[SPEAKER_02]: An old school theater. Oh, thank you.
[Krause]: Somebody's recording about that. I forgot to do that. Sorry.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, we'll try and we'll try to remember it every time. So, a number of these items are, you know, related to that, and they've sort of been pending for, you know, at least a few months, I'd say. So, you can sort of see some of the things that we're that are on our on our radar, active efforts to improve the theater. So the estimates for ceiling lights are digital. This is the notes from Paul noting that bids should be out very shortly. New banners we've been talking about for a couple of months and those are hung, which is nice. I haven't actually seen them. Has anybody seen them? No. Yes. You have, yeah?
[Krause]: Look good. New font. Nice.
[SPEAKER_02]: Great. I'll have to go by there. I actually was downtown today, but I didn't think about it. Okay. And the other thing that Paul shared was this third, fourth item about the marquee approval. We're trying to put up a sort of digital display, but they need some documentation, workers' comp, et cetera, before we can get the work proceeding with a work permit. So that's came in. We had some hiccups with the lobby elevator that appears to be fixed. The roof leak update we're waiting for. I wasn't quite sure from Mike's notes. I just copied this from his notes that the vendor has the purchase order waiting for work to be completed. Did you understand that Ken?
[Krause]: uh... it well i know the last thing i want to see how much The last I heard from Paul is he had somebody go up and take a look at it with Matt Baxter from the BBP crew and they identified what needed to be done. So it looks like, and Paul was waiting for a quote. It looks like the quote came in and the purchase order has been issued and they are waiting for the vendor to get the work done, I guess.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[Krause]: The way I'm reading that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so I'm sort of saying, change it like that. So, it's a little clearer. Okay. And then a couple of things that are still, you know, we haven't really made progress, the vestibule door automatic opener and the handicap ramp repairs. And, oh, thank you. Yeah.
[Krause]: Picture of the banners in the chat.
[SPEAKER_02]: Ken shared the pictures of the banner in the chat. Yeah. Great. That does look nice. All right. And so I think sort of moving on from those, the next items might be sort of more your feedback, Ken, around the gym windows restoration. Do you have any updates? Right, yes.
[Krause]: You remember last meeting we were exploring the possibility of a Community Preservation Act Grant for the gym window restoration is similar to what we received for the theater windows a couple of years ago. Well, rather sheepishly, we discovered that the window that we showed pictures of last. meeting that looked like they had like this steel window steel frame windows had broken apart the window was actually just open so the window was intact rusted all to heck but it just had come open so apparently they tilt in so that uh led us to well paul was going to get his window consultant window vendor to look at the windows and see what what actually what they need the um Vendor was going to look at them anyway to see if they what they needed, but now it sounds like they need more repair than restoration. The kind that the CPA. Funds and also some way to keep them from opening by themselves. The windows are right inside where the heating units are. So it's really bad to have them. Open all the time, so I haven't heard back and I check with Kevin Bailey today. He hadn't heard back. Kevin's the recreation director. He was unable to come tonight because of a family matter, but he had not heard back from Paul on the assessment from the window. So the. CPA deadline came and went, it was. The end of the last month, so there was no application put in, but yeah, so we're waiting for the evaluation of the windows and what they need and then determine next steps, including where the money would come from. So I would guess there's more. To come for the next meeting on that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay. All right.
[Krause]: Regarding yeah. Any questions on that? Okay, and the basketball apparatus, so the friends of Chevalier received a grant. Of trying to remember, that's not 5,000 dollars. I think the basketball apparatus, the hoops and the backboards and the apparatus that lowers and raises the. basketball hoops, it's in really bad shape. And some of them are inoperable. So a quote was received for $28,000 to repair all six of them. Well, the friends got a grant of $5,000 for the work and the friends have committed 2,000 for the work. So that's only 25% of the cost. And the recreation department has some funds available, but not, the balance. So Kevin went back to the vendor and asked him for basically a estimate or a report on what they could do for $12,000. So he's hoping that might be enough to do like the four side baskets, which are in really bad shape, like they don't go up and down. And he's waiting to hear back on that. So that's the status on that one.
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, thank you, yeah. Do you know if there's any sort of timing or we just, I mean, do you think we'll get any news within the month or?
[Krause]: Hard to say, hard to say. The only thing I can say definitively on the timing is that our grant has to be spent by March. So hopefully it'll be done way sooner than that.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, all right, yeah, so if we, yeah, how long it actually takes to do anything once it's been approved and whether the vendor's available and that sort of thing. Okay, the next item that was on the agenda was this designated areas for the ride share pickup and drop off that we've been talking about for a bit. And I know that for the Blumenreich group, congestion around the theater can be really problematic on show nights. Jessica, maybe you have some updates on this?
[MCM00001696_SPEAKER_00]: No, unfortunately, I don't have any updates.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, do we know if we've got a location picked out, or is this, we have to... I forget who, yeah, someone was supposed to... Somebody in facilities or transportation?
[Krause]: Yeah, Andrew Mather from BBP has been in touch with Todd Blake, who's in charge of traffic and bike lanes and pedestrian improvements and stuff like that. And from what Andrew said, he was very receptive to the concept. And there were a couple of places identified, one on Riverside Avenue that used to be a taxi cab stand, conveniently enough, and another one on Salem Street. So they're definitely exploring that. And I haven't shared this with Andrew yet, but just anecdotally, I'll share quickly. I was outside the theater. A couple of Fridays ago, about 8 15, I was just dropping something off at the post office and some a woman came up onto the sidewalk and said, do you know where deep cuts is? And I and she said, I said, yeah, he said, I just got I just took an Uber here and I told him to take me to deep cuts and they dropped me off here. Right in front of the fire. So, well, I was heading to the con and show. So I said, well, I'll walk you down that way. But the concept of the ride share drop off area is not just for it's for all of the destinations in the square. And it made me think that if we had this designated area. This type of thing would be less likely to happen because people would be dropped off and picked up. Right at that location and also Jess and her office are starting to work on a wayfinding program and how great would it be for somebody to step off the curb when they get out of that ride share and they look up and there's a sign that says here's where deep cuts is here's where the royal house is here's where Chevalier is so it just sort of. I thought demonstrated the need for what Andrew and Todd are talking about for the benefit of Chevalier and deep cuts and all the destinations in the square.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's in, I mean, I'm just sort of, as an ordinary person, I'm sort of wondering why it, you know, what more needs to, why does it take so long to come to this decision? Are there things that we are not aware of?
[Krause]: You know, and to publicize it, I don't know if Jess wants to speak to that, but the gaming commission. Mitigation fund that the city. just received approval of at the end of May. 10 or 11 projects were on there, including the lighting and the billboards for Chevalier, but one of them was to start a wayfinding study. So I think it involves a consultant to, you know, review the existing conditions and, you know, come up with something that will Do what we need to do and I think. Sal, the head of the director of economic development indicated that might take until next fall to have it in place, but I think that's why it takes a while because they hire somebody to bring their expertise to bear on it.
[MCM00001696_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, since it's a project over $10,000, we'll have to do an RFP for a consultant. So that's going to be the target for the fall. And then hopefully, we get someone in for winter, spring and have that completed by then.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Is the ride share location part of that? Or is that a decision that could be taken separately?
[MCM00001696_SPEAKER_00]: That's separate and I imagine it's really just on the city court to reach out to ubers and lifts and the other TNT companies to designate that spot.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Well, maybe when Andrew's back with us next month, we might get an update and maybe some confirmation. That'd be really good. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Ken and Jessica for filling in the gaps. The next item is organ update, and I'm pretty sure that's Ken's.
[Krause]: We're moving along on the Oregon. We are just about reaching the end of the work on a contract for $40,000 worth of work. We're really to the stage where a lot of the work has to be done by professionals. We did a lot of the work early on with volunteers, but we're getting toward the part where they're finishing the connections to all the different wind chests and pipes and it's really technical work and so we just are at the completion of that contract and hopefully by Friday we'll be approving another contract for about $45,000. Our goal is to have the Oregon about 85% complete by next spring. It's about two-thirds complete now. The penciled-in date for a lot of this installation, the work is being done in a organ professional shop, is the week of Thanksgiving, and we've tentatively uh, got the okay from BBP on that, that they don't have any shows that week, uh, particularly Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. If that changes, we have some, um, flexibility. Um, but if all goes well, we'll be in there with a crew Thanksgiving week. And then a couple of days after that, depending on, um, how much they can get done. But the idea is to get as much done in the, uh, in the shop, they actually set up basically what they're going to. construct, if you will, in the chamber in their shop so they can get it as close to ready to go and easy to install when they get there with it. There's a couple of things that are difficult to do that way, but that's the goal, to minimize the amount of time they have to spend there because obviously they're getting paid by the hour. But we're happy with how it's moving along. I did mention last month that we had an application in for a grant from the American Theater Organ Society. We were not approved for that. It was for $9,500. But we have identified some other funders to provide what we were asking for. So the funding's in place. We just got a proposal from the professional yesterday that I'm going to try to get board approval of by the end of the week so we can keep it moving forward. So that's where it stands.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, great. You mentioned a second contract of 45k. Where does that fit in? Is that to finish the organ or is that Oh, that would get it.
[Krause]: That would get us to the 85 percent. OK, Mark. Yeah. Which is essentially the theater pipe organ sound. The things that are in that remaining 15 percent are these theater organ has. a bunch of elements that are to make it sound like a full orchestra. These were created to be used to accompany silent films. Whereas in the in the early days, a small orchestra would often be used to accompany the films. Well, this organ was invented to sort of mimic the sound of an orchestra. So one organist could take the place of the entire orchestra. So what would be left or there's an actual like xylophone and chimes and glockenspiel and sleigh bells and things like that. And so those are the last things that would be unfinished by the end of this contract. And we actually just received a word of a different of a new Nonprofit grant making organization that focuses specifically on Oregon restoration and preservation. So that's our next target to get the money for those last 5 pieces, which. could cost as much as $75,000 just for the five of them. They're very intricate and labor-intensive things to restore. So that's why they're sort of on the back burner, because these other things we can afford, we don't have $75,000 for. The remaining part, but we're hopeful that this new grant making, or this foundation would be receptive to that, especially if it would pretty much finish the project and make it usable. whenever BBP would like to incorporate it into shows or we could have our own, you know, silent movies or concerts and things like that. So everybody is eager to see it available so it can be integrated into the Schreyer schedule on a regular basis.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Okay. So, I guess that's all the sort of updates on sort of prior items. Does anybody have anything else that we've sort of mentioned in the past that hasn't been documented here? And then, so I guess the new business is somebody suggested friends of the Chevalier balcony seat campaign. Who wants to talk about that?
[Krause]: I can go over that if you want. So last meeting in particular and pretty much. Almost every meeting 1 of the major. Projects near the top of the list. for capital improvements is the balcony seats. You may know that the orchestra level seats were replaced with upholstered seats in 2007, I think it was. Long range plan is to do the same with the balcony seats, which are still the wooden original seats. So, not only replacing the ones that are there, but also modifying. The seating, particularly in the front corners where it's, it's obstructed for a number of reasons. They don't really face the. the stage and then also the stage was extended a number of years ago and that compromised the sight lines from the first couple of rows in the balcony level. So that's one modification that will need to be done. There's also been talk of converting the Projection booth, which is at the far top center of the balcony into seats that would accommodate about 44 more seats and is eager to get as many seats as possible in the building as close to 2000 as possible. The. Conversion to the upholstered seats in the orchestra level actually reduce the seating capacity because the. The spacing between the rows were increased, so the number of rows was reduced and also a handicap seating was added and companion seats were added. Similarly, that probably would have to be done in the balcony when you come in from the elevator. adding some handicap seats there, and then also aisle lighting. So that's a lot of what it entails. But from the last meeting in particular, we talked about, okay, if this is a project that we want to do, let's look at all the funding sources. So we have the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, Capital Facilities Fund, Mass Cultural Council, which money has been obtained before. For the air conditioning in particular, there's the community preservation act, which may or may not be a source for new seats that would have to be explored. We have an annual allocation now from the mass gaming commission this year. It was a 1Million dollars and. Lighting from the, for the led lighting and the ceiling and the digital billboards were 2 projects that were approved for that. So next year, those, the applications are due in January. So the seats. Might be the 1 of the projects every year as long as Paul Donato has been in the state legislature, he's been able to get an earmark for this current fiscal year that just started. It's 100,000. so. We're trying to look at all the buckets that could potentially pay for. The new seats, which would be, you know, many hundreds of thousands of dollars and then at our last friends meeting, as we were talking about things we want to focus on. Paul Donato mentioned perhaps what the friends could contribute is a sponsor a seat campaign. Let's say if the community was invited to sponsor a seat for X amount of dollars, perhaps at different levels, and in return for that, they might get their name on a seat. A lot of Facilities do campaigns like that. So, um, that could raise, you know, a portion of the money that could go. So, again, we're trying to look at all the potential funding areas to. Pay for this project, which we, you know, we don't know at this point what it would cost, but that was the idea. So, I just wanted to make the commission aware of that and get any feedback they might have about. That being part of this.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, let's open it up for discussion or comments from everyone who's here.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I just want to make a point, Chris. Paul Donato has been absolutely instrumental and a pivotal resource in getting money for years and years and years. And I don't know if you know that every single ticket that's sold holds just under 1900. a dollar goes back to the city of Medford. So we're also trying to make them a little bit more responsible and stepping up to the plate and making some of these repairs. He sells out two shows, let's say, in a week, which is not uncommon. You're talking $3,800. So we have to make the city more accountable. He has been certainly instrumental and Bill has also been very kind, often in matching up, pulling out of his own pocket to make sure that the Chevalier is, you know, the hidden gem in Medford.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right, right. All these funding sources that Ken just named, I mean, are these annual applications or like, are they missed opportunities?
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, Ken is like the Grand Wizard. I know, right? This is amazing. Ken is like the Grand Wizard of like, you know, the Jeopardy King of researching these and actually doing the work with minimal assistance, but kudos and accolades to Kent.
[Krause]: Yeah, well, we've helped prepare the application information because technically, in a lot of cases, the city has to be the applicant because it owns the builder. But yeah, annually, the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, it's usually the end of January when their applications are due. And that's a great source for us because their focus specifically is on investing in facilities, performing arts centers, other cultural institutions that demonstrate the potential for increasing economic activity in the downtown areas where they're located.
[SPEAKER_05]: What's an average award for that?
[Krause]: It varies quite a bit. They're all on the Mass Cultural Council's website, all the ones that have been given over the years. So, but easily a few hundred thousand. I forget what we got for the air conditioning, but the air conditioning was a extremely strong candidate because the facility couldn't be used basically in July and August so and it became a 12-month venue so that increased you know substantially the number of shows that BBP can have that continues to grow.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's probably a very competitive application though I guess they all are funding.
[Krause]: It is it's statewide but you know I think Chevalier is a strong candidate. And yeah, other big time facilities like the Wang Center and the Hanover center and Worcester and, you know, they're all, all different types have, have, have got them. So it's not, um, and I think the BPL may have gotten done some, but if you look at the list, it's, it's, it's, it's quite broad who gets them. But, um, I think. While it is competitive, we have a very good case to make for our facility. And 1 of the things that we made successfully, or the city made successfully in the mitigation, the gaming mitigation fund, which is also annual in January that it has to 1 be something that. is needed to kind of offset the presence of the Encore Casino in our region. And the city also gets $100,000 a year separate from this million dollars that I mentioned. The million is for all kinds of projects related to the casino's impact. But the $100,000 specifically comes to kind of help Chevalier remained competitive with a brand new facility like Encore.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that goes right to, that 100K goes right to the theater? Right to the theater, yeah.
[Krause]: So that's 100,000. That's a healthy amount, yeah. Yeah, and the city is actually in the process of renegotiating that. It's a surrounding community agreement where that 100,000 is spelled out because it was negotiated in 2014. So that's one reason to update it. Plus they're building, it's on hold right now there, but they're building a new facility across the street. They'll have a 999 seat performing arts center that will have shows much like Chevalier puts on and also comedy and things like that. So, so again, what we stressed is, you know, this is the 1939 original high school auditorium. And so we're doing everything we can to make it competitive with these brand new spanking, new, exciting, lively, um, Facilities that have all the modern lighting and all that kind of stuff. And we're starting to get there. The mitigation fund approved the LED lighting and the digital billboard. So we're trying to make it more visually appealing.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's exclusively for the Chevalier and this year's project is the lighting and the billboard?
[Krause]: No, it's not exclusively for the Chevalier. The $1 million has about 5 categories under which the city can apply. Some of them are for public safety related to impact. Some of them are traffic. People that go to the Encore through Medford, so there's traffic improvements.
[SPEAKER_05]: But did you say there's an allocation specifically for the feeder? Of 100,000. Yeah, that's right. And is that what you do in the lighting and display?
[Krause]: No, the lighting and the digital billboards came from the million. It was one of the 11 projects because that far exceeded $100,000. The $100,000 went to other smaller projects. Gotcha, gotcha. So that's annual, CPA is annual.
[SPEAKER_05]: But that's more, is CPA more preservation? Like is that, like you seem to indicate that couldn't be used for new seats, say.
[Krause]: It's hard to say it's historic preservation, but 1 successful application was received because. It also covers access to historic facilities, right? So. We got a grant for adding a handicapped. chairlift as a backup in case the elevator fails, which it has done a couple of times, and also completing an ADA restroom that was unfinished. So, that could be one element because it would improve access. So, it just would be up, and especially with the additional handicap seating that doesn't exist now. So, it might be a stretch, but you never know.
[SPEAKER_05]: On the other hand... The code is preservation. You know, you got to keep it current.
[Krause]: I say on the other hand, we're replacing the original seats. So that might not be, you know, sort of historical preservation. There might be a, uh, not as much support for that from the CPA, but it's definitely next year, putting in an eligibility form for sure.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sure. Well, but you know, all these are different levers that you have to pull and it's seems really helpful. You can, Perhaps with the Gaming Commission allocation of 100K, that helps fund like ongoing maintenance, say? I don't know. And then these other awards are nice for bigger things. Is that how it's been working or, yeah? Yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, Chris, are you familiar with the CPA? Were you a resident here about five years ago? When it passed? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so you're familiar with that. Good.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it seems like – I mean they've stretched it a long way. They've done a lot of playgrounds and a lot of different work around town, at least what I think I've seen.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they have a certain criteria. It's all over the board, which is good. We happen to fall into that.
[Krause]: That's great. But to your question about Chevalier, yes, the smaller amount can be used for anything, and it has been used for smaller repair projects and things like that. The bigger ones have to have a direct, the million dollar fund, they have to demonstrate clearly that it's something related to the impact of the presence of the casino. For example, one project that the city had on its list originally was about for a facade improvement. And they were like, the commission said, that really doesn't have anything to do with the presence of the casino. So fortunately, they allowed the city to swap that out and with the wayfinding project, I think it was. But it does have to be connected. And another example, like the city of Cambridge, Applied for 3 new motorcycles for their police department and the commission said, well, you already have motorcycles. You had motorcycles before the casino came along. So that we're not going to fund that. So, again, it has to be something directly specify the funding source has their own mission.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right? You just, you got to know how it speaks to it.
[Krause]: Very much, but I think we, and you'll, you'll appreciate this. The biggest thing we need to do, and we're starting to do that. So, you know, this is a major, a major project in an active venue. So. Paul Riggi, the facilities director and. Raul, the general manager and Mike with the commission and yourself and the friends and everybody that's involved in making this happen. We have to look at the target for when we'd want to do this and say, OK, we want to do this in August of 2025. So, you know, think about. A period when perhaps the theaters is not that heavily used and they could carve out some time where it's either closed or the balcony is just not available for shows and then and begin to look at it. Now we have the city has to look at the structure, get a structural engineer and evaluate, say, the. Possibility of removing that projection booth is, is it possible, you know, there's big, thick walls that surround it. So, but so we need to be kind of backing up from, let's say. Next summer and and and get. moving on with the city now has a retainer with they call it a house doctor some people that do some of this type of analysis and evaluation from an engineering standpoint so we need to start start mapping out like a 12-month plan and say okay we're going to start with that we're going to start with getting somebody in there to give us an initial quote so we have some sort of dollar figure to go on. We don't really have that now because nobody's looked at it. You know, figure out what the timetable is on delivering the seats, producing the states, installing the seats, and all that kind of stuff. And then think strategically about the funding. Okay, we need to have a number to know how much it is by January so we can put in the application to the Mass Culture Facilities Fund and we can put in the application to the Mass Gaming Commission Mitigation Fund. So we really need to be looking at it, you know, from that end-to-end standpoint, and hopefully we can start doing that. And that's part of the reason why the seat campaign idea came up, because we do know pretty much what the main funding sources would be. And to Cindy's point about Paul Donato's help, specifically when the, um, orchestra level seats were done, he got much more money that year for the seats. It was several hundred thousand dollars. So it's, you know, it's a coordination on funding. It's a coordination on execution. You, you do this all the time. So, uh, that's, that's what we're trying to get in motion, I think. And, um, hopefully we can, we can, uh, Pull it off if that's what the people that involved think should be kind of the next big project. And I think it's high up there in addition to the interior lighting that's coming exterior lighting on the building. Right? Lobby improvements and things like that. But I think the next, the next big 1 is the is the balcony seats. Would you agree with that role?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I agree. That's been a long time coming. We've been advocating for that for since the beginning. So that's something that that will tie everything together. It's the balcony seating.
[SPEAKER_05]: So it sounds like January is a pretty big date for at least a couple of these. You know, do you be able to say what what the deadlines are for the other I mean, maybe we can come back with that, but just laying that out for one. I can help out to develop a plan for something like this. It would be very rough and conceptual. By January, we could have a basic idea for how long the process is going to take, including, you know, we're asking for All of our funding at that point, you know, it would start with your survey and analysis. You know, who can tell me what I can and can't build here and how many seats can I get in here? That would be sort of your first cost that you'd look to spend. I don't know. This is how I do it. I'm sure you guys might have a more cost-effective way to do it. And then the second part of that plan is the schedule for coordination and bidding and the like, and maybe finishing any other design or structural questions. And then you're getting into, you know, at the end of bidding, you need to make an award, somebody needs to order the stuff and plan the work. For a project this scale, that's going to take more than 12 months from today, which is next August. It could be 14 months, I don't know, just to get to that point where we're ready to actually execute construction. So I don't think we can really say The time frame that we could necessarily build this right now, but if we start working on it by January, we could have a pretty good plan set up for how long that'll take. And then we could sync that up with theater schedules to see when that might work out. Would that be helpful?
[Krause]: I would say very much. Paul Riggi is the director of facilities. He's not on the call tonight, unfortunately, but he has 18 buildings to cover, including City Hall, where they're putting in a new elevator at present, the new fire station that's in the works, you know, the senior center, the library, which, you know, is newer, but still has its issues. So I think he would hopefully welcome your contributions and partnership on this. So I think it would be very useful. To your question about the deadlines, yes, January 31st would be the deadline for both the Cultural Facilities Fund application and the Gaming Commission Fund if the schedules hold. Now CPA, the applications are due in October and they're usually awarded Early in the next year, they have to be approved by the city council ultimately. So, this round, the applicant, we wouldn't be in a position to apply for that this round. And then the fiscal year for the state legislature, obviously, is July 1 to June 30. so the budget season just ended for this fiscal year and mentioned Paul got 100,000 dollars. If he's in the legislature next year, you know, springtime, he'll be working to get what he can in the budget, so it would be good to have a conversation with him, say how much, you know, does he think we might be able to get? You know, the budget, the state revenue has been all over the place, but the time to sit with him and figure out what he thinks he could ask for and we'll at that time know what we need. It sounds like based on how you've laid it out, that would be the time for that one. So, those would be the main ones. The 1 little caveat there is some of these require a match and I think the cultural facilities fund is 1 of them. So that's another element that the city needs to be thinking about. Okay. If we're going to apply for 250,000 dollars from. Fund X, we have to be prepared to demonstrate that we have that money to provide our portion of the match. And Cindy was saying a dollar per ticket goes into the restoration fund. So perhaps that could start to be, I don't know. For this project, if we deem that this is the project, we're going to put our most effort behind. So that's another 1 that. Another pocket of money, but it would probably be good to have a separate. There's a capital facilities. Subcommittee of the commission and with you coming on board, it probably is a good time to have a meeting of that subcommittee with Paul Riggie and Mike and Raul and yeah. We can we can talk in a little more detail about the things you just described and then other projects that might be able to also continue with the other sources of money that we know about.
[SPEAKER_05]: That's great. Yeah, I mean, all of this I view as like potential funding source. So you got to make your pitch. And when you do, you know, interesting things could occur. So whether it's for these or for any others, we can just develop a plan and shop it around and see what kind of funding we can get. I'm excited to help out with that.
[Krause]: Yeah, and there was talk that some of this could be done in phases, like, say, the work on the projection booth. If that could be taken out, maybe some of that work can be done. Obviously, you wouldn't want to leave it. No, but you'd want to be able to have the seats put in, you know, it's a pretty major shutdown to do it all at once.
[SPEAKER_05]: So, you know, yeah, it'd be good to give the booking agent plenty of opportunities to still book while we're doing the work and you could do it.
[Krause]: Right.
[SPEAKER_05]: Spread the cost out too, you know.
[Krause]: Yeah. And they have some creative ideas for the corners of the balcony, like putting like high seats, like you see it, you know, like Fenway Park in the corner where they put those seats in there. Oh, yeah. Yeah. OK. Would make those seats go from obstructed view to premium. Top shelf seats, you know, yeah, so that maybe could be something that could be done in a phase, you know, the front quarter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that one of the important phases should be some type of LED lighting on the floors and the balcony. like we have downstairs in the orchestra. You know, if you go up there, once the show starts, lights go out, it's completely dark and you're at an incline. So it's like potential for someone to get hurt. So I think adding some type of LED lighting should be one of the, you know, priorities before anything on the floors at the balcony.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, interesting.
[Krause]: That's for code purposes, yeah.
[SPEAKER_04]: Chris, just for notification, as you heard, Paul is responsible for 18 city-owned buildings, but I have been abundantly clear and vocal that Chevalier is the only city-owned building that generates revenue, so our staff should be elevated. And sometimes we are perceived, or has been in the future, we're trying to change this, in the past, excuse me, as the orphan. Sure. We need to make sure that our needs are known and addressed. Because this is, again, a hidden gem with this, you know, six largest data in New England. I don't want to wax poetic, but I'm adamant about that. So.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it makes total sense. And, you know, I just see them all as a funding source. How can we get to them and give them a really good case that they should invest in this?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Yeah, I said, and that seems Chris, you're ideally qualified to help develop that kind of plan.
[SPEAKER_05]: It was higher ed and municipal governments operate similarly. Yeah, this is exciting. It's a really fun goal to get done. And, you know, the fact that there's any funding sources out there, like, you can really, it gives you something to work with and get stuff done. You know, things like lighting is. pretty low dollar these days. They've got really small, compact units that are kind of cheap, that can move, you know, move the needle in a lot of places. So anyways, I'm looking forward to get started. So again, that's a separate subcommittee, or I mean, I was going to ask, can I get a tour of the theater? Maybe can we set up a meeting with, who is it, Mike?
[Krause]: Yeah, Mike's the acting chairperson. I'd also be happy to lead you on a tour. Of course. I was expecting you.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. Who's the city department head?
[Krause]: Paul Righi. Right. R-I-G-H-I. Yeah. He's regularly on the meetings, but was out, I guess, out of town this month.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sure. Well, maybe we could set something up for early September. I'd love to get oriented and help develop some data for this.
[Krause]: Yeah, sure. Yeah, you'll be interested to see, because it's an old building. And just an example of getting the lights on each of the aisle seats in every row upstairs will be somewhat challenging, just in terms of their access, if they're going to be wired. So little things like that. It's an old system.
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah. I don't mean to oversimplify it. Yeah.
[Krause]: A lot of places, you've got to get illumination.
[SPEAKER_05]: Right, right. Um, but, yeah, yeah, what are the other projects like the lighting and signage is the city running that or who's. Who's running point on that was basically.
[Krause]: Yeah, Paul, the city, the facilities directors is in charge. Nice. Okay. And in consultation with the. Blumenreich presents people, particularly like a marquee has been donated. From the Wilbur theater through the Bill Blumenreich himself, and that's being going to be installed on the side of the building in addition to the digital billboards on the front. So, Paul is shepherding that through, and it requires a permit and notification of the butters if they're within a certain distance of and all that kind of thing. So, yeah, he's, he's seeing that through. Cool. Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Ken, I was thinking maybe you could share that Google Doc link again so that Chris can see some of the other improvements that have been raised and where we are.
[SPEAKER_05]: He sent me a list before the meeting.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, you've got that?
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I was presenting that earlier. Okay.
[Krause]: Yeah, Mike asked me to send that to him this morning, so I did.
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, all right, so we've got that.
[Krause]: I can throw it in the chat again if anybody else needs it.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sure, I think I've got it linked. Okay, yeah, I think the next, you know, the after after, if we get the upstairs balcony seats done, then, you know, the next big sort of thing seems to be the, the foyer. What, what, what's, what did the rest of you?
[SPEAKER_04]: Lobby.
[SPEAKER_02]: The lobby, the lobby. Yeah, thank you. But that also would be a huge job and very disruptive for any kind of presentation. Thank you. Thank you for the link. So are there any other new business items that we want to talk about?
[SPEAKER_04]: No, I just want to let people know that the Friends of Travalia, their annual meeting is October 24th. It'll be great if people could come and dovetailing that, we're working on a number of different issues. One is increasing the membership. So it's short money for $20. Any new members or current members. By it on, we'd be quite happy, right, Ken? And we have a subcommittee that is trying to, again, strategize to see how we can optimize I've talked to Bill about membership options and he's all in he's been very receptive etc so if folks could make it on October 24th at seven o'clock Maple Park condos 65 Valley Street that would be great because we usually the mayor does come Bill is there we did just have a 30th anniversary We had a knockoff Fritz Tamari at the Chevalier. There were a few glitches and Raoul stepped up to the plate and handled it magnificently. So that was all good. And I will say that probably half of the board has been on the board for 25 years or more. So that's a testimony to the commitment and the efforts of the friends.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Cindy, what was that date again, please?
[SPEAKER_04]: October 24th, it's the Thursday. Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: And you said at 7 p.m.?
[SPEAKER_04]: Yes. And it's at Maple Park Condos. The address, I don't know, it's on the Fells Way, right across from St. Francis Church. It's 65 Valley Street.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, all right. 65 Valley Street. I'll just put that. Oops, didn't get that right. Thank you. 65 Valley Street, okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: And we have a good cross-section of, I mean, Kevin Bailey usually speaks, et cetera, like I said, the mayor. Debbie Amaral from Hawaii, because the friends do a lot more than just acknowledging the Chevalier. So it's a good evening, but I'm prejudiced, so.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. Is there any new update regarding the future of the gym and the rec center, the kids' rec area?
[SPEAKER_03]: In terms of a move?
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Or just in general?
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I know, you know, there was, we have sort of seemed to have been talking of them eventually moving and trying to find a new venue. How, how is any, is any progress on that or plans solidifying? No.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, the hope was that they were going to go into St. Francis, but Unfortunately, that fell through. The SJS has approved it, but I guess there's a mega asbestos problems, et cetera. So we didn't, you know, require an investment of a million plus to examine that. So I haven't heard anything lately. I don't know if Ken, have you?
[Krause]: No, not at all.
[SPEAKER_02]: No. Okay. And the Tufts Curtis School, what was their story with that one as a venue, possible venue?
[Krause]: It was something Kevin Bailey expressed an interest in. There's the Curtis Tufts Alternative School, which is down on Main Street near Tufts Park, which is the summer kind of headquarters of the Rec Center. But that would be challenging because the building is also old. It doesn't have a gym. It doesn't, I don't think, has handicap access that you need today. But on the other hand, there's discussion seriously about the Curtis Tufts School leaving that location and perhaps being the students being integrated into the new high school that's under discussion. But the new high school is probably at least five years away. So it's still, I think, still pretty much a long term idea.
[SPEAKER_02]: Very long term. Okay. All right. Great. So, any last comments, observations? Otherwise, I guess our next meeting should be about a month from today on a Wednesday evening. And I don't know that date. Is that something that we set or does Mike choose it?
[SPEAKER_04]: It's usually the second Wednesday of the month.
[Krause]: Mike usually has it on the agenda next meeting, didn't this time, but I would tentatively figure September 11th. It can't be September 18th because the one and only Ringo Starr is performing at Shabbat night, so that's out.
[SPEAKER_02]: Have you already got your tickets?
[Krause]: I do!
[SPEAKER_02]: We just looked the other night and it was almost full, fully booked. That's why I was asking you about ushering.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're more than welcome to come usher for that night.
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. I will definitely follow up with you. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So next meeting is September 11th and we will probably meet in the theater, right? If everybody's available.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Something like that, with a Zoom link, of course, as well, for those who can't make it. All right. Well, thanks, everybody. I'm just a scribe here.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, thank you for filling in and stepping up to the plate, Debra. Thanks, Deb.
[SPEAKER_02]: Good job. Have a good evening, everyone.
[SPEAKER_04]: You too. Thank you, Chris, for attending.
[SPEAKER_05]: Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nice to see you. All right. Take care. Bye, all.
[SPEAKER_05]: Bye.