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Green Restaurant Initiative organizers apply cost lessons to next phase - Fort Collins Coloradoan
Artists work to make art and ecnomic driver- Fort Collins Coloradoan
UniverCity Connections unveils report, efforts to create 10-year plan to end homelessness
UniverCity Connections kicks off FortZED Green Restaurant Initiative
From brain child to bona fide - Fort Collins Coloradoan column by Doug Johnson
Tour sheds light on Mason project - Fort Collins Coloradoan
UniverCity Connections introduces interpretive map of the Urban Cache la Poudre River
UniverCity Connections update - Fort Collins Coloradoan column by Doug Johnson
Green Restaurant Initiative organizers apply cost lessons to next phase
BY PAT FERRIER • PatFerrier@coloradoan.com • April 27, 2010
Almost two years after the public launch of the Green Restaurant Initiative in downtown Fort Collins, the plan is back on the stove for a little more time to cook.
The initiative, launched in August 2008 by FortZed - an initiative of UniverCity Connections - was designed to encourage restaurants to cut back on water, gas and electricity to help create an energy-neutral zone around downtown and CSU.
Seven restaurants signed up as trailblazers, willing to be among the first to see how they could reduce their massive energy use.
About a year into the program, however, organizers realized the costs were "greater than we realized," said Ariana Friedlander, a co-convener of the group that is working with the FortZed Steering Committee.
The group needs to raise between $10,000 and $15,000 for such things as monitoring equipment, said Charlie Potter, the other co-convener of the Green Restaurant Initiative.
"We learned a lot in the first phase about what works and what doesn't work," he said. "Restaurants already have pretty low margins, and in tough times it's even worse, and investing in equipment is a tough thing to do. It has to make good business sense or they probably won't bite.
"Restaurants don't have the resources or expertise to go much further unless we can provide information specific to them. We need to develop that expertise; that's what this next phase is all about. We'll take one restaurant and monitor in detail what's going on so we know where the energy is going."
The pilot program would conduct a full-service energy audit and recommend ways to bring on renewable-energy sources, including a solar-thermal system, Friedlander said.
The early Green Restaurant Initiative helped restaurants save about 5 percent of their energy use and got others interested in saving energy.
The Egg & I, one of the seven trailblazer restaurants, reduced energy costs by 10 percent to 12 percent by replacing light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, switching to an on-demand hot-water heater, replacing coffee brewers, replacing gaskets on refrigerators and routinely maintaining equipment, owner Rayno Seaser said.
"We saw a noticeable change right away," he said. "With the economic downturn, it's even more important to spend money upfront to save in the long run."
Potter believes restaurants can reduce their energy consumption by up to 30 percent or more if they can get the data they need to see where the energy is going and the money they need to help make improvements.
Restaurants, with their big freezers, gas stoves and dishwashers, consume up to five times more energy than a retail business, according to the Boston-based Green Restaurant Association, a 20-year-old organization dedicated to changing restaurants' energy behavior.
Potter hopes to have money in place and the second phase of the Green Restaurant Initiative ready to go by mid- to late summer.
Artists work to make art an economic driver
BY PAT FERRIER • PatFerrier@coloradoan.com • April 30, 2010
More than 120 artists and arts advocates brainstormed Thursday how to support and promote art as a key economic driver in Fort Collins.
In a summit organized by UniverCity Connections and its arts and culture task force, participants said developing a dedicated source of funding for artists and arts groups was the most important goal to tackle in the coming months.
They acknowledged it was also the most difficult of eight goals proposed by the task force.
Developing collaborative programming and coordinating marketing efforts were most likely the "low hanging fruit" that could be addressed quickly and cheaply, according to electronic polls taken by Martin Carcasson of CSU's Center for Public Deliberation.
Ryan Keiffer, executive director of Beet Street, the Downtown Development Au-thority's programming arm, said the city needs more small and large performance venues, diverse year-round arts programs and public, business and governmental support for the arts to make Fort Collins a nationally recognized center for arts and culture.
"Every business stands to gain" from the arts, said Susan Herlihy, public relations and marketing coordinator for the Lincoln Center, the site of Thursday's arts engagement summit.
A thriving arts community attracts good employers and good employees, Herlihy said. But that message needs to be made over and over again to drive the point home that the arts are an economic driver, she said.
"The city (council) is cognizant of the arts and culture as an economic driver," but at times there are pockets within public, private and business sectors that aren't fully aware of how much money the arts pumps into the local economy, she said.
In 2005, nonprofit arts and cultural groups and their audiences in Fort Collins contributed nearly $16 million and 467 full-time jobs to the local economy, according to the most recent study commissioned by the now defunct Arts Alive Fort Collins and conducted by Americans for the Arts, an arts advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
Still, many local arts groups are suffering in the economic downturn as businesses cut back on sponsorships and advertisements in play programs and donations drop.
"Tickets barely pay the costs of a production," said Matt Strauch, general manager of Bas Bleu theater.
The DDA last year invested nearly $2 million in physical space for the local arts community in an attempt to sustain it through the downturn.
It bought a warehouse at 725 Vine Drive to give nonprofit arts groups a free place to build sets, make costumes, store props and rehearse; leased the downtown Bas Bleu Theatre for $364,000 so other nonprofits could use it when the theater was dark; and agreed to underwrite rental and technical fees for various nonprofit arts groups at the Lincoln Center, the site of Thursday's arts engagement summit.
The information from Thursday's event will be used to develop objectives and goals for the task force to help move the issue forward.
UniverCity Connections unveils report, efforts to create 10-year plan to end homelessness
August 21, 2008
FORT COLLINS – Building on years of dedicated work from local agencies and individuals and a tremendous amount of community collaboration, UniverCity Connections Homelessness Task Group unveiled on Aug. 21 a report detailing homelessness in Fort Collins, community perceptions and global best practices. The report will serve as a blueprint for addressing homelessness in Fort Collins and guide for UniverCity Connections Homelessness Task Group volunteers as they begin preliminary efforts to develop a 10-year plan to end homelessness in the community.
The announcement comes after more than a year of collaboration among community leaders, local agencies, and the volunteers and leadership of UniverCity Connections, a volunteer-driven initiative of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado focused on convening community and catalyzing opportunities for positive change with a focus on Fort Collins’ strongest assets: CSU, Downtown and the Poudre River. The Homelessness Task Group was created in May of 2007 when concerns were raised about the impact of other UniverCity initiatives on the homeless/near-homeless populations in the community. An anonymous grant was then given to the task group through the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado to fund a best practices research report on homelessness.
“As a community, we are perfectly positioned to join other progressive communities across the country that are creating and implementing 10-year plans to end homelessness,” said Chris Kneeland, task group co-convener. “Collectively, Fort Collins has always been a place of caring and innovation, the two critical elements needed to make sure that everyone who wants it has a chance for adequate, permanent housing.”
On Aug. 21 the community received its first glimpse of the task group’s diligence and concern about the issue of homelessness when it unveiled “Building Blocks to Ending Homelessness in Fort Collins,” a report that will guide the group as it begins forthcoming efforts to address homelessness in Fort Collins. To create the report, the task group commissioned outside evaluator Dr. Jamie van Leeuwen, who researched hundreds of national and international model communities and conducted interviews with 500 members of the Fort Collins community.
The report includes an initial overview on homelessness locally, in Colorado and across the nation; research on best practices from cities that are involved in implementing homelessness plans; a pilot survey on community perceptions of homelessness in Fort Collins; analysis of model cities from around the world; and recommendations based on community interviews.
The report will serve as a road map for UniverCity Connections Homelessness Task Group volunteers and community members as they begin efforts to create a 10-year plan to end homelessness and to join 340 communities that have agreed to create and implement plans through the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.
“Congratulations to the Community Foundation and UniverCity Connections for initiating this important first step in creating a results-oriented Ten Year Plan to end homelessness in Fort Collins and for commissioning Dr. Van Leeuwen to offer guidance and research,” indicated Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the federal United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and point person in creating the national partnership to end homelessness. “The report brings Fort Collins another step closer to the national partnership that now includes more than 500 communities partnered through 350 Ten Year Plans.”
According to a vast majority of those surveyed for the report, homelessness is considered a problem in the Fort Collins community. For more than 500 people in the community, homelessness is a very real struggle in their daily lives—and about 60 percent of those are families, according to the Colorado Statewide Homeless Count. But the report points out that UniverCity’s proactive efforts mean that the problem can be solved: There are strategies to guide those individuals and families out of homelessness and there are ways of helping secure housing for the near homeless.
“Fort Collins is somewhat unique in that while there is definitely the presence of a homeless population, it has not reached crisis proportions where there is a universal outcry that something must be done,” the report states. “Rather, the fact that this community is taking a proactive approach to addressing this issue at this point in the development of the city speaks to the compassion and concern that this community places on quality of life.”
Click here to download the Homelessness Initiative report: "Building Blocks to Ending Homelessness in Fort Collins: A Community Blueprint" (70 pgs, 1.93MB).
Click here to read more about the UniverCity Connections Homelessness Task Force
Click here to read more about Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (2 pgs, 97k)
Click here to read America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Action (1 pg, 87k)
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UniverCity Connections kicks off FortZED Green Restaurant Initiative
August 5, 2008
FORT COLLINS – As a part of ongoing efforts to develop FortZED, a Net Zero Energy District that covers the CSU, downtown and river area, UniverCity Connections will gather local restaurant owners and managers 9 a.m. on Aug. 13 at Stonehouse Grille to unveil the FortZED Green Restaurant Initiative.
During the event, Fort Collins restaurant proprietors will learn about the initiative, and three or four will have the opportunity to become a Green Restaurant “trailblazer.” Those restaurants will undergo an assessment of their current practices and equipment. FortZED and others will then guide the trailblazers in making their restaurants greener.
The Green Restaurant Initiative is one of FortZED’s early efforts to lower energy use within the UniverCity district.
“Looking at businesses within the district, it broke down into restaurants, retail and office-space. And when we researched the three, we found that restaurants are the most intense energy users out of the business sector,” said Mark Wanger, FortZED co-convener. “We learned that if you want to make a big impact early on, start with restaurants.”
Not only will the trailblazing restaurants likely decrease their energy consumption and lower their electric, natural gas and water bills, they will also serve as pioneers for other restaurants, businesses and individuals, Wanger said.
“There are a lot of people in this community who frequent restaurants, so this program will also help our grassroots, word-of-mouth effort to build higher awareness of FortZED,” he said.
FortZED would like to encourage all Fort Collins restaurant managers and owners to attend the Aug. 13 meeting at Stonehouse Grille, 125 S. College Ave., at 9 a.m. Those interested in getting more information can also contact Wanger at Mark.Wanger.FortZED@gmail.com.
About FortZED: The UniverCity Connections task force for sustainable energy designed a vision of building a Net Zero Energy District (ZED) in the area of the CSU campus, Old Town and the downtown river corridor. While FortZED is the specific area for measuring the goal, developments for sustainable energy include all of Northern Colorado. To reach Net Zero, FortZED will develop renewable energy and upgrade our power infrastructure to enable better use of these resources. Through efficiency and conservation, it will decrease energy use. Fort Collins Utilities and the Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster are official partners of FortZED
The FortZED Green Restaurant Initiative was designed to help restaurants implement energy conservation and efficiency practices, helping to lower their traditionally high energy consumption and decreasing their spending on electricity, natural gas and water.
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From brain child to bona fide: UniverCity Connections
By Doug Johnson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
July 3, 2008
UniverCity Connections began with vague references to “community building” and “town-gown synergy.” The goals were just as ambiguous: “creating positive change among the city’s most prized assets: the university, downtown and the river.”
But a year after the concept emerged out of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, UniverCity Connections’ role and potential are unmistakable—and clear-cut.
Approaching its two-year anniversary, UniverCity Connections is a thriving volunteer-driven initiative that acts as a convener and catalyst for connectivity and progress among Colorado State University, the historic downtown area, and the Cache la Poudre River.
In its infancy, UniverCity Connections brought together residents, business owners, non-profit representatives, community officials and CSU leaders to examine ways of bettering the connection among the three entities. From there came ideas and more ideas and then more ideas. Task forces began to examine specific issues: clean energy, transportation, housing, arts and culture, economic development and more.
And they beget visions of an ideal Fort Collins. They brainstormed ways of enhancing the community by better utilizing its assets and people and working together. From addressing homelessness and affordable/student housing to creating a zero-energy district and improving transit for both students and residents, those visions gave birth to real solutions and real public-private-university partnerships. Several feasibility studies are underway to help implementation of some of the projects, the zero-energy district and efforts on affordable housing included.
In many ways, UniverCity Connections is the glue that binds the volunteers and their separate interests together, acting as a think tank for a unified community vision and a neutral convener for ideas to evolve into reality. Looking at the long-term big-picture goals of this community, UniverCity Connections will continue to be a catalyst for positive change and real solutions in Fort Collins.
Really, this is just the beginning.
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Tour sheds light on Mason project
By Cari Merrill, Fort Collins Coloradoan
June 27, 2008
Doug Johnson hopes more people in Fort Collins will understand that the Mason corridor plan isn't just a downtown project.
Dispelling that myth was one of the goals of a bus tour of the corridor Thursday afternoon, beginning and ending at the south end of the proposed 5-mile stretch from Cherry Street to Harmony Road.
The trip provided Realtors and developers a chance to get a better visual of how the Mason corridor will develop and specific landmarks along the way, such as future sites for transit centers and parking options.
"Today was a good chance to clear up some myths," said Johnson, director of implementation for UniverCity, which provided the transportation for Thursday's two-hour tour. "They could see it, touch it, smell it. It becomes real."
The Mason corridor is critical to UniverCity, encompassing aspects from many of the program's task groups such as homelessness, economic development, and arts and culture, he said. "It's a true UniverCity connection."
More than 125 attendees piled into a charter bus and double-decker party bus to tour the $74 million Mason corridor project, funded mostly by federal and state transportation money.
"You'll see a corridor that doesn't make a lot of sense now but you have to think of it in 10 to 15 years," Realtec agent Eric Nichols said at the beginning of the tour.
And tour-goers understood that idea, many seemingly excited for the development.
Initial feedback was positive.
The tour took a few stops along the way, one on CSU's campus to discuss how the MAX Bus Rapid Transit will go through campus with transit centers at the south, middle and north ends of Colorado State University.
Another stop at the Downtown Transit Cen-ter provided a look at how the new Penny Flats residential and commercial project is situated just a hop, skip and a jump away and perfectly positioned on the corridor.
Michelle Jacobs, government affairs for the Fort Collins Board of Realtors, said she was impressed with Thursday's tour and how the event brought so many people from different industries to one place for the afternoon.
As a Fort Collins developer who is "committed to infill," Steve Spanjer of Spanjer Homes said he was interested in learning as much as possible about the project and took away new information Thursday on the project's timeline.
"We share the vision for the next 30, 40, 50 years," he said at a reception after the tour for those who came together for the event.
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UniverCity Connections introduces interpretive map of the Urban Cache la Poudre River
June 17, 2008
FORT COLLINS – The Cache la Poudre River is the lifeblood of Northern Colorado, providing not only for plants and animals but adding to the area’s rich history and thriving recreational offerings. As of this week, the Poudre River’s treasures can now fit in the palm of your hand.
UniverCity Connections, the grassroots, volunteer-driven initiative of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado that works to connect the Colorado State University campus, Downtown and the Poudre River, has created The Urban Cache la Poudre River, a pocket-size interpretive map and guide that highlights recreation, fishing, history, trails and wildlife throughout the river’s urban corridor. The UniverCity Connections River Taskforce conceived this handy tool to encourage both visitors and residents to explore the Poudre River and all that it has to offer.
“We really wanted to recognize the treasure that is the Poudre River,” said UniverCity Connections Director Doug Johnson. “We consider the river not something that divides us but that brings us together, and the map helps to show that we all come together around the river.”
The map details a swath of the river that runs through Fort Collins, and provides information on fishing spots, paddling and boating areas, walking trails and picnic locales. It includes a 1.55-mile “lunchtime loop” near Old Town for those hoping to get a breath of fresh air in the middle of their work day. The guide also provides background on the Cache Le Poudre’s unique history; vibrant walking, running and bicycling trails; water recreation and fishing; and the flora and fauna that call the riparian area home.
Residents and visitors can pick up The Urban Cache la Poudre River now at the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Development Authority, Downtown Business Association, Beet Street and the Fort Collins Convention and Visitors Bureau. It will also be available at the Colorado Welcome Center off of I-25 and various Old Town locations in the near future.
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UniverCity Connections update
By Doug Johnson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
June 11, 2008
School is out, gardens are sown and with summer in full swing, there is truly no better time than right now to enjoy the countless great things that make Fort Collins such a special community.
I would like to provide a brief update on some exciting developments with UniverCity Connections. For those who may not know, UniverCity Connections is an initiative of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado that works to create lasting, meaningful connections between three of our community’s best assets: CSU, Downtown & the Poudre River. We serve as a convener of and catalyst for public participation, and provide a forum for bringing together individuals, organizations and the public and private sectors to jointly identify and tackle big vision opportunities for our community.
Starting in the fall of 2006, Task Groups were convened to identify and create a community-based vision for the UniverCity District in eight action areas including Arts & Culture, CSU/City Joint Facilities & Programs, Economic Development, Homelessness, Mixed Use Development & Student/Affordable Housing, River Corridor, Sustainable Energy Technology, and Transit & Mobility.
Some of the progress and achievements of the task groups to date include:
FortZED (Zero Energy District): a collaborative alternative energy project between the City, Utilities, CSU and others that has garnered $11.1 million in local, state and Federal project funding.
A Map of the Urban Cache La Poudre River: an interpretive map detailing recreation, fishing, history, trails and wildlife through the river’s urban corridor.
Mason Street Corridor Forum: coming up at the end of June, our Transit and Mobility and Mixed Use Task Groups, along with the City and CSU, will be hosting a Mason Corridor forum for the real estate development and investment community.
These are just a few of the incredible achievements from the implementation phase of this grassroots, volunteer-driven initiative. To keep you updated on their continuing progress, I will be checking in periodically with further information about how the task groups are working to realize a common community vision for positive change.
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