[OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Tue Jul 9 10:07:00 PDT 2019

One comment re: the permit process
In communities that have a permit process for special events, I have seen the main street program be one of the entities that have to sign off on the application. In some towns, the main street organization is the entity that manages the process as part of their service agreement with local government. There are a couple benefits to either of these roles, the main street organization is aware well in advance of what activities are happening downtown and are able to coordinate with businesses, and they can also serve as a conduit to share what works/doesn’t work with the organizations that are hosting the events in terms of the impact on downtown.

From: OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us] On Behalf Of W Darin Rutledge, Executive Director
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2019 9:57 AM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Mindy – in response to the emergency access issue … yes, that would be a tough one depending on your street cross-section. We are fortunate that our Main Street has parking lanes on both sides and two wide lanes for traffic. When we set up, there is still plenty of access on either side of the line of booths, and Main Street could be accessed from any of the side streets to within a half block of an incident.

It brings up a question of permitting process, though. Here, the City approves the closure permit after consulting with their police department, street department, and any other City divisions with possible impact. It does not go through our local fire district for approval, although I know the local PD considers emergency access in the street closure plan.

Depending on who’s reviewing, it may be that they are making an assumption about emergency access. We’ve been successful with other regulatory issues like this by using other towns (like Bend) as an example – maybe that’s a way to convince the powers that be to at best, change their minds, and at least, allow for other parties to review and way in?

Thanks!
D

From: OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers-bounces at listsmart.osl.state.or.us> on behalf of Elisa Joy Payne <ej at downtownhillsboro.org>
Reply-To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2019 at 9:28 AM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Subject: Re: [OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Mindy,

This topic is hot in our Downtown too!  We have started by creating info sheets for businesses about each event or series of events (ie.  Farmers Market), including how businesses can best take advantage of the events. I've attached an example. It hasn't squelched all the negatively, but it helps us reach new businesses before the naysayers get to them.

With the support of our chamber, we are going to start a task force that includes event staff and their boards to rethink events Downtown.

Would you be able share the data collection material that you used? It sounds like you addressed a lot of the topics we want to ask.

Thanks for bringing this topic to the listserve!

On Mon, Jul 8, 2019, 7:25 PM Steve Poisson <mrstevepoisson at gmail.com<mailto:mrstevepoisson at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Mindy-
When you say " I asked our City about changing the way the booths were placed to create a 'walk-way' between the brick and mortar stores and the booths, but I was told this was impossible because of the need to get emergency vehicle access."  I would think thee is a way to set this up to accomplish both goals- open storefronts and emergency access. We are looking at the same idea in Stayton, and even if the booths are placed a bit off-center to allow store access AND and acceptable emergency access lane it seems doable, though not yet proven by us.

Interesting discussion and very timely for our situation.

Steve Poisson
President, Revitalize Downtown Stayton

On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 4:52 PM Downtown Bend, OR <downtownbend at gmail.com<mailto:downtownbend at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for all of your responses.

Rob, our roles is to advocate for the needs of our stakeholders (building and business owners within the EID), so we have no role in helping promote events run by private event companies and hosted in our downtown district.  We gathered sales data from several businesses of various types over the past 5 years and it clearly shows that for retail businesses, event days are 30-85% down in sales.  For coffee shops (and some restaurants) this isn't the case, but eating establishments only make up 30% of our Downtown Businesses, so even if events are successful for all of them, it still is the minority of stakeholders gaining a positive benefit from Class 3 events in Downtown.  We made three classifications of events (Class 1 - events w/o street closures, Class 2 - events with street closure and no booths (parades, races) and Class 3 - events with street closures and booths).  Class 3 events were the only ones that showed a negative impact, based on the data we gathered.  Class 1 & 2 events showed a positive impact on business sales regardless of the type of business.

Westly and Darrin, I asked our City about changing the way the booths were placed to create a 'walk-way' between the brick and mortar stores and the booths, but I was told this was impossible because of the need to get emergency vehicle access.   How did you guys get around this?

Also, do any of your organization receive impact fees when events take place in your district?

Thank you, everyone, for your help in broadening my perspective!

Mindy Aisling
Executive Director
--------------------
[https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1-ao1XqSWKmxVF5_gQGs_gthlRITrrtw_&export=download]

Downtown Bend Business Association
Talk or Text - 541-788-3628    www.downtownbend.org<http://www.downtownbend.org>
916 NW Wall Street in Downtown Bend Oregon

We are a nonprofit committed to increasing
the vitality of Downtown Bend.

On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 3:53 PM Rob Dennis <bcddirector at gmail.com<mailto:bcddirector at gmail.com>> wrote:
It’s my understanding that one of the roles of your promotional committee is to help business find a way to make money off of those events like that. No two communities are the same so I don’t know how to do that in Bend, but I bet there’s a way for your downtown businesses to organize a retail event specific to what’s closing the street down.

On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 3:08 PM STUART Sheri * OPRD via OMS_MANAGERS <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us<mailto:oms_managers at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>> wrote:
No data but attached is info on how businesses can benefit from special events. What I have found is that there is a sweet spot – too many events can be a challenge for the business community but some can be a big boost in terms of exposure and marketing opportunities.

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 Downtown Bend, OR
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2019 2:57 PM
To: Oregon Main Street program managers
Subject: [OMS_MANAGERS] Events vs. Businesses

Greetings,

We collected data from our Downtown businesses that showed that 65% of businesses lose significant revenue on days that the streets of our Downtown are closed and booths line the streets for festivals/events.

Our organization has been advocating to City Council for code changes in regards to events in Downtown.

Local event organizers are pushing back, saying that other businesses in other towns benefit financially from events closing down their streets, and therefore it is the fault of our business owners for not "trying hard enough" to benefit from the traffic that events bring to Downtown.

Here is my question to you:  Do your Downtown businesses benefit financially from events that close the street and place booths in front of their businesses?

Thank you so much for your help!
Mindy Aisling
Executive Director
--------------------
[https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1-ao1XqSWKmxVF5_gQGs_gthlRITrrtw_&export=download]

Downtown Bend Business Association
Talk or Text - 541-788-3628    www.downtownbend.org<http://www.downtownbend.org>
916 NW Wall Street<https://www.google.com/maps/search/916+NW+Wall+Street?entry=gmail&source=g> in Downtown Bend Oregon

We are a nonprofit committed to increasing
the vitality of Downtown Bend.

--
Rob Dennis
Baker City Downtown Director
1655 First Street Suite 203
Baker City, OR 97814
Office: 541-523-6541 Ext. 106
Cell:541-519-2379
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