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What’s The Buzz?Thematic Attic July 20, 2010 Dear Mr. Daryl Parrish, Lorenzo and I wanted to tell you how much we appreciate the City of Covina’s Redevelopment Agency. We have worked with Robert Neiuber, Nuala Gasser, Lisa Brancheau, Valerie Ver Kullen and in the past with Mike Marquez. These five individuals have shown to us how much our business means to the community. We have an educational store mostly serving parents and teachers. Through the city we have applied and received three grants from the Redevelopment Agency. Our first grant was in the year 2000 from the “Economic Job Creation program.” We were looking to expand our business; we needed to find a larger location for our educational store. I would like to say I greatly appreciated Robert Neiuber for helping look out for some property that would fit our business needs. I really think he goes above and beyond to help the businesses in Covina to succeed. I know this from our experience and seeing other’s benefit too. We decided to purchase a piece of property in Covina. We made this decision in part because of the relationship we had developed with the city, especially due to the service of Robert Neiuber and Mike Marquez. Both made us feel we were and are an important business in the community. With our larger location we needed more employees to help run the business. They suggested we apply for the “Economic Job Creation Program” grant. We received the grant for $100,000. Here we were able to hire four new employees. These employees needed to have an economic need, so the city was actually helping all of us. Nuala Gasser made sure we stayed on top of all of the procedures involved with this grant. She was always there with a smile. We could always go to her with any questions we had or help needed to fill out the paperwork, she was very knowledgeable and patient. I cannot say enough good things about these three people, we are just very lucky to have had their assistance in helping our business do well. This year has been one of the worst years for our business. We went to see Valerie Ver Kuilen. She told us about the “Micro Enterprise Grant” and suggested we apply for it. I may be making thus sound easy, there was a lot of paperwork, but again Nuala was there to assist us. Seeing all the applications needing to be filled out can be a little intimidating, but Nuala walked us through it all. She made sure we filled out all the forms correctly. Once we turned in tbe paperwork it was scheduled to go to the city for approval. Nuala, Robert and Lisa were there at the council meeting. This again reassured us of the fact that the city wanted to help us succeed. We were awarded the grant. The grant gave us $10,000, with this we were able to make purchases to help with our inventory for back-to-school. Again I can’t tell you how much this meant to us. We also applied for the “façade Grant.” We worked with Lisa Brancheau on this, she walked us through the process of applying for this grant. Once more there was a lot of paperwork to complete, but it was made less overwhelming through Lisa’s assistance. She too was very patient and knowledgeable. Lisa took the time for us whenever we needed her help. Lisa sent our application to the council for approval. The night of the council meeting she was there to greet us and to see us receive the grant. This grant has been a tremendous help. We have been able to repaint our building, put up a larger sign and place windows in our store front. The larger sign has already attracted many new customers. We owe all our thanks to Lisa on the “façade Grant,” she helped us every step of the way on this project. I can’t express enough thanks for all the hard work done by Robert, Nuala, Lisa and Covina’s Redevelopment Agency staff. With their care and outstanding service we have been able to grow our business and make it through these tough economic times. With sincere thanks, |
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