June Minutes 2012

NEXT MEETING DATE: July 31 at 4:00 p.m. at FLS ENERGY

Approve Minutes to May 29 Meeting

Hedy move to approve the minutes, Pattiy seconds

Membership Dues are up for Renewal/ Membership Forms

RADBA is one year old!  $100 per business or ownership entity

July 1, 2012 through June 30, 2013

Renew Your Membership–RENEW BEFORE JULY 1 FOR FULL YEAR OF BENEFITS

Send form on page above:

Matt Sprouse c/o RADBA, Sitework Studio, 352 Depot St # 120  Asheville, NC 28801

Treasurer Report $4,180 in the account as of today

Elections?

Not proposing we have elections now; we will float a slate of candidates for July and do the votes in August–more info later

Question–Can you have a lower membership level for artists?

Pattiy–we started RADA for artists and if artist business owners want to join then they pay the RADBA fee the same as every business (people who have a substantial stake in the neighborhood)

Matt-$100 membership per year seemed to be a good level of buy in for voting; people can still attend the meetings

Maybe there could be flexibility about quarterly payments

Matt–we have a strong relationship that’s happening with RADA and meet quarterly and figure out where we can interface; we can talk about the quarterly payments

Fundraiser outcome for Green the RAD and One Neighborhood + Clingman Circle Celebration

Parade was wonderful!  It was a lot of fun.

The fundraiser was a little under-attended.  May have raised about $1,000 for Green the RAD and One Neighborhood with silent auction and tickets

Ginger Huebner with Roots + Wings School of Art is going to start working with artists and neighborhood kids

Maybe not do it first week in June (with stroll that weekend)

Asheville Public was giving out 10% off coupons and lots of people went there; it would be great to have them as RADBA members

Changes going on at Asheville Public with ownership

Matt–we need a Membership Committee

Paris of the South is now being held next to Asheville Public

RADA

Studio Stroll Outcome – Daniel McClendon, RADA liaison

Daniel is not here. Any member of RADA give us feedback about the Studio Stroll.  Lots of different feedback so far.

–Joe Seemed like a lot more local people this year and more traffic than in the past (due to better signage), but they weren’t buying

–Lots of people enjoyed themselves but didn’t buy

–Curve and Pink Dog–less traffic than both strolls last year; significantly down from November

–From other artist: little 8 year old selling cookies in her space made more money than the artist did

–Pattiy–highlight was 2010 and downhill from there in terms of money and people

Brian–good stroll for one may not be a good stroll for others

Pattiy–what percentage of studio stroll is yearly gross?  This is how it needs to be viewed.

Trip–daily average is going up;  but Stroll is no longer the big pop that it once was because daily sales are up

Matt–the stroll is good exposure and connection with the community, not necessarily just for sales

Joe–More foot traffic day-to-day, so shifting gears with my business to keep the doors open

Pattiy–business model in the RAD is taking a serious shift

Joe–conflicted about it–in the middle of something and it’s hard to communicate with visitors; would like to see a venue to sell work

Pattiy–the gallery model is hard to financially support; it’s hard to make any money; and it’s different from what the RAD is

Trip–that’s what the tourists and customers love

Brian–Odyssey is a hybrid (have a gallery and studio)–it works; sales are up 80%

Joe–what about a co-operative gallery

Hedy–something you bring up to the RADA; Ariel is another co-op gallery

Pattiy–Kitty at the Arts Council has talked about that

Matt–Trip and Ben, The Junction have a rotating gallery

If you’re interested, talk with Trip about how to get a gallery going like the one at Clingman Cafe

Stroll Parking

Dave Steel parking that opened up was arranged by Tim Schaller (he paid the insurance)–the grassy area along Roberts

Trip is talking with the railroad about the corner lot at the 5-way stop

Pattiy–what if RADBA paid the insurance all year long to keep that parking open?

Susan–offered to take the graffiti off and didn’t hear back

City of Asheville update on RAD issues – Stephanie Monson

RiverMusic Festival–permitting–they are going to get a provisional permit.  As long as they adhere to the permit and there are no major problems, they will be allowed to get a permit to do the festival.

Permit stipulates:

Parking: asked for parking in 6 or 7 areas in RAD

14-30 Riverside across from Curve–the city is not allowing RiverLink to use that area for parking

Instead, they are using area adjacent to North Mill Bridge and Riverside Dr. for parking and they are creating a pedestrian passage

Clean up, as well as reseed that lot after the events in the fall

Brian–where will the bands be?

It will be right across from Cottonmill; they will be pulling in across from the Ice House through an egress on the south end of that street

They are not running any shuttles.

Evan–Will have at least 6 safety officers due to the unknown number of people and alcohol.  May make Riverside Drive for temp fire lane for no parking; all of us will be working at the end; will keep traffic moving; RiverLink will have volunteers out helping

Friday, June 29 from 5 – 10 p.m.

Parking agreement runs until midnight

They did rent 4 lamps on poles, so there will be lights–will put one down near Jean Webb Park; Ice Plant and on city-owned property under the bridge

Pattiy–suggest RiverLink maintain the remnants of Cottonmill Studio which they own–make sure to keep it up

Susan–they are working hard to get the festival site set up

Brian–RiverLink through the years has cleaned up a lot down there; they have probably tried not to increase the value of the property that they are trying to get a hold of

What constitutes it not working?

If they do not hold up the requirements, then they will not be permitted again.

Pattiy–is there a mechanism where neighbors can give feedback?

RADBA and informal input

We do not have a process for this, so that’s what we’re learning.

Brian–what is their ultimate goal?

It’s a fundraiser for RiverLink

Brian–we have intentionally tried to keep the RAD not a festival atmosphere because we don’t want a festival, we want the attention to go to the artists in their spaces and their studios and that’s what’s so unique about what we have here

Pattiy–the next one is July 15, so I’d be happy to communicate input to Stephanie Monson and the City from the neighbors

Brian–it seems like the interest can continue to build and it would be great to hold it to a certain number

Steph–Fire will have a specific interest

Hedy and Pattiy–potential for fundraising for future events for parking; will check it out this time and then next time we will charge for parking

RiverWhisperer blog indicates that there are no parking areas in the RAD

New Business

Master Plan the RAD – Ben Mixon

Ben–no planning that he knows of, but we need to start connecting the RAD with sidewalks, plan to connect everything that includes pedestrian paths and walking

How do we increase the bike and foot friendliness in the RAD–not the Wilma Dykeman, not the New Belgium plan, but the RAD?

Matt–Town Branch (from McDowell down Choctaw to Ralph near the Glen Rock Depot) and Clingman Forest Greenways are in a process of choosing a design firm–part of the larger picture.  It book ends the RAD.  It does not address the internal stuff.

Steph–the City has $100,000 to do this plan to script an RFP for an urban design team that includes WECAN, Hillcrest, South French Broad, RAD neighborhoods–prioritize where people are and what we do in what order

The idea is to serve the people who need it the most–the highest levels of poverty

Pattiy–how can we help?

Demand the city provide you with an RFQ (get that done)–chair of the RADBA chair make the ask

Go to Planning and Economic Development Committee of the City Council

Find a mechanism that it gets done–status reports at each RADBA meeting

Ben–define boundaries of RAD and make sure the city has the same definition (how does the city define it?)

Pattiy–representatives from RADBA want to be on any steering committees

Steph–don’t want to discourage you from coming together to define what your needs are

Ben–we should put our needs together and say “this is what we need” rather than a study defining what we need; would like New Belgium to be involved

Joe–central Roberts Street is a problem with high pedestrian and speeding traffic; it is very dangerous; post a speed limit on Roberts Street (20 MPH zone)

On street parking is traffic calming right now

Trip–would love to see it become one-way

Ben–Is RADBA as a group interested in advertising with the artists?

We did a trolley banner for the stroll

Matt–there are a couple of items we need to discuss in the next meeting

Non-Profit status for RADBA?

Reason: with One Neighborhood and other potential funding that might come our way, we have no way of managing those funds

We are looking into cost now as well as category.

Pattiy–With the limited funds that we have, we don’t need to be a non-profit right now.

Susan–partner with a non-profit and put it into restricted funds

Hedy–if we donate to the Arts Council then that looks good to the State Arts Council

Pattiy–prefer not to spend RADBAs money to the non-profit

Green the RAD

Would like to ask for more money to maintain Clingman Ave. Streetscape

Matt–when we caught it last May, we took it from the point of no return and brought it back under control.

Had an impromptu meeting with a Council member and he had no idea we were paying for it.  He suggested we write a letter and get it in front of Council and get it to Council.

Pattiy–we could also have a neighborhood work day (not in the center median)

Rebid the project–yes, they will rebid the project for landscaping

Accounting–would like a recap of accounting from last year

Toastmasters in RAD

We can only do it at 7 a.m. at the FLS Energy Boardroom

Could do it at the Glen Rock Depot boardroom

Need at least 20 people.  Please contact Joanna at FLS Energy: joanna@flsenergy.com