April 27, 2007

David Corliss, City Manager

City Hall

P. O. Box 708

Lawrence, KS 66044

Re: 2007 1st Quarter DLI Report

Dear David:

Downtown Lawrence, Inc. has been actively pursuing its goals over the past three months. Our plan to promote Downtown Lawrence and work to maintain its vitality is now in place and I would like to bring you up to date on our progress.

Community Events

One aspect of effectively promoting Downtown this year will be the creation, staging, and marketing of community events. We have started this year with a brand new event, The Downtown Lawrence Film Noir Festival. These free outdoor movies will take advantage of the currently empty lot north of the parking garage at 9^th and New Hampshire. This is a partnership with Lawrence Parks and Recreation and contributing sponsor businesses. The summer film series will be a wonderful way to invite people Downtown.

Downtown Lawrence Business Plan

Our planning committee got to work in January and will address several issues that are of vital interest to the community and downtown businesses.

Committee members have worked with City staff on a Neighborhood Revitalization Act proposal for Downtown. This will serve as a valuable tool to ensure property owners are able to continue to make necessary improvements to their historic properties.

Committee members have also started to meet with the various “players” that have proposed redevelopment plans for Downtown. This includes private developers and public organizations. We hope to come away from these meetings, now and in the future, with a clear understanding of the vision these groups have for Downtown. We will also plan to share this information with all interested parties so that efforts at consensus may begin.

The issue of parking seems to be one of the most discussed whenever people talk about Downtown. Redevelopment proposals all include new parking facilities, but the committee is looking at addressing current needs. Upgraded parking signage may be a way to alleviate the perception that parking does not exist in Downtown. We have been busy checking on parking lot usage over the past three months and have noticed that there are a number of open spaces in almost every lot during most times of the day and early evening. Late evening availability seems to be fine. We have started a plan to propose signage that is easier to understand and placed in locations that make it simple for approaching drivers to locate the proper parking opportunities.

The Downtown Summit hosted by the City provided an opportunity for business owners and concerned citizens to provide suggestions and receive information on matters related to Downtown. One question asked by a participant was whether or not there was information on sales tax collections for Downtown so that sales trends could be examined. We worked with KDOR to develop a method to report that data and now have it available.

Recruiting of New Downtown Businesses

Our Director, Rick Marquez, called on two businesses in March with the goal of inviting them to consider expanding their operations to Downtown Lawrence. These leads were provided through conversations with existing Downtown business owners who have shops in other communities. One of the owners inquired about incentives for relocating. This may be something that we will need to address. We do not feel it is necessary to offer any kind of public tax abatement to assist with recruiting retail businesses, but we do need to work on making sure it is easy for interested parties to make the decision to become part of our community. New businesses will want to come to an area where there are strong sales trends, a diverse customer base, and an engaged and active community. We are confident that our plan of action will move us in the right direction on all of these. There have been discussions on some sort of new business incubator space and we will continue to look into this idea. This could provide vital assistance for small start-up businesses.

2007 Waterline Replacement Project

A committee of business owners worked with City staff as they developed the plan for the final stage of the waterline replacement on Massachusetts Street. This group provided feedback on construction scheduling and parking needs. DLI also assisted with providing information to the Downtown community.

Downtown Marketing

We completed the first of this year’s direct mail projects. This piece will be delivered to 10,000 addresses from within and outside of Lawrence. Along with advertising for participating businesses, it provides marketing for the Downtown Lawrence Film Noir Festival and the 2007 Bike Race that will be held Downtown.

Sincerely,

Chris Burger

President

Board of Directors

Downtown Lawrence, Inc.

cc: Debbie Van Saun

Downtown Lawrence, Inc. 900 Massachusetts Street, Suite 100 PO Box 335 Lawrence, KS 66044

785-842-3883 FAX 785-838-9781