MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE LOWER DOWNTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION HELD DECEMBER 9, 2008
Pursuant to proper notice a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association was held in the Community Room of the Northern Trust Bank, 1400 16th Street, on December 9, 2008, beginning at 5:30 p.m. In attendance were: Jerry Arca, David Cole, Josh Davies, Shannon Gifford, Diane Huntress, Jim McCotter, San Ong, Paul Rothman, Christine Santucci, Jack Tone, Byron Watson, and Mike West. Absent were Melinda Cox, Brian Graff, and Joyce Lozow. Jim chaired the meeting, and Shannon served as secretary.
President’s Time
Dennis Gallagher was under the weather and could not attend the meeting.
Jim raised the subject of the annual meeting, which we will talk more about later. Joyce will try to persuade last year’s sponsors to support the meeting again this year.
Jim had a conversation with Guenther Vogt, who is the incoming president of LoDo District. They will get together to discuss joint concerns.
In order to increase the information being posted on the website, Jim asked the Board members to send him a few sentences about themselves describing their backgrounds, interests in LoDo and anything else they wanted to include. He said this would make the neighborhood aware of the diverse talents, skill and interests of the Board members as well as let Board members know more about each. He suggested that we also send photos of ourselves—even if from our camera phones.
The Auraria campus is replacing some of its security cameras, and has excess HALO cameras which it is willing to donate. Jim has drafted a letter to the police requesting two of the cameras for placement at the 15th and Market and 14th and Larimer corners. He noted that there were already cameras in the 1900 blocks of Market and Blake. The board approved the letter with some minor modifications.
Minutes
The Minutes for the meetings of June 3, October 7, and November 5 were approved as amended.
Annual Meeting
Christine gave an update on plans for the annual meeting on January 28th at MCA. The committee recommends continuing with the $10 charge for the annual meeting, having set a precedent last year. We would include one drink ticket. The evening would begin with social hour from 6 to 6:45. The program would run from 6:45 to 7:45, with speakers and annual meeting issues. People can then circulate through the museum until 9. Jim noted that the museum would prefer not to have us start the event before 6 (although we can be there to set up).
Jim suggested that during the program itself, we get the business done first and follow with our speakers. Josh wondered whether the speakers could hold court afterwards in the “discovery” area. Jerry pointed out that the main program will be down on the lower level. Josh clarified that he just meant that it would be nice if the speakers could continue to talk with members afterwards, somewhere.
Jim suggested that we continue email blasts to let people know what is going to happen and when, and that we encourage people to renew their memberships online through Blacktie.
Jim asked whether we have a caption or title summing up what the speakers will be presenting. David offered to come up with one. There was a discussion of collecting images from various events from the past year so that a slide show could be played. Diane agreed to forward various images to Byron, who will put them on the website and also on a CD.
Jim urged all of us to keep working on sponsorships, with a requested donation of $250. Shannon agreed to call Union Station Neighborhood Company.
Josh asked whether we should consider doing a silent auction, with the proceeds used for our philanthropy fund. Josh and Christine agreed to pursue this if it turns out that there is space available to put something together.
Charlie Awards
The board agreed that Deborah Dilley was a deserving candidate for the Charlie Award. Josh moved that we honor her, and Jerry seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
While we agreed that there was no need to give an award to an entrepreneur each year, there was some discussion of possible candidates. While no one compelling stood out, we agreed to continue the discussion through email.
New Director Positions
Part of the business of the annual meeting is the election of new directors. Jerry and Mike and Joyce had agreed to take on the project of interviewing and recommending new directors, with assistance from Josh. Jerry circulated a list of board members who were resigning or whose terms are expiring. Jerry is resigning with one year remaining, and Melinda with two years remaining. Craig and Karen each resigned this year with three year terms due to expire this year.
The board had a brief discussion about some of the possible candidates. It was agreed that the committee would interview the candidates and circulate their recommendations by email. The nominations will be confirmed by the board at the January meeting, and then voted on at the annual meeting.
Holiday Project
There was a brief discussion of the holiday project, which Joyce had reported on at greater length by email. Board members were reminded to put their food collection boxes in unsecured areas on Friday morning. Christine described the new Angel Tree program at Tattered Cover, and board members commented that it seemed like a wonderful program. San reported that we are currently within $500 of last year in collections from the same donors. Some prior year donors have not contributed so the overall giving is still to be determined.
Christine pointed out that last year we had given Target gift cards to some of the kids at North High School, and that this had been well received. The Holiday Project organizers wanted to wait to see how the contributions were coming in before doing it again this year. She asked if the board would in favor of it. Byron moved that if needed, we supplement the funds for Target gift cards by up to $500 from the general fund. David Cole seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
San asked about the disposition of income from the 4th LoDo Women’s event. Christine said that most of the money had been spent, and that the remainder would go back to the Women’s series events.
LoDo Lights
Diane opened the discussion about LoDo Lights by reminding us that we still need to raise money for the project. We have committed to a total matching amount of $10,000, of which $5,000 is due on Friday. While we have the $5,000 in hand and about $1,000 more, we still need to raise $4,000. A portion of that amount will be covered through pledges that have been made but not yet paid. There is as yet no hard deadline for raising the final $4,000, although this may come up shortly in connection with the contract with the artist.
Diane suggested that LoDoNA itself has not sponsored a fundraiser for the project (although the block party was dedicated to the project, it did not itself raise much money). Charlie Hamlin sponsored a fundraiser for the project.
Byron wondered whether Christine (who had to leave the meeting earlier) would support dedicating the philanthropy silent auction proposed for the annual meeting to LoDo lights. Josh didn’t think it would make a major difference in soliciting donations. Diane agreed to check with Christine.
We discussed the fact that people are more likely to be willing to give funds to make something happen than to pay off debt. Paul recommended that we send out an email explaining how far short we are, and requesting donations; he pointed out that most of the funds raised for the playground (other than the largest amounts) came in as a result of repeated solicitations. Byron suggested that we give five minutes for a speech about LoDo Lights at the annual meeting (with a pitch for funds).
Jim summarized by suggesting that Diane find out what we really need given the outstanding pledges, and talk to Christine about whether the silent auction proceeds could go to LoDo Lights.
The installation is planned to begin on January 5th, with a dedication ceremony scheduled for January 15th. The Mayor has been invited to speak .
WeeBot
The next WeeBot will be held at McCormicks’ Corner Bar on December 18. The last one was hosted by the Vault; Byron was disappointed with the turnout.
Website
Hits on the website are up by about 30% from last month. Usually, unique visitors are about 75% of total visits. Byron nudged us all to add content. This month he was the only board member who made any blog entries.
Byron made some edits to reflect the new membership options available. He tested it on two of his computers, and Jim did the same. On one of Jim’s computers it works fine, and one it doesn’t. He suggested that we check the “become a member” section of the website to see how it looks, and that we drop him an email if we see problems.
Good Neighbor Committee
David reported that the primary activity this month had been participating in Judy Montero’s task force on liquor licensing. There have been interesting discussions, and there will be some recommendations coming out, mostly related to parking lot management and operation and security. He passed out an agenda for the previous meeting. The last task force meeting is this Thursday.
Jim asked whether Awilda Marquez had said when she intends to issue some of the new policies that she had mentioned. About 6 months ago she had a task force to consider changes in some of the policies that she has discretion over, including license renewal procedures, posting for modifications of premises, and email notification. David said that he’d follow up with her.
David asked whether we had received any notices regarding a cabaret license at the new Hines building. He has also heard that there is a Brazilian steakhouse going in to Hines. Jim had heard that Old Chicago was thinking of doing a rooftop deck. No notices have been received about any of these possible developments.
LoDo Women
Joyce reported on the Women’s Series via email. The last event of the year was held on December 3rd at M.J. Banbury’s, with about 55 attendees. A representative from the Gathering Place spoke and thanked the guests for their donations of personal care items. The committee is planning an all-day retreat in January to plan new events for the series in 2009.
Financial and Membership Report
San passed out the financial and membership report. We currently have about $20,600 of unrestricted cash, so we are ending the year on a pretty good note. The following pages of the report included some detail on the holiday project to date: we have about $8,600 to spend right now, including the funds carried over from prior years.
The LoDo Women’s series has turned out very well. We had initially projected breakeven operations, and instead have had a modest profit this year.
We have had 6 to 8 membership renewals at the new higher rate. We currently have 243 household members. San pointed out that 134 households are expiring and need to be renewed for 2009. Jim urged board members to think about renewing at something higher than the basic dues rate of $35. Our current rates are $250, $100 and $35.
Parking and Transportation
Jack reported that LoDo District is still pursuing the issue of the need for additional off-street parking, given the ongoing redevelopment of surface parking lots. The LoDo District Transportation Committee had an interesting conversation with Molly Winter, who runs the downtown parking district in Boulder. The Boulder district gets the meter revenue from on-street parking. The business community is trying to encourage fewer employees to park downtown, in part by providing eco-passes to most of their employees. LoDo District is still considering the formation of a parking district. They have recognized the need for additional community outreach. David reported that as soon the parking study is finished, which is expected shortly after the first of the year, the District will need to see what kind of support there might be for a parking district. David also hopes there is support for on-street resident overnight parking, which might be initiated through a program through the LoDo District office for resident on-street parking permits. San asked about businesses whose patrons are too drunk to drive home, and whether it might make sense to include them in such a program.
David reported that there are also some design review issues related to parking, particularly in terms of standardizing signage for parking in buildings. The Denver Partnership has offered to put up cash to design prototypes for signage and identification. Mike commented that “blade signs” have to meet the vital signs ordinance. As David pointed out, Lower Downtown has always had distinct identification, but we may want a wayfinding approach that, while distinguished for Lower Downtown, would also be consistent with signs used for the remainder of downtown. One reason LoDo District is interested in forming a parking district is to have some funding for management, signage, and coordination.
Union Station
The DUSPA (Denver Union Station Project Authority) has selected Bill Mosher as owner’s rep, subject to negotiation of a fee agreement. A financial advisor has also been selected. At the next DUSPA meeting, a hot topic is expected to be the demands of labor groups that those employed at the project be paid “living wages”, and that those involved in any construction or renovations at the project by paid based on Davis-Bacon scales.
Further public discussion of the design of the public spaces, as well as initial reviews of the General Development Plan and Design Guidelines, will be deferred until January.
LDDRB
Mike reported that there was nothing exciting on the last agenda. He said that at a later meeting where we had more time, he would be willing to present the chronology of the Bell Park Tower design review, which he believes has been misreported in the press, and in particular in an editorial by the Rocky. He reported that the reasoning of the design review board was quite straightforward, given the guidelines and the project presented: black and white, not grey. San asked what might happen with the project going forward, and Mike explained that the developer has the option to do a shorter building on the site.
Other
Shannon told the board that she will be absent for the January meeting and asked for a volunteer to take the minutes.
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
________________________
Secretary
