HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-31-TOUR2-minLexington Tourism Committee
Minutes of the meeting of
January 31, 2013 at 8 am
Present: Ada Wong, Sandy Blanchet, George Burnell, Joe Pato, Mary Jo Bohart, Joel Berman, Karen Shaw, Jennifer
Tang, Dawn McKenna, Denise Ricketts
VISITORS CENTER PROGRAMMATIC INPUT— LEXINGTON BUSINESSES
Participants were provided with the Executive Summary and Conclusions from the 1/20/12 Programmatic Report. They
were asked to comment specifically on whether the goals identified reflected their vision, as well as to list any
programmatic needs that should be addressed. This meeting focused on the unique perspective of Lexington businesses.
Comments from all were recorded, whether or not there was agreement on those issues. Although not all comments
focused directly on the two questions, all points made are included. A list of attendees follows.
GOALS
• Food vending area - send into restaurant instead
PROGRAMMATIC NEEDS
• Restaurant menus in Visitors Center
• Need more space for info about businesses
• Visitors Center is used continuously
• Visitors Center hard to find
• Could use kiosk
• Finances of cost savings for meeting space
• Visitors Center is disrespected
• First impression at Visitors Center makes me sad
• Option 1 (renovating existing center) — waste of CPA funding
• Excited about video space
MISCELLANEOUS
• Limit of 2 hours for parking a problem
• Working with bus companies to keep visitors here longer
• Key Questions: Deal with all busses
• Parking and transportation study about to get underway
• Tour busses into Depot lot - consultant
• Understand use of Visitors Center
• Where is restaurant capacity for tour busses
• Visitors Center used to make referrals
• Visitors Center is not only tourists
• Hard to find
• Why is divide between Visitors Center and Historical Society
• Dark, dingy Visitors Center
• Depot is locked — should be something there
• People don't want ethnic food on visit, they want New England fare
• Freedom trail type markers
• How do we work together
• Need a concrete reason from Historical Society why visitors center would not be good
• Parking and transportation study about to begin
Adjourned at approximately 10 am
Respectfully submitted, Dawn McKenna
Documents available at the meeting:
1. Executive Summary and Conclusions from the January 20, 2012 Programmatic Report
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420