board retreat. This is a $5,000 value for $750.

+ Organization’s Main Street Accreditation: To be an officially accredited Main Street organization, the state office must first acknowledge DVO. We have been invited to the California Main Streets statewide meeting: Feb 25 and 26 to introduce ourselves. I plan to attend with your permission.  And, on that note …

+ The National Main Street annual conference is in Philadelphia, March 30 – April 2, 2008. Cost: $340 plus hotel and airfare, or just $150 per day. More info at: http://conference.mainstreet.org/content.aspx?page=11247&site=13

This is an excellent way to meet other members of other MS programs around the country; I highly suggest attending even if it is just for a day or two. Anyone from Ventura is welcome to attend.

 Design

+ The prototype refuse and recycling bins: awaiting a decision from the City Attorney regarding ordinance and encroachment permit—very similar to the banner ordinance also under consideration that allows for outdoor advertising in thepublic right-of-way [private businesses sponsoring lamp post banners.]

+ The value of the Cook Book store makeover has been acknowledged; the National Main Street office will promote it in their next national printed newsletter about freshman Main Streets that make incremental changes!

+ Storefront makeovers, sidewalk planter, and tree lighting upgrades are priority in 1Q.

+ Committee meetings are always the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at Noon. Call DVO headquarters for current location: 641-1090.

 Promotion

 +  Print advertising for February will include Ventana, 805 Living, and others. Demographic we are attracting is: above-average income women throughout Ventura County and the 805 area code.

+  Radio advertising for the holidays wrapped with a strong NYE promotion on Goldcoast stations. Future radio spots will include generic pro-downtown promotion during the Maria Sanchez show. The demographic leans heavily: local, self-employed, women over 40, plus civic-minded supporters of locals biz.

+ Congratulations to all who participated in Christmas caroling. Many thanks to Kiley and Saundra of Goldcoast Broadcasting for orchestrating four wonderful weekends that ended with 60 carolers the last Saturday.

+  Four e-newsletters have been developed and delivered to a mass mailing list of 500+. “Forwards” to friends is track-able and is very weak thus far, so please forward to your downtown colleagues.

+ Assisting the organizers of Fashion Week Ventura with press and planning. Event will be held downtown at Red Brick Gallery: Feb 28/Mar 1. We encourage all our independent fashion retailers to engage in this event. Details are online at:

www.fashionweekventura.com.

+ New promotional ideas being discussed and planned: a Third Thursdays musical event, a signature summer musical event, DVO monthly mixers, antique car cruise nights, farmers market expansion, Website upgrades/overhaul.

 Economic Restructuring

 + Dave Armstrong: new chairman of this committee.

Monthly meetings will be the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 9 AM—probably at the DVO HQ. Implementation of the Retail Study as first priority.

+ Other projects to consider: landowner inventory, promotional brochures to help accelerate infill redevelopment, business assistance page on our Web site.

 Downtown Operations Team

 + Congratulations to Jerry, Jill and all on the DOT committee for brokering an amazingly well-attended meeting with County social service staff. All local newspapers covered it. I will act as the post-meeting point person with County Supervisor Steve Bennett’s office to further explore social service delivery to downtown Ventura homeless.

 Organization

 + Finance sub-committee met to discuss a Q1 2008 budget to submit to the City. Committee chairs to meet with me to finalize 1Q 08 budget needs.

+ Quarterly newsletter is an Organization committee task; I could use some help developing this.

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12/12/07

Congratulations to our new mayor, Christy Weir—founding member of DVO!

 Design: Chair Chris Bennett retires today. Thank you Chris!

+  The prototype refuse and recycling bins were unveiled on Nov 7; We must engage in a simple contract with OutdoorPartner Media; City would also need to grant us an encroachment permit; awaiting direction from staff.

+  The value of the Cook Book store makeover has been realized as we are getting positive comments. I propose we set a goal of ten more in 2008. The physical upgrade to the shopping landscape is achieved; the PR value is priceless.

+  Participated on a jury to choose the next public art installation downtown in April; our recommendation goes to the Public Art Comm next week.

+  Tree lighting quote from Philips:  $100,000 for 50 palm trees. Ergo, do we REALLY to go with LED’s?

 Promotion

 + Congratulations Seana—owner of the Ventura Chamber’s Small Business of the Year!

+  Four e-newsletters have been developed and delivered. Mailing list is now at 500; “forwards” to friends is track-able and is very weak, so determining how to best encourage viral marketing is in my near future. “Opens” and click-thrus of links embedded in the piece has been stellar--over %55 open rate each time.

+  Radio advertising for the holidays is going strong and we are seeing visits to our Website increase, and registration for our e-newsletter as a result. Alteration of the spot will take place this week—highlighting what to do for NYE downtown. Spots run next week concurrently with the original one.

+  Print advertising for the holidays is complete: one full-page color ad in both 805 Living, the December Ventana, as well as the VC Reporter’s “last minute holiday gift guide.”

+ Promoting the downtown caroling has been a hit. The first weekend 15 participated; last week was adopted by the Ventura Music Festival—50+ participated; we expect more than 60 on the last two Saturdays with two “shifts” next week: 5pm and 7pm!

+ I propose we adopt our first bar event for large groups to celebrate their birthdays together: the “Downtown Ventura Zodiac Pub Crawl”. It’s easy, self-promoting, and brings new people to downtown each month. We are aiming for the Sat or Sun when the zodiac signs change, i.e. the 21^sst/22^nd.

+ Assisting the organizers of Fashion Week Ventura with press and planning. Event will be held downtown at Red Brick Gallery: Feb 28/Mar 1. We encourage all our independent fashion retailers to engage in this event. Details are online at:

www.fashionweekventura.com

+ Asking City staff to consider moving the holiday street fair 2008 from a Sunday to a Saturday to benefit our merchants and the nearby hotels more; also hosting it a week later in December. Visitors’ Bureau concurs.

+ Troubleshooting how a musician can get a $100+ ticket for playing in the parking structure, but does not get one outside of it. We should be encouraging public street performers, not regulating them or penalizing them for loitering. 

Economic Restructuring

 + Monthly meetings should be established in January with the implementation of the Retail Study as first priority.

 Downtown Operations Team

 + We owe a hearty Thank You to Jerry for an amazing year of progress!

 Organization

 + A chair is needed; monthly meetings should be established.

+ Finance sub-committee will meet Friday, December 14 at 1:30 pm to create a Q1 2008 budget to submit to the City. Greg Smith’s offices.

+ Will be bringing the bookkeeping in-house from Smith Hobson in January; consulting different sources on running QuickBooks on my Mac. Can I get a motion to get Carol Lind a small token of our appreciation?

+ Promoting the DVO on Time Warner cable television in Jan;

+ Promoting the DVO via Pacific Coast Business Times interview tomorrow.

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10-31-07

Code Enforcement Progress
+ The Fire Department’s code enforcement division held a meeting for all publishers regarding applications for new newspaper rack permits on Oct 22. The re-permitting process should be completed by mid-December: all damaged and under-utilized newspaper racks will be removed by either their respective owners or the City.

+  When this project is complete, I will assist with an educational campaign focused on proper storefront signage, permits, and design (Dec – Feb).

Design Committee Activity

The third annual downtown clean-up day was a great success with over 30 people participating. Affinity Bank, the Downtown Lion’s Club, and the Balboa Middle School wrestling club were the partner organizations. Council members Fulton, Weir, and Mayor Morehouse helped as well. I suggest we engage the community on a quarterly basis to keep the neighborhood clean in this way.

Many thanks to Bad Ass Coffee for supplying the caffeine!

I am currently working on several projects to upgrade the downtown landscape:

+  The prototype refuse and recycling bins will be unveiled on Nov 7. Outdoor Partners is flying in from Atlanta to present the master plan to city staff [time and location: TBA];
+  New lighting for trees on Main Street is being selected this week and I am looking for feedback on the choice of lights for the deciduous trees on Main;
+  A redesign of the sidewalk planters with native and drought-resistance plants is in motion;

+  Design and installation of new lamp post banners that I had hoped would be a reality by Thanksgiving, have to be postponed as City staff have not completed an ordinance.

Promotion Committee Activity

+  Web site upgrades are occurring every week now; electronic newsletters are being developed right now with the help of a volunteer/designer.

+  Radio advertising will begin this weekend for the holidays. We’ve committed to $12,000 (a deeply discounted rate) to Gold Coast Broadcasting for 60-second downtown-specific shopping and dining spots.

+  Print advertising for the holidays includes several full-page color ads in monthly magazines that align with our brand; Holiday Street Festival included.

+  Vetting a 2008 Restaurant Week: three days of fixed price menus that draw people to the neighborhood in the slowest season: January/February.

+  A signature event: if you could create the ideal event for 2008—one that DVO can hang its hat on, what would it be?

Economic Restructuring Activity

+  ER Committee should set twice-monthly meeting times this week.

+  As per the Main Street model, many Main Street organizations coordinate “customer service training” for restaurant servers and retail employees prior to the winter holidays. Wendy Gillette and I have chosen several dates and times in November for trainings that will benefit our business owners: Sun, Mon, Tues, November 18, 19, 20. The training is free to the merchants and their staff; bonus in-store analyses will be awarded to businesses that send three or more employees to any one of the three training dates.

Organization Committee

A chair is needed this month since we are nearing director elections; monthly meetings should be established. This committee is charged with:
 

+ Managing the organization’s volunteers and rewarding good work

+ Promoting the DVO throughout the community

+  Managing the finances, both short-term and long-term (BID)

+ Fundraising, sponsorships and goal-setting 

Administrative Updates 

+ After meeting with five local banks, Affinity Bank has the most interest in a marketing partnership with DVO; I am recommending we bank at Affinity.

+ Attended the California Downtown Association’s annual conference in Long Beach; gained an understanding of creating a BID in California.

+  Attended an International Economic Development Council course on “small business credit analysis” in Tampa, FL. This is the last in a series of courses I have been taking over six years; I am now eligible to sit for a credentialing exam in ’08.

~  Rob Edwards, DVO Executive Director, 805.616.9339

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10-17-07

Administrative Updates

+ First round of funding check was received and deposited in our County Commerce Bank account [$185,000 ]. My suggestion is to keep the line of credit open, but with a zero balance, in case of emergency situations. But it si obviously up to the guarantors to do so.

+ We will begin planning a budget for Q1 2008, after Thanksgiving.

+ Met with several downtown banks to discus marketing partnership opportunities.

+ Toured Downtown Oxnard with their executive director and board members.

+ Will be attending the California Downtown Association next week in Long Beach to gain an understanding of creating a BID in California.

Code Enforcement Progress
+ Met with Andrew Stuffler of the city Fire Dept., code enforcement division. It has been at least five years since annual permits have been enforced, thus all rack owners will receive notices to contact VFD for applications. The damaged ones will be removed within one month. I will produce a friendly press release to the publishers to educate them on the process and why their stewardship of furniture in the public realm is necessary. Overhaul expected by mid-December.

Economic Restructuring Activity

Customer Service Training: as per the Main Street model, many Main Street organizations coordinate training for restaurant servers and retail employees prior to the winter holidays. Wendy Gillette is the foremost authority on customer service training in the region; she and I will choose dates and times in early November for trainings that will benefit our business owners.

Grant Opportunity

City of Ventura is offering a $7,000 grant to an artist, or a team, to install art/sculptures in any of our downtown parks. I believe that we should put together a team to propose an installation, murals, and landscaping to improve the Main Street pocket park—our biggest eyesore.

Chamber Presentation

At Zoe Taylor’s request, I was included in the annual update from all of the city’s community council presidents to the economic development committee of the Chamber. Since it is an election year, I used this opportunity to reinforce [for some] and expose [for others] the vagrancy issues faced by our downtown stakeholders. Council candidates were in attendance as were several city staff.

Rob Edwards, DVO Executive Director, October 17, 2007

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10-03-07

Administrative Updates

Reworked our budget for the next quarter and delivered the revised invoice to Sid White; awaiting a response.

Refuse and Recycling Presentation

I have requested a prototype of the refuse and recycling cans from Outdoor Partners; so far the City staff seem to be receptive to the new cans.

Significant meetings and/or conversations I have had since last board meeting:

+ Chair of the Oxnard BID board
+ Ventura Harbor marketing staff
+ Ventura County Fair board of directors meeting
+ San Buenaventura Conservancy board of directors meeting
+ Elena Brokaw
+ Downtown Rotary with Rosa Lee Measures, former deputy mayor
+ Peter Brown, Ventura Homeless/Social Services Director
+ Jim Ludwig, VVCB board chairman
+ Ray Estrada, Pacific Coast Business Times journalist
+ Bill Lascher, VC Reporter editor
+ Gold Coast advertising sales
+ Ventura Breeze [new newspaper]
+ Banks: SBBT, County Commerce
+ Peter Brown's Homelessness Task Force meetings
+ California's Small Town and Rural Tourism conference

Volunteered for:
A Rubicon fundraising event as a bartender.

Rob Edwards, DVO Executive Director, Oct 3, 2007

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8/21/07

Administrative

Thank you Dan for initiating a conversation about an office computer as well as the great welcome reception!

Buenaventura Gallery has signed the sublease for our unused space in the Visitors Center. This will save us $2000 this year.

Secured pro bono Web site services from Zest Net on Main Street.

Grant Park Planning Steering Committee meeting: Interview of the artist who will join the selected contractor.

Tony Strauss advised me on Brown Act and board-specific protocols.

Outreach to Stakeholders
Attended Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon
" Continuing to distribute the DVO Main Street committee info to the businesses and explaining the opportunities to contribute to the neighborhood by volunteering for committees or other donations of time, effort, expertise, or materials.

Outreach to Press
Just about every media outlet in So Cal has heard from me in the last month regarding the IKEA Contest. Positive responses were mostly from: Gold Coast Broadcasting [KVTA and The Connection), Cumulus' KHAY Country, and the VC Reporter.

Outreach to City Staff and Electeds
Significant meetings and/or interactions I have had since last board meeting:

Carl Morehouse, Mayor Rick Cole, City Manager
Jay Panzica, City CFO Ed Summers, City Councilman
Doug Halter, Candidate for City Council Andrew S., Code Enforcement
Nelson Martinez, Director, Community Development
David Comden, Publisher of Ventana and VC Reporter

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8/8/07

Administrative

" Set both executive committee and finance committee agendas. Meeting is 8/13
" Secured a phone/fax line: 805.641.1090; fax line: 805.641.3960; new cell number: 805.616.9339
" Promotion Committee has established a monthly standing meeting:
Third Mondays at 3.30 PM at Weaver Wines
" Design Committee is in formation will function as a subcommittee of DOT until membership/leadership is identified.
" Board trip to Paso Robles Main Street program was a worthwhile expenditure of time; staff will seek no reimbursement of expenses. Encinitas next?
" Located a suitable subletter for our excess space within the VCB: Buenaventura Gallery will agree to take the space for four months at $500 per. evaluate the arrangement in December. This is a savings of $2000 to the DVO.

Outreach to Stakeholders
" Attended Chamber of Commerce breakfast and a Kiwanis club luncheon.
" Continuing to distribute the DVO Main Street committee info to the businesses and explaining the opportunities to contribute to the neighborhood by volunteering for committees or other donations of time, effort, expertise, or materials.

Outreach to Press
" Pacific Coast Business Times: a positive front page, above the fold story.
" Gave interview to VC Star; Authored a Power to Speak for VC Reporter.

Outreach to Public/Fundraising
" Filmed the IKEA $50,000 "Small Business, Big Dreams" Contest entry; We had been first or tied for first for the entire week of viewing/pre-voting; now we have two weeks to get votes online. Please spread the word!
" http://business.ikea.com/mainstreet

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7/24/07

Administrative: Conference table relocated; Office furniture moved to closet/office. Still to come: painting office walls, obtaining a phone/fax/internet line and connection to office equipment [copier, etc].

Finances: Reviewing the City MOU; will review further with authors to discuss appropriate next steps: invoicing, benchmarks, timelines, expectations. Met with Greg to discuss budget and future expenditures. Will review organizational insurance in place for the Organization.

Promotion: Filming a promotional documentary to win a $50,000 IKEA Makeover for several small businesses.

Good Press: VC Reporter: "The New Kid On The Block";
KCLU 88.3 FM: "Downtown Ventura Hires Director"

Outreach: Distributing DVO Main St committee info to the businesses and explaining the opportunities to contribute to the neighborhood by volunteering for committees or other donations of time, effort, expertise, or materials.

Had Meetings and/or Significant Conversations with these Stakeholders:

Tim Schiffer, Museum of Ventura County Ed Warren, DVO
Carla Edwards, Limoniera Zoe Taylor, DVO
Elena Brokaw and Kerry Hapner, City Vicki Musgrove, City
Chris, Buenaventura Galley & Foundation Tag Gilbert, broker
Asst Police Chief Corney, Sgt Tim Turner Mr. Wood, landlord
Saundra Sorensen, VC Reporter Mr. Scott, Masonic Lodge
Joel Hickenbottom, Web designer Sid White, City

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7/10/07

Administrative Overview

+ Space planning: for office set-up: conference table relocation, painting office walls, utilizing donated furniture, obtaining a phone/fax/internet line and connection to office equipment [copier, etc].

+ Connected with web designer to obtain an @DowntownVentura.org email add.

+ Created an info fact sheet on DVO for distribution to all the merchants. Went door to door with the VVCB staff to distribute and introduce myself to business owners and/or their staff (Tuesday July 3).

+ Laying the foundation to create a healthy committee infrastructure by visiting merchants and explaining the opportunities to contribute to the neighborhood by volunteering for committees or other donation of time, effort, expertise, or materials as each is able.

+ Creating infrastructure for essential workplans (mine and the four committees') per the City-approved DVO workplan and budget.

+ Received a copy of the 3-Year Workplan Budget; will review with Finance Committee chair this week. Investigating health insurance and payroll options. Will review organizational insurance in place for the Organization.

+ Briefly met the mayor and city manager.

+ Attended VVCB board meeting.

+ Discussed key people to meet within the next month (primarily with Christy Weir and Jerry Breiner).

+ Investigating memberships that provide vital resources for a fully functional Main Street organization: CA Main Street network of communities, CA Downtown Association, CALED (CA Economic Development), CalFest (Event and Festival Assoc), MNSC (National Main Street Center), IDA (International Downtown Assoc), ULI (Urban Land Institute).

+ Observations to Consider for the Next Board Meeting:

Risk Management: Dangerous intersection: when and how is the CA ST exit off the 101 going to be addressed. I personally have almost been in two accidents already.
Liability for City: Also, the gateway to the beach, CA St is not even ADA compliant [passage for a wheel chair with 48"] once you cross the overpass, near the railroad tracks. The train signal poles interrupt the flow of foor traffic.
Economic Development: You know how I feel about the train trestle over the 101. Some aggressive attorneys would suggest that the appearance of this structure and its subsequent lack of maintenance by the owners could be considered a "taking" from the local business community. Its an economic development liability and should be addressed aggressively. It could very well be a major iconic plus for C & Main Sts with the proper maintenance and uplighting at night.
Parking Details: Pain the green and yellow curbs with their respective instructions on the façades, not the tops. Unless you are in an SUV how does one read the top of the curb? This isn't very visitor-friendly and it slows traffic flow.
Evening Aesthetics: The lights that illuminate City Hall at night do not match the surrounding lighting, i.e. fluorescent vs. incandescent (white vs. amber). It's not cohesive look that can be easily altered with low-cost theatre gels and a little effort.
Logo Addition: I suggest obtaining a good photo of the Surf, Shop, Stay signage (at dusk) to use as an icon to represent the neighborhood's shopping district. The current DVO logo can also be used-but more for the promotion of the Organization itself. The neon sign is a positive impression that will last with shoppers.

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For more information, or to volunteer for a committee, please email us here.

To achieve the vision cited above, development of a sustainable community based management organization to guide Downtown's revitalization has been a goal of Ventura's Redevelopment Agency (RDA), the new Downtown Specific Plan, and a focused General Plan economic development strategy established by the City. In a major step towards realizing this goal, On October 9th,2006 the RDA approved funding the Downtown Ventura Organization (DVO) in the amount of $150,000 in the first year, $250,000 in year two, and $100,000 in year three. The monies come from the DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT TAX INCREMENT AREA and under California Redevelopment Law are restricted solely for RDA planning and implementation activities within the Downtown. The funds cannot be used to provide City services like Police, Fire, or Public Works. In that light, the DVO is perfectly poised to use the restricted RDA funding only to provide services to facilitate Downtown RDA Projects and to implement Downtown Specific Plan Actions. The DVO will hire full-time staff and establish permanent sources of funding to carry their work forward. The full text of the Memorandum of Understanding as well as our work plan, proposed budget and bylaws can be found here at the City Site.