e e e e all right I'll call this uh special call meeting to order then um we can start with the roll call but I'm not going to go through all that because there's really no point it's just four of us here right now so I'll label us the four they so George Au is here here Rolo Blanco's here Matthew kod and Carlos F yeah we are all here um from there I'll move on to public comments All right so the way this usually works is this is the moment where you state your name your full name and uh what it is you're here for what is you're going to comment on this is kind of going to be a little different obviously we're kind of doing this a little bit more of like an open Forum sort of thing as we kind of go through this so we don't necessarily have to do that I will leave this open though if anybody has anything they want to State beforehand I guess before we jump in if everybody wants to take this opportunity to say anything now's your opportunity now's your chance if not we'll kind of just kind of start diving in and see how things go but anybody's got anything right now may I because there's so many people here I'm you don't mind just write your name and maybe company pass it around to ask you to repeat stuff perfect have that for the whether you're from the public or company identify thank you to [Music] speak all right other than that the next thing would be order of business deferrals additions deletions right so what this usually consists of and like I said we're doing this more open Forum right so usually this is people from the EDC are doing these different things but if you guys have anything please feel free to jump in so the orders of visits theer additions deletions this is usually something that's not on the agenda if we want to add it on there you know something that we want to talk about that's not currently there right now so if anybody's got anything like that right now that they think you know something pressing that's not covered in these little topic items that we have here that we want to incorporate feel free this is your chance uh just no quum I'm we're not voting that's why this I'm just adding this you know to talk about no even to add it there's a it's fine I think I think the others there's more than enough cover for you know and that's fine that's fine I'm not saying we won't I guess that's fine we won't officially put it on the agenda but we'll put it under other I just want to give everybody the opportunity to have what they want to have spoken about spoken about I would like to to begin to kind of give the main idea of the whole business right and like to see from there we we start um so I think the main idea of the of the meeting is to have the town to have the grahams and to have the merchants to be able to all of us put something together that we uh rehabilitate Main Street as the main area of Miami Lakes as it used to be as he needs to be uh for several reasons uh number one I think because the city deserves I think that the city has grow tremendously to let it die as how currently it is because the business that are there really need it they really need support because I do see uh um a type of strategery from the city from the Grahams from ourselves uh we do see something that we are trying to do but we're not doing it together so I think the main thing is for figure it out how we actually create a comprehensive plan a long-term plan and that we act all of us on it uh also you know there is couple of things that we all as a merchant has questions and would like to know and and and and and try to see to understand but main point I think is to be able to organize something that it it brings people from other cities to Miami Lakes the the businesses that we currently have here will not survive with only Miami Lakers we need to advertise the city outside and I think we have a beautiful seity I think we have plenty of parking spaces for the customer to come but we don't have an strategery so we look the web page the Instagram or social media from from from Miami Lakes advertising Miami Lakes and the and the Main Street area there is not too much push same thing with uh the Grahams uh uh advertising which they do have I believe I believe what we have done on research um Vanessa which is our marketing director from chalis has be able to create a little presentation of everything that we can probably do and we also have the support of other Ms here that will be able to share their experience and what they want or what they expect and uh mainly I think is to put all their resources together we as Merchants are here to be you know to help to figure it out what we need to do but there is resources from the city from the EDC the economic development committee I know there is the fair uh committee that also has certain batches that we can use uh that seity in general I know that we contribute to a marketing funds from um uh from our building from the Grahams so what can we do all together because I think that's the main point that some we're pushing everywhere but we're not pushing anywhere and those are the results that we're seeing uh on on that we bring some examples from different series that they have done different things from westone Doral Coral Gables so it's how we make it in instagramable let's call it how we make it so people want to come and kind of uh understand that Miami Lakes is not that City that now people are understanding that it is okay I think that's the main objective and then we can continue with the things that we have and and then we can go from there and see how can we all work together for better of our to yeah yeah pretty much hit the nail on the head with that but that's again why I keep tur to you guys because this isn't necessarily me obviously when it comes to what needs to be done and how you guys can do it we're just here to help mediate and like car said bring in what we can from the EDC because that's that's our whole goal you know help the small businesses grow and work together um but with that then I guess I'll start with the what going down the list of the agenda and like I said I personally don't have anything in like to say specifically about each and one of these topics this is for you guys to kind of go on I know Vanessa here has the whole presentation about each one of these as well so I'm just going to start opening the conversation about marketing then right that's the first thing we have listed here right it's the most broad so how are you um you want me do the presentation marke yeah I don't think it hurts now way everyone's on the same page I think it's a good idea [Music] [Music] is wish she can connect is there wa for me to mirror to there um I'm not sure you can to me and we can h one more thing that I would like to add in the presentation is that we have been lucky that we have able to create good relationships to the people from the city uh you know the mayor that you know a bunch of the coun and everything and everybody and also the grams and stuff like that all everybody wants to do something everybody yes it's exciting we do it we we you know but is there's not many actions done and and and and um we as business are suffering because of that and a lot of people are kind of desperate that we don't see so it's thatle is is how we all do it together yeah and and and so that way we don't pull strength and resources from to other places but everybody wants to everybody that I talk really wants to yes let's do it blah blah blah and then they to the meetings they don't come to this they don't come to that and you know and and and and I think it's just matter of everybody to kind of believe that it could happen and believe that there will be a plan implemented to do so uh and I think we will get a lot of more people on board and a lot of more Super and resources to be able to do there's one thing from the group pressing pressing that vitally need what would it be what would you what would you suggest is that the number one prity need I think I'm let it I'm going to let it's not it's not just one it's it's a lot of things it's a lot of things with the same weight know doubt about it's a lot of things with the same weight it's not just marketing marketing is one of them but there are a lot of things that are affecting us and and that's why we here that's that's right yeah that's right but mention one wrestling one or two I say what would it be what would it is it more is it more uh presence is it more marketing is it more that that we have to go out of the town and a track is it should we Engage The Chambers of Commerce more should we engage uh I don't I asked because there be a lot of reasons and there is it is called Main Street so what how do get Main Street on the map is there we can do everybody can do is it and I think it's a team effort I forg about that and and um yeah and is is there like a priority that you have is there is it money is it financing is it is it is it is it is it better publicity I think we have comination I think there is main missing is a plan TR it's yeah yes I think because I think there is the resources it's just that we everybody does different things so how we put together a plan that we can execute and and that we move fast because Summer is really bad for businesses especially the the the the food industry and and I know retail as well and we can see the retail suffering as well but it's how we actually bring more people to uh main stream at Miami la General right and I think that's main also the main reason is because a lot of people say oh let's just do the grams because the gram is the way I had to talk but in my opinion is the city and the grams because the city wants to charge the sales taxes wants to charge all all the re re uh real estate taxes right uh uh that Grahams obviously they want to have their spaces fulfilled and stuff like that uh so it's just matter and as we wanted to survive and hopefully make money one day uh so it's just matter to put together a a a plan because right now there is none I know that we've been waiting for the Main Street to be repaced and stuff like that and all of them uh but that's going to take years and we cannot just wait so I think you guys have something prepared so let's let's Jump Right In we only have the room for an hour for presentation everybody just so you guys know we are taking minutes CU it's a public meeting um there's a signing sheet going around please everybody sign in because I need to have that for the record yeah did everybody are we missing do like okay all right thank you go for V okay hello again my name is Vanessa I am the marketing director at chanas I do social media marketing for BBS I'm a mi Laker my whole life so I've seen Main Street and it's Heyday and it's not till Heyday and now it's coming back so I've seen a full like circle of Main Street of Miami Lakes in general um and now I have like a unique perspective as being you know working hand inand with the businesses every single day day in and day out hosting events doing marketing all these things so I kind of can see how we can kind of extend that into working with the grams our landlords working with the town of amulic that we're part of and I think the underlying thing is that what we want is cohesion I think everyone's very separated everyone does their own thing and fingers crossed that something works and something fixs but I think if we all just work together I think that's what we all need need and want so I put together this small presentation we don't have to go through every link just because I know time is pressing um but if you go to the next slide you can kind of see like um I did a little bit of market research I did a little bit of kind of um ideas that we can do for marketing improvements in general um some ideas for community events how we can improve In Crowd and traffic um just in in general for the area and just like Main Street of the future you know and that's a picture obviously of Old Main Street before Main Street Main Street okay so here a little bit of market research right um I wish I could probably pull it up for you but um I'm just goingon to give you kind of the bullet points of each one for me personally and I think for all of us we feel that there's no reason why Main Street is not comparable to example downtown dur or geralda I think everyone here knows geralda right so geralda is the umbrella all the businesses that are there which are exactly the same as us it's shopping and it's food um so it's exactly the same there's no reason why we can't be as f as s is in corate there's no reason we can attract people from outside we can attract people from Miami Lakes we can do the whole thing um but I think this starts off because everyone today is digital so website and Instagram and Tik Tok and all these places it's super important to be active to be on Trends to be just in front of people's faceb is 247 that's how the world works today right so um downtown Dural some notable things I noticed about their website these are all notes about the website I think everyone in general knows Instagram could just probably be better in general just as far as like posting more consecutively um staying on top of Trends trending audios like just being on top of it it's just be about being consistent I think with everything you can ask David being consistent at the gym helps so being consistent on on uh Instagram is also going to help um so for okay to start downtown D something I noticed um they feature The Living Spaces which we also have and office retail spaces with Dem uh demographic info which is very active and updated um constantly they also have an updated events page which is huge because speaking personally for me CH hosts events all the time we have something special every single day there's an event once a month no matter what and we like to huge things right so like Cinco Mayo is huge for us uh we hosted P fest last week uh next up we're hosting a tiki Festival like all these things should be there and if you go to Miami Lake Socom right now none of that's there and we're putting a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears into these events and nobody even knows about it unless you follow us that's the only way that people know so I think having a website keeping that calendar activated I think would be really good um they also have a map feature which should be pretty simple I think setting up because it's pretty common through all of these places and it kind of shows you an overall like the mall basically like a you are here and then you can hover over the spaces and oh wow there's a bakery oh wow there's a coffee shop oh wow there's CH oh it's right here like we can bar hop or whatever um whatever the case you know so I think like having a map with a like a directory listing an explanation of parking which we n Lakes has the best parking on the planet because it's free it's amazing so that's like something attractive that can attract people because they you have to pay or you have to pay everybody you have to pay I think the only place here you don't have to pay is p Gardens so that's huge we have a parking lot parking lots all that good stuff um P Gardens I notice they have a ton of visuals so all of us work really hard in making our faes beautiful why not feature it SW 44y has an amazing facility that should be all that we have like a really cool gym let's put it out there we have a really cool nice um Speak Easy shant should be there too that's something super unique that not every place has um so probably like keeping at the visuals like whether it's videos photos both just like adding that to the website too that's also missing um what else ask a question quick which website are you looking at when you reference the mining L website um that's a great question I believe it was cuz there's a Main Street website and then there's like the Grand company's website and then there's obviously the town of Mi Lake's website so I was just curious like when you're looking which one you're looking at I believe it's Main Street 9 Lakes but again it's super confusing right so like how do I know which one to look at is it the town or is it Main Street I think I was looking at Main Street um I can't remember right now I made this a um but yeah so I think like like right now I'm looking at the event here on Main street.com or Miami Main Street mi.com and it only has um the theater and the farmers Mark so there's no way for us to like the like the like the businesses to maybe submit an event that's an idea there is so we'll talk about later not I don't want to cut you I'm so excited if hear about this because I I I see your energy on all their socials and I love it and you do a great job and so I I but um yeah we we asked and I one thing I'm really excited and I loved your kickoff and I'm sorry I think most of you introduced I'm Laura I'm pH abouted with the grand please but um I love this y'all y'all and I look at you and I can't believe that you've all joined us since 2020 I think that the transformation that you all and the energy and the creativity that you bring Main Street is transformative for our town for our community for our business for your business and so I don't want I want you guys to know that Philip you know he he's the Visionary on getting you guys all convincing you to come to Miami Lakes and then and Sarah and I are the ones that try to take care of you when you're here and that's why Philip's not here tonight so everybody asked for Philip was I'm Philip's sister you know not as exciting whatever but you know I do a lot of the hard work that he he doesn't have to do once he brings you guys here but um I'm so excited to have you here because for so long we obviously have a passion for my lakes that you guys share which is wonderful and for so long we've had um a lot of businesses that really didn't want to collaborate with us and so we would send out an email please send us content please send us your events and crickets right and we would try to have Main Street collaboration meetings and nobody would show up unless we begged them and they were our friends and so to have you guys in this room excited to do something is so exciting to us um and so we're really happy I just want to make sure that I understood what you were looking at and you know we look to all these these places too right and what they're doing and and how they're invigorating their street so sorry I just want to make the same page so actually for for example downtown dur has a super great social media I really like because they have like a voice pretty much this guy that goes all around like and he goes to like the businesses and Stu but it's it's content that people engage with he shows them like secret things like oh yeah you know if you go in here you can get this for free or you can get this discounted or if you say you know downtown Dal whatever if you found us on Instagram we can get this I'm going to just interrupt because of matter of the time and I think that should be I the main idea will be to kind of generate a little plan right today because we only have like an hour right uh so if we generate a plan of how we going to execute we can go through all those ideas which I know she's very excited about to share but I know not going to be able to see everything and then kind of figure it out okay how can we act quick on it because as the same way that you are mentioning it and we are very proud because we most of us are Miami Lakers H and and we really wanted to push it and everything we feel that we are alone we feel that we're just trying and trying and trying and we're bringing people and when the people that we bring they love it and and you know and then we look the social medias for Miami legs of the Miami Lake all the Miami things and it's 1,700 followers so it's none none of those cities have they have hundreds of thousands so it's part of why we don't become that right and I think there's many things that happened right let's see if she continue with those things and then we can go over all those yeah I mean I'm gonna try to cut this part short because I think everybody kind of knows um already but yeah it's pretty much I think the bottom line is cohesion and just working together collaboration us working with the Gramps working with the town how we can make this better and I think these places are a good example I don't know exactly how they work I don't work in like's say Coco walk I don't know if how they work together but Mii L is small enough that we can just like collaborate and hey look guys like what are we GNA do for next month like are there events this like everybody I think would be super down to do that um to add one point to that I'm sorry I'm I'm I'm I'm bringing all the ideas of everybody right the other that we have is like for example to have this meeting we have had three meetings from the ADC and the ADC has meetings every month so it's three months so just to be able to have this meeting then how long more is going to take for all of us to create a project and stuff like that so probably we're talking for next year but next year most of those exciting business may not be here and we don't want that to happen we really don't because then it's going to come back to what you were saying with new tenants that they don't want it and I think it's the most I think is the great opportunity to be able to do so well I think you know the town has a great role to play in this right so I think to your point our boardroom is always available and there's not a one your time limit and we can book it tomorrow right so I think it could be smart in this meeting if we only have limited time to identify where we see the town's input because if it's something that is collaboration between the tenants and the g company I think that's easy to like have an ongoing conversation that we don't have to schedule three months in advance for all the like reasons and so you know I think identifying in this meeting more of what the town can do um to help in that I think the town had done a great job during covid um trying to step up their social media engagement and their content and some of that's died off and I don't I don't know who was in charge of that or how it came to be or you know all those things but I think to your point selling the town as a whole um is helpful um because at the end of the day I'm a boring CPA who's a landlord so for me to come up with wonderful strategies to Market you know things it's not good that's why we need you guys in the collaboration is is a good thing but and I don't know how in these towns the cities or the towns collaborate to help generate business it's not my specialty um so I think you know if we want to if we're concerned about time we want to make sure we get through things if there's things you want to table and have a followup meeting like just with us that's always on the table just so to answer that question because we had the meeting here at the Abc like how the city would it help right and and and there the things that we identify right I don't know I don't think Danny's here but Danny uh from uh um permits and stuff like that to be able to see you know what may the city be able to not be so strict not so many permits not many so many things to be able to do a lot of other stuff that we wanted to do like you know just to give you an example we are able to do inas SOS every month we don't do it because of all the harle day it takes me three months to get all the per for and and they work fantastic and they work really good but it's not just them it's a bunch of other things and that's why we don't do other bigger concerts we don't do all other stuff right uh but that City input could be like let's say let's call it for all the businesses that are interested to have one permit a a year okay you renew your parment and stuff like that also uh there is bunch of resources in whatson for example I my understanding I don't know if this is true my understanding but I my understanding was that there were some funds provided to the city to light up all Main Street okay those are known those are things that the city may know if they did receive the funds they did not receive the funds stop like that uh uh the in the past that's happened no no not in the in the future it's available no no no I think they already to receive it but recently talking about like six seven months ago okay my understanding I don't know if it is true sorry street lights or like no they receive funds to put Street lines and light up the whole Main Street cuz main Street's private so you guys know we own it we maintain it something's broken it's weak right anything other than Main Street is the and so I know that they did there has been a lot of shortage in funding for lights because like a bunch of the intersecting streets um on Main Street like newn and bu run the Grand Park yeah by Grand Park those lights we had been following up with pound monthly weekly yeah to say it was it was making pound Center dark and we were concerned and and I guess the funding had run out so they had you know it took months to get that address but I didn't if it's that funding hopefully we don't get to go okay okay that those are the things and also and I know that there is like for example there is the the social media media efforts that they have done it and on those social media efforts they don't work together right same thing every committee has uh budgets to be able to contribute to different things like ABC tries to do certain events we do different things we do things like that right the uh culture first a culture first have FS to be able to do events and stuff like that is how we work all together to be able to create and I think it just put together a plan and says okay are there more Forks right uh uh and I think those are things because I think it's also important for the city that to maintain and activated is responsibility of all of us us as a Merchants grams as a um landlords and the city to maintain thing and that's why is this to be able to do of course there's more uh bureaucracy and and times and stuff like that but the idea is to be able to get together and to be able to execute something that we maybe just come and ask you and figure it out how we be able to pass it and so yeah just bouncing on that's why we have I and Jonathan here too because you guys are from the Communications Department of the town right so when it comes to the marketing of the town like can kind of like what you was saying too when it really comes down to the marketing it's really a collaboration between you guys right right when it comes to marketing the town itself um what what I'll say is I'm sort of a vacum that uh you know I I I can't speak for the town whole Administration the wishes of the um I first of all yeah my name is R I work with the town's Communications Department marketing dig Serv Digital Services that's our social medias our website photo video anything that however we present ourselves out there is it's kind of why I have my hands in so so um a lot of the efforts specifically with shot Miami Lakes have gone away it's it's there's there's not enough Personnel or or let's say resources out there for us to go out and create content on Main Street which is like you see some municipalities you know as opposed to their their local Chambers or their downtown uh uh websites which is which is sort of what I would imagine the downtown gal andard like those aren't the municipal Pages those are uh Chambers and private businesses that that have uh footings in those areas and you know so there there's only so much that the municipal side can do um but a lot of it does I mean we I I love capturing beautiful photos of the town of people at events and people smiling and you know vendors handing out things at at the Easter event so it's really we helish Le you know I love to capture those photos I'd love to have more events like that it's just sort of you know there's only I I I don't know where the efforts are in in putting those beautiful photo worthy events um around my L especially on Main Street outside of you know the Committees have you know their schedule of events which is our fourth of July our our senior events and what's the we have to have a sort of push for like you know the Main Street events like what if we have a a a Main Street concert or something like what's the draw after that cuz once it's over you know the event will you know break down and then what's left you know what's the what's the meat that people bite on to um so it's at least that's this town's approach or my Approach rather I don't see doing if I me my name is I am the special events coordinator uh really I serve as the leave for a lot of the boards here that we have uh in the town specifically I work with cult Affairs anything they may need um from the volunteer board to stff vice versa um I think the reality is that you guys probably do need like a seced plan in place although I know there's I guess we're kind of desperate and want something shortterm to maybe get the ball rolling um I think everybody's kind of aware of what maybe the issues are in place are um I think one of the quickest Solutions in terms of just getting the ball rolling right like I don't think this is the the solution to everything but I think the collaboration between the Committees um only because as you mentioned special events is a thing it takes a lot of work and I'm sure Budget on on the businesses ends but the reality is that if you go through the Committees it's kind of an easier access into making things happen um it's not my place to speak on behalf of cultural Affairs committee they are the board that makees those decisions on what they want to see but I'd like to bring up the example that they are uh currently working at um they do an annual event called concert in the park and I think that maybe you guys should just feed off of what they're already doing and maybe just integrate me stre onto it is probably like an easy fix us to getting the ball rolling and what you guys want to see there um so for example concert in the park they're bringing a jazz fan group that they do every year and they do it in the park um Felicia has been with the committee many years and she can talk to um as to what locations they've done before I know they've done it um in the golf course before and now we've been doing a veterans part but maybe there is an opportunity there to maybe bring it to me so I just want to uh I think it's a good idea to feed off of what they're already doing and just bringing it together maybe helps helps the businesses again that's a decision for them to take but it's a good idea and then one other thing I want to mention before I hand it out to uh the chair um is that something that's coming up in the near future that benefits some of you for promotion purposes is the culinary B to a lot of you have been part of that before I know there's some new businesses but um I've probably reached out to some of you by now um and I'm happy to talk to you after the meeting just to make sure we get get you guys involved but I also think that that's a good event that includes the businesses in the air you wantan thank you for inviting me um as I said I've been inol with the culture Affairs since ination in 2001 and uh I've seen a lot of things happening on Main Street we used to do a lot of events on Main Street we used to have um and I made a little love here because I know I get nervous when I talk and I forget we in 2005 we created a an event called Main Street Live and we used to bring bands to Main Street uh small bands not not a big deal but um I was brainstorming myself the other day and uh he was like a little I can make a copy of this and give it to you so you know the history of it and it was very it was like a test uh let me of course our budget was very limited like always and um and we always you know try to bring because I love my street and I remember your grandparents walking together on Main Street and seeing them all the time and [Music] uhar and um but yeah I I uh I mention it to Matthew on our um chair quarterly chair committee and he get very excited he remember when he was a k coming to Main Street and I think it's time we bring it back and um I I created a like a list actually the community created a uh a database to include artists and musicians so I'm going to reach out to people that I know and they already people that want to come to Main Street and play music and it's just a matter of working together I think it's important that good marketing plan is put together with everybody's input and kind on us I mean we're I I always tell the town every time I give my presentation that culture is good business I remember when working for Lauderdale the the culture of Department uh right on Brower I used to go there and I found this button which I can't find it anymore and I I fell in love with him he said this go to good business I people go to Europe spend money over there and why because culture draws them to it and we can do the same thing here we can have uh like an open don't know you want to rent the spes but we can have like a gallery that people can hang out and on every Friday night or Saturday night whenever we have to decide on the day I think Friday nights when we used to do it is is to bring people in I know we have separate events going on through the year and we have a lot I mean I created this on my own this what's coming up and it was very successful at the first of July event because people were taking pictures because we have Flyers individual Flyers but yeah they they put away like maybe a month before but people like to plan their their activities so I us I mean I the committee I I was able to get their the consensus and they're very happy to to work with with the enti economic development committee so um whatever you thank you yeah I think I think we want to get to yes I agree and guys I'm sorry I'm the one that's keeping minutes and keeping time I just for the sake of time we have to give the room at 6:30 so let's try we until as I can touching all the points but if you want you can go to the next slide so here Bas these are just super Basic Marketing improvements that I personally thought of that we can probably do quick and easy especially because we all or I guess the town and grams everybody kind of has like access to these things a little faster than let's say I do um the reing should be super simple I think that's something we can probably work together I don't know who with but we have access to all homes so like why can't we you know have some sort of I don't know if it's like I don't really know how to like go about that like what the plan is but direct mailing I think would be great um email blast that you guys have databases I'm sure because we only have so much right like and the individual businesses only have so much but I think if if it comes from the town or if it comes from the gr it's like hey like look at what's happening in Main Street like or like it goes happening May Mi this month like something along the lines of like a newsletter will be really great um and I think working together I don't know who the owner is but the Mii Laker would be awesome because everybody in Mii Lakes Mii Laker in 33s every single time we get it um so maybe having some sort of like small business I don't know starter kit and one of that is like an ad or like every month there's an editorial on somebody like that is guaranteed like you already know like you're gonna come out in the Manny Laker once a month I mean once a year let's say no matter what you know as a business um so I think like using those tools that are kind of easy for some people's fingertips to grab on to that are not mine um I think would be very cool but again I think it all goes back to just being cohesive and having a plan that works together uh well I what I'll say is for for the channel we do have our our opt-in uh email blasts it's to ha over 12,000 people that have signed up we send out much monthly blast um depending on it it getes a list of upcoming events some events are naturally heavier than others um so if with the dve is coming up if you know the the Farmers Market has a concept running there because it's it's every Saturday there's not much more changing with that um I would I mean I won't speak for the well I can speak probably more to the direct melee it's it's really if the town wanted to I've wanted to create a magazine for the town there are some holdbacks that there are with that because it's everything comes back to resources and funding um I think that'd be a great way to promote uh events that are coming up you know we post our monthly Instagram stories and our event calendar on Facebook is always running um we always communicate with the later upcoming events at something that I and I both do I just think and I think we're all sort of hovering over the same uh topic it's just how do we bring it to Main Street you know how do we bring that because you know we can have a million events in veter park but that's not really that's not the focus disc why don't we let Vanessa finish and then I'm keeping track of a list of your wants because I think a lot of these things actually I'm realizing already exists it's just their Silo so if you guys don't know who to go to you don't know that Jonathan runs the email let serve you know so it's that's all it is it's just and that's why the economic development committee like Carlo said spent three months trying to get you guys together because that's what we're here to do is just connect the points so that everybody can get to where we need to go so let's go down the whole list and and we'll do comments at the end yeah okay well the website I already kind of touched upon that social media as well I think bringing influencers in as they're like not our favorite people um influencers have a huge reach so that's to attract not Miami Lakers which we already have access to Miami Lakers because we're the that brings other people so it's just going to increase everyone's business as a whole as like as a destination whether it's for food whether it's for shopping everything along those lines the hotel the movies everything I think an influence like a few influencers would be amazing Golden Touch to the main stre if you want to go this is something that I came up with as well community events we all know how much Miami Lakers have to get together it's already proven through Miami lak F Wine Festival which is a private event and the the cars forare cure which happens on main street cars spare cure is incredible everyone loves cars spare cure let's do more of those you know like whether that's weekly live music I I think what she was saying Main Street Live is awesome I think we should try to see how we can go about that maybe having small you know bands just to activate it and just have people there and maybe we can want supporter or like even once a year like have someone big you know come like we all kind of like work together have someone really big to like attract you know Outsiders to come um holiday events he says like they work they do the Easter events they do it but not on Main Street like we can do like I know the the merchants all got together to do the Halloween the the trating on Main Street uh the we can do Easter we can do even sing mile singular mile doesn't only have to be single which I mean I'm biased so like yes I'm sing but we can do something you know on the something big Christmas like a tree lining I know we do as well but like just more to attract people that come here that are not Miami Lakers we have Miami Lakers like and I'm very grateful for them I'm not being spoiled but we have to like bring more people you know um and then special activations something I would love to do like I would love to like have my hands in this is taste some Miami laks which is something like um Miami spice Miami spice is awesome and and all the businesses I know benefit from that because I used to work with proos people um so tast would be great and we can have our own kind of activation whether that's you know encouraging locals to go and try all the places we can invite outside people to come like Miami Spa month always works Miami spikes always works we can have our own taste Miami Lakes so it's and we can also do something um says for like the restaurant side and then the small businesses that are not necessarily restaurants can do something like on small business side for shopping like we call it Like Loving Miami laks and like you know all the businesses you know agree to some sort of discount or like some sort of promo like if you shop all of them you get something I I don't know something like just I think like I said the bottom line is just working more together uh along those lines and also the anniversary of Main Street which I don't personally know when that is but I think a Main Street anniversary would be really cool like a big thing next slide uh something else I don't know if we've ever done done this before I personally don't know of it but a Main Street artw walk I know in Windwood it works awesome Windwood is very tourist section obviously but we can have our own and if we attract you know cool like activations and we promote it on social media we promot it on EV Bri and all these different platforms that are out there uh we could do press for it press releases all this sort of stuff we can do something along these lines whether that's uh just art we can have little vendors kind of like Farmers Market stuff style but not Farmers Market um we can have food trucks if possible like just make it just activated and filled and just like so Main Street can be like oh my God like wow what's happening Main Street so flashy you know um next slide we need only two more slides swear uh more events obviously like I said like cars for cure if maybe we do cars for cure twice that'd be awesome I know they would love that because they're going to raise money for it um everybody really likes it and it's great PR for Street for the town for everybody and cars here is obviously a good cause and then T man Lakes like I said I touched upon that already taste of Dural already exists so if they can do it we can do it and I know they can do better because we're like a close for me like my is Clos are it so like we'll all be able to really have our hands in it and make sure that it's a success and then lastly this is more like overreaching I think but you know for the future uh next oh yeah is why not have a billboard for Main Street that would be amazing that' be so sick if you're driving down the Pomo you can see main stre on like a billboard U I know like there's one available right and there's one available right now so like and you can say like exit no whatever we could strategically put it um but I think that'd be really amazing and I don't know where this particularly could go I put here on Main Road surrounding Main Street like 67 L drive but flutter Flags like those little Flags that's a really picture because I got it from Google Maps but like promoting like all of our businesses that already exist it's just a way of just just visually like people are reminded that it exists you know whether it's like a sign that says like BB's big house you know like big or like S 4 40 or like CH like you know like just as you're driving like oh yeah like are like you're in the car like where should we go like then you just see a sign oh there it is and you go so I think that would help everybody and that's it great job Vanessa I there's a lot of work into that um I want to take a quick moment before we start getting comments just to kind of like give a frame to everything that that I took down so that was a phenomenal list and I mean I think everybody agrees all of that would benefit M Main Street would benefit Miami Lakes undoubtedly I think the biggest thing that's missing because I know we're comparing the town of Miami Lakes to a lot of different um you know cities and towns and Municipal municipalities that are very successful at doing this and I think the biggest difference between what they're doing and what we not doing is it really it seems very evident that they have either one dedicated person or a dedicated events team to making that happen for that town we don't have that here you know like what what what would make all of this happen cohesively and quickly is like you know no offense Carlos but they would hire Vanessa right to make it happen like now right so you know you guys want to hire Vanessa that would be that would be really cool um so so ultimately if you look at the things that we do do have right so cars for a cure that's a gram company event right so uh if we look at my we don't have taste of Miami Lakes but we have Miami Lakes Food and Wine Lynn puts that on every year we have you know the Fourth of July celebration right so we with the cultural Affairs puts that on every year everything that we do have that is successful if you notice the one thing that they have in common is someone takes ownership and responsibility for it right which is why if that one person is on vacation that year or wants to take a break after 20 years of doing it it doesn't happen there's not that continuity because it's not necessarily ingrained in the DNA that happens every year on rinse and repeat right so there's no budget allocation everything is fundraised for it or again if it's a gram company event it's that's their event to put on and decide can we afford to have two cars for for Cort every year right so it's something that's difficult for us to say like we you know we want to turn the key and have it happen multiple times a year or have three of these of events happen once a year right so so I think what we're coming down to it is obviously we want you know we would we would like to have more events we would like to have better social media but we want to accomplish this without having one point person for it so for example for town of Miami Lakes there's the town of Miami Lakes Instagram which I believe is run by the town and and I think it's pretty much Jonathan that runs it in his spare time right because he's not the social media content manager for the town we don't have a position for that for the town right um we have downtown Miami Lakes as an Instagram handle and I think Graham companies runs that right or someone from and it has like 500 followers because they don't have someone full-time to do that right so this is not putting blame on anyone I'm here just kind of like sharing what I'm seeing but this is where we're at and if we want to improve on it I think really what has to happen which you know may not happen today I think today is a good eye openening meeting to these are the gaps right is these three different pieces Graham companies Main Street Merchants town of Miami Lakes needs to come together and decide who can be responsible realistically right understanding that we have a limited budget and limited staff to maybe get together once a month or something like that and make a master plan to make these things happen um so and and understanding that I don't think unless you know you guys maybe want to tell us I don't think there's a secret budget agenda line item in the town to fund you know magically five events over I I don't I don't I don't think we have that available right yes hope I'd like to add sorry uh today I I took a workshop with Miami day Department of cultural Affairs and they have funding and I asked them that question specifically if we have let's say because we don't have a cultural center which I've been trying for years to have and we used to the church we used the Main Street Theater uh in the town itself to do our events so they do have money but we have they have the deadline I have to attend a workshop I all that but they do have money to do activities so I mentioned if we want to do an activity on on an outdoor concert will they provide the money and what and and Ashley Thomas uh she's she's one of the people in that department and I've been in contact with her they want to do a presentation with the towns to to show them that you can make money with the Arts the town so we need to tap into those two I mean I I'll be Del lay on if you want me to because I'm trying to bring money to the town to do those kind of activities so I think it's important we need to tap into every s and they have the money great so we have to that's right I yeah from a few of merch what live every day I mean 20 20 25 minutes left there two points of you know in your eyes what would improve your situation person I just my second my second thing you address later is and I I mean respect back because I just don't know I know there's a marketing fund who's in charge because I see a lot of possibly good ideas everybody wants it but you know be good to bring to the town or us through the town is hey I got 10 items maybe none of them are possible but maybe two of them are maybe eight of them are but without a starting point I think to follow up on you're saying it's I'm sitting here trying to pick up everything obviously in an hour but it's like you know can we hey I like this let's go forward with it it's just not what makes the most sense I I don't want to take away from your time but you can go first I guess before talking I I have a couple questions first one when uh Main Street is going to be renovated because when I when they brought me here two years almost two years ago they told me uh Main Street was be renovated they gonna be a lot of people to to you know like to to make to be able to to be Main Street grade like before like some years when I started living here and I've been Miami Lakers almost 20 years and I I'm not planning to move because I love Miami Lakes as a citizen as a part of the the community but to have business is something deep totally opposite I mean like we really struggling we are struggling with our business and yes the marketing marketing and social media that's what we need to improve I don't know who who Who's going to make it but we need somebody in charge of raham City of Miami Miami Lakes uh in charge of marketing the city the Main Street that's what we need we are on Main Street but nothing happening it's a g gust Street in a ghost town and on top of that during the week days we don't make any money and Friday and Saturday the best day we have is a barricade it's like a curfew curfew Friday I don't understand that I don't care what the the kids are doing but that's why we have police or something Security in charge but for me it doesn't make any sense that you place barricade barricades or whatever ugly by by the way and two police car with the lights like that it's like a a crime is happening every Friday Saturday night when people from other City come to Miami Lakes because they want to visit like or whatever uh when they see that they leave they don't go in because there's no way to go in when I'm coming from my house to my place is no way I can go in I have to to jump fences because the the cinema is is closed everything it's fences everywhere so it's no way we can go in Main Street on Friday Saturday night it's a curfew it's curfew period so we not making any money and I don't understand like a main street in it's like linol road if you do that in linol Road nobody's going to LOL Road or how are you going to block the the only Main Street you have in town the principal Street you can't block it I mean beside the marketing that's is doesn't make sense for me and you you I mean like uh it's not benefit for the cinema it's not a benefit for any of the places inside uh Main Street so I I don't understand that so if if you have any explanation that why you doing that probably but it's not it's totally it's totally killing the businesses on Main Street totally so I don't see that they Main Street is going to be renovated to be able so some people so big names from the city to come and open in Miami Lake and make uh you know Main Street a huge place a destination not for Miami Lakers from other people from other that's what we need that people from all over Miami comes to to to Main Street to Miami Lakes they don't know they they never heard Miami Lakes oh Miami Lakes I never heard about that so in Main Street they don't know about that people know about D about p p about t Town Country in in in Cana they don't know about Miami Lakes they don't know about about Main Street they don't know Miami lak exist so they we we need to do something in order to bring those big names to open business here and uh and and to do that first we have to avoid that the people we have don't leave or don't close because it's going to be even even worse because what if we have that I I don't think uh a lot of people they don't call they say oh they close no I don't something happening there and and they they won't come so that's my main my main uh problem the main question I have yeah marketing and and and blocking Main Street on Friday on Saturday night anybody anybody else want to share something I can answer those or I can hear more topics you you hear more you you answer those and then my topics are the same that we just went through right I guess right now since we don't have a person like you said designated to do that I feel like we're we're living this place with the same answers right so I think right now if we can get informations of the people that we can contact I know with the GRS we can contact says that I'm SAR but besides that we are the same I think I think what we should probably do is create like a committee or think I just want to touch on those points because they're really important I want to touch on some things that you commented on from the presentation which was wonderful so what I did before I came today I did it quickly so it's not thorough but I looked at what we collect from the tenants for the marketing fun and what we spend so you guys know what we SP you're always welcome to to understand that right that's important so last year uh 2023 we collected 0 a little over 94,000 from every tenant on Street the main thing that we use the marketing fund dollars for is the Festival of Lights and holiday decorations so you guys know you pay cam that's part of your rent the cam doesn't pay to put up all the lights put up all the decorations any of that kind of thing that comes out of the marketing fund so last year the Festival Lights cost around $887,000 so of the 94,000 87,000 went for the festival W so I want you I mean to understand right because these dollars are big putting up all those lights putting together the event it's expensive okay so at the end of the day there's also Laker ads the Lakers is owned by the gram companies so we're your people for them too that we do a monthly ad for Main Street in the Laker because we do think it's really important that main Street's featured so that's another $112,000 of Laker ads it's in our company Cosmo marketing who's a tenant on Main Street right they ten not anymore okay they we they pay we pay them $6,000 to handle the social media a year the website is $300 a month you know just to change out tenants you know simple design hosting all that it's 3600 so for those things we spent 8,720 and we collected 94 you guys are all very Savvy business people we did not collect enough to cover the bare bare bone we developed a m um marketing fund when we developed Main Street which we all know was a really long time ago and none of us can remember a time where we ever increased the rate and anybody who sells anything knows that if you don't increase the rate you can't get more every year we've not done it because what happens when we have this shortfall between 108 and 94,000 is the gr companies pays for the rest of it um and you know we're happy to be a sponsor of the Festival of Lights it's a event that's special to all of us and we think it's important it drives people you know so be it but I think you know I think there's some ways that I'd like to have a follow-up meeting on the website and social media but we're not spending a whole lot of money on it because there isn't money to be spent um and so I think you know we could look at what a new budget for this looks like um but I wanted you to know what's being done right now as part of Festival Lights promotions pretty much every year we do um get Billboards so um you know from like November I I don't know when they start but there was like six six or eight Billboards um this fall leading up to the Festival of Lights promoting the Festival of Lights and encouraging people to come to Main Street um and then [Music] um so the website and social media we handle influencers that's way outside my you know you guys are much better on that like I follow some of them but like I wouldn't know who to bring but happy to like talk about that um we don't keep any kind of email content like the town with I think they're better contact for that um and then in terms of the website we do have events on there we' be happy to put them we have I don't know if we've fallen off but you can always the reason why cmx is the only one featured is they're the only ones that send those stuff so it we are desperate for Content obviously and you guys do it once under fleed but it never filters back to us so we need to have a meeting to discuss how that happens because there's no reason that that shouldn't happen I mean we have the means to to share your content and do all those things and I don't know how that communication broke down because obviously it did because you guys didn't know that there was a means for that but there's a website with events and there's social media content that we're desperate for because like them we don't have the manpower to go out and create content like you know I've got an iPhone and I'm not very good with it so I think there's room to have there and we can have that follow me when it comes to the renovation the renovation was always meant to be in two phases the street and the parking we hired an architect right around the time that we were talking to you and we had very original renderings they have not met our expectations it's a big extensive projects and we've cut them loose so we're in the process right now of negotiating a new team to do the renovation because while I understand doing not doing the renovation impacts your business and M and Main Street needs the renovation nobody here on our team's going to argue that we would like to to renovate Main Street the renovation process is going to be extremely disruptive for all the tenants on Main Street and I do not want to start tearing up the street or start a renovation when we don't have a really good team a plan in place to do it in a way that allows you guys all to continue operate and to that would be my biggest Nightmare and I think would be really neglectful so the parking lots are going to be first instead of the street I wanted the street first because that's the more exciting thing than the parking lot but the parking lot's easier to design so the parking lots are in the permitting phase right now and they should be starting in the next month or two what you will get with that is you'll get lights you know the parking lots are going to be lit up not like a football field but you know they will be that will bring a lot of light to the back of the house um I would like to say that we could get to the street renovation next year I don't think that's realistic our plan and I want to be realistic with you I don't want to to to be you I leave that to Phil up to be again I'm the more realistic one so um we do not want our hope is to limit the project to a 10 to 11 months time frame because I don't want the street torn up over the holidays I feel like that's a prime time for all of your businesses and I so we want to get through Christmas start January like hit the road running and hopefully be able to complete the renovation in 10 to 11 months so by Thanksgiving the street is is not under construction and with the timeline of how long it takes to plan design permit you guys know what that's like you built that restaurant it's extensive I don't see a window know where that happens next year but please know that there was no um intention to mislead you when we said we were renovating the street we are and we're disappointed that it hasn't happened as well um we tried to be patient with who we were working with but they just didn't have the capacity and and couldn't follow through follow through the project and my biggest nightmare was to get the street halfway torn up and then not have what we needed to finish it and it' be even more disruptive through so that's the answer on do any have any more questions on renovation okay the barricades so last year like mid last year we started having a pretty excessive amount of security events on the street fights people injured rocks thrown at people's heads um mobs of people that were threatening G we had tenants coming and complaining to us that people did not feel safe their employees didn't feel safe that's a big problem to me safety is my number one priority when we talk about these events all I think about is safety and so when that happened we reached out to the Town police and said we need your help you know we have third party security but this is outside our realm we need the town's cooperation and helping to make sure the Town Center's safe because it's if it's not safe if there's one event in the news somebody shot or killed or hurt on Main Street that's worse than all the positive PR that we can put out there in my opinion because it only takes one that of each so we got together with the police and I and we asked them what do you do do you hire more security do you hire police what do you do the town doesn't police Main Street the town will only police the surrounding areas so in order to have the police and security on Main Street we have to pay for it you guys all saw the impact of that on your C so we had to weigh hiring more police officers with barricades and at the end of the day the police and Security in consultation with our team decided that the best way to ensure the security of Main Street in the most costeffective manner for you all was to barricade some of the entrances and provide entrance points which you know are on on Main Street stre in at the theater Courtyard and block off the entrances on the back parking lot because that only requires six people hiring the off-duty police is very expensive I ran the I pulled the financials because I in case it came up I wanted to be able to speak to it but the increase was substantial in security and so we ordered some um barricade covers to try to make them more presentable but at the end of the day I welcome your input I don't like the barricade D we don't like the barricades but at the same time I really want Main Street to be safe and so how long it's G to be that because he's been now no the I asked we asked the police and security regularly can I remove them can I get rid of them we rented them at first because I didn't want to buy them because I didn't want it to be permanent and they are insistent that without increased Manpower the barricades they get paid they get it paid they G no from the police they're going to be there forever they getting paid and it that's their their job but you know no it's from the business perspective in on Main Street that that's killing what does the barricade do exactly so basically I se that yeah so a checkpoint so each entrance to Main Street is is manned by a police officer and security guard so they can ensure that like kids aren't because the kids were in huge groups running around basically is scaring people away and scaring families away and we had people saying like I'm not bringing my kids here because the kids are running around it's scary we we we've come at night we walk the street try to determine what to do I don't know with the renovation of Main Street our hope is to try to create more beautiful obstructions to the entrances so that we're not using barricades coming up with a beautiful gate or beautiful something but still trying to like restrict the entrance points to the street because the police you know like I said they don't it's not I think Main Street is a little bit unique in that the street is private it allows us to do nice things on the street but because it's a private Street the police don't police it and so we have to pay the police to come to Main Street so when you see police on Main Street you paid for that in your camp and it's part of like the security that we're providing it's not the to of miy lakes providing police coverage for the town the police have been wonderful and Advising us on how to handle this and make sure the street is safe and providing support on the perimeters and so there was a whole plan and you know we can revisit that but pretty much monthly we have a you know every other week we have a security call and there's always a discussion about like can we change the protocol so I'd be happy to have a meeting you know again an offline meeting with all of you guys and if you all want to get rid of the barricades we can discuss it but I'll also say at the end of the day if somebody gets hurt it's likely the gam companies that are going to get nailed and sued for not providing a safe secure environment that's already happened to us where instances that I think are really out of our control happened and we were sued for lack of proper security so it's a really it's it's hard it's a catch 22 and I was and I was going to say like I I mean I'm just an outsider looking in what I do on a regular basis I'm a business consultant I'm not like you know a specialist in government or whatnot but if I because you know the barricades impede business and I agree with you I was not moving my head up and down the whole time you were speaking because I agree I think they that they're they're you know they really they it doesn't make Main Street welcoming or appealing but trust me I understand liability and compliance so I understand where you're coming from that it's a matter of security and and and you're absolutely right it just takes one instance and I and I I wasn't a resident of the town when Main Street was you know struggling with with those issues but it brings me back and I'm showing my age here it makes me think of Sunset Place and um and I don't know if you guys recall but what happened with Sunset Place Sunset Place became a ghost town why because business wasn't thriving when business wasn't thriving it is a smallish right this Main Street is even smaller than Suns of place but it is a private enclosed space that is empty and that is luring and calling for you know disruptive whatever it is teenagers pre-teens you know young adults to congregate you know and and just reab it right and that's what happens Main Street is empty Main Street is still relatively safe because it is a small private enclosed environment so teenagers and young adults PL up to no good why is it if you ask yourself why is it that that doesn't happen at City Place downtown derell you know Coral Gables the grow why because there's a lot of activity happening in the area so they're not going to show up and disrupt when it's full because they'll be caught right so it's a it's really is a catch 22 how do you get rid of the the the disruption you have to create events and bring people and fill it so that they're not emboldened to go out there and wreak havoc because it's empty how do you fill it you have to create events and spend money in marketing which we've all discussed you know there's no magical fund for that to happen and there's no one person designated to make it happen so it has to be a cohesive event so I I think if we get anything out of this meeting which I know was the goal of the economic development committee when Carlos brought this to our attention and and you know we made this a goal to bring you guys together I think if anything and Laura like stop saying that you're not important because I think every everything that you just it was so valuable I think you provided so much but but I think you provided really valuable insight into understanding why certain things haven't happened because the money is being used and I think it's you know I it's being used for things that people everyone here knows likes I don't think anybody would want to get rid of Festival Glides but I think it provided a lot of clarity into just how how expensive certain things are right so when we're thinking about wanting to create additional events you know we're not talking about ,000 we're talking about like you know 50 60 70 $80,000 just to put on one event right that is that's not just the event that's the light and the decorations and all that and that's one other thing I wanted to talk about is cars for the Cure is not our event that is a perfect that is a charity that has come to us and said can I use Main Street for my event if you provide us a hold harmless and insurance and we feel like the event is beneficial to you all we are more than likely to say Yes um so it doesn't have to be us putting it on it can often be partners right so when the farmers market came back after um uh covid we asked for it to be at Main Street because it used to be at the park a lot of people got mad why did they get mad because when the farmers market moved to Main Street we did not allow them to have any food trucks that competed with your business there's no taco truck there's no you know there's no ice cream truck at the if you look all of the venders on at Farmers Market are designed to not compete with your businesses because it's important to us when events come to Main Street that they don't compete with the Ts that they're there we told them you cannot bring temporary people that roll in from somewhere else and compete with the people that have invested on the street it's not fair it's not right but it's a balance right having these events that support your businesses but that don't conflict with them that's important to us and cars for the Cure we we really like the cause and we like the event this year it was really big and it was borderline getting too big for Main Street so that's the other thing is we just have to make sure that even you know we can provide a safe environment I guess there was an incident where it got very tight and almost like a security issue um and then the farmers market Diego right yeah so Diego who who does the farmers market we he's he's great if you guys haven't met him he you know loves events and all these things and we have asked him what events can you bring to Main Street he did an art show in April yeah um and so he does those at no cost right because he because he charges the you know the people that are coming to the art show or whatever and so that's been another thing that we've done to try to bring events to Main Street it was thrown together more quickly kind of just like a starter thing just to see how it went and I think you know just to provide another Avenue of somebody who's willing to bring events and ideas he had a bunch of ideas he presentation um what was the Miami Lakes one like he had a Miami Lakes themed like street fair I love Miami Lakes and I love Miami Lakes Fair on the street and then the only other thing I wanted to mention um just in response is that Andrea you know who sits on the EDC she's not here tonight but you know she provides a lot of his perspective as well and she indicated that there used to be more town events on Main Street and there was a push to move town events to town property I get it right you you use your property that you're maintaining and all those things um and it's and it's a balance like the Fourth of July event like we could not host that it's way too big a lot of those events that they host at the parks that's the right place what we do is we provide all our parking lots for free for them to use but we try not to say no when there's a town when the town comes to us whether it be for money or for hosting or events and so if there are committees that you know want to do something like that as long as we feel like it's beneficial to your businesses and isn't going to conflict with it we try to say yes as long as we can mitigate the risk concerns of being sued and in having proper insurance so I just wanted to mention that which you guys some of you that have special events such you tell us you know the process we require hold Harless and and insurance but you know once we get over the hump I think you know and get on the same page it's you know pretty quick to so I don't know if that if do you have anything else I know I try to address everything you guys I have couple of things yes uh one thing is that based on what you know what you have mentioned and stuff like that and as of businesses the live event does not bring more Revenue to the business like those Halloween like those um the car procure like it doll what other we do see increase in ourselves that we put more St I for we never like when on our three years already we never have put more employees to work on the light beds just to give you a perspective and and that's something that we should probably discuss internally and trying to figure it out what really those 87,000 bring it does bring people from that town that they do like it and they they see it and they they do do complain that is not that light but he's not actually helping the business a lot of that cost goes to the holiday decorations I don't know I love Christmas I love the holidays I think around the holidays you have to have holiday decorations on a Main Street otherwise rented every year uh some of it's bought some of it's rented but the it's the installation cost we're rebidding it this year um so we we you know and then my hope is to bring we've used the same vendor for a long time I think we've outgrown them or yeah they told us we outgrew them so um we're reiding that and um if you guys have venders you see used at other places let us know or if you have like decoration people that CER is in the process of putting it together putting out right now um so may so maybe my goal is to find ways to bring that number down um and you know by maybe doing a few fewer larger decorations and simplifying some of the smaller things that are made power intensive so that we can hopefully get more bang for the buck um and yeah so parking better place to park during the weekend that you can direct people to sign in I think it's part of working on through theer I think they're details on it right open it's Clos here's a sign Main Street Parking or something make it make it easier for to at the end we should do a committee let's call it one that get that could communicate the city what we wanted to do on St play that and uh from the Grahams from ourselves uh and try to see how can we put together a plan and try to uh efficient do more so our budget are more efficient right so they work and and stuff like that couple of things that what you have mentioned right um one of the things we heard about the merchant group we wanted to understand what the merchant group is we don't know if it is a different entity what is it it's nothing right now okay what it used to be or something I mean it used to be we would have like an annual meeting to go through all this and then I think Andrea told me I asked her when was the last time we had a meeting she said it was 2018 who may have had it in 2019 but I think the only people that came were the ones that we begged to come that were our friends like Gary snow who's friends with an so we would have to beg people to come to that meeting and we gave up you know and I think it's almost in the same way it you know we I don't know so I think we can reinvigorate and redefine what that is I don't know how we can actually do this but I also was thinking about abolishing the marketing fund after the renovation um and revisiting how we approach marketing um because in all honesty I I was talking to my mom about it because obviously she was here when Main Street was built and it was established and trying to provide some history and I think the reason the marketing fund was established was back in 1994 or whatever 1990 whatever mid 90s if you wanted to do marketing for your small mom and pop business it was really expensive there was no Instagram there was no social media you had to put a something in a major publication you had to go to a billboard and those were cost prohibitive for our merchants and so the fund was intend ended to help the merchants be able to do the kind of marketing that we don't really do anymore and you can do so much more on social media for so much less um which is proof because you guys all do a wonderful job with your social and um so we can revisit that I'd be happy to have a meeting about that I don't even know how legally we do that because it's written in all your leases um there's no real mechanism in the lease to change that so I guess we'd have to get everybody to agree to mend their leases or do something um but I am open to just throwing a bomb on the whole thing because again I I I'll say it again you know we're not a marketing firm and to rely on us to handle like this plan is not a good idea Just For Thought um the first thing that comes in my in my brain is you have this marketing budget and you know just example let's say whatever Festival of Lights changes or something like that but there's some kind of reallocation like you're like you're mentioning I mean if you take two-thirds of that cost you could assign an events chair like a gr Main Street events person you could hire someone for 50 $60,000 a year and their sole responsibility would be to be the person like downtown Durell has that that's all they do because that's the thing is uh and I I I live this myself myself as a small business owner everybody says oh I'm not going to pay you know for somebody to manage my social media because I can do that myself and people don't realize what an overwhelming full-time Endeavor it is to do it well and to do it right and to be everywhere and film everything and edit everything and post everything it really requires someone fulltime um and it and and I agree with you I think it's a super effective marketing strategy but and you know no hate on uh what who did you say was doing it um Cosmo marketing but the the the Main Street Instagram has like 500 followers like really sad you know so um so I think that that's you know that's something that can be re reevaluated but just you know throwing out there ideas especially if you're open to that I I I think the marketing budget still makes sense because something needs to be done you can't just throw a bomb on it and say we're not going to do anything and again if we go back to returning that money to the merchants and then everybody does its own thing then it still is dis jard right the whole point is I think we we we're all agreeing that there needs to be a unified front but it's it costs money right and it requires organization and when I say throw a bomb on it I mean either the festival lights goes into the cam budget correct right that's the one option right and it just becomes you know a bucket um and the marketing fund gets used for something else or we change the amount of the marketing fund to accommodate what you guys wants but we would need a significant participation which we do have a like having the theater and you guys all here is a very good participation probably the best we've had in a long time long time so that's why I said I'm so excited to have you guys all here and have your input and have your ideas because you have wonderful ideas but we need to you know get everybody on board but I think we could get there you know and so I think a followup meeting we can talk I think if there is a plan and if there is contribution from everybody like every company has their back their not just what they charge but they also their marketing bu right so if we do put our your Market Mark V for your company plus what we already contribute plus what we can get from each committee we're talking about in my calculations from the numbers that we're talking we're talking about probably $130,000 that this room may have right now okay that we are just not using it correctly okay that it could be used for different things so that's one of the things I I really appreciate that you guys are here uh main reason because we have it here on the agenda and I wanted to kind of tell what everybody seeing okay and where everybody is also uh complaining a little bit I think the brand that you guys have which is exist on H Brickle City Center which is a you know great place everybody goes your facilities are fantastic this ones that you guys rebuil out and I know that spell a lot of money but unfortunately management and what the expectation of you going to the city are not good and I think it's affecting that the type of clientele that we bring um every time and and I have talked with the majority here right on our meetings and everything that they may have tried that movie TV once or twice but everything is so dir so you know that you don't want to come back so the customers that you want customers that they do come to the same M all the time and they bring the money to it they're not coming back unfortunately and we have a great brand and a lot of people before everybody knew that there was a movie The now when I talk to people from Weston from dado from everything oh you guys have a m so there is not marketing invol and you guys are kind of the anchor of of the whole thing so I don't you know we we get pushed a lot by the grahams in our Cas you know for maintenance for everything uh for all of those things and I do see cold gr for example they need an upate also they're they're they're their things are destroyed it's also bringing about people so we don't change it's not just changing the face of the main is also pushing all that vendor to do the different standard maybe put the prices higher we all need to put maybe the prices higher and I know the Miami Lakers don't like that and he's our main customer but it may bring a different type of crap to the city and we don't have to have barricades and and and security issues and all of those things no they have police and security but people still breaking windows in the parking lot behind like mik I mean the security are talking or drinking Coca-Cola or they're just hanging out in by by the car by the police car but in the parking lot there's nobody so what we need instead of barricade of police cars are more security people and police going around every work because you know how many how many how many times have you heard people you know like uh breaking windows in in the parking lot and stealing whatever they have inside and and I know how it's nobody see that at all the lighting will help the parking lots a lot cuz they're dark right now the trees that we love they you know are covering all the lights and so the lighting upgrades do help a lot with security that's like the first thing and that's coming soon the security comes down to cost and I'm I'm happy to have more discussions with you guys and we have a company that that it has result to as very effective and very good price yeah cops are very expensive yes very expensive and this is a private company and it's been very actually employees when you hire cops don't act like your employees I will say that the town has been really wonderful with well and and picking specific officers to come consistently to the street and trying to pick ones because you're right you've can they it's a my but they have been really wonderful in helping us bring ones that are I don't know I see them every night yeah yeah I can tell you theat respond let me just say something hello everybody thank you for the opportunity my name is ISA Ola I'm region operations director with cmx c and I appreciate the feedback and thank you for for letting me know about that we run movie theaters at different other locations one of the locations that I run is also the Doral place which he was mentioned in the great presentation that you have for marketing I can tell you the Recently I don't know if you guys remember this but there was a shooting the city place right and we're talking about how good the city place is C and then everybody's going over there and all this and we get it I mean I don't think Assumption of who's coming to the movie theater is what is damaging the IM show the company that we run in I think it has to do a lot with what we're doing as as it's been say in this meeting I mean marketing everybody's calling from marketing like from what I'm getting in the meeting right now that's hurting us a lot I mean it's not just the movie theater as assuming here the movie theaters is the only thing hurting us that's I think is too too strong to say it at the at once and and again I don't feel as you guys accusing the movie theater no no no I'm not I mean I don't think you guys accusing the movie theater but at the same time I don't think that's the right path that we need to take as assuming this is what is creating the problem in Main Street I think we need to go as and that's why we here today I mean we wanted to be part of the solution not part of the problem right and but again I mean let's take for instance the shooting that happened at at the place how they came back from this marketing and you go over there right now and you're going to see seven cars of police officers outside everybody full with guns and and and and cover with with bulletproof how those people feel about that you don't see that happening here and people still go so I you know just f for those we we we need to understand that yes we need to do better and I want us to do better at the movie theater and we're going to be able to open our whatever we're doing if we need to change what we're doing we will and but again I mean I think there's different solution that we need to find in place in order to bring the the the right solution to this and the only way to do so is working all of us together of course I you know for what I see what I have talk everybody wants to but everybody does their own and not together um I know and I'm I don't want to say details but I will understand liability I buiness one they want to sue everybody and everybody is willing to do whatever to fa to be able to do it and and it limit us right because it spare us right we don't want it to do now much events now we have to limit it that ke plane because you know they fail and stuff like that a bunch of things at the same time we cannot live with fear and we are not going to be able to make anything better if we continue holding back and and I think you know that's what we need to do just push forward do everything invest what we got invest if we don't invest we're we're not going to BR more we have seen on our marketing investment let's push this event let's push it that if I don't invest on that event or something did not went organized and planed as we wanted it is an unsuccessful event so it's just matter of uh I think be more aggressive and all of us work together and I think we all want it I think we all want the P one thing you touched on I wanted to just mention whether if theater whether it be pstone or whether it be Jal we can tell you you can't put that sign in the window we can tell you you can't let the sidewalk be dirty out front but if the inside of tellas is absolutely disgusting there's really not a whole lot that I can do as landlord if you let it run down and people don't want to go there cu the food's cold and the furniture is like wobbly and uncomfortable and your bartenders are not very friendly all the things that are not as landlord there's very little that I can do and so I just wanted to point that out because I think a lot of times we the people say well the Grands need to make them do this the GRS need to make them do that we do not have the power to do that you know I do not talk about what kind of fitness program or what kind of tacos or what kind of cookies you guys serve it's just not our role and we don't I mean other than negotiating a TI Improvement as part of a renewal there's so little that you know we can really do when operations go south other than wait till the term is up and then not renew um and so I just wanted to point that out because you know I think that is critical and that's why you guys are all in this room because there were businesses before you that either failed or we decided we didn't want anymore and so you know we do our very best to pick people that we think are wonderful operators and are here to succeed um you know and have that special sauce right and and so you know this one mentioned that about kind the Interiors I think those are all very excellent topics and and I think this is a breakthrough right what we've done today this is the first meeting of many meetings to come but definitely Laura I think from the mer standpoint we love to like love to take you up on your offer and have a followup meeting with you with the G companies and from the N standpoint and talk about specifics about curfew um security I agree with Julio and that you know there are some inconsistencies there that drive people away um which is the reason why we started closing earlier um on the weekends because of that very same reason um so I agree with you Julio it is challenging um and um there are other things you know we can talk about the farmers market you know some of the competing businesses we can talk about that as well um but I think the main goal of the meeting and Carlos we may want to U from the merchant standpoint put together a plan and the timeline to meet with you and present some specific ideas on our thoughts on re perhaps reallocate the budget um the marketing budget I don't think it should be blown up it it's necessary um I think half of the job is already done all of these great businesses are already here right great top-notch restaurants that people can come you have a lot to market now it's a matter of Who You marketed to which with the locals you know we can only take us so far obviously we love Miami Lakers but we need a little bit more to stay in business and I think not only from the town standpoint and the virch we can all we will all benefit from a more Mutual success so I think we're on the same page I was very delighted to hear um what Miss FIA there had to say about the cultural Affairs committee I think ID like to learn more about that and I think it's a fantastic I do recall some customers that came from that artw walk it wasn't the best promoted event um I didn't know about it up until customers started coming it seems like it was cancelled first and then it was rescheduled and I didn't know about it in the first place so they were asking me and I didn't really know um but it was a good initiative I think we can do a lot of that um those um fundraising events that may be free for us but you know help a good CA and also attract business to the town and to Main Street so I think we need to stay organized I think we've explored the vision today but now it's a matter of following up some of the things that we have to do as Merchants bring ideas to you guys so we can work together towards those as well as the cultural affs committee and the EDC I think there's a lot of work to be done still we just need to stay organized and like you said Carlos uh maybe assigning a point person um to get there because otherwise we're going to get because it's a bunch of things right and and and when I was doing the research of everything is because neither the city neither the gram have the main power to be able to do all those things which you know we get it but how we put it together like is the put it in uh do we need to do a job do we bring all the resources and context that we have already for bands and and and and and renting and security you know a of things that we can uh work together to figure it out because 20 I don't know how many years but I say but I remember that when I got to live here 19 years ago uh to Main Street everybody was still talking about Main Street everybody was like oh Main Street yeah yeah Main Street now not anymore but 19 years ago everybody talk about Main Street everybody knew about Main Street everybody all of that so I'm certain that we can just back you know uh so can we set a meeting date uh to do follow up on it and uh and and and see who wants to join and we can go together to everything that we can do you know and certain the movie theater have things that they have affected them like the Corp and stuff like that that they want to figure it out to get better and I know you wanted to no actually the movie theater unfortunately that lady passed way but she used to work with Channel 10 and the Children's Museum and we used to have the children's heest and we had a red carpet it was a major J so it takes time on people um and people who really want to commit themselves to do it uh I been I mean I've been in this community for many years and I love doing it it's just that we need commun people and we need commun motions and we need people can really want to bring all this back because I mean I I have been in Miami L since 1998 and when you know basically I would say I go up here I used to come here all the time City but yeah we we need to work so so in terms of future meeting date um the EDC is happy to continue to facilitate the meeting space obviously if we facilitate it and we keep using this room then it's a town of it's a it's a town meeting so we need to give x amount of weeks notice blah blah blah blah we don't have to keep doing it here you guys can because it because really it sounds like at least from what I've taken away from this meeting it really sounds like it's the grams the the Graham companies and the Main Street Merchants deciding how you guys want to move forward what you guys want to do and if Town involvement is needed you tap the town for whatever you need but realistically it doesn't sound like you know the the that the town is really the the major player here it seems like it's mostly you guys which are two private groups so if you guys would like to coordinate a future meeting I mean I think h a marker of success of this meeting is for you guys to have a set meeting date that that we're going to be meeting with if we want to continue to do it in this format we're happy to continue to host it that you know that's that's the purpose that I I I think all the the members of the economic development committee are feeling like really happy today because I think we we managed to facilitate a much needed conversation that ultimately is going to benefit Town merchants and we really wanted that to happen um so what however you guys you know feel that it works best uh and you know and we did it today after business hours if you want to continue to do it after business hours if we want to move it to business hours so that this is part of your working day I mean this is your this is your 5 a um I very quickly do you know how maybe like rare or maybe not rare your position like is that across Main Street like a lot of restaurants have um I'm really not sure yeah that's probably an unfair question question like how how many other M are there in Main Street who do you represent in this room marketing marketing person Point persons you know I think Corner 67 probably otherwise they have somebody very creative on their staff yeah do you have somebody we use our own our own staff your staff yeah um second um I I I can play a little bit into like a naive point of view because I I'm live with the talking about some three years and I think a lot of the discussions and I've said it in the meetings before I've said it a lot um I think a lot of these discussions to me Teeter into like a town or a municipal master plan um what do our buildings look like in the future how uh our Planters are looking how our roads are feeling what events do we want to see in town that's probably more appropriate discussion I have I think these are all really good conversations but I don't think the town needs to step away from because I mean this is like what do what does everyone resident what do we want people to come in to see the excited for I think it's all good I think and I hope you guys can have a little bit of uh empathy with the fact that Municipal Communications can sometimes be very boring um you can imagine our events compete with Park programming competes with ribbon cuttings competes with uh uh Road repair like these are things that we need to Market I would love to have the time to um to highlight specific I mean there's there's a lot of business in you know there's there's I think everyone has to come together I mean I'm beating a dead horse and I don't want to but I think a good step one at least and that's something that is and I have been discussing is you know what town events that already exist can go to Main Street real and speaking of the the art show like that's something that was put on in front of us VI Diego who is a again very you know he very eager uh that's probably the the fairest word to use that was put to us maybe a week and a half before which you guys can imagine it does not give time good events need at least at least at least at least no not I I'm talking about like six if if we're I brought the idea be Miss I was I was saying advertising at least the month but like Logistics giving us time to prepare you know graphics and and runs of press you're talking months if that that magazine that I I you know I'm so I want that magazine to P into our lab you know where we can mail out to every single person that lives here that's and I know we want to extend out Uptown boundaries but it's little things like that where we want at least six months ahead of time so what do we have now um I'm thinking you know parking back to years of past like concerts or or live performances that's like very good ways to do it but that doesn't exist in a vacuum that's that that does dip into discussions of like road closures and parking availability and and the perception of safety and all these conversations that I think um have been I question so what is the RO of the economic developmentj that my best um our role to help facilitate things like this at least from what I understand our mission statement to help facilitate discussion between the small businesses and help bring business to the small businesses and help bring outside businesses here you know so the economic development committee is a volunteer committee comprised of either Town residents or uh Town business people so so before I was a resident I exclusively did business with the town of Miami Lakes not the town but the small businesses in the town even though I lived in the city of the now I live in the town of Miami Lakes um so our mission statement is to help Foster an environment of business growth which is a very abstract mission statement but it's pretty much anything that we can do to help contribute to business development in the town of Miami Lakes you know we take under our wing it's self-directed so the members of the committee which we have maybe about a third of the committee here today this wasn't an official committee meeting today um the we all have either an interest in business our business owners Carlos is one of our our committee members or do business with a lot of people in the town of Miami Lakes so I'll give you an example this was something that Carlos brought to the committee that he wanted to see through and together as a committee we pulled in it took us about three months to identify who all the players were that we needed to get in the room to have a conversation so that was you know one thing that we did we're we we started last year putting on together an event which is happening in September September 20th of this year guys of our business boo camp which is now our second annual business boot camp that you know we market and we bring people out of the town of Miami Lakes into the town of Miami Lakes we have a happy hour at one of the local restaurants and we talk about business right um we are the ones that pulled together the Miami Lakes Chamber of Commerce the Miami Lakes business networking International Group and the economic development committee and we have a quarterly happy hour and we rotate it around you know a different place in town I think almost everybody except maybe like a bunch of we hosted it at uh at no we already hosted one at a buch of before we you know we hosted there the ribbon cuttings are through the economic development committee it's a you know it's a mishmash of all kinds of different efforts that we do to again Foster an environment a business Rich environment right for the town Merchants here's the mission statement the economic development committee serves the Foster of prosperous business clment for the benefit of the town's residents and business owners and promote local business interchange implementing strategic initiatives to stimulate the town economy and recruiting new businesses into the town of so that covers the whole Gap another fun project for example they T us to write the letter to bring like high-end uh grocery stores that's how food Mark right so so when it came to getting that that letter out you know they were like oh you guys should do this like okay so those are those are all the things that again you know some some direct to the economic development committee come from above from the mayor down some are just Grassroots effort that town that committee members want to you know put together absolutely so going back to the you know the original purpose of you know what are we going to do after today uh I I I think it's clear that you know a a continuation of what happened today needs to happen um I've always I've always been of the mind that if a date's not on the calendar it's never going to happen uh you know we have the key players here today so I mean just to get the conversation going if you know if we were to do something maybe a month from today um to come together I know the merchants want to get together tomorrow you know realistically I don't know if the gram companies can accommodate that um but you know you guys tell us Andrea is not here she's a key player in selecting a date because I think you know she's on the UDC and she also manages Cosmo and the social media and and all so I think having a meeting without her would be wasteful what I can promise is that we'll email everybody in this room by the end of the week with some dates and times I think our preference is to have it during business hours if we I don't know I what works best for y'all schedule if like afternoon I think typically afternoon works better for you guys but you let us know I would think before 11: a.m. most of you guys don't open until you know 11 a or so yeah okay so morning okay so we'll let us coordinate our schedules and we'll reach out to you know Harry and cmx and and and everybody that's here just so they can have some guide rails guys if they did like a 9 a.m. to 10: a.m. 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 would that be okay for the majority of you yes so I think it's you guys take a look at your office calendar and you look at you know what's maybe like three different date options within the next three weeks or so that would be around nine you know is I think that would probably make things um something that I don't have from you guys I know they have it because you're on their tenant list but if you guys want to come back and put in your emails here and what I can do is I can make sure you know that this group stays together on communication okay yeah cool um and we're to put together send out so you guys can would you guys want to use this space again or would you want you can use your okay perfect okay great yeah felici I'd like to throw an idea I know that Association is no longer um which not exist anymore but the civic association time here uh they used to have a membership for the members to you know to fund their projects and they used to do better and a lot of other events that the committies have taken it on but they used to have the members for the residents and the members for the for the businesses so if you were a member of um that that group you could go to a u a business that was a member to and you could get disc so that that was a way of helping the the businesses too so think about that I mean I know the town after the the C Association disbanded the town tried to do it but it was a limited thing and it was not very successful so I I think it's something that uh maybe the grams can take it on or another business or whatever just a membership that people benefit from it I something you know think about it it's just you know it used to happen and people love to people who love to Main Street tow what is it snow snow to get discounts on for Valentine's Day or Christmas people did become members to get the discount so I miss I think we have a very good ten in mix and I think that I can increase but you know we have AIA really good place you know the decor beautiful in your place you know they have sushi uh unlimited sushi on Mondays right right few people know about right we knowed we understand it in a on a meeting right we have Luma we have very good places now that we can you know bring the corner all of it so I think it's a great time for to bring people to the pamp speaking of all that and I started the list of the the items that we have and I think that's needed as we grow and I've seen it in many of the other towns and so forth we need some type of Visitor Center we need some type of place where everybody can at least like a central place he used to I think in schulas in in the old hotel in your lobby area they had all the Flyers and brochures and and new stand and they had everything there the discounts of all the different businesses in the area and they had it right in the lobby right outside and I don't know we need something like that too brings a lot of cohesion brings a lot of of centralization of everything for all the vendors right people know maybe it's a directory of all the businesses you know where are they we need some Central typ maybe that's where the Grands I it is Main Street maybe digital Works more for example if you guys haven't gone to the Main Street website you do on the Main Street website you know uh I'm sure you guys will so it's Street Miami lakes.com I I think that would probably be a good place for you know for the conversation to to start um but I think this is good say maybe like a QR code in the Design District they have a bunch of screen and people can see all one fish like we have that you're saying instead of three we have I mean we have to have a company with the town and everything so let's talk to the town and everything let's advertise these for all the main stre events and stuff that so people go through one side can I ask one question before we leave sorry the photo ops like The Umbrellas again I'm not creative I don't know how do those come to be does anybody in this it's part it's part I think of the of the strategy right for example we were thinking about is that a vendor you just artist it's an artist so so you so the so for example City of Coral Gables is probably the best people this City of Coral Gables has a coordinated you know uh strategy to bring art installations to their city so it's not just the umbrellas those are the that's but you guys remember the pink snails so there were pink snails all over the City of Coral Gables um more most recently there was that huge 3D moon right so those are all City of Coral Gables finding the artist and you know I mean how they find the artist God knows you know but but they find the artist and they book The Artist to install in the town for X amth of time I that was another while we're here and we have the town I'm seeing how can the town because there's a lot of things we can discuss we have the me cows we have theow I'm pretty sure so but my question for like the popup if is that something that there's a specific Committee in the town that could be a liaison with us to help facilitate that because I'm happy to provide like the pad site next to as long as they're not hosting CCO or whatever for like an art insallation but again like somebody has to somebody has to coordinate because you know we're not again I'm not the art right I didn't know if there was a specific 17 so that's the thing lur kind of going back to like the Crux of everything is in the town staff I don't think that anybody could point to one particular person if anything and we're all agree it would probably be felia you know who like all the culture I have a feeling is gonna solicit one of these young people join her committee I've seen felia work I know she's gonna be on it but I just didn't know like if that was um in terms of what our asked of as the town before we have to wait another three four months meeting is that something that we could kind of ask the town to do some research idea that we have talking about exactly the umbrellas on on the me that we have is like all that places that are currently empty right now put it like a places where people can take pictures maybe art stuff on their outside so people you know it's exactly or no no whatever there's Town restrictions on what we can put on the Windows what we have we Le is like as adventurous as we were meant to to to allow to be I believe we were just trying to bring some color rather than just like brown paper paint um but yeah I we you know but it's part of the plan I think I I I think and I for what I have heard if we just give them a plan most likely they will love clean if it is bringing I don't know colors and designs and stuff like that and arts on those windows uh so people can want to come and and and take pictures and and create something artistic I think she'll not be a problem I'm not saying get I'm saying yeah I think a big thing with the town is we just want to avoid and the reason why we did this in the first place was to avoid a lot of the bureaucracy that comes with the town you know that can slow things down so with that sense like what Rome's been saying I think the move is to get together privately you guys come up with some sort of solutions and how what the town can do and then you have direct connection to the EDC and to the cultural Affairs committee we can you know TR talk directly to Felicia and once we have a more of a concrete thing that you can present to the town because do the town need they just need something concrete that they can look at and say you know this is something we can act on yes no you know and they can vote on it it's just when we start going through the whole processes with the town and building it up with the town that's when we get the situation like this where we have to wait month to month meeting to meeting we can't talk privately so that's why I gets B down I guess like you bring a moon right how much does a moon cost like to have a moon on street right or how much do the umbrella cost yeah and my point being that I don't I don't know the budget cycle and when these assets need to be made because if they're not made like a year and a half in advance you won't get them right because if there's not money to replace the light bulbs in the very important lights than a lit up moon or pretty umbrellas we I know you're saying like the town will prove it but again we beg them to replace light bulbs so I just want to make sure we're understanding the budgetary cycle and the facility to make these things happen and not being frustrated when they don't because we didn't follow the proper channels in terms of budgeting in in commit yeah I think we need to I think the umbrellas I love them I went from the and the moon we need to do something for example but for example um and uh so I or Felicia you guys will probably know best if let's say one of their ideas is they want to bring in art installation into town whatever it is I don't care it could be a blue martian on the tell us long just as an example who would they have to go to in the town to a discuss that project and B if there's any kind kind of town art cultural funding that could be appropriated to bringing that art installation as a you know a talking piece to the town what committee budget Etc would would they go to cultural Affairs in terms of funding your easiest way is cultural Affairs okay do that question yeah of the when do they develop a budget for cultural Affairs um all the committies are given a our fiscal year is actually coming to an end for end of September and we go into a new fiscal year first day of October um so the Committees at this point don't know yet but they're going to know soon what their budget is for the next year the Committees have already kind of given a plan I that we toing low taxes which means low budgets you guys already have full budgets so I just I'm just trying to express that because I just I'm concerned that there's this expectation of some ask they are and they are to decide like Felicia may may say yes but essentially is the whole board you know because it means you're cutting something else budgets budgets for the Committees including cultural Affairs they've already been set for the year um so anything that would be requested now would have to cut away from somebody that something that may they may have already planned on but again an amazing blue green March and on the chazon might outweigh anything else that they already have planned so we never know right um but I think uh I I think to to give people Direction you know you guys come up with what you want right obviously understanding that there's not much of a budget so any additional expense would have to come either through reworking the marketing budget that already exists working with Town funds that already exist Felicia did mention which I think is very valuable and I think it's a big part conv y the is very important y they told me I me today it was a wonderful and if you want to watch it again I'll send you the link and they tell you what resources they have and they they don't have the state resources but they have a lot of Foundations those grants from the town like who facilitates be we have a gr coordinator I guess it would be but they do grants for the right not this is what this what I talk about like the pre-planning because we when we saw the the GES moon go up we met with the Communications Department our at that time for um uh we want like what is our moon what can we do for our moon and the issue is beside that that space over chellers and down Main Street there's not really a place for us to install it so if we ask for for a space it's going to have to be on like on Main Street which is beautiful like that is the place to do it it's just I mean I don't know exactly why it didn't happen or it sort of devolved from some installation to and I I I mentioned it to I I thre out an idea of like a paint by numbers mural that people can come in and do like a nominal Fe to do something like at some installation somewhere it just come down funding because we the for solicitations for murals done by a professional like in other cities they can go expensive $100,000 for a mural which is it's going to need retouches it's going to need more than just a draw you have to have events around the the mural or in this case the moon they have events under it with it at night and daytime like it was not just hey let's install something somewhere so that's where I kind of get into the discussions of and I I understand the need or the the desire to avoid like the red tape and bureaucracy but sometimes things like that it has to come into this like like again what do we want our town to look like uh I think at the end of the day and I think in the next meeting we can kind of put the things that we can do now and then what the seeds that we're planting for the future because I think these and what we really one is not something that it happens oh yeah D they changeed the barricades and and now the barricades are moved and you know it's matter of continuity right uh our events we have done it the first year okay next year oh a little bit better third year better so it and and we cannot get disappointed for the bad results of one event I think it's a continuous movement until you start seeing results uh so I I I I hope that we can plan for a longterm strategy and and act on the things that we can act quickly as soon as we can taking in consideration everything that we talk about because I know that some of us were not that happy that you know there's not a conclusion or action plan stuff like that but uh at the end of the day we have to do as much as we can and and push it forward I think it's you know it's a start of a conversation I just Googled real quick because I was like I don't know how do you find a an installation in a big city and something that I found just so you guys understand I mean we're really like just starting to chip away at this huge Monument right that we're trying to undertake the City of Coral Gables has a public art master plan that I just found online like that's how much thought and effort and I'm telling you like this is not something you know we're working with what we've got right we're very a very tiny municipality in comparison um you know this is this is a volunteer army it really is because the gram companies is a private company they're here you know I don't know I don't think you guys clock in overtime you're here because you want to be here right we don't get paid for this you guys are here taking away time from your businesses Felicia does this because you know she it's something that she enjoys doing but this is all volunteer work so you know it's we have to manage our expectations right with what can we deliver with the resources that we have until one day maybe you know we become the next po Gable that'll be super exciting right but but for now we have to what we've got right even better I agree art what Sor they have a public art master plan like you know we're trying to work on just you know like a master plan for the town and they have a public art master plan which is which is like over I mean it's over 5050 pages long just so you guys like that's the level that you know that we're looking at here so that's amazing is the budget well I don't even know I I didn't even I didn't even go there but point being you know the point being the the most you know the most important stuff is the first stuff so I love you guys but it's almost 800 at night I meeting by the end of the week someone come to the economic development committee that's the thing is that you know not everything happens at one meeting so I mean obviously thankfully Carlos is really involved and you know he can continue to fill in Economic Development Committee but economic development committee meetings you know that's how we got here today our meetings are once a month they're open to the entire town they are posted on the town of Miami Lakes website I know there's 15 webites but you know here and you know first thing we do is that we start with public comments from people around town a lot of times we hope that it's business owners that bring attention to these kinds of things where we can help you know so that that's that's the whole point yeah so before you guys leave please find your name add your email so that I can make sure that I have meet so that I can make sure that I have everyone's email so that this group doesn't get lost um and that way the conversation can carry on into your next meeting um and you know we would love to know you know how it continues and if we can continue to facilitate anything um Economic Development Committee we do try we don't put on as many events as cultural Affairs um but we do try and put on you know events that bring business people together and whatever we can do on Main Street you know obviously at our local patrons uh you know restaurants and establishments we always want and just to give an example and but for example from the budget that we have I know we can make some changes to contribute to uh anything that we we got to do just to give you an example not necessarily year because this year is but there is things that they can be allocated is the plan and stuff like that and I'm certain this is one there is 17 with different badges different things that you know that's what I'm seeing that there is opportuni perfect awesome thank