Well, we’re on a roll – 50 people came to my first Downtown Community Coffee on May 10th at Palatte, and at least 100 people attended my first Downtown Business Coffee on June 3rd at Tom’s Tavern. The Community Coffee meetings are quarterly, and the Business Coffee is monthly.  Speaking of which …the next Downtown Business Coffee is Tuesday, July 8th, 8-9 a.m., at Sonoma Casual Dining, 25 West Van Buren (southeast corner of 1st Ave. and Van Buren).Validated parking will be provided by ASU at the University Center Garage, 1st St. and Polk. This event is open to all downtown businesses and employees, and anyone interested in doing business in Downtown Phoenix. Speakers (besides myself) will be Kimber Lanning and Greg Esser. For anyone who doesn’t know them, Kimber is founder of Local First Arizona, a grassroots, non-profit that raises public awareness of the economic and cultural benefits that locally owned businesses provide. Kimber also owns Modified Arts in downtown Phoenix and Stinkweeds, a local music store.Greg Esser is an artist, community activist, small business owner and founder and past-president of the Roosevelt Row Community Development Corporation.We’ll all talk about the economic impact of the independent businesses popping up throughout Downtown Phoenix – and share information on some new resources available to those who’d like to start-up. For anyone interested in doing any kind of business in Downtown Phoenix, these coffees are a great place to network – you can meet, talk and brainstorm with business owners, developers, city staff and, I can assure you, at least one elected official. We’ll leave time for Q & A.  While I’ll provide the coffee, I hope you’ll buy breakfast at Sonoma – because one of the reasons behind these monthly meetings is to support our downtown businesses and introduce you to a different place every time. So we can get a head count for the coffee, please do RSVP to mayor.rsvp@phoenix.gov.The owners of Palatte and Tom’s Tavern told me they were pleased with the crowds at the coffees we’ve held so far – so if you or anyone you know owns a downtown coffee shop or eatery that would like to host one of the community or business coffees, be sure to let me know – the person in my office to contact is Tiffany Huisman, 602-534-9514 or tiffany.huisman@phoenix.gov.One of the other reasons for these coffees is that they are part of my Downtown Marketing Initiative. For a few months now, we’ve been trying to pull in as many people as possible who invest in or have any interest in. Our goal is to share information and resources – to find ways we can collaborate and collectively market Downtown Phoenix. Because WE all know we’ve got a good thing going here – and it’s time we let the rest of the city, the rest of the Valley, the state and the country know.