HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory 2010-04-08
DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
April 8, 2010 City of Kitchener
The Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Councillor
Christina Weylie; with the following members in attendance: Councillor John
Smola, Alan Doherty, Jamie Yantzi, Mark Garner, Denis Pellerin, Don Zehr, Lisa
Polonoski, and Bernie Nimer
Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Kim Feere, and Tracey DeVille
Discussion Items
Minutes & Agenda
Approval of Minutes
Approved: On motion by Mark Garner, the minutes of March 11, 2010 were
approved.
Advisory Committee Updates
The following update on the Economic Development Advisory Committee:
Brownfield follow-up from the February meeting, EDAC passed a
o
resolution with their comments / concerns that will be part of a staff
report later this month
Joint meeting was held with the Downtown Advisory Committee and
o
the Arts & Culture Advisory Committee
The following Safe & Healthy Advisory Committee update was provided:
No update was available – minutes will be emailed to Committee
o
members for information
The following Arts & Culture Advisory Committee update was provided:
The meeting was a joint meeting with EDAC
o
New Business
2.1 Joint Workshop Meeting – Economic Development Advisory Committee,
Arts & Culture Advisory Committee – Follow up
Rod Regier, Executive Director, lead a discussion on the joint meeting hosted by
the Economic Development Advisory Committee on March 24, 2010. He asked
the committee to provide their thoughts on the meeting. The Committee
members provided the following feedback:
Facilitation / process was valuable, explanation was great, the round
o
tables were good but it was a little difficult to capture all ideas in such a
short time
Interested in next steps
o
What are the images now and what are they going to look like
o
Would have been good to rotate groups
o
Potential partnerships have been opened and this process is helping,
o
there is not just one cluster, there are several people are already forming
them
Need a consistent message in the arts community
o
Arts need a project they can be identified with
o
It does take time and resources and it won’t happen overnight
o
Need to have discussion on potential artist / art type businesses that could
o
be included
Challenges in connecting everything that is already happening
o
With affordable space there are price levels that are affordable then create
o
movement and become unaffordable – such as Queen St in Toronto
The New Berlin idea is intriguing and has been responsive and energetic
o
Food culture needs to be brought forward as well
o
There are opportunities to have artists share space and see what happens
o
there
How do you balance the existing artists with the new ones coming in
o
Whatever is put in place is not going to take away the need for having
o
enough funding to go around – the more successful the programs the
more will want to participate and we need to prepare for that
What about an adopt-an-artist concept – take an artist and have them train
o
What about programs at the college and university level – bringing in a
o
business aspect to the arts programs
The Committee was asked to comment on how important they feel the arts are to
the downtown:
If you want Wall Street then go to New York, if you want action, come to
o
Kitchener is the message we should be sending out – we are already
more than just business and we need to promote and encourage more of
it
It is about balance – what do we need to focus on – we need everything to
o
more forward
If you look at other cities and the importance of their arts programs many
o
are also strong communities – think about Stratford
It is a little hollow in the downtown and the arts can certainly fill that
o
Rod Regier advised that this discussion and topic will come back to DAC for
further input and action.
2.3 Project Updates
Rod Regier provided the Committee with an overview of the project updates for
March 2010 as noted in the handouts.
On motion, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.