Present: Chris Dominianni, Rod Conant, Linda Hill, Dan Heath, Heather McKeever, Sherry A. King, James Mousseau, Jerry Forcier, Suzette Nephew, Diana Agugli
Meeting called to order at 8:35 a.m. by Chris Dominianni.
Motion to accept minutes by Jerry Forcier, seconded by Linda Hill
OLD BUSINESS
"Taste of downtown" booth proposed for Mayor's Cup, which would have featured downtown restaurants, has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Chris said that the restaurants contacted felt that the set up and manning of the booth as well as insurance and permit requirements would not be feasible.
The PDA website is still not quite up and running. Chris said that the site's address will be forthcoming and hopes that members will review it and give their suggestions. There was some discussion as to some of the possible features people would like to see. One suggestion was a real estate page featuring downtown properties that are either for lease or sale. Chris encouraged members to give their feedback.
Chris said a letter to building owners on Clinton St. whose buildings back onto Protection Avenue will be mailed out. It will be a request to the owners to clean up the back of their buildings. It is aimed at making Protection Avenue look less like a garbage strewn alley.
NEW BUSINESS
A "Clean-up" day is planned for May 6th from 8:30 - noon. It is being sponsored by Councilors Amy Valentine and Bill Provost. Volunteers are asked to help out with the clean up.
Battle of Plattsburgh speaker scheduled for this meeting was unable to make it. Chris reiterated that the BOP would like to see more participation from merchants. Suggestions were: giving discounts for people who purchase and wear the BOP button in your business, decorations in windows and business befitting the era and employees dressing in period costumes.
Summer Art Series - Chris said 5 weeks are planned starting on July 29th with five concerts and two productions by Adirondack Regional Theatre. A donation of$100 has been received from Mold-Rite Plastics. The committee is hoping that a large sponsorship will come forth that could be featured in a press release to generate more sponsorships. They hope to raise $4,000 to $5,000 for the series. There is a possible group of sponsorships coming from a local advertising agency and Mountain Lake PBS has agreed to be a media sponsor.
Concerts will be from 7-8:30 which is later than last year. Hopefully, this improves attendance. Possible groups for the concert line-up include: Too Tall String Band, Geezer Reunion, Flashback, Roy Hurd, Lucid, Crossing North, and a Jazz Group. A.R.T. has planned to present The Fantasticks and Cinderella.
Beautification Committee - Linda Hill spoke at length about some of the plans the Beatification Committee is working on. They would first like to create a model for other storefronts to follow. She and Chris have storefronts on the same block and can work with their 3 neighbors to implement this (20 Oak St. block). Theywould like to install window box planters or something similar with plantings to create a cohesive appearance. They are hoping, then, that the other businesses in the downtown will be inclined to follow the model. One incentive suggested is a contest with prizes to the most "beautified" storefront.
She described some of the areas that the committee is concerned about: Kiosk area (clean-up the area, and maintain the city plantings there), the empty Merkel lot with the rusty fence Qook into a possible art effect to cover fence like the one by Wilcox Dock entrance; see if owner will clean up the appearance some), Parking lot near Smoked Pepper (City might have plans for repairs to this), Westelcom Stage area Qooks nice but might need some new plantings along walkway of building).
Linda also spoke about some of the overlaps that the committee discovered. For example, a PDA clean-up day was suggested for "Earth Day" but then the Councilor's clean-up day was already scheduled for May 6th. There was some discussion as to how the Beautification Committee could just be a coordination point for some of the things that overlap.
There was some follow up discussion regarding financing the beautification plans and ideas for publicity.
Rod Conant moved to adjourn, seconded by Suzette Nephew.
