From: AJ Trombetta
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2026 11:45 AM
To: City Council Public Comments <[email protected]>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] 4/13 Economic Development Subcommittee Agenda 8.1 and 9.1 Esteemed City Council and City Staff,
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the Ec Dev Subcommittee meeting in person, but I have reviewed the SRTBIA Presentation and Metro Chamber Presentation.
8.1 SRTBIA - Regarding the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber Agreement - I'm pleased to see the Future Contract will focus on firmer deliverables such as: digital first data driven marketing, outcomes-based performance, KPI and analytical reporting.
We hope that the agreement for Visit Santa Rosa will serve all attractions and events in Santa Rosa equally. For example, it would be really nice to see the May 3rd Classic Car Display by the Antique Automobile Club of America in Railroad Square (RRSQ) included on the Visit Santa Rosa Upcoming Events page.
9.1 Metro Chamber - I'm pleased to see the Marketing Campaign options on the Metro Chamber's Presentation. RRSQ has benefited from the City's use of Placer.ai mobile analytics.
I've used this data to further detail the origins of RRSQ's visitors, particularly since our district includes 4 major hotels with over 580 hotel rooms. Fifty percent of RRSQ's visitors are from Santa Rosa. It would be great to see increases from Drive Markets and Direct Market Flights. I Additionally, the Welcome Center is a focal point for the RRSQ district. I understand the security concerns detailed by the presentation. Those concerns are echoed throughout RRSQ's district.
RRSQ and the 6th St (Plaza adjacent) area have a significant portion of unhoused individuals.
We also have a disproportionate amount of homeless kitchen providers, in comparison to other areas that also offer mental health and supportive housing services. Our district also pays for security services to create an inviting business district for our merchants, patrons, and hotel guests. While I understand that the Welcome Center might not provide an ROI for full time operation, I would earnestly like to see the City Council be more proactive in mitigating the impact of the unhoused on our downtown visitor districts. I commend SRPD and inResponse efforts and hope that the City will not further reduce these services. The safety issues inside the Cc:
Welcome Center are no different than the safety issues faced by all of our merchants and downtown visitors.
Thank you to all staff and presenters for a future focused outlook. Our district has benefited from and been enormously pleased by the engagement of the City Ec Development team and SRPD.
Thank you for your service to our communities!
Best regards,
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A.J. Trombetta (she/her)
Railroad Square Association
Business Development Committee Chair
24 4th LLC representative