Minutes: July 2014 meeting

[Christel Manning]

The Economic Development group met on Monday, July 14, 2014, from 6 – 7:30 pm at 333 Front Street. Present: Christel Manning, Lee Cruz, Natalie Coe, Brian Kiss, Kathleen Flynn, Steve Fontana, Mendi Blue.

Items discussed:

1. Crowd-funding initiative: Mendi Blue, from the city’s Economic Development Office, presented information about opportunities to use crowd-funding technology to help pay for things New Haven needs. These are wish list items that cannot be covered by operating budget (e.g., equipment to show movies in the park). Existing platforms are of two types: one is government sponsored and leverages community involvement (e.g., Citizeninvestor); the other is more bottom up, with projects initiating in the community (e.g, ioby). The city will likely go with the former type. The plan is to do a pilot program, with the city selecting a few projects to try out. If it goes well, they will set up a website for the community to propose ideas. How we can get involved now: (1) CSNA can support this initiative (calling our alderpersons etc.); (2) residents can begin to think about items to propose in the future.
2. Other economic development funding sources: Steve Fontana, also from EDO, talked about Main Street Center project, a model the city will be using to encourage economic development in selected neighborhood. Grand Avenue will be one of these. CSNA is comprised mostly of residents, rather than businesses, so we are encouraged to develop a partnership with the Grand Avenue Special Services District (contact Frank Alvarado) to discuss what kind of development we’d like to see. Steve also shared information about Zipcap, a variation on the crowd-funding concept, where neighbors commit to shopping at a particular business and then that commitment becomes evidence of the business’ viability, which Zipcap uses as security for granting them a loan.
3. Quinnipiac Marina: The current owners, Bob and Lisa Fitch, plan to sell the marina, and the neighboring Wacoma Yacht Club is interesting in buying it. Natalie Coe reported on the outlines of the deal, which would include the marina plus grey office building that used to house the Fitch’s construction business. WYC has wanted to expand for some time, and this would enable them to do so. The deal also seems to benefit the neighborhood because WYC has been a good neighbor in the past.
4. Blighted Housing: Christel did some research on the abandoned house on #15 Lewis Street (now held by CHFA) and three houses on Quinnipiac Ave (#710, 714, and 740) whose ownership is unclear. Vision Appraisals lists Fair Haven Heights Reality, LLC as the owners of the latter, and Matt Breish as the owner of the former. So this information is out of date, since we know that Matt foreclosed on his building. Christel called Rafael Ramos for further information, and he forwarded her request to Frank Damore at LCI, but we have not heard from him. Lee suggested inviting Eric Johnson from LCI to attend our next economic development meeting, and Christel will follow up on this.
5. Soup Night: Natalie will host in her apartment (which has a big back yard we can use if the weather is nice) on Sunday, July 27, 6-8 pm. Christel will co-host.