The Buzz

Downtown Visalians Board of Directors met and discussed two proposals by the Tulare County Farmer's Market held downtown on Thursday nights. One is to use custom cones on the sidewalks in an attempt to get the attention of drivers so they remove their cars before the start of the event. The second proposal is to expand the market. There were four proposed areas which included parts of Main and expanding down Church Street, where the event is currently held, to Acequia. Members felt the best alternative was to curve vendors into the parking lot behind the Bank of the Sierra. However, organizers of the market are being encouraged to thoroughly discuss whatever plan they choose with those businesses which could be impacted. Downtown Visalians has also offered to meet with them to discuss any issues they may have.

The third edition of Destination Visalia is complete. The 44 page magazine was distributed to 260 locations. It features all 52 downtown restaurants and the many shopping opportunities listed by type and comes complete with a locator map. There are articles of local interest and information about tourism opportunities. Other distribution of the 35,000 copies includes mailings through the Visalia Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Visalia Convention Center, direct mail of more than 15,000 copies for the holidays to Visalia households and use by Kaweah Delta Hospital District for physician recruitment. It is also one of the few magazines allowed to be present in the many different care facilities owned by the hospital. Within a couple of days of the magazine being distributed there were 4 inquiries from potential advertisers for next year. Also, one of the advertisers reported they got 2 potential new clients they know came from seeing their ad in Destination Visalia. The magazine is be available at www.downtownvisalia.com. Thank you to supporters who helped the Downtown Visalia Foundation raise $4,600 to use toward their goal of purchasing outdoor public art to enhance the community's environment.

New Blood for Downtown Visalians Board of Directors. New board members were elected and started serving in July. They are Paul Fry of the Fox Theater, Janeen Robbins owner of Janeen's Furniture Gallery (returning for her second term) and Marlene Sciacca who is owner of Chelsea Street Boutique. The board has asked Larry Lewis, Architect and Evan Boling, Boling Barbershop to join the board to fill vacated terms.

The Downtown Visalia Foundation is having a good year. President Barbra Hood and the Board of Directors report they have raised, with the help of great volunteers and the production expertise and kindness of bb Advertising, a little more than $20,000 to date. This is combined income from the Blues, Brews & BBQ concerts held on the first Friday of each month and the ad sales from Destination Visalia Magazine.

Downtown Visalia Property Owner’s Association approved up to $12,500 for the Operations Committee Chaired by Tom Link, Link's Men's and Women's Wear to purchase holiday decorations with LED lighting. The business owners are being contacted to receive permission to plug the lights into outlets on top of their buildings. This project was done some years ago. A sample will be displayed before any purchase is made. Operations continues work on an alley trash enclosure design by Michael Kreps, Architect. He is designing the unit to accommodate a series of needs for different types of trash and recycling and also for ease of use by employees. In other news, graffiti incidences are higher than last month but the numbers are much lower for the year.

Tom Gaebe, Treasurer of the Property Owner's Association, Inc. and a partner with Vollmer, Daniel, Gaebe & Grove is chairing the reestablished Street Lighting Committee (pole lights). Gaebe has been working on lighting for Downtown for approximately 10 years. The group will be working with city staff to develop plans for a new street lighting system including ways to finance the project.

On August 1 the City Council discussed street lighting. The system was installed in 1939 and has needed to be replaced for decades. Maintenance and operation of the public's current system is costing $130,000 annually. A new system would cost approximately $34,000 to operate. Council approved hiring a civil engineering firm to update the existing electrical plans to allow the city to solicit bids from contractors and prepare a plan to construct the system in phases. This is expected to take 6 months to go through the bid process, hire a firm and obtain the updated plans. The city has $400,000 already allocated toward this project from the Capital Improvement Program.

The Annual Luncheon held at the Visalia Convention Center was attended by 144 individuals (the best attendance in 5 years). The theme was “Transforming Downtown” and the speakers were very good in their presentations about all the new developments. We would like to thank Steve Salomon, City Manager; Stephen Peck, Mangano Company and Charlie Clouse, Clouse & Associates. Although the event ran well over the time allotted, these speakers’ topics were so interesting they kept people at the event. We would also like to thank our table sponsors and Chairperson of the event, Donna Thompson owner of Creative Flowers and Secretary to the Downtown Visalians Board of Directors.