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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY ON MARCO LI MANDRI,
PRESIDENT, NEW CITY AMERICA, INC. - DECEMBER 2008

Marco Li Mandri has been involved in business district revitalization efforts since 1988. As a former President of a (BID), Marco entered the Business Improvement District arena as a stakeholder first, and later as a professional consultant. In 1992, Marco formed the Marco Group, a business dedicated to the formation and administration of Business Improvements Districts in Southern California. In 1997, the Marco Group evolved into New City America, Inc. and established itself as the premier company dedicated to business district revitalization throughout the country.

Since 1996, New City America has established 53 BIDs and Community Benefit Districts. New City America is currently under contract to manage or form 20 districts in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Berkeley, San Jose, Wheatridge Colorado as well as Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and multiple contracts pending on the east coast.

New City America has established the first assessment district in any Little Italy or Italian district, in North America (San Diego), the first in any Chinatown in North America, (Los Angeles) the first Korean American business district in North America (Oakland); and the first ecumenically based district in North America, (Los Angeles). We have created at least 4 districts in primarily Latino business districts and completed the formation process with bilingual newsletters. In 2002, New City America formed the first predominantly African America PBID in the state of California, (Leimert Part Village/Crenshaw in Los Angeles) and later the Fillmore Jazz District in San Francisco. New City America’s work has included running multi-lingual campaigns in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese; no other business district revitalization company in North America can make such a claim.

In addition, New City America formed the first Gay and Lesbian Community Benefit District in North America by successfully creating the Castro/Upper Market CBD in San Francisco in the summer of 2005.

Marco and his wife Laura live in San Diego with two of their five children in the San Diego community of Kensington. Marco has been interviewed numerous times by major network television affiliates in San Diego, as well as the following newspapers:

• the LA Times,
• the LA Business Journal,
• the Chicago Sun Times,
• the Chicago Gazette;
• the Chicago Fra Noi,
• the Oregonian Newspaper (Portland Oregon),
• the National Downtown Idea Exchange,
• the San Francisco Chronicle,
• the San Francisco Independent,
• the San Francisco Examiner,
• the San Francisco Sentinel,
• the San Francisco Business Times,
• East Bay Business Times,
• The Downtown Idea Exchange;
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
• the San Diego Union-Tribune,
• the San Diego Business Journal,
• San Diego Magazine,
• San Diego Daily Transcript,
• the Santa Monican
• The Tracy Press;

Marco is frequently called upon to discuss business district revitalization efforts with the local NPR affiliate in San Diego - KPBS public radio, Public Radio in Los Angeles and KPFK in the Bay Area. Marco has been interviewed by National Public Radio/Washington, KCBS in San Francisco and appears frequently on all major TV news channels in San Diego.

Marco has spoken at national conferences including panel presentations at the National League of Cities, the National Main Street Annual Conferences, the International Downtown Association, National LISC Urban Forum, the International Economic Development Council, the California Downtown Association and the California League of Cities.

For more information on the many services offered to cities, City Redevelopment Agencies, BIDs, Community Benefit Districts, property owners associations, or district management corporations, please call (888) 356-2726. We can also be reached by e-mail at mail@newcityamerica.com or at our website: www.newcityamerica.com.