Minutes: February 2014 meeting

[Christel Manning]

The Economic Development group met on Monday, Feb. 10, 2014, from 6 – 7:30 pm at 333 Front Street. Present: Nathalie, Lee, Pat, Christel, Clymenza, Chandra.

Items discussed:

1. Planning for Riverfest 2014. Christel got ok from CJ to lower his magician fee to $200. She will follow up with various people (Ihsan, Melissa) who volunteered to raise funds. Carlos got ok from band (Good Night Blue Moon) to put link to their website on our website. Lee has already created that link for CSNA. Still need to add it to the Riverfest site. We all discussed ways to get the word out. Put a notice on your Facebook page directing people to our website (Quinnipiacriverfest.com). We cannot afford a banner above the road (cost upwards of $1000), but we can make large posters to be attached to side of Nathalie’s and Clymenza’s house. We can just use last year’s image with a new date. Lee will talk to Anastasio about a banner that can be reused each year that would advertise both events and mention the restaurant.
2. Dining Out Night: We decided to forgo La Molienda and instead try a new restaurant, Rinconcito de Mexico on Middletown Ave. Date will remain Wednesday, Feb. 26, 6-8 pm. Christel will post.
3. Vision statement: At the CSNA retreat, Matt Nemerson told us about city plans to develop various neighborhoods and the need to learn what the neighborhoods want in terms of economic development. So we took this as an incentive to draft a vision statement of where we would like our neighborhood to be 10 years from
   now. This will help us clarify what our goals are, and it will also generate a document we can give to the city. We brainstormed various themes at the meeting and also looked at sample vision statements from other cities. Chandra and Christel will work on the wording and then share it with the community.
4. Strong School: Lee has set up a meeting with Matt Nemerson and various alderpersons for Thursday, Feb. 20. We really need community members to be there and who support. Please come if you can and tell others.