Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutDowntown Advisory 2008-05-08 DOWNTOWN ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES May 8, 2008 City of Kitchener The Downtown Advisory Committee met this date, chaired by Councillor John Smola; with the following members in attendance: Bernie Nimer, Glen Woolner, Vince Buehler, Thomas Seebohm, Nadine Cybulski, Karen Taylor-Harrison, Mark Garner, Chris Farley, The Economic Development Advisory Committee was also in attendance with the following members in attendance: Councillor Christina Weylie, Ian Cook, Steven Voll, Howie Budd, Lawrence Bingeman, Mark Collins, Sherryl Petricevic, Jeremy Auger, Staff in attendance: Rod Regier, Janette MacDonald, Silvia Wright, Cory Bluhm, Kathy Weiss, Ken Carmichael, Tracey DeVille (Committee Administrator) Discussion Items Minutes & Agenda Approval of Minutes Approval of the April Downtown Advisory Committee minutes was deferred to the next regular scheduled meeting of the Committee in June. New Business Waterloo region Destination Marketing Organization Susan Cudahy, CEO of the Waterloo Region Destination Marketing Organization provided the Committee with an insightful and informative presentation on the plans for the Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Program. She advised that this is a partnership model involving the Region, Cities and Townships. Ms. Cudahy also provided a variety of printed material to the Committee members. She also advised the Committee that the renovations on their permanent home at 79 Joseph Street in Kitchener is close to completion. The Committee members did not have any questions or comments for Ms. Cudahy. Downtown Monitoring Report Janette MacDonald provided a presentation on the 2007 monitoring report. The Committee members had the following questions / comments: What are the plans for publication of the Report? Work is being done to improve the usability of the publication ? When will it be released? Publication will go to Council in June and being released after that. ? Will potential investors and the general public have access to the document? Yes, the Monitoring Report will be available at our offices as well as on the ? City’s website. How do we compare to the other downtowns, has a comparison study been done? That could be difficult to do that since monitoring such as this differs, we ? could however, look at things such as population and residential growth Can you explain the street banner project? Banners have been designed and are installed every 4 to 6 weeks to ? coincide with events happening in the downtown, for example we currently have Memorial Cup banners up. Memorial Cup Update Chris Farley provided the Committee members with an update on the Memorial Cup week that is happening between May 15 to 25, 2008. Mr. Farley provided the following highlights: ? Opening ceremonies are on Thursday May 15 ? Games start on Friday May 16 and run to Wednesday May 21 with the finals starting on May 25 ? Fan appreciation day will be Wednesday May 21 starting at Noon with the following activities being some available that day: Between 2:00 to 4:00 the Memorial Cup will be at the Children’s o Museum Autograph signing with the hockey players o Downtown restaurant samples between noon and 2:00 o Mr. Farley also thanked the City of Kitchener for their support and generosity with providing free parking in the downtown starting at 4:00 pm to allow for shopping and eating prior to the start of the games. He also advised that both the Walper Hotel and the Delta Hotel will have shuttle service to the Auditorium every 30 minutes prior to game start. On motion by Lawrence Bingeman Meeting adjourned at 1:00 pm.