Downtown Association of Yakima

Hanging Baskets & Flowers; The Association maintains 290 flower baskets which hang from the city-owned street-lamp poles. DAY owns the basket containers, the City of Yakima buys the flowers, and then DAY maintains each basket on a daily basis by monitoring and/or repairing irrigation lines, repairing vandalism, replacing plants that do not thrive, and fertilizing. DAY also plants and maintains (in a similar manner as with the hanging baskets) annuals and perennials in about 360 street-level concrete pots and planters permanently placed all around the downtown core. Expenses may seem low, but the bulk of cost for this program is in the staff labor, which is more accurately reported in the overall downtown maintenance progam described below. There is also a considerable amount of volunteer labor from adjacent business owners and other DAY volunteers.

Farmers' Market: DAY operated a Farmers' Market for 21 consecutive Sundays from May 23-October 1o (this was a shorter season than normal as directed by the State Department of Health due to the pandemic), The Market is certified by the Washington State Farmers' Market Association, which requires the inspection of farms to ensure the produce is grown locally with proper health and safety features. Normally, there are also vendors who sell their own handicrafts (i.e. no resale or mass-produced items are allowed), but this was not allowed iin the beginning of the 2021 season. The Market was self-sustaining financially in 2021due to a one-time $20,000 pandemic grant from the WA State Farmers Market Association. This may not be the case in 2022, but the Market will continue with funds from other sources in DAY because a functioning market is important to the health and appeal of downtown.

Downtown Maintenance: Under a contract awarded to DAY by the City of Yakima, business and propery owners in a downtown special assessment district pay mandated fees to the City of Yakima for extra services, which DAY provides and is reimbursed for by the City of Yakima from these specially collected fees. These extra services include a daily pick-up and removal of garbage from city-owned receptacles as well as directly off the sidewalks, streets, and gutters; the maintenance of permanent ground-level shubbery qnd plants; the removal of snow from sidewalk/street intersections; the monitoring an removal of all grafitti; assistance in managing issues of homelessness; the the pruning and lighting of street trees; advice to businesses on CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design; and works closely with the City of Yakima's Departments of Public Services and Parks in all ways which promote health, safety, and positive downtown experiences. NOTE: This program area typically reports more expenses than revenue as DAY subsidizes the work of the City contract with funds from other sources. However, 2021 remained unusual in that the rolling quarantine lockdowns and guidelines instituted by the state & local governments greatly affected the hourly staffing due to issues related to child care when schools were closed, family illness, and other such pandemic challenges. This reduced hourly payroll, but the salaried staff and volunteers stepped up to maintain all the services by working increased hours. There was also a special $143,257 capital improvement for a downtown venue space--costs were paid in 2022 but contractual reimbursement was not received before the end of the fiscal year

Special Events: DAY offers a number of downtown events which have a threefold mission--to attract people to visit and enjoy downtown, to encourage people to patronize downtown businesses, and to raise revenue to support the overall organizational mission. These events included a series of free summer evening concerts; a wine, food, & music festival in June; and "Sip & Stroll" at which people are encouraged to get samples of locally-produced beer and wine while shopping at downtown businesses, a facade restoration grant program, a Chalk Art Festival, a Community Christmas Tree Lighting & Decorating program, and a very successful Small Business Saturday promotion.