Ë®¹ûÅÉAV

The longtime city resident was previously acting director for more than a year following the resignation of her predecessor, Stephanie DeVito.

Before that, Kline worked for Connie Reilly. She "set the stage" by showing that the position requires "hard work, one-on-one communication, and gratefulness to the stakeholders," Kline told Ë®¹ûÅÉAV.

Ë®¹ûÅÉAV sat down with Kline at downtown cafe Roast & Toast on June 26 to discuss her new position and her vision for Auburn:

Q. How do you envision yourself as a leader?

A. It was good to have two predecessors who had completely different styles, so I experienced the breadth of leadership styles and could pick and choose the positive aspects that I saw were effective. (With the previous leadership) there was a lot of drama. It was a lot. 

I know this is almost a cliche, but collaboration and partnership. Everything boils down to collaboration — working directly with the stakeholders, the downtown businesses and property owners. Assisting them to be successful is our goal, and, obviously, making downtown as attractive as possible. 

Q. Is this how you saw your career path heading?

A. I have a master's in art history and museum studies. I thought I would have worked in museums. I have worked at the Cayuga Museum, the Schweinfurth Art Center. Those positions are limited in that you’re really focused on your institution and your collection, programs and members. 

Downtown is another ball of wax. It’s constantly evolving. The dynamic is much more appealing to me personally. I really would like to be able to work with a number of people.

I’m working with artists. I’m working with the person doing the site development. I’m working with the city. I enjoy and thrive in an environment where I can connect all the dots. 

Q. What are some of the goals and projects you’d like to achieve as executive director of the BID?

A. There’s our Flower Power program, we’ve taken on additional landscaping projects, public art installations. Tom Corey is our beautification supervisor. He crushes it. He’s so meticulous, and it shows.

If you’re thinking about opening a business downtown or even spending the afternoon, you won’t want to do that if there’s trash around and in the streets. 

There are so many downtowns, right? What is going to set Auburn apart from Geneva, Syracuse or Ithaca?

We have 25-plus art installations. That’s kind of my superpower, if you will. These are site-specific installations that were designed by local artists. You create a sense of place, right?

You go to Philadelphia and there's the "LOVE" block. People are waiting in line to have their picture taken in front of it. It's the same concept here. No one has the hand sculpture. People are going to stand in front of that, take a selfie, and sooner than later people will be like, "Oh, they're in Auburn."

I want to explore a loyalty program. There would be incentives for local businesses to patronize each other, like a discount.

We're also co-planning a fashion show this fall with Auburn Public Theater. We were hosting shows and vending at the Carriage House (at the Cayuga Museum). We would sell out and people got turned away. The show would be broken down and change over to vending. People were in the mood to shop. We didn't do the vending this past spring; we didn't have the space. This is why we are going to Auburn Public Theater's Owasco Room.

Q. What are some of the biggest challenges facing downtown?

A. People are quick to complain — "Oh, the parking!" We have a parking garage that's centrally located. It's covered. It's there if you don't like the back-in parking. It's a bugaboo people can't move on from. I don't see it as a weakness, but people could. 

Retail is our weakest link. It's a known fact. We focus our efforts on attracting retail and supporting the retail that exists. We just redid our brochure that lists all of our shops, eateries, lodging, entertainment and parking info. It's our eighth edition and a good marketing tool that will be ready any day. It's printed and it will have QR codes for updated listings and descriptions on our website.

Housing is also a goal. Bringing more bodies downtown, more residents for more foot traffic to businesses and events. There's the Chemung building at 120 Genesee St. The facade needs work. The city just got money from the state. The owners live in California. It's, like, "OK, you're going to focus on this, right?" It's good that we are holding property owners accountable. 

Q. What are some of Auburn's strengths?

A. In bigger cities, sometimes everyone works in their silos. They view others as competition. That's not the way we work here.

In 2010, I came back (from a trip to Philadelphia) and did the first installation — a mosaic on the exterior wall — at Angelo's Pizza. I have to give a shout-out to the Bartolotta family for taking a chance. It was a leap of faith, and we’re grateful for that. A lot of people showed up to volunteer. That hands-on community-building is so important for people to have ownership in their downtown.

We just held a focus group with young business and property owners. It was fabulous. They were so grateful to even be in the same room together, talking about why they are downtown, what they want to see. Their excitement about being downtown is contagious.

I'll work hard to foster a support network amongst them. Some people may have more experience, or they may have resources or a connection that would help another business.

We're doing well for a small city. We have a good variety. Prison City is a magnet. Combgrown Mead — that's something different.

There's a good mix of fine dining, cafe and pub food. There's live music. For a small city, there are half a dozen to a dozen places you can go on any day of the week and see live music for free. Within walking distance, there are several options.

With Choices for Change relocating to Elbridge, that opens up prime real estate on State Street, across from Moondog's Lounge.

Washington Street Partners purchased the former Citizen building, and they have fantastic plans for mixed-use, retail and events.

There's a lot of good on the horizon.

Q. How is the BID changing?

A. It makes it exciting because it’s ever-changing. BID acts as a liaison between government and businesses and property owners. 

We have millennials who are crushing it. They are our future, so supporting them and getting them to work together is where we are heading. We love our longtime retailers — Sam's Shoe Service, the Liberty Store, Speno Music.

I want to effect positive change. Because I’ve been in the role, I have all that organizational knowledge. I know what we’ve been through. I feel like we will be able to get there. 

I had been acting (as director) for maybe a year and two months. We have a new employment handbook, new bookkeeper, new payroll company, new policies. There was a lot of administrative work to be done, to get us on a good course. The groundwork has been done, we’re financially sound and now we can really focus on the bigger picture.

Editor's note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.