Shok

My Feedback: (28)

Ok so our club is located on the city's old landfill for the last 10 years.
Our lease is up for renewal and I am setting an appointment to meet with the city manager to get this taken care of.

Now what I would love to do is to some how maybe get them to see the possibilities of our location and maybe invest in our facilities so that we could have a major league flying site that could host big events.

At the least maybe get them to help us out with some gravel on the drive in so that when it rains we don't all get stuck in the mud.

How is the best way to approach them on this to help swing them around to maybe helping us out? Maybe getting worked into the master plan.

We have tons of unobstructed open space and this could be a fantastic site. Right now all we have is a 400ft grass runway and no electric, water or restroom facilities.

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Seeing as how you're in Texas, just tell him you'll supply the BBQ

But seriously, Point out what happened in Des Moines Iowa recently... Byron's Originals used to host a major Radio Controll show in Ida Grove Iowa. The show got so bit that the town couldn't handle the influx of spectators, so the moved the show to the town of Ankeny (Just north of Des Moines). When Byron sold the company, the shows stopped. But Desmoines was smart enough to realize that they didn't want all those tourists to stop coming, so they moved the event to Des Moines.

Let your councel members know that with their help, there is tons of tourist money involved.

Here's a link to the Des Moines show info:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/templat...3gewriteup.asp

scottrc

Is your City Manager also the Economic Developer? If not, meet with this person too and supply data on how many people may come to attend your events. This results into motel rooms, food to be sold, and potential out of town shoppers. That is what we did in order to use the City lake for regional boat races which would bring in about 500 people. If you can bring people in to visit your town in the form of airshows, funflys, and competitive events, then the city will be interested because that means tourist revenue which means more support and perks for you from the city. I once belonged to a club that made the same approach. The city put in a new road, graded the ground for a new runway, and provided bleachers, restrooms, and playground equipement from an old park they closed down, not to mention provided the club with water and electricity. All because the club would host 4 events a year that brought in about 1000 people (this included families and friends who didn't come for the airplane events, but went shopping or seeing the sights). Total economic impact per year that RC events gave the city was estimated to between $70,000.00 to $150,000.00 per year.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

All the replies I have read here thus far are good ones. However, I would like to add the following;

I spent 5 years as a county magistrate (like a city commissioner) and it didn't take me long to figure out that to get anything done I had to make the county Judge/Executive think that what I proposed was his idea! So, feel out your city manager and the other officals and be prepared to do all the work while they can take the credit. You will still accomplish your goals and they will look good. Get a lot of publicity in the local papers with the city officals.

mulligan

scott is on the right track.

Beyond that, it really takes some time and effort (and I'm afraid you don't have much time). Joining the Chamber of Commerce and participating (read as rubbing shoulders) with city officials helps develop positve relationships. Also, at your events, contact the Boy Scouts, a high school band, or some other similar organization that would enjoy coming out to your event and having a fund raiser... like selling sodas or ice cream (giving them some buddy box time is a nice touch). If you have a nearby Science museum, your club can offer to participate in some aviation related exhibit that might roll around every year or so.

These ideas are geared towards showing your interest and participation in the community. If you're not too cynical, you understand that city officials indeed give a hoot about their community and will want to foster a club who is actively supporting it... and they won't want to lose that, because it is rare!

Without this kind of time investment, another thing you can do is highlight what YOU bring to the city. If you are on the landfill, you may be in some way maintaining it and even protecting it from occasional vandals, hunters, or whatever. The key in negotiating something for yourself is to show the other party what they are gaining and why THEY should want to help YOU.


Oh yeah, one more thing. Contact your city's parks & recreation department. Depending on local laws, they may have a GREAT incentive (or quota to meet) to create park space. Finding land and developing a new park is relatively expensive compared to making few improvements to an old landfill site and calling it a park. This may come with other strings, such as keeping the site always open to the public- again, talk to the city officials.

Shok

My Feedback: (28)

great info guys.

Yeah we are planning on having an open house / funfly in a few weeks. We invite everyone in town to come out and see the planes and even fly the club trainer on a buddy box, along with free food and drink.

scottrc

Mulligan hinted on the most daunting task, and that is that this will take a large amount of time. Do you have people in your club who are willing to devote a year or two to managing this endeavor. Giving up Monday nights for city council meetings? Writing letters and making phone calls? Who will manage any planning, design, and construction? You need to plan a campaign and have a plan on who will manage what, otherwise it will stall out and you may not get a second chance. Dan T also hit a BIG mark, and that you are dealing with beurocrats and politicians, so be prepared to be told one thing, but be told the opposite the next week. Also, make sure you doucument everything you say and do because you present city manager may quit tommorrow and you will have to convince a whole new staff. Same goes with anyone else you are dealing with, espeacially those who have "short term" memories.

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

LOTS of good ideas here......all that I can add is that I worked in city government for a short time after college, and anything that could bring revenue into the city was looked at favorably, so be sure to focus on that aspect.

SDR-Hammer

Definitely work on the visitor revenue angle. However you are going to need some facts rather than hunches and guesses. Contact the AMA to help provide average numbers for events you expect to hold. Also show how much time and money the club has invested into the site in the past and how much is expected in the future.

You just need to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the city will get very good PR for the monies spent at the site and involvement with your club will be a positive partnership.

Good luck and please keep us posted; many people here fly on public land and could benefit from any info you provide.

Mike Ledbetter

All of the above suggestions are good.

I have served three terms on the City Council where I live (Carpinteria, California) and I visited your city's web page. Consider:

If you have any doctor/teacher/business-owner/solid citizen/chamber of commerce/school board member types in the club, bring them. Even if they're not in the club, but support you, bring them or have them write a letter of support.

Contacting the Parks and Recreation Director could be advantageous. You are doing his/her job by providing the community with a recreational opportunity and may get support from them. There are only limited recreational opportunities in your area, from the look of the web page. An RC park is a "regional attractor." Opportunities exist for the city to make money directly, for example by allowing a hot dog stand to operate under franchise at the location.

Landfills are unpopular. City's have public relations problems over them. If the site is being used beneficially for other purposes as well, that's good PR.

Bring pictures to the meeting. Beautifully composed pictures with lots of youngsters having fun, if possible.

Do not do all the talking and do not take up more time than you need to. These folks sometimes have very busy days. If they are pressed for time, offer to come back when time is not an issue.

Contact councilmembers and see if any of them have an interest in personally seeing the site. You may find an ally, especially if they have a positive experience and see lots of their constituents' families having a good time.

Ten years at a site with no major problems is a great record. Play this up. Emphasize that AMA is required, and EACH FLYER has $2.5 million in insurance. If you have field rules that ban unsafe flyers, point this out. Self-policing users are good to have.

Landfills aren't good for much. You are maximizing the usage potential for this public area. Let them know that a minor expenditure of public money here could positively affect a lot of site users/voters as well as making life easier for the club members.

Let them know exactly what improvements you think are needed and where they would go on the site. Estimate costs and offer to share if possible. If they think they are getting a dollar's worth of value for every fifty cents they spend, you will be ahead of the game.

Feel free to PM me if you want. Good luck and regards to all.

-------------------------------

P.S. Here is the "Meet the Council" page of our website. The picture is before I grew a ponytail.

http://www.ci.carpinteria.ca.us/citycouncil/index.shtml

Shok

My Feedback: (28)

thanks Mike

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

PM JR and ask his opinion. I'll guess that he'll recomend you contact Carl Maroney at the AMA for assistance. Do this ahead of time and don't make the mistake of calling them once a problem arises as many clubs have made this mistake.

Capn America

My Feedback: (3)

We went throught the county parks department. What better way to get dads to spend time with the kids? went to the local Eagles and Moose, got donations from them because members were involved and they promote family involvement, (And have lots of money to donate). We went to the tourisim beareu, they gave us a donation and are putting us on thier web site. The park board gave us benches and other items to install at the park and free use of the site.

The big thing is to find someone with money they need to use for a purpose and fill that need. If the visitors bureau has money and needs to show they have a reason to bring folks in its a good sell. The sales pitch is different for every group depending on what you think you can get. Know what you are asking for before you ask, where the funds will come from and what benifit it is to the group putting up the money. just asking for money rarely ever works. A city can often get a grant to improve a site like a landfill to a park. Do your homework and make them a proposal. If its cheap and laid out well so no one has to think much, you have a shot at it.

Mayor Rupp