Nov. 2009 Minutes (No Dec. Meeting)
No meeting in December
Police:
Looking good, crime-wise. 86 positions will be cut, they will primarily be from PSO’s, Investigative Aids, Horse Patrol and the Canine Units. $12 Million is being cut from Police, 14 Million from Fire, fire will most likely take the hit in the big rigs.
Oliver from Oliver’s Hair Salon brought up the excessive speeding at the corners of Kalmia and 30th & Laurel & 30th and what could be done. He was directed to speak with Todd Gloria’s office.
There was an incident on Halloween night where some people did not have a party permit, Jinna wanted to thank Officer Graham for his attention to this matter.
Holiday Walkabout:
Theme is “Light up the Neighborhood”. If you do not have lights for the trees outside your property (if you have trees) please see Maureen at Studio Maureen. Maureen has postcards and posters available, they will also be at The Grove
Plum Pottery is having their annual Student Sale that weekend
Studio Maureen & The Next Door Gallery is having their 14th Annual Open House that weekend
So Childish will be having Santa at the Walkabout and pictures with Santa the following weekend as well
South Bark will have doggie and kitty photos
Christ United will be open and will be serving cider and hot chocolate
City Beat is doing their Walkabout Spread again, call for details.
Ethos Church will be having another event at the Gala Foods parking lot, it is not known what exactly they are doing.
It was brought up what to do if this continues…what kind of action can the group take to get a more community minded interest from them.
Additional Events:
Oliver from Oliver’s Hair Salon did some research and has a few bands interested in performing in a different type of event to draw more attention to the area. He is interested I n shutting down the streets and is looking at 30Th & Juniper to the East or South…any input? Some ideas for names were thrown around and “Southstock” (get it Woodstock for South Park) was mentioned, (okay by me, after Michael from Posh Wash brought up Woodstock).
Laila from So Childish has an idea for a scavenger hunt for the Spring Walkabout…people will need to find or gather an item from each store. A client of hers also came up with the idea of having something (perhaps a gnome) that travels to different stores and patrons have to find it. Good ideas to keep people going into the different stores.
Public Relations:
$6,500 grant from the BID Council has been suspended. Anne from The Grove went and presented the group’s case and a letter is being formed that will be sent out to the businesses of South Park for them to send to the Mayor and the City Council on the importance of this program. There is no date set on the vote for this, as soon as it is known, it will be sent out so that community members can go.
If the group doesn’t get the money, the “Ask” Campaign 2010 dollar amount may be increased to $150 (currently at $100).
In a related matter, everyone contact a couple of businesses and remind them about the group and the benefits.
Anne from The Grove went to a show in LA where they handed out “Shop Small Stores” decals that you can put in your shop windows…Maureen at Studio Maureen & The Next Door Gallery has them.
What’s Working:
It was brought up that while advertising in your local paper on a consistent basis is good (no really, not just because I type these J ) but going door to door with information on attractive cards has proven to be pretty effective for a minimal amount of money. Also, having a sign in sheet prominently displayed so that you can gather e-mails to send out reminders and information very inexpensively as well as getting involved with groups that would tend to patronize your business, thinking outside your standard customer base.
Questions that a business needs to ask themselves before going door to door are:
What are the demographics of your customers?
Break down your business, what does it stand for?
Where is your business, what are the benefits to the people around you?
CDC:
Planning subcommittee, they will be re-doing the survey that will be used to pinpoint what is essential for the upcoming PDO for the area…please submit your thoughts to luci@lucidumas.com. They need to have this information by the first week of January.
The litigation against the CDC regarding the MAD district is still unresolved, they are proceeding as planning until further notice. There is an ongoing project list and some vacancies on the committees, please contact Pedro Anaya with the GHCDC for more information.
New Business:
Christ United
Wants recipes from each business in the area. Their cookbooks will be able to get into homes that the local businesses wouldn’t be able to reach (commute in). Need to have these by the end of January.
Accion San Diego - Great resource for small businesses and are still handling loans anywhere from $300 - $35,000.
****
That’s it folks…I don’t think I forgot anything, it was a pretty exciting meeting for those of you that couldn’t make it. Have a safe and happy holiday season!
Cyndi, North Park News, 619-906-4105
In : Meetings
