4th Street Business Association

September 2008

Oct 07, 2008

4th Street Business Association
General Membership Meeting
September 10, 2008
Pepin Restaurant

President Jeannie O?’Grady called the meeting to order at 6:15 PM

Officers Present:
Jeannie O?’Grady, President
Gary Orthner, Vice President
Dean Landsman, Membership Committee Chairman
Officers Absent:
Bill King, Secretary/Treasurer
Ginny Lomagno, President Emeritus

Members present: Representatives from member businesses, guests and SPPD.
(18 attendees total)

1. Secretary?’s Report (Bill King)

The July 2008 meeting was held at Valentino?’s Little Italy restaurant and featured a presentation from the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce on the benefits of membership.
Minutes from the meeting are available on the Association?’s website at:
http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/org/4thstreet/

2. Treasurer?’s Report (Bill King)

(treasurer's report not available on internet)

3. Membership Committee Report (Dean Landsman)

Membership status as of 09/10/08:

Active 2008 (New & renewals) 60
Courtesy 7 (City Council, SPPD, Newspapers, etc)
Prospective Members 2
===
69

4. Sunken Gardens announced the 2008 Hot Pepper fest, Sunday Oct 5 11:00am-4pm

5. Jeannie introduced the emailing program ?“Constant Contact?” a $40 monthly fee keeps email database current and a professionally looking email.

Discussed whether we could use this service as an internal advertising.

It was decided to table the idea until a later date due to cost.

6. We have an opportunity to have an October meeting with legislators. While this is an additional meeting to the normal bi-monthly schedule we agreed to the topic is timely and worthwhile.

7. Free Museum day has a trolley going up 4th Street

8. Dean Landsman proposed the idea of 4th Street Day. This would be designated day that all member of the association participate with a theme. We could advertise to all communities to come support and include contests for those who visit our business. We could coordinate outside decorations and spend 1 day a year creating this special day. The idea prompted various ideas and discussion. It was agreed that Dean would return with a suggested day for the event and any other recommendations would be emailed to the committee for further discussion. Ray Merritt volunteered to pass along information on the proposed 4th street day to the approximately 43 neighborhood associations.

9. Ray Merritt also reported no specific patterns have been reported. Reports of AC unit coils being stolen and sold to salvage. The police have worked with the Salvage companies to reduce this.

Reminder to businesses to maintain and use video surveillance on your
property. There are several reported robberies.


10. Guest Speaker: Bob Feckner, Dale Carnegie Training

1st amendment is free speech. So he is my free speech.

?“Effective Leadership through Employee engagement?”

members from 2007 who have not reviewed for 2008.

11. Next Meeting:
October 8, 2008: Location: Colonial Bank

Meeting adjourned at 7:55 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Bill King, Secretary