[OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

Thu Aug 24 18:59:08 PDT 2017

Marty, this is an ongoing issue in one very small town, and is an ongoing problem discussed by owners. One issue which continues to be an issue for senior citizens and otherly abled is the assumption that Thomas references in this thread that everyone is able to walk multiple blocks to access businesses when a street access is blocked for special events, often on a recurring basis. This is when it becomes illegal under the ACA federal law, and needs to be in the thought stream of event planning agencies. It is not intentional, but it occurs. Businesses are part of our support, and the blocking of their only access is poor politics. I like Thomas's idea regarding education and posting of parking space, as well as slow transportation forms, such as golf carts for those events. In Weston, I am as close as we can afford to a City manager. 700 people don't generate a very large tax base. This is a situation where awareness of others and their very real needs is beyond empathy, and a very important economic issue.

--Sheldon Delph

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.

On Aug 24, 2017 6:25 PM, quiltnstitch <quiltnstitch at wvi.com> wrote:
Why I ask, is that if you do not run a business in the areas you are referring to, it is difficult to understand the challenges. We have many businesses, city offices & residents in the area looking for parking. Do your downtown areas have designated parking for owners/employees & residents? The issue in my downtown, everyone wants to park as close to their work/apartment as possible. That leaves little parking for customers, yes most customers do not mind walking a few blocks, but there are several that simply can not walk any distance. Still city managers think that the parking is fine. We also had a study done, we fall in 60% .

If your business owners are telling you that there is a parking problem, please listen to them. Spend time with them in their business. Ask if they have a solution to the issue.
Marty

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

-------- Original message --------
From: Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com>
Date: 8/24/17 4:48 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

Marty, I no longer do, but am responsible for overseeing grants and public policy for 2 Main Street communities.

--Sheldon Delph

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.

On Aug 24, 2017 4:38 PM, quiltnstitch <quiltnstitch at wvi.com> wrote:
My question to both of you,  do either of you own or opporate a business in the areas in this discussion?

Marty

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

-------- Original message --------
From: David Snider <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>
Date: 8/24/17 4:06 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

Sheldon, I'm not seeing where the assumption was made that "anyone can walk at least a mile to access necessary services".  I'm a 47 year old dude with a bad back, so I certainly wouldn't make that assumption.  :)

I guess the point I'm attempting to get across here is that there are many people in our community that believe we have an on-street parking shortage where none in fact exists.  Again, 65% of on-street parking in our downtown is not utilized at our busiest hour, and even at our busiest hour you can come downtown and park within 2 blocks of where you want to go 100% of the time according to the research we have done on this issue.   That indicates quite clearly to me that we do not have a parking problem in our downtown.  Yet there are members of our community that vehemently disagree with this, and I'm not sure what they are basing their opinions on.

I understand that other communities our size around the state deal with this issue quite often as well, and I would be quite interested to learn how those communities have approached this issue in their downtowns.  Perhaps this topic would be a good one for the Main Street Conference?

 -- David C. Snider
Economic Development Manager
City of Sandy
39250 Pioneer Boulevard
Sandy, OR  97055
(503) 489-2159
dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us<mailto:dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>

On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com<mailto:s_delph at hotmail.com>> wrote:

David, I am very well aware of ODOT regulations, and the background of health and recreation at against which they are written, in addition to the multiple federal court findings that find communities at odds with ADA compliance, even though ODOT attempts to keep up. The question truly is much larger than the 15 yards Sarah mentioned. I guess that I am really questioning the underlying assumption that anyone can walk at least a mile to access necessary services, when, in fact, many cannot. Pendleton, as I was growing up, had 7 doctor's offices on Main Street. Now, one dentist has his office in the same building as Pendleton Downtown Association, while virtually all others are clustered around the new hospital on the South edge of town. It seems to me that this is an issue which flies directly opposite to the vision of the National Main Street organization. How do we best engage mixed use in our downtowns when we do not enable an increasingly aging population to access multiple services in a way that allows them and us to be independent as long as possible? The flight to non-downtown areas simply increases, and yet the conversations of downtown associations assumes that all people are still under age 60 and are truly able bodied. Those assumptions are patently false, and must be addressed, if our city centers are to remain centers, rather than derelict afterthoughts.

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.

On Aug 24, 2017 1:31 PM, David Snider <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us<mailto:dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>> wrote:
Sheldon, I don't think Sarah was referring to people with medical issues.

We have had a similar problem here in Sandy from time to time, and it has to do with people's perception of what is an acceptable amount of on-street parking.  We get complaints all the time that there isn't enough on-street parking in Sandy and that we need to provide more parking.  However, ODOT describes a parking capacity issue as when your on-street parking is something like 80% full.  The latest parking study we've done has indicated that at the busiest time of the day, our on-street parking was at 35% capacity, and we couldn't identify anywhere in our downtown where a citizen would not be able to find an on-street parking spot within 2 city blocks of their destination, and in almost every case there was an available parking spot on the same block.

 -- David C. Snider
Economic Development Manager
City of Sandy
39250 Pioneer Boulevard
Sandy, OR  97055
(503) 489-2159
dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us<mailto:dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>

On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 12:52 PM, Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com<mailto:s_delph at hotmail.com>> wrote:

Sarah, I, most of the time, find that, due to medical conditions, find that walking 100 yards is difficult. 15 yards is roughly the length of 2 cars. The concept that walking 10 blocks round trip to participate in a Farmer's Market or go to a business with no nearby parking, solely because someone believes that we are supposed to walk a mile a day, is, frankly, discriminatory, and very much against both the intent and the letter of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Your concept is good, but far too narrow. Perhaps the conversation needs to be around how to best serve all people in the community to access the most services.

--Sheldon Delph, Weston, Oregon Main Street

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.

On Aug 24, 2017 12:07 PM, Sarah Lu Heath <sarah at astoriadowntown.com<mailto:sarah at astoriadowntown.com>> wrote:
How change perceptions about parking. IE: We don’t have a parking problem, we have people with philosophical problems walking more than 15 yards.

Sarah Lu Heath
Executive Director
Astoria Downtown Historic District Association
No.1-12th Street, Suite 114
PO Box 261
Astoria, OR 97103
503.791.7940
www.AstoriaDowntown.com<http://www.astoriadowntown.com/>

From: OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>] On Behalf Of STUART Sheri * OPRD
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:19 AM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>>
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

This email is being distributed over the OMS listserv. All responses will also go over the listserv.

We will be wrapping up the Oregon Main Street Conference, Oct. 4-6, in Oregon City, with an interactive session to Trouble Shoot Issues on Main Street. The idea is to help a community address an issue in their downtown. In 5-minutes or less, towns will present their issue to a panel of experts and then the experts will brainstorm solutions. Our awesome facilitator is Michele Reeves from Civilis Consulting – you might know her as a presenter at several of our previous conferences. We have some ideas submitted from a few communities already, but we still have room for a few more. You can respond over the listserv or email me directly at: sheri.stuart at oregon.gov<mailto:sheri.stuart at oregon.gov>

Here’s some of the issues towns have mentioned (we welcome feedback on these topics as well – which are you most interested in hearing some ideas and ways to assist?):

  *   Property owners that use historic buildings as “storage”
  *   Strategies for filling up vacant buildings in an historic small Oregon town.
  *   Creating a collaborative relationship between Downtown Associations, Chambers, Visitors Centers & regional tourism NGOs when the missions overlap and the players see the dynamic as a "zero-sum-game"
  *   Funding a downtown organization to include a paid downtown manager on a stable basis. What are the tools and how are they employed to convince skeptics?
  *   Educating local business owners on running their business like a business and not like a hobby.  (i.e., meeting the needs of the community and not the personal needs of the owner.

Regards, Sheri

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