Guadalupe Street Association

Banner Project – Liz Camacho and Fabian Trujillo provided the members with an update and status of hanging banners on poles located along Guadalupe Street.  An ordinance and resolution would have to be approved by the SF City Council to allow banners to be hung on the poles. City staff is reviewing the sign code and would like to develop an ordinance that would allow other business organizations to implement banners in their areas of the city such as Canyon Road, Siler or Airport Road.  

 

Liz and Fabian will meet with the Land Use Director to further understand the sign ordinance and get support to amend this portion of the code to hang the banners.  Fabian addressed the timeline for an ordinance to go through the City committee process and get approved by the City Council. If the city decides to just amend the code for authorization to hang banners, then the process will take approximately 3-5 months or be complete approximately in April/May 2019.  If the city amends the entire sign code, then the process will be longer term. Liz and Fabian will continue discussing the issue with the Land Use Director, the City Attorney and other members as needed to determine the strategy and will report back to the members at the next association meeting.

 

Pick-up Shuttle – Liz provided a map and showed the members the route for the pick-up shuttle. Essentially the pick-up shuttle will be along Guadalupe and stop at Guadalupe and Montezuma instead of the current location near the Jean Cocteau Theater.  Liz answered all member questions. The membership was generally in favor of the move at the meeting.

 

Survey – There were 18 people who responded to the survey.  Liz and Fabian visited many of the businesses from Manhattan Avenue to Agua Fria.  Many of the businesses visited had not completed their survey and promised to go online to complete the survey.  The members asked for more time to complete the survey. Albert Zalma informed the members that he would go pick up the surveys he dropped off on Guadalupe Street.  Liz passed out the current results of the survey. So far the key conclusions are as follows:

 

• Paseo Peralta to Agua Fria for street association

• Overall business has increased or stayed the same for many businesses

• Wayfinding is welcome especially banners and signage on Guadalupe Street

• Marketing savvy varies.

• Most businesses have a web page and market on Face Book.

• Most businesses don’t partner or collaborate with other businesses or the hotels.

• Peak Client Time:  8 am – 7 pm

• Customer profile is a mix of tourists and locals.

• Shuttle change not necessarily worded clearly; 50/50 split

• Parking needs clarity;  there is a lack of knowledge around current timing and cost

• Businesses with parking don’t want to weigh in on parking questions and many others welcome free parking but worry about it being used by employees in the area instead of customers

• Safety and care for the area is a big concern

• No general type of anchor store identified, preferably one that generates traffic.

 

Way Finding:

The city is looking to expand the scope of work for an existing contract for the railyard to include wayfinding for Guadalupe Street.  The idea is to have wayfinding signs from the railyard along Guadalupe Street to the plaza. In order to accomplish this part of the project, Public Works will have to find additional monies to expand the scope of work. Paul Brock would like the city to focus on the street and not the district.

 

Holiday Event:

There was discussion on the types of events or marketing collaborative that could be done for the holidays.  Simon Brackley suggested that the members could collaborate on an ad in pasa tiempo. The members decided that there is not enough time to collaborate on a holiday event for 2018.  They will work on a collaborative event in 2019.

 

Self-Governance:

Simon Brackley​provided a background on the efforts that Canyon Road made in 2008.  He said that there were two main priorities the Canyon Road businesses assembled to address:

• Infrastructure:  parking, lighting, restrooms, etc. (Government can help).

• Marketing:  they formed canyon road association to market canyon road as an art destination.  They collaborated on bill boards, radio ads, etc. (Merchant led effort).

 

Simon then said that the association was formed as a formal 501 c 6. Shawna Tatom of Curiosa was part of the Canyon Road board and provided more history and insight in that effort.  She expanded on Simon’s discussion and provided members the pros and cons of that effort.

The discussion then moved to the strengths of Guadalupe Street for a potential marketing collaborative.  The group decided that diversity of businesses was their biggest strength; despite not having a specific “art” theme or target like Canyon Road. Members were amenable on working together to form an association for marketing purposes and to address the infrastructure.  The members agreed that they also focus on beautification which includes landscaping and possibly sidewalk painting. The members also asked Liz and Fabian how the city can assist them with their beautification efforts. Liz and Fabian committed to researching what the city could do to help with beautification efforts.

 

Next Meeting Date:  December 11, 2018 at 9:00 AM