Golden Valley continues discussion with Discover St. Louis Park
More than a year ago, Golden Valley formed a resident task force known as Destination Golden Valley.
The task force discussed how the community could improve its image and draw more visitors.
Suggested efforts included connecting all businesses in the community via a business link, encouraging independent bars and restaurants in Golden Valley, introducing a swimming pool or hockey rinks and extending the Golden Valley Arts and Music Festival to a week.
With almost 150 residents and several staff members already involved in commissions and committees, some council members were concerned about stretching city staff too thin.
One option staff deemed worthy of exploration was a partnership with Discover St. Louis Park, a marketing group aimed at strengthening awareness of its community.
Each year for the past five years, Discover St. Louis Park has increased city traffic and business.
“We’re still really excited about our efforts,” said Discover St. Louis Park President and CEO Becky Bakken.
The organization’s website saw nearly 32,000 visitors in 2015, and its Facebook page has 6,000 followers.
This year, the St. Louis Park organization plans to launch a new website, begin a statewide travel campaign, partner with Minneapolis, look into getting an outdoor ice rink, prepare for the Ryder Cup and explore the possible partnership with Golden Valley. That partnership would allow Golden Valley to leverage Discover St. Louis Park’s established reach with nominal investment.
On Jan. 12, Discover St. Louis Park representatives discussed the potential opportunity with Golden Valley City Council. To start, Bakken explained how the St. Louis Park organization works.
Five years ago, St. Louis Park introduced a lodging tax. All five of the hotels located in St. Louis Park now charge a 3 percent lodging tax on each reserved room. That tax is collected and used to market the city’s many amenities and activities. Of the total tax, 95 percent must go back into promoting the community, but the remaining 5 percent can be used for administration costs.
In 2012, St. Louis Park received $657,858 from the lodging tax. That figure increased steadily over the years reaching $828,917 in 2015.
Although Golden Valley only has two hotels, the idea would be the same.
“Staff is actually pretty excited about this concept,” said Golden Valley Parks and Recreation Director Rick Birno.
Given the number of rooms at Golden Valley’s two hotels, Bakken said the city would earn $154,500 per year. Roughly $7,700 of that could be used toward city administration costs.
According to Birno, city staff and Discover St. Louis Park has held several meetings with hotel owners and feedback has been positive.
“I think our folks at our hotels feel like this will be a great collaboration,” Birno said.
According to Bakken, next steps, if both communities choose to move forward, include creating a lodging tax ordinance for Golden Valley, amending Discover St. Louis Park’s operating agreement and bylaws, revising the organization’s mission statement, adjusting the financial structure for reporting, and promoting and marketing Golden Valley.
“There is a lot of synergy,” she said. “There is a lot of connection. The challenge for us has been how would the collaboration look. How would it make sense?”
Under the agreement, Golden Valley would make up approximately 17 percent of the cities’ pooled lodging tax revenue, $800,000.
With that, Discover St. Louis Park believes the best way to incorporate Golden Valley into its marketing efforts would be to include Golden Valley’s amenities and activities under the Discover St. Louis Park brand.
The council agreed and was optimistic about the possible partnership but wanted a better understanding of how the working relationship would function.
Discover St. Louis Park is currently led by a board of 13 individuals from various backgrounds.
Councilmember Larry Fonnest asked if Golden Valley would have a representative on the board if this partnership went forward.
“We still need to iron out some of those things,” Bakken said. “We’re open to looking at letting Golden Valley representatives be on the board.”
Bakken said much remains to be determined if St. Louis Park wants to continue its successful organization.
“We don’t want to do something that messes up what we’re doing in St. Louis Park or take on Golden Valley and disappoint,” she said.
Fonnest said he has been impressed with the promotional material he has seen come out of the organization thus far.
“I’m very hopeful that this relationship will come about and work well for both of us,” he said.
Councilmember Steve Schmidgall agreed.
“I’m very excited about this,” he said. “I think this could be a real beneficial thing for our community.”
Mayor Shep Harris said he was very supportive of the partnership.
“Golden Valley is sometimes a hidden gem,” he said. “So is St. Louis Park.”
City Manager Tim Cruikshank provided some feedback as well.
“As cities, we always try to collaborate and achieve win-wins when we can,” he said. “This seems like it could be.”
With a plethora of unanswered questions, Golden Valley City Council agreed to take the next step and learn more about how the partnership will work.
It is uncertain how much time is needed to create a more detailed plan for this collaboration, but city staff will return with a timeline once that is determined.
Contact Gina Purcell at gina.purcell@ecm-inc.com
Reported by: mnsun.com
The task force discussed how the community could improve its image and draw more visitors.
Suggested efforts included connecting all businesses in the community via a business link, encouraging independent bars and restaurants in Golden Valley, introducing a swimming pool or hockey rinks and extending the Golden Valley Arts and Music Festival to a week.
With almost 150 residents and several staff members already involved in commissions and committees, some council members were concerned about stretching city staff too thin.
One option staff deemed worthy of exploration was a partnership with Discover St. Louis Park, a marketing group aimed at strengthening awareness of its community.
Each year for the past five years, Discover St. Louis Park has increased city traffic and business.
“We’re still really excited about our efforts,” said Discover St. Louis Park President and CEO Becky Bakken.
The organization’s website saw nearly 32,000 visitors in 2015, and its Facebook page has 6,000 followers.
This year, the St. Louis Park organization plans to launch a new website, begin a statewide travel campaign, partner with Minneapolis, look into getting an outdoor ice rink, prepare for the Ryder Cup and explore the possible partnership with Golden Valley. That partnership would allow Golden Valley to leverage Discover St. Louis Park’s established reach with nominal investment.
On Jan. 12, Discover St. Louis Park representatives discussed the potential opportunity with Golden Valley City Council. To start, Bakken explained how the St. Louis Park organization works.
Five years ago, St. Louis Park introduced a lodging tax. All five of the hotels located in St. Louis Park now charge a 3 percent lodging tax on each reserved room. That tax is collected and used to market the city’s many amenities and activities. Of the total tax, 95 percent must go back into promoting the community, but the remaining 5 percent can be used for administration costs.
In 2012, St. Louis Park received $657,858 from the lodging tax. That figure increased steadily over the years reaching $828,917 in 2015.
Although Golden Valley only has two hotels, the idea would be the same.
“Staff is actually pretty excited about this concept,” said Golden Valley Parks and Recreation Director Rick Birno.
Given the number of rooms at Golden Valley’s two hotels, Bakken said the city would earn $154,500 per year. Roughly $7,700 of that could be used toward city administration costs.
According to Birno, city staff and Discover St. Louis Park has held several meetings with hotel owners and feedback has been positive.
“I think our folks at our hotels feel like this will be a great collaboration,” Birno said.
According to Bakken, next steps, if both communities choose to move forward, include creating a lodging tax ordinance for Golden Valley, amending Discover St. Louis Park’s operating agreement and bylaws, revising the organization’s mission statement, adjusting the financial structure for reporting, and promoting and marketing Golden Valley.
“There is a lot of synergy,” she said. “There is a lot of connection. The challenge for us has been how would the collaboration look. How would it make sense?”
Under the agreement, Golden Valley would make up approximately 17 percent of the cities’ pooled lodging tax revenue, $800,000.
With that, Discover St. Louis Park believes the best way to incorporate Golden Valley into its marketing efforts would be to include Golden Valley’s amenities and activities under the Discover St. Louis Park brand.
The council agreed and was optimistic about the possible partnership but wanted a better understanding of how the working relationship would function.
Discover St. Louis Park is currently led by a board of 13 individuals from various backgrounds.
Councilmember Larry Fonnest asked if Golden Valley would have a representative on the board if this partnership went forward.
“We still need to iron out some of those things,” Bakken said. “We’re open to looking at letting Golden Valley representatives be on the board.”
Bakken said much remains to be determined if St. Louis Park wants to continue its successful organization.
“We don’t want to do something that messes up what we’re doing in St. Louis Park or take on Golden Valley and disappoint,” she said.
Fonnest said he has been impressed with the promotional material he has seen come out of the organization thus far.
“I’m very hopeful that this relationship will come about and work well for both of us,” he said.
Councilmember Steve Schmidgall agreed.
“I’m very excited about this,” he said. “I think this could be a real beneficial thing for our community.”
Mayor Shep Harris said he was very supportive of the partnership.
“Golden Valley is sometimes a hidden gem,” he said. “So is St. Louis Park.”
City Manager Tim Cruikshank provided some feedback as well.
“As cities, we always try to collaborate and achieve win-wins when we can,” he said. “This seems like it could be.”
With a plethora of unanswered questions, Golden Valley City Council agreed to take the next step and learn more about how the partnership will work.
It is uncertain how much time is needed to create a more detailed plan for this collaboration, but city staff will return with a timeline once that is determined.
Contact Gina Purcell at gina.purcell@ecm-inc.com
Reported by: mnsun.com
