11.14.2023 City Council Economic Development and Tourism

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Economic Development and Tourism come to order clerk call the RO coun reposo here councelor Washington here here pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and deemed

acknowledged and permissible is anybody here for citizen import anybody sign up for citizen import okay item number one on the agenda is a resolution to the economic development Tourism Committee to convene with the administration director minutes oh we have the minutes sorry uh looking to approve the minutes second of September 5th there was a motion and a second all in favor I I so the economic development Tourism

Committee to uh convene with Administration director of traffic and representatives of communities uh throughout the city to look at improving the signage within the city to direct visitors to various attractions we invited a lot of people I didn't want anybody to be left out I tried to think of everyone possible that um would be able to assist in giving us ideas so uh if people want to come down and we'll

sit around here Laura traffic because we talk about signage and Steph Seth Mike yep Ashley David Sandy John P uh Gail yeah come on do we have enough cheers did we get enough cheers I think we have enough if we counted right that's for you your Department's even named on the resol P yeah yeah one of the council chairs there okay Seth want to grab a chair yeah I have one I thought was

give oh you have one ma'am okay so we were shot one that's it Andrew GNA help oh here he is hard is working man and show business right there okay basically when when I come off of any highway exit in Fall River I don't see a sign that directs us to anything that we have it doesn't tell us where the Waterfront is it doesn't tell us where The Narrows is it doesn't

tell us where the battleship is um you know there's a lot like that that I think we're missing so I before we start talking just so that people viewing will know who everybody is at the table if we could just go around the table give your name and address for the record Dave Dennis creative vs Network 132 Highland Avenue full River Sandy Sandy Dennis creative OTS Network 132 Highland Avenue for River

Mass John Grant 116 Rock Street Gale Powers 731 Prospect Street Fall River Stephanie MacArthur city of Faller traffic department Laura fera city of Fall River traffic department Mike Dion director of Community Development for the city of Fall River Seth Aken City administrator San charell Battleship Cove address 158 Summerfield Street Fall Riv Ashley okino executive director Fall River arts and culture Coalition 200

Pocasset Street Fall River uh Patrick Norton 1225 New Boston Road narrow Center the Arts we have one more joining I'll grab it I got I mean Patrick Andrew's got you your name he wants to bring up all the uh Jason Bard naraki 45 bigol Street um I chair the historical commission and last but not least Alexander Silva 148 Purchase Street preservation stud forer thank you I had also um requested that

Lopes who works at the um building what is it building DCR right and he sent down um he sent us an email because unfortunately he couldn't be here do you have a copy of his email I think we have it in our agenda and he had some suggestions um to make and he said that the signage on Route 95 West as you enter for River there's a sign that says Waterfront

attractions um but for visitors who are seeking Battleship Cove Heritage Park the gates Etc that's not very helpful why can't the signs be like the ones on 195 in new bedfed which lists different designations by name Whaling City um Museum Etc um he said coming from Providence it's even worse Laura would you want to read the rest of what he wrote like uh signage on the 195 Easter Providence it's even worse there's no

indication where the exit to the brager bridge is in front of the Waterfront our visitors complain about this often um in both directions on 95 there's no signs that tell you how to get to the Narrows which I have to say um is is massive the sign is tricky and the narrow is a straight trip between um the two wers withas anyone looking for Performing Art Center will end up at whites The Narrows

is um deserves better good car the lights posted on the banners broadcast along to ball and pres down to Center um along the Waterfront are sorely in need of being replaced they are most in bad shape they are um an effective tool for promoting culture activities throughout Fall River instead they are broken and empty the Veterans Memorial by Centennial Park has the worst signage in the City the entrance way um at the

president's sign is uh polluted many signs are in total disarray um all of them are a necessity there's overlapping and no congruent to the they provide bad Imaging for the city one large sign um wall sign with all the signs Andrew will read six seven eight n we're all trying to pitch in because it's big sure uh the city should promote Veterans Memorial B Centennial Park as Veterans Memorial

Park in which which visitors are interested in uh seeking the two memorials um kind of consolidating that name as far as a sign is concerned um City portion of the broadwalk is named pental broadwalk the state portion is the Robert career broadwalk after our legislators honored rep Korea we should respect this instead we get local tourist Publications that refer to the entire Boardwalk as one uh parking signs

throughout the city would be helpful although there are may be some that I am not aware of I see not at the waterfront seeing additional parking the Waterfront needs help in Direction likewise the two Heritage Park Lots North and South are officially named the DCR for of Heritage State Park Lots there is no Carousel lot or Battleship Cove lot there are both DCR tenants promotional events at the

gates and elsewhere along the Waterfront that want to identify public parking should use the correct name there are even Maps out there that say Battleship lot they are wrong as many people are using GPS these various false titles complicate the parking issue and then lastly the city would benefit from some themed trails that guide you to cultural historical sites we're off to a good

start with the Cultural District at Heritage Park we're working on a military themed walking trail it'll guide you from The Maritime Museum to B Centennial Park along the way visitors can learn about for's military history from the King Philip War the American Revolution Civil War World Wars into present there is much potential for other cultural industrial and historical themed trails around the city signed Jim

Lopes and Jim does a lot down at the the park um Sandy had a great event there on tourism with um the former lieutenant governor uh Murray who was there and talked a lot with other communities and things that they're doing it was a worthwhile event um to be at but my question is to all of you who participate in you know a lot of the different venues in for River what would

work for you and I don't know if Community Development has money for signage in certain areas or if some of it if we're looking at let's get this done while they're doing 79 so that we know I hate being behind the boat like let's look at what we can do for the upcoming uh spring and summer season if anybody has any suggestions uh we can go around the room does anybody want to startop

Dave basically there I I just think there are five five principles that we the far of has missed for years I mean I think everybody sitting around this table just drive around the city and if you've involved in any of this it's it's obvious you know we need signs that are uniformed themed descriptive instructive and in the right locations and that's exactly what whether you're trying to get to the Narrows you're

trying to get down to the battleship or any other loc location on on the waterfront it's it's not easy it's a lot easier since they finished the accelerated bridge program at least you can get on and off the um the Waterfront when you get down there if you recall years ago you could get down there you could never get off uh we don't have visit information center anymore where people can stop and get information

about the city we have these generic signs s has a bunch of other signs we been away recently in New York the weekend uh you go any other place you can see descriptive signs you go through 195 heading down to New York through Connecticut there also at the descriptive sign subbase everything you know we used to have those we had we used to have uh you know I think they mentioned the Battleship Cove Narrows uh

I don't know who else a few other things on there now they they still just say um uh Waterfront water attractions who cares what does that mean you know if you're coming if you're heading down the cape if you're heading east you got uh you know family of four two kids in the back seat what does that mean to them means absolutely nothing if it said you know Waterfront attraction Carousel Battleship Cove something more

descriptive um you know I think people would be a lot more interested in getting off the highway people aren't going to go to what they don't know or or don't see um which is why Most states have descriptive signage you go down to I head down to um New Jersey Battleship New Jersey you'll see batt ship New Jersey signs all over the place they I mean they're literally billboard size

signs we don't have anything so anybody coming through you know the city of for River or leaving the city of for East or West there's no descriptive signage uh there's nothing when you get in the city there a hodgepodge of signs all over the Waterfront yeah they are doing Route 79 over hopefully there'll be you know some uniformity there'll be some descriptive signs down there um listen people don't

want to go anywhere where they get where they can't get to and get out of uh tourists want things to be easy uh that's why you go to any of the major theme Parx they make it easy there are signs all over the place go to Disney any of those places lots of signs they make it easy um you know uh you think that would have you know we don't have a

business information center we never we haven't had one in years I've been saying this since I cheered this committee years ago uh still hasn't happened uh these are obvious things that just have not happened for a variety of reasons reasons I think some of this and I'll say this publicly uh some of this is the responsibility of our state delegation those are State Signs I don't know why they ever took

them down in the first place and changed them uh from descriptive signs to generic signs but they did uh I think we need this group needs to you know actively Lobby the state delegation and get those signs back up just like everybody and by the way there are other descriptive signs in Massachusetts so it's not just um you know it's for River I don't know who else has these types of

signs but there are other places in the states that have very descriptive signage uh we know Battleship knows it uh we've seen them so I don't know why we have them down here but that's just the beginning because once they get in the city you know that's our responsibility and again you know some uniformity some description uh instructive signs in the right locations um people not going to come into the

city list they can get in and out they can go where they want to go so thanks do you have anything to add I don't have a lot to add I just have a lot of pictures and examples of signs in the city that truly they are a mess um I guess one that it's not disturbing but I mean we have a huge Globe liquor sign on one of the highway

things I mean advertising a liquor store but yet we can't advertise our attractions so I mean it's great because you know Economic Development it's it's it's helping the liquor store but what I also found interesting is that we actually do have descriptive signage in the city I don't know how long ago they were done and they I can talk on that one okay so I'm going to skip over that then uh because they're mostly

throughout the downtown area I noticed I personally like the style of them I'm driving you can read them um so we do have them and I I think if you just follow that design they're great uh we have things up there still like for the Black Island had given us money to do no okay all right John oh Sandy are you done um yeah gu no no no I don't want to

cut you sure but no we were Dave Dave mentioned we had gone to New York over the weekend and and I guess it it is disturbing because we did reach out to the state delegation years ago um and I mean the battles ship's not on one of our highway signs and neither is you know you could have the historic Carousel you can have the Narrows on these you can have the battleship The

Maritime Museum Gates of the city the Waterfront Cultural District I mean they really promote their attractions that's in conne that's in Connecticut on the way home so if they can do it there's no reason you know that I think we can't do it but I'll pass it along to John I don't want no I kind of agree with Dave that uh we need to get them from the highway here so we got to have more than

just Waterfront attractions we got to list what's there cuz when you go to the Bedford or when you're traveling down 95 you constantly see things coming up attractions and somehow when I guess when 79 when they have signage we should hopefully be uniform in our signage throughout with the tourus so I think we should look to see what they're going to do and tie it in with the the 79 project

but uh that's why I wanted to have the meeting now make see that we could tie that all in yeah that'd be I mean I even look at the driffy laffy Lafayette dery House you know to have a plaque there what this is um you know because there's a lot that we have our own people don't know how much we have in the city yeah I mean I don't think there's a plaque for

Lafayette House or even I think there's a little one for the for Historical Society but did not just you don't know if you're driving by right you know so even lizie boarding house we don't have anything going there so something to point you to not just on the building I mean I think if we highlighted Battleship Cove in the uh Vietnam memorial wall and by Centennial Park that would bring a lot of people in so

those are two key points well I know they're doing a sign diamond is actually doing a sign for the wall because there's a sign that that says Vietnam memorial wall coming soon no it's already there so I I have a meeting December 7th with them but my thing is put the brakes on that till we find out what kind of sign we want to have so that it's uniform and you identify with

it I think that's better Gail I'm not going to add too much it's like beating a dead horse some great ideas I can't wait to see what Lura has to say I can tell you that um I think what you shared with me about Nashville yeah one thing one thing I um was in Nashville and uh I was walking down the street by Woolworth and there was this great sign in the sidewalk and

it talked about the sit in back in the 50s where um black people sat at the at the counter for service and they were attempted to get thrown out and that whole event happened so walking by wwor I looked up and there's this great sign and it looks something like this like sign and it just was informational this is the site of Woolworth that back in 1952 these four people sat down and it was a whole

history of what happened right there and every place I turned around on Corners in front of churches was informational signage about a building an event an area or just something um so I researched it and it's actually an inter like a a a map that you put your cursor over it and a little insert pops up and it tells you the location and what the building is what the location is and what happened there

and it's drivable everybody's got a smartphone um you pop onto the website and it brings you all over way through the city two signs like this which is what I just showed you like the sign here the cemetery sign I actually had made through the CPA a while ago it's a uh cemetery on P Street which people don't even know it's there it's right behind the bank five parking lot right where the church is believe it

or not there's a cemetery there um it's a Bowen bordon Cemetery um Andrew Borden's father Bowen's father who the son was part of the Underground Railroad so that's how that started there a one side has family tree of who's buried in there and the other side is just a history of the family basically so this there could be a sign like this all over the city up at Columbia Street right

about this point back in 1803 this was the delineation line between the town of Fall River and the town of Idan just things there's things all over the city that are just there this is the site of the Fall River this battle of Fall River right about this location we could go on and on every Mill in the in the city could have a sign um so that's kind of a

whole separate ball of wax but um just some idea on signs and locations thanks Gale Stephanie Laura good afternoon um so this basically started in 20 with uh mayor um Bob carea and he met with some ums students and I don't know if we had I don't know if Sandy you were involved I know he had a committee and they all sat down the same thing that we're doing here today come up with some

signage that would direct people to the park in Bicentennial Park we had Santa Cristo we had um Lizzie Borden's house I mean there was quite a few things on it we had them throughout the city um we still have one right here at the corner of Sullivan Drive in South Maine um we had one before 79 became what it is today um we had them directing them into

the city um a lot of them got taken down especially when they built the first phase of 79 they were removed they were never put back because it became state property um so just going forward what we have to remember yes you can't have signs just in the City indicating where things are I think you want to attract people that are on 195 East 195 West or coming in from 24 whatever so you want

signs like other cities in towns have it New Bedford Newport we don't have to go very far adobar has signs um but when it comes to State you got to get their permission um you got to fill out a permit it's got to have the dimensions of the signs it's got to have what you want on it and usually if it's stay it's green on the color green if it's to do

with like the battleship or anything like that they're brown because now you're going into Federal and so they have their different colors so that's something that before we can even you know think about where they're going to go is come up with who will you know be able to contact the state that we can even do that we had a hard time having them put on one uh on 24 North and South

indicating for 18 wheelers to use innovation way and that was we had to pull some strings to do that that took a few years um as well as letting people know where Charlton Memorial Hospital was in St ant a lot of people complained that you didn't know you know where they were so we did it but we had to get their permission so we've got if you're coming on 195 West and you take the

Plymouth Avenue we put two signs there um that indicate St an is to this side and you know Charlton is the other side we wanted to put it on the highway itself but they denied it so yeah so they're pretty funny about what signage can go on highways and I agree I think that a big sign should go with different locations um they do it in other um highways 19 24 if you travel

on 24 you see it for other states I think they should have it here as well so some of those signs do exist I think the key is come up with this design and then come up with you want on everything on those signs and I agree it should have arrows like the one that we have on the corner of South Main and um Sullivan it tells you to go to the south end and

what's in the South End the one that we had on North Maine and bford told you what was down on the waterfront of course there's a lot of new um venues now there's other places too um that you can add to but the thing to think about is come up with the design then what you want to put on the signs and then whatever is to go in the city I know Bob

Creo was able to get some money so we didn't have to the city didn't have to really spend any money the only thing that we did then we had someone then look uh get a map and just point where they wanted the signs to go and then maintenance department did put them up um we did put them up wherever people wanted them to go um now they can't go on state property so that would be

something that the state you could ask permission for us to go but I think that sign that we were going to put on um 24 just before President Avenue because it was all rotted and it was a big to-do who was going to put it up and then they wanted a contractor to put it up so those are the little details that you might come across that you should try to

solve it before that was the one that I wanted to repair and we had to go through the whole hoop lot to get permission took us like six months seven months that one sign I mean as a city I think I'm speaking for the city I don't think we have a problem putting signs within the city right um because you know you don't just need them on the highway you also need them as you're

coming into the city okay that's where it is you know granted 195 is going to tell you yeah we have liy bordon but how do I get to it so that would be important uh for peace for parking we had to do it when we o when we took over the Pearl garage and the third garage so we have a lot of peace throughout the downtown are area that tells you how to

get to Pearl and how to get to um third we also have maps in each garage telling you which each garage is at in some certain location we also used to have we made seven of them and it was a big map we had it on North Park at Highland Avenue we had it at the park on South Main I don't know AB is it Abbott Park then we had it at Lafayette Park

and it was was just a big sign with all the uh venues with their phone numbers and when they had events but you know different administrations come aboard so we used to have like the Christmas parade the veterans parade um anything that came up we had um Patrick's um Revenue venue down there with the phone number so that people would go by and they could have the phone number and

call and say you know so we had we ended up taking those down we were told to take those down so we paid for those the city paid for those so so we have that as well so I mean like I said I don't think it's going to be an issue within the city I think it's an issue if you're going to put on State Property Mike um if there are my question to you would be

if there are some signs that need to be in lowincome districts would those would those be something you'd pay for you just got to be very careful with Community Development money um everyone should know that Community Development money has to be used for low benefit of low inome people in the city um it is in ineligible to use block rant money for the promotion of the city as a whole so

you have to be very very careful um any streets that are being redone any sidewalks that are being redone in the city that are in low income areas the Community Development agency could definitely pay for signage in those areas um signage on 79 directing people to to tourism attractions and stuff would not not be an eligible um item uh pointing people to certain low income areas in the city um I I think dennises

might I think it might have originated with you five six years ago we put up a sign welcome to the historic Highlands and it was it was on the border of a low income High income area and it just made the you know a couple inches more and it would have been high income so we were able to to assist with that we've done a lot of signage in parks in the low

income areas so you just have to be very careful um you know what what you're trying to attempt with the sign and um you know where is it in a low low income or high income area District right now um I'll be straight up with you our budget is 100% committed um if if there is something that you'd like to do we're going to go through uh our request for funding process starting in January of

20124 coming up in the next couple months um but right now uh Community Development has uh credit card has been declined at the other and I'm sorry the other thing too a historical society also helped the city they paid for all the signs that have historic yeah that have the historical where historical is like President Avenue certain locations the street signs are a little bit different but

Historical Society paid for like I think 80 I'm sorry oh sorry sorry preservation sorry uh and then so that way you know that that's a historical area and it's got like you know old buildings and stuff that they help that too the other thing we need to be careful is so with the second phase of 79 being under construction now we will know whether because right now it belongs to the

state so we can't even you know do anything to it right now once the completion of the job is done it's completed all the punch lists are done they will give us a letter stating now it belongs to you so most likely we're going to own all of the wall because in the past we only own certain portions but now you're going to have traffic lights intersection and all of that most

likely the letter is going to say that we're going to be responsible for signage and all that so that's something that you know we can we can put up ourselves too but if we have let's because it's the project is going to finish in 20 26 I think the beginning so if you have the signs already done at that time when they're putting up their signs because they already have a list

of all the signs that go on on Devol uh you know either side so could they pay whatever out of there whatever type of signs that developed should be uniform like everybody's saying and should be somewhat classy and uh you know we shouldn't doctor the whole entire city with signs everywhere either um I think they should be in key locations right pointing people in the correct direction um you know we can we

can I can show everyone a map of what's low-income areas in the city um get that to you Linda if you want to you know look at that and when you guys are planning down the road yeah I'll look at that I think that's good Seth do you see the the um thank you do you see what gaale had shown um and do you see that as being something feasible because I know we're

doing work with our computer uh team and doing new computer stuff to have that out there those are way finding apps that's what those are and it's it's a it would be extremely valuable for the city to incorporate that what happens with some of those is if you get the right app as people are getting close to a location everybody's on their phone things starts things starts popping up

uh Battleship Cod Narrows Cod Restaurant all these places they'll stop popping up with the description bhip code blah blah blah blah you know so they're extremely valuable listen we get 91,000 CS a day he's not my numbers he's a m out I've said this a thousand times 91,000 C of they on average go over that brager bridge we got to get them to get off that brag bridge between May and June they the old um Vis

information center I'm sorry used to average about 500 cars a day between Memorial Day and Labor Day when that closed some of the venues in the city including uh I think it was Lizzy's uh historical soy lost more than 50% of their business overnight so we're M we're missing a giant marketing Opportunity by not getting these people off the bridge especially during Memorial Day and Labor Day you know the

Comm will spent $220 million on the accelerated bridge program uh another 135 million on uh Route 79 several 100 million on the on the veterans Bridge we're not utilizing those those are giant Siz marketing these people are driving through the city with money in their pocket and they're leaving none of it or very little of it in the city um So the faster we get get this done I mean I didn't is there Opa money left

for signage I mean would have been a very good use of the the in return on investment would probably would have been very good uh with people coming into the city you know average family of for gets off the bridge they get down gets off the bridge they get down below they spend some money at one of the venues down there doesn't take uh you know $100 uh for a car average family of

four you know well as I do it doesn't spend doesn't take too much to spend uh 100 bucks anymore uh you know kid goes kids go to the bathroom they go to the battleship code they get something to eat it's a uh tax revenue is huge you know the meal tax and everything else we're losing millions of dollars a year Millions you all you have to do is just add it up so

anyway I feel like you asked me a question I did what do you think about something like that I know we're working on where working on our computer um website now and what do you think about something like that so mapping and wayf finding uh is something we've actually talked about pretty extensively um to to do the app to actually have it in place isn't the hard part uh the expensive

part is is actually building it out so it's actually functional um and then maintaining it not saying that that's a deal breaker but that just happens to be the thing that we found as we've been looking at um how do you build a website that has all the functionality that you need um what we decided to do at least as uh in the initial phase is to invest the money in online permitting uh as

opposed to investing the money in wayf finding I'm not saying we're not going to do it but we had to make some difficult decisions as to what functionality we were going to build in we're still looking at that um and I think it's something that really uh has tremendous value and I think we can probably do it and then build on it build on it build on it rather than just

say oh we can't do it and then never get back to it uh because that happens a lot right uh I will say that um I think a lot of this does depend on the development of the Route 79 project and how that goes forward there's an entire budget for signage uh in the Route 79 project um and so right now the way that plan is evolving is that there is a kind

of a placeholder um and you know we just use uh you know purely for engineering and design purposes a a you know a basic footprint and a basic height without any design elements at all uh and so in the next 30 to 60 days and I talked to um Mr agar our director of engineering and planning today uh in the next 30 to 60 days uh he's going to convene a

committee with members of the public and members of the administration and members of of the whole community that has an interest in this wayfinding piece uh and try to get some some thoughtful people to to weigh in on what those signs should look like um so I'll give you a list of everyone that's at this meeting and that might help because obviously everyone that's here uh cares

about looking at what we can do to get more tourism more people in into the city I think Mr agar would would welcome that and so would I um but I I can tell you that because this is going to be the first opportunity we've had in a while to do you know to really invest in meaningful signage over a large area because there going to be a lot of signage that may be the thing that

identifies the the visual the visual cues that we're looking for in the rest of the signage because there's going to be so much of it um so I think the timing makes a lot of sense I think working with Mr yagar and all those folks whether we end up owning that property or not because that is very much sort of in flux right now the signage is going to happen and it's

going to get designed and the city is going to have a significant say on what it looks like and what's on it so knowing that we should get as many uh people that know the city and care about the city as part of that as is reasonable um you know still being able to make a decision because sometimes too many cooks you know that whole thing all that said um I think that signage

hopefully will drive how we think about signage going forward just because there's going to be that much of it being put in place and the investment is going to be that significant you know what bothers me Mr Akin is that I've been here a long time and the length of time it takes to get anything done it's just frustrating it's like come on we need to move we need to do it let's get

it done let's get it done let let's get it done and unfortunately we've had one Administration after another after another I worked with Bob career on doing this and it was um Meen Flanigan we had the trolley the trolley went around it looped the whole city it stopped at different places where people could get and it was wonderful and all of a sudden he was gone the trolleys are

broke I know we're getting new trolleys I know we put in for them um so I'm just the reason I'm having the meeting so early you know is because we need to have something done if we can't do 79 right now but we know what it's going to look like great but at least we can start working on what are we going to do in the city locally and getting people

off the highways and then do 79 and if it means we need to contact people in the tourism office on the state I think Sandy and Dave know them very well have had years of conversation with them and our state delegation is always always willing to help out so if it means means that's one piece we have to get the state delegation and the signage off the highway then let's try to work on that

because it's going to take a while to do and maybe another group work on what are we going to do within the city and maybe Dan aiar and that can we do a map like this can we have a listing a sheet with the addresses and things where things are because people can Google it but I think councelor repos I had a question yeah I'm just thinking about the website

Seth is there a way the city the new City website can index all of the different attractions across the city and then possibly the integration of like QR coding where let's say somebody comes into the city welcome to for there's a QR code they scan it and now boom you have an entire list of all all the different attractions in the city which then link back to those particular establishments or or attractions or

whatever may be so I think that um in conjunction with our GIS mapping uh and we have some amazing people doing that and it's it's actually really well done um that's something that we've relied on for that sort of back of the house functionality so if there's an app that we can use to leverage that functionality I think it's very possible um and I also know that um just in terms of of thinking and talking about

wayfinding um and how we're you know how we're directing people to different events and I know events as opposed to spots are different um but I know that Viva has actually done a really tremendous job in in talking about that sort of thing as well um so there's a lot of Partners in the city I think that are all thinking about that same thing it's just a question of pulling the

trigger and getting it done uh and I think we have the tools to do it to be honest with you uh it just it's a question of um you know I think understanding what the visual language of the Route 79 scientist is going to be and even before it goes up we don't need for it to go up we just need to know what you know what kind of fonts and

what kind of shapes and what kind of colors and then once we know that you can actually do signage and you can do digital you know electronic signage through smartphones all around the city but just having an agreement on that small bit of information font color you know what's our pallette that sort of thing just like you're building a website that will give you the I think that'll give you the tools to do all

sorts of things uh and they're not as hard as they used to be maintaining is always the key because you don't want to make something great and then have it be obsolete in a year you know once businesses change names or you know things things get put you know put into place and no one records them so that's where the gis think is thing is is phenomenal because that's being constantly updated it's an incredible

tool no no go ahead no no no I just have some place to go just finish up so I've been doing this a while and like this is like the third mayor we the first mayor we actually the Narrows and the battleship were on the sign and each when the historical society and I think the culinary instit and you had to pay $2,500 a year to be on the sign that was

that's really what it was it was $10,000 that generated from the sign and for some reason that sign went away and they and I know why it went away because people complained because you can only put four on there and their theirs wasn't one of the four so generic became the word so that that's the history lesson on that and I'm not convinced that you know we've talked to the state delegation that may be something down

the line I personally I hate to be the skunk the long party I'm not convinced signage is really the issue here I think the age of GPS you find where you're going and we're in about the most unknown place in for and people seem to find us pretty well I think it's a there's a more comprehensive uh look at how we uh I think um what Miss power said about her signage might be

something historical in nature but um I think a hodgepodge of signs is not what we need and I think a more comprehensive look and I think maybe the Route 79 project but I think a a creative look at what signed is in the 21st Century not what signage was in the 20th century and I think that's we tend to look at things like what was good in the past and

sometimes you know the past looks a lot better in the rearview mirror than it does in right when it's happening so I just want us to be aware and think forward-looking and really be creative and I think it's more an app based and uh that kind of a thing than a sign or anything like that and I think if you know what they say Linda build in will come I think really the issue is that

for really needs to work on like promoting itself because that is what's going to get people off the highway not a sign because most people have a destination in mind when they get in their car rarely someone who studied this all day long really is just someone just going in and pulling off occasionally it happens and people look into a restaurant or a bathroom and things like that but I'm all my time

traveling I generally know where I'm going when I'm going to be there so I think really the issue for for is is trying to become get on people's radar and a more before they even get to the Braga Bridge or anything like south of the B you see Fey signs all along the way we've had some again and there's been some you know this hasn't happened in a vacuum if I may be so bold to say

so there's been the Narrows as head signs all across I95 and a 95 Viva Fall River has done the same other organizations so it has to be somewhat organization driven too because that's just and those things are expensive but again we have to think about like what's really working and build on that rather than trying to like just constant reinvent the wheel because I've no offense operated pay for those signs

Jeff Carpenter and arts United pay for those signs so most of these most of the signs that's taken place were done by the preservation Society the narrow Center and other organizations not the city to begin with if I may be so bold to say so so that's what's going to be the driving force moving forward not this meeting the entities who can figure it out better and find a way to promote

themselves and look and really look at a 21st for we we we are spending too much time looking about what happened in the past not just at this this meeting but just an overall View and uh I don't think it's signed I think GPS is where it's at and um unfortunately I have to go to this other thing but I'll give my my to council Washington I'm so glad yeah I

would have to because I was gonna kind of go along those lines when I travel with my family and I travel often I just Google things to do in the area and then what pops up through GPS so I'm very interested in this wayfinding I don't know if it's an app or anything but you said that there is a cost to it and that's the problem of the backend building it and then the cost to

maintain it what does that cost look like is that thousands tens of thousands hundreds of thousands what is in the ballp pocket does that look like because I I agree that I think most people are using GPS and and things to find I'm not against signage it's not what I'm saying but I think that that is it's huge to your point and so I'm very interested in the cost behind this way finding I give

you some real numbers um it was probably a year ago that we started looking at it um and we just decided you know what we had to make some tough decisions based on what money we had and we decided to go online permitting um because it was something it was you know so so long overdue um but uh the way finding piece it kind of runs the gamut right I mean

there there's certainly um you know kind of retail home business level stuff and then there's you know Enterprise level uh so it's just a question of what you want to spend and what you want to do I'll get some numbers yeah that's that' be very interested because I do I mean we have some oper money left and if this you know it's it all depends on the cost if it's you know looking at 10,000

100,000 I don't know but um so that was my question with that I yield Council vice president chrisan you I don't have a lot to add to that but my question is we're talking about the 79 when would that happen when those signs would be done we're talking a couple years way right so but design is sooner something now yeah design is sooner so um so that that's why it said you know we don't

need to wait until they're up I think we just need to wait until there's an agreement on what they're going to look like and as soon as we know that okay fabrication all that stuff fine that's years down the road and it's crazy to wait for that because you're just letting money stay on the table um but as soon as we sort of understand okay what do we want people to associate with

wayfinding in Fall River what is you know what is it's going to look like what's the overall whether it's color pet font all that you know stuff is it you know is it electronic is it just regular text who knows that will be decided by the group um but at the end of the day I don't think that decision is that far off I think the the fabrication is a ways off the the in

installation is a ways off but the uh the design is probably not that far away and then once we agree on it you know I think you can start we can start actually making choices based upon what we know is going to happen happen without it having happened yet so well when it comes to the signage you know like the first phase that's completed now it was mostly All State Signs y so

we didn't have to worry about one ways or no left turns or no right turns um traffic lights pedestrians you know you're going to have all the new pedestrian CLE nights so everything will be a little bit different with this one I agree with what set saying is that you know you're going to have street signs how do we to look uh do we want put directional signs up that are going to

say you know the Cove Restaurant the battleship cve do we want to put those those are the ones yes so that's what I'm talking about Ju Just Just to be clear and I I didn't that's a thank you that's actually really helpful so we're not talking about street signs we're not talking about State Signs we're not talking about you know motorist trying to make sure they don't crash into

another motorist signs right what we're actually talking about is uh there's a portion of the Route 79 project that's actually a walkable Park that goes under a bridge and and I Ash we talked about lighting on that and what go how to you know make that bridge safe and beautiful and whatever but through that park there is going to be sinish and so if you imagine um the the sign with all the

granite um the the giant pieces of Fall River Granite uh at the bottom of the ramp up 195 um you know that was a initial proposal is you know what if all the signs were you know had some sort of foundation in Granite um that you know then had signage that could be changed out whether it's electronic whether it's it's modular I don't know and I'm not you know it's I'm not the person making

that decision um but those are the kind of signs we're talking about and it would have restaurants and it would have um you know true wayfinding stuff so uh you know Veterans Memorial Park uh I'm sorry um you know specific the wall right um Portuguese American Monument eima Monument the battleship um you know Lizzy board house whatever I mean I don't even know know what would be on because there's of all the stuff we

think about there's probably five times as many things that you know that you would know if you're from here that people really need to know about and learn about and that's really the the the beauty of these signs but they are going to be aesthetically interesting because they're about finding way places that are not just the normal you know President Avenue you know they actual wayf finding SS so thank you you was

that Christian Ashley do you have anything to add um just just a little bit in the sense that I'm in agreement that this is definitely a multi-tiered project it's about the highways it's about highways and byways but it at the highway level there's also besides the the green signs and the blue signs I want to remind people there's a really sad wooden sign um up on 24 as well and I don't know where the ownership with

the sign like that lies um but I I think I think it's about um tackling this as as just phases you know as we talk about route 7079 um you know what is the low hanging fruit with this is the wooden sign a low hanging fruit um is is getting this app um up and going um with some of the funds that perhaps are available um and definitely as you guys have redone the

city website housing that within there and so that there's infrastructure to continually update it as the technology updates as well and as locations move and and change and and and life happens um but actually think this is a really exciting opportunity that that I know it's been years in the making in Route 79 has been years in the making but but but there is there is there is

like a nice sunset on the on the horizon I think we we are heading towards um and I would be interested in learning a little bit more about what some other cities are implementing we talked a little bit about some of the cities that are using um apps or QR codes and kind of just informing ourselves a little bit more about that I think I think that's good I think that we should know that

maybe on another meeting we should have the head of the computer system here to come down and give us a talk on what they can and can't do um maybe even just for the City website to have things to do in Fall River and list a bunch of things with the addresses so anybody comes in they GPS and go to that location to see whatever just like I think we should have a calendar of

events so that I know when you're having you know a Halloween thing uh at the battleship uh you know I know what people so if I don't know what to do on a Friday Saturday night and I look and I see local bars in the city and who the musicians are that are there you know let there be one person that funnels that in if we have a tourism person in

the mayor's office let that be her job that people call in and they put in maybe you have to have a password um but you call this is my password and I want to say we're having event on this day and this day when we have feasts or Bazar or that people know what's going on there's so much more going on but we don't really um know about it Jason do

you have anything to add from a historic perspective yes just give your name sure um Jason Bard naraki 45 biglow Street um and I chair the uh historical commission um so just in my experience with in other cities U uh primarily uh for a decade I lived in Providence and one of the things that the city of Providence had done with their wayf finding was taking more emphasis onto the neighborhoods um if you've ever gone

through and noticed their street signs they're pretty cool they have this street name but then right above it they have the neighborhood name and um Fall River can do something like that where you have emphasis on the highlands uh or even like the little neighborhoods the little commercial districts that are in those neighborhoods like in South End you have the uh the little commercial

center along East Main Street um in the highlands you have around New Boston Bakery you have that little village um so and that can be easily achieved with the street sign but then having more of like a history of the neighborhood onto the city's website which is something that Providence has as well but um and um you know that's I know we're talking a lot about 79 um Route 79 but there's

um you know we have a whole lot of the other part of the city that needs a little bit of attention like when you when you're coming on to 195 eastbound there's a sign that says Downtown Fall River right just before he hit hit the tunnel but once you get to the exit there's no sign as to where you're turning for downtown Fall River you're coming in the opposite direction there's

no sign period that says down Town Fall River so you're at the mercy of do I take Plymouth a do I take Pleasant Street and from there you have no idea where you're going so there's a lot of um you know emphasis on um obviously wave finding but also with um you know the historic assets of the city you have the M District on Pleasant Street you have downtown um South Main Street

Kennedy Park so there's a lot of um I'm jumping around but there's um the historical commission would love to be involved in a project like this we love fun projects like this um so and yeah that's kind of what I have no I think that's good I mean we have Homestead parks in the city that you know we should be and the one I love is when you come off of the Veterans Memorial Bridge

and you take a right and the sign says Idan New Bedford doesn't say a word about for river that drives my husband insane we about that I wasn't on that team fighting but if you want to bring it back I'll be there fighting with you um just make sure you give your name and address for the record Kathy Kroger lafay at derrey house I think in traveling up and down 95 the one thing

I've noticed is the brown signs which are the historic signs and I think the bigger picture is just getting people off the highway right as you said um and we need to probably start in Westport and Swansea and Somerset and up in Berkeley so they are anticipating that there are historic sites to to see just you know making them more aware enticing them and then in the city I love what

Gail did because I've seen a lot of those signs in traveling also you're standing next to a historic site you don't know the details and and there's the information you know at Lafayette dery House people stand outside and they wonder what it is yes you know and and we certainly don't have the means to delineate that information but it's a really important historic site for the city just like the Fisk house and

everything else that we have here that everyone here is working on um so it has to be at least a two-prong project one for getting people off the highway one for what it is once you get there and then certainly the computerized programming you know I don't know much about the computerized yeah I don't NE but we have experts that sure I don't know much about any of this that's why I brought

all the people that do have much more information than I I just like to move for it's a great idea and I think it definitely needs to separate into probably committees that do help out looking and researching different venes different parts of the good Mr Jennings just your name and address to Dave Jennings from the Lafayette dery House um we've been doing this for quite a while and what I found is that the city

doesn't no matter who's in charge whoever the mayor is they don't believe that people come to Fall River okay it's a lack of of government interest in Fall River I don't know they want to do economic development but they don't see tourism as a a source of Economic Development huge it is all right um as far as science concerned I'm a historical reenactor I was down in Bourne Massachusetts doing a 17th

century reenactment talking to people from New Jersey all right I I said have you ever stopped at the battleship no we see it coming over the brag of bridge but we don't know how to get to it so once we get to to the cape all we want to do is stay in the cape and then drive home that's two destinations right through the city and I think that we should have a kiosk or

something down at the new train station that's coming in that's coming up in what the February 24 24 right it's supposed to be open we're supposed to have a train coming in supposed to be come from Boston supposed to bring economic develop supposed to bring tourism supposed to bring X Y and Z same thing they said about the bragger bridge but if there's no signage as how or if

it's not on the city website and I think that's where it starts is the city website it's got to begin there with all everything that we want to Delan it you know it's time to Lock and Load on this you know it it's time to do it because we we're watching like Dave said millions of dollars are going going through the city nothing nobody's staying here and if you don't believe in

the in this in the city itself if you don't believe in this that tourism is an actual fact of Economic Development then nothing's going to happen it starts at the top tourism director because I think you're absolutely right it generates money I've tried when when we did the the the um the conference down at Heritage State Park we had three three cities there we well we had n Tucket we had Amhurst and

we had New Bedford what do they have in common they all had a paid tourism director they had staff they had a freaking office oh my God you know 21st century uh instead of like everybody trying you know everybody's like scattered here trying to do their own thing and it's time to get unionized or whatever you know solidified and actually be serious about this instead of talking about about it we can talk

talk talk nothing's going to get done well I'm hoping it will Mr Jennings and that was the reason for this meeting because I hear from a lot of people what their concerns are and hopefully you know having a meeting like this the mayor does watch these meetings too um and certainly he'll know that really we do have an interest a great interest in tourism yeah and how it is it is an

economic development it works in other cities and towns why can't it work here you go to Virginia I mean Charleston see the older homes there yeah oh my God they're nothing compared to what we have are our homes here better are Architects here better but there's some beautiful homes when you walk I mean especially up in the highlands and not just but some of the side streets when you're driving

by you don't catch the beauty of that but when you're walking there's some homes that are well hidden there are built in the 1800s um I think F I love f been here for so many many years we have an unbelievable history I mean if you go to my office outside our Corridor we have very old pictures and in 19 not even 18 1868 North Park was F it

had cows and the whole nine yards and to know that to see it now so we I think we need to get that out there and one of the things I don't understand is when you're on Milan Boulevard and you want to take 195 East or West you got this beautiful gr that welcome the Fall River there's nothing there telling you okay if you go to the north end this is

what's in the North End if you go to the south end this is what it is so and there's that is always packed with cars in and out in and out whether you're coming from Central Street or or or anywhere the Waterfront you got to come up that way and there's nothing in that area that would tell us oh my God they have this whether it's Christopher on South Main is doing so much right now

but nobody knows about it because they don't even know how to get there you know some people don't know how to get C South M because it's such a little human place and there's a lot of places like that and I remember a few years back they had a Christmas walking tour and I mean Charlie you know Charlie his house is phenomenal and it's decorated that period Jim Su house out of the

park Alfred Lima God Rest Your Soul his house beautiful there's only been three owners there they have the original ice box and Butler State it's gorgeous because we were pushing for the CPA we had a meeting at his house and I went in I couldn't believe it the woodwork gorgeous maybe the Historical Society could do that get some of these people to open their doors for Christmas they

used to do that I love they did that years ago know it's difficult as some people just don't want to open the house just don't want to open their house they're afraid respect and just it's not well then you can't I mean I let you come to my house but really I don't have anything mod I'm not really a decor I don't have a nice box it's okay I understand I

understand um if you just give your name and address just just one more thing oh sure the um the biggest you know historical thing around here is Lizzie bordon let's face it right all right we don't promote that because we don't want to promote a um a murderer but she was acquitted okay look at Salem Salem Witch Trials it didn't even happen in Salem it happened in danvas all right that is the perfect

marketing Ploy right there that we could do here in Fall River you know it's all Bs Salem is all Bs that's all I got to say they make a lot of money on that but they make a hell of a lot of money I don't know but everywhere you go everybody knows Lizzie Boron I was in Dominican last year and there was a young man that travels to Boston say you guys have Lizzie bordon I

said yep we do Google Li Lizzie Boron 50,000 Hits come up on Lizzie boardon one one Sunday afternoon we had Le when lean uh Wilbur called me up Sunday afternoon I was at the house she says Dave I got some T some tourists here they wanted they want to come down I said okay I get a knock on the door I got 40 Japanese tourists outside with cameras that don't speak English I got

one person that speaks English they come here to see Lizzie bordon that's true people come here to see Lizzie boron's house or Maple CW well when I worked at the District Attorney's Office coming out of the District Attorney's office I can't count the number of times I took the camera and took a picture of the group that was there there are a lot of people that come to see that so maybe

there there should be a pamphlet too of what other things are around that people may be interested in I brought a group of um Japanese people who were pigeon Racers Pigeon Racing people I brought them and they wanted to go we I we got a bus and I brought them on a tour for River and one of the stops was at the cemetery and Lewis H who was a speech writer for Roosevelts I explained to

them all about him how the president had come here for his funeral his wife was the first female uh postm and it just so happened as I was leaving um oh Tommy Eaton was was running the at the time and Tom said Linda I want you to meet it was LS how's great grandson who's an attorney for an Indian tribe down in New Mexico him and his girlfriend were there he couldn't

believe that this group of people and it was wonderful because his girlfriend makes Indian jewelry she gave me the nicest necklace it was wonderful but they all got to meet him and it just happened yeah and we went all around I mean and then they just had Lis LMA I mean this man did so much with the electric light B and the telephone and he's buried right here in for River

there a lot of famous people done it yes that is I don't knows around I I mean I said it before I me I live from the entrance any B the G that's pretty damn close um and I can't tell you how many people you see you know Missouri plates or whatever I'm in there doing all the plantings as I've been doing for I 12 years and I can't tell you how many cars

I popped into and hopped in and Dr them around them an informal 45 minute nickel tour and they're like thrilled the people come from Michigan I went with one two crowds once and they came because one of the was her 60th birthday and she wanted to stay in Lizzy Gordon room for her birthday and I happen to run into him at the bakery for lunch and uh I got out of work 5:00 as I

meet you there and I B her for an hour tour and they were like over the moon why don't why don't we have things like that um I anyway Alex Alex I just had a quick question what's the quickest um is it the way finding is it the computer the app what would be the most immediate thing that we could get I don't know I don't know if it would be an app can we

do an app does somebody know how to do an app on a phone that says you know app of Four River sites and then it would give you a whole list I don't know look you know what I have a cell phone but honestly when I get stuck my 12-y old grandson figures it out so I don't want to why say because I don't just trying to figure out what's the most immediate

I think that's can we do what can we do immediately Google Map bring up the map can and instead of waiting I don't know I've never looked at River to be honest whether you know who knows anything about cell phones okay Andrew will check that out for us can you check that out for the next meeting Andrew will check that out for the next meeting and see what happens Alexander your next name and

address hi uh Alex Silva 148 Purchase Street preservation sorry Fall River uh I won't repeat but in regards to like an app a QR code could be used to link to like the city's website which has a map of everything on it and a list so that could circumvent the need and cost of an app it would just be like QR codes like strategically placed around tourism areas and then people just scan them and

then they can see everything everything they want in Fall River um just pushing back a little bit on the sole GPS and not signage argument I would just say that if you are focusing on like you know Google Maps or whatever ever you're kind of at the whim of Google's own algorithm so you know you're not really promoting exactly what you want um also for people not from here uh they

wouldn't know what to look for and what to Google I know when I'm driving through a new place I'm looking for the signs on the road and like that'll be a quick detour sort of thing um I think it'd be beneficial to you know promote the bigger attractions and then accentuate them with signage at and around the attraction so people extend their stays and extend the the you know the the fenses that they do with their

tourism um I also recently went to Charleston beautiful place they have a lot a lot of small even small signage for all kinds of just Historical Notes um they incorporate images with Engravings on a lot of signs couple months ago but they they incorporate a lot of imagery and maps with Engravings in their plaques and stuff so that could be a whole other dimension added to our signs um they

even have signs you know for places that are no longer there you know this fence is All That Remains of this building that was the first so forth so that is you know all adds to the walkability and Heritage tourism aspects uh other ideas I won't I won't repeat anything but you know placing them where not only where there's already existing high traffic both pedestrian and V vehicular uh but

also desired locations this could include um you know I know a lot of this is up in the air so these are just ideas but any future Waterfront Hotel in the new Route 79 project I mean you should be linking hotel with signage as much as you as possibly can uh you would hope that there would be a future visitor or Tourism Center added to this project and that would be a perfect spot for signage

um future trolley stops I think if we're actually going to be moving forward with trolleys thinking about you know where we want them to be and incorporating signage at those locations possibly even combining it with bus stops and shelters so it's a double whammy kind of ad advertising with the trolley Crow and the trolley crowd and the you know bus uh transients um the quicker Shan River

Rail Trail is something that wasn't mentioned a signage along there especially at Junction Junctions with streets where there's you know a nearby businesses uh I didn't hear the future bio Reserve Welcome Center which is a huge huge huge ecotourism possibility for the city um anything around there but also signage to help get there which you know places are best toart I know all of my friends who I've tried

to direct to the bi Reserve GPS you know Google takes you to you know the middle of the woods sometimes to park so you know just kind of streamlining that as the city looks forward to Future Pleasant Street revitalization that would be another perfect location for other signage the commuity rail station the hestad parks those were all mentioned um yeah and then uh you know at the signage locations you can start

advertising you know possible tours like Food Tours we have a lot of great ethnic food opportunities Underground Railroad historic Highlands Lizzie bordon those were all mentioned uh I think that's it for my new ideas Alex thank you so much you always bring such wonderful information everyone just gave such wonderful information this was the first meeting if there's anybody maybe Jason

with a historical society and Alex with preservation to look at what what is the complete listing of historical things we have um maybe looking at uh Chris an doing up whatever blurs about everything down in your end at the battleship uh Sandy and Dave maybe if you could check with Boston tourism and the money that they have what they've done in other communities Laura seems to have her uh

her ear her right down to all of the signage and I think what Jason brought up was a good idea also Al to look at if we do signs does diamond or dery do signs do they do signs as well either that or I mean I have two companies that I work with that will do whatever we want so well we still have Bristol County Opa money left so there's three

of us here that I think would support using some of that towards it or towards the computer thing you know what I like when you drive by a house that's for sale and it's got a sign outside and you click on it and it says this house features you know so many bedroom blah blah blah do they have anything like that to go by like if I went by the laf

at dery house and sign up front and that will do it that'll bring the Facebook page yeah so maybe those QR codes are good yeah to have know what else good for you Andrew because you're young and know all that stuff and I'm very happy to have you on this committee with me is the neighborhood signning like Cy r the Flint North End Columbia Street area steep Brook and yeah Ste but just an

area of uh a QR code in that neighborhood that gives the history of the neighborhood all right well listen I thank everyone for coming I hope that it was enjoyable for everyone if we could look at different signs perhaps with Gail on what kind of signs would work to be consistent you know some ideas of different signs and anybody has any ideas about this meeting anything that you want to

volunteer to do that you're willing to take on for this Committee just email Lauren cityor counil and it'll come to all of us and I know that Thanksgiving is coming in Christmas so let's try to get together the beginning of the year for those of us that will still be here and not retired um and look at uh step two to try to keep this going so we can

get it done thank you all so much for coming and anybody that has photos if you want to leave them with Lauren so she can make copies of them or if you don't have other copies at home if you could get them to her because that would be helpful for her um do I motion table table Yeah motion to table second and a second all in favor ition Mo second

motion to adjourn and a second all in favor thank you all very much

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