Downtown Santa Ana Business District Report 2017- 2018

Downtown Santa Ana Downtown Business Improvement District 2017/2018 DOWNTOWN REPORT

Downtown Inc. Santa Ana Business Council

Introduction by Ryan Smolar Downtown Inc. Lead Consultant We spent time this year building our community's capacity to communicate by hosting the Santa Ana Media Summit while we maintained our shared communications network of 60,000 social media followers, weekly newsletters, fliering, printing, mapmaking and door-to-door visits.

We ran awesome culture and food events including DTSA Artwalk and Savor Santa Ana and we brought the show on the road with Santa Ana Restaurant Week which connected downtown more deeply with other parts of the city.

When I look back at 2017, I see a busy year spent bringing downtown together for great meetings, amazing events and shared experiences.

In 2017, we doubled the number of opportunities to meet-up and spend time together to strengthen an inclusive downtown vision that is powered by comradery and collaboration across many interest groups and industries.

We tackled important issues together like transportation and planning with our "Pizza with a Planner" and "Walk Audit" and we even collectively re-desigined public space through a national arts grant and our first downtown "Place Game."

We gave downtown businesses and initiatiors opportunities to speak to each other and share information at our open format "Downtown Open Forum," monthly Caged Chameleon Arts Lunches and at various meet-ups and mixers like Dino Perez's "Coloring with the Community."

We saw our great partnerships with the City of Santa Ana and Santa Ana Unified School District expand: partnering with the City of Santa Ana constantly on both our and their initiatives and working with the school district on countless events from the "XQ Challenge" to the "School of Choice Faire." We also received more grants and sponsorships than ever before with new partners including the the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce EDC and National Endowment for the Arts.

When I look forward to 2018, I see our focus continue on our key objectives: 1) To continue to facilitate bringing people, affinity groups and whole sectors together, 2) to get neighbors, business clusters and small teams collaborating on big visions through quick and ready implementations, and 3) to keep the parts of downtown connected and working together through communication and building relationships across all disciplines and geographies.

Ryan Smolar Lead Consultant, Downtown Inc.

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Downtown Santa Ana 2017

2017 was a big year!

We reached our big goals set for 2017 for the downtown district: 1. Establish parking revenue oversight We are working closely with the City of Santa Ana to manage new parking revenues and ensure funds are used to benefit the downtown district.

2. Lead the development of a creative economy We are connecting local creatives through our Caged Chameleon arts lunch, SantaAnaArts.org website and our support of the DTSA Artwalk.

Image Caption: (Left) Mayor Pro Tem Michele Martinez awards Chef Luis of Lola Gaspar at Santa Ana Restaurant Week awards. (Above) Volunteers at Savor Santa Ana 2017 celebrate another successful downtown-wide event.

3. Increase communication & shared culture We doubled our number of meet-ups and events and continued our social media, weekly newsletter, fliering and door-to-door visits.

4. Work closely with the community Downtown reached out further than ever, working with every single council district to connect business and residents across our city.

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Downtown Inc. PRESIDENT

Ryan Chase BOARD

Tish Leon Dennis Dascanio Mike Weisman Jon Gothold Eddie Quillares Logan Crow Mike McGee (Ex-officio) John Chen Yvonne Flores Sarah Mosqueda Noel Aguirre Mike Paxton Lamson Nguyen STAFF & CONTRACTORS Lead Consultant Operations Manager Artwalk Coordinator Social Media Consultant Event Producer

Ryan Smolar Jose Romo Yenny Bernal Robert Gutierrez Rachel Potucek

MISSION The mission of Downtown Incorporated is to facilitate the enhancement of Downtown Santa Ana as a vibrant shopping, entertainment, business and cultural destination for all.

HOW TO REACH US MAIN OFFICE 200 N Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701 PHONE NUMBER 714-574-6100 WEBSITE www.downtown-santaana.com Many photos in this document are by Brian Feinzimer ...................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Santa Ana Business Council PRESIDENT

Raul Yanez BOARD

Arturo Lomeli Claudia Arellanes Bobby Rooker Arturo Arellanes Sonya Garay Sam Romero Won Cha

STAFF & CONTRACTORS Lead Consultant Communications Lead Communications

Madeleine Spencer Claudia Naffa Maricela Vela

MISSION The mission of Santa Ana Business Council is to serve businesses and community.

HOW TO REACH US MAIN OFFICE 400 E 4th Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701 PHONE NUMBER 714-973-2000 WEBSITE www.santaanabusinesscouncil.com www.callecuatromarketplace.com ....................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Key BID Activities

Marketing & Communication

pg.

14 We are building and maintaining a strong internal and external

communication network for downtown.

Meetings & Convenings pg.

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We attend meetings to represent our 796 stakeholders and we host stakeholder group meetings to gather input on the work we should be doing. One of the strongest groups we manage is the DTSA Restaurant Association.

18 Downtown in 2018 We have big plans to lead in being facilitators of a vibrant downtown

RYAN SMOLAR, MADELEINE SPENCER & JOSE ROMO SUPPORTING THE SANTA ANA COLLEGE PROMISE BREAKFAST AT SANTA ANA HIGH SCHOOL

Events & Promotion

pg.

8 We produce on-going events like the DTSA First Saturday Artwalk, Sidewalk Sales and Savor Santa Ana, and support third-party events with logistics and connecting them to our stakeholders.

pg.

Clean & Safe

10 We help manage and promote downtown's Clean & Safe operations including re-routing services when necessary and helping activate the streets to keep them safe.

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Helping Our Stakeholders

12 We are a nimble nexus between

downtown businesses, the city, community, institutions, media and private sector collaborators.

TASTE OF SUMMER MIXER AT CIVIC CENTER PLAZA TOWERS

Individual commitment to a group eort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

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Downtown BID by the Numbers 50

Restaurants in Savor Santa Ana

Downtown's biggest restaurant event grew to 50 restaurants participating including two food halls!

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Artwalks

We produce an amazing downtown-wide Artwalk every month in coordination with scores of galleries, artists and performance groups and restaurants and bars.

$25,000 Grants

We wrote and received $25,000 in grants for free public art performances and community projects.

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Community Police

Our parking revenue agreement with the City created four communityoriented police officers who have made a difference downtown.

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Wings of the City Statues

We worked closely with the City of Santa Ana and the Consulate of Mexico to launch the Wings of the City statues.

200%

Non-Assessment Revenue

Between grants, ticket sales and sponsorships, our groups were able to earn nearly $100,000 in new revenue beyond the assessment tax to operate the downtown BID.

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Blocks Cleaned

The Downtown Clean & Safe contract cleaned up graffiti and trash, reported issues to the City and power washed downtown's most traversed streets regularly.

500,000

Video Views

received by SAUSD dance teams who competed to win the Calle Cuatro "Downtown Spirit Award"

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Weekly Newsletters

We've been sending out downtown news, resources and events for over 3 years.

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Artists Indexed

We've built an Arts & Culture Registry for Santa Ana to make sure local artists can be found and to ensure Santa Ana stays a creative hub.

General Downtown Figures

796

Downtown Businesses

Pay into the Downtown BID when they pay their annual business license fee to the City.

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Historic Buildings

Downtown is an architectural treasure trove of historic buildings from the 1890's-1930's

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Downtown Acres The Downtown Historic Santa Ana District is nearly 25 acres centered around 4th/Main St.

1984

Year BID Established

"...to promote the Downtown through events and advertising pieces; funding to increase security and enhance the overall aesthetics of the area; and also to maintain the downtown shopping corridors."

$2.5 Million XQ Challenge

SABC partnered with SAUSD and won a big grant to "reinvent high school" here by using downtown as part of the school experience.

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Marketing & Communication

We share content and create collaborations across DTSA

1 WURSTHAUS at Savor Santa Ana

In 2017, Downtown Santa Ana continued our extensive marketing and communications program including:

We maintain robust internal & external communication for downtown every day of the year.

1. Social media channels for our brands grew to 60,000 followers.

2. We've written 150 weekly newsletters.

3. We increased the DTSA neighbors on Nextdoor.com by 250%.

4. We doubled our number of meet-ups to talk about everything from planning to walk audits of the street.

5. Marketing campaign hits like the SABC's "Spirit Awards" attracted a halfmillion views.

6. Our Santa Ana Media Summit attracted over 200 locals to learn how to market and communicate with the press.

Wursthaus has been the most popular restaurant at Savor Santa Ana 2016 and 2017. Between both years they saw over 1,100 new customers go through their door at the events.

7. We created new websites like SantaAnaArts.org, SantaAnaRestaurantWeek. com, StartupSantaAna.org and DTSAArtwalk.org to showcase great things happening in food, culture and art.

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Our downtown events are a major driver of downtown awareness, especially Savor Santa Ana which features 50 restaurants.

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We collaborated with photographer Brian Feinzimer to create a library of images as a marketing tool for us, our businesses and third parties (like media and publications).

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Our social media grew from 50,000 to 60,000 followers including both BID groups' Instagram/Facebook/Twitter accounts

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We provided food samples at many community events so residents can taste and learn about downtown across our community.

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We received $25,000 in grants to work with local artists to create a vibrant downtown.

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Our downtown weekly newsletter serves up 5-10 local news stories, opportunities, photo galleries and resources to our businesses, partners, supporters and customers. We also post the newsletter on Nextdoor.com and Facebook.

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Clean & Safe We help keep downtown clean and safe by connecting services, stakeholders and the City We work closely with our downtown clean & safe operations, stakeholders and the City of Santa Ana to keep our streets clean, the walls clear of graffiti, and the community safer with strategic investments.

Most of the reports on the mySantaAna app originate downtown because each morning, our downtown clean team drives the entire district and alleys and uses the mySantaAna app to report dumped items, graffiti and other issues directly to City crews for fast cleanup. The clean team then walks the district picking up and emptying trash and clearing out debris.

Several nights per week, the corridors of downtown are power washed to remove stains and gunk that trash crews cannot remove.

When we get an e-mail, tweet or phone call from a downtown stakeholder notifying us of a trash issue, it can be dealt with very quickly.

This year the Clean & Safe programs have become totally

overwhelmed by the increase in homelessness. To help remedy this, parking revenue funds have been requested to increase service levels for the first time in 7 years.

Our safety team helps deal with nonemergency incidents.

Most of their time is also spent handling complaints related to homelessness. They also provide additional presence and even help walk proprietors to their car at night.

Downtown parking revenues contribute directly to safety and upkeep. The downtown parking agreement with the City of Santa Ana funds four community-oriented police officers, who make a huge difference downtown.

Parking revenues are also helping fund public bathrooms, lighting and cameras.

And because lively active sidewalks create safer streets, we are hosting more community neighbors on our streets with multi-modal transporation and free outdoor events.

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PHOTOS: Co

ommunity-oriented policing is a great investment of parking revenues. They know the businesses and connect with downtown stakeholders.

The Downtown Clean Team and Calle Cuatro pushcart vendors also keep a keen eye out for safer streets ....................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Events & Promotions

DTSA Artwalk* · Every first Saturday of the month Sidewalk Sale · Every third weekend of the month DTSA Farmers' Market* · Every Sunday Caged Chameleon Arts Lunches · Monthly Arts Mixer Matinee and Outdoor Cinema Series · Film events throughout the year DTSA Walk Audit · January Coloring with the Community · January Artwalk Talk! Open Meeting · January Guanabana & Grants · January Pizza with a Planner · January Meetup at the Market · January Treeversation · March Hola Language Hour · March Boca de Oro Literature Fest* · March Fiesta on 5th Street · April Jane's Walk DTSA · April Cinco de Mayo (Saturday)* · May

Santa Ana's 131st Birthday Party · June Hack for Health* · June Santa Ana Media Summit* · July Downtown Busking Challenge · July Downtown Open Forum* · August Coding with the Community* · August Downtown Spirit Awards · Early Summer Savor Santa Ana* · September Santa Ana Restaurant Week* · September Wings of the City Launch* · October Ward 2 Forum with Connect-to-Council* · October Place Game: 5th & Broadway · November *City of Santa Ana Partnership

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Downtown's First Saturday Artwalk is the heartbeat of the city. We have grown the event leaps and bounds thanks to our team, new resources, and more collaborations.

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We built strong relationships with online inuencers, local bloggers and media who we work with to help spread the word.

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We hire local artists and talent who the community are excited to come see.

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Strong partnerships with SAUSD and SAC brought student performances to Artwalk, Savor Santa Ana and for Wings of the City.

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The Buskers Challenge connected local musicians with the downtown district.

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We had over 100 volunteers help us with Savor Santa Ana, many of them local youth through the school district and library.

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Helping Our Stakeholders

We nurture and connect our stakeholders to thrive through customer service and community Downtown is a magnetic engine for entrepreneurship, the creative economy, and traditional mom-and-pop shops, and downtown's diversity is its strength. As one of our boardmembers puts it, "If you have an idea, we have a space for it" here in downtown Santa Ana. We work arm-in-arm with our stakeholders to build a successful and vibrant downtown that works for everyone. We help businesses connect with new customers, grow into bigger opportunities, and navigate city processes and business realities – often for the first time.

Requests vary as widely as connecting a referral, to collaborating on major stakeholder-speared initiative like the Sidewalk Sales, Artwalk, Santa Ana Media Summit or Savor Santa Ana.

What our partners & stakeholders say: "You guys are just so pleasant to work with."

Julie Castro-Cardenas City of Santa Ana ...

"The BID works with SAUSD to bring our talented students downtown through grants and engagements at Artwalk and other events. In turn, the students are bringing their families and re-sparking a citywide interest in our downtown."

Robyn MacNair Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, SAUSD

Examples of requests we handle daily: Help promote on Social Media, Newsletter, etc.

Clean/Safe Concern Sharing a Prospect/ Contact/Partner Info Media inquiries Basic business systems assistance Event Production or Marketing advice How to approach the City on issues Help external groups find and connect with downtown businesses

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PHOTOS: Downtown Stakeholders come from all walks of life, and bring entrepreneurship, partnership, and passion. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Meetings & Convenings Representing our 796 businesses requires we convene with them often to distribute updates, share best practices, and gather ideas and input

1 AUGUST SANTA ANA MEDIA SUMMIT

You're only as good as the company you keep

There are hundreds of groups, organizations and individuals affecting downtown every day. We host and attend a myriad of meetings to improve, connect and collaborate.

Our meetings typically fall into one of a few categories:

Two-Way Information Meetings We host on-going meetings with DTSA restaurants, Calle Cuatro merchants, BID group boards, and arts stakeholders to distribute information,

gather feedback, and solicit new ideas.

Representative Meetings We spread our message, open new partnerships, and negotiate new work collaborations with institutions, downtown partners, committees, media, and government authorities.

The Santa Ana Media Summit connected downtown and community stakeholders with English and Spanish media to increase the stories told about good work being done in Santa Ana

Public Events We host large-scale public events to bring focus to our stakeholders, build their capactities, and connect them together.

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The Santa Ana Media Summit was organized to explore, equip and empower the community and media to overcome how Santa Ana is portrayed in media.

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We partnered with the Small Business Development Center to teach a class on social media advertising.

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The Downtown Open Forum gathered over 200 stakeholders for an open discussion and sharing session.

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We facilitate monthly Downtown Restaurant Association meetings to connect and empower one of our strongest business clusters.

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We partner closely with community institutions like Santa Ana UniďŹ ed School district which touches 80,000 residents.

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We invite local and regional experts as guest speakers to help inspire and inform our stakeholders.

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ARTWALK 2017 A newly married couple from Estate on Second strolls the DTSA Artwalk

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Looking Ahead

Downtown in 2018 In 2018, we're working to facilitate a vibrant downtown Make Places Together We are venturing into Placemaking this year and understanding how to help places downtown succeed. We'll be working with groups across downtown to analyze their space in terms of access, sociability, uses/ activations, comfort & image to find ways to kick-off improving the places and managing them better together.

Bring People Together We believe connecting people downtown is the biggest impact we can have on everyone's bottom line. When we gather, by industry or interest, we create innovative partnerships, share knowledge and create a free market for social capital. We hope to master the art of bringing downtown together while continuing to attract outside experts to connect and enhance our ideas and opportunities.

Keep it Working Together We have to continue to make sure downtown is well-connected, working together and communicating inside and out. We cannot underestimate the constant attention this work needs. We hold the key position to raise everyone's enthusiasm to share and support each others' ideas, passion, energy and commitment to the downtown district.

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Afterword by Madeleine Spencer Santa Ana Business Council Lead Consultant Santa Ana Business Council is inspired by city-building and sustainable community development, which is the ability to make development choices which respect the relationship between the three "E's": Economy - Economic activity should serve the common good, be self-renewing, and build local assets and self-reliance.

Ecology - Humans are part of nature, nature has limits, and communities are responsible for protecting and building natural assets.

Equity - The opportunity for full participation in all activities, benefits, and decision-making of a society.

Our business council members are champions for community-building and we continue to work with our partner BID to build our Downtown community on all fronts.

working to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors, setting the stage for the district’s assured economic and cultural presence.

Entering the BID I never expected to find a city so full of resources nor the amazing network of old and new businesses, industries, and experts from many fields. I never expected to see and meet so many of the city's emerging leaders.

Since beginning to work in the downtown, I have built relationships, found new confidants and personal best friends, something I never expected. The experience of city-building has been phenomenal for me.

Most importantly, I have had the awesome opportunity to really get to know our district this year. This has taught me so much about the small business people who have dedicated their whole lives to this city, people who come to work every single day with only a wish and a prayer. Their only prayer is that when they open shop each day, customers will walk through that door and keep the Downtown in business.

This kind of belief and tenacity is what keeps the whole city afloat. This perseverence within a city needs to be championed and it is something that no money can buy.

Whether it is our Downtown Merchants bringing in local community for free Rooftop Cinema, telling our merchants' "American Dream" stories, watching our youth soar as they celebrate Downtown Spirit Awards, or seeing the smiles on the faces of businesses who have made money after a great downtown event, we are excited to see our business community work together to shape and activate our dynamic capitol city at the center of the Orange County region.

Lead Consultant Santa Ana Business Council Santa Ana Business Council will continue

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