ISSUE
03 JULY 2018
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT
THE
DISTRICT NEWS
B.I.D. REPORT P.1 P.2
SBDC-OC HELPS DOWNTOWN BY SPONSORING NEW ARTIST VILLAGE BANNERS Michael A. Ocasio President & CEO Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County has lead an active small business economic development organization in Downtown since 2001. Recently Ocasio offered to help Downtown BIDs with long time desired upgrades and beautification of the Artist Village in the way of Banners, the SBDC has awarded Downtown with a $5000.00 grant. Ocasio stated:
“We are delighted to be of assistance to help fund the acquisition of banners for the Art District. As we are a quasipublic/private 501(c)(3) non-profit organization we are tax exempt and simply, our grant funding activities are donations to support the public good.” Ocasio operates an Entrepreneur Loan Fund (“ELF”) providing direct capital assistance up to $10,000 and is seeking ideas of how to further promote the fund to small businesses (mom & pop) in the City of Santa Ana. If your are interested in the agency’s most recent Annual Report and related program information please contact Mr.Ocasio here: 271 N. Sycamore Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 714 571-1900 Office 951 538-9795 Cell mocasio@sbfdoc.org
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
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What Good Is a BID Anyway? Merchants Question City Budget Shortfalls! Planning: To Serve the Downtown Community Downtown Development News Federal Plaza Specific Activation Mayor Pulido Rallies Downtown Merchants Downtown Arts & Gallery News Quarterly Downtown Business Highlight Downtown is Building a Professional Internship Pipeline
Photo Credit: Lisandro Orozco
Recognizing current social media postings and opeditorials critiquing Downtown Merchant Groups, has revealed that many folks are still confused about what a Business Improvement District does and whose interests the BID aims to serve. Therefore, this editorial in the spirit of transparency is tasked to be a point of clarification for B.I.D. members to clear up any misunderstandings that they hear circulating. 1. Overview Business Improvement Districts (BIDS) are business led partnerships created to deliver additional services to local businesses. BIDS are a powerful tool for organizing a district and directly involving local businesses into local activities within their district allowing the business community and the city to work together to improve the local trading environment for all within the district. 2. What is a Business Improvement District? A Business Improvement District is made up of a defined area in which a levy is charged on all business rate payers in addition to the business rates tax bill. This levy is used to develop projects which will benefit businesses within the district area. Through the BID mechanism local businesses have a method of financing amenities and serving the district directly through a redistribution of local tax dollars that directly serve to create enhancements within the district. This enables businesses funds to be redistributed and used for a variety of local services needed. There is no limit on what projects or services can be provided through a Business Improvement District. The only requirement is that it should be something that is in addition to services provided by local authorities. Improvements may include, but are not limited to, extra safety/security, cleaning and environmental measures.
Besides these tax funds which come from local merchants, Business Improvement Districts Groups have the possibility of raising money in ways similar to other nonprofit organizations through fundraising and other activities, yet a BIDs base funding is typically provided by this special tax. 3. Is Downtown Santa Ana’s Business Improvement District still considered a PBID? The answer is no! Although many are still of the belief that Downtown Santa Ana operates as a Property Based Improvement District (PBID) this is inaccurate. Over seven years ago businesses within downtown district fought to disestablish a PBID and won.
The current breakdown for BID services can be estimated at a median amount per month per business, totaling less than a phone bill. These costs assure a base set of services including district wide marketing, promotions and special events that bring attention to the District. These events are created by those who work for the BID as directed by their respective Directional Boards made up of a mix of merchants and property owners as well as residents within the BID district. (For more information look at page 7 in article “Understanding your BID fee) 4. How is a Business Improvement District established? Currently there are two distinct BID groups in Downtown Santa Ana, Santa Ana Business Council and Downtown Inc.
WITH AN EYE ON EDUCATION While there is no single, standard definition of economic development, it can be broadly defined as a group of programs or activities that seeks to improve the economic wellbeing and quality of life for a community. This can be achieved by creating and retaining wellpaying jobs, supporting business growth, developing key real estate, and providing access to open space, neighborhood amenities and cultural programs. Yet, what cannot be underestimated is the development of our youth. For the past four years Downtown has been working and collaborating with the Santa Ana Unified School District. This has achieved our work to highlight the Visual and Performing Arts of Students throughout the Distirct during Artwalk and our Annual Boca de Oro event. We have Created Docent Programs and are working on other internship possibilities in Downtown. We have together found Spaces to Showcase District Art in Downtown and through team work between the school and Downtown we have even won 2.5 million dollar grant to create a 21st Century School within the District Called Circulos. Recently our lead of the Visual and Perfoming Arts Coordination , Robyn MacNair passed a resolution in both the District and the City for Arts Equity for our youth in Santa Ana. We are in the phase of hiring the new coordinator for the Circulos School and we are continuing our efforts to establish a CTE program that will enable students to work with Downtown Merchants on Social Media for Downtown. Building Pipelines for youth in our community is one of the surest ways to build community wealth and keep our students living and working within the city in which they were raised.
Photo Credit: Ryan Smolar
On June 7th 2018 the City of Santa Ana in accordance with the Sunshine Ordinance shared a Budget Update with over 30 Downtown Merchants at Hector’s on Broadway. While merchants enjoyed an excellent breakfast of Red and Green Chilequiles, City officials discussed the state of the City Budget and upcoming projections for the fiscal future of Santa Ana. What was discovered was that the city of Santa Ana is currently facing a budget deficit in the amount of 17 million dollars and prospects for overcoming the deficit in the future look slim to none. This past fiscal year we have dealt with shortfalls of $8.1 million dollars. Beginning this month on July 1st we will be facing a $17.1 million dollar shortfall and it is projected that the next fiscal year we can expect a $31.9 million dollar shortfall.
Downtown Merchants attend Budget Update at Hectors on Broadway City executives said during the public discussion the city faces shortfalls of $8.1 million this fiscal year, $17.1 million next fiscal year, which starts July 1, and $31.9 million the following fiscal year.If the city makes no changes and relies solely on its operating reserves to fill the budget gap, the city would be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy in about two years.
City Council-approved raises for city employees, about two-thirds for police, according to city officials.
“Maintaining the same level of service, the way that you capture revenue – it just needs to change,” Cortez said. “Santa Ana needs to transform itself into a new organization that is more nimble, more effective, more efficient, more productive.”
Merchants at the Update asked City Staff to consider using security and reserves for Police Officers rather than paying overtime for special events Downtown and across the city stating that this would cut costs and assist.
~Voice of OC Disappointingly the main drivers of this year’s shortfall are the skyrocketing pension costs, mostly for police officers.
While staff mentioned the City Council’s interest in asking voters in November to raise the current 7.75 percent sales tax to 8.25 percent or 8.75 percent. Cortez admitted that the city needs to find new ways of doing business.
Others asked for the city to develop a RED taskforce to create a design strategy with the private sector business and community to work on best practices for overcoming the budget gaps.
STUSSY COMES TO DOWNTOWN SANTA ANA Stüssy (/ˈstuːsi/ STOO-see) comes to Downtown Santa Ana. Stussy is a clothing brand and private
These two groups of Business Improvement District proposers were required to develop a proposal and submit this to the city, along with a business plan when they were reorganized as a BID. The proposals of each group set out the services to be provided by that group within the district. The BIDs were formed to maintain a structural center organizing the business district. This organization is very similar to that of a Neighborhood Association or a Community Development Corporation (CDC), but rather than specifically organizing the neighborhoods or the community, it was created specifically to serve the interests of the small businesses that exist within the Downtown district. Since that time, this plan has been reviewed by the city yearly. Both groups are nonprofit organizations with a 501 c (6) designation. What this means is that as a nonprofit they are unable to directly apply for many grants that require a 501© 3 designation. They also have no ability to legally affect political influence, unlike labor unions who hold a 501© 4 designation allowing them for example to create political PACs and or influence elections within the city. The work done by a Business Improvement District is somewhat similar to the work done by the community within Downtown. This leads us to answer the question: Which businesses exactly does the BID serve? A BID is like the Chamber of Commerce, except the Chamber is a body that is tasked to assist businesses throughout the whole city and or region, whereas; a BID is tasked to work only with a select number of businesses that fall within the designated boundaries of a specified BID area.
Otherwise, what is similar to the Chamber exactly is that the BID is expected to be a booster for a vibrant and diversified businesses within the Downtown specific area. 5. Who are the Stakeholders in Downtown Santa’s BID District? The Downtown is made up of a number of different sectors with quite a wide range of different kinds of businesses. The last count showed at least 133 different sectors existing in a Downtown. These sectors are made up of almost 800 businesses. Let me list just a few of the sectors we work with Downtown. We have accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll, travel services, commercial, industrial, real estate services, dentists, doctors, agents, brokers, health practitioners, management corporations, care centers, churches, other school and instruction institutions, restaurants, entertainment, nonprofit organizations, grocery stores, neighborhoods and all types of retail establishments, as well as our regular work to maintain and program our Downtown plaza’s, parks, paseos, and parking areas. We also work with a Downtown clean and safe team which regularly manages the cleanliness and safety of over 80 blocks within Downtown. All of the above fall within the purview of a BIDS concern.
As you can see, the Business Improvement district in Downtown Santa Ana is made up of a variety of businesses. In 2017 we had the pleasure of meeting the majority of our merchants face to face during our 796 Campaign. You will also find the stories of our business owners in our American Dream Stories on the Calle Cuatro Marketplace website. One can find out more about this past campaign on Facebook by putting in the Hashtag #SABC796.
These postings share a deeper story of how our merchants have come to work in Downtown District. These stories give our local community as well as visitors the opportunity to get to know the real people who work daily in our Downtown. These stories also share the names and faces of the real people within the district sharing the work and services each provide.
company started in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. The company is one of many that benefited from the surfwear trend originating in Orange County, California, but it has largely been adopted by the streetwear and hip-hop scenes. On the corner of Birch and Fourth
If you would like to read more about our local small businesses, you can also find continuous information about what is happening in our two groups collaborative, weekly newsletter. There you will learn the stories of many of our local merchants and their businesses newsletter and on our websites, which include quite a bit of information 6. How long will a Business Improvement District last?
Street
the
new
trendy
store
recently sign up to be a staple store in Downtown with a 20 year lease.
THE SHOE PALACE OPENS ON LA CUATRO The Mersho Family, filling a
The renewal of The Business Improvement District occurs on a yearly basis.
long time vacant building in
7. Who manages the Business Improvement District?
Shoe Palace is one of the most-
Downtown Santa Ana, The
trusted athletic footwear and A Business Improvement District is managed by a Business Improvement District body. This body is made up of two Boards which both have an executive body and board members. Both groups, since they work with the city who collects the taxes across the city is Governed by the Brown Act. This means each Board is required to post it’s meetings and minutes which can be found in designated areas within the Downtown and online.
apparel retail chains in the United States. What began as a small, family business has now grown into an extremely-popular chain of stores and an online retail site — shoepalace.com. SP was built on a strong belief that amazing buyer service,
The City of Santa Ana manages the billing and the collection of the levy and holds the levy in a ring-fenced revenue account on behalf of the Business Improvement District body.
above all else, is the mostimportant reason why any business flourishes.
Also
DTI & SABC INVITED TO SPEAK AT LONG BEACH’S PETROLEUM CLUB "We would like you to be our guest speaker for our July 19 “Bixby Business Breakfast” held at the LB Petroleum Club. We want to hear the same story you told to COBA. The challenges,
the
landscape,
the
politics,
Photo Credit: Ryan Smolar
Kathleen Rosenow conducting a Design Charette at Good Beer Co.
and then the collaboration with the BIDs in Santa Ana.
Speech
called
“A
Tale
will of
be Two
BIDs” – and focus on the collaboration small
and
the
victories…PLUS,
the new dancing in the street event!!"
Blair Cohn Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association 4321 Atlantic Ave. Long Beach, CA 90807
Kathleen Rosenow, From RSG’s Consulting Group and The Owner of The Good Beer Co. building on 4th Street, recently created an excellent plan to convert the upstairs offices of her building into co-working spaces in Downtown.
To further interrogate and work out this design plan Rosenow hosted a dinner for a group of local business stakeholders within the BID. Her invitation was to a dinner design charette—or a collaborative session in which the group of designers would together draft a solution to her posed design problem. The dinner and idea sharing session turned out to be an excellent event. The design charette also provided a model approach as to how to engage local stakeholders in a Downtown design process to create planning solutions for local incoming business.
The local consulting group RSG who has for years worked out of this space are currently moving to Irvine. Therefore, the owners of the building have taken the initiative to work with the local business community and creatives to make sure the coworking space serves the needs of the downtown community. The hosts were gracious in bringing together a group of around 20 people who live and work downtown to discuss options through a series of 4 workgroups. The event was organized as a design planning charette and was around topics like: What type of space is needed? What operational logistics would work best? What about security and access? Are there synergistic opportunities to work with businesses or service providers in DTSA to help make the space work? Dinner was kindly provided and catered by El Mercado Restaurant and beer for the group was provided in house, by The Good Beer Co. Those who were invited to participate in the Charette, excitedly shared their knowledge and opinions in a very enjoyable and respectful design process.
The whole event was not only elegant but fun. The event really gave folks a chance to look at, and share their vision on how the space could be best utilized to serve the Downtown Community.
Having an open process for this sort of discussion is something rarely seen in Downtown… With local groups in attendance like BATCH, Buzz Feed, Alta Baja Market, Oval Integration, DTI and SABC among others, this proactive and innovative approach connected multiple stakeholders as design thinkers within the city. The engagement built community around a project opening what would typically be a private decision-making process and succeeded in finding out many ways to move forward. Our Hats are off to Kathleen Rosenow and her group for this excellent dialogic engagement. It is a model we would love to share with others within the district as the district continues to be developed and the vacancies throughout downtown are filled with new aspiring companies, entrepurnurs, creatives and offices. prius. In consequat os quae nulla magna. Delenit abdo esse quia, te huic. Ratis neque
THE COFFEE MUSE OPENS ON LA CUATRO In Carmen Avila’s Building between Charlie’s Tatoo and R & R Western Wear a new coffee shop called “ The Coffee Muse “ just opened. What this means is that we now have five coffee shops on La Cuatro. Our Coffee Shops include Calacas, Starbucks, Hopper & Burr, on the West End and Portola and The Coffee Muse on the East End.
NEW RESTAURANT LOADED CAFÉ OPENS ON FIRST Jose Ruiz is the owner of 4 IHOP restaurants. He helped us with the Historic Street Breakfast just opened his second “Loaded Café Restaurant” in the BID. His location is in the same area as Food for Less and McDonalds off First Street in Downtown. “In six years, Loaded Cafe has grown from a new diner concept tucked into a former IHOP Aframe on PCH into a rapidly expanding breakfast chain that’s now found in Latino-majority cities like Bellflower and Santa Ana. It’s what happens when we finally admit that Mexican families buying up greasy spoons was the best thing to happen to the genre since its proliferation began almost a century ago. Where else would you be able to get a fresh honey-infused jugo verde instead of orange juice with your coffee? Or load up on 99cent jalapeños toreados, which are heavily suggested throughout the menu as a side option like fries or toast once were? Loaded Cafe also packages three chunky house salsas — green habanero, red habanero and yellow peron — that are permanently stocked on each table, while more traditional condiments like ketchup, Tabasco and maple syrup get dropped with the food. If you want a great breakfast of Loaded crepes with Lingonberries, café y jugo and more trust us, go check it out.” Original Editorial by Sara Bennet
NEW DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENTS FIRST AMERICAN TITLE BUILDING SITE On Monday June 18th A Sunshine Ordinance Meeting was held to invite local residents to look at the new plan for the upcoming project to redevelop the First American Title Site that is takes up the block between Main, 5th and 4th Street to Bush and on the current parking lot behind Lock Out Studios and the Cross Fit Gym current ly resides. The applicant proposes to construct a new commercial/residential mixed-use development consisting of 8,900 square feet of commercial space and 218 residential units, with 341 onsite parking spaces, on two parcels at 114 E. Fifth Street (Parcel 1) and 117 & 119 E. Fifth Street (Parcel 2). Parcel 1 will contain 194 units, and Parcel 2 will contain 24 units. Approval of variances for building height and onsite parking, or amendments to the Transit Zoning Code and CEQA documentation, are required. In a report at the June 22nd SABC Board Meeting DTI Board Member Yvonne Flores shared that the meeting only had five Downtown Stakeholders in attendance. Suggestion was made to advocate for the affordable development component on site was discussed rather than bifurcating the project with in Lieu fees for an offsite affordable development. Project Manager: Ali Pezeshkpour, AICP - Senior Planner Phone: (714) 647-5882 E-mail: APezeshkpour@santa-ana.org
THE CONGREGATION ALE HOUSE TO OPEN SOON It has been some time that the Artist Village has had a large vacancy to fill. After Memephis left and Luna Kutsi shut down activation has been difficult. Fortunately, in a Restaurant Association meeting held on May 30th the Owner of the Congregation Ale House admitted that their opening will be in September. He is working with the planning department to finish up all needed paperwork. The owner of Congregation Alehouse owner was greeted by a room full of peers in the restaurant industry Downtown. All wereexcited to hear about his opening and OC Weekly who was in attendance told all how to connect to media. One of the take away’s from this meeting was the sentiment shared by Restaurants that all are in this together and rather than competing and sharing a scarcity mentality, they will recognizing the unique contribution and differences of each restaurant and work to cross promote one another by making sure to share with customers where to go next for a visit in Downtown. This self referential system will not only assist in making our Downtown district a friendly marketplace but also an amazing destination for locals and visitors throughout the region. We look forward to the activation and opening of Congregation Alehouse at the Corner of Broadway in September. Image Credit Congregation Website
FEDERAL PLAZA SPECIFIC ACTIVATION Appreciation for the downtown activation is tempered by the challenges facing many outlying areas within the district that are still plagued by blight and abandonment. The Federal Plaza is one of these underutilized areas it is our feeling in Downtown that the key here is in ‘collaboration. The plan for the Plaza is to collaborate with surrounding artists, businesses such as The California Center for Digital Media Arts, La Rinconada, Beatnick Bandito and AvantGarden Gallery across the street to help the area become and active and vibrant space within downtown. To ensure the Federal Plaza is well used and maintained. A number of agencies are also responsible for managing the public space. Our Downtown Clean and Safe team as well as our Downtown PD unit and the Federal Building security and maintenance teams. Any public space has multiple agencies and organizations with different responsibilities, leading to complexity in coordination of development and management. We hope to work with you and all these stakeholders to better establish a committee of management with responsibility to coordinate all aspects of the Federal Plaza management. We also wish to establish a program of ongoing events and activities for a wide range of users. Events and activities can include outdoor art displays and activation during Artwalk and other program times throughout the month, activities can include but are not limited to performances, displays or community services. We hope to establish a better maintenance program for this space prioritizing prompt identification, removal and repair of any issues with misuse of the space.
Strategy #1 The first Regular Infrastructure Activation of the Federal Plaza would include activating the plaza regularly on the first Saturday Artwalk every month. The first activation example is to create an outdoor photography gallery in the Federal Plaza space which those visiting for Artwalk patrons can enjoy. The Group Downtown is collaborating with is The California Center for Digital Arts (CCDA) which is a Photography school on the West End located nearby the Federal Plaza in the Knights of Pythias Building. The California Center for Digital Arts is a student resource for beginners, and a source of inspiration for advanced image/video creators developing new, or expanding, visual voices. • • •
CCDA offers classes for beginning and professional photographers CCDA offers digital arts classes from certified teachers CCDA a place where students learn to think in visual terms;
CCDA grounds itself on the fundamentals, and revels in those wonderful ‘ah-ha!’ moments when a student grasps concepts that turn into incredible images. We will discuss the other 4 Strategies in the next edition of the BID report.
WEST END ACTIVATION PLAN For over 2 years now starting in 2016 SABC and DTI have been working on strategies to activate the West End of Downtown Santa Ana. But the real work began after a Project for Public Spaces Conference DTI attended in Amsterdam which taught Ryan Smolar to conduct the Place Game. The Place Game brought together the stakeholders in the West End. The West End consists of land holding areas split between three separate organizations including the County of Orange, The Federal Government and The City of Santa Ana. This breaks up the district space which in other areas of downtown are more easily programmable. After bringing the stakeholders together to walk the area and go through what all saw was needed some of the first implementation initiatives taken up by both BID groups was lighting, outdoor furniture during Artwalk and broadening Artwalk to activate the area with Vendors as done in the Artist Village and other parts of Downtown. SABC took on a volunteer Gabriela Rivas to assist in the vendor activation drawing from the large number of vendor applicants who sign up Downtown weekly. The beginning of this activation will occur beginning in July. Some of the groups being worked with are Santo Golpe with members from the former musical group the Mad Marionettes and a series of vendors getting their licensing in to share their artistry. Meetings have occured with Orion Lighting & Design to connect lighting Downtown. Meeting with William McGovern at PD to connect vending. Outreach to Anh Nguyn, Federal Building to connect space usage outside of Federal Building. Work with Restaurants and Businesses to come together as a cohort, branding and marketing an upcoming event. Working with Liason Cesar Cedeno on Rules and Regulations. Working on upcoming Aug Event and September Youth Entrepreneurship Fair.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BID FEE Beyond Managing her Furniture store daily , Claudia Arellanes, the secretary and Executive Board Member of SABC has worked diligently to create a graphic representation of the fee structure for all merchants paying into the BID. The reason being that many of our Merchants are still confused as to what and why they pay. Working with the Tax division of the City Finance Department to create the breakdown. The projet is almost complete. The informational graphic will explain exactly what local merchants pay annually to the special Assessment Business Improvement District in the Downtown Area. Based on Yearly sales, starting from $0$215,999.00, one finds for example, that a business at the lower end of the spectrum who is reporting for example $100,000.00 will have a License renewal at around $238.00. The BID assessment for the year is around $357.00 which is the equivalent of $29.75 per month and the equivalent of $.99 cents per day. At the highest range of $2,160,000.00 and more with a reported sales of $3,000,000 and a license renewal fee of $1,658.00 the bid assessment is $2,487.00. Which is around $207.24 per month and $6.90 per day. All of the money that is collected annually is distributed by the finance department of the City of Santa Ana. This is done through the Community Development Department and allocated the two Downtown BID organizations DTI & SABC. These groups have the charge of providing cleanliness, safety and other ameneties to the BID area in Downtown. There are around 800 businesses which this service is provided to within the BID. Other charges seen are typically the cost of Business License Renewal. In the upcoming graphic there will be examples for business owners so that they fully understand how to interpret the data for themselves from their own fee structure. A contact for any assistance in understanding further will also be provided. If there are any questions about this upcoming graphic please contact Claudia Arellanes at Santa Ana Business Councill. Claudia Arellanes, Secretary Santa Ana Business Council 400 East 4th Street Santa Ana, CA 92701 (714) 973-2000
MAYOR PULIDO RALLIES DOWNTOWN MERCHANTS TO WELCOME FORMER MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA Long time Mayor Miguel Pulido a long time supporter and advocate for Antonio Villaraigosa’s run for Governor of California rallied local merchants to entertain and host Villaraigosa on his visit to Santa Ana. Antonio Villaraigosa who recently visited Santa Ana is the ex mayor of the city of Los Angeles. As a public servant, Villaraigosa served as Mayor of Los Angeles (2005-2013), Los Angeles City Council Member (2003-2005), Speaker of the California Assembly (1998-2000), California State Assembly Member (1994-2000). He was the first Latino governor to be elected in Los Angeles since 1875.Written up in Rumores Magazine you will see images of the long time Mayor with Downtown Merchants from America Barber Shop’s George Mendoza, Custom Auto Shop with Robert Escalante and Mega Furniture’s Arturo Arellanes. Others featured include Councilman Jose Solorio, Former Councilwoman Claudia Alverez, new runner up for 2018 Elections Mirna Velasquez, Mike Gonzalez and more.
GRANDTH CENTRAL NEW“4 ELEMENT” ARTS CENTER GALLERY OPENS ON CREATES A DIRECTORS CIRCLE BROADWAY
DOWNTOWN ARTS & GALLERY NEWS i
The 4th Element Gallery On Broadway in the Artist Village seeks to connect the creative culture of art and music and lifestyle. Newly opened in Downtown Santa Ana the Gallery is already collaborating with local artists to give them showings.
NEW RESTAURANT “FLEENOR’S ON 4th “ OPENS Judy Fleenor of Crave Restaurant which is a few doors down has opened Fleenor’s on 4th in Santa Ana. With beautiful breakfasts on the weekends a full bar and more you will find entrees that include pizzas, steak frites and seared scallops.
NEW SALON CALLED “THE COMB” OPENS ON LA CUATRO On the West End of La Cuatro is an amazing new salon and school called The Comb Hair Technology Center. The Maestro, Joaquin Regalado, originally from Mexico City, told us that what is unique about his salon and school is the cutting edge Science and Math used to cut and style hair. An artist-as well as a designer-Joaquin explained how Leonardo DaVinci understood the mathematics of the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden section. Like an architect builds buildings Joaquin cuts hair and trains young aspiring students to cut hair in a way that will get them a job in a competitive industry.
NEW RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT “UNLISTED” OPENS ON LA CUATRO A Kitch establishment Unlisted sells Arts & Crafts Enamels Pins and Patches, as well as Art, and other Accessories. For those who just love pop culture! They carry cool kitschy items for your home (kitchen glassware, plants, candles), a wall of unique pins from vendors like Move in Silencio, Yesterday's, etc, greeting cards you won't find anywhere else that are funny, edgy, avant-garde, and unique, key chains, dope car air freshners and more. A speakeasy is also opening in the back of the establishment and being built currently.
GRAND CENTRAL ARTS CENTER CREATES A DIRECTORS CIRCLE Through strategic invitation, Grand Central Art Center (GCAC) has formed a support group, the Director’s Circle.The goal of the Director’s Circle is to bring supportive, engaged and outside the box Orange County thinkers together. The group fosters a stronger OC contemporary arts and cultural voice in our region through shared experience and inspiration. The emphasis of the Director’s Circle is on relationship building — working toward greater support, connection, and awareness of GCAC’s outreach programs, residencies, and exhibitions.The Director’s Circle support role provides excellent opportunities for creative flow and exchange of ideas, helping GCAC achieve continued success. Image and Content Credit, John Spiak, Grand Central Arts.
OCCCA ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE BOARD On June 25th OCCCA Held its Election and after almost a decade of Dedicated Service to the Organizaiton Late President Stephan Anderson was replaced by new President and Executive Director Jeffrey Frish who was previously the treasurer. With all position replaced except the Secretary of the organization interest in where the new vision for the gallery will take the organization this upcoming year. Image Credit, Madeleine Spencer, Santa Ana Business Council
THIS QUARTERS DOWNTOWN BUSINESS HIGHLIGHT
THE CALIFORNIA TRADE ALLIANCE A few years back, we learned in a Market Analysis, by The Next Practice’s Jeb Bruggman, that Downtown Santa Ana is already a destination for purchasing Wellness Goods Services.
DOWNTOWN IS DANCING IN THE STREETS As part of our Artwalk Extension Project in Downtown Santa Ana, the Santa Ana Business Council was able to implement a program which they have been wanting to share with community for four years now. The program is called “Dancing in the Streets” and is something that is traditional throughout Mexico as it is something that is apart of everyday experience held in streets and plazas. The audience began as 30 people and now in a very short time is attracting thousands to our Downtown Artwalk. The program begins at 6:00pm on the First Saturday of the Month with a Lesson from Teacher Luis Aragon who teaches at Cielo Social on McFadden regularly. Starting at 7:00 folks are on their own and dancing the night away. If you haven’t seen the new activation it is really spectacular come to our first Saturday Artwalk and don’t forget your dancing shoes.
Wellness Goods categories were shown to be one of the top three sources of sales ‘surplus in downtown Santa Ana meaning that downtown retailers sell more than the total resident demand for these types of merchandise. The sales surplus of Wellness Goods by downtown business establishments was estimated by Bruggman at $67 million per annum. One of the businesses we have found that are contributing to this industry surplus is a Local yet International Downtown Company called The California Trade Alliance.
This is where the companies can put their knowledge to work. These show's attendees are buyers and distributors from all over the world. As an organization The California Trade Alliance has built a brand around California, and our pavilion's are known as a destination where buyers can find the newest independent innovative beauty brands. When the group from the California Trade Alliance are not abroad, the CTA is available to issue documents for export including Certificate's of Free Sale and Certificate's of Origin. Quarterly, the group organizes a speaker event relevant to the industry topics. One can also find CTA visiting many domestic beauty shows to seek out emerging brands changing the landscape whether it be in sustainability, all natural ingredients, or companies incorporating VR/AR to the user experience. You can learn more by visititing their website at caltradealliance.com
The California Trade Alliance was established only 4 years ago, in Downtown. The company was started by Jake Rubenstein and Cesar Arellanes as well as an advisory board of five brand owners. The mission of The Trade Alliance is in helping California health & beauty brands expand sales over seas. Currently The California Trade Alliance works with over 250 beauty brands including cosmetics, skin care, nail polish, hair care, and bath accessories. The main way this organization has been able to aid beauty brands in expanding exports is by building a platform where the industry can come for guidance regarding over seas distribution, sales channels, strategy, and overall logistics of exporting. Additionally, the Trade Alliance builds out and manages California Pavilion's at the largest international business to business trade shows in the world.
Top Left Kimberly Pederson, Special Projects Coordinator Top Right Jack Rubenstien, Director of Operations Bottom Left Cesar Arellanes, Trade Show Services Bottom Right Nikki Hickman, Accounting Services
Group working on Professional Internship Pipeline
DOWNTOWN IS BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL INTERNSHIP PIPELINE For the past ten months Downtown has been working with Santa Ana Unified’s CTE Lead Don Isobell, VAPA Coordinator Robyn MacNair and others to pull together a Team Teaching Professional Internship Program fitted for students to begin their careers working with the Small Business in our Downtown District. The program is through SAUSD’s Career and Technical Education Program (CTE). After three short pilots conducted by CTE in these past 10 months, a method has been discoved as to how to create a flexible, joint teacher collaborative model that will work perfectly to fit our Downtown Small Business needs. We now have the structure in place, including transportation for students, to support our first professional internship pilot project in Downtown Santa Ana beginning with 10 of our 90 businesses who have requested assistance. Career and Technical Education is a program that prepares students for success in their college and career. Areas currently covered within this program include automotive, business, computer science, culinary arts, digital media, education, engineering, fashion, information technology, legal and medical mentorship. The first of a series of Internships being developed for students within our Downtown, is in the area of Arts Media Entertainment. Where youth will learn Tech by helping our Downtown’s small businesses build their business websites and more.
BID Report Compiled By Madeleine Spencer Santa Ana Business Council 400 East 4th Street Santa Ana, CA 92701
During Santa Ana Business Council’s 796 Campaign, this past summer, we found through a survey that at least 90 businesses have requested assistance with their websites and social media. In order to make sure all 90 businesses will be given the assistance they have requested, this professional internship program pathway has been developed by CTE.
All of the work represented in this document would not be possible if it were not for our collaboration with our Business Improvement District Partners Downtown Inc. and its Downtown Management Consultant, Ryan Smolar, as well as our amazing Clean and Safe Team Director, Jose Romo
Businesses will be working with a youth developer guided by teachers as mentors to get a free website made. Students will also assist businesses to set up Facebook, Yelp, Instagram and other social media sites. This will give students a portfolio of work, build community by relationships built with merchants and who knows, this may perhaps even land some students their first job. We are very excited about this upcoming project which will begin this month of July 2018. .
We owe our amazing efforts in collaboration with the School District to VAPA Coordinator Robyn MacNair