Read what happened at our last meeting…

DNA Meeting Notes, May 4th 2009

Downtown Neighborhood Alliance
Local 121, 121 Washington Street
Monday, May 4, 700pm-800pm

7:00pm Call to Order

7:05pm DID News: Frank LaTorre, Director of Public Space, DID

7:10pm Update on the Demolition Bond Hearing: Representative Dave Segal

7:15pm Responsible Hospitality Update: Councilman John Lombardi

7:25pm Artist’s Spotlight: Andrew Losowsky, Downtown Resident and Writer

7:30pm Announcements: A New Initiative Inspired by the DNA and AS220, Kim Snow, DNA Secretary will announce the “The 1st Annual ‘Unsung Downtown Artist’ Fellowship”

7:35pm Host Introduction: Local 121

7:40pm Open Floor: Issues, questions, ideas or just give your business/project a shout-out to the group

8:00pm Adjourn

Please join us after the meeting for drinks and mingling upstairs at Local 121

Dear Neighbors –

It’s been too long! While we have been running around town taking care of business, we haven’t connected in person for some time. Luckily, this is about to change.

Won’t you please join us for a highly-anticipated, fabulous meeting on Monday, May 4th, 700pm-800pm downstairs at Local 121 (yay!), 121 Washington Street. We’ll have updates on several pressing downtown issues plus a few surprises. After, stick around and meet us upstairs for some mingling, noshing and all that fun stuff.

I’ll send out an agenda before the 4th but rest assured we’ll have time at the end of the meeting for issues from all of you — or just shoot me an email before and we can address them then.

Can’t wait to see you all — now go outside and play!

Thanks,

Kim Snow
Secretary
Downtown Neighborhood Alliance

Check out what went down at our meeting…

DNA Meeting Notes Novemeber 2008

We had a meeting — guess what happened…

DNA Meeting Notes March 2008

Intro

Josh Cullion calls the meeting to order at 730pm.

I (Kim Snow) read the minutes of the last meeting. Minutes are voted on and accepted.

Fundraiser

Chairperson Maria Ruggieri gives us a financial recap of our fab Winter Warmer fundraiser at Bravo. Overall we made a $3370 profit ($300 more than last year).

• $1500 in tickets sales
• $900 from the raffle
• $1100 from the live auction

We now have a total of $4623. 60 in our account (that’s going to buy a LOT of Haven Brother’s burgers). Thanks for all the hard work everyone.

Downtown Events

Joelle Crane from the Providence Foundation gives us the Valentine’s low down of events going on this upcoming weekend. (I sent a separate email to y’all and I hope you took advantage of the abundance of downtown lovin’.) Joelle also informs us that there will be more events this spring and summer and we in turn totally let her know we’re here to help and would love to support/co-sponsor an event. We’ll let you know how and when you can help and partake.
We also found out about these tidbits:

A new 24/7 IHOP in the old Mario’s space behind Providence Place. Get your 2am pancakes on, people.
The Farmstead cheese shop should be up and running this Spring. Did I mention they are going to sell CHEESE?! Swoon…I am…in love.

Rumors of a market (per usual). We love any and all rumors though. We’ll get you the facts as soon as we can!

Preservation

Lauren Goldenberg from the Providence Preservation Society stopped by to tell us about their fundraising event on February 9^th (We hope it went well!). She handed out info and we’re really happy to be supporting PPS and thank them for coming to our meeting.

Sidewalk Repair

Josh gives the floor to Councilman John Lombardi as Maria hands out a document containing photos and notes about the downtown sidewalks in the 13^th ward needing repair.
Councilman Lombardi received money for infrastructure repairs and contacted the DNA to see if he could offer us assistance for our neighborhood. Josh and Maria went out on a scouting mission (thanks guys!) and found NUMEROUS sidewalk problem areas to focus on.

Maria notes that this money is specifically designated to Ward 13 which runs from Westminster Street (on The Peerless Building side) over toward the Dunk. SIDE NOTE: Councilwoman Balbina Young represents Westminster Street (the Tazza side) and over toward the Jewelry District.

We thank Councilman Lombardi for the amazing help and confidence in our group. He tells everyone to reach out to him directly with concerns, ideas or questions. Dan Baudouin also thanks Councilman Lombardi for his support.
Marketing Downtown

Dan Baudouin talks about a new downtown initiative with the Chamber of Commerce about keeping talents and resources in our city so they don’t get up and move somewhere else. Considering most people who work in a city also want to live in said city, the residents can really help sell this neighborhood. We tell Dan to call on us for support, insight and a voice.
He also talks about the new office space being purchased downtown as well as the new businesses filling up that space which is a great sign. Not to mention current businesses are buying more space and expanding their initiatives. (Think any of them will want a pharmacy and/or grocery store around during the day? I’m just saying is all…)

Go to provchamber.org to take their survey and help provide feedback to these initiatives.
DID & Responsible Hospitality Update

Frank LaTorre reports on the three year anniversary of the DID. How did we ever live without them? Love love love what they do for us, thank you.

The Responsible Hospitality Partnership is still working with nightclubs to make everyone safer — including their patrons. They are still kicking around some new ordinances, making sure they’re airtight and work for everyone. They’re hoping to move this forward by March.

We get an update on the 12 extra police who could be roving our streets late night on Fridays and Saturdays. The DNA wrote a letter of support for this. The second pilot program ended but we still really want to keep them here. For the record, the Police department “donated” three of the police officers so we are only fighting for nine as they those extra three are still down here. FYI: it will cost $3000 a weekend to reinstate these officers.
It was noted that some clubs are concerned about the extra money they may have to pay for this. Residents do not have to pay. The question was also raised – where is the residential component of this Responsible Hospitality ordinance? We want law & order and safety for all, not just the clubs. Plus we want to set a precedent that the residents have a voice and play a role in downtown decisions involving safety, traffic control and overall progress.
Residents can be there for the council vote – we will let you know when that will be. Though we cannot rewrite the ordinance at that point we can plead our case to emphasize and consider other areas that specifically affect the residents.
Some Good News: Ambulance drivers have complimented The Downtown Security Network because they can now get in and out of the city faster then ever before. Uhm, here’s hoping there’s fewer and fewer reasons that ambulances even NEED to be down here at all.

Then we start talking about graffiti. It seems like there’s more of it, how come? Apparently the chemicals needed to remove it can’t be used in cold weather, so the graffiti does seem to build up over the winter months. But if you see any, call the DID directly so they know for the next warm day.
The question of the night: Is this artistic graffiti or gang graffiti and how would we know the difference and does it matter? The fact is both can exist in any city and at this time most of what we see downtown is not gang related. This is a good thing for us to keep an eye out for because if we see TONS of art graffiti going down, maybe we should consider offering alternative space for these artists to express themselves.

Speaking of, the DID is going to be putting up those long-awaited community kiosks for the posting of flyers and announcements downtown – we love this idea! This will hopefully happen at the beginning of summer on Union & Weybosset and one on Fountain & Dorrance. The Design Committee voted unanimously to approve these.

The kiosks are 23 x 96. And while there are expectations for protocol on these, we look forward to seeing our hood show some creativity and common sense so we can all post freely without having to monitor the items (which might very well be impossible).

Then Sue Lapidus tells us about progress on the lot of the former Police and Fire Station. The Proccacianti Group wants to landscape this for the two years before it can be developed. The plan went before the Design Review Committee — no comment until the Zoning Board sees it.

The Proccacianti Group wants to buy planters for the space that they will donate to the city after the two years. A win-win! But a city forester has to approve this and currently his plan is dig up the sidewalk and plants trees – which will take a year!

Sue asks if the DNA will support The Proccacianti Group’s efforts and we definitely agree. It makes sense for now and the long term. We will write a letter. There should be a hearing in March we will try to attend as well.
NEXT STEPS FOR GOALS

I let everyone know that the DNA officers spoke in front of the DID to let them know about our goals and our desire to work with them to continue evolving our town. The next step is to meet with the Mayor on February 14^th about share our goals and mission with him. We’re really looking forward to it. We will also share our goals letter with other neighborhood groups and parties.

Josh gives the floor to Senator Paul Jabour who talks about his efforts to assist our neighborhood, city and state, including opportunities with the movie industry and the resulting tax credits.

He talks about a grant that AS220 will be getting (we’re very happy for them!) in an effort to bring more art and funds for these arts to our city and neighborhood.
He also tells us about a grant we can apply for as a neighborhood group which we will get on right away. We hope to set up a full-functioning DNA website as well as purchase a projector and screen for future meetings and presentations, to name a few action items.

Josh thanks everyone for coming and adjourns the meeting at 830pm.

Stay tuned for news on our upcoming March meeting.

Intro

Maria Ruggieri calls the meeting to order at 7pm.

I (Kim Snow) read the minutes of the last meeting. Minutes are voted on and accepted.
Election

Maria announces the election of the new DNA president. Bob Goff is appointed chairperson of the nominating committee. After the usual legal and legit hull-a-baloo, we officially elect Mr. Josh Cullion as the new DNA president. Congrats Josh – we’ll be gentle.

Maria then hands the meeting over to Josh.

DID

Frank LaTorre gives us an update on the sidewalks. They are being repaired/replaced but it can be quite a hurdle to keep the money we need continuously coming through, mostly because it gets funneled elsewhere if the need seems greater. For example, if a giant moth were to attack Providence, they’d take OUR sidewalk money to buy the gamma ray that would stop it. Puh-lease. But seriously, much thanks to Dan Baudoin of the Providence Foundation for his support and help with keeping the funds flowing so far.

Dave Brussat asks about the aesthetic quality of the sidewalks. We need to make then durable and maintainable but we also want them to compliment the surrounding style. They will be brushed concrete and you can see an example of this outside the delightful Oop! on Westminster Street. (And I won’t even charge them for that plug.)

Frank comments on the beautification efforts which we all agree look great – the plants and baskets are fab. Our friends from the DID in the yellow jackets designed and developed them themselves. What CAN’T they do?

Did You Know? You can sponsor a hanging basket – just visit providencedowntown.com to learn more.
Frank mentions the Hospitality Resource Partnership which is working with area clubs on controlling the noise, violence, and late-night chaos. (Tell them to do something about the lack of tiny paper umbrellas in my drinks, too).
Frank talks about a hearing that is taking place the next day about making the 12 temporary late-night police officers permanent downtown. The DNA wrote a letter of support and members attended the meeting and we’re happy to report that this was approved. Fab work everyone….this is what we’re all about. Now we want to ensure that these officers also help direct traffic out of the city in addition to just roaming around keeping the kids in line.
Dave asks who do we call if we are hearing excessive noise late at night? Frank confirms that you ARE supposed to call 9-1-1.

Sue LaPidus mentions her concern about the overarching issue of getting people in and out of this city. That alone is the cause of many of the other problems we face. She is going to champion this issue in 2008 and will be looking for a committee to help her out.

Parking

Patrick Ward from Citizens for Resident Permit Parking speaks to us about his experience with getting resident parking in Providence. We are one of the few cities to still ban overnight parking — most other cities have already evolved to accommodate this. Washington Park is using a pilot program now which seems to be working, so a good start. Also, the overnight ban used to be 12-7am(!) now it’s 1-5am.

So far the rules of the pilot program are: your car has to be registered in Providence, you can’t have any outstanding tickets and there is a limit of two permits per household. Also, it costs $25 a year and so far it’s only for homeowners, not renters.

We started talking about how this would work downtown and Patrick mentioned that he was contacted by Councilman Cliff Wood (Ward 2, Blackstone Boulevard, College Hill, Elmgrove and Wayland areas of the East Side and former long-time employee of Downtown landlord, Buff Chace) prior to our meeting to make sure we were aware of the impact this would have on merchants. As always, the DNA would definitely support and collaborate with the business community, but would also focus on implementing a solution that meets the practical needs of our residents.

Fundraiser

Oh, this is where we got you all psyched up for the fundraiser which now has already HAPPENED and was quite fabulous. We had tons of great guests, a wonderful live auction with Michael Corrente, fab food and ambience from Bravo and of course we raised money for this year’s donation recipient, PICA. We’ll have more details at our next DNA meeting.

PS Keep an eye out for us in an upcoming issue of Rhode Island Monthly as well. We are the in-crowd, peeps. Good work!

Market

Noah Fulmer came in to tell us about the Winter Market that is taking place at AS220 this winter. We are in love with this idea as AS220 is already such a great fixture downtown and we love getting all our fresh food, herbs, beverages…etc. from local farmers and merchants. It runs from noon-3pm until May, be sure to check it out. Learn more here: http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farmersmarkets_details.php?market=29
Stroll

Lauren Goldenberg from Providence Preservation Society stopped by to tell us about the stroll from Benefit Street to Downtown on December 8th. Granted this already happened, too, but it was a great event, with house tours, the tree lighting, merchant festivities and of course, the stroll itself. Thanks to Lauren for stopping by to fill us in and most importantly for including our neighborhood in their great event.

Goals

I then give an overview of the feedback received about goals for 2008. They focus on three main areas: safety, retail and quality of life, and give us a great place to start for this year. I will be formally writing a letter with these goals to send to community leaders and to share with you all at the next meeting.
In addition to these residential goals, the DNA itself also has a goal to increase membership and organize politically – to really strengthen our voice in city issues and start using some of that clout we’ve been building up these past four years. Stay tuned from more on all this.

THANKS!

We then say a VERY heartfelt thank you to Maria, as she moves out of her presidential reign of awesomeness. She’s done so much for our group and the residents of downtown – she helped guide and evolve an organization that started off with just five members. Maria, thanks from all of us for all your hard work, dedication and love for downtown. But don’t you go running too far, we still NEED you of course…

We then adjourned the meeting and all met afterwards at Local 121 to thank Maria in style…
Stay tunes for info on our next meeting in January 2008.