Night Wave -- Looking back

Night Wave weekend is now behind us.  The entire weekend was a success, in my opinion, but there were a few moments that really showcased the potential.  Friday night, especially, made downtown Santa Fe feel and look completely different (in a good way).  But the success of the project proves that we have work to do in front of us.  I want to run through some observations about last weekend, and offer some possible solutions. 

A true data packet from Night Wave will be compiled and turned into The City of Santa Fe in the coming weeks. These are just some quick thoughts.

Event Programming
It became clear to me that Santa Fe’s nightlife can really only be improved when promoters, business owners, and venues start to offer better programming that can reach diverse crowds.  A quality nightlife in Santa Fe starts with quality programming.  Night Wave attempted to build a weekend line-up that would attract many demographics to the same area -- theater, comedy, dance, hip-hop, top-40, techno, disco, dubstep, metal, etc.  This sort of diversity needs to be strived for.  Instead of fighting over a piece of a tiny pie, venues, owners and promoters need to learn how to bake a bigger pie.

By offering diverse and quality programming, we will attract diverse and quality audiences.

Promotion
Tourists and locals alike need to know what is happening on any given week.  I believe that the shared promo we did for Night Wave worked in everyone’s favor.  This should be a regular occurrence.  But ya know what?  This takes professional communication between nightlife establishments, owners, promoters, and DJ’s.  Some promoters -- like Johnny Pink with The Underground -- was fantastic at communicating and securing his lineup ahead of time.  Other businesses were changing their lineup the night of the event. In order to have promotion that has legs and carries integrity, we need business owners and promoters who are professional and communicate like professionals.

Shuttle
Supposedly we only had 20 people ride it.  But I suspect that that number is low.  Either way, the shuttle proved to be the toughest piece to communicate, not surprisingly.  Public Transportation is something that needs consistency, repetition, and solid PR campaign.  NIght Wave simply did not have the opportunity to do that.

I don’t think the Shuttle needs to be free.  I think $1.00 rides is totally fair.  But if we build something for the longterm, we gotta have a system that interacts with a smartphone app.  If someone can look at their phone and know where the bus is, they will be more likely to ride it.  The thought “well what if it doesn’t show up?” kills the system.

Additionally, I think a late-night shuttle route should drive right down San Francisco St. and pick people up in front of Evangelos/Skylight.  This was my personal mistake.  In hindsight, the shuttle needed to be present to all the people who were on the corner. 


Food Trucks
On Friday night, it seemed like all aspects were clicking.  And because of that, downtown Santa Fe felt like a completely new city.  The three food trucks were huge components of this.  It was so obvious to me:  The positive vibes that we felt downtown could largely be contributed to the fact that people were enjoying food.  Aggro heads are calmed with tasty tacos.

And I loved the trucks that were at the event, but in the future we need to have trucks that want to stay open until 2:15am.  This may mean new entrepreneurs starting up their own food truck (Jonah, looking at you man!).  Dr. Field Goods and Street Food were total champs, but they didn’t seem too psyched that they had to stay until the early morning.  Staying open until 2:15am is really important.

I also wish there was more dedicated street space for trucks and seating.  (I will touch on this more later)

Outdoor Visuals/Night Time Art
The work that Lumenscapes, Benji Geary, and Dave Mcpherson put into the outdoor visual component really made the weekend feel special and vibrant.  The projection on The Lensic was awesome as it hovered over our makeshift nightlife zone.  And the moments of colored lamposts created a festival atmosphere.  I would love to see the city commission summertime visuals on an annual basis that coincides with weekend nightlife events.

Police Presence
The SFPD handled Night Wave so well.  They had control, but were not overbearing.  I hope SFPD keeps this spirit as we move forward.  As police grow aggressive, it escalates the aggression of others, we know this.  And watching SFPD have fun while being police officers really made the mood of the event feel so positive.

Buskers
More performers should get busking licenses and more performers should perform up until midnight around the bars.  It felt magical to walk out of a club and stumble upon random brilliance.

But, it would be great if the city had some better lighting in some key places.  Burro Alley, for instance, is a great place to busk but the lighting is not thoughtful.  It would be great if there were some “busking stages” of sorts, where anyone could set up, flip a switch, and have a nice public outdoor space to play.

Galisteo St.
So, it seemed like most of the chaos the Night Wave weekend was caused by traffic heading up Galisteo and turning either left or right on to San Francisco.  That corner (in front of Evangelo's) is where so much foot traffic ends up crossing and congregating.  It seems like the obvious choice to close down Galisteo on Friday and Saturday nights during the summers.  This will allow for food trucks to be parked down Galisteo, buskers to perform, and outdoor seating to be placed.

City Cleanup
At the end of the night on both Friday and Saturday I realized that someone needed to do cleanup.  Since Night Wave was out of the norm for the city, I did not expect our city workers to handle the extra mess.  And the last thing I wanted was business owners to wake up in the morning with overturned burgers and squirting ketchup packets on the sidewalk.  So I put on rubber gloves and cleaned.

But it dawned on me that having extra trash cans and cigarette receptacles is not enough.  If Santa Fe is going to have a dedicated nightlife district, we need to allocate extra city resources to cleanup.  A nightlife zone will only work if the daytime businesses are assured and shown that cleanliness is a top priority.

Conclusion
Night Wave was a tremendous success and starting next summer, I would love to see Night Wave happen every weekend from Memorial Day to Fiestas. It was clear that -- contrary to popular belief -- Santa Fe actually does have the demographic to support a vibrant nightlife.

I see us moving towards a consistent Night Wave model, activated every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with road closures, vendors, food, outdoor art installation, etc.  I think we can significantly grow the size of the pie instead of fighting over crumbs.  The audience exists to support this.

But lets be clear about something: We will not sustain an audience if the quality of the programming does not increase.  Venues and promoters and owners need to produce consistent and quality nights of entertainment that will draw diverse crowds who start their nights earlier.   We need nightlife business from 7pm - 2am.  We need a nightlife audience that includes Baby Boomers, tourists, and those of us who don’t want to listen to top-40.  We need a nightlife that represents the diversity of our city.  And that is not something the city can do for us. That is OUR responsibility -- the promoters, the venues, the business owners -- to step our game up.

I want to thank everyone for helping out.  I already mentioned the city employees in an earlier post, but others deserve recognition too:  Megan Burns for organizing food and buskers, Katelyn Peer (Creative Santa Fe) for helping with licensing and permits, Shannon Murphy and Katherine Morgan (AHA) for the data collection, Emily Montoya (Dirt Girl) for all the promo, Maggie Thornton (Mindshare Studios) for the website, Jo Dean and Jimmy Heil (Lumenscapes) for the beautiful lighting elements, Benji Geary, Dave Mcpherson, and Jake Snider (Meow Wolf) for video and light installations, Mike Baca for running sound at the last moment, Paul Feathericci, Augustine Ortiz, Dominick Gonzales, Isaiah Rodriguez, Max B.K., Johny Broomdust, Patrick Noble, Victor Romero, Sol Bentley, John Luna, Johnny Pink, and Charlie Parker for booking events during Night Wave.

**Please add your comments and suggestions below.  Thank you all!! <3

A Big Thanks -- to everyone

Before we launch all the information tomorrow, I want to thank everyone who has helped out with this project thus far.

Mayor Gonzales was the inspiration behind many of these ideas. His vision for uplifting Santa Fe's night life, having late-night food, and creating a late-night shuttle were the starting points for much of Night Wave. I'm excited to know that we have a Mayor who is ready to commit long-term to some of these solutions.

Councilor Wurzeberger and Kate Noble introduced and championed the resolution that led to the city's focus on night life. It created the funding for this project, and set precedent for city cooperation.

Creative Santa Fe has been a huge piece of support for me. Katelyn Peer knows the permitting system at the city, and has really helped me envision the best ways to move forward on Night Wave.

Megan Burns has been organizing all the food trucks and outdoor public performances. She has put together a 3 -night schedule of performances by 15 different artists.

Emily Montoya put in tons of time to help me design a few flyers for this event. The big flyer, which shows all 40 participating artists, is quite a hefty task and she nailed it.

Maggie Thornton from Mindshare has built the website for us. Such a great company, so easy to work with, and Maggie did a quick and fantastic job with the task.

Jo Dean from Lumenscapes enlightened what was possible downtown from a visual stand point. Excited to work with his company to make our night life zone look more night lifey.

Dave Mcpherson and Benji Geary will be producing a ton of amazing video projection that will tower over the downtown area.

Shannon Murphy at AHA has created a survey for the weekend so that Night Wave can gather some key data to turn back into the city.

Joe Ray Sandoval has been working with me side-by-side through this process. I'm so excited that Skylight Santa Fe will be a central part to this project.

Victor Romero, The Santa Fe V.I.P. -- Always an engine of great ideas and energy,

All of the venue owners and promoters - Johnny Pink, Johnny Broomdust, John Luna, Mejed Hamdouni, Nick Klonis, Dominick Gonzales, Charlie Parker, Max B.K., Paul Feathericci, Peter Chapman, Augustine Ortiz, Patrick Noble, Janet Davidson, and Isaiah Rodriguez - for being so easy to work with. Santa Fe's night life is in our hands -- thank you guys for stepping up with me on this.

The sponsors -- Five and Dime General Store, Furry's Buick-GMC, and The Jean Cocteau! Thank you!

The many city employees and officials who have been so welcoming to this idea: Barbara Lopez, Matt O'Riley, Georgia Urioste, Jon Bulthuis, Kate Noble, Ross Cheney, Jessica Sandoval, Albert Martinez, Sevastian Gurule, Councilor Lindell, Lieutenant Paulk, and many others along the way.
Thank you all!! <3

Late-Night Shuttle in Santa Fe?

I gotta say, Jon Bulthuis and Annette Granillo at the City's Transit Division are fantastic to work with. I just got out of a thorough meeting about Night Wave discussing some transportation ideas.  The two of them were supportive and collaborative, and it looks like we will be able to test out some late-night transportation options.

During his campaign, Mayor Gonzales spoke about the possibility of a late-night, weekend shuttle route that would travel from downtown to both SFUAD and St. Johns's, in hopes of encouraging more students to participate in downtown nightlife.

Night Wave is going to take The Mayor's idea, and test run it.  We will have two late-night routes.  The first route will be an "inner loop" and service Agua Fria, Osage, St. Mikes, Baca St. and Second St. neighborhoods.  The second route will be a Park n Ride for the southside of Santa Fe stationed at Santa Fe Place.  Southside residents can park at the mall, and pick up a shuttle to downtown.

The proposed shuttles will run from 9pm-2am, with the final shuttles leaving downtown after the bars close. Sponsoring this piece of the proposal will be The Jean Cocteau, who's owner George RR Martin has been  advocating for such a shuttle as well.  

With The Mayor's initiative, GRRM & Economic Development's support, and Transit Division's collaboration, it looks like this shuttle idea will come to fruition for our Night Wave weekend (July 31st, August 1st, August 2nd)!!  Now it is OUR JOB to use this FREE service!  Stay tuned for map and times.  <3

Sponsors of Night Wave

  I want to recognize and thank those who are supporting Night Wave with direct sponsorship.  Let's remember which businesses have come out and unequivocally stated that Nightlife in Santa Fe is important.   ** In a later post, I will feature collaborators and creative sponsors.

The Five and Dime General Store
Earl Potter, owner of Five and Dime on The Plaza, recognized the importance of this proposal and his business is a major sponsor for the weekend.  This support will allow us to pay for additional talent, cigarette receptacles, garbage cans, and improved lighting in the area.  Thank you to Earl Potter and The Five and Dime!

The Jean Cocteau Cinema
The Jean Cocteau Cinema will be sponsoring a specific piece of the weekend.  It has been George RR Martin's vision to utilize the Santa Fe Pick Up Shuttles as a late-night transportation option.  Night Wave will follow through with this vision for one weekend thanks to The Jean Cocteau's sponsorship and The City of Santa Fe Transportation Division's cooperation and support.

Furry's Buick-GMC
Brad and Julia Furry own Furry's Buick-GMC on Cerrillos Rd.  They have graciously chosen to sponsor another specific piece to Night Wave -- The Promo Kiosks.  As we all know, finding places to promote your event in Santa Fe is seemingly impossible.  The city has an ordinance against posting on light poles, and private businesses have boards that are overrun by yoga, pilates, business cards, and meditation retreats.  Furry's Buick-GMC will be sponsoring the construction of 2 public promotional kiosks that will give event producers a place to post flyers, posters, and information about events.

Big Meeting Update -- Some obstacles, mostly support

  So this morning (Tuesday, June 24th) Katelyn Peer (Creative Santa Fe) and I had a meeting with Matt O'Reilly (Director of Land Use Department), Zach Schandler (City Attorney's office), Georgia Urioste (Land Use), Barbara Lopez (Special Events), Councilor Signe Lindell, a private security firm, Girls Inc. Art Fair, and Albert Martinez from parking. 

  Some things were determined that will shift the vision for the project.

  In order to close the streets (Galisteo and San Francisco) the police will need Night Wave to pay for 6 extra police officers.  This would be overtime pay at $80/hr.  When you calculate this out, this would come to $2400/day.  I was awarded $4000 TOTAL for the entire event.  Not viable.

 In addition to the extra police officers, I would also need to pay for barriers ($500/night) and private security.

 The Fire Chief felt like closing the streets would make fire safety an issue.

 So, without closed streets, where can food trucks go?  Councilor Lindell (District 1) was at this meeting specifically to support having late-night food trucks, and we settled on setting up a Food Truck zone in the Water St. parking lot.  I thank Councilor Lindell for making time to show her support. 

  Matt O'Reilly and Georgia Urioste (Land Use) were both very supportive of the project. I was surprised, to tell you the truth, but the support they both showed me was fantastic.  I hope a similar energy of support and collaboration continues in the department. 

  Land Use approved the canopy lighting over the street, the extra garbage/recycle receptacles, cigarette receptacles, and video projections.

  The representative from the Girls Inc. Art Fair (who has a Plaza event that weekend) suggested that the late-night partyers would damage the art booths, and asked if I could pay for additional security.  I pointed out to her that Girls Inc. is one of 8 organizations that get to host a fundraiser on The Plaza (where over $50,000 is raised annually) and that it seemed a bit unnecessary and unfair to ask me to supplement security.  But, I obliged and will be handing a few hundred bucks over to Girls Inc. to cover costs. 

Ultimately, it was a clarifying meeting.  It seems as though the Police and Fire are really the two biggest sticklers to the Night Wave proposal.  I would have loved some more reasonable support from Barbara Lopez (who is the one who issues the permits for these things).  It would be nice if she could understand the limitation of our budget, and find a way for us to close the streets without the overwhelming police costs.  But I do commend Barbara for organizing such a good meeting on short notice, and I appreciate her willingness to give this project a shot.

Although I do find it ludicrous that we would need so many overtime officers for this area at night.  This is an area of town where bars already exist, you would think that the city would allocate proper resources appropriately.  And doesn't it seem like tons of officers congregate around Evangelos/Matador on a weekly basis anyway?  This is where things got real murky for me. 

Instead of considering Night Wave to be a "special event", city departments need to view it as a re-envisioning of the nightlife area.  Let's accept that we have bars and clubs there, lets accept that we have inebriated pedestrians, and lets accept that the area is not properly designed or managed for this type of economy.  Police resources should be found within the city budget, garbage and ashtrays should be placed by the city, better lighting should be designed and paid for by the city.  By closing the streets and installing better lighting and allowing for food trucks, the city would be creating a HEALTHIER and SAFER nightlife.

 Forward we go -- with a more clear understanding of what will be possible and what we will have to scrap. 

Night Wave Specific Objectives

Here are the things I will be requesting permission for when I meet with Land Use Department tomorrow.  

Night Wave Specific Objectives

• Close Galisteo from Water to San Francisco St. on 7/31, 8/1, 8/2 from 9pm-2am

• Close one or both lanes of San Francisco St. from Sandoval to Galisteo on 7/31, 8/1, 8/2 from 9pm-2am

• Place 3 to 5 food trucks on either Galisteo St. facing east, or San Francisco St. facing north.

• Place a temporary stage, sound system, and lighting on Galisteo St./Water on 8/2 from 11pm-2am

• Place outdoor seating on either Galisteo St. or San Francisco St.

• Hang canopy-style patio lighting across Galisteo St. -- see image

• Hang canopy-style patio lighting across Burro Alley

• Project video on to top of Lensic building facing east

• Project video on west wall of Galisteo St.

• Add 4 garbage cans to Galisteo St.

• Add 2 garbage cans to San Francisco St.

• Add a cigarette receptacle to the outside area closest to each nightlife venue (6) -- see image

• Place video dome on top of 139 West San Francisco St.
    
  Add two shuttle routes to southside of town from 9pm-2am.

Cigarette Receptacle Image:            Canopy Lighting:

                           

What is Night Wave?

A weekend of downtown activity -- July 31st, August 1st, August 2nd. Click Here for the original proposal if interested. Below is a synopsis.

The short of it:
Increase the health, vibrancy, attractiveness and quality of our Night Time Economy by exploring options for late-night food (food trucks), improved lighting and aesthetics, pedestrian traffic, outdoor performance, improved parking and transportation options, improved promotional options, and added city resources (trash cans, street cleaning, ashtrays, etc.) Night Wave is a "model weekend" taking place at the hub of night life activity (San Fran/Galisteo), in hopes of collecting data and perspective for further city evaluation. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VhbFuM34GSpG9O67eXYixVmfm_GbsahLJVuqEr3NHkU/edit?usp=sharing

Night Wave Update (6/19/14) -- THE SUPPORTERS OF NIGHT LIFE

So yesterday I said I would communicate where resistance is found during this process. But, just as valuable, I will also communicate where we have support for building a healthier night time economy, including the current supportive structure and how we got here. I realize the educating process here is heavy, but knowledge is power.

-- Economic Development is the division in the city where Night Time Economy has been deemed a top priority. This is in thanks to Councilor Wurzburger (who is sadly no longer on council) and Kate Noble, who is still with the city. Kate Noble is a huge supporter for a healthier and more vibrant night time economy. Ross Chaney from Econ Dev. is the point-person for Night Wave funding.

-- There is an Econ. Dev. sub-committee that made this specific funding for Night Wave available. The Business & Quality of Life committee (BQL) is chaired by Councilor Signe Lindell and Councilor Peter Ives. They are new to this committee, but I trust that both councilors will become supporters of a healthier night time economy over time. Other BQL committee members who are totally supportive are Buddy Roybal (owner of Coronado Paint and Supply), Damian Taggart (owner of Mindshare Studios), Piper Kapin (owner of Backroad Pizza), Brad Furry (owner of Furry's Buick GMC), Miles Conway (AFSCME Communications Director), and Simon Brackley (Chamber of Commerce). We have allies all over this sub-committee.

-- Mayor Gonzales is a definitive supporter of improving our Night Time Economy. He ran on this issue during his campaign, and he continues to be a supporter. But, The Mayor is still just one person. Having his unequivocal support is totally valuable, but he can't do it on his own.

-- Jon Bulthuis is Director of Transportation with the city. He would love to see a late-night weekend shuttle route, and has shown total support for this so far. Similarly, Sevastian Gurule with Parking Division is supportive in modifying parking restrictions for supporting late-night use.

-- Business owners in downtown Santa Fe.... ARE SUPPORTIVE! I talked to 40 business owners in the past few days, and 100% of which supported the idea of a healthier Night Time Economy. Business owners want to see better lighting, outdoor food, trash bins, better transportation, street closure, and added resources for clean-up. Business owners in the downtown area recognize that Nightlife is a key element to our city, and that we need to focus on it so its healthier for everyone.

-- The Five & Dime has come out, front and center, and has become a major sponsor for Night Wave. The owner of Five & Dime, Earl Potter, loves what I am proposing and immediately became a backer for the weekend. Also, George RR Martin and The Jean Cocteau has come out as a sponsor as well.

-- Creative Santa Fe is helping the project out by assisting in the logistics of street closure and process of permitting.

We definitely have allies. But in the city, just because you have allies on one side doesn't mean you have allies on the other side. I'll keep everyone updated, big meeting coming up Tuesday.