Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutKitchener BIA - 2012-09-18Kitchener BIA Downtown Kitchener BIA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes September 18, 2012 9:00 am -11:00 am Location: BIA Office 29 King St East Kitchener, ON In attendance: Colin Leis, Kevin Ballantyne, Zenia Horton, Le-Anne Pilecki, John Vickery„ Sam Vishal, Adrian Darmon, Michael VonTeichman, Frank Etherington, Christine Michaud, Adrian Darmon, Cory Bluhm, Michael Falcone BIA Staff: Mark Garner Regrets: Mayor Carl Zehr, Dan Glenn-Graham, Darryl Moore Absent: none Guests: none Agenda: Welcome -Chair, Colin Leis • Call to order at 9:00 am -are there any conflicts of interest to be declared none declared Agenda Item: Approval of the Agenda -Colin Leis • No items added. Motion: To approve the agenda as submitted. MotionlMoved by: John Vickery and seconded by: Michael Falcone All in favour unanimous, motion passed. Agenda Item: Approval of August 2012 minutes - Le-Anne Pilecki The Board of Directors reviewed the August 2012 minutes from the previous meeting (August 21, 2012). The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited MotionlMoved by: Zenia Horton to approve the minutes as presented by Le-Anne Pilecki, seconded by Christine Michaud Agenda Item: Financial Statements (August) -Kevin Ballantyne Board reviewed in detail all items pertaining to the August 2012 financial statements as submitted by the treasurer. No issues or concerns were raised based on the submission. Motion: motion to approve the statements as presented by Kevin Ballantyne by Christine Michaud, Seconded by Michael Von Teichman All in favour, unanimous, motion passed Agenda Item: WRPS Update Superintendent Darmon provided an update on projects WRPS is working in the downtown core. • WRPS has received several complaints from Karen Taylor-Harrison with regards to some downtown tenants (particularity female tenants) concerned about aggressive behaviour from patrons at European Cafe. Police looking into this behaviour and concern of after- hourservice. Far Out Flicks received a broken window after they placed a complaint • "SWAN" Group looking to get John School money to support their work. Looking to open a safe house for members of the sex trade industry. This is cause for concern for WRPS and they will continue to monitor this, • Aggressiveness in Victoria Park seems to be cultural related • LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) would like to partner with WRPS to provide nurses to assist with mental health issues in the downtown core and within the region. • "Luckys" update: Building deal has fallen through and the former owner has put forth legal action. As such no building permits, business license or liquor license to be granted until further notice. WRPS concerned that a possible tenant may be linked to the former "Luckys" group. • There has been a spike in heroin overdoses which is related to the lack of availability of oxy-cotin • Street level drug initiative took place in July. Led WPS to several homes on Victoria Street where they were able to do searches and shut these down. It is however at matter of time before they setup elsewhere. Action Item: Adrian Darmon to complete brochure on "When to Call police" for business owners Agenda Item: Economic Development Update: Cory Bluhm The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited • Art Markets held in August were well received. City to setup one per month next summer. Video available on website • K01 Festival; City and BIA partnered for this festival. 3000 people attended Friday night and 4700 on Saturday. Several out of towners attended event • Banners to be installed on Charles and Duke Streets to support the upcoming exhibits at The Museum; the BIA to share the expense • Digital kiosks have been installed; will allow City to advertise events and promotions as well as open up opportunities to sell advertising to businesses • Council has endorsed "The Tannery School of Music" to move into the space at the Benton parking Garage. 250p1us students attend this school • Budget time for the City. Must shave 1 % city wide. To come from downtown initiatives or raise taxes. Further update will be available at next meeting and BIA Board Members will have opportunity to discuss matter. • Rod Regier to attend meetings until after January as Cory is going on a leave of absence. Action item: Centre Block Parking issue: When Centre block construction begins 2/3s of the lot across from Bobby O'Briens to be lost. There is to be no risk to monthly parking passes however short term parking will be affected as only excess spaces after the monthly parking passes will be available. When the lot closes businesses need to look into the use of alternate lots for staff and clientele. Agenda Item: Executive Director Update- Mark Garner The following is a brief update on some of the projects being worked since the last Downtown BIA Board of Directors meeting. OperationallOrganization and Key projects • Website -Ongoing project for the BIA is the evolution of the website, we continue to work the changes as per last board update and expect Phase 2 release in October/November to bring together the Holiday season shopping and Downtown dollar program. New features will include the following: o PayPal operation for Downtown Dollar's with potential evolution to online purchasing website for products from the retail members o Exclusive member section or repository which will contain training materials, retail stats, presentations, communications, board minutes etc all for the benefit of the membership o Online sign up for downtown cards with pick up or mail functionality • Garbage -Parking lot 9 -issues seems to have been less over the last month as we continue to monitor and clean the units. We are still looking at the installation of camera's in this area to ensure we can resolve issues that may come up. • Policing - Continue to work with WRPS on issues Downtown. Still awaiting a general communication from WRPS which was to be developed by WRPS on when to call police and will be distributed through the membership. We have seen a significant increase in issues downtown with some new faces appearing and causing issues on King The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited Street which is impacting the experience in the core. These issues will be raised further to see if we can get some increased focus. • Beautification -The BIA, Walper Hotel, CIBC and Holistic Developments worked on a beautification of the parkette behind the CIBC (Queen and Halls Lane) as part of the Halls Lane project. The first Planter box was installed and planted and now the 2°d planter box has been delivered and we are awaiting the soil to complete the final planning. We will install a plaque in the area before end of year. • Downtown Kitchener Tourist destination to be open on Stat Holiday's and Boundary Expansion -Ongoing work is being done by staff on both projects working the City's clerk's office. Expecting to have formal meetings in the coming week(s) to get the projects tabled for implementation, council review and member communication. Retail Attraction and Retention New Businesses • Imbibe - The M Cafe has been taken over back to private ownership and the name changed to Imbibe. New owner's vision is more of an evening spot with tapas, more micro brew and events l lnrlPr Cnnstnirtinn • Flourish Florals & Nom Nom Treats - 32 Ontario St. (Not open Yet) • CBC Radio to take vacant space beside Matter of Taste on King Street. • City Pawn Brokers moving to 97 King St W -under construction • Mimoli -Restaurant where Dandy's used to be - Great fagade improvement • Country Style has closed at 73 King St W • Hong Kong Housewares - Cookwear and dining sets, woks etc. • Entertaining Elements -Great new business moved here from St.Jacobs • Urban Cafe -Holy Guacamole's old location on Duke but same owner Team is working with building owner for the recently vacated location "Laurier Optical" to find someone to assume the remainder of their lease beside Shoppers. They have closed but still had 4 years left on a lease ($3500/mth for 1394 sq.ft.). Additionally the team is working with a member who is close to closing and still has 1 year left on the lease. It is a highly sought after location on King street and there are a few businesses interested in the space which we are confident we can fill the space without a long standing vacancy. Vacancy Rate: 10.2%- Up from 9.4% in August, which was created by new vacancies at B&G old location, PUC Building, Laurier Optical, Country Style. Special Projects Building owners group -Staff have started working on creating a framework for a re-organized and re-focused "Building Owners and Managers group". Staff have been meeting with building owners and developers both to build stronger relationships and gain input for the framework and expect to launch the new format and meetings in Q4 of 2012 with quarterly meetings in 2013. As part of the building owners group the team has made outreach to Allied REIT and Momentum Developments based on changes and purchases of property in the core to start relationships, talk about the BIA and our role in the community, our engagement in future developments and our boundary expansion. Marketing The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited • Marketing Brochure new version -off to the printers and expect delivery in the coming weeks Business Retention • Member Networking Series -. The next Member Networking event will take place on September 19th at Exclamation Restaurant. This will be mix and mingle for members allow for networking and partnership generation. • Working with members on retail expertise -assisting Gloss with fashion show and Taya with new music for her event this week and to be played in the store. • Shopping and Dining Guide -Developing new combined shopping and dining guide which has been very successful this year. The new version will either be a folded map or booklet design. This will eliminate confusion between the Dining and Shopping Guides and bring continuity to the look and brand. Events and Communications Social Media (On-going) • Continuing to Developing social media strategic plan (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Kitchenerdowntown.com) • Working with the membership and strategic partners to gather event information and get it online real time. • Continued to increased followers on Facebook and twitter • Developing Google Analytics for our website which will be used for metric's and organization effectiveness Downtown Cards and Employee Appreciation Day • Final design of card was produced and distributed at the "Employee Appreciation" event September 13th, the team had gathered flyers and promotional product for goodie bags to increase awareness about downtown businesses and where provided to people when signing up for the card. We had 14 restaurants signed up for sampling and where able to tap into new office employee's, Manulife, Rogers (Galeria) and FedDev on Fredrick street. • Great response from the community on the card, new brand and the overall event. • Window decals will be ready for participating businesses next week and new Incentive Card signage which is used at our events and on street will be created in the coming week(s). Event Videos • The BIA continues to work with Endless Potential Media Group and Hey Cadet Films to produce #GetDowntown videos. • 11 Videos have been completed and uploaded to our Youtube Channel "Downtown Kitchener BIA" http://www.youtube.com/user/DowntownKitchenerBlA/videos Oktoberfest • Working with GTA Midway to bring better quality rides and food vendors to King Street for the Downtown Oktoberfest Experience this year. The team is also work with City and Oktoberfest teams on Opening Ceremonies to: secure bleachers, enhance stage presence, and confirm logistics and pull together marketing. The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited We are having some issues with our Parade Submission this year as our intent was to put the branded "Take the Bus to Us" Kitchener 100 programming we developed in partnership with the City. Oktoberfest would like to have us at the end of the parade (last float) for safety reasons and we would like to see the float after the City of Kitchener float in support of the significant milestone and the great work the community, City and BIA did to program the core this year. Oktoberfest Gala is September 28tH and we have another great "Miss" entered this year and expecting great things. Oktoberfest Members night is October Stn and details, plans and event are being worked. Sugar Plum Gala • Gala has been booked in the Grand Ball Room at The Delta for Saturday November 10tH • Working with graphic designer to have new invites and tickets created • Flashpoint has been booked to bring photo booth and further details will be going out to the membership shortly Downtown Dollar program • New downtown dollars have been printed and in the process of being signed. Specific program details, marketing and on-air promotion will all be in place in time for the Santa Claus parade. Agenda Item: Action Items Review- Mark Garner Action Item: Adrian Darmon to complete brochure on "When to Call Police" for business owners Action Item: Mark Garner to propose idea of Ground Hog day at next marketing meeting Agenda Item Adjournment-Colin Leis MotionlMoved by; Christine Michaud Seconded by; Sam Vishal all in favour., Motion Passed. Next Meeting - October 16, 2012 BIA office 9:00 am to 11:00 am The information contained in this document is intended for internal use by the Board of Directors and Management of the Downtown Kitchener BIA and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, any duplication, distribution, re-transmission or dissemination without the written consent of the Downtown Kitchener BIA is prohibited