Everybody crazy Monday.

We have two short budget hearings, so we'll get started right away.

We're here to do the downtown Syracuse and also Cross Marshall.

I'm joined by Councillor Aaron Reich, Council Moore, Councilor Nave, President Paniagua.

Hi America.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm well, how are you?

Good, good, good.

Um, I will let you take it away with downtown first, then we'll go to Krause Marshall after that.

And um you've done this before.

Yeah, yes, thank you.

What page are we on Jimmy?

What page?

Uh 157, I believe.

One, yes, for downtown.

Um so what I handed out was so we have uh the downtown uh committee of Syracuse and downtown special assessment uh budget numbers in front of you in your books starting on page 157.

Uh but what I did to give a little bit more context to the numbers that you're seeing is I handed out uh just a visual uh that kind of explains who we are, what we do, and then how we're funded.

Umtown committee of Syracuse, we are a 501c4 not-for-profit organization.

Uh we administer the downtown special assessment fund.

So uh procedurally, uh we talk uh in front of all of you about um the downtown special assessment budget.

This is part of the city of Syracuse budget, and then uh once the budget numbers are approved, uh we'll be back in front of you in July to ask for then a contract for the downtown committee to then draw down on those downtown special assessment dollars to administer the programs I'm going to review with you today.

Uh we have a couple members of our board of directors uh for downtown committee joining us today, uh Melissa Zell and Shayla Sarat.

Uh and then we also have shared with you um the full list of our board of directors on that cover page.

Um we provide services above and beyond the city of Syracuse services to an 82 block district, which is the central business district.

Um page two uh we provide a listing of our different staff members.

So uh we operate in uh several different program areas.

We have 14 full-time staff members and a number of seasonal positions as well with the downtown committee.

Um the bottom graphic gives you sort of an organizational chart, like an overview of who we are and what we do.

So uh the downtown committee is governed by a board of directors.

11 of the 15 board members have to be special assessment payers.

Uh they are all appointed by the mayor of the city of Syracuse.

And why it's important uh of our board composition is because they are the ones that are reviewing and approving and making the recommendations for what services uh should be provided to the downtown district, and they make that recommendation uh to the mayor.

So um the board of directors oversees myself, and then I oversee our staff members.

We operate programs primarily in economic development, marketing communications, which runs a series of public-facing events.

We uh offer uh security programs, environmental maintenance, which is our crew that works outside.

Uh we operate some parking facilities, and then we also are involved with neighborhood engagement.

So, in addition to our downtown committee board of directors, every month we convene uh a series of neighborhood and business association groups, and that is so that we can uh create that relationship and have the dialogue and understand what is happening uh in our downtown community.

Uh, if you turn to page three, it gives you an overview of what it is that we do and how we do it.

So uh the downtown committee of Syracuse, we've been around for now uh over 50 years, uh formed in 1975.

In 2012, we formed a 501 C3 Downtown Syracuse Foundation, which is governed by uh a separate board of directors.

Uh but in my role as executive director of the downtown committee, I also serve as president of our downtown Syracuse Foundation.

We started the foundation as a vehicle to secure additional resources for downtown that the downtown special assessment alone and the downtown committee were unable to raise.

So how we secure resources for a vibrant downtown is a special assessment, which is the budget item we'll be discussing today.

Uh we also the downtown committee and the downtown foundation can go after a series of grants that typically support programs.

So of our downtown Syracuse Foundation, about 90% of the revenue in that organization is restricted because it's secured for specific programs, such as the hanging flower baskets, such as the utility box art, such as the street tree lights that you see uh throughout Armory Square and Celina Street.

The foundation is the only entity that's able to actually secure tax deductible donations and contributions.

The downtown committee also enters into a series of fee for service or service contracts that pay primarily for additional security and environmental maintenance activities in the district.

We secure earned revenue through parking lot operations.

So we manage three different parking lots, and the surplus from those operations after paying for our operations goes back into the downtown committee budget, primarily supporting our marketing and communications activities.

And then we also, I mentioned, host a series of events.

So with those events, we secure sponsorships as well as ticket sales or booth fees.

So the surplus from those operations again goes back into the downtown committee budget.

Environmental maintenance on the bottom of page three is one of our probably most visible programs, and our goal is to ensure downtown is attractive, accessible, and clean.

So in the winter months, they assist.

We do assist with plowing activities in the winter months.

We do litter pickup, graffiti removal, you know, power wash sidewalks, clean out doorways as needed.

In the summer months, again, it's mowing lawns, trimming hedges, taking care of weeds, and then we partner with the city of Syracuse on streetscape maintenance and streetscape improvement items.

The next page on page four gives you an overview of the beautification and enhancements that we undertake.

So the hanging flower baskets is one of our most visible programs.