Meeting Minutes: December 2020

[Christel Manning]

The Economic & Community Development group met on Moday, Dec. 7, 2020, from 6 – 7 pm on Zoom. Present: David, Kathleen, Christel, Natalie, Margaret, Kirk, Alex, Allan.

 

RIVERFEST: We discussed whether or not to plan a Riverfest in 2021. Event is normally held in May, and we normally set a date about 6 months prior, but it’s unclear if Covid will be sufficiently under control by that time. We decided to revisit this question in early February.

 

STRONG SCHOOL: There have been on-going meetings between city officials (Keith Lawrence) and people in our neighborhood (David, Lee and others) on developing a new RFP for Strong School. This RFP incorporates the planning ideas of various community wide meetings. They have some grant money to hire a consultant who will help market this RFP to potential developers.

 

SOUP NIGHT AND DINING OUT NIGHTS: We currently cannot have these events due to Covid, but we are considering other ways to support local business. We discussed re-starting the promotions Lee posted earlier this year, which encouraged neighbors to get take out from a particular restaurant during a specified time period. Christel will follow up on this. We also brainstormed on how to support other types of businesses. Natalie suggested we find out what would be most helpful to them. Alex said the Management Team has a contact list for local business; he will forward this to us. He is also doing walking tours contacting local businesses about Covid info, and he may make additional contacts there. David said he’ll check if the Chamber of Commerce has a business listing by zip code.

 

NEW BUSINESS: Kathleen presented a proposal for community collaboration: the IRIS women’s sewing group makes lovely handcrafted items (they have sold these at Riverfest in the past). CSNA would provide a little funding, and the IRIS women could make a couple of lap-quilts to be presented as a gift to Mary Wade Home to celebrate the opening of the new residential facility. The process for getting CSNA funding for such a proposal is not entirely clear (we might consider posting information on our website). Christel will follow up with Lee.

 

[David Weinreb]

Thank you for taking notes and sharing them out!

Here is a list I received in 2019 from Jobana Maldonado.

Grand%20Avenue%20Merchant%20contact%20list%202019.doc

Jobana Maldonado

Maldonado Small Business Consulting LLC

134 Grand Avenue

New Haven, CT 06513

475-224-5824 – Office

475-224-5825 -  Fax

www.maldonadosbc.com

[e-mail]