BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE RALPH HOLLMON, CHAIR Rhonda Manuel, Vice-Chair Jayme Montgomery Baker, Fidel Verdin, Theresa Garrison, Christopher McIntyre, and Clifton Crump Staff Assistant, Chris Lee, 286-2232, Fax: 286-3456, clee@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liaison, Jeffrey Osterman, 286-2262, joster@milwaukee.gov Wednesday, June 24, 2015 9:00 AM Room 301-B, 3rd Fl., City Hall 1. Call to Order. Meeting called to order at 9:03 a.m. 2. Roll Call. Present 6 - Manuel, Hollmon, Montgomery Baker, Verdin, Crump and McIntyre Absent 1 - Garrison Individual also present: Deshea Agee, Department of City Development 3. Review and Approval of the Previous Meeting Minutes from May 14, 2015. Mr. McIntyre moved approval, seconded by Mr. Crump, of the meeting minutes of May 14, 2015. There were no objections. Ms. Montgomery Baker excused, and Ms. Garrison absent. 4. Bronzeville RFPs and Projects. Review of 2730 N. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Dr. RFP and Proposals --Presentation from applicants Bruce Martin and Tamora Martin Member Verdin joined the committee at 9:05 a.m. Mr. Hollmon said that the committee requested for the applicants to present an overview of the project at its last meeting. Bruce and Tamora Martin appeared and gave an overview of their proposal for “King’s Market”, a fresh grocery market and hot food bar store, relative to their history, mission and vision, keys to success, complement to the community, response to challenges, and timeline. City of Milwaukee Page 1 BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 COMMITTEE Mr. Martin is a retired United States marine and a Milwaukee resident since 1963. He has experience and been involved in the renovation of several buildings in the Bronzeville district in the City. These buildings include the Milwaukee Urban League building, childcare facility at 2376-78 N. Martin L. King Jr. Dr., former gas station at 338 W. North Ave., 325 W. North Ave., and 430 W. North Ave. He was born and raised in Boley, Oklahoma, an all African-American town. He brings and can share to the project and the community his historical experience with African-American businesses from Oklahoma during his youth and his past experiences and contributions within the City’s Bronzeville district. Other aspiring entrepreneurs can learn and be trained under his employment. Mrs. Martin was raised in the City on N. 3rd St. and W. Keefe Ave. She gained employable skills and experience via first working in school at 12 years old, at a flower shop on N. 20th St. and W. Atkinson St. during her youth, owning her own flower shop in her early twenties, and most recently at BMO Harris Bank as a manager. The desire is to open a food store but also give back to the community by developing and transferring skills to others. Their mission is to offer residents fresh food options, education, and employment opportunities in the central city. An area of focus is to teach the youth about healthy food, eating habits, and workforce skills. Their vision is for the store to be a premier destination for fresh and prepared food. Their keys to success include partnering with local businesses and the community, providing great, holistic customer services through routine and efficiency, providing cleanliness of the store both internally and externally, and differentiating from competitors with healthy food education and African American depiction. The store will complement the Bronzeville cultural and entertainment district with its décor being representative of African-American culture and history, emphasis on jazz music and classical black composers, feature of local artists on Saturday mornings, and engagement in healthy food learning such as possible scavenger hunts for children. The project timeline is subject to the purchase of the property. The plan is to begin renovation of the building two weeks after the closing date. Renovation will last between three to four months. Staff will be recruited two months prior to opening. The store will be stocked and staff will be hired and trained one month prior to opening. The tentative soft opening of the store is January 18, 2016. Industry challenges include the recession of the economy and low margin for the grocery industry. The approach is to have a flexible business model, have diversity of products, have high volume in business, and engage the community to gain support. Furthermore, they plan to gain a competitive edge through customer service, partnerships, and differentiation. Potential local challenges include parking, loitering, panhandling, and littering. The approach is to have parking lot management, efficient and quick customer service, employees present and visible outside, partnership with the police, alertness of outside activities, installation of trash receptacles outside, and cleaning of the parking lot and outside on a regular basis. Member Montgomery Baker joined the committee at 9:20 a.m. With respect to the food store, members questioned helping today’s youth and litter City of Milwaukee Page 2 BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 COMMITTEE from hot food bar items being sold. Mr. and Mrs. Martin said that they have a long history of working to get youths employed and focusing on those with less than desirable work history. In addition, he and his wife have freely given back to the community by establishing an educational scholarship through St. Mark AME Church and a breast cancer fund at Aurora Hospital. The type of hot foods being sold will be home-made, nutritious, and traditional food packaged for people to take home and not leave trash behind like from eating fast foods. Regarding food, the store will cater to older individuals and address illnesses with nutritious food. Mr. Hollmon concurred. The Martins have been outstanding with working with young people and giving youths work experience, skills, and opportunities with their grocery stores. The Milwaukee Urban League has and will continue to assist the Martins with employing people. He added that the Martins should come back and give an update to the committee early next year regarding the food store. Public Art Competition Update Ms. Manual said that a Bronzeville public arts competition has been created. The program description will be available today on the Bronzeville website. Request for proposals will be also open to the public today. The application deadline is July 10, 2015. The desire is for this to be an annual competition. There were no other RFP or project updates. 5. Friends of Bronzeville Update. Ms. Montgomery Baker gave an overview of Friends of Bronzeville (FOB). FOB is an effort to bring visibility, sustainability, and redevelopment to the Bronzeville cultural and entertainment district that will protect African-American history and provide a destination for African-American arts and culture. The organization is a sub project of the Milwaukee Urban League and consists of City residents. The group is seeking to acquire nonprofit status, organizing its infrastructure, and open for others to get involved. FOB has focused on getting the community engaged, highlighting existing businesses and available spaces, providing cultural entertainment during the summer, attract investors, and bringing investment to the area. A main goal is to establish an endowment fund to bring revenue, long term investment, and sustainability to the district. Ms. Montgomery Baker said that she personally wants the district to have and sustain a legacy for her family and all residents going forward. She is thankful for the opportunities and efforts thus far. Mr. Hollmon said that FOB is an effort to get the community more engaged and that Ald. Milele Coggs has been instrumental in envisioning and leading the establishment of the organization. 6. Bronzeville Week Update. Ms. Montgomery Baker gave an update on Bronzeville Week, occurring August 1 through 8, 2015 within the Bronzeville district on North Ave. and Martin L. King Jr. Dr. Opening day will have an arts street festival and marketplace between 7th St. and King Dr. FOB will work with local businesses, organizations, partners, and the City to host entertainment, food, and activities for young people throughout the week and City of Milwaukee Page 3 BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 COMMITTEE centered on African-American history, arts, culture, and local community. Stages may include a gospel stage, main stage, and a sports stage. Events will include a business summit, health fair, run walk, community clean up, gospel showcases, night events, poetry, dance showcases, art display and galleries, various performing arts, and trolley tours. Details of the entire schedule are being finalized. Information will be put out for people to get involved as volunteers, vendors, or supporters next week. Mr. Hollmon said that Bronzeville Week is also an effort to get the community more engaged and that Ald. Milele Coggs has been instrumental in envisioning and leading the establishment of the event. 7. Discussion regarding Common Council File Number 100626, Resolution creating a Bronzeville Advisory Committee. Mr. Hollmon gave opening remarks. The committee has previously requested to clarify its role of reviewing RFPs and possibly expanding its role beyond RFP review. It is important for the committee to discuss its roles and responsibilities today, make suggestions, and forward them to Ald. Coggs for her feedback. The alderwoman created the committee, and her vision going forward with the committee is essential. The discussion shall continue at the next meeting where the alderwoman can attend or provide input. Members reviewed the resolution, discussed, and made suggestions. Ms. Montgomery Baker said the committee shall review all proposals as referenced in the resolution and the Department of City Development (DCD)’s involvement with the committee should formally be included in the resolution Ms. Manuel said that there needs to be a process established for reviewing existing RFPs that are reissued as they are generic and have different conditions as opposed to new RFPs, like the former Garfield Avenue School site RFP. The committee should familiarize itself regarding the RFP and proposal review processes of the DCD and determine how to manage RFP and proposal review within its own purview. Mr. Clifton said that there should be a compromise where DCD staff can provide summaries similar to the Garfield school situation, DCD staff should decide what proprietary information can be shared, the committee should be able to review all proposals together and make a recommendation, the committee should formally vote on recommendations and forward a recommendation letter, the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee (RACM) and DCD should set the stage while the committee can review without controlling the process, and the committee should also discuss the level of review of RFPs going out. Mr. Hollmon said that the committee shall review all RFPs and proprietary information in the same manner like the review for the former Garfield Avenue School RFP, maintain a balance in review to protect sensitive information from being made public, and amend boundaries referenced in the resolution if the boundaries of the district are altered. He added that the committee needs to establish a review process and determine what level of review information is sufficient whether it be staff summaries, presentations from applicants, or something else. 8. Old Business. Clifton said that a parking study forecasted a shortage of 312 spaces in parking between the years 2013 to 2018. He questioned if DCD has reviewed and made any City of Milwaukee Page 4 BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 COMMITTEE plans to address the parking shortfall and parking study. He added that there should be multipurpose, flexible spaces that can be used for either parking or events. Mr. Agee replied that the parking study focused only on the cultural and entertainment district and not the larger Bronzeville area. There are 51 parking spaces on the former vacant land on King Dr. Parking has been approved to be installed behind the former Inner City Arts Council building on 7th St. and North Ave. The parking study should be reviewed to include the larger district. He added that G’s Clippers recently celebrated its 20th anniversary by holding an event on the parking lot on King Dr. Ms. Manual replied that her office is looking at updating the parking study and the playground area behind the Garfield school site will possibly develop into public and private parking area. Mr. Hollmon said that parking is important to the success of any area. DCD should provide periodic updates regarding parking and eventually an updated parking study. 9. New Business. Mr. Hollmon said that several streetscaping features in the Bronzeville district have been damaged and requires removal or repair. Landscaping bricks in a median have fallen down and deteriorated. A planter in front of the Milwaukee Urban League building has been damaged. Last year’s Bronzeville sign banners on utility poles have been damaged by the weather. Ms. Manuel said that DCD and the Department of Public Works (DPW) are aware and making some plans to address those damaged streetscape features. Time needs to be scheduled to remove the planter. Funds need to be allocated to repair the median. The banners may be included in the public art competition, be a project to occur most likely in September, and brought to the committee when a selection is made. Some of the infrastructure repairs require Common Council approval to allocate additional funding through the tax incremental district (TID). Mr. Agee said that there will be a focus on cleanup. Before Bronzeville week DPW visits all of the streets there and FOB participates in adding mulch to tree beds. 10. Items for the Next Meeting. Mr. McIntyre said that items for the next meeting should include discussion regarding parking opportunities and multipurpose spaces, Garfield school site project update, artist completion update, and banner update. Despite not being City-owned, Mr. Clifton said that DCD should provide any update that can provide on the status of the large vacant buildings, former Walgreens and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources buildings, on the corner of King Dr. and North Ave. 11. Set Next Meeting Date and Time. Wednesday, July 22 or Thursday, July 23 at 9 a.m. at City Hall based on the majority of members that can attend. City of Milwaukee Page 5 BRONZEVILLE ADVISORY Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 COMMITTEE 12. Adjournment. Meeting adjourned at 10:17 a.m. Chris Lee, Staff Assistant City of Milwaukee Page 6