Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Funding Request By Carlsbad VIP Goes To City Council Tonight

The following prepared remarks were presented by Craig Kirk, board member of the Carlsbad Village Improvement Partnership, before the Carlsbad City Council during the course of its annual budget deliberation. At the conclusion of Kirk's three-minute statement, Council was presented with four options by staff to consider. However, before any decision can be made on the options offered, Council Members want more information about the organization's tax status and how, if proposed, funds would be administered if a temporary fiduciary agent was employed while the Carlsbad VIP awaits approval of its filing as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

It is anticipated that the Carlsbad VIP board will soon meet to compile additional information that will likely satisfy requests by Council Members.

June 24, 2008
CVIP address to the City Council
- Follow-up Request for Funding -

Good evening Mayor Lewis and honorable City Council members. My name is Craig Kirk, I reside at 1140 Camino del Sol Circle. I am here this evening as a member of our community and as a member of the BOARD OF DIRECTOR for the CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP in support of our request for seed funding presented to the city council at the meeting of April 22nd.

I would first like to acknowledge the extensive contributions and commitment of the City of Carlsbad to the Village over the last 25 plus years:
From the development of the Carlsbad Inn
- The Village Fair
- The creation of public parking areas
- Streetscape infrastructure projects
- The development of ‘The Village By The Sea’
- Redevelopment of the Lutheran Home
- Mixed use property on State Street
- Development of the Roosevelt Center
- Façade Improvements
- Beautification Projects
- Senior Care and Affordable Housing.

In Village Public Projects alone you have committed approximately $26 million to date. Since that time the private investment has been approximately 10 fold of the city’s investment.

You have taken the Village from the seedy bars and rundown establishments of the early 80s to the assortment of shops, businesses and restaurants that we have today.

The goal of the Carlsbad Village Improvement Partnership is to see those investments prosper and to see the Village flourish.
Over time, a short term investment in the CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP will return long term revenues to the City through increased property values and sales tax revenues. This is especially important given the sun setting of Redevelopment in 2009. The excellent work that the city had done to-date needs to continue. An investment in the in the CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP is an investment in the future of Village.

At the City Council meeting of April 22nd the CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP requested $500,000 over a 3-year period for operating expenses, promotions costs and salaries. We have carefully considering the mayor’s constructive feedback of ‘helping ourselves’ and the council’s overall input from the meeting. We are acting on those recommendations by seeking to attain very low cost or free office space and furnishings, donated office equipment (computer hardware and software), donated professional services and holding the headcount to one FTE, the Executive Director, until such time that our business and revenues necessitate the addition of administrative support.

We cannot start-up the organization without the support of the city’s and thecity’s seed money.Our goal is to move as quickly as possible to a self-funded business model. Our research of other like organizations coupled with our best effort estimate is that it will take 3 years to reach that goal. That being said we are also evaluating opportunities to advance that timeline by leveraging other organizations in the Village.

2008 objectives:
- Implementing a ‘Preferred Shopping Card’ program to draw tourists into the Village,
- Using the talents of some our marquee retailers to educate other Village retailers on ‘window merchandising, buying and product placement’
- Working with Village neighborhoods to preserve and promote
- Working with the City and other downtown organizations on programs that stimulating economic development of our community

The CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP Board of Directors is a dedicated team of volunteers: some with a vested interest in the success of the PARTNERSHIP and some with a vested interest in the success of our community, like myself. In either case, the city and citizens of Carlsbad have much to gain by success of the CARLSBAD VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT PARTNERSHIP. Our board meetings are open to the public and additional information about the Carlsbad VIP can be found at:
http://www.friendsofthevillage.blogspot.com/
Thank you for your time this evening.

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