SDAT Project Team Planning Meeting - Summary

SDAT Project Team Meeting
October 26, 2009 at the DLANC Office
(open to the public)

Sustainability Committee members met on the evening of October 26, 2009 to debrief on the SDAT preliminary visit and begin planning the full team visit in early December.

Committee members who participated in the SDAT preliminary visit gave a brief summary of the visit. The preliminary SDAT visit was a huge success. The AIA staff were given a whirlwind tour of Downtown Los Angeles, met with community members, and got tours of key Downtown buildings and locations. Overall they found the trip highly engaging, comprehensive, and well-planned and were happy to get an on-the-ground perspective of Downtown, even if they were a bit surprised by the amount of walking involved.

Next, committee members discussed the upcoming full SDAT visit scheduled for December 2-4. Based on the positive feedback received during the preliminary visit, committee members felt that keeping the interactive, touring component of the visit would be important. However, the walking component would need to be less intense to accommodate more meetings and time for the team to work on their report and recommendations. There would also be an opportunity to divide the group into smaller teams to view specific aspects of Downtown tailored on their interests and specialties. To fully utilize the input of the Steering Committee, the group also decided to have at least two meetings with the SDAT and Steering Committee and whenever possible to include Steering Committee members in the SDAT’s activities and tours. With these goals in mind, committee members created a list of components to be included in the SDAT visit agenda. These were:

• Neighborhood tours organized by topic or geography and led by Steering Committee members;
• At least two meetings with the entire Steering Committee;
• 101 Freeway Cap Park meeting;
• Rest breaks;
• Visit to the rooftop of the Ritz Carlton Hotel;
• Reception, networking event, or mixer(s) held in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, and/or Downtown News.
• Time for SDAT to work on report and recommendations (charrette time, possible public);
• Stakeholder group meetings and roundtable discussions (public); and
• Closing presentation.

With these components in mind, committee members next sketched out a draft agenda for the SDAT visit:
Wednesday, December 2
Roundtable discussions/tours
101 Cap Park meeting (depending on available time)
Meeting with Steering Committee
Mixer

Thursday, December 3
Workgroup meetings- by sector, topic, or geography
Public charrette

Friday, December 4
Meeting with Steering Committee
Time for SDAT to work on proposal and report
Public presentation of preliminary findings
Mixer/Closing reception

For next steps, the committee members agreed to: share the draft agenda and list of components with the SDAT staff and finalize the agenda based on their feedback; write an article or press release announcing the visit for the Downtown News and Blog Downtown; discuss how we track results and how long we have the SDAT on Friday with SDAT staff; prepare a list of resources on Downtown to brief the SDAT before their visit.