City staff outline new public‑engagement framework to guide redevelopment input

City staff told the redevelopment advisory board on Feb. 2 that the city is standardizing how it requests and uses public input for redevelopment and downtown projects.

Cynthia Esparza, director of community engagement and services, reviewed a recent public engagement review that included six drop‑in sessions, two community meetings, two focus groups for boards and commissions, and 358 responses. She said staff will use a framework from the International Association for Public Participation to clarify project goals — whether to inform, consult, involve, collaborate or empower — and to make engagement methods consistent across projects.

Esparza described several engagement tools currently used by the city, including surveys, online comment forms, neighborhood meet‑and‑greets, focus groups and board/commission agendas. She said staff works quarterly with university student services and other partners to reach students and is piloting lower‑barrier approaches such as neighborhood drop‑ins and mentorship for event promoters.

Board members asked about challenges in an era of fragmented communications. Esparza said the communications team manages multiple social accounts (roughly 340,000 combined followers) and that staff focuses on one‑on‑one relationships with community organizations to ensure targeted outreach. A board member asked whether diversity, equity and inclusion considerations remain a factor; staff said representation is a program value but that DEI is not a separate mandatory checkbox in the promotion materials for the district activation pilot.

Esparza said the engagement review helped set preferences (weekday evenings, outdoor venues in summer, single‑topic meetings) staff will weigh when scheduling public outreach for future projects.