Downtown Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay.

Now I'm ready for roll call. Call to order 801. Alright. Committee member Kavanaugh is absent. Foreman? Present. Keith is absent. Katz? Here. Lynn, I see, is absent. Malera, absent. Modis all coming? Or

If she is, she's coming remote. I haven't seen

her yet.

Sheik?

Here.

Vice chair Baird? Here. And chair of Casperczak?

Here.

So one of the lenses. Not here. Right? I'm here.

Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. The other lens. The other lens. That's right. We have two lens in a room.

Right, Lynn.

Right. Sorry. S Lynn.

So before we begin, I'm gonna go off agenda for just a moment to announce that we now have a new economic vitality manager for the city of Mountain View, and it is.

They searched far and wide, and

then It's right here all

the time.

Yeah. Know.

There's no place like home.

There's no place like home.

Well and they did. I mean, I mean, I I talked to Amanda a a couple times, and there there was a robust process. Other outside applicants and stuff. So

So then we got the best.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So congratulations, miss. So Thank you.

Yeah. I'm thrilled to be staying here and taking the helm. Big shoes to fill from John Lang, but really thrilled about the momentum that we've all built working on our our economic vitality strategy and some of our major initiatives in the downtown. So, hopefully, we'll be bringing on a staff member to replace me in my former position, and we'll get fully staffed back up again. So

At which point Amanda will just come in and watch us.

We'll see how where all the pieces land in terms of, yeah, re reallocating responsibilities. But for now, you're stuck with me as I said to Mike.

Well, we are we are we are proud to be stuck

with you.

No. Seriously, congratulations. That's really good.

So very much.

Okay. Back to the agenda. Item number three is minutes approval. If somebody would like to make a motion, that would be awesome.

I move that we accept the minutes as published.

I'll second. I think Peter got it first. Mhmm. He got it. Alright. It's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The minutes pass unanimously. Number four, upcoming agenda items. Amanda, do you wanna speak to this?

Just Yeah. I do have an upcoming agenda item just to note. We recently was made aware of our council policy around committee member absences and what qualifies as an excused or unexcused absence. So I'll bring that next month just sort of a refresher. I think we've been operating under a different understanding. And so Just to make sure we all have the same information, I'll bring that with me

next month.

And then we do have a number of things that are on the current future agenda items list, but other things to note, you know, we're still continuing to work on our economic vitality strategy. We have a council work plan item around vacancies, so I imagine that work will come here. We're working on a revolving loan program, which will cut I'll be bringing to the committee. And then we are in the process of rolling out some of our implementation of our downtown parking strategy. So there's a lot of stuff that's sort of in the hopper working its way to you all in addition to some of the other items we have listed here.

Okay. Amanda, can I just ask one question? You mentioned relooking at our policy in terms of absences and things like that. Will you be reaching out individually to the folks who weren't here?

Oh, yeah. Yes. Absolutely. I'll I'll I'll follow-up next month. Whoever's not here, I'll make sure that message gets out. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Good call, Peter.

Any any other questions or any items that any members would like to see for future agenda that aren't already on this list?

Yeah. Well, speaking is, okay. We never have never mind. We have historical markers. I would just like to expand that to more historical features as well. It's just a marker.

Okay. Seeing none, we'll move on.

Sorry, Jamil. Okay. I thought this one. There there's a lot of community members mentioned about that they they they've come to downtown, but they have a problem where when they bring the parents who are elderly, they can bring them all the way to the intersection, but going back and forth. They had a problem, and that's why they don't come in because they just can't take them to the different blocks if they wanna walk to that. So it comes back to that. Remember I mentioned earlier, we get we should have a have to have a rickshaw or something running back and forth today. I know.

Oh, you're just okay. Just mobility generally.

Mobility. Yeah. Or some some kind of means. So would be I don't know how to add it. Like, could we discuss it?

Are you talking about specifically on the Ped Mall, like, ability to

cross and

cross the Ped Mall? Like, mid bro the mid block crossings aren't aren't sufficient for No. Yeah. But, I mean, they they can

they they can park right there and then

they really need get walking. Stamina, not you mean the ability to walk? Yeah. To walk. Yeah. It's not Yeah. Not like handicap access or anything like that. So

It's still in the and and, also, the handicap access is not all the way down there, right, at the at the entrance of this other Appian. Well, come from

No. I think all the corners are Yeah. I'm are ADA. Right. The

Yeah. Because they mentioned it. That's why they they don't come. They don't bring the

So that sort of, like, sort of downtown mobility. Mobility. Yes. I thought it's something.

That would be nice.

You know?

Okay. Great.

I'll go and see.

Alright.

Thanks.

You're welcome. The next item on the agenda, item number five, is oral communications from the public. This portion of the meeting is for reserved for people wishing to address the committee on any matter not on today's agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes, and state law prohibits the committee from acting on nonagendized items. Don't see any members of the public in the physical audience, and I'm guessing there is nobody online.

Nobody online.

Alright. Then we will close oral communications from the public and move on to item number six, unfinished business, 6.1, downtown development update. There

he is.

So how much has happened over the summer?

Morning, everyone. Morning. I'm I'm Quan associate planner. So just to give you guys a downtown development update for since the break, since May, not much has really changed as as I'm sure you guys have seen. Nothing really new has been approved.

However, the only few, new permits that have come in that was fully furnished under review are, for number item number 20, which is for 15 Castro Street. That's just for minor facade modification to the storefront windows. That's the Hummus location. So a proposal for just some new modifications there. And then similarly, also at number 22, which is 682 Villa Street, Just some minor facade modifications to an existing commercial building that's off of Villa Street.

Just kind of, like, a refresh for that one for some material changes and some new window openings for that building. But aside from that, nothing much has changed, but I'm happy to answer any questions you guys may have.

Yes? My usual question about the, I think, the condos next to the post office.

Oh, I

was just

gonna ask

about that.

The PG and E permit?

Yeah. The PG and E permit? Yeah. It looks like I think a little bit of construction fence came down or something's different, but it doesn't look any better as far as movements. Any updates on that?

Yeah. I'm not aware of anything, new or any kind of updates on that. I can definitely get in touch with the project planner to see what different status is. I'm aware that, I think that that we close with being finished. But, again, that was kind of what I mentioned last time. But like I mentioned, again, that one did have some difficulties about, like, utilities and getting those, all, organized for the correct inspection so that, I'm not aware of anything else, but I'll get in touch with the project planner, and I can

try Yeah. If you could provide us an update because that has been

so long. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

And I'm sure the owner would like to. Unfortunately,

we have no control over PG and E.

Oh, no.

No. I worked on a couple jobs like that.

Yeah. Okay.

And then for 171 to 175 Gastro p D.

Which item number you say?

Number 12. Number 12.

Mhmm. That's waiting on the.

Yeah. So, the last I heard, from the project planner about regarding that item is there there's been some turnover in who the, project applicant was. Mhmm. So there's a possibility that, that may not move forward, but all, that's just the last update we had was that there would have been some turnover on the applicant team side. So, there's a little uncertainty on, you know, how they'll proceed.

But, nonetheless, with our most recent update of the, downtown precise plan, restaurant uses are permitted use. So if a new applicant does come in or if the, new applicant that purchased, the property does come in, they'll have more streamlined approach to getting some sort of use or restaurant in that space if that's what they desire.

It's not necessarily new development, but any word on the China Delight building? And $6,000,000 listing?

Yeah. Last I heard, there were a number of interested buyers, but I I don't know how those negotiations are progressing. Yeah.

And they finance it for

them. Yeah.

And then I I was also talking to Ellis that the that the Robert Greene hotel project still is a live project. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think Yeah.

Technically, we're

still working on financing and all of that stuff. Yeah.

Think, technically, it's still a live project where, I think, city staff has had communications with them, but that's as far as I'm aware. Yeah.

I understood that the city is actually now actually quite a bit more interested in it because it actually could generate revenue for downtown. Right.

Oh, yeah. The better. Hotel tax.

Yeah. So great.

I I I wanna put a plug in for the downtown digest. I thought putting the pictures of the completed Where where

the Cleaning?

Well, no. No. No. No. Where where the grant has been used on the awnings was really very clever and very nice. I mean, it's cool. It's like,

oh, look. That's really neat.

Yeah. And to give the extra kind of, like, pump to those businesses, I thought it was really, really cool. And I'm just curious. So kudos. And then I was thinking, has anything happened with Avis?

For for Facade? Yeah.

I think

we're still talking with them, but I I don't know. I'll I don't know the status. I'll have to look into it. Okay. Yeah. Kristen's out of town right now. She runs that program.

Any any other questions on the downtown development? Alright. Thanks very much.

Thank you all. Alrighty

then. Oh, public input. Still don't see any scan online. Okay. So close public input.

Oh, wait. I'm sorry. We have one more. Gonna put Julie. Actually, one on Barb.

Hold

on. Bringing her to the panel

Oh, okay.

Before we move on. Oh, man. Hi, Diana.

Morning. This is, Diana Pancholi. I am the project planner for the Hope Street project, which is the night near at condo building. Okay. Just wanted to report back that Citi has been trying to reach out to the applicant and the developer to see where they're stuck. We are equally anxious. We haven't heard back from the developer. So actually, the ball is really in the developer's court to kind of give us more updates on it.

Great. Thanks, Diana. Anything else?

Nope. That's it. Thanks.

Thank you. Now we will move on to six point two Castro Street update. I'm guessing that is

the economic vitality management. Indeed.

Bear my screen. Okay. So just adding one more update that I forgot to the

slide. Okay.

Oh, it's right here. Alright. I have a number of updates for you all, some of which are in the Downtown Digest, which you have. But wanted to wanted to note that the decorator street treatment has been was power washed. Couple of things about this. One, I think we were all really surprised by how fast it got dirty. Yeah. It was, like, seemingly overnight after it had been installed. So that is something city staff is aware of that we're looking at. We are asking the downtown businesses to, you know, keep us posted if there's any activity that's happening down there that might be impacting the street.

It seemed like a lot of, like, oil based stains, and so not sure what that is. But one of the challenges we have just in terms of our restrictions around, you know, how we can clean is we can power wash with hot water, but we can't use cleaning agents because it runs into the

The stream. The stream. Screens.

Exactly. So, yeah, the the team is aware of this, is working hard to keep it looking clean. But you can see, I mean, even just the power washing they were able to do was significant in terms of it. So we are staff's working on ensuring regular cleanings for those. We are gonna power wash right after art and wine because we because it'll be a question.

It'll be a a high foot traffic event. So there will be power washing that's already scheduled for that. But, yes, this is one of the the big things that we have is, you know, keeping keeping downtown looking looking fresh and clean. As is detailed in the downtown digest might just go grab one. There are regular cleanings that happen at the sidewalks and the Paseos, so all that's already built in.

And I'm currently working on getting regularly scheduled cleanings of the garages. So I'm in Yeah. I'm in the process right now of working with the contractor to get those scheduled, and I'm prioritizing excuse me. I'm prioritizing the staircases because they seem to be in most need. And then just looking at parking data and our budget, prioritizing the power washing of the first couple floors. We're just not seeing as much use of the upper floors. And since I have limited funds, I really wanna prioritize and focus on the higher traffic, higher use sections of the garages.

Also, garages, the subway stairs are used more on this end than other ones. So Yeah.

I I can tell you I walked every single staircase and smelled and Right. Excited and prioritized based on necessity. So I am very aware. Yeah.

One thing that I really noticed, I think it's the first block or the second block, there are a lot of cigarette cuts, in the alley and around the parking structure, and there's a couple of restaurants where there the employees sit back and on their breaks and sit on the steps and smoke cigarettes and don't forget the cigarette butts. So they're not really at all. So

I don't know

if somebody else could maybe talk to the restaurateurs and suggest they clean it after themselves. But that all goes into the storm drains.

K. Thank you. Alright. Moving on. Oh, garage cleaning. I talked about this. Okay. So that that's in the process of happening. I will keep you all posted on that. Just a reminder, we're in the final stretch of Concerts in the Plaza coming up just this week. We've got the peelers coming. So just a reminder that that's still going on for I think there's one there's one the first week in October, so more coming on that. As we know

oh. Before you move on from that, I was just curious. I don't often get downtown for that. Do we do any sort of surveying to see, like, where people are from within the community that come down? I mean, I I gather if you live in Old Mountain View or the Swan neighborhood, it's pretty easy.

But, you know, if you live, like, over in in Jamalah neighborhood or up in Questa Park or stuff like that or Waverly Park, you know, you can't just walk over, you know, for music. And so so then so it might be interesting to find out, you know, where people are coming from in town to that. And if it turned out that it really is a downtown sort of base crowd, what could we do to make it easier for more of the community to engage in that?

Can I say something, Warner? So so I I go to both of those. I noticed that concert on the plaza and lot they're coming from other cities also. You know, lot of people, about 300 people at one time. But the music on Castro, they're pretty much local Mhmm. Coming there, and I usually see people coming from the other part of the city. And but but those are well attended. You know? I mean, and

Right. I mean, they're well attended, but Yeah. You know, it's like, you know, it's you know, is is the is the geography, you

know Exactly.

And and and people are I mean, community members are vigilant. They they sit down there. One of the members comes in and he watches how many people ride the bike or how many people walk the bikes and all that and tell the city and city put a sign on there. You know? He's trying that. So

Yeah. And

But to answer your question, if any, like, official surveying is done of attendees, I don't know. Yeah. I'd have to ask our community services department who Might

be might be interesting just to see if they they have a sense. Because it, you know, it it really should be, you know, try and get you know? Yeah. Open it up to more of the community rather than just the people who can, you know, walk a couple blocks and be there. I I don't know what the answer is, but, you know, whether it's more publication of the shuttle or, you know, the you know, things like that to get more people downtown or

that sort

of stuff. I don't know.

We we can even put a little

sandwich board up in front of the library, you know, concert tonight or concert Friday night

or whatever.

So because a lot

of people go to the

library, but they probably don't.

But we got an email from Chamber, is it right, about the event of San Antonio and all that we so we we can put it

But they they support that. This is city.

So Yeah. So The village of San Antonio pays for that app just to to go out.

Can can I I I I mean, I know the music on Castro is sort of more passive. It's not as well attended, but do we you know, in terms of music, the music that happens, the concerts in the plaza, do we feel like we need more attendees? Is that our goal to get more attendees or just we're just curious to learn more about them?

Well, I mean, one, I'm curious, but I'm really curious if segments of our community aren't participating Mhmm. And why. You know, is it is it a mobility thing? Is it like, I'm just not interested? Or you know? Because, I mean, it's a community asset, but is it really only being used by people in Mountain View that live within walking distance of the plaza? Yeah.

Yeah. I haven't been in a while, but my understanding is it's packed. So I don't know that we want more people coming. Nice.

It's packed.

You won't get your lawn chair there.

Yeah. That's more than my understanding. But but, yeah, I can certainly ask

And just as a general point, you know, to be able to say, you know, it's like, well, okay.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No.

It would be interesting because it changes who, are the musicians. You know?

There's different qualities. The artist matters. Yeah.

Yeah. Right. Yeah. No. I mean and and I get all of that. But, you know, it's it it but if if the data were to come in over a couple of shows that 80% of the people live within the central core of the, you know, Central Business District, You know? Interesting information. Yeah. Since that that says something that, you know, we're not serving the entire community or or the entire community isn't taking advantage of this benefit for whatever reason or not. So

Yeah. I mean, I do think at some point, we're gonna wanna do some surveying of just downtown users in general. Yeah. I'm I'm not sure when we'll have capacity to do that, but I I do think it would be interesting to connect with people who are downtown, who are coming to events, and try and get a bigger picture of who's using our downtown and what some of the barriers might be.

Yep. Okay.

Peter, you wanna

Party. Party. Party. There's a party. And if you haven't volunteered yet, please do. Yeah. So it is this weekend, the Art Mind Festival. We have I I kinda like to say we've built a roller coaster. It's almost time to get on and ride. You know, we've got a few minor things here and there that we've gotta take care of. But all in all, things are on track. One thing that I do wanna let people know is that we do have a new attraction, if you will, that is going to be the wine experience. A lot of people have said, you know, we like the wines that you serve in the booths, but we wanna not just glug our nine ounces. We wanna sip. We wanna taste.

We want, you know, wine tasting experience. And so we've actually got, 12 local wineries to, be a part of this. We're gonna set up separate tables where you can sit. And for $55 to your art's content, you can sit there and sip those little glasses. And we'll also have a charcuterie board and

some other things you

can get there. And so we're really looking for that to be something new and exciting for people to to who care about quality rather than quantity.

You'll make me start drinking, Noah.

I'm sorry?

You'll make me start drinking finally. You can

go for the charcuterie play. We thought about you. We actually are adding nonalcoholic beer also to our our our selection of things. So, you know, as as everyone knows, it's it's different every year because, you know, not not the exact same 413 booths come, you know, vendors. We have different ones. We have we'd like to make sure that we have ones that people really, really love and introduce some new ones too. Same thing with the music. So, really, it should be an exciting time, and we hope you all make it.

So, Peter, I was going to volunteer, but it looked like when I went two days ago, almost all the volunteer positions have been filled.

If you want to volunteer, I am certain we will find a place.

I just don't I just tried to

be in the hot sun like I did three years ago and baked.

Well, the good news is today is going to be hotter than it is gonna be next this weekend. Yeah. I thought

it would be better.

Alright. Well, we'll let you connect offline and get find Pam at a nice shady spot to volunteer. But just, you know, a note, I you know, I think, Peter, your website is saying, I mean, we're expecting almost 200,000 people coming downtown, which is just a huge opportunity for getting people to Mountain View. Just anecdotally, my parents went their first time in Downtown Mountain View, they came last year to art and wine. And since then, my mom is just like, I love downtown. I wanna be downtown. So it it was a really wonderful introduction, and it creates a sort of a lasting impression on people. So thank you to the chamber for for putting on the event.

Let's let's just keep the ribbon clean until this weekend.

I'll be out there with my toothbrush. Yeah.

Just wanted to add. The friends I had the other day, they came by to the downtown. They were just amazed, you know, because they were from here thirty years ago. They just couldn't believe what they have done. Really appreciate it. Enjoyed it. But I mentioned that about the chairs and things missing already, and then the cornhole boards are gone too.

Yeah. I'll have to look into that. We've gotten some community

Well, artists.

I I using it.

I think it may be preemptive to art and wine because we have to pull all of that out there for the booths.

I see.

So it may be that it's we're just doing it in phases, but I'll confirm that things haven't disappeared for good.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I do know that, you know, the entire street is gonna be, you know, scrubbed of Yeah. Scrubbed of stuff. The the, you know, the the fences with the tables inside, that will remain, of course, because those are those belong to the restaurants. But almost everything else Okay. Except for the ping pong table, which weighs, you know,

5,000 pounds. And the Connect Four.

And the Connect Four. You know, the the things that are made out of concrete are not gonna move, but everything else, the chairs and all that. And last year, I think the city did it stages too. I think some things were gone by Monday, some things were gone by Tuesday, etcetera. So I would I I just would not take anything at face value that you see on the streets right now. You know? I it's it's all it's all

in place. I but I appreciate that. And I did get a someone reached out via AskMV and said, where is all the chairs? So people are are paying attention, which is good.

When was the last time or mine was the first weekend in September.

Oh, it's been a while. It's been about ten years since

I've got that.

Yeah. Is it usually?

Well, it's always it's always the second it's always the weekend after Labor Day, but Labor Day hasn't been on the first in a long time.

In a long time.

Right. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

I guess it's could be, like, every seven years, but then you throw in the leap years and Exactly. Cycle gets sort of crazy. So Yeah.

There's more to come. I can my Yep.

Go ahead.

PowerPoint just crashed. So Oh. Keep chatting amongst yourselves for a one second.

Well, this morning when I walked downcast, one of the city workers was

Oh, this is for real. You're not just

No.

No. No. This is a true story this morning. So in any case, when I was walking

from the

train station this morning, there was a city worker watering the water baskets, and I say, for sure, the beauty of the baskets. I people walk by, and they don't pay any attention to them. And you look up, and you go, oh my gosh. Look at this. There's almost stuff in the baskets. And I know it takes work to maintain that because we live in a dry climate in the summertime, but they really

Yeah. Thank you for that note, Pamela. I know they're working hard to keep them alive and then swap them out as they're, you know, coming going through their their cycle of living. So Right. Yeah. That's really good. Thank you for that note. Alright. We're back up and ready to roll. Oktoberfest, another Peter item. Yeah. Still happening.

Still happening. Yeah. And, again, I think that we are very close to having, you know, all the pieces in place for this one as well. We're really pleased to have it moved down the street so that we can have more booths and more activity, but also have it a little bit more open. A lot of people were saying that having it kind of in the back alley and stuff over on Villa Street was a little bit constraining. So we are trying to take the best that, you know, the best of what happened last time and repeat it a few blocks away. And and Stein's actually, you know, donated a lot of things too. So we actually have the boots and and other, you know, signature pieces that were there from Oktoberfest.

Where is it at this

It's gonna be right outside of the chamber doors Oh, okay. In the in the big park empty parking lot where the Wells Fargo building used to be, and then also that block of Castro Street is going to be closed off.

I see.

Until such time as Sobrato decides to Another start

year. Wanna know. Anyway, so so we all we are taking volunteers for that event, and those will be in the shade, Pam.

Okay. Because those volunteers, like, almost everything is sold is filled.

They're filling up. They aren't sold out. That is the phrase I will continue to use. Not according to my

I looked at it yesterday. There's, like, two slots open.

Alright. You two that are you work that out

after the week.

Two openings,

not sold out. Okay. Well, lots of good events happening downtown. Big big shout out to the chamber for making this happen. Alright. Moving along. I wanted to come to you with our final design for the wayfinding project. This is pedestrian only wayfinding. There are three different sign types. So we'll have these directional signage.

It's a sign here, the the ones at the top, and they will be pointing to different, you know, different destinations and points of interest in the downtown, you know, the library, the chamber of commerce building, city hall, performing arts center, police station, and such. And then below each of the directional signs will be a plan map. So that's the sign there in the middle. That was actually, it'll have a five minute walking radius. You can see really how walkable our downtown really is, and it'll give you a you are here little bubble and then sort of identify some of the the key features in in downtown in in terms of where things are in relation to you.

And then we are adding parking identifiers. So, each of the garages and parking lots actually do have numbers. And so in an attempt to help people to navigate to back to their, back to their cars, we're gonna be adding these little brightly colored signs, and they have these really cute little phrases to help you remember. So if you're in Parking Lot 2, the little phrase underneath the sign says, it takes two to tango. So you're remembering, like, you know So each of the ones will have those in the garages.

And then, you know, so you'll remember, okay. I'm in Garage Number 2. And then if you look at the plan map, it'll tell you exactly where that is. So all of those kind of that's the system of signage. And we have the signs, which are really kind of unique. Just as a note, you can see, you know, you've got the sign themselves and then the blades. So the actual signs represent different parts of Mountain View's history, and thank you to Pamela for for weighing in. But you can see the apricots, which harken back to our agricultural history, technology, and aviation. And then

Your voice is coming from outside here.

Oh, that happened the other day. Alright. Hold on. My voice lit.

I think they're testing the PA system or something.

I think they are.

Yeah. That's fine.

They're in the chamber.

Yep.

Okay. I'm plugged in

this room just a moment ago.

Okay. And then you can see the egrets and the owls representing some of our our natural environment. So Who's the artist on these? These are really cool. They're cool. So we hired a professional sign designer, Men Design. We've been working with them. We did a competitive RFP process to to work with Jeremy and his team. And so we are just about ready to go out to a construction bidding process to have these manufactured, and we're hoping by the end of the year, early next year to have these signs in the downtown. So Very cool.

Gonna be very cool. And like I said, you know, I'm sure for those of you that have traveled to other downtowns, you there there's traditional signage, and then there's gonna be Mountain View signage, which is gonna be really unique and special. Yeah. Peter.

So a couple of things. First of all, very cool. I really love this. Is is this person a local artist?

No. This is he's he's a like, a he he he designed signs. That's what his business does. So he's he's up in San Francisco. So local ish.

Local ish. Yeah. I just I love giving cred to local people, you know, and and and we we might even do something local, you know, local artists blah blah created. But, anyway, so first of all, one of the things that we talked about with wayfinding was also kinda stepping into the future a little bit. And so it's nice to have different things there. But if we could have a QR code or something like that that went to, you know, a real live map so you could see where the individual businesses were and things like that, and, of course, that's all updated because it's all online, that could be really, really cool. And And so I couldn't tell from the drawing there if there was a QR sign on there.

But Yeah. I

I think that'd be easy to add and really, really beneficial for the businesses because there's no way you're gonna list all the businesses on the upper sign. Right?

So Our hope was to put to use the digital directories for those, and we talked about a QR code. I just we just don't have the capacity to maintain a website with a QR code right now, and so it's not something that's included on the signs. But I agree. We talked a lot about it.

Well, the chamber might be

able to do something about that.

Right. Well You

know, let let's work together on that because I think that that has some Yeah. Because we're always, you know, we're always comparing, you

know, to any

Absolutely. What's the news in was out. And to keep that current, think, would be really, really cool.

Okay. Well, let's chat.

Okay. Yeah. So, Amanda, the parking identifier, I I love it because I've seen so many people. They said,

where do they park?

Where do they park? But would that identifier would be on the wayfinding sign also say where is number two?

So this is just signage in the parking garages. We are looking at a separate sign that'll be for because this is number two. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so the the the number two will be on these little signs here. It'll show. So as a pedestrian, you can find it. But from a vehicle, this is just signs for pedestrians. Right. We are looking as part of the parking implementation strategy that we're working on to look at vehicular wayfinding.

So that's a a whole other system, which will be much bigger signs and in more locations. But, yeah, it's it's a good point. That's one of the things that we're seeing as we've started looking at some of our parking data is people are parking like, there are couple of parking lots that are really impacted, and people don't seem to know that there's tons of parking just, you know, mere seconds away. So

So how, like, many of these are you putting in the parking garage? So it's, like, right next to where they walk out, or is it gonna be in columns throughout?

Yeah. I think they'll they'll be they will be where people walk out so they can catch them. I can't remember how many per garage or or parking lot we've had. Some of the parking lots, so they have light poles in them. So there'll be probably four, one on each side of a of a light pole of two light poles in the parking lots. I can't remember in the garages how many were sturdy. Yeah. But, yeah, they'll be sort of at, like, points of entry and exit. Yeah.

I feel like, you know, when you go to, like, an airport parking lot, you're like, I'm f four. You, like, you wanna be able to just look immediately

and know where you're at. Know where you are. Yeah. Take a picture of it. Yeah. Mhmm.

Yeah. One

other question was that we've been talking about repurposing the bus shelters.

Mhmm.

Will one of these, like, blown up signs maybe go in one of the bus shelters, or

will

we put it on the side of the bell shell? I mean, it seems to me that's a logical place for people

to see that. The goal is to get rid of the bus shelters. We don't really have budget for it. So we're working towards how we can budget that in so we can get rid of take them out completely.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Another project I'm working on is our strategic communications project. So the map, I I believe all of you have seen this map before, but I'll just sort of note. It's sort of our internal map that we pulled out, that talks about all the construction projects that are gonna be potentially happening in the next some odd years, with both private development, public projects. And so when this first came out a couple years ago, we went, oh my.

That's gonna be a lot going on. And then I'm happy to send a PDF to you of all of this. This was part of the off agenda memo that went to council just a couple months ago. But, anyway, the more the really, what this is hoping to exemplify is that there is a lot that's going to be happening in the downtown in the next couple of years. And there's gonna be a lot of construction, which is great because we're seeing investment and improvements being brought to downtown, but it can it also means that there are potential impacts to foot traffic, to businesses.

So as part of this, the city has hired Miller Maxfield, which is a communications, and PR company, and they're gonna be helping us to develop a toolkit, both for the city with our projects and how we communicate out, but also on the private development side, and and to support businesses. So so we can effectively communicate, we can work on brand you know, some branding elements. So instead of a sign that just says, you know, parking lot closed, it says, welcome to downtown. Like, there's parking just down the street. Like, how can we soften soften messages to ensure people have a really positive experience?

So some of our objectives for their work is, one, to raise awareness for project timelines so people know when work is happening, what potential impacts there might be. We do wanna mitigate impacts to the businesses and visitors, so having communication strategies. So businesses are in the loop to potential visitors are in the loop. We do wanna build some excitement for some of our long term projects. There's some really cool stuff that's gonna be coming to downtown. There's projects and redevelopment happening already that's really exciting. And then we also wanna be promoting downtown just in general. So, you know, as we're talking about the projects that are taking place downtown, you know, come downtown now. There's great stuff happening right now. So I'll be bringing some more updates, but I just wanted to tee this up to you for you all.

We're just at the very beginning stages of this work. Yeah. Peter.

Again, exciting stuff, and I'm really glad to see the communication. I'm glad to see the excitement behind it. One of the things that we talked about is when the green fences go up, and they inevitably will. Mhmm. Are we talking to anybody about artwork? Are we talking you know, whether it's public art, whether it's old photos of the neighborhoods and things like that? Are thinking we about some things to really, you know, not make it a big green ugly fence.

Yeah. And we've asked them to design to put together some graphics. It's just the easiest cheapest way since we have them under contract to have them design something. Sure. But we are hoping to put together, like, a a couple of options so private developers could pick and and for city projects, we can put stuff up. But, yeah, construction fencing is

one of the deliverables I've listed out. Yeah. It will definitely remain an optional item, in terms of the private development. We will strongly encourage them,

but I'll just not considered a community benefit if they put a nice fence up. No.

Yeah. But we are

Unlike Paris or Rome where you see the a whole new building.

And you see the facade printed

on the

on the screen. Really expensive. So we're also looking at taking a panel approach. So maybe it's not the entire fence, but there are little, like, panels of fencing. You know, we wanna make it as feasible as possible.

Again, I I think that if if we can get the developers in conversation to see that this is an opportunity rather than a cost, you know, this is an investment in in our local areas and things like that. That's that's more the the direction of the conversation, I think, that will be more positive.

Yeah. No. It will reflect positively on the developer when Right. You walk by and go, oh, this is really cool, and who's the project? Oh,

So yeah. I think about this.

Yes. Right.

You thought about us.

That's that's

really what we're doing is we are we are preparing everything that we can bring to the table Yeah. In terms of preparing for it Mhmm. And have conversations with

the developers. If they have

to think it up, our developers So That's yeah. Exactly. So

more to come on this. I'm hoping to bring some of the graphics to the committee for input. So, anyway, just teeing this up. Just noting that the downtown the new downtown digest went out on Friday. Our copies are just over there. Electronic copies are online. If you wanna take a stack for your family and friends, just let me know.

Do do have a stack for the chamber? Or

I'll bring in one by. Yep. I've got a couple things. I've got a pile of things to bring to you.

Thank you.

Okay. Oh. Oh, and I'm missing one update. Hold on. Well, I'll let Diana do her update. And then I'm missing it.

Gonna say, Jamil.

Jamil, how'd you get in there?

Okay. And I'll hand it off to Diana for everybody. Thank

you, Jamil. Again, Diana Controlli, principal planner and project manager for the downtown precise plan update. So I was listening to the earlier conversation on what happened during June. So what we did is we actually prepped for a lot of community outreach on this precise plan update project. August was a really busy month for us, following up on all the individual stakeholder meetings we did with the Neighborhood Association and different groups.

We met with a lot of you as part of that between January to June this year. And in August, we actually hosted a lot of community outreach events. We tabled at the Farmers Market, talked to more than 200 people. We, came out at the national night out. This is Jamil's picture from the National Night Out.

We had a lot of people when we talked to at National Night Out as well. And this was all in preparation of inviting people, providing information for them to come and join us at the community workshop. That was our first community workshop. I don't remember when was the last time we actually did citywide noticing for a planning, policy project. But in this case, for our community workshop, we actually sent out mailers to every residence in the city considering the importance of downtown as everybody's downtown in the city.

In addition to that, we also reached out to people through various means, like the online interested parties list. We asked chamber to help us out to inform the chamber members, sent out, messages to, and emails to business community for them to come and attend. This was, this the picture on the right is from our community workshop. We are very glad it was very well attended. We had around 84 people, in the community who actually came out.

Couple of our downtown committee members were there, so thank you for attending. And the focus was, in line with, you know, the outreach that we've been doing so far, trying to understand the assets, opportunities, the strengths, and then vision and goals, that people have for the future of downtown. So this was the first, community outreach meeting that we had. I mean, the community workshop that we had, and we'll have more in the future. But where this is going is, you know, right now, the, the project team is synthesizing the information that we have received through various stakeholder meetings and the community workshop.

And we will be coming to the planning commission and city council later this year. Planning commission, I know it's tentatively scheduled for October 15. That'll be more like a study session or a new business item where we'll be presenting the information that we have gathered so far, some of the themes that have come out, and get some more directions from them as well. When I was doing the public engagement on the community workshop, I heard a lot from people who reached out and said, I can make it to an in person meeting. So following that, we have also put together a survey with similar questions that we asked at the community workshop, and that survey is active right now.

It's on on the project web page, and it's available in English, Spanish, and Chinese. So trying to get even more input from people before we go back to our decision makers.

What's the deadline on survey?

I think it is September 18. So, yeah, we've been busy on that pro one project for sure. Right.

And then my final update just around downtown. I it's in the downtown digest, but the Lot 12 affordable housing project did receive its sort of round of funding from the state. And so this project will be moving forward, which is really exciting. So that project will be happening as the crow flies right just just down the street here from City Hall. And we're anticipating construction staging and work to start early twenty twenty six.

So late January, early February, they're gonna start blocking off that parking and and start working towards that project. So this is one of the projects on our strategic communications list that we're gonna be working with the developer on how they're communicating out and making sure the businesses and visitors are in

the loop.

So I I have not been to the Farmer's Market in a long time, but Lot 12 was used to I don't know if it still is the alternative site for the Farmers Market during game weekends.

What's Yep. They have I'm bringing an item to council, not next week, the week no. Next week for approval for them to use it throughout the fall, and then they've got a potential game in January. And so they're planning to use that. And then I'm in pretty much weekly conversations with the farmer's market working on an alternative site.

So we're I'm working just to figure out where they're going when that when that happens. Options, or is this something just like There's a couple of options. Yeah. We're looking at other part other parking lots in the downtown, other streets. Part of our challenges are in from the farmer's market perspective, some of the streets are more narrow than they would like, so it doesn't work for their layout where they have trucks and then booths.

And some of our parking garages, just the shape of them, you know, they've got they kind of have to model out how they can get all the roads and where the flow of traffic is. So we just haven't found an alternative site. So we're looking at we're looking at ways to kind of maybe combine areas and streets, closures, and so we have a lot of options we're looking at. None of them are perfect, but we're you know, because it's their alternative site, we're hopeful that it could be good enough as a, you know, as a alternative location when they're not able to be at the at the How how many games per year? Or Last year, it was eight.

This year, it's six. Yeah. So it's not a ton of So Unless they

make the playoffs, and then it's very

I mean, three weeks

are going to the alternative side. Exactly.

That's still pretty significant. Does that include Super Bowl?

So this year, Super Bowl is yeah. Well, obviously, we'll be here February 12 or something.

But is that one of the six?

It is not because we the developer doesn't didn't hasn't been able to commit yet to the site being available. So they're they're still since funding just came through, they're pulling all of their pieces together. So we'll know more from them as we get closer. Yeah.

So are you only looking at then just for

the replacement game days and not like a longer term solution if there's a parking garage? For now. That one yet. That's like tables. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Yeah.

Do

No. I have a comment on a different item.

Okay. I will just report back. Okay. So last report out from Diana, and then we can close out this update.

Yeah. To Peter's question on if the artist for the wayfinding signage was local artist. So Jeremy Menday from the Menday, that's the company that we hired. He used to be a Mountain resident. He's not anymore. Closer to

him. Yeah.

Well, part part of the reason I asked this, and that's a great little hint there, is that, you know, the Mountain View voice is always looking for stories. Right. And so if you have a bio or something like that you could send us, you can talk to the the voice about maybe getting something in there because Oh,

okay.

Yeah. Unveiling these street signs made by local artists.

I mean, that's always always looking for a story.

Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. Let's maybe coordinate when they get when they're in, and we can start getting some publicity for it. That would be great.

So just one comment here about the Castro Street. I've noticed that graffiti is just down way down, and we don't see that graffiti.

I know.

Don't jinx it.

Yeah. No.

No. I just wanna make sure

that this this show.

Yeah. I'll keep it that way. And another one is the bus shelter which she brought up, and you're saying that we remove it. Probably, we could put the bike racks there.

One of the things that we're looking at. Yeah. It's replacing them with bike racks in the interim. Perfect. Yeah.

Great. Great. Okay.

Still see no members of the public. Nobody else online? Yes.

There is no one online.

Okay. So we will close out item 6.2 and move on to item seven, new business and the downtown business improvement area 7.1.

Alright. That's my item as well. So you have your report in the in your packet as well as a map of the business improvement areas. But just a little bit of background. So we have two business improvement areas or BIAs, and you can see the map there.

The map the portion in red is BIA one, and then the light blue is BIA two. So two assessments that are kinda layered on top of each other. The first business improvement area was established back in the eighties, as you can see. And more or less if more or less the precise plan area, it's sort of it's pretty close to to following what the precise plan is. And the formula is based on the type of business.

And then it was determined that, actually, you know, the businesses along Castor Street and kind of those first three blocks really get a lot of the benefit of the district. And so it was determined back in the early nineties to create an additional business improvement assessment for those businesses that are getting a lot of the benefit to be assessed sort of to have an additional assessment. And so you can see those areas in blue there, and they're based on the type the type of business, the size, and the location. So, again, BIA one, you know, so it's specifically, is it restaurant? Is it retail?

Is it, you know, professional? BIA two, again, the type of business, but then looking at the square footage. And just so you have a sense of how much is assessed, I just did a some rough numbers. So the minimum that a business is gonna get assessed is $500, and the maximum that any business gets with the combined fees is $375 a year. The average business is paying about a $176 for a year's worth of business improvement benefits.

So quite quite low, but you can see the projected revenues, for 2026. And, just a note. So the funds go to the business improvement business no. Downtown Business Association, which is run by the chamber, and the the funds are used for marketing, events, promotion of the downtown, and I'll let Peter speak a little bit more of that in just a second. But just to close this out, so are the next steps following a vote here from the downtown committee to move forward with this.

We have the first public hearing on later this month on the twenty third where council will review the report provided by the chamber, provide any inputs, and and then it'll come back October 28 for the final approval and the levying of the assessments. And the then those funds will be allocated to the chamber. So I'll pause there and see. Peter, do you wanna

So just before you go, I'll just note that adjusted for inflation, $38,000 in 1983 would be worth a $123,000 today. Yeah. Peter. Yeah.

Hit on my pain point. So is the twenty third confirmed, by the way, to go to council?

Can you

send us a reminder on that?

Mhmm. So we've had discussions on the BIA before among this group here, some who are new to the group. I'll just give the Reader's Digest version, which is that this is it's actually a step it's something sponsored by the state where you have to apply for it. You have to have certain rules and restrictions that you can do. And it and there are different kinds of improvement districts. There are tourist business districts. There are food business district. You name it. There there's probably a business district for it. The idea is kinda like homeowners dues.

So a business pays into it so that they can get benefits. And the benefits for this particular kind of business improvement district is really supposed to be marketing and really strictly marketing. And yet because they are the business downtown business association is affiliated so strong with the chamber, we throw more into it. You know, we do advocacy on behalf of downtown and other things. And in any event, as you might guess, 50,000 is better than last year, which was $47,000 last year.

It was $45,000 the year before. So I like the trend in that more businesses are paying in, but it's still very, very hard from an economic standpoint to to validate all the things that we do with that price tag on it. And so we've had a number of conversations partially in this group, but also in other groups and with with the city as well about what could we do to go back to our businesses and kind of renegotiate and say, you know, we need to raise the rent. We need to raise raise the raise the fees in some ways to be able to support all the things that we can do. That activity, John was kind of leading John Lang was kind of helping me lead that activity.

With his departure. We've kinda taken it back taken it back a little bit. We need to start that up again at some point and decide, do we wanna do a BIA or do we wanna do another one called a property bid or a PDF? Are there other ways that we could do this? But we are our current situation is not sustainable is, I guess, what I'm trying to say. And we want to do so much more for downtown, but we And so how do we, you know, move forward on that is really the question of what I had us.

Mhmm. I'm gonna so when you paste this text, until I got involved in this and until I started, like, keep track of things that the the chamber promise does. I wasn't really aware of any tangible benefits. I got the invoice. Thought, okay. I I guess I just pay this to

And thank you for that.

Yeah. I I wasn't actually sure what I was paying for. So if there was some way I could find out, oh, actually, this is where this amount of that $50,000 went to, you know, like a, yeah, a report or or, you know, what what where did it go?

You have it in your hand, actually.

That is a is a business. I didn't necessarily see that.

Yeah. You you your point is very well taken. We have done a very poor job of communicating all the value that we provide. We provide it to the city, but we don't provide it to our businesses. This report that we put out for the city that's now part of your packet here, we do make available. We haven't, like, broadcast it or anything. And I think you you're right that we would do much better if we actually sat down with the business that here's the value that you get. Here's why you are a member. Here's what you get. Yes. Absolutely.

Think it's also important to note that mean, you keep saying, we, our this is the business's district. The business voted for this district to impose this fee on themselves That's true. To enhance themselves. So this is your business improvement district, not the cities. We deserve the chamber. They just manage it.

Yeah. Well, I I definitely wasn't around in the eighties to vote for it.

We're gonna hold you to it anyway. Okay, Larry? No. And but but but again, I think the the point you're making, which is absolutely something we believe, is that, you know, there needs to be more communication with the businesses to what the value is for and and it's not not just this invisible charge, if you will. Mhmm. That that's not fair to anyone.

Can I ask can I ask a follow-up question, Sean? What your perspective, what would be the best way to get that information to you or to, you know, you representing businesses?

So I guess, usually, I'm not sure if when we were when we're taking care of this, put in our emails or something like that. But there's various other ways that's that's I provided my email to other things, but so then, you know, sometimes you get an email back or someone occasionally drops off the fly ers for for other news, things like the amount of new voice and something else. So just other kinds of an actual report of of where it's where it all went. Exactly like that, but how do we actually get that to to a business so they know, oh, this is where the money was spent?

What are you saying that email would be an effective way if we could somehow

Email would be for me. I'm not sure about other people.

Okay. Yeah. We're just always looking, you know, how can we best reach businesses. So yeah.

Do you would you be like, so I guess I'm I'm not a business owner. But I'm like, personally wanna convert

this version of it.

It's

like, give me a one pager, like, boom boom chamber. Great. Click here for more information. Right? Like and then, like, slide it under their doors. Actually, don't know because

For a thirty second YouTube.

Probably, is it?

Well, it

it can be thirty seconds. Yeah.

It it also it also so depends on the business. You know? And and the running joke we have is that I could walk into some of our businesses with $500 in cash and say, talk to me for three minutes.

Yeah.

I gotta serve six more tables. You know? Totally get it. Yeah. But that's that's the challenge. And so that's why understanding, you know, how do we reach people if we don't want. And it's also one of these, you know, chicken and egg things. It's like, well, with a bit more money, we could do more outreach, you know, kind of thing. So, I I love the comments. I love the the the the question, and, we we continually look for for ways that we can do that kind of outreach. But I agree with you. A reader's digest version. Yeah. You know, a quick summary of just, like, here's your tax dollars that were kind of, you know, statement, except that it's not tax dollars. It's your BIA dollars.

You know, just just to know what you're getting is is important. I think we could do something that's very simple that just goes out, whether it's in the digest, whether it's in our our thing or whatever. And in fact, when we talk about redoing the BIA or looking at some other mechanism, it demands a vote from the members to make a change. Mhmm. So there's a campaign that would go with any of these sort of things where it would be a lot of public meetings, a lot of, things to happen. There are companies that do this for a living, as you might guess, consultants that charge tens of thousands of dollars to go out and knock on doors and all that sort of thing. So, again, it's one of those chicken and the eggs that, you know, can't afford it, but, you know, that's kind of what you need to do in order to raise the money. So

Although it is only an election. It's only a vote of the people in the district, not the community at large. Yeah.

And maybe a, like, what they call it, a pie chart, a round thing, you know, how much money goes where.

So that is exactly what people, I think, actually care about. But I get three pages to find the

I know. Right. Yeah.

Well, if if this was the headline, nice high graph, let's see if this is where

your money went. And and that's what I'm saying. Something simple like that, yes, we should do. But there's more there's more education that needs to happen as well. So Thank you.

This does not require a vote from

us.

We've voted on it on the past. Let's vote on it Okay. Just for So we're voting to accept it? Yes.

Vote And to recommend a council.

Yeah. Yeah. I would say taking a vote to recommend counsel's approval of the Correct. Yep. Twenty twenty six.

Is there such a motion?

I don't think I can make it.

Yeah. Would say probably not. Because he's he's gonna guess it. He's the one getting the mice. So I think they're yeah. They're

they're my words on this page. I don't know if I can do that.

Okay. I moved that we accept the, what are we calling it, the downtown business improvement area report 7.1 and recommend that it be passed on to council. And recommend council approval? And recommend council approval. So

that Alright. Second. Sean. Third is

Oh, Sean. Okay. All any questions? Seeing no members of the public? Yes. So public input? No public input. All in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And I I state. Yep. All consent.

Mhmm.

Last item. Sorry. It's 7.2. It's missing the two.

Oh, right. The ad committee report out.

Yeah. Just a brief report out. So committee members, Lynn and vice chair Baird are sitting on our ad hoc subcommittee, which is a joint committee with the visual arts committee and performing arts committee. Just a brief update that we're currently working on a joint, artist reception at the Center for Performing Arts as a way to kind of bring some activity to downtown and promote some of our arts assets. More to come on that, but we're looking at a, I believe, a February, March date for that. So the committee's had one meeting. We're working on a second meeting, but just wanting to keep you all abreast of what's happening. Anything from our ad hoc committee members?

Well, I have to admit when I saw this line item, I had a panic attack and thought, were we supposed to do something? Know? So my understanding was that we were supposed to meet more frequently than

And you should have a email with the doodle poll asking you for your next availability. Yeah. So that was

Summer break.

That was sent out a couple weeks last week. I think a week

or two ago. Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't even notice that. Yeah. Because I I how do I wanna put this? And I say, I I don't want this to atrophy. And and I staff is organizer on this, but I'd certainly like to make sure that we a lot of effort has been put together already and, like, make

Yep. Continue to work on. Yeah. So make sure you fill out the do doodle poll. I think we're hoping to meet later this month to kind of on the next steps. Yeah. But just wanting to keep the committee in the loop on subcommittee, ad hoc committees.

Okay. Alright. Great. Is this the second? So rather than go back to seven point two, Peter, I think, could make a follow-up announcement from the the DIA in section eight committee staff comments.

Okay. Thank you. So for those of you who don't know, about three three years ago, which is the end of the pandemic, we held a downtown open house, if you will, where we had about seven or eight of our businesses in Monte Carlo. They stood up on stage. They just said, this is who we are. This is what we do. There's a here's a face to the the business, you know, type of thing. And it was really designed to get people to understand this is what shop local really means. These are the people behind it. These are the the businesses that you're supporting and how they need your help.

And it was really effective. We had about 50 people, and it was it was just, you know, a good vibe in the room. But it also was one of those things where please shop here rather than, you know, online or something like that. I think people heard it from real humans, and that made a difference. We wanna do that again. And so on the September 25 that's this month, isn't it? In about so about three and a half weeks, we will be doing it again in the Monte Carlo. We're actually planning on more like a 120 people. We're gonna have it downstairs in Monte Carlo. We will have a panelist and a a panel.

I'm sorry. And Christian from the city, Christian Murdoch, will be our moderator, and we'll actually have a dialogue that here's what's going well. Here's what we still have needs and things like that. We'll also have videos from different businesses saying, hi. I'm Juan from Ava's or whatever and, you know, and and things like that that we'll be showing.

And it'll be a real chance, again, to get to know the neighborhood, get to, have people get to know our businesses, and really hear what's top of mind for them. And so I encourage you all to put that down in your calendar, 09:25 at 05:30. And I do believe don't tell us widely, but I do believe that Marina's dad is gonna be serving his goulash. But but, again, it's a it's a chance for, really, for this kind of open dialogue that is so so needed.

You have a permanent place on the front yard or shop locals sign.

I have one. You?

Advertise that. Like, I I I see the email in

the favor about it, but, like, how about the broader community?

We send we've sent it to all the neighborhood associations so that they can get the word out.

No. I meant to say that I you have a permanent place. I have it permanently.

He's got a little sign

in his front yard. Excellent.

Now is there there won't be any restrictions on the number of data committee people that can attend that because that's not a

city It's a Brown Act thing, I don't think.

No. I don't I don't think so.

I think there may be a restriction on the city council members who can attend, but I that's not my my department. Well, looking at it.

That's a open meeting to anybody.

Yeah. It's an open meeting, so I think it's okay. What if we don't sit together? Yeah. No. It's downtown committee should be fine. I don't know about city council, but I think it's fine for them as well since it's a public publicly unnoticed meeting.

We're gonna check on the Brown Act issue and get back to

you all.

Thank you. There goes a question.

And it's still doing reports?

Well, we're doing commit section eight committee questions, committee reports

comments. Or comments.

So, I'll go ahead and go unless somebody else has something to say. So, as the Mountain View Historical Association, we conducted walking tours on June 22, July 27, and August 24, and we had an average about eight people. This is We're getting lower than we normally have. So, anyway, I enjoy walking doing those, and maybe we can team up more with the chamber and get those announcements, out, about the walking tour. It's they're fun.

I conduct them, and we really have a lot of interested comments from people, and and they're they're big fun. And I also talked a lot about the the infrastructure in the city, and we we talk about what Castro Street is gonna look like in the future. So it's not just the past, whole thing that we talk about.

Are your is your patronage different every time?

Oh, yeah.

What do you okay. So

Actually, we get people from San Jose and Sunnyvale. They're looking for something to do and or they might have grown up in the area, they live, you know, someplace else. So I will say that we don't get get very many high school students, but, you know, a broad broad section of of people. And the next one will be the September, which is the twenty eighth, I think it is, will be the next one.

And do you have an October one? Whatever the fourth Sunday is. Okay.

So fourth

Sunday. Okay. We can maybe see if we can get it in

the next digest. Guide in the visitor center too.

And that was one thing. Maybe we should get some flyers and.

And we also have the the used to be called the commissioner's dinner, but the appreciation the appreciation event

September coming thirtieth.

Right.

Yes. Mike recorded a video.

And thank you.

On behalf of Have you ever

thought about, like, working with the elementary schools? Because it's in fourth grade, like, California state history year. I think it'd be really, like, kinda cool.

Well, I did one walking tour for well, we can talk

about it.

I did a walking tour for Stevenson School, and they had three different classrooms. And let's just say two of the chill two of the classrooms segments were very well

Is that a word really?

Self discipline. The third one was not, and it was a real challenge trying to keep these kids paying attention. So and, unfortunately, that was or fortunately, that was the last one that I did. If it would have been the first one, then I would have said, no.

Sorry. You're just a parent volunteers. Right? Stephenson. Yeah.

And it still is Okay. Well, a lot of

it depends on the parents and how much

Yeah. Yeah. Exercise the parents control over children. One other comment, and I don't wanna slide into discussion.

Remember, just on comments.

So I know. I'm just I'm making a comment.

Okay. Go ahead.

I'm making a comment that people are really interested in the history of Mountain View, and I think that was evidenced at the downtown precise plan on the outreach. And maybe because my ears are tuned that way, but a lot of the comments from the report backs from each of the, tables, people are really hungry for the history of Mount Veuven. I think, we need to continue to push that.

In fact, one of the suggestions was to open a museum.

Yeah. Only once. Okay. And you No. No. I've never done that. I've never done that.

That was one of the things came from the table I was sitting at.

Oh, I know. I know.

Ben But I'm just I'm reinforcing your statement of interest.

Yes.

I'm not saying, yes. Sign up for that.

Do that. Okay. Okay. Any

other comments? If not, move on to item number nine, and we will adjourn.

Do that.

Do you Matt, do you wanna, like, just do calendars to see if we can set up an agenda?

Okay. Well, let's close this one out.

Oh, right. Okay.

Stop recording.