Town of Gray
Community Economic Development Committee
Stimson Hall
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Minutes
Members Present: Ann Gass, Ed Libby, Dick Barter, Lance Tlumac, Lew Mancini, Don Hutchings, Jane Stevens – Portland Newspapers and Peter Gellerson – council liaison.
Absent: Jeanne Carpentier, Tom Delaney
Guest: Jane Stevens – Portland Press Herald
Ed Libby was elected vice chair and ran the meeting.
Everyone introduced themselves.
Jane Stevens introduced herself from the Portland Press Herald. She stated that the newspaper’s circulation is approximately 65,000 Monday thru Saturday and about 105,000 on Sunday. She led the discussion about the “advertorial” meaning and how the paper is approaching its advertising effort. Jane explained how the system worked. They will sell ad space to local businesses at a discounted rate. The page that displays these ads will have “The Town of Gray” header across the top. The business that buys the most ad space and run time will get a write up in the paragraph section of the page that will be written by a Press Herald staff writer. Ed Libby agreed to send a list of Gray businesses to Jane so they could start getting advertisers.
The CEDC group made Jane aware of the new GNG Economic Development Corp. and the meet and greet at Enercon on June 3rd. at 7 pm.
The Pineland/ Gray/ New Gloucester economic development meeting was discussed. George’s notes on the meeting were discussed and dissected. All agreed that the meeting was a first step in creating a working relationship between Gray, New Gloucester and Pineland.
The Manny Motors issue was discussed and planning to improve the center of Gray Village was targeted. Peter offered to explore with George the removal of the Exxon sign. Lew brought up approaching Manny about removing signs and putting a “ Welcome to Gray Village “ sign. Peter offered to track down the past history of discussions with Manny Motors. The issues of allowed use of the town parking lot, the number of cars allowed by ordinance in Manny Motor’s yard and the number of licensed and unlicensed vehicles in Manny’s yard were all points of discussion and how to best approach these issues. Ideas and thoughts about assisting Manny to remove signs and improve the overall appearance of the business were discussed.
Dick and Ann led a discussion of the Maine Community Foundation and possibly applying for a community grant from them.
Next meeting is scheduled for June 16th at 7 pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.
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