General notes: There has been quite a bit of movement in the non-profit world since my last report, so here’s a quick update on some local changes:
- The Sandy Community Action Center has a new, part-time executive director, and it’s someone we all know and love. Dawn Loomis has accepted this 3-day per week position and is already at the SCAC making changes. So far, so good.
- Meanwhile in Estacada, the newly hired executive director of the Estacada Downtown Association is Sandy’s very own Nancy Hoffman! Nancy started a couple of weeks ago, and Jennifer and I have already run into her at the 2014 Main Street Convention in McMinnville. She seems to be enjoying her position so far, but Terra Wilcoxson says her first real test will be how she reacts to the owner of Fearless Brewing storming into the office yelling about god knows what. Keep calm and carry on, Nancy!
- AntFarm has been struggling for awhile now with the departures of Samara, Susa and recently Wesley. However, Damon is back from his hiatus and doing well, Shauna has been taking over much of the supervisory work and Nunpa is looking for ways to get more involved with the business community and developing his work crews. They are struggling financially, but not as much as the recent Post article would have you believe…
Commercial Properties (vacancies, new businesses, etc.):
Amarin Thai/Try My Thai: This business is under new ownership as of a couple of weeks ago. The new ownership family is based in Gresham, and will largely keep the menu the same for now with a couple of minor tweaks. They are delightful people, very friendly and outgoing, and are very interested in taking part in Trick or Treat Trail and next year’s First Friday events. They already have a brand new projecting sign up, and it looks very bold with a bright red background and gold/black lettering. These folks seem very interested in joining Antonio of the Tamale Factory in breaking the Sandy restaurant mold and actually putting some effort into self-promotion. Bravo to them, and I will help out in any way I can.
Whitney Signs (Estacada): I have been speaking with the owner of this business for a couple of weeks now since finding out he is interested in the possibility of opening a store here in Sandy. He is interested in either opening a second store here, or selling his house and his store in Estacada and moving his entire operation here, and it sounds to me like one of these two things is almost certainly going to happen. I took him over to Jody Argue’s property very recently and introduced the two. He was familiar with the property from back when it was a Rieglemann’s, and did state that it would be an acceptable property for him (right size, plenty of parking, capable of taking fiber, good visibility both ways, etc.). We’ll see how the project comes along, and I will stay in touch with him until we have a sign company in Sandy.
Starbucks: Here’s the latest on Clackamas County’s coolest Starbucks…they will close their current store on the 20th of October, then spend two full days moving stock and equipment. They will re-open in their new location on the 23rd with a few new employees, better lighting, a ton more room and a drive-thru. Meanwhile, we lose a high visibility fast-food joint. Everybody wins. 🙂
Barbara Sah Properties: Our 2014 façade program improvements to this building have already borne fruit! The old Reel Tackle space has been rented by a local Sandy-area couple that would like to start a retail store for rock hounds. They will have several rock saws and a few polishers here, but will also provide classes on rock hounding and fossil hunting, rock and petrified wood identification, and other related topics. They both have solid day jobs and this will be mostly a hobby for them for awhile. However, this is a unique business that won’t step on the toes of any business already here in town. They also tell me that many people that own businesses like theirs are retiring and that young people don’t seem to getting into the business side of it much, although general interest in the topic doesn’t seem to be waning at all. Watch this space.
Also, Barbara is now interested in building out fiber to her building. I am currently in the process of connecting the SandyNet boys with her to work out a building reseller arrangement with her, where she pays the $250-350/month and then charges her individual businesses a discounted rate for service. I think we can make this work, and I know for a fact that Trail Pals is licking their collective chops at the thought of it all (last time I asked, they were with Frontier and told me they had 5 outages over a 2-week period, which seriously impacted their business)
Coleman Building: Peak Mortgage and a trading card shop (Magic the Gathering?) have taken over the second floor space previously occupied by ITzetta. Only space left in this building is the former Lori Ryland Studios space on the ground floor (which would be perfect for a Jamba Juice….just sayin!). Hats off to Brian Coleman for keeping his building full and proving once again that if you maintain a decent building and offer a fair price for rent, good things will happen! (and having gig fiber doesn’t hurt either!)
Tamale Factory: Good things continue to happen for our friend Antonio. He is doing much better than projected at his Sandy store, and now has a couple of employees trained up and running the store smoothly. I have also made an appointment to introduce him to Luis Corral at La Milpa because I’ve just simply got to get these two guys together. Luis is going to start making tortilla chips on a new production line in a couple of months, and Antonio is trying out homemade salsa in his stores. I thought it would be fantastic to try out that salsa with locally made chips, and maybe even get Antonio to be his first chip customer! In speaking with Luis about another matter, he suggested that maybe he could provide masa (corn flour) to Antonio at a better price than his current supplier as well as he buys it by the pallet. Antonio is very intrigued by this. Hopefully this will be yet another “economic gardening” success….more to come shortly.
Sandy Main Street: Jennifer Marks has slid into Aubrey’s position and is acclimating very well. If you have not had the opportunity to meet her yet, stop by the office and say hello. She is ahead of schedule for the Trick or Treat Trail (Oct. 25th, rain or shine) and the Xmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, and is a very fast learner. I am currently enlisting her help in my attempts to staff the SMS executive committee, so we will see what her powers of persuasion are like.
First Friday: The final First Friday of the year was a big success. October is traditionally the best attended FF of the year, and 2014 did not disappoint. Dita’s, the Library, AntFarm, Sparky’s, and the restaurants all reported good turnouts. Lori Ryland’s studio was absolutely buzzing all evening with the showing of all of her students work, and she even sold quite a few pieces to boot! Also, special thanks to the Future Farmers of America for providing the petting zoo over at the Museum. We had a lot of parents come down to that end of town specifically for the petting zoo, and the kids from FFA were spectacular! The young man that owned most of the animals was a senior at SHS, and he couldn’t have been more professional or informative. We look forward to doing this with them again next year. The only disappointment of the evening was Chariteas – she had multiple vendors including Bunsenbrewer and Rescue Dogs, and still had a poor showing. Fortunately, Charity and Aaron took it in stride and the three of us brainstormed how to change this pattern for next year. We’ll get it figured out eventually.
Project work:
Nothing at the moment
Conferences/training: [Oregon Main Street Conference (McMinnville, OR) – September 10-13] Not a ton of usable information at this one, but it was good to get Jennifer out to meet all of the other RAREs in the state for networking purposes. She has already developed a couple of good contacts around the state, including Saira Siddiqui in La Grande, who has developed a thriving Main Street program there despite limited community support. If there is any hope for keeping Main Street going in Sandy past our June 2015 deadline, it will be found in relationships like this. Did meet a couple of good vendors that specialize in different aspects of retail design (product placement and display, coloration, lighting) and am exploring the possibilities of bringing them out to Sandy for a SACC Brown Bag or a Sandy Main Street function. Our retailers could certainly benefit from their expertise…
[Emerging Local Government Leaders (#ELGL14) – October 17th] Getting very close to the conference date, and all appears to be going well. I will be staying at the conference site on the 16th to help set up for the event. City of Sandy attendees include myself, Jennifer Marks, and Kelly O’Neill. Seth was planning to come, but unfortunately had a last minute issue that will keep him from attending. Joe Knapp will be a conference presenter along with former city manager/author/professor/Sandyite Scott Lazenby – their break-out session is entitled “Fiber,Fiber, Fiber” (see below) and will contain lots of juicy information about the status of our current project. Expect a run on affordable housing here shortly thereafter as word of the availability of gigabit fiber in Sandy spreads…