Hometown News Since 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CIV, NO. VI
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2020
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Atascadero Events Continue to Grow
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y r e t n P ri
Party for the
City spends $232,387 to host, promote events By LUKE PHILLIPS luke@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — The City of Atascadero spent a total of $232,387 to host and promote events in the city during the fiscal year 2018-19 with those events bringing in an estimated $75,293 in direct revenue on a budget of $208,000. Deputy City Manager of Marketing, Promotions and Events Terrie Banish presented the numbers to the City Council at its regular meeting Tuesday during an annual marketing update. The City saw a major uptick in event attendance during the past year. Attendance at the Charles Paddock Zoo event Brew at the Zoo was up 20 percent over the previous year, Cruisin’ Weekend saw 30 percent increase in attendance and the City’s biggest event of the year, the relatively new Tamale Festival saw an increase in attendance of 67 percent this year over the previous year with vendors selling approximately 45,000 tamales, up from 27,000 tamales in 2019. Banish attributes those numbers to the City’s robust marketing efforts with advertising being placed on TV and Radio, on billboards, in print publications and on the web. She said that the City relied heavily on digital advertising platforms. “It’s the best form of advertising these days because we can really target particular people,” she said. “It definitely works well for us with both social media and digital. Social media has really taken off in the past 10 years.” The City’s web metrics are also looking good according to Banish, who reported that the Visit Atascadero Instagram account has 1,836 followers, the Facebook page has 2,794 followers and the Twitter account has 1,304 followers. The City’s website had 259,877 total pageviews in 2019, up 66 percent from the previous year, with 132,661 unique visitors, up 47 percent from 2018. If income from the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax is any indicator, the events have also been paying dividends for local businesses. The TOT is a tax paid on local hotel stays with 2 percent of the total bill going to the City coffers. The TOT was up 1.1 percent this year, bringing in an estimated $1,390,972 for the City. “This is showing that people are coming here, they’re staying here, that growth is definitely there,” Banish said.
By LUKE PHILLIPS luke@atascaderonews.com
Proceeds from 80s dance to help restore historic building ATASCADERO — This past Friday evening locals dusted off their Aqua Net and leg-warmers and headed to the Atascadero Lake Pavilion for a “Totally 80s” Valentine’s Prom Dance Party with proceeds going toward the restoration of the historic Atascadero Printery building.
Atascadero Residents Support Sales Tax Measure City releases results of feasibility study
Attendees danced to 80s music at the Atascadero Lake Pavilion Friday evening at an event to raise money for the Atascadero Printery Foundation. Photo by Luke Phillips
By LUKE PHILLIPS luke@atascaderonews.com
SURVEY SAYS:
Attendees dancing along to Madonna and Paula Abdul tunes and enjoyed a no-host bar, food trucks and a photo booth, raising $2,000 for the Atascadero Printery Foundation and its mission to rehabilitate and re-purpose the Printery building. “Everyone had a great time and asked us to do it again next year,” said Atascadero CONTINUED ON PAGE A10
ATASCADERO — According to the results of a recent survey conducted in the city, Atascadero residents would be likely to approve a ballot measure to enact a one-cent sales tax that would provide the City with $5 million extra dollars each year to pay for police and fire services, parks and facilities and recreation programs. At a City Council meeting Tuesday, City Manager Rachelle Rickard announced the preliminary results of the sales tax feasibility study conducted by True North Research. Rickard said that a representative from True North would present the full results of the study at a future meeting. According to Rickard, 66 percent of respondents said that they would either “definitely” or “probably” support a sales tax measure on the November ballot. “It did vary by a few percentage points after people heard either arguments for or against being made,” Rickard said. “But generally it did hover around that 65 or 66 percent mark.” The survey questions were posited to nearly 800 Atascadero residents selected to statistically match the population of the city and “the results of the survey are a good representation of likely November voters,” according to a press release issued by the City Wednesday. “We’ve had a lot of financial difficulties — some challenges here in Atascadero,” Rickard said. “We are one of the lowest, if not the lowest, revenue cities here in the county per capita. We’re routinely in the bottom 25 percent of cities, 15 percent of cities in the amount we spend per capita and receive per capita. So we are fiscally challenged.” The survey also asked a variety of other questions about living in Atascadero. When asked what one thing would make Atascadero a better place to live, the highest number of responses were to address issues with homelessness, improve and maintain public infrastructure such as streets and CONTINUED ON PAGE A10
DANCING WITH OUR STARS
From the Zoo to You
Steve Robinson partners with DWOS veteran Christina Troxel By GRENDA ERNST For the Atascadero News ATASCADERO — Who would be the natural choice to be the Community Star representing the Friends of the Charles Paddock Zoo? Steve Robinson of course. Steve, a veterinarian, will be dancing in the 2020 edition of Dancing With Our Stars, and he has all the qualifications needed to represent the Zoo except, as he states, “precious little (aka no) dancing experience!” We are sure that his talented choreographer, Christina Troxel, will help him overcome that hurdle. Steve and his wife, Renee Leton, also a veterinarian, have owned El Camino Veterinary Hospital in atascaderonews.com
Atascadero since moving to the area 28 years ago and Steve has been the attending veterinarian at the zoo throughout that time. He has been president of the zoo’s board of directors since the board was established seven years ago. He said that he passionately supports the zoo’s mission of education, conservation and preservation locally and globally. His dedication and ability are reflected in the academic awards he received in college and veterinary school. And his medical treatment has not always been confined to animals. He was an Army Green Beret medic in the early 1970s. Steve and Renee have three children, a veterinary surgeon, an oil painting artist and a medical student. His favorite leisure activities are bicycling
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and bicycle fabrication and he and Renee do long distance trekking, especially in Europe. In addition to his extensive involvement with the zoo, Steve volunteers at local sporting events and contributes to many nonprofit organizations. He notes that he is extremely pleased to be the Community Star for FCPZ. He is finding the preparation to be daunting, exciting, frustrating and a rewarding challenge and we know that he will bring to his performance the same dedication and enjoyment with which he lives his professional and personal life. Steve’s choreographer is Christina Troxel, a lifelong dancer with a commitment to the goals of Atascadero’s Dancing with Our Stars
Community star dancer Steve Robinson poses for a photo with his dance partner Christna Troxel. Contributed photo
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