Downtown Oakland Association/Lake Merritt-Uptown District Association District Identity and Streetscape Improvement (D.I.S.I.

) Committee Meeting Minutes of September 26, 2013 11:00 a.m. - CBD Conference Room - 388 19th Street Present: Andrea Kirkpatrick, Sara May, Chris Curtis, Jesse Nelson, CJ Hirschfield, Drew McGowan, Maeven McGovern, Laurie Cooperman-Rosen (by phone)

Excused Absence: Staff: Steve Snider/District Manager, Andrew Jones/District Services Coordinator, Tori Decker/Office and Operations Manager Nancy Amaral/Gallen.Neilly

PR Consultants: Guests:

Angelica Tavella/Oakland Drops Beats, Issabella Shields/The Great Wall of Oakland, Kari Marboe/Block Gallery, Lacey Haslam/Block Gallery

Discussions held and decisions made by the DISI Committee

Subject
Introductions Public comment and announcements

Discussion
Andrew Jones called the meeting to order at 10:58 a.m. Laurie reported that there was a small fire outside of her building when someone dropped a lit cigarette in a pile of leave. There was no property damage. The minutes of the August 22, 2013 meeting were presented for review.

Action?

Approval of the minutes of August 22, 2013 meeting

Discussion of FDBK proposal

Andrew introduced the FDBK proposal and explained that staff wants to utilize FDBK to engage with stakeholder and the greater community. FDBK has a unique and accessible platform to run surveys. The proposal offers 10 surveys for a total of $1,000. Andrew noted that we have already launched 3 surveys and Tori reported that FDBK is a very responsive group with immediate turnaround. The 3 surveys launched include 2 property owner surveys, 1 per district which was focused on CBD services. The third survey was to gather the community feedback on Latham Square. The survey link is

Drew motion and Laurie seconded the motion to approve the minutes of August 22, 2013. Maeven abstained. The motion was approved. Chris moved and Andrea seconded the motion to approve a $1,000 allocation to fund the FDBK proposal. The motion was approved unanimously.

Authorization to use Public Space Development line items funds for Latham Square opening and signage

Staff Updates: - Holiday Shopping Campaign - Property Owner Survey Results - DTO Arts proposal update

posted on the website and on-site signage. Andrew noted that if the districts receive the permit for Franklin Square, the next survey we publish would be to gather the public opinion on the new public space. Andrew noted that the Latham Square Grand Opening is scheduled for October 12th and will feature live music and pop-up vendors curated by popuphood. Tori noted that no money has been spent from the Public Space Development line item in 2013. She also reported that staff would like to use up to $1,500 dollars toward the Grand Opening and $300 to post signage outlining the rules and regulations of the space as well as featuring the FDBK survey. CJ asked what the reaction to Latham Square has been so far and Andrew reported that reactions have been mixed and concerns are focused on the citys ability to maintain the space especially related to safety and loitering issues and the street closure which blocks street access from Telegraph Avenue to several buildings in the area. Andrew noted that all CBD funds are concentrated in the permanent space at Latham Square, and not in the street closure area. There was discussion of the impact of the space on the area so far. Jesse asked what specifically the money for the Grand Opening will be spent on. Andrew stated that he will be purchasing food, advertising, a live band, some equipment rentals such as a stage and sound equipment. It was clarified that we have already funded popuphood for promotion and vendor curation at Latham Square and their work for the grand opening is funded from that money. Steve reported that Oakland Grown, the East Bay Express, the City of Oakland, and the CBDs have partnered to coordinate Plaid Friday activities with participation from Oaklandish, In the Black, Great Wall, and Pro Arts. The East Bay Express is coordinating a bar crawl with pop-up retail vendors in various bars. In the Black is coordinating their annual vendor fair. The East Bay Express is offering to promote Plaid Friday over their channels at a very discounted rate. District staff is planning on distributing the retail guide in the East Bay Express in conjunction with their holiday guide. Jesse expressed his concern about producing a paper guide and asked how much web presence we can have with the guide. Steve responded that we will have a

Sara moved and Jesse seconded the motion to approve the use of $1500.00 for the Latham Square grand opening and signage from the public space development line item. The motion was approved unanimously.

digital version that will be on our website and social media. Sara asked if we have a relationship with Yelp and if we can fold them into this project. Staff reported not yet. Tori reviewed the property owner survey and noted that so far we have received 35 responses but they are still coming in. We are planning on sending it out through our eblast to increase our reach. She reviewed the results we have received so far. Steve gave an update on the DTO Arts proposal. He reported that the majority of the expenses are supplies for events. Tori reminded the committee that the motion at the last meeting was contingent upon receiving more detail information about how DTO would allocate their funds. Sara noted that the DTO Arts proposal does fit in the DISI goal of promoting art in the districts. She also noted that two/thirds of the proposal is going toward Latham Square, which the committee has already committed significant funds toward. Jesse noted that there is a lot of detail in the other categories of the proposal but not the Latham Square section which is one third of the proposal. The committee asked to see more detail about how the Latham Square money will be spent. Nancy reviewed the highlights of the Gallen.Neilly update packet. Issabella outlined the activities that are planned for the holiday Great Wall events. She noted that the content is crowd sourced and all from Oakland artists. Issabella noted that the Great Wall is asking for $10,000 for the two events and she presented budgets for how she will spend the sponsorship dollars and noted that they are not full project budgets. She also noted that a timeline of deliverables will be provided. Kari and Lacey outlined the art installation they have planned for the large windows in the Rotunda building at Latham Square. They have coordinated use of the space with Rotunda Dental, a community partner of the districts. They explained that the piece will focus on the history of the Latham family and the square. They reviewed the timeline of the project and outlined the steps that have already been

Gallen.Neilly & Associates public relations update Great Wall Presentation

Historic Art Installation Presentation Block Gallery Presentation

taken. They also reviewed their maintenance plan. They noted that they intend to keep the installation up through the Latham Square pilot. They outlined what the piece will look like as well as their PR plans. They are asking for a $2,770 sponsorship and they presented their full project budget. They noted that the $2,770 covers the full cost of creation and installation, and the other funding they are hoping to receive will cover the cost of an event to unveil the piece at which they will offer to promote the businesses at Latham Square. Sara asked about night lighting at Latham Square. Andrew noted that string lights are being installed today. Tori noted that the Block Gallery funding would come from the DOA Public Space Development line item. Jesse expressed his preference for projects that are more engaging than a 2-dimensional installation. Chris agreed, but pointed out that this project is far better than the current blacked out windows. It was noted that examples of Kari and Laceys work can be found on their websites. Chris Curtis left the meeting due to a conflict of interest as he sits on the board of directors of the Great Wall of Oakland. Tori noted that the Great Wall is requesting $10,000 which would come from the First Friday line item. Andrew noted that though past events funded by the districts have been purely for entertainment, these two events directly benefit the districts by supporting district businesses. Andrea suggested that the districts fund the project with $8,000. Because the event features businesses from both districts, the committee chose to split the sponsorship equally. Tori noted that she will be sending out an email to schedule a budget planning meeting for the first week in November. She also mentioned that staff will be leaving for the International Downtown Association annual conference in New York on October 4th and will return on October 9th. The meeting was adjourned at 12:31 p.m.

Discussion of Great Wall and Block Gallery sponsorship

Sara moved and Drew seconded the motion to approve an allocation of $2,770 from the Public Space Development line item to fund the Latham Square window installation. The motion was approved unanimously. Jesse moved and CJ the motion to approve an $8,000 sponsorship for the Great Wall of Oakland holiday event from the First Friday line item. The motion was approve unanimously.

Other

Adjournment