City of Redwood City Community Partnerships Series: Redwood City Improvement Association (RCIA)
Redwood City’s mission is to ‘Build a Great Community Together’ and our community partners help us to do just that!
Our blog series celebrates Redwood City community partners and features non-profits, agencies, and private partners that the City collaborates with to make Redwood City a great place to live, work, and visit.
This blog features the Redwood City Improvement Association (RCIA) and their work to enhance the vibrancy of downtown Redwood City, enrich downtown as Redwood City’s living room, and support downtown’s new neighborhood status.
In 2014, following a vote of downtown Redwood City property owners, the RCIA was created. The RCIA is a Community Benefit Improvement District and funds special benefits beyond normal City services that support downtown Redwood City as the premier entertainment destination on the Peninsula.
This partnership between the City of Redwood City and the RCIA has accomplished so much; check out these improvements and benefits below!
Enhance the Vibrancy of Downtown Redwood City
To enhance the vibrancy of Redwood City, the RCIA teamed up with the City of Redwood City’s Public Works Services Department to install energy efficient white LED lights in 165 trees over an eight-block radius of downtown Redwood City. The RCIA funded $100,000 for these lights and City staff executed the project. Downtown trees shimmering in the evening create a fun atmosphere and make it easier to shop, stroll and enjoy the city at night.
The RCIA also enhanced the “Hometown Holidays” event by lighting up two large, redwood trees with red, green, and white LED lights located at Hamilton and Broadway. The RCIA also updates and maintains these holiday trees annually.
RCIA’s public art investments further the City’s public art programming and aligns with the City’s goals to promote the vibrancy of the community, further cultural uniqueness and support community building. These investments have helped curate murals and sidewalk shadow art.
The RCIA donated $20,000 for six murals by Jane Kim, a local artist from San Francisco. Kim’s project is titled ”Flora from Fauna” and shows a variety of animals, including bald eagles, deer, squirrels, and more with Chrysanthemums, in honor of Redwood City’s 150th anniversary celebration.
The RCIA also donated $10,000 for 20 eclectic sidewalk shadow art pieces — a flat shadow dimensional art effect using stencils — completed by local artist, Damon Belanger. The viral and award winning shadow art was installed in the downtown area to make the district even more vibrant.
To view a map of more public art in Redwood City, go here. You can also take a virtual Redwood City public art tour by downloading the Explore Redwood City app on your Apple or Android device.
For information on Redwood City’s Public Art Master Vision Plan, go here.
If you frequent downtown Redwood City, you may have seen that the City has expanded and improved parking options for visitors and residents. The City offers nearly 4,000 parking spaces in and outside of the downtown core, including on-street parking; 2,300 of these parking spaces are free to the public on all nights after 6 p.m. and all-day Sunday and 1,000 of these are free all-day Saturday.
The RCIA also focuses on making the downtown parking experience more enjoyable for visitors. Currently, the RCIA parking committee is funding a study to evaluate investing in additional electronic signs to direct visitors into the downtown area to available parking.
To learn more about downtown parking, go here.
Redwood City, known for its incredible variety of free concerts, movies, festivals, and entertainment, relies on sponsors and supporters to provide these events to the community. RCIA supports Redwood City’s downtown events, helping to make the downtown more enjoyable for guests to visit and experience all it has to offer.
In addition, RCIA developed and launched the Magic Lantern 3-D Light Show, designed by world-renowned light show artist, Bart Kresa. This family friendly, fun light show lights up the San Mateo County History Museum exterior weekly. The show runs on Tuesday nights from April until mid-November. This past year, RCIA created a special Magic Lantern show to celebrate the City’s 150th anniversary.
The RCIA also provided a $25,000 sponsorship to the 150th anniversary Organizing Committee, to help bring the City’s Sesquicentennial anniversary to life in the downtown.
To learn more about Redwood City events, go here.
Downtown: Redwood City’s Living Room
The City’s vibrant downtown is quickly becoming known as the entertainment hub of the San Francisco Peninsula because it offers residents, visitors, and businesses a unique retail, entertainment, and restaurant experience. In the center of it all is Courthouse Square, which holds many City events and festivals, and is home to the historic Redwood City Courthouse (now the San Mateo County History Museum).
To enhance Downtown as Redwood City’s living room and further a unique sense of place at Courthouse Square and beyond, the RCIA purchased 30 new umbrellas and 10 new table and chair sets and located these along Theatre Way and in Courthouse Square. The goal is to enhance downtown Redwood City, giving residents and visitors a place to sit and enjoy what our downtown has to offer.
The RCIA also supplements City services, which maintain parking lots, streets, sidewalks and lights by providing weekly sidewalk washing, daily cleaning and up-keep, as well as other on demand cleaning requests that cost approximately $19,000 a month. In addition, the RCIA invests in additional cleaning services of the City-owned garages on Marshall Street and Jefferson Street. Thank you RCIA for helping us to keep Downtown Redwood City a clean and safe place for residents and visitors to enjoy.
Downtown: Redwood City’s New Neighborhood
With the addition of 1,516 new residences in the downtown and 1,228 more housing units currently under construction, Downtown is quickly becoming a vibrant new neighborhood for residents! In an effort to enhance the downtown neighborhood, support a pet-friendly downtown, and maintain the cleanliness of the area, the RCIA installed 15 green doggie bag dispensers throughout Downtown Redwood City, making it easy for pet owners to walk their pet and help keep our downtown clean.
In addition, to improve safety and ease the minds of community members and Downtown visitors the RCIA invested $10,000 to install four new automated external defibrillator (AED) units in Downtown Redwood City. The new AEDs are located on the side of the Downtown Redwood City Library and next door to Pizza My Heart on Theatre Way. RCIA is evaluating other AED locations. Learn more about these AEDs here.
For details on Downtown’s Neighborhood Association, go here.
Learn more
Some upcoming projects RCIA is pursuing include enhancing Main Street with tree lights, interactive mobile digital art installations, installing interactive digital information kiosks, evaluating new Smart Cities technologies such as free Wi-Fi, and expanding Magic Lantern showings.
To learn more about the RCIA visit their website here.
To read the RCIA annual report presented to City Council, go here.
To read past Community Partner Series blog posts, see the links below:
