Erie Downtown Partnership 1st Quarter Newsletter
New...New...New!!!
ERIE DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP
1st Quarter News
March 31, 2008
Many exciting changes have come about in the past 6-8 months involving Erie Downtown. What’s all the excitement about? We have a new name, new leadership and a new vision. What does this mean? An organization that is working for you.
In February 2008 new bylaws were adopted. This adoption was the culmination of months of effort between the Board of Directors and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. Highlights include:
Name Change: The name Erie Downtown Improvement District has been changed to the Erie Downtown Partnership to reinforce the importance of working together towards a vibrant downtown.
Leadership Change: In addition to a new CEO, the composition of the Board of Directors has been revised to reflect the interests of all members. The City Council ordinance that created the organization requires 9 board positions remain self appointed, but each appointment will now represent a certain interest group. In addition, the membership will now have the ability to elect 4 at-large members. We will expand on the election process in another article. The composition of the Board of Directors shall be:
One member representing the retail businesses.
One member representing eating and drinking establishments.
One general business member representing non-retail/non-eating and drinking establishments.
One member representing property owners, within current operating area as defined by the by-laws, with a market value, as determined by the County of Erie tax records, in excess of $1,000,000.
Two members representing property owners with a market value, as determined by the County tax records, of between $150,000 and $1,000,000.
One member representing property owners, with a market value, as determined by the County tax records, of less than $150,000.
(One member representing the non-profit institutions.
One member representing Gannon University, who shall be the President of the University or their designee.
The Mayor of the City of Erie.
Up to four members elected at large by the membership of the Partnership.
One member from the Public Trust Committee which represents all businesses and agencies who contribute $25,000 per year. This Committee is comprised of the City and County of Erie, Erie Insurance, Gannon, Hamot Medical Center, and the Port Authority.
Vision: The vision of Erie Downtown has grown. While we may be most known for our events the vision of the organization has grown to include being Clean and Safe, the creation of Partnerships and Cooperatives for existing businesses, Retail and Business attraction and retention all being supported by not only your assessment but an aggressive grant writing campaign.
We are excited about the new set of priorities and direction the organization is heading. If you would like to talk about any of these changes or programs, please feel free to call our office at 455-3743
Call for additional membership
The restructuring of the Erie Downtown Partnership has allowed those individuals who are not property owners, but who live or work within our boundaries to become members. Those who wish to become a member of the organization must complete an application and submit an annual $10.00 application fee. Membership privileges include e-mail and paper notification of events and other downtown projects, the ability to vote for board members, joint marketing campaigns as they become available and general right-of-way maintenance and cleaning. All property owners who pay an annual assessment are automatically
considered members and shall have the full benefit of all privileges listed above.
For a map of the boundaries or an application, please visit our website at: www.eriedowntown.com
If you are a landlord, please make all the businesses in your building aware of their right to membership.
*The Boundaries of the district are as follows: Dobbins Landing to the 14th Street Bridge and from the east side of Sassafras to the West side of Holland.
Board of Directors elections:
Your membership and attendance counts
Mark your calendars, the next general membership meeting to be held on Wednesday May 14th. At this time we will be voting on the four (4) board members who will be elected by you, our members. Election procedures are as follows:
•Nominations are due April 23rd. If you would like to nominate yourself or any other individual who owns property, resides or works downtown please contact our office or go to our website for a nomination form.
•All individuals who are nominated will be contacted to verify their interest and membership status.
•A board ballot of all interested and eligible individuals will be mailed to the membership on April 28th.
•The vote will occur at the general membership meeting mentioned above.
Who can vote? Any property owner or an individual in attendance at the general membership meeting. Individuals who do not own property must meet the membership eligibility requirements and submit a membership application and payment by April 23rd.
Good Luck to all those who are interested!
First quarter: what have we done?
The past several months have been very busy for our office. Here is a list of just some of the things we are working on:
•United Way Week of Thanks
•Event Planning and sponsorships
•Monthly Committee Meetings
•Made a presentation to the Erie- Western Pennsylvania Port Authority and reinstated them as a $25,000 contributor
•Other presentations to the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership and Masonic Temple Board
•Main Street Designation (grant) process begun
•Prioritize spending of $101,000 Penn DOT Streetscape Grant
•Meeting with State officials on other grant possibilities
•Partnership with Lamar Advertising for billboards promoting downtown
•Perry Square and Griswold Park planning
•Public Art grant planning
•Participation in the Erie Ambassador Training process
•Facilitation of meetings between developers and property owners
•Review and Development of marketing strategies
•Coordination and open communication with the City of Erie and Erie Redevelopment Authority;
•Member of the Erie Chamber committee created to put our best foot forward for the GE Shareholders meeting as well as other conventions.
If you are interested in more
information in anything listed above, please feel free to contact us at
814-455-3743
Summer Events are just around the corner!!
1st Quarter News
2008 Block Party Season
One of the most anticipated events of the summer is back and better than ever! Block Parties will begin the week of June 12th and continue throughout the summer months, coming to an end September 4th. This year was truly a competitive process. Each establishment who wanted to host an event submitted an application, 15 applications were submitted that outlined the details surrounding their block party. After review by the Board of Directors, 10 establishments were awarded Block Parties. With an array of themes from A Night in the Islands, to a crowd favorite back to the 80’s, and even Country in the City, everyone will be able to find an event that caters to them. Block Parties are a entertaining event for all ages and a great way to experience your downtown. Events this year will begin at 6pm and end at 11pm .
Please see our Events Page for Dates, Locations and Entertainment!!!
Buggin State & Bike Night Events
Whether you are coming down to view block after block of classic cars and shining motorcycles or showing your own off, these events cater to all ages. With the assistance of Glenwood Beer, Erie Downtown has been able to bring back 2 bike nights. We are happy to welcome our new sponsors Roth Cadillac and Contemporary Motorcar along with Glenwood Beer who have allowed us to successfully plan 3 Buggin State events. We anticipate great events again this year with even more participating and visiting than years past. This year events will begin at 6pm and run until 10pm. As always please visit our website at www.eriedowntown.com to view a listing of live entertainment at the Perry Square gazebo.
Buggin State Schedule
June 20th
July 25th
August 22nd
Bike Night Schedule
June 27th
August 29th
There will not be a Bike Night in July due to the Roar on the Shore event
Erie Downtown, Waste Management, Erie SeaWolves and Sidewalk Café
have teamed up to clean up downtown Erie!
Saturday, April 12th we have organized an event to clean up within the boundaries of the district. We are looking for you and 2 of your friends, family or co-workers to organize a team. During the clean up make sure to keep in mind we have prizes that will be awarded to the most overall trash collected, the most cigarette butts collected and the strangest object found.
We have had 3 very generous businesses offer their services in return for your participation. When you get a team of 3 together you can each enjoy 50% off of lunch at the Sidewalk Café and also a FREE ticket to the SeaWolves game at 1:05 that day. All of these offers are valid ONLY on 4-12-08.
While we will accept walk-ins, we would like for teams to register by Wednesday, April 9th so we can supply all the teams of their designated areas before the day of the event.
We recognize our organization works on this type of maintenance everyday but the data collected from this community event will help us secure Costal Zone Management, Main Street and other grants which will positively effect Erie Downtown.
Our clean up will begin at 9am, if you are interested please contact Erie Downtown at 455-3743
or email julie.chlebus@eriedowntown.com
Again, a big thank you to Waste Management, Sidewalk Café, Erie SeaWolves and all of our volunteers.
515 State Street
Erie, PA 16501
Phone: 814-455-3743
Fax: 814-455-6481
E-mail: eriedowntown@eriedowntown.com
2008
DID Board Members
Boo Hagerty, Chairman of the board
Barb Haggerty, Treasurer
Cheryl Ferrie, Secretary
Mayor Joe Sinnott
Dr. Antoine Garibaldi
Tippy Dworzanski
Jeff Kidder
David Sherman
Bob Tidmore
Tim Wachter
Erie Downtown Staff
Brenda Sandberg, CEO
Julie Chlebus, Executive Assistant
Carolyn Toboz Hayes., Accountant
Scott Serrano, Maintenance Supervisor
Dhia Altamimi– Maintenance