The Downtowners’
City Center Newsletter
April 13, 2012
What You Will Find…
□ After Hour Parking Trial
□ Downtown Updates
□ Upcoming Events
□ Association News
Parking Authority After Hour Parking Trial
Complementary Parking Approved from 4pm-2am
Parking in any bustling and growing Downtown area can sometimes be a challenge. Bismarckis no exception. With over $50 million dollars privately invested in our Downtown, new, expanding, and veteran businesses and new nightlife, more and more people are using our city center.
To bring Bismarck in line with similar sized cities in the region, the Bismarck Parking Authority is working to provide a trial complementary after hour parking in the 3rd and Main Ramp in the evenings. Currently the ramps are underutilized during these hours, and would provide a bigger benefit by letting the public use them to generate tax for the community. After 5pm it’s free to park on the streets without getting a ticket, and this ramp will now match that. This is a system already in place in Fargo, Grand Forks, Rapid City SD, and Rochester MN. By including Bismarck in with these communities we become more competitive to attract new businesses, give the community a chance to use our Downtown, and give the public first hand experience in utilizing these public parking structures. In return, those businesses will create a large tax benefit in sales tax, liquor tax and property tax. The increase in traffic will also make Downtown Bismarck an attractive place to have a daytime, evening, all day business, or residences, increasing the property values in the city center for the community. The Bismarck Parking Authority along with the City of Bismarck has also been looking to increase daytime parking for those 8am-5pm businesses by adding another parking structure and planning parking for future development. However, this has been put on hold due to the TIF lawsuit. The Downtowners Association support their efforts in creating more daytime parking for businesses Downtown and complementary parking for the community in the evenings. There may never be a perfect answer to Downtown parking challenges, but the City of Bismarck and the Parking Authority are making efforts to take Bismarck and its bustling Downtown to the next level. We thank them for their support and look forward to continuing to work with them on parking solutions for everyone. (Downtowners Letter to Editor)
Downtown Updates
— The No “Reparking” signs are continuing to be installed Downtown. The No “Reparking” ordinance is now in effect; however there will be a warning for your first offense.
— The Bismarck Parking Task Force has decided to use the original boundaries of the No “Reparking” enforcement area. The committee came to the decision by speaking with North side property owners, it isn’t a perfect system, but felt the ordinance should encompass the original boundaries.
— The Bismarck Police Department is no longer marking tires with chalk as a monitoring system for timed parking. Instead they will use a handheld computer that will track the vehicles more accurately. Please let your customers and employees know of the new system.
— With all the curiosity around the new construction projects in Downtown Bismarck, we have added updated renderings of Rick Becker’s project on Main Aveand Broadway Centre on West Broadway, go to our website and see the updates on our “Real Estate section.www.downtownbismarck.com
Upcoming events
What’s Shakin Downtown
April 20
1st Bis-Man Corporate Cup Challenge
9pm-1am
April 21
Bis-Man Symphony Presents
“A Placein Heaven”
www.bismarckmandansymphony.org
April 22
An Evening withKANSAS, BSC, BMSO
BismarckCivic Center
April 26
Downtowners Spring Mixer
Dakota Eye Institute
April 28
Mecenter One Great American Bike Race
CenturyHigh School
Downtowners Spring Member Mixer
Join us for our Spring Member Mixer at Dakota Eye Institute, April 26 from 5-7pm. Network with other members, have light appetizers, and register to win door prizes including a pair of Ribfest VIP tickets worth $125! Look for your invite next week! See you there!
Downtowners’ Association News
Organization and member news …
Find all of our member’s information on our website!
□ Bismarck Mandan Symphony Orchestra is having a rummage sale April 27-29 at the Gateway Mall.
www.bismarckmandansymphony.org
□ URL Radio’s 2nd Annual Poker Bowling Tournament is happening April 21 at Midway Lanes. Email Nicole@urlradio.net.
□ Dakota Pharmacy and Dakota PrecisionRx Labs would like to announce the addition of Wendy Baukol to our staff. She will be the Compounding Marketing and Sales Director for the compounding labs. Wendy brings 14 years of pharmacy sales experience and we are excited about her new position. Dr. Peter White is the recipient of St. Alexius Medical Center’s 2011 Benedictine Spirit Award. This recognition is a refection of the significant contributions Dr. White makes to the growth and well-being of St. Alexius’ operating rooms and intensive care unit.
□ 2012 Downtowners Membership Renewals were sent out in December and the month of your renewal, be on the look out for yours!
□ The 39th Annual Downtowners Street Fair vendor applications were also be sent out in January. Those who participated in last years Street Fair will receive 2012 applications. Or you can download them at: www.downtownbismarck.com.
Please send all member business news and events to: kate@downtownbismarck.com.
Check the Downtown Business Association’s websites for updated news and events www.downtownbismarck.com or www.bismarckribfest.com.
Please forward this on to people interested in Downtown news!