Cultural District Task Force Minutes

October 17, 2013

Present:	Commissioner Bob Schumm, Grace Peterson, Mike Logan, Jacki Becker, KT Walsh, Susan Tate, Cindy Maude, Mandy Enfield, Brenda Nunez
Absent:
Others:	Diane Stoddard, Tommy Bohler and several members of the public were in attendance

Commissioner Schumm called the meeting to order.  It was moved by Ms. Walsh and seconded by Mr. Logan to approve the minutes from October 8. The motion was unanimously approved. 

Commissioner Schumm reported that he contacted Mike Treanor and explained the situation to him regarding the visioning.  He was understanding and left the door open if there was a desire to pursue this in the future.

Ms. Walsh reported that in Portland, the community did a food truck tax and a vehicle tax county wide to fund a pedestrian bridge.  Cambridge, Massachusetts has so many buskers that they have started to charge a $40 license fee, which goes to fund culture programs.  Oregon has a cultural trust for the state that enables donations. She also mentioned that other communities were using fiber reinforced plastic for pedestrian bridge structures.  

The group began to review the report as edited by Ms. Walsh.  Ms. Tate added that the Chamber of Commerce added a plank in support of arts and culture.  She encouraged alliances with the Chamber and indicated that economy and investment was important to that group.  Ms. Enfield suggested a portion of the report be focused on economic development and other areas of the report be toned down. Ms. Maude asked whether there was any information that shows how building a cultural district impacted the city as a whole.  Ms. Tate said that the research from ArtPlace on creative places and the Americans for the Arts that supports this.  There was discussion about whether the draft document emphasized leveraging the east Lawrence neighborhood for return on investment for the community.  Ms. Soden said that there was a fear gentrification would be the result or other issues that impact the community.  Ms. Maude asked for a clear explanation of concerns from the east Lawrence neighborhood.  Ms. Enfield said that she was observing that it appears that east Lawrence didn’t want to be used as an economic development tool for the City.  Commissioner Schumm stated that the City Commission is going to ask about economic return regarding funding that the city would make.  He believed that the economic development tool needed to be described in that context.  He said that he didn’t see it that the neighborhood would be asked to be accountable, but that the City would need to make the investment and that there would be significant economic activity derived from the funding and work generated with city investment.  After discussion, it appeared that the lingering concern was gentrification and to make a statement clear that gentrification is not intended.

Commissioner Schumm requested clarity in how to define a community garden. There was discussion on how to define these gardens, but the group agreed to keep the general definition.

Ms. Maude stated that there were some non-profit service agencies that weren’t necessarily a cultural district organization. She added that these social service agencies shouldn’t be defined as cultural centers. There was discussion on if the churches and faith organizations should remain as cultural centers. Ms. Walsh said that these centers were represented and heavily involved in cultural districts throughout the nation. Commissioner Schumm said that these could be implemented into the cultural plan, and the group agreed.

Ms. Tate wanted to add a deadline to present to the City Commission before Thanksgiving. Commissioner Schumm wanted this done by the 26^th of November. Ms. Tate wanted a deadline sooner. The group discussed and wanted a decision on the final report in two more meetings. Ms. Maude requested that the group should work on the report outside of the meetings. It was agreed that there would be three more meetings, in which the final (third) meeting would be a wrap-up that would then put the report on the Commission Agenda. The group discussed next week’s meeting date and agreed on Wednesday, October 23^rd from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at the City Commission room. The group agreed that the second meeting will be on Monday, October 28^th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. The third meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, November 6^th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. Staff will provide the edited document to be handed out at the next meeting.

Ms. Tate suggested that there would be a designated member to work on the paragraph that goes after the vision portion of the document. Ms. Tate and Ms. Maude stated that they would work with Ms. Becker on the economic development case portion and the tools and best practices portion for the meeting on October 28^th. Commissioner Schumm reiterated that the final draft will be completed after the November 6^th meeting. Commissioner Schumm said that he would have staff decide when this draft would be presented to the Commission at the pleasure of the Mayor.

Commissioner Schumm made a point that several items on the creative sector business sections should be less specific for fear of leaving out businesses. The group agreed that there should be a more generic approach to the entire section. Ms. Becker also suggested that the report add numbers instead of names, which would add value to the document without leaving anyone out.

The next meeting of the Task Force was set for 6 pm on October 23rd. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:52 pm.