Initiatives

Initiatives

Economic Development

Because Fulton Avenue is subject to a good deal of commuter traffic and heavy use of public transit, it has seen an increase in loose cigarette butts, trash and other kinds of random debris. In an effort to keep things clean, the Association’s “District Clean-Up Program” was renewed for a sixth year. The contractor, Hilary Gould, identifies problem areas, such as dump sites, homeless camps and zones prone to graffiti, and reports these and other issues of concern to the Executive Director. So to continually monitor and measure the success of this program, detailed reports are kept and submitted monthly to the Board of Directors. The DC program is funded with assessment dollars.

Association and County staff maintain communication with both local businesses and the development community. Staff is working closely with the County Department of Economic Development, developers, and the brokerage community to stimulate District development on Fulton Avenue and its adjoining Auburn Boulevard. Staff is also working on surrounding development proposals that will extend into and along the Fulton Avenue Business District.

The Special Planning Area (SPA) that was created for the District last year has already proven to be useful; both in terms of guiding new and changing development, and in attracting new ownership.

The Association has temporarily suspended its façade and landscape improvement grants program, but the program can always be reinstituted when the economy sees an upturn. 
Marketing & Promotions

This year marketing and communication activities were mainly focused in three areas: the Christmas Holiday, promoting the accomplishments in the District to members via the website and a new E-newsletter, and soliciting ideas and feedback from members about current and future District programs, services, projects and developments.

Holiday spirits were elevated on the Avenue through a full complement of decorative candy cane fixtures and wrap on the light poles and lampposts, and at all major intersections. Golden 1 Credit Union continues to change out the Fulton Avenue ‘Find it on Fulton’ Banners with festive Holiday banners in both December and in June for 4 th of July. These decorations enhance the overall look and feel of the street as well as the shopping and neighborhood experience of area residents and commuters.

On December 3, the Avenue celebrated its 5th Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. This event was held at the corner of Fulton and El Camino in the Tognotti’s parking lot. This public event had advance advertising and was attended by friends and neighbors. The El Camino High School band played a variety of traditional and not so traditional Christmas tunes, and Santa Claus and Mr.Grinch were each ushered in by Vintage cars, in pre-promotion of the 4th Annual California Auto Museum Car Cruise and Show, which was scheduled again for August 2012. Supervisor Susan Peters, Santa Claus, and Mr. Grinch, served as Honorary Tree Lighters. The 60 foot living tree stood proudly throughout the Holiday season and was remained lit each evening between 5:00p and midnight through New Year’s Day.

The Executive Director maintained an effective outreach program that produced several news pieces from the media regarding the Association’s improvement projects. The district continues to glean positive coverage in local and region-wide newspapers.

In partnership with the Arden-Arcade Business Council, and the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Association continues to sponsor member mixers at a variety of Fulton Avenue locations. Association members enjoy hosting these functions to showcase their businesses. Events are well attended and promote networking opportunities and increased awareness of Association activities and projects. This past year a Holiday event was held in a tent next to the Christmas Tree, with over 125 members of the community in attendance.

An Annual meeting and dinner for members will be held this Fall at the Pavilion at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, where members will hear from Sheriff Scott Jones. Business Awards and Special Awards of Merit will be given to several District stakeholders.

To increase the visibility of activities of the Business District, as well as highlight the diverse group of businesses on Fulton Avenue, the Association hired a Social Media consultant to create a comprehensive Social Media presence for Fulton Avenue and Association members and partners. To assist business owners with this effort, the Association has sponsored a series of Social Media Seminars over the last several months, which have been both well attended and fruitful. Be sure to “Like” the Fulton Avenue Association on Facebook, and sign up to receive regular “Tweets”.

As it has the past 11 years, the Association was a proud sponsor of the Annual Arden-Arcade 4th of July Parade on Fulton Avenue. The goal of the Parade is to promote community pride and patriotism in and around the District. 25 robust Parade entries made for quite a show for over three thousand flag waving attendees that line the Parade path on July 4th. With the Fulton El-Camino Recreation and Park District as it’s lead partner in the planning of the event, and the generosity of the Arden area Chick-fil-A and their donation of 750 sandwiches to spectators, this event continues to grow and be something that area residents look forward to each year.

Upcoming, on August 4, 2012, the Association will be the lead sponsor and Host to the California Auto Museum’s 4rd Annual Car Cruise and Show. The Cruise, which will boast 500 classic and vintage cars, will deploy from Sac State’s main entrance on J Street, travel east on Fair Oaks Blvd. and then north on Munroe which becomes Fulton Avenue. The area on Fulton Avenue between Marconi and El Camino will be closed to through traffic so that the Cruise participants can park on the Avenue and spectators can walk freely and safely to view these special cars.

This event, which was held on the Avenue for the first time last year, was extremely successful. All of the area’s franchise car dealers participated by bringing out their latest and greatest. To have seen the fantastic mix of new, and old, was spectacular. It is estimated that there were over 4,000 attendees in 2012, and we are planning for over 5,000 this year.

www.fultonavenue.com, the Association’s dedicated web site, continues to improve and evolve as things change on the Avenue. The goal of the site is to fully promote the Fulton Avenue District and better facilitate communication between the FAA and its members. It serves as an informational tool primarily to customers and secondarily to property and business owners. Interested parties may visit the site to learn more about the Association’s formation, boundaries, and activities.

Additionally, www.fultoncars.com is in full swing. This site allows potential customers to browse the fleet of cars available on Fulton Avenue, to see details on any car, and to provide sales leads electronically to the car dealers. Each month, the car dealers receive an automated report showing extensive information on which vehicles were viewed and other valuable statistics. The promotion of this internet project is being funded by the Association.
Streetscape Improvements

The Association has continued to focus its efforts on its Gateway project. Because the scope of the Gateway’s boundaries incorporates the property and rights of way of the City of Sacramento, CalTrans, and private property owners, many meetings have taken place and are being scheduled with representatives from each jurisdiction to achieve buy-in. The Plan’s scope of work includes enhanced landscaping, freeway signage, way-finding signage, monuments, a large Arch at the intersection of Fulton Avenue and Auburn Boulevard, and an overpass enhancement.

The Gateway project is being coordinated in conjunction with the County’s Auburn Boulevard Streetscape project, with the first phase being nearly complete. The first phase, likely to include the overpass element of the plan and the production and installation of three way finding monument signs, is close to being implemented, with the exception of the Arch, which was included in the Auburn Blvd. Streetscape Improvement Project. At midnight, June 17, the Arch at the intersection of Fulton Avenue and Auburn Boulevard was successfully installed. At the date of submission of this report, a formal ribbon cutting for this project is being planned, with no date having been set.

As happens through time, some of the Districts improvements required routine repair and maintenance. All of the metal casings from the Avenue’s street lighting was stripped by thieves and had to be replaced. And many owners experienced copper theft on their properties as well. The Association has reached out to owners to educate them on how they can prevent such theft.

The landscaped corner monuments, which bare the names of Fulton and Marconi, have all been re-landscaped to reflect the colorful, vibrant nature of the District. These monuments are being maintained by a private landscape company to ensure that they are kept watered and fresh for customers and commuters to enjoy.

The District still eagerly awaits $150,000 in grant money it was awarded by SACOG in 2010. The grant funding is to be used to build 10 bus shelters on Fulton Avenue, where we currently have none. The lead partner for the grant proposal was Regional Transit, and sources at Regional Transit have been told the Federal funding source for these monies, will release the funding sometime in the Fall. We are anxiously awaiting receipt of the grant so that we can provide some much needed shelter to the increasing number of customers and residents in the area that ride public transportation.
Security Program

BACKGROUND
  • The Fulton Avenue Security Committee partnered with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to provide an additional level of service and security to the Fulton Avenue management district.
  • The Fulton Avenue Security Program was launched in May of 1999
  • The association hired off duty sheriff officers to patrol the district in a decaled sheriff’s cruiser five to seven days per week. Each shift is a minimum of ten hours and starting times are staggered throughout day and night to provide optimum coverage.
HOW IT WORKS
  • While on duty, the officers continuously patrol the Fulton Avenue district visiting as many of the properties as possible. During a shift, officers may receive and respond to calls originating in the Fulton district. When time permits officers are encouraged to stop and introduce themselves to area business and property owners during each shift.
  • The officers are in regular communication with the staff at the Fulton Avenue Association and will respond to calls from business or property owners routed through the association.
HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM
  • Property and business owners interested in meeting with an officer to discuss matters of security may contact the office of the Fulton Avenue Association at 978-1288 to set up an appointment.
  • If you are a witness to a crime in progress, call the Sheriff’s department immediately at 911.
  • When reporting non-emergency incidents that require the response of the Sheriff’s department, please call 996-9345.
  • To report a crime that does not require police action, you should contact the local Sheriff’s service center at 485-1492 or you may call the Fulton Avenue Association at 978-1288.
  • It is important to report all crimes to ensure that Fulton Avenue receives its share of sheriff services.
For more about any of the programs listed above, contact FAA at (916) 978-1288.
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