City Council - Regular Meeting

Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.

All right, good morning everybody. Happy 420 day. Just realized it was 4:20. Um, and it's also uh workshop day for the Orlando City Council. Even better. So, we have two workshops this morning. And the first is an update from the Dr. Philip Center for the Performing Arts, which is now in its 11th year, which is hard to believe. Um, it has received international recognition from Architectural Digest as one of the 11 most beautiful theaters in the world. That's Steinmet's Hall and Billboard's 2025 year and touring top venues. But the impact goes beyond their building. uh we think back to 10 years ago when pulse occurred and the community gatherings that we had in the front yard there as well as the front yard festival during COVID. So let's hear from Kathy Grahamsburgger, the CEO of the Dr. Phillips Center on what they've been doing and what they envision for the future.

Good morning. Uh we're so happy to be here today to give an annual presentation of uh last year's performance at the art center. We're going to give a little history too. Um before we get started, I just want to acknowledge our team uh that's here. These are our directors and our senior leaders and uh you'll see the reflection of their work in this presentation. I also want to say thank you very much to the city team. We work constantly with your team and this past year you helped us do something in about three months and it was to put on a holiday festival free of the public for 30 days and uh having your team help us with permitting and doing some things that have never done been done before uh again was uh rewarding, aspirational and you saw a lot of joy from the people that attended which you'll see. Okay, let's get started. So, um, for some of you that might not be familiar, we actually started, uh, the art center in 2003, just listening and talking to people. And, uh, what we heard was this building should be for everyone. And hopefully throughout this presentation, you'll have a chance to see that everything from how we train our team to, uh, what we program, how the building was designed, what our future plans are, all have to do is this feel comfortable for every walk of life? How can we change and evolve an industry uh that uh is really about big places and sometimes they're very intimidating? Arts for every life. Uh it was actually arts for life when we started. The word every came from a volunteer. It's great. Our mission statement is to be an inspirational place where people love to be. Hope you'll see that through the presentation as well. We have values that our team actually collectively came together and developed. uh we looked at about 150 different values and came down with our seven and uh we think about these every day and we believe that values really help us with our bottom line honestly uh we have three main

goals of the company. One is to present ex exceptional programming that refle reflects all forms of entertainment and art and event content. Um the second one is to ensure we celebrate all likenesses and differences and the last one we need to stay in business. That's the biggest one. Um, this is the total contributions to the project to date. That's 737 million. Includes just about everything including capital, annual maintenance, capital improvements, and we're also uh in the middle of plan giving as well as endowment campaign and it'll continue. Of course, to date, uh we've put over uh the Dr. for Philip Center is well over what our original agreement was in terms of capital. As you know, we had to divide the building. Uh dividing the building actually cost the project $160 million. Uh we've put probably another 80 or so million into it to help get the project across the finish line. We've also put 60 million in in terms of capital improvements in the building and annual maintenance. We take care of the asset on a daily basis. That was our agreement. Um, so on an annual basis, the venue takes about $9 million to take care of. The city has an annual maintenance fund that you help support the building at 600,000 a year. Okay. Our purpose is uh this is reflected in our this is our annual report and it's actually in um all the numbers from our annual report and it's in a video format. This one incredible years.

Happy Hallelujah. He just won a scholarship.

So hopefully you had the chance to see Arts Forever. every life in that video. We uh and as we go through here, we'll get a little bit more specific in the numbers. So, uh this past year, we've grown our business to about 68.5 million. And our original plan, uh the goal was to run a $14 million year business with the building complete. And so, our view has been since our board is at risk, not only to build the center, but also to operate the veter have it live every single day. um which is a which is a great thing because we do we try to keep it as alive as as most as possible. We have uh we generate almost 2500 jobs. Uh to date we've brought 6.2 million dollar 6.2 million people into the building. This year it'll be really close to a million. And to date we've given back to the community 50 about $55 million rounding up there. Those programs the 55 million go to programs that do not have a revenue stream. So as you see this all the programs that we do for children, arts and wellness, we have to raise the funds to do this. Everything we earn goes into taking care of the asset. Uh to date for community engagement, this is all the tickets in the programs. We have to purchase tickets for all the attendees that we invite. Many of you uh here at the commission have actually sponsored some of the kids to come, which we're grateful. We provide scholarships not only to college, but we also provide scholarships to our camps. Um we actually underwrite uh a lot of the programming that comes into the center for most of the local arts organization. We have an arts for every life rate which is lower than the rate that is average on average throughout the country for resident arts groups. Um and then professional services when new organizations come to the building. It's a very technical building. So we help support them with um not only production support but also a great deal of marketing support, programming support, etc. We also go into Orange County school systems and teach them how to use their equipment. To date, we've

purchased 66,300 tickets. So, when a show comes in, um, we have to purchase the tickets unless it's our show. Most of the shows though are Broadway shows and other shows that are commercially based. And to date, these are the organizations that we have invited to the center. When we invite them to the center, we uh, and you know this, when we invite them to the center, we uh have a partnership with a transportation company. We give them a beautiful brunch that we fund. We give them an educational program and we buy them swag. And we want that first experience to be something that they always remember and felt comfortable with in hopes that they'll continue to come back. Uh education to date about over 600 850 almost uh 865,000 uh students have been engaged. Our youngest student is probably between two and four months old and our oldest student was Jenny and she was 104. So, uh, our students range all over the place in terms of age. Um, lots of education initiatives. So, since we've opened almost a thousand different educational initiatives that happen inside the center, but also in the community. Here are programs here that you can see. Just a couple highlights. Disney MU musicals and schools. Right now, we're in uh 15 Title One schools. And what we've done is we've teach them how to produce and create their own Broadway musical. What's great about this is it uh really brings a community together, the teachers, the administrators, the students, the parents, and they produce from start to finish their Disney musical in their school. And at the end of the year, we bring all the firstear students, first year schools to the art center, and they perform in the Disney stage. A lot of these are out in the region. Um, and most of them are uh are they've been everlasting kind of when we started the Applause Awards. Uh we basically produce the Tony Awards from Jacksonville all the way down to PK County and throughout the year we have a team that goes and adjudicates their high school musical

and they come to the arts center uh and we uh we we select all the best from each school. They perform and then we choose two that we fund to go to New York for almost two weeks, right? Is Ryan here? Almost almost two weeks and uh they compete. Uh we one year we had two students that won the same year. never been done before which was great at throughout the country. These are the schools that we work with and so it's all through the region. We've really launched a great effort. We started this before we even opened and you do the arts really matter in the arts in the the wellness of someone's life and we started working with kids with autism. This is prior to opening in 2014. We've continued that work and we've explored it even more and this is a area of growth for us. Just to highlight some of them, when we do these programs, we bring in um uh expert teachers that are professionals or they have a unique skill set uh that the participant would really value. So just a couple examples when we do anything with kids with autism or these particular we bring in Second City out of Chicago. Palabolis is an international dance company for stesta those are stroke survivors. That program has really grown. The Royal Film Michael Orchestra actually began this program. We're the first in the United States to actually do it and it's been consistent for the past three or four years where stroke survivors come and they work with these musicians and they create content and they we have a performance for them when they're done. What we've noticed is these um populations, they love being at the art center. They love being part of something but then it's over only for a couple weeks maybe a month or so. So the area of growth is to create spaces at the art center where these populations can come every week and work towards something and then when it's over they have the chance to come back. Parkinson's, depression, postpartum, uh again staying with our stroke survivors, gestational gi multiple. So we've been working with a lot of the

medical community understanding what populations would be interested. We're interested in doing this for joy and most everything here is about joy uh for us but there's some medical entities that may want to study this which is what the clinical research was right when we opened we thought does it matter we did a year-long program with Advent Health to study do the arts clinically matter and we uh wrote a program it was acting one and for one year level four Alzheimer patients and their caregivers came to the arts center and we put them through level one acting classes with clinicians where they worked towards something for a year and the study came out positive that it did clinically matter. That was hope. And so the goal now is to continue that. What's important is the surgeon general, we started this a while ago, but the surgeon general, they u came out just about six months ago or so and determined that two cultural programs a month as is is as important than going to the gym once a week. And so having culture in your life and being together is really really important criteria for the well-being of a community. And then we do a great deal of work with uh uh veterans. Again, none of these programs are funded. We have to raise the funds. If you're interested, this week we have Stroke in the building and we have a wonderful leader that runs that that's actually uh that lives in the United States and then we uh not only train some of our local musicians, but also some other musicians from the UK may be there as well. Okay, this is a video on arts and wellness. close to that and now I'm thinking that maybe I can do something like I

play such

I think having a chance to belong to and find that great news for a groundbreaking advential for your health. A lot of people go through this and their life is over and um you know they don't But things like this can help them and it really truly has worked for me.

One of the unique things about culturalism is that they have the opportunity to people's lives in the future and other people with disabil matters. are not just the connecting of parts. Something will come out of this that will be lifechanging for people. We're healing lives. We're making a lasting difference.

Watching a veteran piece is a reminder of the power of creativity. Everyone can be impacted by arts. You see in the audience. We see children on the stage with autism who come alive. You see this survivor and survivors his mother she was extremely son again I forever.

Let's see if we can be a leader in arts and maybe we can be aspirational to other art centers and maybe this community is proud of what they've done. There's more to do. It's taken thousands and thousands of people to get this done. But this program is also the next phase of the art center. You have places where you worship. You have and unique places of joy. And I think this is it.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, we really feel we have a lot more opportunity in this space, but also inviting more people to the center. And so, we have another phase that we want to show share with you. Um, just a next growth. Our our business model changed a great deal from our original agreement. and uh and we'll share that with you in a bit. We have over 23,000 donors and that's from a dollar and up. They're all very important to us. Some of those initial donors that started at $99 have now come in and give us close to half a million dollars. They wanted to see if we could deliver on a promise and that's a big uh opportunity for us. So, as we run the business of of uh giving um a lot of it was capital, as you can see, our original agreement was 75 million and then it was 85 million because some of the public funding went to some of the other projects. Then our board decided to put another 25 million in to make Styus Hall a perfect hall, make it a transitional hall, the floor flip, and an N1 rated hall. That got us to right around 110. And then we're in the process now of raising $25 million in endowment plan giving. So we want to contribute more to our project. We feel it's a community project. We feel we started in a great alliance with multiple partners and we want to continue to do that. We are all through Orange County. So we're much more than just a place across the street and we embrace that a great deal. Uh we have uh been able to now after eight and a half years or nine years of being in business because we went down for a couple years in COVID which you'll see we have sponsors that realize that our attendees might be valuable to their organization in terms of their business development. So our SP sponsors now have grown which is important because that's how we

achieve a lot of the things that don't have a revenue stream like the front yard festival. We have been very very fortunate to uh be the recipient for national recognitions. Um one of my favorite was right when we opened the uh we were one of the world's coolest new tourist attractions. Uh I'm not sure how often the word cool is associated with ops art centers but that was one of our goals and we didn't have to pay for that one. They uh they actually recognized us as a cool venue which is good. Um uh of course with our autism we were one of the first centers in the southeast to be uh certified as an autism uh ready venue. Steutmet Hall as you know uh one of the 11 most beautiful theaters in the world. Uh the one in the middle is something that uh Alan Johnson has championed for many uh city venues. Twice we've been recognized uh by our peers of the best in the world for art centers uh business awards for guest services. uh National Geographic. There was a theater in Greece that was coming out of commission because I needed to renovate it. Historic, hundreds and hundreds of years old and basically architectural giant. Don't worry, you always can go to Steinmet's Hall, which I thought was a huge win. Um Polestar, the Walt Disney Theater is constantly acknowledged as one of the most profitable and busy venues uh in the world. And that's constant every quarter. We look at that. our 10-year growth. Remember our first year we were asked to deliver a $14 million B business. We did 20 million uh 29 million and that was out of fear. Remember our board is we don't make our numbers at the end of the year. Our board needs to write a check. So we don't lean on any public entity to help us with our business operations. So we said you know what it ought to be busy. The other thing that happened in 200 uh uh n is when the world changed, so did the business model of the art center because the sustaining mechanism for the art center was to be three commercial

buildings that were going to generate revenue to help sustain the art center. And that partnership came with the city and the county, but the art center bought the church property as part of that to recoup not only what we invested in the church property, but also to help feed our endowment, but also help sustain the venue. None of that was possible. So when we opened the building, not only were we trying to make sure we could sustain the building, we're also trying to raise money to uh start Simon's Hall. It was very busy couple years. So you can see when we went down a little bit, um when Broadway, we don't have the number of weeks of Broadway, our business model uh just in terms of earned revenue reduces. And the reason why is Broadway comes in and they are consecutive in their show presentations. Tuesday through Sunday, two shows on Saturday and Sunday. And so the volume of work and the attendance and the ticket sales are solid. When a show cannot sit down, then there's dark days, loading days, loadout days, and so you lose the uh the value in maximizing the revenue of the venue. Broadway is very important to us, and our goal is to eventually try to have more Broadway weeks here and expand our season. We have a challenge right now because we have close to 16,000 subscribers and there's only 22,000 seats available for Broadway and so we have very few seats that can go on single ticket sales so people can enjoy Broadway. The goal is to have more days of Broadway in there, be able to set prices more dynamically and then also have the ability to bring new audiences in and grow them. Okay, you can see what happened to us during COVID. Um, again, the city was supportive of that. you really helped us get the front yard festival up and running. Uh, and that was a uh that was a a faith and so thank you for that. The DDB supported us on that very much so along with the county and then we raised about three to four eventually I think it was 5 million. Spencer Tong actually built that hurricane proof in about 10 weeks and then we're up and running. we were going to take it down in six months

and the community loved it so much we raised more money to keep it open for a year and then after a year when we were take it down people would drive by as this team was taking it down saying no keep it up. What that did is it it gave us um the energy and the validation that this front piece of property ought to go back to the community. That was part of the commercial development. There was supposed to be an office tower and a hotel in the front. Those two uh developments were going to uh generate over $4.2 2 million to help us take care of the asset. Um and but we've been running it pretty fair, pretty well. So we thought, should we forgo those gifts and we agreed that we should and it should be going back to the community. Okay. So that's part of this plan. Then all of a sudden we pop back out out of COVID where it's at 65.8. Uh that was a huge Broadway year, but also we opened Steinments Hall. Um the next year, fewer weeks of Broadway, 2025, we're back up to Broadway. We also opened Judson's. Okay. Uh we've had over 190 arts groups be in the venue. Uh of that 45 are different types of presentations. So when we talk about arts for every life, it's embracing all forms of art. Of course, we also program things outside of the center. To date, we have been uh helping with programming with experienced CMI all over the country. Um and we also are touring work now too that we create. But you can see some of the works that we're we're doing outside of the um the venue. Our building activity, this is important because it tease up why do we want to expand? Um the number of performances in our contract is actually less than 307. Okay, 307. Uh this past year we did over a thousand curtains. So in terms like uh in the beginning keep it live all the time. Um, we are buying a great deal of content at risk. So, the only groups that we actually rent to are the lo

mostly regional arts groups, okay, at a reduced rate. Everything else we buy, we bet on ourselves to see if we can make some money off of it so we can sustain the business. And you can see how many tickets uh that we sold. I think what's interesting is look at our non-ted events. So the first year we did 98 then we were at 320 our tenure total and this past year a great deal of non- ticket events. What is that? That is everything from weddings to uh change of commands uh retirement parties uh corporate buyouts. This is all another revenue line for the business to make sure we can sustain the building. Um one of one of the ones we like to talk about too is the third from the bottom. How many meals we serve in the front of house and the back house. We're kind of in the food and beverage business big time. So just the artist alone, 90,000 meals and Judson's uh barely touches that number. Okay. We do about almost 28,000 meals. 28,000 meals or 30 just for the artists in the back. Okay. And actually uh there artist named Beck said the best restaurant in Orlando is in the back of House of the Arts Center, which I thought was kind of nice. So lots of donors there. And then look at the volunteer hours. that that says a lot that people want to volunteer and be part of the art center to date. Uh this in terms of activity, I think this is important to share. The Walt Disney Theater was always interest that was the one we need to make money on. And if you remember when we divided the building, we chose to do the Disney theater first. Commercial work goes in there. That's how we can make our margins and that actually helps sustain the venue. Um Simon's Hall, it's flipped, right? almost 119 different days are for local and regional in that exceptional N1 rated hall. Um and then you can look at the Pew Theater too. As anyway as we go down here, what you can see is it is a really close mix local and regional. Okay, per venue. Now remember, Mondays and Tuesdays are dark for a lot of the

artists. Those are days off. And so when you look at the amount of days here, we are we are at capacity for most of our venues. very very difficult for anybody to find any more dates. What we've learned is and we had the chance to look at data here just this is an example in Steinmet's Hall 43% of the performances in Steinmet's Hall sell 800 tickets or less. Okay, the the hall size is uh 14 about 1580 in one form and 1720 in another form. So at 800 tickets they're not maximizing and they're not growing. So we've noticed that they're not growing. uh 30% of the Steam Hall performances are sellout. 27 of them sell between 800 and 1,200 which they're growing. So that has hope for them. So 57% of the performances are well suited for Simon's Hall. All the other ones need to be in a different size hall and 750 is the right size where you can actually balance the budget with earning revenue and also staining the building. Anything less, you can't make your margins on that. So 750 seat hall is uh is something that's needed. This also supports a 750 hall and smaller ones. In the pew theater, the rent is still the same as it was when we opened at $600 for 141 days. Uh 186 performances in the pew. 31 31% of those days featured two performances in one day. In other words, they're selling more tickets. They need to be in a larger venue. Um and of 49% were less than 150 tickets. The Pew Theater is 250 seats. So what we're saying here is some of them can go in a larger venue and others can go in a smaller venue. So this just talks about utilization days for the non-picked events. These are all the events and you can see the the activity there. We try to put those in on Mondays and Tuesdays. So with this data we've been able to look at data. What should the strategic plan be? We started this in 2019 and after co we took it back out and looked at it again

and we said is we really need to activate the place and we had nine acres that was supposed to have three big pieces of commercial development on it. What what are the opportunities there? Um how can we expand our programming and our reach? How can we expand our reach to people all students education attendance artists etc. And then last one again how do we stay in business? So the growth of this is we want to expand nine uh venues to 20. These are all types of venues that would support theaters. So some of the venues are FNB venues that support uh the activity of um the spaces. Uh we are over 10 years old. Disney the Disney theater, the front of house, the back of house and the pew need a little of attention. And so we have four improved uh places. We know that we can't start any of this until we have 100% uh of the funding secured. And we want to increase our excellent guest rating by 5%. Right now, if you do good to good and great in terms of how we survey, we survey after every show, by the way, we'd be at 95%. So, good and great at 95%. If we take good out, we drop. And and so we want to make sure we increase that. Why do we have uh lower rates for excellent uh parking? Uh it was raining uh traffic. I was hungry. So there's not a lot of FNB places close downtown uh walking distance and they want to park one time. They don't want to park twice. So uh sometimes they don't like the show. Okay. So that's they they might not have read it uh exactly what it was, but that's very rare. It's usually uh these ancillary issues that are creating the uh the less than excellent uh survey programming with these venues. We think we can uh double the programming uh in a 400 uh 40% increase in self-produced work mostly our youth programming.

Actually, it's not just with youth programming. We want to produce programming for every different type of age and audience. So, it's all programming. Um 100 100% increase in private events. We know that people like to be in places like the arts center when they're aspiring and we can take care of them from a guest service perspective. Um 20 arts and wellness programs that's 20 a week throughout the year and then a thousand free of uh performances. We want to move in terms of the front yard space. How can we constantly do front yard free performances? People would increase to as well as productivity. So our business model here is if we have the ability to grow into this complete master plan, our business will grow. We understand that this is not going to be done at once, but to understand how each venue operates with a sustaining mechanism with our board at risk. How do we do it? And so this is as if it were to be done at once. We're not anticipating that it would be done at once. Uh but the goal is to make sure that we have different revenue lines where we can sustain it and then put the revenue in places where we can actually sustain them the sustain the venue and the growth and the quality standards that we all intended to have. The master plan is uh local roots global reach just like we are right now. So we have five different areas. The first one which will go through each one is the front yard. Well this is the space. This was a 9 acres where the little bubble is at the front where it says performance venue. That entire strip was supposed to be a hotel where it has FnB support at the bottom. That was supposed to be um very wide uh uh commercial building uh kind of encroaching in the plaza in the back where it's gray. That was intended to be a condominium. Why were those venues selected? because we were trying to create a space that had every

different type of activity 24/7 living, working, visiting, playing. Playing was at the art center. All of that commercial development was going to uh contribute over $6.4 million to the art center to help sustain the asset before going at least the front piece. So, what should we build? And the master plan that I shared with you, it can fit on the site. The issue is it's very very very expensive to stack and do something that condense. So our board looked at what was for sale around the property and we ended up buying the balance of the Grand Bohemian block two partials there. Eventually the art center would like to give that to a public entity so we can expand the the space uh the the project on this. So these are the areas that we're going to present where the venue is going to be. So, here are the five components. Um, you've got the back piece of property. Um, we're looking in the back of the art center. You can see city hall in the north. Um, on the top, uh, right where the purple spaces, that's a parking deck, and we're bringing that all the way across. Uh, and in the parking deck is also administration, and there's a venue in there that can help uh, our musicians expand. It also has a scenic shop which is one of the components that we do not have in the building that's desperately needed. So this is called the east tower. The front piece south of the the lawn that is our performance block. The north block has several components in there which we'll talk about. uh one is a 800 seat banquet venue, 750 seat theater and two smaller venues and then some commercial development on the bottom that can help with revenue. The front uh piece of property, the front yard has an amphitheater, it has production support, kind of a concessions cafe, and then uh a destination restaurant.

So, can we do a thousand free events a year? We believe we can. In Dallas, there's a park called Clydeborn Park. We invite you to come with us to see it if you'd like. This park uh was built over a highway. So the highway instead of going over the city went in between uh two kind of mounds kind of a mountain or hills and went underneath this way. They built a park over it. Talk about a bold idea. What that did is it joined the the city. The park itself has been attributed to stimulating and encouraging and completing over $9 billion dollar worth of development for the city. As importantly, it united the city. People come all the time and a nonprofit does over a thousand free events a year and 1.5 million people visit it. So we talk about free events, it's everything from Zumba to story time to um you know every ticketed events, passive music, all of it. We did some of this during COVID which we love. We partner with the YMCA. Lots of partnerships here. So what does that look like? We have a iconic building. We we don't want to put things too high in front of it. We want to expand the square footage if we can. So we and we want to be green. Okay, it's warm out there and to tent it or to cover it. We've studied that a great deal for shade and it just it's hard to hard to make that work honestly. We can we can but it it's something that you know if we can find another way to do it and we feel this is the way to do it. So what we've done is that's the east block. We'll go back here. So go back here real quickly. So this particular space underneath it both the south side and the north side um both lift up and there's spaces underneath that. the east block uh which is in the back that has multiple different spaces in it. So uh that's you can see the boxes below it is where the scenic shop is the venue which

is right next to Judson's and we'll have uh at better back of house support uh for both Judson's and this space uh again another music destination and the other two floors are administration you have parking at the top that could be a center for arts and wellness we have to have our populations be next to parking and this is the best way for us to achieve that. The north block here on this particular block has uh multiple different components in it. Retail spaces on the bottom. We we have uh 750 seat meeting rooms. Uh then where it's kind of shaded, that's an option. You know, if we can find the funding to it, uh smaller venues will actually be in there as well. And on the top is the banquet venue. The annual economic impact currently of our particular building that uh is about $230 million. So, we're big economic driver, constantly running throughout the year, lot of um off-site spending. Uh total labor income is pretty significant. Uh tax revenue 13.2 million and lots of room nights. And in terms of the populations, 50% of the ticket buyers actually purchase outside of Orange County and out outside of the region. And I think 50% or a quarter of those are actually stay in uh hotel room nights. Polling results. We did did we did some polling. You know, does the community like this project? Do we want to do more as a community to do it? Remember, not only do we need to have public support to do capital, we also need uh people to come and continue to buy tickets. So 33% had already heard about the future growth of the art center. 90% said yes yes and yes and let's do it. 82% support future growth and the funding to come from TDT. Um top priorities for future growth job creation a thousand free events reliable performances and space access worldass

productions and improved parking. where that parking is. Again, there's lots of parking around the center, by the way, but being on the site and not having to cross the roads is is feels more safe to them. Key messages from the polling. Um, increased capacity, education, and economic impact. That's what we heard back from them. The majority view Dr. Phillips Center as a community asset with positive economic impact. 60% are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports using TDT for the future growth of the project. the holiday festival, right? The holiday festival was something again, how do we kind of give back to the community and can we do it? This effort is about a $3 million a year annual effort and to fund it. We want to thank the the city and the DDB and the DO, you know, the whole community, but the DDB and the CRA. You guys actually helped us get this launched. And the goal is is how do we keep having people come to one of the best holiday festivals? And when you just see the interaction of these people, it was a win. And the win is is again thinking big. To raise funding and sponsorship, you have to have a big idea. Adequate ideas attract adequate funding. Big ideas, you know, when you've got a reputation now to deliver on a pro promise is much better. So again, driving economic stimulation, of course. And I have to say again, a big thank you to Sherry and her team for helping us support this so quickly. I mean it was very very we thought about it for a long time but then we acted on it kind of uh in a very condensed manner but we delivered it so this year we got a little more time so we want to build build a legacy where tradition holiday traditions are important so just the numbers on the recap 1.76 billion total audience reach 312 total media mentions over a million uh dollars in gross FNB okay uh lots of guests we can do better there again our first time uh first out of the gate lots that we brought. We actually purchased um uh it was a free

event, but we purchased gift uh cards and food and beverage opportunities for families to come that would not be able to get there. Picked them up a can and brought them in. We did 168 live concerts and performances and 100 uh new seasonal jobs were created and we had 12 sponsors and one donor and we're looking for more and actually the city is one of those. So, this team all pulled this together really, really quickly and I think they did a great job. So, thank you all very very much for that. Um, here are our sponsors that we uh that we brought in. And here's just a quick video where you can see uh some joy.

Holidays are taking center stage at the Dr. Phillips Center. Nightly snowfall twinkling lights and of course Santa for the performing arts. The month shines the spotlight on parks community. live performances. This festival really will put you in the spirit right in front of our beautiful center. Close. That one. Anyway,

it's been Thank you, Kathy. Excellent presentation. I think under any estimation, the performing arts center has exceeded all expectations. Um, but to think back all the way to 2003 where we've been able to come So pretty amazing. Also, I think you have set the record for most slides in a presentation.

Sorry, I talk fast. How fast was I? Was I 67 and two videos? I don't think anybody's come close to that quite honestly. Okay, we have comments or questions. Uh, Commissioner Sheen Burns Chapen Keane.

Thank you, Mary. Thank you, Kathy. Great presentation. And the doomsayers said it would not work. They said all these other art centers have failed. Y'all are going to fail. And guess what? It has not failed. It's been a tremendous success and a tremendous boon to downtown. So, you know what? Sometimes you need to make investments that bring people into our downtown and this has been a tremendous investment. So, thank you for that. Um, arts are critically important to communities. There's a reason why people are attacking art centers is because they do provide joy and connection. So, thank you for doing that. And I think that's why Orlando is more connected because of this facility bringing everyone together. Um, I loved seeing Jordan Foley getting excited about seeing his face on a billboard. I know Jordan. And I just think that was magical. And that's the kind of stuff, you know, these local artists would never have had that opportunity. And I did fuss at first. I'm like, the local artists aren't giving opportunities. And I'm glad Judson is really doing that. So that makes me happy because I know a lot of these musicians. We have a lot of music in the Mills area and now they're getting a chance to do, you know, shows at Judson's and it's just a beautiful venue. And this is a venue they would never usually be able to, you know, to perform in. So that's amazing. Um, on the holiday festival, I had a friend from Germany, okay, and he loves the Christmas markets. He's always bragging about them. He said that our front yard festival was more was nicer than some of the festivals in Europe. And I was like, wow. So that tells you something. If a German who never gives I mean he's complimentary, but he gives them he dos them out very um judiciously. He was gaga over the holiday. We had gone to a show one night and we walked through the holiday festival and he thought just thought it was amazing. So again, these are great opportunities. Um the only thing I'm a little bit concerned about is that you know having that lawn I know we've always talked about developing that lawn.

That lawn saved the the center during co I mean that lawn became a community gathering place after pulse. I'm just a little bit worried about using up the lawn because it is such an important space and I know people don't look at lawns as economic development but you all have very successfully utilize that lawn to bring in amazing events and to provide um entertainment. So that's my only pause is developing that that front the back great you know blow that out use that for however you can but I'm a little bit concerned because like I say I mean I went to the front I went to the you during co I went to the festival when when you had to pivot

and and even though it it shows not as much revenue you did not lose money during co so that's incredible I mean a lot of a lot of performing arts centers were losing money and you did not so that's my only pause is ah let's not lose that lawn because you have been able to program it so successfully um in a way to um you know in a way to basically save the center and like I say kudos for figuring out how to do all that because that was not easy and um and you know I mean that that is a tremendous asset and and to Mayor Dyer he's I like the lawn I like the lawn too mayor

so I think you know that's my only pause with this but um you know the kids that the the seniors, the children that participate in events, they're so excited and and I love supporting, you know, the the community give backs because it does so much for those kids. And I just want to thank all the staff. Um, you know, I know some of the customers can be a little hairy sometimes, but, you know, for the most part, you're providing a happy, joyful place for people to come and thank you for all you do. I don't really have any questions. That was my only concern was, you know, developing the developing the lawn because I know it's been such an important community gathering space. Thank you.

We would like to invite all of you over. Uh our board after the last effort for TDT funding in 2022, I think it was, our board approved um to finance the design uh phase up to construction drawings so we could get accurate drawings. I'm sorry. Through the design phase of a construction schedule. Uh so we uh curated and we have a great deal of detail that we can show you when you come over to the city of how each space could be operated. And the most important thing is that space has to be operated where we can do a thousand free events. We have to be able to do those events. And so we'll show that to you. We'll invite you over so you look at it. We don't want to we we want to make sure that it's going to be a place for the people. Yeah. Commissioner Burns.

All right. Thank you, Mayor and uh Kathy. Uh great presentation and thank you to you and your your team for um the great work that you're doing, but also on delivering on the promises that you that you set out for. First, I want to say I support TDT being used for this growth project. So, uh hopefully that'll ensure I get some votes. Um uh but I I I I do want to just say thank you for the support of local uh performing arts programs, specifically those who uh have a lot of kids that come out of uh District 6.

Uh cuz just to see those children perform in this venue is just amazing when they come in and you know to attend the show is just you know it's is heartwarming to see. So, thank you for uh working continue to work with those groups and making it easier for them to uh put on their shows here. Uh so, thank you for that. I did have one question. Uh you mentioned I think you mentioned there was about 9 million in operating and was that maintenance of the or of the building? So, is that just maintenance or maintenance and operating operating? Well, it's it's everything that it's m it's the maintaining of the building of the asset. Right. Right. And you said from the and we get about you all get about 600,000 from the city, right?

All right. Is that the only city support that you all receive on an annual basis? On an annual basis that that yes for the operations the city does put a million dollars into a fund for capital improvements. Okay. And so that and that's annually that you annually do that. Okay. And we what we'll do is we'll come and we'll make a request if there's something that uh really qualifies for that capital improvement and you've you've helped us out several times on that one. We had um some of our balcony glass uh needed to be replaced and so you helped with that. But yeah, so so I can understand. So we set aside that funding and then when there's a need you all come in the project. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. All right. Thank you. That's all I have on that.

Mr. Chapman. Thank you Kathy. Uh, congratulations. Thank you for the presentation. Um, every time I walk in and out of that building, I, you know, can't believe it's right here in Orlando. Um, and a big part of it is your staff and their smiling faces that we all see and the diversity of all of our guests that come in there of all ages, all colors, all sizes, everything. Um, and it's always just a fantastic experience. I think you've done a wonderful job. Thank you. and every time uh you seem to have delivered and then some and uh I just it's a a great presentation and wish you luck moving forward. Thank you. And also thank you for being a longstanding volunteer of the art center in the early years.

Thank you, Commissioner Keane. Thank you, Mayor. I I want to be on record. I also support TDT. I want to be clear. If only you guys had a vote on that. All right. All right. So, I have a I just have a couple questions and maybe I misunderstood something. On page 43, you had uh 750 uh auditorium for 750 folks. And then on page 57, you had it on the north side. So, east side and north side. Is there There's not two, correct? You're just ask Yeah. on 43 that was the original site plan. That was the original plan. Real site plan, right? And then over on um Well, I'm new so I

Yeah. No, no, I totally got it. I I got you. I got you. So on 45 we purchased the um the balance of the Grand Bohemian block outside of the original footprint and that is where the we we're calling that the north tower. The there's like four or five components in there. One's a 750 seat theater. Then there's a 150 seat theater and I think a 75 seat theater, 800 seat banquet hall and then there's commercial opportunities in the bottom for maybe another food and be beverage um opportunity. That makes sense. Thank you.

Now the other question and again Commissioner Chapen commented on just a little bit about the diversity of folks that are that are using. Do we have the demographics for folks that use the the facility the guests? Now, other words, do we know 80% come from Yep. Orange County, 20% come from Semol. I mean, yes, we have no doubt. Actually, we have a I think all all 50 states have purchased tickets in 80 countries have purchased tickets, but we can tell you exactly where the ticket buyers. You have a very sporty ramp there to to double attendance. And if you're just coming from inside the city of Orlando, it makes it pretty tough, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, it's um your question is do we think that we can expand by doubling? We think we can absolutely

the infrastructure one because the front yard alone I mean just our front yard festival and this was brand new. We had like 160,000 people come that month and if we program it correctly just with the other venues as well we think that we can probably double. Right now we do about 900,000 between 8 and 900,000 guests come to the venue. Okay, that's both non-ED and ticketed events. And with this with the holiday festival and the eventual development of all this, just the number of seats and the number of programming and ticket sales that will push it up to um another million including including all the free events and that's a little bit harder to track obviously of where they're coming from.

So if you were to guess is 60% 70% of the audience coming from Orange County or 50 50% is coming outside of Orange County right now and 50% are within Orange County and we can actually send over to you how many people are in the city limits. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Okay. Thank you Kathy. Would you havebody on your staff stand up and stand up guys? Let us recognize them.

They're great. They're a great team. Gives you guys the opportunity to go ahead and make your way out. Thank you all very, very much. Appreciate your time.

Okay, now that we've got through that, we get to do the really fun stuff. Actually, Kathy mentioned during her presentation the critical role the parking plays related to the performing arts center and it plays a pretty critical role on everything that happens in any of our venues or bringing people downtown. So, we are going to get an update on our parking division. And they I don't have 73 slides. I see it's a little shorter.

Not that many. We We are shorter. Dire our new director of transportation, Chrissy Martin.

Excellent. Mayor and commissioners, I am excited and most importantly, I am so proud to have our parking leadership here with us today to give a workshop and share with you their insight into best practices throughout the country. as well as their measured implementation approach that has earned the division one of the most efficient, high praise and conscious of cost um within the city. Beautiful. So, as their longerving attorney, city attorney told me, Mary told me the other day, theirs is a great story to tell because you don't hear about parking a lot and it's because they do their job really well. Um you don't want to hear about it. constantly producing, always accessible with employees that provide a service to move our residents and guests in a smooth and seamless fashion during the busiest of times for our downtown core. Today, you will hear from Scott Zers, our longstanding parking division manager on the history of our parking division, the infrastructure that has been established, and the parking landscape of today. and then Scott will turn it over to Josh Alves, his assistant division manager to address operations and management rates and modernizing the network. So without further ado, I would like to welcome Scott.

Morning, mayor, commissioners. Good morning.

As Chrissy said, I'm Scott Zers. I'm the parking division manager since 2007. Can't believe it's been almost 20 years, but time flies. As you know, the parking division operates as an enterprise fund, meaning we're self-supporting. We don't take any tax dollars. We survive on our user fees, parking fees, and we operate much like a private business. We had to cover our bills. Uh when I took over as division manager, the division was operating at a deficit of over a million dollars annually, and I'm proud to say that is no longer the case. We're here today to provide an update on the current status and the future of the parking system. Before we get started, I'd like to acknowledge the nearly 130 city staff members that help us operate the division every day. To give a brief timeline, the parking division was created in 1982 and first rate increase was approved in 1990. We experienced tremendous growth in the years between 1990 and 2009, opening seven new garages to accommodate growth of downtown. We're proud that we've been able to operate a successful and healthy enterprise fund without having to raise rates for the past 17 years. As we look ahead and think about the growth of downtown, we want to be prepared to meet the growth. And so we are looking at ways to modernize and grow the system and ensure we have the necessary revenues to do so. With that in mind, we hired Kimley Horn, a well-known consultant, to conduct a comprehensive study concerning race and technology advancements and also the latest uh best practices. As we think about the future of our parking system, we cannot do so without considering the changes in our daily lives. This includes everything from hybrid work schedules to ride share and on demand deliveries like Uber Eats and Amazon. All these things are taken into consideration.

Sorry, I have allergies. U and as we think about the future of parking, we also want to make sure it aligns with three important city initiatives. Our commitment to being future ready, our investments through the DTO action plan, and our commitment to safer streets through vision zero. Here's a map of our current parking facilities, including the garages and surface lots. One thing to note here is the average age of our assets is 30 years old. Even our newest parking garages, 55 West and Threat Locker, you know, formerly Geico, seems like they opened recently, but it's been 17 years. It's incredible. So, this is a reminder that we need to prioritize having enough revenue to maintain and upgrade our existing assets. Now the industry average is about 30 years per facility uh on average lifespan. We shoot for 50 at least. That's what through maintenance and capital improvements and all the things we'll talk about today. When you we think about investing in our existing assets, this includes the cost of labor, facility upkeep, and utilities, technology, systems and fees, insurance and risk, and enforcement. Again, while these costs have risen rapidly over the years, we have not raised our rate since 2009. And in that same period of time, the consumer price index, which as you know measures inflation, has increased by 52%. In addition to existing assets, we need to grow our parking division over time to accommodate the needs of downtown growth. There are 20 planned and proposed projects within the CRA that include a mixture of residential, hotel, retail, office, and mixeduse projects. We anticipate needing approximately 20 to $30 million uh to fund capital improvements over the next five years in our existing

facilities and then accommodates some growth by having possible uh future facilities built which we don't have to finance. So now I'll briefly provide an overview of our recommendations for moving forward. We'll categorize our parking inventory in two categories on street and off streetet. Both options are currently priced well below the private sector parking options within downtown and amongst our peer cities. While we are recommending adjusting our rates, the intent is to better manage demand, improve access, and support the long-term sustainability of the parking system. We're strategically using a new rate structure to accomplish the following. Alleviate congestion in certain garages and areas of downtown and to encourage longerterm visitors in downtown to park in garages rather than on street spaces. This will result in increased turnover in desirable on street spaces, making it easier for residents and visitors to patronize restaurants, ground floor retail, and entertainment. As part of looking ahead, we do anticipate leveraging technology to make it easier to find and pay for parking. Our expected outcomes include operating more efficiently, having additional revenue to reinvest in the parking system to accommodate future growth, helping with downtown's vibrancy to make it easier for people to come down and park downtown, making downtown more accessible with clearer parking options for short and long-term users. Thanks for hearing me out. And I'll turn it over now to my assistant division manager, Josh Alvis.

Welcome, Josh. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. I appreciate the opportunity to join you here today. As this chart shows, we have a little more than 10,000 paid parking spaces downtown with roughly nine garage spaces for every one on street space. This creates an imbalance within our parking inventory. On street, which is our premium and preferred parking option, is currently underpriced and overutilized. Off- streetet parking is currently underutilized compared to on street parking and is also priced well below market rate, lacks flexible pricing, and creates congestion on event nights. Furthermore, on street parking hits a capacity around 5:00 each evening and select zones. Since enforcement currently stops at 6 PM, many of our users and downtown employees will come around 4 pm, pay their two hours until parking uh pay for two hours of their parking and stay there all evening. This prevents turnover and user and users from being able to park at these premium spaces downtown to enjoy dinner, shop, or just explore our vibrant city. Part of our strategy, which we'll dive into now, is to drive people to garages, increase turnover of our on street spaces. As we discuss the strategy in more detail, we'll be considering changes based on our parking inventory. This includes on street parking, off- streetet parking, event parking, enforcement hours, and our service incentive employee program. First, I'd like to highlight our on street parking spaces. As our premium asset, they are currently underpriced relative to their high utilization rate. Currently, our on street parking is $1 an hour and has a max of two or three-hour time limit. What we're proposing is a progressive pricing structure that allows parking for up to six hours in designated zones. After the second hour, the rate increases in order to encourage

turnover. In addition to a new fee structure, as as you can see here, we propose extending enforcement hours from 6 o'clock p.m. to 8 o'clock p.m. But keeping Sundays and holidays free, we hope that the updated free structure and revised enforcement hours will encourage long-term parkers to use our garages help free up on street spaces for visitors supporting local restaurants and retail businesses. Additionally, extending time limits and select zones is expected to reduce the number of overtime citations. This table shows enforcement hours for peer cities. Orlando is ending at 6 p.m. while most cities are 9:00 p.m. or later. Five of the cities peer cities are enforced 24/7. And this is just another graph here showing our on street rates compared to our peer cities. You can see Orlando on the bottom left and our rates are well below those of our pair cities. Next, we'll talk about our off- streetet parking on an hourly basis. Currently, our rates are $2 per hour in our garages and lots. First, we propose keeping these rates at $2 per hour for the first four hours. After the fourth hour, will go up to $3 per hour with a maximum daily rate of 20. An average stay in our garage is roughly about four hours, so we don't see this negatively impacting many of our patrons. Additionally, our off- street hours rates will remain well below the private market. This rate structure complements the new onre parking rate encourages people to go into our garages, freeing up the preferred on street spaces for more turnover. For example, under a new fee structure, it would be about $8 to park in our garage versus $11 on street. This is just another table showing what

our off- streetet rates which is our garages and lots uh compared to our peer cities monthly parking. Uh we propose a $10 a month increase beginning in fiscal year 2728 to give businesses employees time to plan. Even with this increase, these parking rates will be continually will continue to be significantly lower compared to the private sector parking rates in downtown and in pier cities. In some cases, this is significant, such as the city commons garage, which has a monthly rate between $218 to $244. This is just a graph or a table showing our monthly rates uh compared to the private sector. If you see something blank there, it just it was not publicly available or it was undisclosed. But you can see the Orlando our our city managed lots and garages are much lower than the uh private. And now we'll talk about event parking. Um our garages currently charge a flat $10 rate uh which is which leads to increased congestion as drivers seek out these locations given they their most affordable options downtown and closest to the venue. These events draw large number of people into and out of downtown. And at the same time, it's why the system applies a flat rate so we can speed up uh exit times. The proposed city rates will be well below our private sector rates, which are ranging from 16 to $75 for some events. Staff proposes increasing event parking rates to a maximum of $20, excluding the threat locker, formerly Geico garage, and the Grove Park lot due their proximity to the KIA center. Staff also proposed imple implementing a proximity based pricing which allows us to charge less for the further away you park from the venue. This is just a map of our uh city

garages. You can see uh the stars depict the different um venues. Uh one in the middle there is the KIA center. One on the far right is the admin or the Dr. Philip Center and the far left is the inter co stadium. Um, so let's we'll give you an example of proximity based pricing and let's say there's an event at the KIA center in entering co stadium and at the Dr. Phillips Center. For those seeking more affordable parking options, garages slightly farther from the venue such as the media garage which is at the top north area uh the library garage or the Jefferson garage will offer convenient lowcost alternatives. It's all within a short walking distance. This will also provide opportunities for uh people to uh patronize B businesses along the way. Visitors may also choose to combine parking with micromobility or transit options including right TTO scooters, limo service to reach the venue efficiently. Those parking at 55 at the 55 West Garage, which is close to most of the venues in the Garland lot, would pay a higher event rate because it's much closer to the venue. This supports the city's broader goals of creating a more walkable, accessible, and transit oriented downtown. This strategy also reduces congestion in venues by offering multiple parking options and using pricing to better distribute demand and guide user behavior. Next, we'll talk about the uh service industry incentive program. Right now, the pro the program currently allows for a monthly permit from 5:30 p.m. to 5:29 a.m. It's underutilized for two reasons. First, the service service employees are often reporting to work much earlier than 5:30 p.m. And second, it's uh most cost effective for them to park on the street, pay for a few hours until enforcement ends at 6 PM, and leave their vehicles in place for the rest of the evening. This also contributes to on street parking reaching capacity by 5:00

pm, which also may discourage others from coming downtown for dinner or visiting businesses. There's just simply no turnover. We propose to extend the hours of the program from 5:30 p.m. or sorry, excuse me, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:29 a.m. to hopefully alleviate some of these concerns. The new hours along with the extended onstream enforcement will make it more affordable for downtown workers to take advantage of this program. At a rate of $65 a month, it comes it comes to less than $3 per day. All right. Lastly, we can't talk about parking without a little bit of compliance and enforcement. Um, as we're making these changes to our parking system, staff is proposing to increase the fine for certain violations. As you can see here on the screen, I will note citations do pay for the crossing guard program and limo. We are proposing to extend the payment period from 14 days to 21 days before any late fees are incurred, which is a positive change. Leveraging technology um obviously technology will be a key driver to our progress enabling us to improve efficiency and user experience. Digital options will enable us to cashless uh to enable cashless payments and flexible pricing. License plate recognition improves safety, moves us towards a frictionless environment and assists with real-time data collection. Parking guidance reduces congestion helps drivers find spaces faster. And lastly, data dashboards support datadriven decisions and f future policy decisions. This will support us in becoming more efficient operation, delivering a better customer experience, and a living smarter datadriven decision-m expected benefits. As we begin to wrap up, I know there's been a lot of information on the slide, but we felt it was important to clearly outline the full range of benefits. Reinvesting revenue is a key part of the strategy. It allows us to maintain and preserve our aging facilities while also

funding important upgrades like new technology, payment systems, and overall modernization. These changes support our broader downtown goals, making it easier to access local businesses, supporting continued growth, and creating a more predictable parking experience. These expected benefits will guide our decisions as we look to the future of our parking division. Just to so to recap, our recommendations uh which will return to you as a separate council action in the future. They include expanding our paid parking hours, reestablishing or establishing progressive on street parking rates, modernizing to a cashless and meterless system, encouraging garage parking, increasing our off- streetet hourly and monthly rates, updating the service incentive program, service employee incentive program, increasing fees for certain violations, and extending the payment deadline. Next steps. These are our next steps and timeline moving forward. We plan to go to council on May 11th for the first reading on parking ordinance changes followed by a second reading and adoption on June 8th with rates going in effect on October 1st, 2026 with your approval. And now if you guys any we're happy to take any questions we have. I have my team here with me to uh go over anything.

Okay. Thank you for the presentation. Um I guess I you know it's pretty impressive that you've been able to operate at a profit for the last what is it um 17 years since we've had an increase and Susie asked me this morning what we were doing at workshop and I said for art center parking she says it's so cheap to park. Of course, she's okay. Looking at Austin, what she's comparing it to, but she said, "Oh my gosh, it's so cheap in downtown. I don't think there's anywhere else in America that is cheaper than what our and we also paid we also paid off about $50 million in debt service while doing it."

So, operated efficiently and the most efficient personnel we have in the entire city are reader people. We hear that a lot. Yeah, that's good to hear. Okay. Uh, Commissioner Sheen and then Chap and then Rose and BMS.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Very, very, um, very good presentation. Um, and I want to just clarify that the maintenance is so important on these garages. I had a colleague who grandstanded about not doing the the garage maintenance one year and it was like $50,000 and I think you all had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix it after the fact. So, the grandstanding on not spending the money usually has a very detrimental effect. So, I just want to say that it's important to do the maintenance on these facilities. Very, very important. Um, my only concern I agree that, you know, that we need to um need to change the the structure because I'm one of those people that, you know, grabs a spot at at 4 if I'm going to to downtown. So, I'm guil I'm guilty of that as well. Um, but as we as we go to my concern is as we go to cashless and meterless, a lot of people don't understand that technology. My concern is that the signage might not be as good. I alluded to, you know, the um uh Asian-American Chamber of Commerce had a big Lunar New Year event in Create a Village and everybody got tickets because nobody understood the, you know, the the cash list. And so my concern is people already get upset if they don't understand the system and now they're going to get even a larger ticket if they don't understand the system. So I think we need to do a two-pronged approach. It needs to be an education. We need to have better signage where we do have these cashless um and meterless areas um and before we decide to increase the um before we decide to increase the fines because like I say it you know people that's the one thing we hear of people get mad when they get a ticket

and you know some of them are clearly you know they just they're just taking advantage of the system but some of them just don't understand the system and I just I'm a little bit reluctant I'm fine with all the other increases I'm a little bit reluctant to increase the fines when and I've expressed this concern before when people don't understand how to use the parking system. So that's that's my only concern there. Thank you.

I understand that. And commissioner um we do have the history of the creative village to help us with the meterless. Um we've learned because that was our first time doing it. I remember the mayor came out and put up the signs for us. Um but we plan on we call soft enforcement. So, like the first few weeks, we will just issue a warning, not in a green envelope, but in a light blue envelope, so it doesn't look like tickets. Um, so it'll have the warning in it with no fine explaining the violation. And then we'll have a pamphlet from the vendor, Park Mobile, or we may add a second one for for different options for redundancy. Um, and that'll explain how to use it. We have two-sided, Spanish and English, and we'll have those in the envelope with the warning. And we'll do that for a few weeks. We'll decide how it's going. Um, and then we are improving the signage. We've improved it lately. Um, partly based on your comments. Um, we'll have more signage and it's it that's going to be a massive undertaking changing all these thousands of signs. So our goal is October 1st, but if it takes us a little longer, that's okay because nobody's going to complain if we don't do it earlier. So we're pretty confident, but we have, you know, we go to conferences and see our peers and they most of them have already done this. Um, we have I have a agreement from the CFO, deputy CFO and the auditor George. Um, they agree we should go cashless. It's safer for the cashiers not to have all the cash. Cash is very labor intensive. Um we no longer have to do meter collections. Um which is a very laborious task. U and then you also save money not having armored car service. So

a lot of benefits to it. And you know most of the privates are going uh cashless to say on labor. That's not our goal. We'll still have people there as customer service, you know, just to help the customers work the system. Um, not in a bad way, but uh, so it's not our goal to say our neighbor. And just one thing to add to that, one thing that we have right now for all these other meter locations is we have a meter there with a pole and we when we take the meter off, we're going to leave the pole there for a while to put a sign there so people know that, okay, when I step out.

That's what I'm talking about because like I say, your sign is, you know, might be there. I don't know how many spaces is between the signs. And if you pull up to a meter, people understand that and they need to fe I'm not talking about cash. I mean, most people have credit cards and cashless is fine. The problem is there's a lack, you know, there's a lack of understanding between that meter situation and what we've gone to with cashless and everything like that. And I, you know, I mean, I just We're also going to work with communications to get uh educational information out there, have videos on social media to show you how to use it and things like that or outreach.

Okay. And and the other thing is, you know, I mean, I'm always fussing for more tool motorized vehicle parking that is not for the scooters and it's not for the ebikes or whatever. It's for people who want to have alternatives because I think as we raise our rates and it becomes less, you know, less common and and less, you know, people might want to look at these alternatives and we don't have enough, we don't have enough spaces and every time seems every time I get some, somebody decides to take it out, links takes it out and put something else there or something like that. So, we have worked with you over the last few years.

I just like to see more and like I say, the ones that we did put in have been taken over by other uses. Um, you know, I just like to see an emphasis more because there's a lot of spaces that aren't big enough for a parking space that can be used for two wheel motorized vehicle parking and not for the scooters. Like I say, every time we put those in, those darn scooters come and I think we need to clarify the differences in use because those are not for micro those are not for the companies. Those are for the residents to use and we can discuss that with the with the vendors of the micromobility. This is Maria Cortez, our planner, and she's she lives and breathes bicycles. So, and so,

good morning everyone. My name is Maria Cortez. Um, Commissioner Sheen, as you mentioned, we worked uh to expand some of the two wheel parking in Thornton Park. And we actually recently just added on Rosalyn uh and Washington by Lake Yola. Uh we had a space that was not enough for parking space. So, we decided to make it into motorcycle. And we even have been making enhancements to them in Pine Street between Core and Magnolia. We've realized that some of our two wheel spaces, cars were parking on them. So, we've been adding delineators as well to avoid that and be able to maintain those spaces open. And as well in our garages, we do have some uh two wheel parking spaces and we're going to be active working to for better wayinding. Um you know, with our weather, sometimes you don't want to have your uh park outside. So, this is an act active project. Um and as well with um our bike pet planner, they're working on the bike and microobility parking study. So we'll be actively working as well with the recommendations that come out of their plan. So we are able to separate those uses but enhance the two wheel parking.

Perfect. Because you know and and people might want to bike but you know there's something that we do which frustrates me is for motorcycle parking for I'm even biking now that I have an ebike and I can actually go farther now you know. Um you know people are parking cars on them which makes me crazy. So I'm glad you're talking about the delineators because that will stop that nonsense. Um I've even you know the ones in Thornon Park on Washington Street. I've even seen at, you know, these huge Land Rovers parking on them. It makes me so mad to see that because you can put,

you know, during a large scale event that we have at Lake Eola, you put 10 to 12 motorcycles in one spot where you could put a car. So, I just think it's important that that we think about these things and um you know, put in bike racks, that's fine. Um but make sure that that the micromobility isn't taking up all the bike racks, too. I mean, these are the these are some balances and you know, they just need to be better. They need to share better. But like I say, as we increase the rates, I think we're going to make need to look at these other alternatives for people, you know, because it makes it more convenient. It makes it conven more convenient for our residents and the people who don't live as far to get down there. And, you know, I think we saw this explosion of of Vespas and different things like that.

Um, when we first first were doing the downtown condos, but now it's just gotten so much it's so inconvenient to park them that people don't buy them as much. as a Vespa owner, I just think they're a really great alternative to parking cars and things like that in a downtown. I think if we made it more convenient, I think more people would utilize that. Definitely. Thank you so much. And that is part of our goal. Mr. Chair,

thank you for that presentation. It's very enlightening. Um it it sounds not as much about a parking increase as it is about a parking reorganization. Um which I think is great. uh especially the dynamic pricing um activating turnover. So I think for those that might say we're increasing prices and people might not come downtown, we're actually creating more turnover so more people can come downtown. Um so extending the enforcement I think is a good idea. I like the fact that you've kept the $2 from one hour to four hours. Um, I would suggest looking at every all the options and, you know, if we can for those people that work downtown or that, you know, maybe they're a caregiver downtown, anything we can find to where we, you know, somewhere we keep something almost the same, even if it's a little less convenient. Um, so, uh, just because I know that that pressure on them, uh, is going to be very important. Um, I like the obviously the fact we're well below private uh, marketplace. I mean, somebody that might say something if we just turn it over to the private industry, we might make a few bucks, but in the long run, we we would all be worse off for it. Uh, I would also be curious about um with all the new technology upgrades uh for wayfinding and being able to, you know, you're going out now you want to hit your app and find parking spots that are available and open. So, I hope that's going to be a big part of it.

That's part of it. Yes, I do agree with Mr. Sheen about the um early implementation. Um I I you know, the longer we can make that the better. um or or even if we just charge them for 4 hours instead of a $37 fine, you know, something like that. But I'm sure you I'm sure everybody else has done it. You'll figure that out. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Rose.

Um so the majority of these parking things that were shared today in the district 5. Um I have a couple of things. So you guys are moving to LPR. Is there a thought process to connect with EPASS? We haven't looked at that, but we can certainly do so.

Okay. Because I know like when you go some places like when you go to the airport and stuff, it'll automatically it'll read your digital and it'll charge your e pass. That way it's an easier flow cuz sometimes Yeah. Yeah. cuz sometimes you get stuck with like putting it and so I also want to think about the card readers that we're using cuz some of them are difficult that we do have downtown. So like this may help with the flow and I'll use it's not our garage but um where Citrus Club is. you get stuck putting in their car the right way. Is it this way? Is it that way? So, I think having seeing if we can connect LPR with APASS would be really cool um to get people in and out. Um I I want to piggyback on something Commissioner Shehan the comment, but it's more so the ADA portion of it. So, as you know, we have plenty of senior complexes in downtown. um how do how are we engaging with our seniors who may not be technically savvy when it comes to these um parking um spots?

Well, that's where we the outreach works and we can reach out to the individual buildings and complexes. Okay. Uh to, you know, we can send people out, explain everything to them, educate them. Um hopefully we'll have good attendance, but yeah, we plan on doing that.

Okay. Um, something to kind of piggyback on, Commissioner Shihan, um, when it comes to some of these larger events. So, I made mention a couple months ago, we need to start work working more with our promoters to start encouraging and letting people know where to park. So, I gave an example when I hosted um co-hosted an event at um, Art Squared. We gave like the attendees like exactly where they can park and parking options, how much it costs. So, I think working with um the transportation division on the 18 on 18BB side where when they when are coming in and they're pulling permits so we can encourage them so people know where to park so we don't find ourselves in some of these weird spaces but they know exactly where to park and we can give instructions on how to pay to park etc.

Um holidays was a thing have we addressed that? So I know a couple months ago someone reached out with the confusion on federal holidays versus city holidays. How are we working through that with that communication process? Are we going to go to, you know, are we gonna stick to just city holidays? And so for context, I had a um a visitor reach out saying that they had they parked somewhere, it was a holiday, but it wasn't one of the holidays that we recognized. They received a ticket. So, are we how are we working on our holiday communication? Are we going to be specific on the website to make sure we spell out like what each holiday is? Yeah, that's currently on there. Um Okay. It's set by code. Okay.

So, we would have to make a code change, but Okay. I think we only have a couple that the county actually is is working and the federal is I'm sorry where the county is not working. Federal is not working but the city is. I think Veterans Day was maybe the one you were talking about. Yep.

They said city hall was open and or closed and it wasn't. And they just assumed that the holiday was a city holiday, too. So, we'll do our best to work with communications and get that word out that it it might not always line up um because of some of the holidays land on a weekend, so we'll get the Friday off, things like that. Um but, you know, if it becomes a big problem, we can always uh change it to the actual holiday, but it take a code change. Okay. Um couple more things. I noticed that the canopy is not on this map of parking spaces. Um, I guess we'll have a plan and kind of figure out what that looks like, revenue, etc. What parking what parking fees, etc. will look like.

Yeah. Uh, we've been working with DDB for quite a while. They own it and they're going to uh we've already got an operational plan and uh so you know, it's going to be probably a year and a half. I think they said uh but we'll have 300 parking spaces um that right now don't accommodate event parking but they will when we take over. Okay. Um so about 300 spaces I said. And then my last question. Grove Parking garage. Is there a timeline on that? Um that's above my pay grade. Okay. I'll I'll talk to Chrissy about that. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Commissioner Burns.

All right. Thank you, mayor, and thank you all for for that uh presentation. Now, I did want to just mention I I appreciate the uh financial dexterity that you all have displayed over the years and and really uh turning around this enterprise fund. Um my my first question is relating to a a financial performer uh based on these on these projected increases. Have we done a a financial perform that would show what where we stand with these increases and where we would stand uh if we did not do those increases? Yeah, we we currently uh average about 25 26 million a year in total revenue.

We contribute three million to the general fund through different fees. Um and then we contribute to our capital budget and uh our projects and then we typically have about a million extra to put in retained earnings. Um so our increases are going to be approximately 5.7 5.8 million in total revenue across the board if this is passed. Okay. Okay. All right.

And that we'll use for all all the things we talked about. So, but and if this doesn't pass, what does that look like? I mean, we would not have that five uh million increase, what does that do to our continued operation? Does it jeopardize our ability to uh continue with the maintenance or what what what would that impact be? The main thing it does is prevents us from financing future projects, future garages. Um Jose Fernandez CFO is working on uh getting the system bonded and see what bonding capacity is based on revenues and projected revenues. So um that's where we'll get hurt is the future of financing.

Right. Okay. And and on um the investing uh in opportunities for growth, there's a you mentioned that there's 20 planned proposed projects within the CRA of residential, hotel, retail. And my question is what what is the city's obligation because I'm assuming most of those are are private developments. And so what what is the city's obligation of providing parking or uh assisting with parking being made available? Can you talk to me about that? Yeah, we don't really have an obligation, but we like to help to encourage development.

Um the average parking space costs about4 to $45,000 to build in a garage. That's without even talking about land acquisition. So, uh, you know, you build 100 spaces and that's $4 million. So, that anything we can provide helps that developer their decision to move downtown um so they don't have to build parking. That's a big big expense. It's gone through the roof lately. Right. Okay. And and and we also see where we anticipate 20 million in capital fund improvements. So, is that new garages or maintenance or a combination of and and do we have some new garages that are on that are being planned? Not officially, but we know of a couple that might be in the future.

Um, but the the capital budget 20 to 30 million, I think I said, is uh is for the current projects because facilities are so old that we keep them in good shape. We just had a structural assessment done, an engineering assessment, and they said the garage are in good shape. So, we've continued to maintain them, and like I said, we shoot for 50 years when 30 is normal.

Right. Right. Okay. And and then I I was curious, you know, just with the emergence of, you know, ride share um you know, opportunities. Uh and when we look back over the last few years, um have you have we really seen um revenue decrease because of the emergence of ride sharing? Have we have we hadn't experienced that really? Not not at all really. Our revenues have been pretty flat for the last few years since co we actually I think broke even during COVID which is amazing. Um and we didn't lay anybody off. We kept everybody working in some capacity. Um but no the the events have really driven most of it right

because yeah you know the event almost every night so yeah we do really well on those okay that's kept us really crooked and along all right thank you I think that's all I have mayor thank you thank you commissioner Ortiz thank you mayor um and listen to commissioner rose that e pass transaction may cost us even more because they're going to want to have their fair share to charge us um to be able to connect that. So that may bring an increase on whatever issu uh whatever fees you want to go ahead and put. Yeah, we looked at that in recent in past years and the financial separation. Yeah. Didn't it was tough to figure out. Yeah, it was before my time. Uh but

it would be nice, but it it's going to cost us and it's retrofitting which it costs a lot when when you do technology in a new new garage. It's much easier than retrofitting. So because you included in the project cost, which is nice instead of operating revenues. So all I need is to see if you have a current income loss statement on a balance sheet I could take a look at. That's it. Yeah, we can get you uh Thank you guys. Last year's complete fiscal year. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Keane.

So a couple questions about uh the technology changes. So when a Whimo or a Lyft or any of those ride share folks pulls into a a parking spot right now, they're not they're not paying for it. Well, and they sit there and they sit there and what and they are waiting for the next their next uh thing and somebody comes behind them, they can't park there. How are we addressing that issue? Is there a way to charge Whimo and and Lyft when they're taking up a spot because they can just drive out if if a enforcement officer comes and that's that's the thing we do have enforcement constantly they'll just leave well we encourage them to leave obviously

and also I mean just as a tie into that if we allow or we add drop off zones we're taking inventory out of our inventory and now those spots are not producing revenue but we're allowing them to use those spots. How would we monetize that? The the revenue is not really that significant of a loss. We plan on adding more loading and unload loading and unloading zones and freight zones. Other non-revenue spaces because the changing landscape we talked about and you're talking about deliveries are crazy. There's already been reports at least in the paper about Whimo parking in certain parts of the city and just kind of filling up

parking spots, right? So, I just want to make sure that we're not Yeah. looking make sure that we're looking at that kind of thing as well. We we're talking with them to to get some kind of interface with enforcement or to notify us or to not park at a metered space. We're talking to them, but it's just so new right now. We're trying to figure it out. Also, Maria might have something to add

if I could add. Um, we actually met with a way more representative about a month ago or so. They came down and they explained to our enforcement team how it works, just different tips on how to work with them. Um, so that was a great and they actually brought out a car so the enforcement could get comfortable with it, what numbers to call, different things like that depending on the type of situation, what happens to an once a Whimo has an enforcement ticket, what that process is like. Um and additionally with the leveraging technology when it comes to the license plate recognitions we've seen in other cities moving towards a digit um a digital permit. So that can assist us with you might not be charging them right there and then but you're capturing that license plate and you can send them afterwards uh whatever charge they may have been just standing at the at the at the paid parking space. Obviously a way can't go in the app or a meter or anything. So it's use utilizing those digital permits that we've seen in other cities what they're calling smart loading zones things like that. And when it comes to the loading and drop off areas as Scott mentioned or I mean actually as you mentioned commissioner that does decrease our inventory but given the rate increase we're able to work with that to offset whatever those uses are. So the rate increase actually helps us be more flexible because then we can offset that with what with the rate increase in the other spaces and still have and still be able to adjust other spaces for other needs such as loading zones um pickup drop off whatever it may be. So technology may end up helping us, but we'll see. Yes, that's the goal.

So then then the last question is, and it's not related to the rate increases per se, but uh it's about adding more electric charging stations in our garages. Is there a plan for that as well? Uh based upon demand, it's not really needed right now. Um especially since the the big charging uh facility on is it Robinson? Yeah. Uh they have 20 right there, highspeed stations. So we we haven't really seen the uh the need right now, but we're always flexible. We haven't seen the demand then. No, we have them in all the the garages anyway. Yep.

But um we looked at adding some for the Threat Locker garage. Um there were some issues with the branding because of the naming rights and all that. So we're always looking for it if we need it. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Sheen.

Thanks, Mayor. Just a couple followups. Um, and you know, I do avoid those um, techno spots as much as I can because the mayor, your your staff usually gets tickets when we're events. So, I think we need to do a better job of signing them. Maybe if the QR code could go to that to that individual space, um, but they did have receipts that they had paid and they still got tickets. And that's the thing. I mean, if we're going to go to this um, tech if we're going to go to this automated system and people are still getting tickets even when they paid, I think that's patently unfair. At least when you have a meter, you can tell when it's blinking red or blinking green. If if you know, if the technology just says you haven't paid when you have, I just don't like that. And and like I say, that's why I avoid them because it's usually your staff that think, "Oh my god, I got a ticket again." You know, I just think it's unfair. I just think we need to work to make it better. Maybe we do some kind of a city pass or something like that where it works better. The technology is failing us in some respects and I think we just need to improve upon it before we rely upon it as the only way. and then it's the only way people can park and then they're going to get a ticket even if they paid. I just think that's patently unfair. Um and and I I I will not support an increase if if people are getting tickets that have paid their fair share. It's just it's just wrong. Um and another issue that I failed to bring up, Mayor, really quickly um as our main streets have become more and more successful, which is a great problem to have. um these um these lots have gone to these pay lots and it's I call it predator just like how we had the predatory towing now we've got predatory parking and in the main streets what used to work is that the businesses you would use the lots in the day the the bars and stuff would use them at night and everybody kind of shared the the private parking lots. Now we've got a situation where these parking you know predatory parking practices have come in. Some of these folks are have been really good. they they just they they they you pull in, you park, you pay, and it's not been a problem. But others have, you know, there's been an example in in my district where a man gentleman went to

drop off his mom at a dinner at a place for dinner, just pulled in the parking lot, did not park, went to pick her up, and got a $55 ticket for not paying to park. And now they're saying he can pay he has to pay $125. I mean, this is a predatory parking practice. And I know that they are private lots, but just like we had we oversee towing on private lots, I think we're going to need to start regulating these parking folks because they're just taking advantage of people and it's going to be very detrimental to the main streets.

Yeah, I see. I I you know, coming from the private sector, I understand their side. We the city doesn't have a role right now in regulating private business or private property. Um we'd have to talk to the legal department to see if there's a way to do that. for towing.

We do for towing on private lots. I'm sorry. We do for towing on private lots. And that's what I'm saying is if they're using the lots to to prey on people, which we had to do. I mean, I had the same problem in Thornton Park. They were towing, you know, even though it was marked, but they were towing, you know, vehicles with kids in them. I mean, it had just gotten ridiculous. So, my concern is that this practice is going to be getting worse and worse, and they're going to be taking advantage of people. And I understand it's a private lot, but we we do have a towing ordinance and I think we might have to have a private parking ordinance. Well, we'll look at it. And Commissioner Burns.

Uh yeah, thank you. Just just one thing and and Commissioner Sheen, I'm I'm glad you mentioned the uh predatory parking because even with some of those private parking if you receive tickets say in Fort Lauderdale and that same vendor um manages a lot here, you can get penalized for your ticket in Fort Lauderdale being in in in Orlando cuz that has happened to me. Uh it was kind of vice versa, but and I'm not sure what can be done about that. But my question is with the uh how many different vendors do we have um do we work with for parking currently or do we just have we we run our own facilities with city staff other than the threat locker garage.

Okay. Because on busy nights and camping world busy nights it's just we need to have too too much staff. We don't we can't meet those demands. So we hire out a private operator. Um, and and I'm speaking for more of the the on-site parking where you can, you know, you scan something and you and you pay to park. I don't I mean, we only have Park Mobile for the city. Okay. Park mobile. Yeah. We're looking to add one or two more because if Park Mobile goes down for any reason, we'll have that backup. So, I'd like to get two more.

Yeah. And and I and and my point would be is if we could make them consistent because now I've gotten used to Park Mobile. Um, and if you know if it changes or something else comes in, I think just the consistency uh ease of operations would would be Yeah, they're all very similar. Uh, they work the same way based on your plate and other cities usually have more than one. So, we're a little concerned about going all in on one company. So, we're going to look at that. Okay. Thank you for the presentation.

All right. Thanks for your time. And that will conclude our um workshop for today. Yeah.