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Monday, February 6, 2012
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Midtown residents have been dealing for years with the impacts of a City led campaign to "Bring People Downtown" that ignored the fact that people are already here.
Media and Midtown Business Association boosters have contributed by consistently disparaging the existing mixed-use neighborhoods as a desolate, disgusting and scary wasteland; a "dead zone" with invisible/irrelevant residents.
Yet, Midtown's now-attractive and lucrative historic neighborhoods ONLY exist, due to the diligent, hard work and determination of residents, preservationists and neighborhoods associations, over the past few decades.
Residents met with the MBA and other stakeholders in 2009 as part of MBA's Regional Hospitality Institute process. A final report and meeting occurred in October. Follow up task force meetings were delayed by MBA, until a clamor from the neighborhoods and complaints to Councilmember Cohn's office brought them back on track.
We had a meeting on April 27 to regroup, with a reduced number of committed stakeholders. The very next day, the MBA unveiled new branding. Rob Kerth's (Business Journal) quoted claim of "reaching out to the community" rings hollow.
The logo, slogan and Kerth's comments reinforce the MBA agenda: that business and marketing plans include "visitors" and exclude residents. This contradicts the RHI process and conflicts with several topics and specific goals in the RHI consultant's report.
We don't need MBA continuing to promote Midtown as a transient party zone at the expense of residents. We don't need more and more visual clutter and aural overload assaulting the senses in historic neighborhoods.
Considering the value placed on "Cultural Creatives" and the state of the collapsed job market, the amateurish design of the new logo is another jab. Aesthetically-attuned (one reason we live in Midtown) residents would perhaps rather not be associated with it.
"Go Your Own Way" is exactly what the MBA has done, disregarding Midtown's sustainability and quality of life.
(This piece was written prior to an opportunity to ask Rob Kerth what he means by "reached out" and "community")
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/blog/inner_city/2010/04/midtown_states_its_identity_with_new_logo.html?surround=lfn
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I asked Marion to write her thoughts down as an Op Ed because There ought to be more discussion.
Thank you, Ben, for the invitation. The comment was heavily edited for email. The email discussion expanded over the weekend when MBA and Mr. Kerth were not available. "Zen" is right -- I would have included quotes from different perspectives, including MBA, in a piece written originally for SacPress. This one was posted at your request and with support from other community members (as a good encapsulation).
"Zen" may also be confused because of unfamiliarity with the RHI process, which wasn't fully described in such a short piece.
In 2009, MBA hired a Regional Hospitality Institute consultant to do a Hospitality Zone Assessment on "Managing the Nighttime Economy."
"On August 31-September 1, 2009, four focus group Roundtables were held with representatives from hospitality, safety, development and community perspectives. The purpose of these Roundtables was to gather information about trends, issues, resources and gaps relating to dining and entertainment, and to formulate strategies to enhance the nighttime economy, public safety and quality of life of residents and district users."
On Oct. 8, 2009, a Leadership Summit was held: "The focus of tomorrow’s discussion will be on prioritizing a 6 month action plan. The final action plan from this event will serve as the blueprint for planning, managing and policing our nighttime economy and will be presented to City Council for support."
The main action items were identified and task force groups were formed, to implement the 6 month action plan.
"1. Attract Business and Patron Variety, 2. Reduce Impacts on Neighboring Businesses and Residents, 3. Improve Perceptions of Safety, 4. Build Capacity for Hospitality Excellence, 5. Orient Processes, Systems and Ordinances to the Nighttime Economy"
That is when MBA halted the process. Mr. Kerth states that November is when the logo/branding process began. Also during those six months that the RHI HZA process was mothballed, a subset of MBA businesses, in the already overimpacted 18th and Capitol neighborhood, added another "Thursday Night Music" event with no outreach to neighbors or the Midtown Neighborhood Association. Again, this sends the message of disregard for their own HZA process; as well as disregard for the impacts on neighborhoods that the HZA Action Plan was supposed to address.
At the first meeting since Oct. 8, 2009, the five task force groups were reformed into three, due to overlap and interest levels. Each will meet once a month. Anyone who would like to participate in future task force meetings can contact: Aja Uranga-Foster, MBA, 916.442.1500; mba@mbasac.com
My impression on Tuesday was that the meeting was constructive and cooperative in tone, with participants ready to move forward.
This piece was written not about the design of the logo primarily, but about the timing and participation of the process used by MBA, during a time that the HZA meetings were suspended.
MBA sent the message again -- unwittingly or not -- that business and marketing plans include "visitors" and exclude residents. This contradicts the RHI process and conflicts with several topics and specific goals in the RHI consultant's report.
Edit: And "Zen" it's ironic you used the word "bitter." I met someone yesterday who says they no longer go to their longtime favorite cafe, recently taken over by new owners for several reasons: BBQ meat in the dumpster attracting flies, flies inside, unsanitary conditions, pastry racks exposed at the level of dogs and children, plexiglas enclosures outside and the coffee. "The have snotty people talking about all kinds of beans but they all just taste BITTER to me.'
Part of the basic difference in business attitudes and how customers are treated: do we want rude service and inconsistent product, bitter coffee with a steaming foam of pretentiousness on top? Or do we want welcoming owner/operators with consistently excellent product and service, sans sneering attitude?
The latter attracts visitors, neighbors, tourists, regulars, business folks, a varied clientele from next door and next continent.
The previous repels them. Despite the hype.
As an MBA Board member and community development professional, I am disappointed in your choice to post this editorial without first speaking to the MBA's executive director or a Board member, like myself, who was involved in the recently completed Brand and Marketing project for the MBA.
The Board did not forget the RHI process or the follow up with the task force. A number of factors led to delaying the task force follow through. The Midtown Ice Rink, Holiday activities, and other MBA priorities did not allow the small MBA staff (1.75 Full time staff) to get RHI Task Force groups up and running. I think we did lose the momentum created last fall and that is unfortunate. MBA spent a lot of money to bring the RHI group into Sacramento and it would be a waste time and funds not follow up with the implementation of the report. Board members like myself were aware of the delay and asking how we could get the process back on track. It is a priority on the Board's recently approved business plan. It was not just the neighborhood residents, like yourself, who participated in the RHI process that were calling for action.
I chaired the Branding project for the MBA. The primary purpose of the MBA is to help businesses of Midtown, however the branding project was not to solely create a marketing for "visitors". One of the goals of the Branding project was to put an identity to Midtown that the entire community could embrace. We wanted the eventual logo and slogan to be something that everyone in Midtown (businesses, workers, visitors, and people who live in Midtown) could rally behind and bring us all together. We know not everyone will love the logo or the slogan but as a group we feel it captures the essence of the community.
Lasty, the Brand project was created through a very professional process that utilized two Midtown firms to create the Brand Identity and a Marketing Plan with it. We included both internal and external focus groups, surveys, and a committee made of Midtown business owners. There are roughly 20,000 people who reside in the Midtown community. We can't include every person but we did include Midtown residents during process. At the end of the day it will be used in the Marketing of Midtown to attract visitors both local and beyond. That is a goal of the MBA and the Midtown PBID.
Lastly, the attractiveness Midtown was the hard work of not just the residents but of businesses and land owners among many more stakeholders. It was a community effort.
The long marketing campaign by City leaders, media and business boosters portraying Midtown as desolate and empty has exacerbated all of the other issues impacting our mixed use neighborhoods. This is not just about a logo/slogan. As it turns out though, the logo/slogan expresses (and invites) confusion, random "visitor" movement, a harsh, target-like "destination," an ambiguous coming and going visually and verbally. The "branding" process and the product seem to reinforce that disconnect from Midtown as a place where people live -- where people have lived "mixed use" for over a century.
Of course it's true that "Midtown was the hard work of not just the residents but of businesses and land owners among many more stakeholders." It's also true that "Midtown's now-attractive and lucrative historic neighborhoods ONLY exist, due to the diligent, hard work and determination of residents, preservationists and neighborhoods associations," who prevented civic and business interests and landowners from destroying historic properties (as much as possible).
Dale Kooyman (quoted with permission) from the email discussion:
"In midtown's case it started grass roots with preservationists and those who did not want to see the city redevelopment plans implemented. Those plans were to destroy all are historic housing (the quality and architect of which will never be seen again) and replace with rows of three story low and very low income tenants."
From your comment:
"One of the goals of the Branding project was to put an identity to Midtown that the entire community could embrace. We wanted the eventual logo and slogan to be something that everyone in Midtown (businesses, workers, visitors, and people who live in Midtown) could rally behind and bring us all together."
Could you describe how MBA "reached out to the community" as Rob Kerth said and how you "did include Midtown residents during process"? Who participated in the "internal and external focus groups, surveys, and a committee made of Midtown business owners"?
"We know not everyone will love the logo or the slogan but as a group we feel it captures the essence of the community."
Could you explain how it "captures the essence of the community"?
"I chaired the Branding project for the MBA. The primary purpose of the MBA is to help businesses of Midtown, however the branding project was not to solely create a marketing for "visitors."
"At the end of the day it will be used in the Marketing of Midtown to attract visitors both local and beyond. That is a goal of the MBA and the Midtown PBID."
There seems to be a contradiction there, but maybe in MBA lingo residents are "visitors" when they enter a business. This expresses another disconnect if the overall business culture doesn't see residents as neighbors -- and potential customers.
Thank you for answering these questions. Certainly it was desirable to ask Mr. Kerth, if there had been time before the discussion expanded and hopped over to SacPress.
The comments Ben is referring to is WHO were those residents that you included? There is still no answer. The RHI process would have been an excellent group to include. Neither was there a mention of your marketing efforts at the Neighborhood Advisory Group --another excellent source.to find residents' opinion.
You don't know many of us and I don't know who you are, and apparently many Midtown residents don't know either--not that we need to know. But something else you and the board should remember is that a significant portion of RHI contract and the PBID assessment district also has some tax dollar funding in it based on public property being included in the district.
Consequently any group or project that has public funding in it should be willing to be more inclusive with those whose taxes are being used.
That is just a Devil's Advocate way to dismiss and disregard the realities of residents by demonizing them. Neighborhoods and neighbors (and other businesses) have objected to being subjected to that. That attitude has ruled during recent years of city policy and business practices in Midtown that are completely out of balance and frequently illegal and/or attract illegal, disruptive "visitor" behavior into Midtown.
Residents and neighborhoods have never advocated "retarding urbanization." Residents and neighborhoods advocate sustainable mixed use, successful for the long term, that works for the whole community. Some of us have been involved in "How do we shape it?" for decades.
Residents and neighborhoods have objected to short-sighted planning, permit-less development, illegal developer/business behavior, selective enforcement, exclusionary processes and over-impaction of certain neighborhoods, which all degrade quality of life. (You can sort out which apply to the projects you mentioned).
All of the challenges of mixed use and infill development are exacerbated by City policies and business/media boosterism that disregard the significant impacts on residents. Attitudes that dismiss the very existence of residents make it that much worse.
If the new MBA logo codifies that in its messaging, that's a shame.
You're about twenty five years too late with your admonition "If we come to our senses and rein in suburban sprawl, downtown and midtown densities will be MUCH higher in the coming decades." Yes, "reining in suburban sprawl," was the idea twenty five years ago, BEFORE Laguna and Natomas developers broke promises and delivered sprawl.
The tradition of permit-less development and culture of blatant violations of various jurisdictional codes -- sealed in the agland antics of those developers -- has continued since then. That tradition set its sites on Midtown; arrived with a heavy boot and untouchable attitudes, with chainsaws running carried by gangs of men running while they illegally cut down our trees; with the same cast of characters and/or their progeny and proteges. With a disconnect from Midtown, its history, culture and residents -- that's what this discussion is about.
Your motto on SP: "Quality matters, history matters, aspirations matter." Does the law matter? Does integrity matter? Does public policy and process matter?"
We all love Midtown. We may have different perspectives and view of why we love Midtown, but we all agree that it is special. No matter what logo was created the fact is there was going to be opinions. Some people were going to love it and some hate it. I have heard both and everything in between.
As I wrote above, the logo and slogan is intended to abstractly represent the diverse, creative, and independent spirit of Midtown. The logo has elements that can mean different things to different people and so far it has done that. The intent however was to represent the idea that we all have a different reasons for living or visiting Midtown and this is a home to free thinkers and vibrant souls. There is something for everyone. You "go your own way" in finding what Midtown means to you and where you find it. The scribble part of the logo represents the physical grid and the spirit of exploring the grid. I know some could say that it could represent the meandering way of finding parking in Midtown and I could relate to that too. That is one perception of the brand that we as a community can address in the future.
Marion - I explained that we included a number or residents in this process. Previous MBA surveys were used as background information which included residents in them. The internal focus groups had business owners of which many lived in Midtown too. The external focus groups included many people who live or lived in Midtown. The external groups were recruited at random by the firm Elliot Benson.
We actually spent a good portion of the time in the project committee meetings recognizing how important the housing aspect of Midtown has led to its current success. That housing mix brings different people with different perspectives. Each resident goes a different way in Midtown to express their ideas, shop, recreate, and just be an individual. That is the brand of Midtown. Eclectic. Hip. Vibrant.
Dale - I guess I am not a memorable as I would like to be. We have met on several occasions and been in the same room for various issues regarding the Central City over the years. To answer your questions. 1. I don’t know why the names of the people in the focus groups matter, however if you want to contact me or the MBA we could go over that with you. 2. If we went through a very public process of finding the brand identity, we would still be where we are now….opinions both negative and positive. We also wanted to take a viral approach to the implementation of the Brand and that is hard to do when the creative process is a very public one.
“It kept coming up that people come to midtown for different reasons,” said Rob Kerth, executive director of the business association. “They come to visit a friend, to see art, to have a great meal. It’s the same midtown, but everyone has a different reason to visit.”
No mention of people living here. No mention of residents supporting businesses. Still focused on "bringing people downtown" as if the people here are non-existent.
Todd, please understand that the timing of the announcement, combined with the Business Journal quotes from Rob Kerth, plus the logo/slogan, made the MBA still seem out of touch.
"The process for a new logo started in November, but Kerth said there wasn’t anything the group was happy with until about three weeks ago."
This is the exact time frame of the breakdown of the RHI process. MBA unveiled this "branding" the day after the first meeting since October.
During that time, the RHI Task Force Action Steps 6 month plan was NOT being implemented.
During that time, all the issues and impacts affecting residents (and addressed in the RHI action plan) continued unabated.
During that time, an MBA subset of 18th/Capitol businesses added another weekly live music event to the already over-impacted neighborhood, with no contact with RHI resident task force members or the Midtown Neighborhood Association.
During that time, MBA developed a logo/slogan -- "Identity" is one of the components of the RHI report -- with so-called "outreach to the community," with no contact with RHI resident task force members or the Midtown Neighborhood Association. Yes, the numbers and who you actually contacted are significant.
During that time, the quieter winter months passed. Now the implementation of a 6 month action plan starts when the Midtown party-zone season has already begun.
See, that's what was really jarring about Kerth's quote. If you had a focus group, call it that. Please don't claim that you "reached out to the community." After all the years of derogatory misrepresentations toward the community and neighborhood associations that the MBA, spokesman Kerth and some businesses have perpetuated in the media; after the delay in the RHI plan and action steps; after finally sitting down again with the MBA in good faith on Tuesday, the timing and the quotes -- and the ambiguous logo -- made MBA appear still estranged from residential Midtown.
Council Member Cohn (and candidate Eldredge) and Supervisor Dickinson are on the MBA Board andn work for us ....
I echoed your comment in that "Yes, the numbers and who you actually contacted are significant."
The question the community had was "what does he mean by "community"?" Who did they "reach out to"?
As you say "The RHI process would have been an excellent group to include. Neither was there a mention of your marketing efforts at the Neighborhood Advisory Group --another excellent source.to find residents' opinion."
Thank you for putting your money where your (silent) mouth is -- or your time where your :thumbsdown: is. The more community members participating, the better. The RHI process has potential to represent the whole community, if you step up. It has the potential to be a sham, if you don't.
For those who already embrace the logo/slogan and swallow the whole concept of "branding" Midtown, please note that the RHI plan recommends standardization and consolidation that is contrary to what "we all love Midtown" for; contradicts what Todd Leon explains regarding the logo and current nature of Midtown:
"... the logo and slogan is intended to abstractly represent the diverse, creative, and independent spirit of Midtown ... this is a home to free thinkers and vibrant souls ... You "go your own way..." That is the brand of Midtown. Eclectic. Hip. Vibrant."
Contacts and more info:
http://mbasac.com/midtownbusinessassociation/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17&Itemid=2
Aja Uranga-Foster, Midtown Business Association
tel 916.442.1500 : fax 916.442.1535
mba@mbasac.com : www.mbasac.com
http://www.rhiweb.org/
http://rhiservices.org/
http://rhiresource.org/
Allison Harnden, Vice President
Allison@RHIweb.org
Phone: 831.325.4426
Hospitality Institute Sacramento Roundtable ACTION PLAN (MBA will have the whole plan available)
The following are the Action Steps recommended and supported by the remainder of the document.
I. Attract Business and Patron Variety
Attracting a broader mix of businesses with more variety of socializing options can attract a wider age range and diversity of Midtown users, the presence of which tends to organically impose social controls on rowdy behavior. Streamlining the process of opening a business and clarifying rules, regulations and communicating expectations of the community are requisite first steps.
IV. Build Capacity for Hospitality Excellence
Independent hospitality businesses require hard work and long hours. It is common in hospitality zones for such businesses to operate in isolation. A trend is growing nationwide for nightlife businesses to work in concert to improve their bottom line, operations, relations with compliance agencies and neighbors, as well as the customer experience. In Sacramento, there is a need for nighttime businesses to unite, partner and promote as one industry. Shared training will assure that consumers experience a common standard of hospitality excellence wherever they dine, drink or play in Midtown. Safety and Hospitality partnering to identify tools and strategies will not only improve standards for safety, but improve communication.
1. Unite Hospitality Businesses
a. Association: There is a need for hospitality businesses to see themselves as a professional industry rather than individual businesses. Strive to meet as a group to identify areas for potential collaboration. Benefits include discounts on products, risk management and insurance, political advocacy, and shared costs of training, marketing and security services.
b. Placemaking: The scattered locations of nighttime businesses are both a challenge and an opportunity. The numerous nighttime business clusters lend themselves to destination branding.
-Work to identify individual brands and names for clusters, then work as a coop to market them both individually and collectively as destinations.
-Identify niche markets and unique ways to group and promote Midtown businesses besides location, including organic, vegetarian, bike-friendly, green business, etc.
Systems for Providing Feedback and Lodging Complaints:
- Current approaches include: emails directed to city council members, MBA, the police department; letters in the newspaper; and online blogs. A 311 number exists, but is not used as frequently as other communication mediums. Some neighborhood groups organize responses to particular issues, but feedback is generally submitted on an individual basis.
- Noise complaints are directed to code enforcement, city council and the police department’s dispatch.
- A system that notifies of business opening was used in the past to jumpstart dialogue between residents and businesses and to troubleshoot potential issues.
However, there is no longer a process for early notification for business opening, or for special events held at businesses.
- No central system for lodging complaints or providing feedback to the city currently exists. Thus, there is no formal public tracking of complaints or process for providing updates on progress in addressing issues.
I have just decided that you just don't get it or don't want to, either way I won't spend the time going back and forth in this venue. If you want to have conversation about the MBA Marketing and Branding project, my offer still stands that you can contact me to discuss. tleon@cadanet.org or 323-1272.
The Identiity project (for "clusters," not all of Midtown) is part of the RHI action plan, which was placed on hold. Or at least the community task force meetings were. Did it not occur to any of you to include in the "branding" process, any of the neighborhood representatives who participated in RHI?
Here's the point that escapes you: the onus was on YOU and MBA to contact those who represent the community - including the Midtown Neighborhood Association -- or at least someone known in the extensive network, if Mr. Kerth is going to claim in the media that you "reached out to the community." Especially if MBA is presuming to "brand" Midtown.