Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

PB, Sarah Silver, that part.

PB, Sarah Silver, forget that. PB, Sarah Silver, So we are now recording. All right, thank you. PB, Harmon Zuckerman, All right.

PB, Harmon Zuckerman, Seeing no announcements will go to business items six a phase two PA discussion.

PB, Sarah Silver, Thank you. Um, so in a continuation of the phase two restructure work. We are working with the EDC as our consultant in leading this and the ODA supporting the effort. So Michael and Connor and Desiree are here, and I'll turn it over to Michael to provide an update of where we are and what's coming up.

Yeah, good. Thanks. Thanks for your time. Thanks for your continued interest and guidance in the project. I thought it was important that you see Connor, introduce Connor. You may know Connor from his work with the Economic Development Council. He was our research manager. He was identified in our proposal to Jenica and the work that we do, and he's will be integral in how we develop and implement and understand and analyze our survey. He's going to talk a little bit about the database that he's constructing, about that and what goes into it and how we want to use that as a resource to help guide this project as well. And that was also important that Desiree join us. And the three of us, you'll start seeing us at these meetings as well. Desiree and the ODA is leading the communications and the outreach piece of that, as you know. So a couple of things that just to get you up to date, I don't really know how deep or how involved the conversation needs to be today other than we're moving forward. We've talked a little bit about the scope of work and the things that need to be done. And now we're in the phase of convening the leadership group and we'll start convening that very soon. I think we have a date on the calendar that we're going to try to meet and hopefully meet. I got a little bit behind the cue ball a little bit, but we're there. We'll get there. And I'll ask Desiree to talk a little bit about the communication strategy. The other thing that I want to talk to you about is that we're starting to put a little bit of items on the wireframe if you think about the work that we need to do. Outreach, survey work, analysis, open house, communications pieces. So those things are starting to get framed out and hung on the wireframe a little bit. we have created a little bit of a survey work, but I'm going to hold that back just because I don't want to put out there. That's still at a very nascent point of being that really not ready for that feedback yet. There are three of us need to start really thinking about it. We'll talk to the leadership group when we convene and we'll come back to you and say, this is the document rather than burn your time with that effort. I think that I don't nothing here or nothing there, but I do think, your time is best spent elsewhere and let us kind of do that staff work. That's the role that we want to play. The other thing is we want to make sure that we've updated and ensured that our work project or work program, we're still on track to deliver product to the council first quarter of 2027. We are shooting for the early 2027 quarter than the last, so I think by January or February. Working backwards in time, Remember, we talked a little bit about ensuring that in November and December, we'll have some drafts and some really meaty things to talk about. And that will go into the final product. But that all needs to be kind of gone through the working group or the leadership group that will convene. So I want to do just a level set to make sure that you were, I know you all know Desiree, but I wanted to make sure that you were introduced to Connor and a little bit of the work that he does as well. So any questions for me before I ask Connor to talk a little bit about kind of the database work that he's constructing and how envisioned, how that might actually be used for us. And then we'll ask Desiree to tighten up our discussion with you with a little bit of a communications plan. Are you good?

Yeah. One question. Did the leadership group, did that get finalized? Is there how many and who yet?

The leadership group got conceptualized. Okay. And so this week we'll be sending an official word that, hey, we're going to convene, and this is what we're asking of you to do. Okay. Yeah. We do have a roster of complimentary names that I think that you all know. And then the two of you will be on that list.

It was me and Alden.

Alden, yeah, two of you. I'm sorry, still putting names. Yeah, yeah. We're in a different room.

Right.

You all have the same chairs the last two times. I think, okay, now we're in a different room. Yeah, he's not here today.

That's why I looked at you and I thought, you're sitting in the wrong spot.

You're all there. So I apologize for that. I'm sorry.

Thank you. Desiree, did you have a plan to talk about the first meeting or the roster? I can. Okay. Just checking. I wasn't paying you the question. What? Um, I was just at, if we wanted to talk about the first meeting or the roster first, then I was going to let you do that. Or I can chat about it, whichever one.

Why don't we go ahead and do that?

So tentatively we have planned, I think we were trying to, working to identify seven total stakeholders to be part of the leadership group, five additional kind of community stakeholders given Jacob and Alden's participation. So we've started reaching out to those folks and getting that kind of tentative yes from people who want to participate. We're targeting Friday, the second Friday of the month as kind of like the standing-ish meeting date, time, still kind of we're massaging the timeout, what works best kind of for everyone. But that's essentially what we're looking at. Folks will meet where the Alliance's offices are at, kind of central to downtown, make it easy for folks to get there, pretty easily identifiable. So that's Essentially, you know what we're looking at. So five additional community members outside of the two PBIA advisory committee members is the number, the magic number for the advisory council.

And you do always such a good job of kind of describing what we are asking that group to pay attention to. So let's just remind ourselves what the task we're putting forward into those individuals as well, kind of the communications that we were looking to get. Can I ask you to talk about that?

Sure.

Because every time my doctor is like, oh, man, I got to write that down.

That, yeah. So what we're asking of the leadership group really is kind of like a de facto PBAA advisory group, the same sort of concept, just to be kind of that high level sounding board for the work that the EDC is doing and that the ODA is helping to get out into the world. But really just being that sounding board, making sure that we're asking the right questions, that we're Our outreach is in the right direction that we're hitting all of the points that we need to hit, whether it's through surveys or through shoe leather work. What we're doing is headed in the right direction to reach the desired goal.

Yeah. Had a conversation. Thank you. I had a conversation with Jenica yesterday and I just want to throw a bouquet her way. It reminded me of kind of going back to the original work that was done, the original study phase one. And so I spent quite a bit of time last night rereading it and kind of going back to those things that we need to hit. And so we're making sure that we're addressing that phase one work. Left to my own device, you know, we'll go over here, but I want to use that as a roadmap and understand where that roadmap will lead us. And really the advisory group will look to keep us steering in that direction. Hi.

Desiree, do you have a sense when you're doing outreach, what the full search home is from the people Without any specifics, but is it curious? Is it cautious? Do you have any excited?

Yeah, all of those things. So, you know, I think historically in conversations I've had with many of you, the consensus is folks generally business wise don't know what the PBAA is. They don't have a concept or conceptualized idea of who the PBAA is, what the PBAA does, and how it impacts them or their bottom line. So first level kind of like right out the door is a little bit of education there for general public about who the PBIA is, what the point is, and why we're going through all of the changes to do this work, and how we're looking to kind of elevate the PBIA's position moving forward. So I think it's all of those things. Folks are curious to see the direction that things are headed. They're curious to know what's happened before. They're cautiously optimistic in what potentially could happen moving forward. a little trepidatious about, you know, what essentially will be kind of asked of them and kind of the lift on their part. So that's our work to do is really kind of managing that and managing those expectations and making sure that we're communicating first to them. And kind of holding true. So, you know, part of their responsibility is making is holding us to task and, you know, making sure accountable for that we're doing the things that we're saying that we're going to do and staying within the timeline that we project that we'll be able to do that.

I think just to piggyback off of that as well, you know, at the beginning, we made a decision that we wanted to try to sprinkle in as many sort of, you know, newer business operators or folks that have not traditionally participated in sort of leadership councils and leadership activities around downtown. So for some of the folks that I've talked to personally, this is the first time they've been directly invited into something like this. So, you know, they're curious and excited, but also a little, you know, how much of my time is this going to take up because I'm busy, right? So, but yeah, exactly like you put it. Great. We have a list of folks that we'd like to have at the leadership advisory council and some probably about a little over half of the folks that are sort of our primaries we've spoken to and have gotten tentative yeses or confirmations from. There's still folks that we haven't spoken to, a couple. And then we have a bunch of secondaries if people can't make it or aren't able to commit for whatever reason as well. But when we get everybody confirmed for the first meeting, I think we can probably share all those with you guys.

been very proactive responses back to us. I guess I would add my comment there is that people want to be engaged in the community that they live and work in, right? And that's kind of what we're getting. So there is a concern that, hey, how much time is it going to take away from my business? But people generally want to be engaged and have an opportunity to help shape the work that comes forward. So it's been very positive.

I did provide just today a note to, I'd like a resident included, a downtown resident. So as in phase one, we had talked about the potential to look at including resident assessment. I think that that might be an important contribution.

Should I say it?

Oh, you can tell Michael after.

Yeah. I have an idea of somebody that has been down here for quite a few years and is particularly passionate about seeing our historic district. Awesome.

That's catnip for us. That's really good. You know, Jenica mentioned this to me and I immediately went to the business side of residential world. You know, who are the building owners, the lessors and things like that. we're focused on the residents. So that's really good.

Would that person be one of the seven or in addition to?

We're not capped. Okay. We just don't want a cast of a thousand. Right. Because we got to move quick. But we're not, you know, we strategically said, well, let's kind of shoot for that eight, nine, 10. If we end up with a committee of a 15 and we're only meeting on an irregular basis or not a, that's rough a rough thing to manage is rough to manage the communications back and forth our strategy was let's keep it relatively quick but people that are connected and have invested interests so good question so if you have suggestions and we did this conversation last time took some great notes about who could should might so please keep them coming yeah yes sir one last question with the messaging with some of these new business owners and

Are you describing it just as a BIA or are you still using the PBIA like acronym or people getting hung up on the parking side when you're talking with them?

That's a good question.

Just out of curiosity.

Well, that hasn't come up yet, but we are referring to it as the PBIA. Its current formation is the PBIA. We're not looking to confuse folks any further by addressing it as something else that it's currently not. So, yeah, yeah.

And I've been lobbying for the awesome BIA.

We definitely want to have our substantive conversation at the first meeting. But I do think that a decent portion of that conversation will definitely just be getting people up to speed. It's a bit of a in the weeds kind of topic. So I have also dodged the acronyms for the most part. I've been talking to folks. We'll get into it later.

There are two new faces in the room. Hi. Have you been in prior meetings?

Me?

No. What's that?

That you recognize that.

Well, I just want to make sure I stop and lend a voice to your interest here. And if there's something that we need to go over, I'm sure the group would certainly allow us to kind of go backwards in time and have that conversation. I want to honor that and recognize your engagement. Okay. And if we're not, please just say, Kate.

I was curious about how this group was selected, but it sounds like you all participated in the last.

Thank you. So I think the next piece of our conversation we want to talk about is talking about Connor in front of them a little bit. He's a pretty smart guy. We had, for example, we had just finished up some work for the city of Yelm. where we talk to the council about kind of the impacts of what they want to do for business attraction and business development and kind of get them to start thinking about a little bit of a data-driven analysis of the work that we're going to set up. Come on, come all young, set up business and life is good, but rather have an understanding of what's here, what could be here, what should be here, and what's the impact. But that's the kind of work that Connor brings to the table. And so I wanted to have him talk a little bit about how we're looking at this and how he's going to set that up. So Connor.

Yeah, so the database is, as we're kind of colloquially referring to it, it's really just a roster of ratepayers in the various zones of the existing PBIA. So I think that really where the substance of the conversation around the database is going to come is not the database itself, which is just in, as I was just chatting with Jenica about a moment ago, it's just an internal tool for the city to do their processing and collect the information they need to manage the fund and the collection. Where the substance really is, is sort of how we define and frame what the rates are going to be, what is going to be included in feeding those rates and the payments for the various folks that are on the roster. So these are some of the conversations that we need to get into pretty early on when we frame things for folks in the first and second meeting. This is really about defining what this fund, what the rate, how it's measured, how it gets collected, defining all those things kind of from the ground up forward is going to be what the leadership council really, you know, what we're really going to need their input on. And then, of course, making sure that, you know, if they choose to move forward with this and expand it and grow it, that it's getting applied to something that's useful for everybody in the community. So Um, so once we set those terms, you know, I think Jenica and I will probably come up with a plan to make sure that everything that the city itself, city staff are going to need, um, is getting collected, um, that it's all going into, you know, a sheet and a database that makes sense and is useful internally. Um, and then that'll be, that'll be a resource to internally, the city just gets to use going forward. So. That's kind of the meat and potatoes of it. But yeah, I think the part that I really want to underline is just that these conversations need to be about sort of the structure of the PBIA, what's getting counted, you know, what the rate is and what it's getting used for, really. And that's kind of what the advisory council is going to be talking about mostly on this subject.

And also as a tool to project out in the future what could be and what, you designing a product that can be used not only in a kind of a point in time, but a potential project out a year and what that year would look like, what that second year would look like, what the third year would look like. So we have a larger picture and kind of a larger, broader understanding of the district, which I'm euphemistically always referring to as the district. Yes, sir.

That would be operating just in the footprint that we currently have for rig fares, right?

It would take some sort of city council decision to expand that into other- I mean, that's something that could be part of the recommendation that comes from phase two is if the footprint stays the same or expands. I'd say the database isn't going to be implemented unless This is approved to be moved forward and we start collecting rates again because that's the primary purpose of the database. It's just for the city to say, who are we assessing and who are we collecting the rates from and how much?

Of course, one of the options is that they don't, right? If that's sort of what the feedback comes back as, but yeah, up to the group to decide. Anybody else?

That's all I got for now. Okay, good. Three phases of this conversation. One is a broad introduction. Talk a little bit about the leadership that we're setting. Talk a little bit about kind of the structure of kind of how we're creating a survey tool. I should mention that I have reached out to some partners about bringing on some personnel to help do that lifting. And you had talked about, hey, we want to make sure any surveyors the operator of the business. We want to make sure we build that into that as well. So you've heard that very strong. So we're moving forward. The third part of our conversation really is communications. And then I'll turn to Desiree to talk about that and kind of the structure of the process that that goes through.

Yeah, so just kind of very high level. I mean, our objective is really, you know, the ODA's role is to be a liaison and support to the EDC as they do their work. So our primary role and function is just managing the communications, how it goes out, and utilizing the different channels that the Alliance currently has to communicate to stakeholders downtown. So that, you know, making sure there's consistency, transparency, and communications is of high priority, making sure that we are offering in real time opportunities for feedback at each step is a priority for us moving through each of the channels and just making sure that all of that information remains consistent, not just through our channels, but through the EDC channels and then of course through city staff. that's the kind of biggest piece for us is making sure that everything that comes out or goes out that surrounds conversation about this process is consistent and the information is the same. So that's the space that we're occupying just adjacent to the work that the EDC is doing. They have the hard job of the big heavy lift of the mechanical parts of this. And then we get to support them in the way of making sure that businesses downtown know what's going on know what the opportunities are for feedback, are engaged in that feedback and understand how the information that they provide us will be used in moving the project forward.

How can the PBA Advisory Board be supportive of the upcoming kind of communication

Yeah, so I think as we move forward and really start kind of like generating content to kind of be out there that you are aware that content is being shared, that you're taking that content, sharing it amongst your own business circles and, you know, or how impact circles and just kind of having those conversations yourselves, like with your clients. business communities, with your partners, you know, with patrons who, you know, are coming in, that you're sharing that information and letting people know where they can find the information that they're looking for. I think that's probably primary high level right now, the role.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. I was just thinking of in phase one, I think something that I heard towards the end of the recommendations that was really stressed is that these things kind of succeed and fail through conversation amongst peer business owners. And so I think that was an important thing that I had taken away. They're going to be able to have candid conversations about what they think is viable and worthwhile in your investment of your business funds. And so I think that that's Just an important component to, I think, recognize within this. Yes.

We're good? The last thing I think I wanted to mention to you is my original communication with Jenica about taking on this work is that even though Connor, he and I are in the room, and you'll start to see Connor's face more than before, I want to make sure that you know that we have a number of folks that we've in our world, in our organization that are ready to work with us. And I'll just throw out the names for you to let you know that they are working with us and they're working us to implement this thing and move forward. Ashley Whitley is our director for the Center for Business Innovation. You may know Ashley and her work with the Washington Center for Women in Business as she's transitioned into the director position. Other folks, Natalie Bryce, she is... I consider her, this is a very respectful term. She's our traffic controller that we identify as somebody comes into our system and identifies the resource and where they need to go. And she'll be playing that role with us as well. Janelle Rawls is part of our administrative team and helps me kind of manage the communications and all the case files that come with this. And so everything that I create goes into Janelle's ability to correctly categorize the work that we do. Jenica is what I want to know. Hey, what is the EDC spending their time on? We can generate those reports for you as well to make sure that you know that it wasn't just me working out of my garage. Maria Hammond is our administrative executive assistant and she'll be integral as we start making up appointments and start making other things that you'll start to see her name as well. And the last person is Connor. You've already addressed Connor, but those are the individuals that are part of our team and I know I introduced it the first time we met. I just didn't want you to think it was Michael and Connor just running like a bunch of squirrels on our flywheel because there is an organizational support and desire to get this work done. With that, I'll turn it back to you and kind of send me a direction or send us a direction if you need to go or want to go or have conversations.

Yeah, I mean, I guess one of the things I'm thinking is, as you're prepping for your September meeting with the leadership group, is there any kind of insight that you would like from the advisory board about takeaways from phase one, key concerns about moving forward phase two? Because I feel like you all spent, you know, what, all day? Almost a year on that process. And there were certain things that I took away that were kind of key concerns that I am interested in getting played out through phase two. And I feel like Monique, you actually brought up one. As we think about moving this for footage assessment structure instead of FTE, What are we defining as eligible square footage within a building? But just other pieces from phase one that you'd like to highlight for Michael to test out with the advisory or the other advisory group.

I'd like to make sure that the paperwork that the businesses have to submit is as simple as possible. Paperwork kills me. It's almost worse than the tax itself. So if you can make the paperwork of submitting the fee, if there's a fee involved with business owners. And I'm on both sides of that with a building owner and the business owner.

Right. I'm not positive, but that may fall on the city outside of the process that they're working on, but before I provide an update of some future things. I'm going to confirm that they're true before I say it. And then maybe next meeting I might have.

Just be really cognitive. I just hate the amount of different ways that I get taxed and how many different ways I have to look at my numbers, look at this, look at that. Can you just send me a bill, dude?

Yeah, sure.

It's ridiculous. So that would be great. That's something I'd really like to see.

That certainly goes into kind of the veracity of the next phase. It's just not a value. This is more onerous than not, and we need to recognize that.

Yeah, and I've heard on the other side of the city, it was really difficult from them to even process the paperwork. It was a full-time position, and it doesn't make sense to collect a fee or a tax to only have it paid for.

That takes 100%. Yeah.

Good point. Thank you. I'll just augment Jenica's question just slightly, keeping in mind that some of the folks we'll have on this committee will be new to this process, new to participation in community development initiatives like this too. So just expanding the question a little bit, if there's anything you want those folks to know from your experience in phase one.

I would definitely break out the old map. and read structure when you first are explaining it to them just so that they can get an understanding of how like out of date and kind of just um ineffective our efforts thank you yes um i i think that like just even getting them to just see where where our starting point was and where we're going that would be a really really helpful tool for when they first step into here

little bit of a history lesson yeah yeah i mean i also like i joined right like the day that we had that consultant i'm sorry his name right yeah the the day he showed up like so i have only been a part of this as everything has been in transition but like the biggest takeaway that i got was like seeing the city of olympia compared to other cities you know obviously seattle but then like smaller cities like everett or whatever and like what their pbia or adjacent groups what they're doing and what kind of funds they're able to uh work with and the things they're able to do because we just you know from what i've gathered you can see the potential of what it could be like it opens up so many more

I think kind of going back to what Jenica asked about, like how the PBAA can help with communications. That's it. That's what you all should be saying to your business neighbors and partners and people who are interested in this process or why the why's or the where's. It's like, talk about that. Talk about understanding the differences between what this city does and what this comparable cities do and the efforts that we're able to, you know, the things that we're able to achieve together. when things are updated and moving in a more efficient way.

I think it would also be great if you shared with them some of the things that we actually have done and some of the ideas that we have had for ways that we can improve. Even though it's not that much, we have put up a bunch of murals.

Murals, the lights in the alley. And the downtown ambassadors like hit him over the head with that straight away. Cause that's what wouldn't be over.

And I think one thing that Brian had brought up that I think is helpful when you hear some of the frustration from the community about we care so much about clean and safe, why wasn't that always something that was happening? And like putting it in context of we had $100,000. That was not enough to be able to fund the clean and safe initiatives that are a priority here. And so in order to do that, we need to have resources that support that type of priority and initiative because i think i think people didn't quite understand the scale of funds we were working with compared to how expensive the types of priorities they have are i also could imagine that some people would say well why do we have to pay for this the city should be paying for this clean and safe and i guess maybe the answer is that

I'm not sure what the answer is, but I think it's about budget.

Well, and we do, like, we provide a quarterly report to the ODA that outlines the city investments in downtown, but that could be helpful also in communicating this, that the city is investing in a lot of different services and supporting ODA-specific services with the ambassadors and some other pieces.

But also to show that it needs to be supplemented.

Right, yeah, I agree.

I guess a little bit of a summation. If I had my dream with my background, how my mind works, that it would be the initial meeting would be laying the groundwork of what has been here because I know the ODA, the PBIA, the city, people conflate all of those things and they don't understand the rules and the parameters. I get a lot of people like, why isn't the city promoting my individual business. Why am I not getting a grant for the good thing my business does for the city? Not understanding the parameters of what cities do, not understanding the difference between the PBIA and the ODA. So I think doing that, making very clear that the people sitting at the table come from a variety, from nonprofits, from cooperatives, from some property owners, nighttime business, daytime business, so that people understand the lay of the land that has come to this point isn't just a group of people that were like, we should probably get together and do something. And then I think, Elise, speaking to what you said, or someone said, I can't remember. I do think comparing other cities, because right now there is this There's a lot of lack of clarity about which role is for what like the city plays pays for the crisis response team. They play a really integral role in support services in safety and downtown Olympia. I don't think people realize that and that's different than the ODA and the guys at the ODA and there's some intersectionality, but I think doing the lay of the land of who the main players are, what their roles are, who is at the table as we move forward. And I would be very open to say that I, at least as a member of this board, actually am interested in this moving forward. I would like this to be a less neutral, but coming from the board, at least a desire for us to bring this in because we do think it has a benefit. I saw the work that Brian did more as does this have a benefit? Do we want to move forward? My feeling is that we saw the value when we saw what gathering funds could do for other places, especially when we're going to have more people at the hotel down here. We're going to have a conference center. We have stuff happening at the port. There's a lot of stuff that we're on the precipice of. And I think that if we can capture that and share that the board is interested in moving forward to this, what the players are and what this could mean, that's what I'd like to lead with. And that is what I lead with when I go and talk to both OG businesses and new businesses.

But to piggyback onto that, we could also highlight that while our funds haven't been, you know, deep pockets, I mean, our partnership with like the ODA and with like the city has gotten either matching funds or was able to help keep programs like the ambassadors. So like to show that, like, just because our little portion of the pie is or has been the moment past, we have still gotten some great partnerships. and matching funds out of it.

I also think that one other part of communication might be also gauging in both directions the expectations of other businesses downtown. I think that in terms of the clean and safe aspect of it, it's changed a lot over the years as to what we expect from the business versus what we expect from the city now. I think with programs like Ambassadors, Clean Team, and others, the expectation is more along the lines of someone else is going to deal with this. mess or clean or whatever whereas before it was more on businesses to get outside and like one of the programs oh the brooms the brooms and dust pans my dust pan from like over a decade ago just broke a week ago it was one of a bucket kind of handle you know like we pbi paid for those and gave those out to every business to sweep the sidewalk but back then sweeping the sidewalk was mostly like just cleaning up cigarette butts now it's pooped so it's like i think the expectation is a lot different of what we expect the businesses to deal with versus what

we expect someone else to just we call them to come deal with it for us so just gauging that as part of communication might be interesting to find out in that aspect of clean and safe too i was late because i was blowing the rents parking lot across from my building with the garbage in there and picking up broken bottles yeah um i have thoughts

I guess I'd ask the EDC, is there anything else you feel like you would need to feel fully prepped to go into that meeting?

Pretty good. Really appreciate your guys' feedback.

We have a great opportunity of somebody who's just walking in for the first time to ask Understand everything we've been talking about. Somebody would be walking into a meeting to put you on the spot.

I mean, it sounds like just restructuring the function of the PBIA and its role. And I sat on the board a long time ago. When it was really different. I went to put this meeting into my phone and my phone like automatically populated like clean and safe meeting. 6 to 8 PM. So we have like a lot of all different times. Yeah. One piece that I liked that we used to do was the bench project, if we're talking about just past successful projects .. It was the bench project, right? It was paying community members. People could apply and paint. There were a number of wooden benches downtown, and so they would paint benches. And I think they're all gone now. They are all gone. But it was very cool, and it's kind of lower tech than the city's traffic wraps and such. So it was a wide range of people, and I think it engaged a lot of community. I don't know. It was nice. It was very friendly. It was like very small town and a nice way. And we paid a small amount of money. And it was really nice to sit on someone you knew or someone you didn't know's bench. And handmade is still nice.

We have a great resource for history of PBI.

I was wondering if people still complain about the flower baskets. Yes.

It's so good this year.

Thank you.

I picked the flower. I had a great time doing it.

They do look good this year.

My flower basket died. I have photos. And no one ever came. It never got watered. It was just like this brown mess. And we wrote and we called and they never did anything about it.

i believe i i believe i responded that we're not able to maybe i'll go i wasn't communicating but yeah we were not able to switch them out when that happens um unfortunately but it was just kind of ironic railing against that yeah yes you have and then It was not intentional. I'm sorry to hear that.

I mean, they do look great, but I like them. We don't have any by our businesses, but I think they look really nice. And I noticed them in little pockets of downtown. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

There's one across the street from me. It doesn't even look real. It's so pretty. Yeah. Yeah. Nice.

It's exactly there.

Like literally that's their brand name. Yeah. Yeah, it is.

My family used to own it. Yeah, that is. Yeah.

I guess you don't have to bedhead them, which is something that we learned. You just feed them. Yeah.

And water them.

We get asked about water baths. For some reason, I get asked from Shelton, Laverty, to Hoquiam. Raymond South Bend, and I know, you know, yeah, it's a good one. I'll just mention, we asked about community flower baskets. I'm some reason we become the flower basket expert as an economic development guy. You got to talk to your downtown associations. So well done.

We have one more question that might be off topic. I'm curious about the bathroom conversation. what would you just that there's not a public bathroom um is that part of this conversation with the pbia is that who who is that i mean it's the the city i would say like that's a

likely out of scope for PVA. And I don't mean out of scope. I just don't know that it'd be feasible with funding down the line because it would be so expensive. Yes.

That would be number one, a well-staffed, clean, family-friendly restroom in downtown Lithuania. That would be a shocking turn of events.

We are a public bathroom at ARCA. And my god, the plumbing.

Yeah. Yeah, we have a lot of restroom pressure, especially

I mean, I mean, it's, you know, certainly could be part of the conversation.

I would just be, I wanted to, I was just curious if that was because I'm in my mind.

Yeah, something that has an amazing public bathroom downtown, clean.

So it sounds like if we were able to get a bunch of businesses to pay a decent amount of money, we might actually have funds to do this kind of stuff.

Any part of that conversation down the road?

I don't know. I'm just curious because that used to be a huge part of the conversation.

Does the city, my understanding is that the Capitol Lake is state, not city. Yeah. So that bathroom has been, but I don't know what the mechanism is for that. Yeah.

Yeah, that's why we can't get rid of Lake because it's a state.

I am anti-lake there.

I'm a cultural. I think we offer an opportunity to people that might not otherwise be exposed to what we offer in our community. That's my take on it. I've had a lot of passing out whistles to people that might not ever go into a business that has whistles is kind of

So, I just get ripped off along during that period.

Do you?

Do you guys need anything from the PBIA?

I think I got what I need. And I know Michael took some, a lot of notes. So I think just, you know, just the ideas around, you know, the initial framework of, you know, what's to come is what's important. And, you know, it's been a driver for me, just that education component, right? Like here's where it started. Here's where it was. This is the direction that we hoped to go, you know, What say you? That's kind of the overall gist. And then I think much like this conversation, that conversation will kind of, you know, bear new opportunities for us to come back and, you know, say, okay, this is, you know, this is what we're hearing. This is what's in the scope. What, you know, what would you like for us to do?

Yeah, I think we're good. But again, I say that with great trepidation. You don't know what I don't know. So what you've provided us, I think, is a good framework of the conversation. And to send it back to you is continue to be willing to provide input and guidance to us in conversation is really what we need at this point in time. So thank you.

Connor? I would second both of your comments. I feel good.

Okay. Is that it for discussion? All right. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Are you going to be offended if we leave? No? Okay.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. As soon as the door clicks.

You see how they're leaving.

Yeah. Thank you for your time. Yeah. Thanks for coming. Thanks, Jennifer.

Thank you.

I'll get some text. Yeah. Okay.

I still can't figure out how to do things with both my hands.

Have any of you guys, hope to your head, peeked into the Infernal Annex or gotten to it?

I haven't gotten to it.

What's that? My new neighbor. It's Music Shop as in Infernal. So it's

internal music shop for witchcraft and other fun oddity bookstore, plus and they've made friends with Tanner.

I got them set up with Tanner with Katamara and with Ren at Noctua. We have a spot in the corner. Yeah. Okay. He's a Chris is a, he sells rare books. Uh, he's an engineer. He said, this is a kind of their escape plan from what he's been doing. They're going, he will have rare books there. They specialize in scatterpunk and horror books. Candles, teas, some occult items, stickers, pretty, yeah, where the antique store, the Shenandoah was.

What happened to the community store idea?

They're still in negotiations across from Wayside in the old Caribbean slash area.

I think that moving at all.

I talked to him last week. So it does sound like it's moving. But it's a really they it's going to look awesome. And I really wanted to make sure I want the I think I think there's been some nice connections made with other businesses because Just like in food industry, people don't eat the same food all the time. And we want people to go to different places. And our clients that are into that are going to hit Radiance. And I would put Psychic Sister to some. So I'm really excited. They signed a five-year lease. So they're going to be here for a hot second. OK.

I'm confused.

I just love it. We've got the PG block and the PG-13 block.

It's amazing how many occult stores.

It's primarily a bookstore. And he sells, he's already a rare bookseller, so he's going to have some of that there. He's also going to, or they, him and his wife, Chris and Chelsea, They're also going to have events. They're going to have book readings. And I think it's a pretty big space. And it looks great.

And what's it called?

The Infernal Annex. They put AC in, so it's weather controlled. And it completes, I'm just going to say Jenga, not knowing really what Jenga is, but it completes our block. um it's full now it has and it completes your block yeah so that was the nice that for years has been sitting empty and um i think a warm welcome and a um tone of how our community works together collaboratively uh that has worked very well um yeah and there uh They're investing. They're investors. Their inventory is pretty, but they've been working with the Romantici. Oh, yeah. They've been, because I guess this is a thing, themed bookstores.

Yeah.

I don't know how they do it. No, but they're doing very well. Like, very well.

Well, they're in the selling side.

Yeah, I think a lot of candles, teas, books, but the events, the events, they do a lot of events. So I think they might do some cosplay stuff there. And I know that Tanner and Katamara and Ren are talking about doing a spooky season, like a passport. And we thought we're doing a day of forget, fall in our window with a community place for people to bring talismans of loved ones. So we have a, and not even because of them, this was separate, but yeah, they're, we're going to be the occult, we're going to be known as an occult town for sure. Yeah.

We're going to in Austin have to actually, you know, put up like stickers and bunker stickers and banners saying, keep it weird. We're just, I love Olympia for that.

Also, where, just an FYI for you guys, where Lucy, the maker of that beautiful shell dress, she has a studio in the back of our building. And that has been converted. I think she might be, she's kind of negotiating between Pitt and the Childhood Zen Gallery building for her studio. But it is a writer's studio. Andrea has... A writer studio up there where they're going to do workshops and have authors come and So I really feel strongly that our historic means creative people. Artists creating art in our community. I think that's an important part, but I just give you guys a heads up that that's Going to be launching soon.

meanwhile my block is dying yeah what's happening on your block wait i mean i want to just go back to the agenda let's finish this out then we can do our other other topics afterwards I want to go back to 6B, the announcement of the PBA board election results.

This is really quick.

Yeah, that's what everyone wants.

So we had Monique Ossa, Sophia Landis, Anne Gazer, and Alana Carr. And all of the, we had about, I think it was either 29 or 30 respondents. And everyone who was nominated was elected.

And so now we have 11.

I believe we're fully stacked at 11. I looked back at past meetings to kind of see what other procedures were required for this. And in the past, it was just notification. You don't need to certify anything. The election stands as what was the mechanism for everyone being elected.

How long are the terms? Or is it filling some of them one year or something?

No, I believe it's three years. Surprise later today. All right, that's item six B. Item seven, any reports? No, I think one update I would give is some of you may have seen there's an Artesian Commons survey out. I had asked Jacob to attend. I did a couple focus groups as the representative of PBIA in which we went over what were site considerations for the Artesian Commons, key priorities, and then What are some of the most broadly acceptable ideas for how to use and open that space? And so from the focus groups and some past information we've had, develops a survey and then that's out in the community. It's open until the 7th.

If you haven't responded, please feel free. I tried to and I don't think I have an email to log in. Yeah, you have to log in. It hasn't registered.

Yeah, unfortunately it does require registration.

right i don't have a city email going to be any email oh it's an email yeah yeah yeah the public can participate yeah i thought it had to be it oh no it's it's fully out to the country we did away with our city emails right they don't matter they're not required they're not accurate anymore yeah i think you brought um the head of uh our neighborhood phone association down first um they put up a post uh

people want a grass-filled park with beautiful hundred-year-old trees in that spot.

Like the one thing that you absolutely can't do there.

um yeah we um and what this is all kind of leading up to is on September 22nd I'm gonna um bring all of the survey data the focus group data um and meet with City Council to identify what some next steps are um and so really this wasn't I wasn't trying to identify just this is the one idea um as much as these are a few broadly accepted ideas and then be able to identify um Where the most enthusiasm was around which ideas out of our focus groups. If the most enthusiasm was around it being a plaza with mixed use and It being like an event programming space.

You talk about puzzle pieces like if we could I That's a huge puzzle piece.

One of the questions on the survey is, are you open to there being an interim use at the park? And then if you say yes, it'll ask what interim use you'd be advocating for. Because some of these ideas obviously have a lot of resources and time that would be connected to it going from where it is now to... here's it open to the public. And so if you have an idea you like, what would you be open to an interim use? And if so, what? Certain other ideas came up in the focus group, like start with interim pop-ups, or it could be a parking lot. So it's at least open while you're working on a different plan. And so any idea you have, happy to take that and I'll be providing it to council.

A lot of the first priority responses came were, take down the fence. Yeah, yeah, that could be that's even like, plays a long way. The artesian between where the well is, the big open space that's been fenced off and where the broken bathroom is. Yeah.

But yeah, so I just want to give you an update. And Jacob did a really nice job representing PBIA on that focus group.

Any other reports?

uh nope all right other topics you were saying before i switched back to the agenda it's just it's just really sad there i mean now the exit puzzles is gone so oh yeah yeah it's all the buildings for sale yeah that's where they put the bodega people have put in the no they're that's for the corner space they're looking at Right.

Because they were talking about, no, I think it is part because when I was talking to him, he was disappointed because he thought that that was going to come with the sale that there was a right, but I don't think it is. Well, because they left. So I think they might be looking at purchasing that too.

Well, the whole thing is one, some silver. One parcel, for example. One parcel.

Yeah. So I think it is included in that. Oh, really? Yeah. One parcel, two business addresses. Yeah. It's like four.

It's the G Miller. I was just looking at something silver. Yeah. Puzzles. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

So yeah, he was saying that the lease, they left. And so they were wanting, obviously, that as part of their purchase.

Did they move to a new location, or did they close?

They closed. Well, they were burned out. And people who owned it also actually had jobs besides that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I saw. Was it Nom Nom Deli?

I went in there and I was like, you're retiring.

And she goes, what makes you think I'm retiring? I was like, the signs.

Well, what she wants to do apparently is do online for a while.

Yeah. Yeah.

Her husband is one or two though.

Sage took over Wiggle Room though.

So yeah. We saw some different interior design in there recently.

I mean, that is, from what I understand,

dwayne who owns the buildings project and he is uh yeah that's not gonna open up a restaurant is he um he wants a bar but with a little bit of food which is where do that like like like psychologically can that guy open up a restaurant that will not kill people um so

Yeah, from what I understand, they just need to track down somebody to run the kitchen side of things. Yeah. But that's from what I understand, that's where. Okay. So he's opening at the restaurant. Dwayne's opening at the restaurant.

Yep. Where?

Oh, that's a really interesting.

There's another restaurant opening on the side of Bilk. I don't know if it was where the. Oh, yeah. Where Gotti Sweets was. Yeah, I think where Gotti Sweets was. Where did Gotti Sweets go?

Oh, they closed ages ago.

Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's going to be, I think, maybe a lunch dinner. It's my, one of my staff members or partner. And I think one of the people who is associated with, actually, no, State and Central. So somebody with some restaurant, but both of them have restaurant experience. I think it's going to be like, actually, I shouldn't speak. I'm part of the menu planning, so I'm going to respect that. We need a Chinese food restaurant.

Just one.

Yeah, it's not Chinese food. I feel very confident. We've got the Internal Annex downtown. We've got the Olympia, a new place next to the Gear Exchange. Philadelphia Tavern. Capitol Tavern. Capitol Tavern.

Capitol Tavern. Capitol Tavern. That's Louise, who was over at Exile Tattoo, and Dan, who used to own, what is it, Purple Onion?

He did Urban Onion? He was a bartender at Urban Onion.

It's a drink on his menu now. Yeah.

It's Urban Onion.

Yeah, I went just like over the weekend. I was like, oh, I remember that spot.

It's been really cool. It's another little pocket bar downtown. A full bar? A full bar of pizzas.

It's small, but I've been in there a couple times and there are people there. There are people there. They're taking down the trees in front of... I want to call it clancy's or Columbia, whatever it is now. Where the the block that childhood ends gallery. All those trees are coming down. So we in front of like yeah we're all the yeah what the hell what why That is beautiful. I know. I'm a tree hugger, so. Yeah. They're all bad. So that's that. Yeah, that's good.

Yeah, yeah.

I get it. Yeah.

Yeah, I get it.

That big out of about 30 feet away from any trees in our plumbing at our kitchens. Yeah, it's wild.

Where you are now?

No, the prep kitchen that we have down by the restaurant. Across from a good restaurant called Gold Standard.

I'm trying to think of any other new places or kind of movement. Radiance moving. I don't know what's happening or has moved with those spaces. Photosynthesis closed. I'm honestly shocked that they made it so specific.

Very niche, but they were wonderful people.

Yeah. But I think we might take over their flowers a little bit. Like, they'll still love flowers if we're going to have some.

That's a store in Tutu Market. Tutu Market.

She's around the corner. So she doesn't have her little shop.

No retail spot. No retail.

Although she has some retail. But across from the museum, the TC MOFA, she has a little where she does. And she opens that with some retail. But she's doing... yeah so that yeah that closed but she's kind of around the corner still doing her flowers um anything else you guys have on that um i will say my understanding is that rex and rose is for sale um is that one rex and Right across from Harlequin. My understanding is it's for sale. I think the owners have family that has a couple of other restaurants. Is there anything around the wayside building?

I mean, it is a fully fleshed out, ready to roll kitchen. I would hope that they could get somebody in there serving some food. with, you know, a fully functioning kitchen gut.

Extension of an architect's studio? No, I know. Carve owns the building. Yeah, Carve bought the building a little bit ago.

Mediterranean Breeze on the west side was a perfectly good restaurant and kitchen and now it's just more furniture.

Yeah, well they had that fire and then they opened up and then like a week later COVID happened. yeah that place was great it was a brand new like kitchen restaurant it was ready to go and we need more stuff we need more gold rambling jacks but i just because it's available doesn't mean people are moving into it yeah that's a pretty big lift i'm excited for the hotel to come down so i it's the one across sylvester parker yeah i went on that one okay is it going to be a

It's a hotel. A Hilton. I think it's going to be like a Hilton Select or something like that. And I want to say it's over 100 rooms. But they're doing a full remodel.

They've been working on it for months.

Well, so they kind of had to. When Aaron was helping build up my bar, he would stay there occasionally if he didn't want to go back home.

And their boiler went out.

for all the hot water in the building. So they basically had to like kick everybody out because they didn't have hot water. And their boiler like was hanging on for dear life. And so like it would have been, I think it was like a couple million dollars just to fix the water in the building.

It has extra parking. It's going to bring a demographic downtown that And hang out and can go to coffee shops and restaurants and it's going to be packed green legislative session.

Yeah. Yeah. And get absolutely packed.

It's going to be great.

Yeah.

More, more, more hotel. Give me a nice boutique hotel.

Yeah. People can spend money, please.

Um, the other topics. It's not a secret because it was on Facebook when I saw it, but it looks like the owner of rumors is trying to sell rumors.

But that's just a rumor.

That's been for sale off and on for a while now, hasn't it? So Rumors is for sale.

4th Ave is for sale. Like the business is for sale? Like they're trying to sell the business? 4th Ave is for sale. Yes. The building that Francis of Dumpster Values is for sale. The one you were just speaking about where the G. Miller used to be is for sale.

Yeah.

Wow, half the town is out.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm happy to hear about all these things that are opening because to me, it feels like everything's dying.

Well, we're, we're trying to promote more, uh, events that we got, we got a full buyout this weekend for, uh, foodies for boobies. And it was fantastic. It's nice to have, you know, I was sure, like, I knew how much money I was going to make that day, knew how many people were going to walk in that day, at minimum, and it was just fantastic, so we'll never, well, the R&B throwdown, yeah, the other room was crazy good, oh my gosh, that is a great event space, yeah, you have a great event, so we're gonna, I've already reached out also to, so I do a lot of people with a lot of work with, like, lobby groups, the legislative session, when you bring in You know, 200 people need 200 box lunches. I hope with that, you probably should too, if you don't already.

Yeah, well, we haven't been open for legislation.

Okay, yeah, yeah. Promote that stuff because that's really good. But talking to other lobby groups when you need a place to meet downtown because they're meeting at like the Olympia Ballroom, which is awkward and difficult. Or they meet at the church across the street, which you can't bring everybody together in the same room at the same time. So it's going to be interesting to see if we can get away with promoting that a little bit more for more groups. We're doing the South Sound roller derby fundraiser in a couple weeks.

Yeah.

Spaghetti feed. That's going to be super fun. Yeah.

Glowies is doing really well, too.

That's good. Yeah, and we're going to do our first Bremesque show.

I somehow just thought you've already done that.

Oh, yeah. It took a little while. Yeah, well, my queens like it there, so that's pretty cool.

We can continue discussion after adjournment. I can turn everything off and get out of here. Seeing nothing else, let's adjourn this September 2nd PBI meeting, 1247 p.m. Thank you all.