Attachment 1 - Public CommentATTACHMENT 1
From: Jim Foley
Sent: Friday, March 19, 2021 2:55 PM
To: Monica Renn
Cc: Sue Farwell; Joe Pirzynski; Andrea Romano; Brian Bernasconi; Kevin Youkilis; Catherine Somers;
Randi Chen
Subject: Parklets/Recovery $
Hi Monica,
I am writing to you in support of the semi-permanent parklet program you are working on related to
encouraging vitality in the downtown core, as well as the unintended consequence of it as a recovery
tool as a result of the pandemic. I have copied members of the new Legislative & Economic Vitality
Subcommittee of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, who share this support. Some of them
attended your helpful online meeting discussing the program particulars going forward. We have
discussed with the businesses, including restaurants and merchants, and have the feedback outlined
below. Please let us know your thoughts, we are planning to appeal directly to senior staff and Town
Council to achieve these goals.
• Program grants need to increase significantly, to the tune of $30k+ per business. The Town has
the remaining ~$1.5MM that was reallocated from the streetscape fund for COVID recovery
efforts. The Town also received $388k in Federal assistance funding. Our understanding is that
the Town is about to receive a significant federal stimulus payment, in the several millions of
dollars, from the ne $1.9T federal aid package. Even if 20 parklets were built, which would be
the upper limit, this would only be ~$600,000.00. That is a small fraction of the recovery funds,
with not a lot of other opportunities to use those funds for other warranted recovery items. The
parklets are a huge priority to stimulate economic recovery.
• Sunset the temporary parklets EOY 2021. Reevaluate that timeline in September.
• Allow for slim profile corrugated metal (or similar) roofs. They do not impact storefront
visibility. The merchants have spoken up that more than anything else, the attractiveness and
vibrancy of the parklets have bolstered their business more than any other measure, including
pre-pandemic.
• $2500 ADA reimbursements need to be paid out for all temporary parklets that
complied. Others that have not need to be re-approached about that and get them up to ADA
with the same offer.
• Whatever is extended through this program also needs to be offered to the original 5 parklet
sponsors. A tremendous amount of work on this effort was on their backs, and out of fairness
they need the same opportunities as the new applicants going forward.
• We agree once the weather improves, maybe May 1, the tents need to come down for many of
reasons including but not limited to storefront visibility and blight.
• As a secondary effort, after the revised program is rolled out, we would encourage a loan
program of some kind for those that simply can’t afford the entire parklet even with the grant.
Additionally, we wanted to check in with you on some other critical recovery efforts and see where they
stand:
ATTACHMENT 1
1. Fees – can you please bring us up to speed on where we stand with Town collected
fees? Permits, parking tickets, biz licenses, etc. Our position is the majority of this should be
frozen/waived for the foreseeable future.
2. Dixon study – where does this stand? This is a critical part to the future of downtown as we
begin to see a resurgence of the economy. It is our position that there should be a report given
on this effort at every single council meeting to ensure progress is being made as quickly as
humanly possible. If this effort needs funding, there is plenty of that and it should be allocated
to it immediately to move it forward quickly. Certainly seems appropriate for use of recovery
funds.
3. ABC – do you have any update on the temporary modifications they made and where they
stand? On a go forward basis we need to try to make some of them permanent. There hasn’t
been any increase in crime or anything so seems like if it is simply continued and monitored it
could be a real boost to the downtown vibrancy.
4. Events – of course we need to get to a point where we can have meaningful public gatherings,
but when we do, we feel an injection of recovery funds into an event calendar could be the
“seed” money that really establishes annual events that ultimately could support themselves
through their own funding, and we would hope the Town agrees this is a good use of recovery
funds when possible.
Looking forward to finalizing all of this and getting Los Gatos positioned to be the leader in the economic
tidal wave of 2021! Thanks for all of your help!!!
Los Gatos Town Council
The Honorable Mayor Marico Sayoc, Vice Mayor Rennie,and Council Members Badame, Hudes, and Ristow
110 E. Main St.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
April 6, 2021
Dear Mayor Sayoc, Vice Mayor Rennie, and Council Members Badame, Hudes, and Ristow,
On behalf of New Museum Los Gatos | NUMU board and staff, I want to express our gratitude for forgiving our rent this
past year. Rent forgiveness has enabled NUMU to achieve several key mission-aligned goals that directly support the
Town’s priorities for local history, community vitality,and inclusivity. We have been working tirelessly on critical areas
such as the Los Gatos History Project, making our permanent art and history collection accessible through an online
database; delivering a successful virtual ArtNow high school exhibition and program, featuring teen artists from Los
Gatos and across the county; and collaborating with local community partners and beyond, like the Los Gatos Library &
LGS Recreation, to implement programs and exhibitions that provide a platform for underrepresented artists and
communities.Once again, the Town’s rent forgiveness has been a true lifeline for all of these efforts–thank you.
I am writing today because as we are all learning,NUMU, like other arts and culture organizations,will not fully recover
by July 2021; in fact, full recovery will take years.Museums are under more restrictive opening guidelines than other
businesses, and continue to face disproportionate limitations on activities. As we plan for next fiscal year, even our
best-case budget scenario projects a drop in earned income by one-third. More realistically, we expect to lose about two
thirds of the earned income we would receive in a normal year via classes, workshops, rentals, and other in-person
offerings that don’t translate to a virtual model.This shortfall has a direct impact on our ability to pay rent, which
could decimate our opportunities to serve Los Gatos with history, culture, and art in 2021-22.
We need time to recoup losses and work towards fiscal sustainability so we may continue serving the Town of Los
Gatos. We have been closed to the public for a full year with almost no earned income. However, NUMU serves a vital
role in our community’s recovery. As stated by California Arts Advocates, “as the vaccine becomes more available and
the spread of COVID 19 weakens, we know the arts and culture industries will play a vital role in seeing all communities
across California equitably rebuild and recover and our downtowns come back to life.” Continued rent forgiveness from
the Town of Los Gatos will make a significant impact in sustaining us.We are asking for continued rent forgiveness
through fiscal year 2022, so we may build a sustainable future for NUMU. Moreover, we humbly request that you
consider directing federal stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan to NUMU so that we can continue
offering vital services to our Town.
NUMU’s relationship with the Town of Los Gatos is vital to us and our ongoing ability to serve our community.Thank you
from all of us for your continued support.
In partnership,
Ami Davis | Executive Director