Mayor Raeanne Presley and Alderwoman Sandra Williams attended the meeting of the Historic Downtown Branson Business Owners held in the Shack Restaurant on Oct. 4, 2007. After making a brief presentation and commending them for the job they are doing the mayor took questions from the floor.
One of the merchants stated that they still had problems with skateboards on the sidewalks and inquired as to the status of the ordinance regulating skateboarding in the downtown area. Mayor Presley informed them that the ordinance had its first reading and would be on the consent agenda for the Oct. 8 meeting of the board of aldermen for final approval.
The group expressed concern about the preservation of some of the downtowns remaining historical sites. They said projects to preserve these sights would require funding and the mayor was asked if there was the possibility of getting funding from the city. The mayor made no commitment for the city to assist in such funding, said, “It is important to preserve what we have”, and suggested that they get their ideas in a written form.
It was the consensus of the group that there were still serious parking problems and that there was not enough parking on the streets for their customers. The group expressed their appreciation for the extension of the enforcement of the two hour parking limit to Saturdays. Prior to the recent extension, enforcement of the two hour limit was only done Monday through Friday.
While discussing employee parking in the new garage there was some confusion as to just whether or not someone with a monthly parking pass had a specific reserved space or not. Alderwoman Williams explained that they did not get a specific reserved spot just a parking spot from those available at the time the person enters the garage to park.
Other items discussed was a bus campaign to get more busses into downtown, the concern that busses appear to be down from last year, the formation of a committee to develop an interactive Christmas promotion similar to the “Ole Time Christmas,” and the beautification of the downtown area. One beautification project discussed was the possibility of establishing a “walk of fame” that would be a combination of the interactive aspects of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the stars on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame. When the research is completed the project will be more formally presented to the group for consideration.
