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Minutes 02-12-03MXNUTES OF THE COMMUNXTY RELATTONS BOARD MEET:lNG HELD :IN COMM:ISS:ION CHAMBERSf C:ITY HALLf BOYNTON BEACH~ FLOR:IDA ON WEDNESDAY~ FEBRUARY 12~ 2003 AT 7:00 P.M. Present. Ron Washam, Chair Anna Marie Noe, Vice Chair Anne Centi Blanche Girtman Eddie Mitchell ]ose Rodriguez Clifford Royael Brenda Lee Williams Sarah P. Dye, Alternate ]ayne Kupperman, Alternate Thelma Lyons, Administrative Assistant Absent Howard Solomon T. Pledge of Allegiance/Call to Order Vice Chair Noe called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. and the members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Moments later, Chair Washam arrived at the meeting. :IT. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and a quorum was present. II:i. Recognition of Visitors Chair Washam welcomed Wayne Segal, Public Affairs Director, to the meeting. TV. ]anuary 8, 2003 Minutes Approval Motion Ms. Girtman moved to accept the minutes as written, seconded by Ms. Williams, and carried unanimously. Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2003 V. Agenda Approval l~lotion Vice Chair Noe moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Ms. Girtman, and unanimously carried. Vi. Correspondence and Announcements Ms. Centi announced that there would be a Festival of Choirs at the St. Thomas More Church on Military Trail on February 16, 2003 at 3:00 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Community Caring Center of Boynton Beach. The admission is free but any donations that are made will benefit the Boynton Beach Community Caring Center. Chair Washam exclaimed that he had seen the results of this organization's work many times and thought they did an outstanding job in the community. Mr. Mitchell announced that there would be science and art displays at the Boynton Beach Mall and an oratorical contest and spelling bee at the Hester Center on February 15. Mr. Mitchell thanked Wayne Segal and the City Manager for their assistance with the Mildred Walker Luncheon that was held as scheduled on the previous weekend. This annual event had almost been cancelled until the City stepped in to offer some much-appreciated assistance. Chair Washam encouraged whole-hearted participation in the festival being held at the Ezell Hester Center from the evening of February 21 through February 23, 2003. This festival is the culminating event of the many HeritageFest activities that were held during February's Black Awareness celebrations. Saturday will begin with a Parade that starts at 11:00 on 3rd Avenue and Seacrest Boulevard and continues on to the Hester Center. The Hester Center will host entertainment, food, information booths, and rides. On Sunday, a Gospel Explosion will be the featured event. VII. Old Business · PATCH Activities Update - HeritaqeFest Health Fair Ms. Thelma Lyons, Dan DeCarlo's assistant, reported that PATCH offered a Health Fair on January 25, 2003 at the Treasure Chest Child Care Center that featured diabetes detection, prevention, and treatment and served 18 people from the community. PATCH will offer another Health Fair at Treasure Coast Child Care Center on February 22 that will cover hypertension and stroke prevention. PATCH and other health care organizations, including Bethesda Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2003 Hospital, will be present at the HeritageFest festival to distribute literature and answer questions. Chair Washam expressed appreciation for the participation of Bethesda Hospital in this event. VIII. New Business · City's 2003 Special Events - Wayne Segal Chair Washam explained that the Board had invited Mr. Segal to the meeting so that they could share their views about the recent parade and special events in general. Mr. Segal indicated that the City Commission had directed him to work on a summary of the parade including a cost comparison for the last five years and a survey of the participants. He shared the results of his analysis so far. This year's parade cost approximately $1,000 more than in previous years due to the extra Police required to direct traffic. Mr. Segal surveyed the people who had chosen not to participate and only one offered a reason - they had little children and were afraid of traffic on Congress Avenue. Actually, Congress Avenue is safer than Federal Highway because they were able to keep the southbound lane open for emergencies. According to the City's Risk Manager, Chuck Magazine, there were no claims arising from the parade this year. Last year, there was a claim when the event was held on Federal Highway. Mr. Segal's interviews with businesses along the parade route revealed a feeling that while business had been slow during the parade, it increased dramatically after it. Barnes & Noble was able to provide sales statistics for before, during, and after the parade to demonstrate the increased sales. Mr. Segal explained that the City's efforts to communicate the date and hours of the parade to the businesses along Congress Avenue had not been as effective as hoped because many of the letters ended up in corporate mailboxes and never reached the intended recipients. Mr. Segal explained that the Special Events effort had been transferred to him in the Public Affairs Department recently. He believes that special events are economic development tools and that the events should pay for themselves and eventually generate a profit to go into a community foundation and be given back to the community. Part of the plan calls for the establishment of a non- profit agency or foundation to receive sponsorship money. This would be attractive to sponsors because when sponsors give donations to the City now, their donations are not tax deductible. The parade served a purpose for economic development. Mr. Segal referred to the desire of the City to establish business and cultural ties with its friends in the 3 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida February :~2, 2003 Caribbean. One of the reasons for changing the route of the parade was to involve more people on the west side of town, partly for economic reasons. Mr. Segal responded to concerns that the Board had expressed about the GALA event that the City had cancelled. He related that GALA had operated last year at a loss of taxpayer money of $20K. The City had previously thought that it knew what people wanted and tried to provide it. ]:t is now seeking community participation and buy-in so that special events can be improved for the benefit of all. Mr. Segal's Strategic Plan for Special Events was adopted by the City Commission and as a part of that, there would be an event in each District of the City, starting with HeritageFest in District 2. The next event will be in District 3, Vice Mayor Ferguson's District. A meeting was held yesterday with District 3 residents and they wish to have a mediaeval festival and antique fair in their district, probably in late April. The citizens who participated in the meeting have taken ownership of the activity and the City will put in "seed money" to make it happen. Special events will become more community-based in the future. He emphasized that the district events would not replace GALA and that they were working with the Chamber of Commerce and the Community Redevelopment Agency to have a significant event downtown. They have an ad hoc committee that meets once a month. Board Comments Eddie Mitchell Mr. Mitchell stated that the merchants along Congress Avenue had been upset that the parade was held on Congress Avenue, especially at 9:00 a.m. Most of the community wanted to bring people over to the eastern side of town for events. He suggested alternating between the two sites: Federal Highway and Congress Avenue, in order to satisfy as many people as possible. ~ Ms. Dye wondered if the staging area at Motorola would continue to be a viable one with all the changes at Motorola. Jose Rodriauez Mr. Rodriquez felt that a formal economic impact study should be undertaken instead of relying on anecdotal evidence from the business owners. Also, there were more small business owners on Federal Highway than on Congress Avenue. ~ Mr. Royael expressed the opinion that if the purpose of the parade were community identity, Congress Avenue would not suffice because it was "just a commercial strip." ]:dentity would have to come from the downtown area. 4 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2003 Brenda Williams_ Ms. Williams felt that the parade was unpopular because of the time it was held but that this was less of a factor than the change of location. A 9:00 a.m. start time meant an arrival time of 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. to participate effectively. She also inquired about how the City had advertised their ad hoc committee that was looking into special events and what method they were using to pursue 501(C) 3 status. Ms. Williams inquired whether the City had asked the east-side downtown merchants about the impact of the parade locale after the fact. Wayne Sega/responded that the Chamber of Commerce, the CRA, and the City's ad hoc committee were meeting on a staff level only and were not at a point where they could open it to the public. He was preparing the paperwork for the establishment of a non-profit foundation and planned to ask the City Commission if they wished to serve as the Board of Directors for it. I~lr. Segal's long-term hope was that this group would help to fund special events and that there would be less reliance on the City's budget. The time of the parade was driven by the Mall officials who felt that this time would create the least negative impact due to the lighter traffic at that time. Mr. Sega/could have objected to the time but did not. He stated that he had not done a formal survey of the opinions and feelings of the east side downtown merchants after the parade. The downtown merchants complained last year that the parade was blocking their businesses. He also stated that he had not received any telephone calls from merchants after the parade. Blanche Girtman Ms. Girtman favored having the parade on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon. She also wanted to bring it from Gateway Boulevard down to Boynton Beach Boulevard. She thought that people were working on Saturdays. She also favored having the parade in the evening to provide an outing and excitement for the children. Ms. Girtman felt that having the parade at 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday left out a big part of the community, the African Americans, because most of them were working at that hour of the morning. A lot of the bands were not able to come because it was too early, it should also have been more widely publicized. There should have been more consideration given to the children who practice all day to perform in the parade - to have the parade at a time when their parents were working and could not come to see them was a problem. The decision to begin at 9:00 a.m. did not take into consideration the needs of the entire community. Mr. Sega/responded that the City had the parade at night a few years previously but that there had been a negative reaction because the participants could not be seen. ~rt was not economically feasible to light the entire parade route. 5 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2003 Vice Chair Noe Vice Chair Noe was concerned that the change of venue for the parade reflected a lack of confidence in the City's traditional downtown area - an area that the City had spent a lot of money to redevelop. She inquired how many claims there had been in past years related to the parade in general. She also inquired about the number of spectators last year compared to this year. When advised that there had been 3-5K people in attendance this year, she stated that putting that number of people anywhere would raise sales in the area. She said that small businesses could not afford to locate on Congress Avenue but could in the eastern downtown. She wanted to know what was going to be done to build up this downtown area. She felt that changing the parade venue must have had a negative impact on the downtown merchants on and near Federal Highway. She said that perhaps the downtown had moved to Congress, like it or not, and that if the City wanted to revitalize the downtown, they should either get behind it or put the citizens' money elsewhere. Anne Centi Ms. Centi agreed with Ms. Girtman that the people in the east did not like the change of the parade route. The southeast corner of the City was completely neglected. As for the survey of the larger stores along Congress Avenue, she felt that their sales were up because of the Christmas season and not because of the parade. To be fair, the eastern downtown merchants should be asked about their sales on the day of the parade. Ms. Centi asked Mr. Segal about the amount of "seed money" that the City planned to give to the district projects and he responded, "Up to $2500.00 in each district." She also asked Mr. Segal if the City had decided to keep the parade out west and he responded that they had not done so. .layne Kupperman_ Ms. Kupperman was out of town but heard from her ~eighbors in the Meadows that the parade was wonderful. ]:t involved a lot of people who normally would not go downtown. She did not see it as a threat to the eastern downtown merchants. She disagreed that Congress Avenue was a "cold, commercial strip." She liked the 9:00 start time since it caused the least impact on traffic and the businesses but would be amenable to a compromise of starting the parade later in the day. She liked the idea of moving things around and felt that it was time for some changes. She also thought that having the parade on Gateway Boulevard would be a good idea since it was symbolic of the entry to the City and would not cause as much of a traffic impact. Chair Washam Chair Washam agreed with Ms. Girtman's concern about the 9:00 a.m. start time and felt that this point should be noted and taken into consideration in planning future parades. He recalled very large participation in the past when the parades were on Sunday afternoons. He had spoken to the restaurants and business people in both locations (Congress and Federal 6 Meeting Minutes community Relations Board February 12, 2003 Boynton Beach, Florida Highway) and they did not seem to be concerned about the change of location e felt sure that with citizen participation and the ad hoc for the parade. I~roblems would be ironed out. He hoped that one or two committee, these members of the community Relations Board could join Mr. Segal's committee in the near future. Mr. Segal replied that since he also lived in Boynton Beach, he had a stake in the issue as well. He appreciated the Board's input and found it extremely helpful. · ~r - Kathleen Brenna_n Ms. Brennan did not appear and Ms. Lyons indicated that her office had been unable to contact her. IX. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was du~y adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (021303) 7