March 5, 2024 — University Hill Commercial Area Management Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:11] Welcome everybody. He's not on mute. Okay, we'll try it again. There we go. Welcome to the University Hill Commercial Area Management Commission meeting. It is March fifth, 2024, and I will call Will Cheryl Lavoie here. Trent Bush here. Tell Jones here. Ted Brokaw here, Andrew Shoemaker here. and I'll turn the meeting over to our chair. Commissioner Mark. Well for procedural items. Thank you. Lisa. First thing, hub is approval. January ninth. Meeting minutes.

[1:00] Do I hear a motion to approve that to submitted and call about all those in favor. We have an outgoing commissioner here who has been serving the city of Boulder, and this mission for the better part of a decade. Cheryl's leadership has been absolutely essential to ensure that the hill is getting the kind of attention. It needs to remain viable and vibrant into the future. And so I just would like to thank her personally for her service to the city. Thank you, thank you. My pleasure. So I might add, though, that we have invited Cheryl to join us at our next commission meeting, at least for the very beginning. We wanna do like a kind of a hand off. But

[2:05] changing of the guard or baton passing ceremony because we will have one or 2 commissioners. So I also want right now that we don't know how things are going to go with with Council. Try and pacify interviews to be to continue in a chair, or you can't see, but we don't know how much. You certainly want people to join us. At the the next meeting. What happens with Council? So we can. probably not effectively. But we'll try to thank you for your service. And I will. When will Council March reveal? March fifteenth is I reserve the right to call up anytime, Cheryl. Absolutely. You know I'm not going anywhere yet. Thank you so much. Moving into the next agenda. Item, we're in public participation. We have anyone on call who would like to speak to the Commission.

[3:18] I see Eric here else's hand. Jeez. Mary, else you should be able to unmute yourself and speak. Can you hear me now? We can't hear you. Can you hear me at all? No. I'm sorry. My email let me, you showing up as unmuted. But we cannot hear you to bring up that laptop. Maybe there's a Oh, that might be the problem. If the volume is not.

[4:04] Maybe the volume Echo 0 volume. All the way up on that computer you can hear you. You can hear us, though apparently she's she's muted. II don't know what else to do. Can you hear me 1 s. can you? No speakers on your laptop. Actually.

[5:04] should I try to keep talking? Excellent. Okay, you can hear me. Okay. Just 3 things from the University Hill Neighborhood Association. We're all really looking forward to the opening of the Hill Hotel in hopes that that will bring some changes in terms of inviting more reciprocity between the commercial area and the residential area. I we're very hopeful that this will be a a positive thing the second thing had to do with lime scooters, and we're eagerly awaiting the creation of these corral's that should maybe remove some of the the scooters that litter our sidewalks. It hasn't happened yet. and the third thing is, we're just eager to know what the status is of the Fourteenth Street parking lot, and I gather that will be addressed today, that's all I have.

[6:18] No, I can't hear you send agenda some financials. We had packets distributed to us. Does anyone have any questions regarding the consent agenda or phone financials. probably only printed it up for the Commissioners. But there's like one or 2 extra. That's

[7:06] am I gonna be able to control this from control from you guys. Stay there. Hmm. okay. So I'll I'll do that. Intro. I think you just hit slash up. That's which Max is. There we go. Okay. Great. So thanks for giving us some extra time at this meeting. The goal of this is to present sort of a higher level overview of what the help holder has been doing. Some of our accomplishments, some of our challenges.

[8:05] Obviously, I present to you guys every meeting, but it's kind of just day to day stuff and we don't really look at the big picture or talk about kind of planning for the future. So that's the idea. Behind this time. I'm gonna give a little intro. The code is gonna hop in and talk about some of the stuff that happened before I came on 2020. I'll talk about some of our accomplishments after I came on, and then Dakota will and talk about kind of the future. And looking forward next slide, please. So we're the Hill Merchant Association, commonly known as the Hill Boulder. We're a nonprofit. Our goal is to promote culture and business thriving business community in the Uni Hill district. We were originally founded in 1,955, and we're revived in 2,015 after a few decades of inactivity. If you want to speak to some of the history. Yeah. So the most recent iteration came about with myself

[9:06] and a few other small business owners on the hill, where on, you can see. And at that point city council had sort of made it their one of their objectives to really breathe some new life. send some support and resources to the hill to see if we couldn't get the needle moving in the direction that everyone was asking for. myself. Karen outlaw harbour shop. and the woman who owns a owned a shop that's went out of business we're part of it. Cheryl was also a part of it. In those beginning days we founded the nonprofit mostly because we sensed and heard that there was needed to be sort of a conduit to take what the city council wanted to put forward wanted to support whether it was monetarily program

[10:12] through grants just sort of through public decree. That there wasn't really an entity in place that could receive and then implement these various things. Also, there wasn't in place a a group that could be that hub for city, for business, owners, for neighbors, both younger and older, as well as the sort of the university as a whole. That function. So our our aim in creating or reviving the nonprofit was to be that hub and conduit for different support mechanisms to put some new energy back into the hill.

[11:01] Awesome, excellent. yeah. So brief overview of what we do like the coda side. We're really an intermediary between a bunch of different stakeholders in the hill, especially between the city and between the merchants and property owners on the hill. So we have regular meetings, obviously, with this commission, with community vitality with the University, the Ambassador program the the visitors bureau and the chamber, the business owners. And we're really a resource, for you know, if you have a question or something related to the hill, and you don't know who to ask. We're a good. We're a good bet that we'll be able to connect you with the right with the right person. So we do a lot of programmatic stuff. We host events whenever we're able. Usually through grant additional grant funding, we assist with events hosted by businesses and outside organizations. We host regular business meetups currently there. Quarterly we send out a monthly business newsletter.

[12:01] We do a lot of for the marketing arm for the district. We do social media, Facebook, Instagram. We run the district website, and that includes a business directory, a directory of available commercial properties and a business resource web page. That's also the homepage for the New Hill Ambassador program. And we host an event calendar on our website with events on and around the hill next slide, please. Yeah. So Dakota is gonna talk a little bit about some of what we did before I got here. Yeah. So in from those early days, we jumped the opportunity to get the ball rolling in a few areas. We created some taxation districts that would help get a little bit of revenue going. there is really just a small amount from the parking, was was all that was available to our district wasn't sure. If you guys, although that's pretty much no, at this point, but we did. Scott do the Eleventh street. We, in partnering with the city, attracted a few larger national events like slide to City, that really brought

[13:21] statewide attention to our small district. we also worked with different city initiatives to improve lighting and alley enhancements, planters, just the low hanging, hanging fruit that we heard from visitors to our business business district residents that live nearby that they wanted to see, and there hadn't been a mechanism in place to kind of take the funding, take the volunteer work and put it all together and make it happen. So it was a lot of that. Maybe if you were to think of the things that we think of the

[14:00] downtown Pearl Street. The park as well as downtown boulder events marketing things like that. We're a Mini version of trying to accomplish those things and taking care of a set district next slide. Oh, yeah. So we've got some photos. From 2015 to 2019, some of performances on the Events Street on the left side there. Musical performance on the top conference on World Affairs, happy Hour on the bottom slide to the cities in the bottom. Right? And then that's events. Street logo that we worked with the city to have created for the unveiling of the event. Street in 2,017. Yeah. And again, a lot of these brought together different groups, whether it's the university, and you know, in the past they've been talked about how Broadway really felt that this bridge or not a bridge, but rather a wall, that the University kept themselves and not necessarily participated. And there's a lot of groaning that there are events and things like that held on campus that could have been in our district. So we worked with Cwa a lot. We hosted them in our Event street.

[15:18] There's been times when the whole fraternal organization was at odds with the neighborhood and we found ways to bring that made into volunteer work and build bridges there. So it wasn't necessarily just the Facebook posts or the marketing of live music. But it was really tangible ways. To bring these groups that weren't always aligned to to generally meet and and do things together. slide so I'm gonna talk about some of what we've done since 2,020. Which, like I said, said, is when I started so obviously 2020 and most of 21 was concerned primarily with Covid business relief.

[16:04] We did weekly newsletters to connect businesses with resources, keep everyone informed on changing restrictions relief, financial relief opportunities. Pd. Connecting the business owners with the outdoor dining program that the city was piloting at the time we also hosted a a socially distanced live music series on Fridays in the summers of 20 and 21 that the goal of that was not only to promote outdoor dining and and a safe way to experience art and culture on the hill, but also to promote the hill in the slower summer months, which, as we all know, is the hardest time for the help businesses and students are gone. We in like a in conjunction with that, we collaborated with a local marketing organization to create some banners that you'll see on the next slide that really helps for the sense of place. And just the district branding, which is another

[17:03] kind of another lack on the hill. And so, all, a lot of that was made possible by arpa funding that we started receiving towards the end of 2,021 that allowed us to really increase our staff hours, increase our budget. We made some big marketing and communications improvements, thanks to that, got back to social media posting. Once there was things to promote on the hill again. We started running some paid ads where we were able. We redesigned our website. Got back to our monthly newsletters once we were kind of out of the heat of Covid and along the way supported events here and there hosted by other organizations. And then, once the pandemic ended, we got back to our in person. Merchant meetups next slide, please. So up on the on the left side here these are images from the live, from the hill performances. So in the background. Behind that performer you can see that banner that we had made that was all the sponsors of the live from the hill events and some Logos that that marketing company made for us event street banner. So all these things were really important for district branding and just creating a sense of place which is often lacking on the hill when you compare it to other districts in the city.

[18:23] Graphic that we used on social media at the bottom. Photo on the right side shows the outdoor expansion program in 2021 on the Hill Event streets. That's the Sync and Cafe Ion, and that was that was the area that we were activating with those events. Slide, please. And then the last couple of years, we hit the ground running in 2022 with that arpa funding. That was an additional $10,000 a year for our organization. So we were able to hit the ground running in 22. With that we made a ton of communications improvements to increase kind of the official feeling of the Hillboulder as an organization we moved our newsletters to an actual Newsletter service. Hubspot

[19:07] not that, you know, lent a more official feel to these mailings. We were able to launch a new website on the City Light platform, which is the same platform downtown boulder uses. So not only creating some cohesion across different parts of the city, but also the platform is designed specifically for cities and business districts to be really easy to navigate easy to navigate. The business directories really good for mapping Along with that we hired a photographer using some of that Arpa money. We got really high quality photos of the hill. If you go through our directory. Those are up there. They've got really nice photos of the outside and inside of each hill business at the time. And so, along with that, we have a we had a business directory as well as an available commercial property directory, which is huge for anyone who wants to come into the hill enough shop on the hill before that we had, like a Pdf. That we would try to update, and but this is just much easier to use, and our business resources were launched as an actual webpage on our site. So if you remember something from a Newsletter, or you need to.

[20:22] You, don't you? Didn't write down the Ambassador phone number or something? That's all up on our website, like I said, that's where the Ambassador the Ambassador program is housed under that business resources. So with the help of downtown vulgar and see you, we launched the hel ambassador program last year we started having quarterly meetups in the Crown Institute space, which is the CEO building kind of across from the Sync. That again, just kind of funding this more official feeling to our organization, giving businesses a sense that they belong to a district that is supported and that has, you know, official meetings that can be attended virtually that slides can be presented. We were

[21:05] standing around in the lobby of the fox before then, which we were grateful to use, but this is an improvement, for sure, for sure. And we hosted a really successful event this past summer family fun block party. It was similar to live from the hill. The goal was to activate the district during a slow season, but this project was also aimed at addressing some of the concerns from hill neighbors, and also older residents as a whole, who haven't felt. who've reported that they feel the hill is not as family, friendly, is not as clean or safe, and so activating the hill during a slow season, but also responding to those concerns and trying to create a something that appeals to families with young kids. We got a lot of great feedback on that. A lot of a sense that perceptions were changed. People said, You know II haven't been to the Hill in years, or I didn't think it would be this clean, or I thought I was gonna be nervous to walk here. And so

[22:07] that was really important for us to see that you know the the perceptions are still there, but the reality of the hill is improving and that's kind of just another indicator of how important it is for us to keep getting the word out, I guess, and keep creating opportunities for people to come to the hill and see the improvements that we're making. We've continued to support the Hill Hotel Project, which we're very excited to see. It's opening next month. That kind of like, Dakota said. That's been like a decade long effort from many different stakeholders. And then another big big effort from us last year was supporting the ordinance. 8, 5, 9, 0. The land use change and helping businesses. Understand that helping connect city with the city with business owners and also helping them get through the land. The use review process in response to that, if they didn't want to take advantage of those later hours.

[23:09] Slide, please. So upper left screenshot of our new website on the City light platform. So there's tabs at the top. That. Allow you to get through the bit, the business directory, the and and the event calendar and the resources for businesses. Bottom left is our amazing Hill ambassador, team, lead, James. Power washing ambassadors have made a big difference, not just for a sense of place and safety, but also just actually getting trash up off the streets and Graffiti removed. They've made a huge difference. Top 2 photos on the right are from the block party. We had a sweet cow, ice cream truck, a magician, a face painter, a balloon artist. And there's some families enjoying those, and then bottom right? Just an example of the images that we had taken by the professional photographer that are up on our website. Now, slide, please.

[24:10] This is just a, this is to show the impact of the new website that we launched in 2,022. So this this is Google search data that shows how successful our page is on Google searches. So this data starts in November 22, the website launch December 20 2022. So ignoring the dotted lines which are incomplete data from 2024. The start of this data, we're basically close to 0 impressions on Google, close to 0 clicks on Google and then up to now we're up to about 80 clicks a day and about 6,000 impressions a day, and our metrics from last month cumulatively. We're twofour 1,000 clicks in the month of February, and a hundred 50,000 impressions in the month of February, which is just a huge difference. And really.

[25:09] you know, except for some spikes that have to do with paid advertising, the majority of that increase is just from this city light, this new platform that ranks us higher on Google. That it's just, it's indexed better by Google. And so we appear higher and we get more impressions. So I mean, that's that's something we couldn't have done without this Arpa money made a huge difference on our visibility and our the kind of yeah, the visibility of the hill online next slide, please. So I'll talk a little bit about some of our challenges, and then I'll have Dakota hop in like, I said. A lot of what I've just recounted has been possible. Thanks for that arpa funding that started in 21 that is gonna run out at the end of this year. And so a big challenge is figuring out how to not lose this progress that we've made over the last couple of years we've been.

[26:02] you know, making some really good strides, but also, you know, inching forward in a lot of other ways, and and we don't want to lose that momentum. We can't. Currently, the Hill businesses can't currently afford membership dues. There's only a couple of businesses on the hill, as you guys know, who can afford, you know, even an extra couple of $100 a year. We tried to go down the bid Dda Road. There was a lot of talk about that surrounding the Ui tab last year. You know that we would be the organization that we would make the most sense to spearhead an effort like that. We don't have the hours with the money to do that. that that is yeah. So that that's a funding structure that would be amazing to have, and we just don't have the money or time to to get that going, and we're losing the profitability of it as as time goes on and and finally, you know, I mentioned these 2 hotel projects.

[27:00] These are these have been heralded as kind of like these panacea for the hill, and they're gonna help so much. But we need to make sure that they're coming into a supported district and that the district isn't, you know, losing the District Association isn't losing half of its, you know, half of its operations right? When these 2 projects are coming in. they're they're going to be these anchors for your own business, and we wanna make sure that as the Hill Merchant Association, we have the funds and the hours to support them and capitalize on that that anchor business side, please. Yeah. So that leads us to asking for the money. and that we just I, we and I believe it's just supremely crucial that the hill holder continues to have $20,000 a year to operate for the next 3 years, and to count on that

[28:09] that funding creates the support for us to continue all of these collaborative efforts. It allows us to be at the table and in the meeting with the hotel with the Conference center when ultimately we're competing against downtown boulder, and they're marketing machine and attracting those guests and getting the signage to those guests to send them in that direction or across Broadway. It's it is some areas collaborative. But you know, each district is working really hard and our district is representative by 2 unpaid business owners and a part time brilliant employee.

[29:05] and we need to know that we can focus on the work that needs to be done in the next 3 years rather than chasing down $500 grants to just keep the website on we have had a meeting with patina, the new CEO of downtown holder, and are considering. But the best future for the Hillboulder is that conversation, and that growth is something that I think a 3 year, timeline. It's reasonable, but a 9 month timeline is not If we were to head down that way and, partner. I think the ability to put together a bid or something similar would be a lot stronger. We would have 3 years of growth and sales and business from the 2 hotel, and then later in Conference Center to support those things. But

[30:19] yeah, we we're looking to you all for the help to pass on the word to city council that having those 3 years that are current funding would just be huge to us to focus on on the work that needs to be done. You know the. as you can see from all the slides, like we take our queues from what the community is telling us. They would like to see in our district whether it's family friendly projects. We have face painters and ice cream and family friendly music, whether it's activation at night during the pandemic something to revive it a little bit.

[31:04] We found artists who are also looking for an outlet. cleanliness, safety. We've worked with the ambassadors. And again, I wanna open that to you all and to, you know, input, you may be hearing as well. how can we better tune what we're doing to be more efficient and to make maybe better use of of the fundset. We're asking to be able to count on like a suggestion what we can do to help you rather than just talk to particular action that we could take or no, I think II feel like we have a good plan in place, and we have a lot of good strides started that

[32:03] a a portion of the the time, the limited time, resources we have in the past years has been spent on tracking down small grants and small. Yeah, yeah, just granted that to not have to worry about the funding. And then 3 years and focus on these pieces. I think, would allow us to continue championing our district with the hotel being completed in a month and then convention Center. Just make sure we're at the table representing the district. and you know the neighbors as a piece of that and the university as they wish to be connected with us. But no, we're just yeah. We're at this at this place where we feel like it's it's crucial to have 3 years of knowing

[33:02] that will be funded, and be able to focus on this time of really solidifying the past. Colin, can I add something? You know the city, for I don't know. Past 10 years or so out of Channel Fund, is as committed $10,000 a year, which didn't allow for much. and, as you can see, the addition of the $10,000 money has really elevated the ability of the hill boulder to get to a much more effective place as an organization. And so that's where the 20,000 comes in. It's the 10,000 city has historically dedicated as marketing funds to the hill boulder. But the the addition of the Arpa funds really

[34:02] put it over the top, so that, I think, is, is the request. History of finances is that is, that, is there, Chris? If you don't answer, the 10,000 is that expected again this coming here? And it's really we need. You need to build another 10 on top of it. Or is it that you think that that even the bottom 10 is going away? No, II haven't heard any indication. But I it's kind of been on a bit of. This is how we operate. You know Jake represents meetings, the invoice, you know we it's never a sure it. Yeah, I at any moment that could go, because the general fund supports the district, anyway in a very significant way. So it's just kind of waiting, you know, holding your breath to make sure that each year 10,000 is committed for marketing funds, which

[35:02] you know. Yeah, it's not a place we like. We're in a place the districts about to launch. We've all been working on it. We were at the meeting at the same earlier in the week. We all felt the excitement like the buildings are built. and we're feeling confident that in 3 years we'll be able to be off of the arpa and off of the general fund. If that is like, our goal is to be self-sufficient, or through a separate funding mechanism outside of general funds and other earmarks from the city. If if the city wants partner great. But we feel like there's the infrastructure and growth that we can capitalize on in the next 3 years and take the hill boulder, whether it becomes a partner with downtown and there's funding through that or on our own. We'll have

[36:06] the ability to to make that sell to our our constituents. So we we're gonna address the end of the meeting. I know that our letter is, is people thinking that it might be helpful for us to put into our letter request for additional funding for that experience. On one side of that I mean, I think that would be. I know they typically like only 3 requests and the 3 requests we have. But if we could insert that overlap we could even consider. Now we're kind of discussing something like company in the meeting, but so that it's being added to one of them and moved to a different slot to demonstrate.

[37:00] Now. So the total ask is 20,000 per year. That would be essentially the commitment for 3 years for 60,000. Right? Yeah, review it. But that's what we've been operating on. Very. you know. Pretty. I think it's pretty great what we've been able to to accomplish. Sympathetic to this appeal, and would love to have some discussion about it. Tell them is that 20,000 sufficient now and for the next 3 years with inflation and everything going. Should it be more, it just wondering? I think it's sufficient. I think it would. It's more with more would allow us to.

[38:02] I would be more of a presence at some of these citywide meetings. And it would just allow more engagement. I would see. I feel like you can see via the metrics, the website performing well. we're able to update it and engage on social media, I think, to a sufficient level to take advantage of those platforms. I think additional funding you know, outside of a very large grant for something like infrastructure, or something like that, would just allow further engagement in the city, and you know the help boulder having a bigger, more spot to tables. I also think that, you know there's been a lot of talk about activations on how and that takes a lot of personnel

[39:02] or even assistance. It for people like Jake. We've done a lot single handedly over the years. So sure more is better. More can happen. But I think if it were to drop back down to the $10,000 that the city historically has provided. That's moving backwards. Yeah, it's not where the Merchant Association should. Moving at this point with these opportunities ahead of us. Yeah, if it drop to 10,000, the website would stay updated. And that'd be it. It's just it's too big an ask to to keep the other stuff going at that level. It's just, you know. you guys.

[40:07] we're gonna do it later. Before we move on to our next item, I just wanna open this up to make sure if anyone has any concerns or would like to ask any questions of the Hill Merchants Association. This is your opportunity to do that. We'll discuss revision to this potential provision, to this letter to counsel later meeting. So now is your opportunity to speak to these representatives. I just wanna thank you for your work. It's definitely it's on the right trajectory. That's why we're all here. So yeah. thank you very much marketing efforts.

[41:27] Lewis, who is our director of marketing and communication. So she oversees all of our marketing programs. And she wanted to come in meet you guys. Okay. yeah, listen. And then Emiliano Ray career, you guys, I'm sure all know him. But he had a family sick kid sickness. So he planned on being here in Wisconsin.

[42:05] That's okay. Can't believe this. Okay, I think a lot of you know who we are, what we do. But I just wanted to give a quick overview. So you kind of have an idea of what tools we have in our toolbox and so helping market the help Our mission statement is to strengthen the local economy by inspiring because of our connections to building state and meaning culture. The visitor. Economy is pretty big business in Boulder. It's also the second highest revenue generated. Call at home.

[43:04] We bring people in. We invite them in. We enjoy all of our events. They go to our restaurants. They go to our hotels and maybe text money. So that's a thank you. We are the official destination marketing organization for the city of Boulder. We're dedicated to bringing in user visitors, business meetings, groups, conferences. anybody that wants to come to Boulder. We're trying to market to them and talk to them. We're focused on the visitor potential. So we look at conferences and arts and culture and history and different types of tourists experiences. And you know, the goal overall is to enhance the economic welfare of the city and the Techly that comes in benefits the community. Our role has evolved over the last several years to focus on things that affect folders brand. So we do pay attention and get involved in things like homelessness

[44:02] and diversity and equity and inclusion and sustainability efforts for our environment. So we're kind of working on various programs for that. We're structured with 3 main departments, our Marketing and Communications Department, our Visitor Services department and our meetings and group sales and marketing communications is all that Carlene does. So she focuses on market our destination and managing the brand of builder. We have our lovely folder color, while U.S.A. website, which reaches or engages over one half 1 million people per year. We do a lot of digital advertising. The visitor magazine is new. We just came out with that in January this year. We usually have a whole bunch of different brochures. We still have some of those, but we produce all of those. And then well, there's kind of a in a golden spot right now with Coach Prime. We've got a lot of attention. We have the Michelin last year we got a lot of attention from that. So we're entertaining more and more trouble writers, and we're getting a lot more press out there than we usually are used to. So we do have someone that's dedicated to the effort in our company

[45:16] visitor services work with all of our hospitality industry partners, which is hotels, restaurants, experience providers. Retail. We're trying just to bring that community together, and we offer a variety of services for them. We do have in a culture events program which made me think about the help. Have you ever applied great concert? Okay? we offer a lot of destination information services to visitors before, during and after their stay with us and manage staffing and imagine all the physical visitor information

[46:11] kiosks and centers around town. And then we've been investing quite a bit in data research. Knowing what's going out with the trends. How do we provide this information to some of our partners and just really understanding the market more? It's been very expensive to invest in that. But last year I initiated around the State of Colorado data research and sorting for all the destination marketing organizations in the State, and if we pull all of our money together and buy it as a state, we can gather all the information in a much cheaper way. So that's we're just starting to. We got our dashboard just last month, so we're pretty excited to kind of dig into that. And then the meetings and group sales is attracting new business. So obviously, the the limelight and the Moxie are on our radar in a very major way. Generating leads going to trade shows. We have an incentive program. So when the cost of the hotel room is higher than maybe competitive hotels done on the front range or the 36 quarter. We can help

[47:14] offset the cost so we can bring in these groups without it inhibiting them from doing that. So that's a big part of the Selling process meeting. Planner relationships are key to all of it. And one of the things that we've been talking to Naria in the city about in terms of safe, clean, and and care for is that when people come to these new hotels, these conference center, this conference center particular if they have a bad first impression. it's not a good thing. I mean these meeting professionals, these meeting planners are professionals, and they study destinations, especially when you get to groups that are 800 to 1,000 people, they wanna know, what are the experiences. Is it safe? What does it look like? What's the experience like? And they dial all this in to determine if they're even gonna come or bid or look at the property, and

[48:03] we need to show up in a very strong way when this comes out, because it's kind of a hot new environment for older to have a conference center for the first time. And so we've been talking to Maria and the city folks about, what are we gonna do, and how can we help so we don't get blacklisted by some of these meeting professionals that communicate with each other on what's good and that's bad about a destination. Conference services is when they they arrive here? How do we help them with venues, transportation, visitor information, tabling, at events. So we have a team of people that help that the next 2 slides is just to let you know that we've been thinking about this. I presented at our board meeting these 2 sides as part of the presentation. But it's really our overall initiative, some priorities in addition to all things that we do. Yeah, branding and marketing and making sure that it's safe and clean. The slide below this you can't see because it's not electronic version. But that left box is really

[49:12] picture after picture after picture after picture after picture of all of us going around the hill district and showing what's wrong with how it looks and feels. And if it's not broken sidewalks in the leaning lamp post and the the roadways are confusing down the hill, and you know the homelessness stuff that's been happening. I know it's improved to some degree. But we wanted to sit down and just take memory through each of those things one by one. and it was very effective. And she realized the sense of urgency to to solve some of these problems. And she said, she back be back in touch with us in a couple of weeks, and that's this week. So we're waiting to hear from her. She's gonna talk to other folks, to see what they can do to help support that effort.

[50:01] So with all that said. When we get into marketing ideas for the hill. I wanted to start by saying, Let's assume that it's safe to think about that right now we can really forget how we can help the whole market. how we can help you bring more people to the help of your businesses. and we have thought through a lot of ideas. A lot of the tools in our toolbox are in the last couple of slides. But really we just wanted to come today and listen and hear what you guys want. We don't want to dictate or have ideas on our own. I mean, you guys, people that know this district the best. So what do you want the hill to be known? For? What kind of vibe do you want the hell to have? How do we? How do we market this for you? The best way? What stories you want us to be telling about with it all? There was a great thing that you guys did last year the year before with the historical side of the hill, which is a beautiful video that you guys, I thought that was great. Is that what you still want?

[51:04] How do you want the hill to look, I mean, do you want people to come in and put murals up on the side of your buildings? And if you do, do you want them to be historical, or do you want them to be music? Or do you want them to be diversity, or you want them to be whatever you know like? Do you have like a thought of how you want the hill to be branded, and how we can help with the marketing of that And then. you guys, I talked about this a little bit. Jake is, you know, the relationship that you want with downtown build a partnership with the city and with us, I mean, we'll work. However, you guys want to work. We are here to serve you. We do have funding to help with a lot of these initiatives. It's part of our contract with the city to provide services to the hospitality industry which includes all of the merchants. but I just don't know what you want or how we can help you the best. And one of the ideas we have is just a we can talk today all you want, but also maybe setting up a like a focus group to sit down and just kind of dial in some of these strategies and ideas a little bit more completely, so that we can really start to deliver

[52:11] some of these ideas. So we can come back to that. But just so, you know the website. we have a lot of people that come to the website. We've started to draft a few pages, a landing page just for the hill insider side to the hilltop, things to do on the hill shopping on the hill. We can add, subtract from any of those as you see fit. It sounds like you guys already have a newsletter, but we could also, if you want to, we could help with that we could send it to our list. We can send it to your list. But we have Partner Newsletter. We have a visitor, Newsletter, and we have meetings so we could add a column just for the hill in our regular newsletter, and you can do whatever you guys want to do. We can help. But we have resources to do that, too.

[53:00] social marketing. We have a lot of people on Facebook and Instagram and did all of those we can start once we fine tune this message that you want, we can start putting those rules out messages on that and then hit the press as releases articles. testimonials, a lot of those things that we can. We can write and get out for you guys, too. And finally. do you guys wanna visit your kiosk? I don't know. Kind of cool for there to be a spot people to go to get this information. Another idea is, there used to be a popcorn cart that used to ride around in boulder, and we could set up a real person with popcorn and visitor information and a big event days. If you want, we have our Vw. Bus to line it up. We all look July. So we can bring her out. And she can be there as a global visitor center for the whole activities. We have a great partnership with the health, I mean with the see you. So we already market for them that graduation parents weekend homecoming. See you games. They have a great big database. We could

[54:03] put some stuff in there on their website for what parents are coming in or alumni are coming in to to market the health. And then finally, what we came up with just hoping for events. I mean, you guys do live on the hill. But we were alive from the help we came up with a few others of groovy boulder days, or be a college team without the class. This kind of thing. So we can brainstorm all you want, and some of these things, and we're just truly excited to to be invited to talk to you. We have been very eager, as you all have, I'm sure. Probably last year in the new, I would say, but we have been so eager to see these hotels come to life. We did get a message yesterday with the Max. He's gonna be May now instead of April. Just so, you know. But we've been meeting with them regularly. We've been meeting with the limelight regularly. And let's do this. So thank you. Yeah. it's a lot of resources. Yeah, it's a lot of resources. And we're excited to like dig into a new

[55:05] programs. Yeah. I'm sure they will. Will all have all sorts of ideas. But I, my first kind of question is, how much coordination is association is. It does seem like there's synergy there that can really help both sides of that equation. Emiliano is like the guy for the hell, and I wish she was here today. But he he would love to be there. The contact long term for the help, if if that secret. But we have coordinated with you. I just don't know that there's been that much to coordinate on. Honestly, yeah, I would love to connect for? Yeah. Yeah. So we're we're ready. I mean, part of it, too, is that you know, there's this dichotomy when you're in a situation that if we gonna draw attention to the hell we want the hell to be

[56:01] beautiful and welcoming. And so visitors have a good first experience, and it's been a bit of a. And II look at these pictures that you showed earlier. I'm like, Wow, you guys were really vibrant at certain times. And is it just been since the pandemic that things started to get neglected? Or has it been longer than that, and longer than multi-generational? I think the the I don't know that we're gonna end up being able to speaking for myself here. So the entire mission came over what the hill represents. It is a confluence of a lot of different people. And yes, we'll be able to improve what it looks like, but it also will require maintenance over time, and I think that's one of the things that he'll struggle with is to have enough revenue to kind of keep a stasis of, you know. Presentability? so yeah. well, but I mean it's not positive, though this is good.

[57:06] The this no this is not meant to be negative to your organization. Well, it's just that the hills been neglected for one. Finally, now, doing what we do, which is the spotlight on the hill. As a result. Now, everybody's gonna pay attention. So it's exciting getting the property owners on board to help create improvements on some of the properties struggle that there's always been for a while. So I think we've got the actual business owners. But then you have the property owners. You got the city. You got the Merchants Association. You've got university. There's there's a lot of different entities there that if we can coordinate those forces I think that we'd be in much better shape than

[58:18] differing opinions on how that could all work. I don't know that there's anyone that wants to help continue. And the place it's been in for the last 70 years, or whatever I mean. You know, 20 years. so I you know I would welcome conversation around that. You asked about a focus group. Talk about that. I would love to participate. if you get more than one other person from this condition, do that, we're gonna end up declaring that a public meeting, so you may need to figure out a way of navigating that part of it. But we we talked about this in our retreat this last year we might even have notes that we could share as a way of foundation for that conversation.

[59:09] So if we hosted the meeting, does that change. No? Okay. One thing that you might also refer to is in the packet, for today's meeting is the results of the URL ui tab grant. And there's description in there of people who participated in activity very much like what you're suggesting. That could give you a good starting point as well in terms of how to how to get conversations going to invite. But obviously the rest of this are.

[60:04] you know, would be happy to participate. II think we, you know, just each one of us end up having a lot of opinions and and thought lots of thought about what the hill represents and what can happen there. So yeah. gathering. yeah, he's he's a great guy for this this type of role I wanted to also mention. And I kinda hesitate because it's not set still yet, but with the 2 hotels that are coming in town. We're working with the hotel partners on an improvement district. It's hate the word tourism improvement district. So we're gonna call it the Hotel Boulder Hotel Improvement District and we're in a feasibility study right now to see if the hotels would be interested in forming a district where they would pass an assessment of a percent or 2 onto their hotel guests and come up with a separate fund that would be used, dedicated only for the the benefit of their businesses.

[61:16] And if this happens, then the money that we currently have in our budget that's focused on the sales and marketing for the hotel industry would be available for other things. and the only reason I mentioned. That is because right now, with our relationship with downtown boulder partnership, we help with the visitor information and staffing for the Vic down there, and we pay them every year. A grant from us, which is $20,000. And so it could potentially if we were to formulate this tid and we worked something out with you guys. We could possibly just give you some money to help with your Merchant Association. In addition to all of the other things that we wanna do to help to help. So it's not set in stone. We still have to go through a lot of council ordinances kind of stuff. But the hotel community is very much behind the idea. And so we just need to go through the course

[62:12] and hopefully it will go through, and we can open up some new revenue streams for not only us, but for our partners in in this boulder community. Would that mean that democracy would come out of the district. It's different than a bid and we actually can't do a big formation, or formally under the big statute because of you can't have it and a bit in the same area if you will. So this would be under home role, which is how it'd be set up with the State, and this has been done in in Denver or more, and Fort Collins already. These tids and Loveland and long monitoring process of doing one. And so we're like, hell. Yeah, let's do that.

[63:01] So it's an extra layer on top of what, for example, the the the hill district wouldn't lose funding, because all of a sudden the hotels would go quite a bit. All hotel, yeah. City limits. So it's 21 hotels and some of them are meeting space hotels, and some of them are not so. Each of them have their own needs. So I'm talking to all of them to see. But it's worth mentioning. Oh, I forgot this various organizations around that are supporting the city and supporting tourism, to say

[64:18] Speak of the hill in positive terms, but also in constructive criticism. Phrases that can help us, you know, improve what's happening there and really get thought and attention and resources put towards those. So they really appreciate that. Thank you. Connectors group. yeah, perfect. Yup. But these people, I mean, they've been around Ex city council, you know, leadership positions. And they have known that the Conference center is a need for 20 years now. And so now that we're here, they want to make sure we do it right. So I really appreciate it. The group there are a lot of smart people, and they care very much for the help and what's going on there, and we'd love to support that effort. Anyway, we can't.

[65:04] We have an event arts and culture grant program and the applications opened up in January, and we're going through the application process now. And it's you know, it's usually for organizations that are starting off, or that just need some baseline funding that are not covered by the Arts Commission anyone, and maybe that may change, depending on what's going on with how you guys are organizing. But usually it's just seed money, for example, the because I used to like the Burgundy festival putting an application in. And so the the goal is to provide seed money for organizations to start

[66:00] last year. Anniversary the Museum of Boulder for their Black history exhibit $10,000, and those are the 2 biggest ones, and usually they're between 2,500 $5,000. But and we have a partial matching grant from create boulder to help with that. So it's a good program, for you know, bringing in more little events and seeing if they can make a go of it. What are the next? I mean? You're looking for the word feedback. How do you work that? What is the next steps? I think we need to look at what you've already produced? Someone. If you have. I mean, I can these notes to see the URL. I tap great information, but if you have information previous meetings that would be helpful. and then we'll just reach out and set up a little meeting.

[67:06] Maybe kind of link out with that. and it'd be great to do that in the next few weeks. knowing that the Hill Maxi is gonna open in May. So we can. I mean a lot of the stuff we can put together somewhat quickly. But others, it's gonna take a little more time. But we'd really just like to start to develop. If you haven't already just develop that that identity, the real identity that you want going forward. So I'll I can coordinate getting you the URL ul, I tap so hard documentation, and I think that we have notes from our retreat from before Lisa. Oh, Lisa, I'll get that to you in the next 24 h, or something like that. I'm the other thing I'll mention is that city, is it? I think we might even talk about here a minute. The ideas around way finding, and that sort of thing. So that process is sort of

[68:03] in process, but not quite held yet. It's probably something. Also you'd be interested in seeing and paying attention to so, and I don't know whether it's it's there's any proprietary issues or whatever. But if we, if we have with the hill boulder some great photos that have been taken last year that make the hell look good. And and there, and and that's it used to, you know your website, or whatever. Maybe there's coordination. Any way, we can visualize and present, I think coordination between the 2 websites could be really important. So that you're you guys are attracting a certain kind of client talent to need deeper information. There is already a resource there that could be linked to, and

[69:10] taking all of that attention, but giving it to you. So we we work closely with downtown folder on that. Make sure we're not. but in for the same keywords and competing against the whole world. Yeah. should have. Alright. So I'll I'll encourage you all to have a continuing conversation with the Margins Association. I'll come in to get documentation to you and shorter and then we'll stand by and wait here from y'all on together. Having continuing this conversation. some of the information is now behind us, because some of the recommendations already happened. And then also, there's a lot of talk about the Alley beautification. Things like that that we make as a commissioner discussed that that's not the number one talking so that we, you know, we may want to just qualify some of their recommendations through

[70:15] next slide will be rather yeah. I'm wondering if your conversations with the city are the same conversations that we're having help. It's probably the same kind of for similar conversations that downtown holders coming. And you know, like, there's a lot of conversations about this stuff right now, and having it organized so that we're not like refining is temporary, too. So

[71:05] that's what I put to. It's it's temporary. So there's an opportunity to think so. The signage be developed is not cool questions alright, so each that the staff matters Hello! Who would like to go first? So I'll start introduce the staff members that are presenting on various topics we do have Ellie live on to here. We don't have a formal presentation. But there was a question last meeting related to

[72:10] fiscal year 2023 year and financial. So in your funding fund health app that's included in the regular packets. The 2023 is closed. Hmm! So those numbers are accurate, you know accurate representations of what we actually did in 2023 as in years past. Given the Limited sources of funds for the Uhugent Fund. We've been trying really hard to make sure that we're keeping our uses of funds lower than the sources of funds. So we've been able to do that. In 2023, and we will continue to strive to do that so that we can keep the fund and

[73:06] helping shape as we make some of these long term decisions around how to utilize the proceeds from the sale Pleasant Street, but for future investment, either 14 street line or elsewhere. So happy to offer up Ellie if there's anything else you want to share, or if you have any specific questions about how we closed out the year. Happy to save some time and move on to Regan, if that's the desire. it's 7. So Having no questions now that I wish Shirley would have stayed because she was part of that. She's aware. So we, as always, a community by tell you, been working really hard to deliver on the expectations of the community. In many ways, and Regan has been a champion of a lot of stuff we've already been hearing about about in this meeting in her strong partnership with the Hill merchants. And so Regan's been leading first of all.

[74:14] led the the Grant application for the Ul. I tap led to a lot of recommendations of things that we have been making great progress on and continuing to make progress. So without further ado, I'll pass over to Regan. Slides are up to share what's coming next. Awesome. Alright. Now I'm excited to give you all an update on Hill revitalization efforts. So, as Chris mentioned, that'll include an overview of Uli Tap final report which we finally received and is in your meeting packet and some of the initiatives that we're working on currently. And then kind of looking ahead. gotcha just a reminder kind of bringing us back to the purpose of this work and that we're really trying to enhance the district's vitality and generate positive economic growth.

[75:10] As a reminder, we went to Council last year and gained that support and direction from them. To implement short term revitalization strategies for the hill which includes projects that consider connecting, activating and enhancing the district's identity which we've all discussed. As well as long term strategies for redeveloping the Fourteenth Street lot. And of course these strategies will help boost the district's resilience. Given some of the challenges that we've seen as well as many of the upcoming changes that we've already been talking about this evening. So the opening of the Moxie boulder as well as the One Life Hotel and Conference Center. So you aligned top Urban Land Institute Technical Advisory panel program is a bit of a mouthful, but we finally received the final report again. That is in your meeting packet. As a reminder. We convened the tab back in June of 2023.

[76:10] The list outlined here was pulled directly from the report, which was identified by the tab as an immediate action plan for the hill so just to quickly go through these that includes exploring greater connectivity, particularly along the Thirteenth Street corridor exploring and implementing short term activation opportunities throughout the district as well as on the Fourteenth Street lot. deregulating those flickr licensing rules that were unique to the hill, which, of course, has already happened, and was a huge accomplishment for the business community. initiating a neighborhood rebranding campaign. exploring other long term district funding mechanisms, such as the downtown Development Authority, also known as the Tda or business improvement district, a bit just to help fund improvements and contribute to that long term financial sustainability of the district.

[77:07] And then, lastly, initiate a long-term redevelopment plan for the Fourteenth Street lot. So those were kind of on high level. The key takeaways from the report we do share plan to share the report more broadly. So please feel free to share with your network. At this point as well. But now we'll dive into some of the initiatives that we're focusing on now this week to some of these recommendations. Unless you all have questions specifically about the report, we can save that till the end. Mechanics? So we're working on implementing pedestrian. Wait finding! And in an effort to get wait, finding signage up quickly with the anticipation of that increased visitation and foot traffic that we'll be seeing we are planning on replicating the existing way, finding signage that is currently installed downtown and around downtown, so we'll be installing it in and around the hill, including on central corridors that connect the hill to downtown

[78:13] and the way finding signage design is on the right hand side. Here we're currently finalizing landmarks as well as locations for the signage, and so our intern will be doing a lot of the work in Google Maps to kind of calculate the walking and biking distance in a minutes as well as which direction the arrows should be pointing. Huge. Thank you to Trent, who has been super helpful in drafting up the locations for the signage for as well as well, since it's been a really collaborative effort in partnership with Dvp as well. But the intent is that this is a temporary solution that can be implemented quickly while we strategize something longer term potentially more engaging.

[79:02] The idea is that it will eventually be better than just signs with arrows. So if you've seen the signage in older junction. We recently implemented gateway signage there. So just thinking about something a little bit more engaging as we strategize for the longer term. Another project that we're currently working on is a partnership with groups music project. So if you're not familiar, they are local nonprofit music incubator. they help local and emerging musicians, artists, game visibility by showcasing them in local venues and in front of various audiences. So we'll be using arpa-funding to partner with them on the hill to host a three-part music event series from June through August on the Event Street this summer, which is super exciting, and so

[80:02] those events will likely span from 5 to 9 Pm. The dates are yet to be determined. But essentially they will showcase a feature or feature. A talented youth artist as an opener to emerging local acts, and then one established regional act. So that's the intent and will be a 3 part music series on the event street. so really looking forward to that, and we'll definitely promote it more broadly. Once we nail down those dates and then, looking at next steps. They're divided into short-term efforts. Other city led initiatives and then looking ahead at longer term efforts in the short term, we're exploring piloting events or other unique experiences potentially pop up activations for the Fourteenth Street walk. We're working on potentially painting the pavement in certain areas. So for example, we're currently in discussions with the Moxi developers

[81:07] to install a creative or artistic painted crosswalk at Pleasant Street and Broadway rather than having them just install standard crosswalk. There's further development agreement. So we're in discussions with them to do something sort of creative. And we are investigating new murals, working with streetwise. particularly behind the gas station at Pleasant and Broadway there, so sprucing up that alley on the back side of the gas station. and then we're working closely with the Forestry department to assess tree canopy improvements, potentially planting more trees where possible, and looking at installing new grates and tree arts, depending on resources and funding other city led initiatives, civic area phase 2, which is, of course, being led by the planning department with sub support from Cv. And other city departments. Which includes an exploration of connectivity improvements from the hill to downtown

[82:13] later in the year, and all my work plan is to investigate what a cultural corridor might look like along Thirteenth Street. and then again, like by the planning department improvements to the Arboretum Park. And then, lastly, looking ahead, just beginning to strategize and plan for the redevelopment of the Fourteenth Street lot. pulling recommendations from the Uli panel as a resource and likely bringing on maybe a consultant to help us determine what that redevelopment plan will look like. So happy to answer any questions about the report about what we're doing now, about what's to come

[83:01] in our last meeting. We talked a little bit about some events that are coming up this summer, large, larger musical events, and then also looking forward into the football season as well in terms of activations for Fourteenth Street live. Are you thinking in those terms as as far as piloting projects in that space that could help. Because we already know that there's gonna be foot traffic. What? What's the thought process there? Certainly in the realm of possibility. I think at this point. We're really just having preliminary discussions about what is possible for that space. But happy to entertain ideas, has a group of folks who wants to come and

[84:02] activate space. We would absolutely wanna partner with them. That's similar groups user project. They're the ones they're approaching us. They wanna do this on the hill. They're sensing some possibility and energy on the hill. And so we want to work to facilitate groups coming to us in the Fourteenth street lot, certainly on our list, especially during the summer months, as prime location if folks are interested to activate. But we're not actually physically doing the party planning absolutely. August seventh, and eighth Wednesday, Thursday. Concerts on. See a lot in the district down to 2 days. Now

[85:00] I think that just kind of following up on Chris's point that you guys are already. But yeah, so if someone were interested, is there like a standard playbook that they end up getting like a fact sheet on. This is what it would take to activate on this space is that something that's in development should be developed. Does Lane have that already. I would not say that there's any standard playbook for anything in the city, but I would say that again. You may tell us how. How's the office of special events, and there is work going on right now. To help make that process more predictable. And so again, we facilitate folks come to with us with some crazy ideas. And so it's hard to create. Oh, yeah, great! Here's your here's your toolkit for your funky, whatever it's gonna be sure. But we do want to make sure that we're. You know, we have a continuous improvement philosophy that you do want to provide better tools. So it's not a you know. 6 month

[86:13] permitting process for your one day event. At 1 point there was talk around having a set traffic plan. You know some of the things that are that happen the same way, on the same in the same space could be provided to streamline. The process? Yes, and so that's certainly part of the conversation for Events street for Thirteenth Street downtown. We do have certain streets in town that are well attained to having set you know, traffic control, or where tents can go, and all those things. So that's doesn't be reinvented each time. So that's certainly part of that work. If I could offer one asset that we do have sorry matches. Scenario

[87:08] should get in touch with talk on the the tree, the canopy that you know that discussion it feels like, and we've got that. After the conversation that triangle in front of the gas station so so pleasant. Pennsylvania. It's like right there, right on Broadway. Thirteenth. because there's right now I think there's 7 trees that are all dead with those great things that go around protectors, if there is an opportunity, actually turns on that space somewhere, walking tours into posting up the Vw. Bus. There.

[88:13] I would hate for them to replant that without us at least, discussing maybe a better use of that space and just a cluster of trees, because we've talked. That's such an opportunity area, especially if there were a chance to do some tour again. I would just like I would hate to throw a good money after something that maybe. and we couldn't change a better use of that location. But the thought of having that bus sitting right there talk about the way to actually get people out of the hotel to come. Yeah, no, that's great, because the reality is we likely won't be replanting there. I just went to that location with forestry last week. Technically, the trees are still alive. They're really struggling. But that that location tends to be very popular a popular spot for people to pull the trees out of roots. And so it just

[89:16] they're continuing to put money into it. It's just not it just it feels like it's been losing that, whatever the reason, they're not having to thrive right? How we're thinking of that space critical. Oh, go ahead! I'm sorry. No, no, I'm just Chris, you and I also that triangle ends up being visible from both hotel spaces. In a way that is really valuable for promoting the help and so that ends up being a space that if we can utilize it correctly in terms of

[90:07] framing the hill, even maybe with an archer who knows what? Parking a van there? It. It ends up being a a real asset for for how we approach just word of mouth people seeing it and then going. I'm curious about what's over there. Yeah. So one is the immediate term versus long term, right? That's longer term. But but in the meantime, just we will take that into official recommendations. Any thoughts on Ula. Ul, I tap findings. There's there's a lot in the packet there. Clinton recommendations.

[91:05] II kind of. That's why I kind of mentioned it to 20, just because there is such a heavy discussion of beautifying the alleys. And yeah, I believe I mean from the pack you send us. It talks about the Allies a lot, talks about using the Allies as transportation which we had talked about when we thought the hotel entrance lined up with that. But then, after our personal visits, felt like that was maybe not the best use. So that was, that was the only thing that kind of jumped out of me was that that was something that maybe we needed as a commissioner to guide. I think there's some nuance there, too, because the alley that runs behind the Fourteenth Street lot may end up coming into play here. If you're trying to drive people from a hotel over to an event activation on that parking lot. The alley is the faster way to get there. Rather than having to walk all the way over to Broadway and then up

[92:01] you're actually walking past all the the businesses that are traditional hill businesses and then over. So it's probably a nuance, especially behind Thirteenth Street people that continue up that. So II think it's just a come to just making sure that it's not. It just felt pretty heavily emphasized. One alley that goes behind. Smelly Deli is is what's the problem? Yeah? And I think if we had to tackle one ally, and I know there isn't funding for Allie improvement at this point, but downright begging landlords to let us even paint the back of their buildings. It's that's probably the scariest spot on the hill. Okay?

[93:03] scary. Well, I will say that when we've had high school events, and I see high school females start to walk toward that alley. I would send security to watch in just a minute. I mean, it may not be that way today, but it certainly looks like it's got the potential to be dangerous. But yeah, I think safety security versus any other thoughts beyond, say, the Ally recommendations that you have realized half we want to make sure we are addressed or smoking. II just think,

[94:02] the activations that there's a lot of weight put onto activations. and there is no vehicle for those activations to happen unless different parties come in and participate. and that there's an efficient way for some of those things to happen. But II do think that the district has will have more appeal for other organizations to come in and activate on a more regular basis. But it's not easy. not not an easy thing. So it it really takes a more than Jake, who's been responsible for a lot of the small activations on the hill

[95:00] seems like a related discussion to business development on health as well. That there there's a need for a certain amount of energy to be spent, and resources and person power to be able to drum up that kind of interest. And there were some businesses there. There was a couple that had a business that would do in advance every summer we do an event every summer we did, you know, the bigger whatever stream cheese event down hill, and then the guy who owns the corner. not the corner room. you know they liked participating in the summer Sundays on the hill when we're closing Thirteenth Street. Not necessarily the Event street. So I think if businesses are more successful as a result of the additional foot traffic, all of that, we might find more people willing to participate at that level again. But it came down to basically 2 businesses doing

[96:11] all the activations which this time. So I would just say. it's a great thing to say that the district needs it. We just have to be practical about how that we can strategize to make that happen. Well, it's a request for more money to the Hill Merchants Association. Does that also help with that? It can help with some of the planning on that. But Jake is one person. He works for the city, he works part time for boulder and It requires more of a team, so I would say if we got additional funding in their pocket. That's kind of what I was alluding to some assistance for, Jake, where he's got the know how, and he can hand off

[97:15] certain tasks, like. you know, reaching out to sponsorships, making sure the traffic plan, the application, the special event application. it's probably or if the Merchant organization has merchants participating on a regular basis the way it used to. And it wasn't, you know. it wasn't that long ago that there there were more events. and there was more participation. I would say it really took a downturn in the past 5 or 6 years. Part of me wonders or wonders if there's any sort of

[98:01] there's a lot of help. There's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot of interest. So. okay. do. We have like a timeline on the temporary wayfunding I would imagine I can get. And I mean, we're working on finalizing the locations for the signage, just also landmarks that will be on them now. And so I would imagine, over the next 2 to 3 months. So we can have it. You know we have the designs we have the designer, you know. We can print it. So 2 to 3 months can be installed before graduation would be ideal if we can. May night. My son's graduating from the public record anything else on that agenda item before we move on to the next. We're kind of running a little short of time, but I think we have time for discussions.

[99:09] Anything else around that. Alright to Charlene's point. The big question is. how do we want? What do we want to the hill to be known, as I guess. rebranding and all? I. My only comment is, it really should be different from downtown, because it's people, a a one plus one not more the same because we're not. Let's say. I mean, that's there's a real. I mean. obviously, we think push music was

[100:04] was a theme, and the fox is a is a huge part of that. You know. III keep thinking backwards like history. But obviously it was a forward looking issue. Past was really pretty rich for you all the time. Yeah. And it was differentiating super rich history, you know you can look for. Be captain. I think, especially people are dropped on the corner of the. We talk about this right? They need to know why. You know, why is that different? And those are the things. So you can only talk about some of the past and talk about the viruses current in future. But I think we need to the foundations. Some of that is from something wide, different, special. And I think the university is a big part role to play

[101:01] in telling that story as well. Obviously it's the home. And I think that the other thing I think we going back to the tap. Real quick. I think there was some conversation or some mentions of university, but I still think there's there needs to be a cohesiveness there, because part of the degradation of the hill has been the university, taking all their events and moving them to downtown holder. So I think in our conversation. We need to make sure this loud and clear, and I know you know, talking to feels like there's a they have a best interest, and they want to make sure that that changes where I think that's part of the conversation that universities little overall conversation accounted for. Yeah. Well, this in the short term. II wonder? Almost different. Bruce Browski still has that set up of? You know all that material? A lot of that if you collected it, maybe even itself, even beforehand. Question is whether or not that might be some use, and

[102:06] having him, and if you provide it to to Germany's group, but might be some easily, you know. Obviously the the branding of the hill can evolve in the short term we've got. I've got a story already. Yeah, we're lucky that's not just. There's a rich history that there's also kind of a youthful presence as well as revitalization going on. So it's it's kind of a great combination. the sense that I get is that we've got multiple organizations all sort of going. Who's first? Who's gonna take the first step like, who's gonna take the big risk and actually start getting momentum going? it's that's what this boulder was saying. Today, we're pill versions, or like, we just need funding to continue doing the thing we're doing. And I think there's a lot of interest what could happen. But like, there's there's also a certain amount of like, who's gonna take the first step.

[103:15] Temporary way finding only goes so far. Right? There's gonna be something beyond to things to talk about during focus groups for sure really get down to could also be things that we talked about with staff. It might be a good segue to our next agenda. Yeah, how about that, Chris? Thank you. II just this is really fruitful conversation, because it's it is really, it's upon us. So we wanted to make sure I wasn't stifling conversation so so well, as you know, vitality manages for different general improvement districts. 2 of those are overlapped at Boulder Junction.

[104:00] we are at a place different places as far as fun, health, and capital planning for all of the districts. And Matt, in his current acting role. Presumably long term role is leading alternatives. Analysis project is looking at both funding mechanisms for just taking care of what we have, as well as trying to understand what the future desired state is for each of the districts, and how district funds might be leveraged to help realize those visions. So this is that longer term conversation. When it comes to, where do we actually wanna go? There's a lot of possibility out there. we need to narrow it down narrow in on what we're actually going to do. And what's the timeline for actually implementing it? And so that's the the workers that is currently being led. So Matt, over to you, yeah, I just think you have just a few things to say. It won't take a lot of time. But you know this project, you know, we've sort of introduced it in a couple of different ways to you, but really at its core. It's a financial planning tool

[105:10] that in order to understand the, you know, revenues of all of our districts and what to set taxation at, and what the impacts are going to be on businesses and residents from the the revenue generated for property tax. Particular? That lever that we pull we need to understand both the current situation and the future state. And that's gonna be quite an undertaking. And so the project is narrowing in on some. You know the specific circumstances that we're experiencing right now, which you know very well what's going on on the hill. That is worth sort of been transforming over the years from last time and examination. So we've done about issues. But it's across districts, I mean in in over junction in downtown as well. There's some common theme. So you know the way that the economy's transformed. Since the pandemic

[106:05] the retirement of some debt. The public safety concerns new opportunities coming online. There's a lot of inputs. And so with all that in mind, we really wanna do this broad examination of of of those 2 elements, current, state and future state. And in order to do that, we need to do a couple of things we, we need to have the data and understand current conditions. For like profoundly, deeply we need to reach out and understand what the vision is for services, for programs and for capital. That capital piece being complex and nuanced. And therefore, you know, so requiring a a little bit more focus in this project and also the connections between need to understand some of the things we've been talking about tonight about, how do people move physically between the districts with draws them between them. What's the psychological problematic connections that bring people back and forth and can

[107:06] increase activity overall? Broaden those those assets. So in order to do that, oh, wait! I forgot one thing. We also want to look at the governance of how the districts run. Make sure that they're running most efficiently, most effectively to achieve outcomes and and be most effective for the businesses in the district. So so we have, a lot of people sort of lined up to engage with us on how to do this. You know, definitely, the data is going to be the foundation of this, but then we also want to have smart people at the helm. Luckily. Elliot, Regan, and Christine, who are people much smarter myself, hoping to make sure this happens. But we also have a bunch of city departments who have already volunteered to help give input into this. We're gonna assemble a stakeholder group make sure that people who are paying those taxes and affected by the programming are in the room to help with that visioning.

[108:04] And of course you we're we envision a subcommittee isn't the right word each Commission contributing people to serve on a super committee. I'm a super. So this is a project that's going to go on for the until the third quarter of next year. We're we have some things to do immediately, and some some work to do to get ready for the short term future and the immediate budget cycle. But we're really aiming third quarter 25 to have these recommendations in place, and they're essentially set of recommendations to you and the City Council on how these levers should be adjusted

[109:00] in order to achieve the balance that we want to get our goals accomplished. So I wanna give you the opportunity to ask any questions you have about that right now. I'll just kind of rapid fire. But mindful of your timing tonight. But in addition to any questions. It would be wonderful if you could discuss. If one or 2 of you want to represent. You can't say on the super committee. It won't be meeting for a little while. We'll, we're trying to keep the impact low after that point but your input is gonna be very critical to make success. So you know, after I answer your questions, ideally, a motion to appoint people to. Yeah, I'm sorry, might add. So this is just the introduction to the work. certainly. Welcome 2 volunteers to be part of whatever that's going to be called. I like alliteration. So I don't know super committee, but also acknowledging they're gonna have to possibly 2 new commissioners at the next meeting, so certainly, name, we'd be nice to have names now, acknowledging that maybe

[110:13] things will shift around. Once we have new commissioners, and it'll certainly be on the agenda for these meetings in the future, so everyone will have a chance to. What is the timing, I mean in term, because we don't meet again as commission till may so just to be clear like, when would you need the names so we could. There will be some activity between now and May, but it will be low key. It won't be the heavy engagement. So if you wanted to wait until maybe we could certainly, if you agree, really leave it up to you all. Yeah, I think your points a good one, Chris, I'm just gonna say this for the Commissioner to have potentially 2 new, definitely one new Commissioner. It might be good to consider that in in this conversation, and then a point, once we have a full complement of commissioners. So how about. We just keep the chair in the loop, for now. Great and then it will evolve this week no more. I think that makes sense. I was gonna volunteer, anyway. So we started there. And then we can have another discussion. They and figure out if anyone else

[111:21] important work. Yeah, it's gonna be a fun time any questions for Matt. I don't have any questions right now. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. It's you know.

[112:06] Thank you, Chris. I appreciate that. Thank you, Staff. for all those updates. We're not a matters from Commissioners. This first one feedback from Commissioners Rockwell. And she was actually Hotel Jones, and I met with Chris few weeks ago to talk financials. I realized I didn't really understand the financials very well. So I really appreciate you walking us through some of that stuff. But there was also we wanted to address some of the things that we said in commission meetings before about getting momentum around ideas and stuff. How do we? How do we make sure that there is a champion available. so to speak, that's helping move things forward? Chris had a suggestion that I think we both, II definitely thought, was interesting, which is, we we only need as a commission every quarter, essentially, every every couple of months, and that's not a lot of time to get things done, and anytime you get 2 or more of us in a room. It ends up being a public meeting. And so there's a lot of net levers of mechanisms that they need to come into play to make it nest.

[113:17] So suggestion was that perhaps the city already meets regarding matters of the hill on a monthly basis, doing this correct on a regular basis, and then it may provide an opportunity for 2 commissioners to attend one of those less public meetings to just get a sense of what staff are working on, and also then have an opportunity for some synergies of people's opinions, and how things might happen. What I put out there was, I'd be willing again, volunteering to as chair end up doing each one of those with then a rotating cast of an additional

[114:03] Commissioner that would join me in in those those meetings. So that's the framing for this conversation. I wanted to bring it up with this group and see if others felt the same way about that. If there was an alternate idea. If there was another way of approaching it. So there you go. The idea on the table is attending regular city staff meetings. As a way of providing me to the sandwich of official commission meetings and on the alternating months. So right, we have a meeting in March, and so there'd be this smaller meeting in April, and then public meeting. And thank you, Chris. hey? I agree. I mean, it used to be a monthly meeting, and it felt more like a working meeting where we could move things forward. I think you have been on the Commission when they were monthly

[115:08] great. Are you ever on that monthly cycle? And that was a concern when we did shift from monthly meetings to last quarter, where we meetings that that the role of the Commission kind of changed a little but II like where you're going. because I do think it it can be. It would have been very difficult to get to where we are now with a quarterly meaning system. because there was just more commission work being done everything from the getting the height restriction exempted from Hill and getting Commissioner some people to show up to city Council meetings in the moratorium and there was

[116:04] more immediacy. I think there were more things that needed to be worked on at that point. So I kind of see what you're saying, and we're we're we also have a lot of work to do. Now let's see how works. I'm sure it's a little bit of an extra extra pull, for it's a lot better than having a formal meeting. This is sort of a compromise right? Having another formal meeting and doing this, it feels it felt to me like a great suggestion, Chris, that there there is this more cool. We, what we could do is have a regular conversation about it's happening every few weeks versus where we are right now, there's so much that's gonna happen to the next 2 years that it feels like an increase makes sense and put, I would hope that few years from now wouldn't be.

[117:17] if necessary. Precisely so, making it less formal and sort of helping with that point. Yeah. sounds great. Okay? Any other. Yeah. Any other thoughts. Before. Cause we are nearing time here. I wanna okay, I'm gonna move to the next agenda item. Then we don't need a vote on, do we? That's we would request some guidance. Would you be comfortable with, the rotation just being out by last name as far as the plus one with the chair. Come through with that. Okay, if someone isn't available to go to the next one, yeah. Sounds good to me. I was already looking at calendars today. So I thought. depending on staff availability. And your availability also means just the first week of every other work, which might.

[118:14] you know, be good timing. So yeah, maybe just let us know what that timing looks like. So that I can. Okay, thank you very much. And thank you, Chris, for the suggestion. I think it's a really solid one. Okay. And then we had the city council request. It's like we finally got into the need here as something that we would need to make and amendment to. So we have in front of us on paper. The letter drafted from commission with 3 main points, and I'm hoping everyone is ready.

[119:08] We did have a resolution from the Kill Merchants Association tonight as well, and there was some thought of potentially making adjustments to this letter. My, my! Thought, II it was not clear to me that item 3. Was that distinguished from item one which led, which which seems to me that I 3, could really become a little more focused on the business about supporting business development marketing of the Hill cause. We got cleanliness, and we could even work flip traffic into one a little bit. Maybe I don't know, because, you know, activation, but maybe emphasizing a bit more in the heading. And you could say, Support business development.

[120:04] On University Hill in anticipation of increased traffic hotels. and then just put in. It's written pretty well already. We just throw in the sentence about. you know, funding for the hill, which is the hill which is been critical to date, and now even more so. Right. And it could even I mean city council might like it if there was up the benefit right right community neighborhood benefit, you know, because Eunice, very vocal with city council, and if we could tie in that, this would benefit, not just the commercial district. But it's also been a desire of the neighborhood kind of showing a little more

[121:04] consideration that the commercial district is sensitive to the needs of desires of their neighbor as well. I don't know how you say that, but words with that tonight or so we. This is a good question. When this is this needed for city Council march 20, s. So tonight is your night to have a quorum to make formal motion and support of the language. If you wanted to be a. is there a means of is there a way for us to work by email? Or is that cause? It's a meeting. Then it we'd have to get super super creative because you can't vote over email. So there might be a way to have a motion with the general approval with some caveats and and

[122:01] discussion and then we can make those edits and distribute that via email. And if no one checks. you know to the to those edits. Then we can leave on the boat. or could we authorize the chair to, or a team member? group to with the caveats to finalize the letter. It's so. Not that it's that doesn't be a perfect science. It's not the UN. But just trying to make sure that we're, you know, that folks feel like what they voted on is what we're actually transmitting to council. And I just don't want to deviate too far from that. So I totally II do not love wordsmithing and editing letters in a public meeting, so II totally appreciate that desire to not do that. Could we? If there's a section 1, 2, and 3

[123:16] show support and approve the not sentiment. I'm trying to think of the right word, but the essence of 1, 2, and 3 and the priority and the points without having to. Yeah, go deep into actual words. I would just ask that the motion can really specifically say. and you were getting at it. The changes related to, I think. Item 3 and support of the business community. We just wanna make sure that on the record, we have really

[124:01] specific language of what you'd like to see with those. So let's let's have a discussion about what what we would want to add in terms of supporting the Home Works Association. So we're bigger on that, because that's the thing we have so couple of no, they are making an ask for $20,000 per year. 3 years, 15 years, or 3 years budget so. But they need to. Then. I know, over 3 years. But

[125:03] I don't know that regular funding is 10,000. It's just the Arpa funds. Were the other 10,000 correct. So one, we know goes away. the other could go away. That makes sense. Are we just asking for support for that? Are we asking for more economic firepower for the hill. In general. It's like the funding in general. Yeah, because I don't think we want to just leave it to oversee. I mean, the district needs money and support. So the district is boulders. Problem now needs some money.

[126:02] some real attention, some probably some funding from general fund to help with some of the stuff so current. Currently, the general fund does a transfer of 270,000 a year. It's one of the largest revenue sources into well, this year 2024. Yes, cause this year has been appropriated and approved for 2025. It's about so I don't anticipate any significant changes there. But Tbd, right? We don't know until we know that being said that $270,000 is not specifically identified as this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this there is no earmark K for Hill Merchant Association. So I think we have the authority within just staff suggestions on and how that money gets to view. So I don't know. I think it'd be good to highlight that there's an importance that there continues to be an investment into business support on a hill. But I don't think we need to necessarily dive into the actual details of saying we need X for X and X and X cause we're not really asking for additional appropriation. This is more of a conversation between commissioners and staff as as far as that level of detail. But so your first, your first responsibility is the Commission is to the fund health.

[127:21] And so if we don't, is looking at the phone, financials and staff has been working hard to make sure that our uses of funds is less than our sources of funds. If we wanted to. I mean, we have slip. We have some wiggle room there. So we could spend $10,000 more from our existing sources of phones right on the helm. Merchants without engaging city council. So long as you know that the the fund is staying healthy. $10,000 more is not gonna make it a break it. But it's there's trade offs there. And so we don't even specifically have to say we would like the city to continue to support this nonprofit phone bill alright. But we want to broaden the broaden. That.

[128:13] And then it would be, you know. Yeah, I think, broadening that approach and say, the important part here is that you want to continue to see advertising support for the businesses within the Hill University. So is it just simple, then, is saying, and you know that, you know, in in inserting a phrase along the lines of it at a minimum maintained current funding levels. for what would how would we work that? Where do we want to ask for more funding on top of the general phone increase support. Given this and add a minimum maintain current, we say that, or

[129:09] or avoid any loss of cause. We want to draw that line right, you know. Sure we're asking for more. But you can't. you can't they can. But that's that's our point wouldn't. Where the sources are coming from. I think what Council needs to know is, what are the Commissioners, seeing as the top 3 priorities excuse me within their district.

[130:00] It's kind of up to council and staff to figure out the funding mechanisms, and how Council prioritizes the the needs from other Commissioners. Right? They just need to know what's the most important for you. And I think that's really what we should highlight here in this letter is is that the the business retention, the business advertising, getting people up into the hill? Those are going to be the most important thing. It's gonna have, you know, those replications across the entire organization for that right? Sales tax goes up those types of things, we increase tourism. So on and so forth. so less about worry about the money where it's coming from, and more about what's the intent? What are the top 3 priorities? That's what I would focus on. So given that and given Chris one of Chris's earlier suggestions and say, Oh, it's your should we just have staff? They've got it right, is, have them come back with and say, do you object any objections? And have you have you cause? You're gonna write the letter need to change. If the intentions are already within the great question.

[131:10] You think it's all covered here already? Yes, I would say that with all the folks that are gonna make this all happen are here? And we don't. We don't need counsel for it to outline on $10,000, so we can make sure that if that's the will of the well, our next meeting will be starting to talk about budget. Right? So we can. If you're not happy with how we've responded on our budget conversations as as far as the whole emergency system will. There's opportunity for that. There's a priorization. I brought that up just because you know. Very like, you know. I'm I'm just a cave man with a caveman brain that's really easy for us to change in emotion. So yeah, so if others agree. I mean, I brought that up. More is like, well, if we put it first, maybe it gets more attention. But that was also kind of reflecting a different understanding of what may or may not be happening here. I don't know that we're the only word that

[132:17] I struggle with on Number 3 is preparing, because that seems really short term to me. And I think that's gonna be an ongoing consideration. And so is there a word. That's it reflects an ongoing need more than prepare. I mean, prepare. Says it. I'm I'm I'm not gonna go. There's more near term. It wasn't asking for the long term stuff was asking for in the next one to 2 years. What are the top? 3 issues start until early 2026, anyway? Because they're not even accepting conferences till early 26

[133:12] mean preparing could work. II through preparedness for the University Hill district. I don't know. it's one word. okay else. And then we're there. You go perfect. There you go! One more work. Oh, no, just in so. So I guess 2 questions. Are we going to keep them in this order. Do we want to move that to the top.

[134:01] you know, because the the park into redevelopment feels I have to move that to the top feels less because we're gonna do it, you know. But it's it's not. I would put the readiness pieces. That single biggest problem with this right now, I tend to agree with that other commissioners. Yeah, I agree just real quick on the cleanliness and safety for an inviting absolutely important. Do we want to add, considering Charlene and everybody's real concern for conference planners. do we? Just wanna yes, if they're visitors. But do we want to add conference planners to residents, visitors and businesses like, because it's such a huge yeah, I just wanted to remind Council that is a big deal. So you want to add conference planners to the list. Third line of number 2, attractions to residents, visitors, conference planners, businesses. Well, maybe conferences, conferences. Thank you. Okay.

[135:21] alright. So oh, number one, is italicized? Okay, are we good with this language? Are we fine? With Staff's recommendation that this covers what we heard earlier this evening? And do I hear a motion to accept the letter as presented here on the screen? So motion. I have a second. Okay, any discussion around this? Is there anything. We missed

[136:02] anxiety. Great! I'm gonna call a vote. Then all those in favor of approving the letter as presented on the screen here say, aye. need to send. No, okay, that was unanimous. So that's just happened. Alright, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Okay, so one last thing before we exit this conversation. In terms of the budget conversation, and specifically for the Hurt Hill merchants. This is something that in May we may bring up specifically as a commission. And and is it something we'll end up voting on and approving? Or is this something that we can work with staff on? They have done even work with staff to make sure that. Okay, great is that something that we shouldn't be communicating after the main meeting because it will. So the budget's not official until Council approves it. In October, so.

[137:01] worst case scenario, we build a budget that is taking this into consideration and then sales tax receipts. Declined significantly between now and October, and we end up finding ourselves in space where we have to build a new budget. be planning for a different reality. So then, you know, they're they're there's it's not certain until Council is okay voted on it. We will plan for we can plan for a budget, you know. Continue that $10,000 from different sources. something that I'd be super concerned about. Appreciate that anything else from commissioners just have one quick, quick thing just going back to who's right how to be the best week. So transportation needs all of the micro mobility, and it shows that they are creating a

[138:06] Geo fencing requirement for the neighborhood. So they're not sure where that is. They're actually presenting so downtown management asking about this. So they're actually presenting the Dmc transportation presented next week. I imagine we can forward you. The Memo transportation is prepared, I think, includes some of this information. Okay, I just it'd be good to just solve that one quick cause. It's almost impossible. Parkland, downtown. But it feels like you put it pretty much anywhere. Check them off. Okay. our next meeting is Tuesday, May seventh, and 4 pm. In this very room, I believe. Thank you, Staff, for your time. I'm sorry we ran over today. And if there's nothing else we're adjourning our meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.