Arts, I have found, in communities like Santa Monica, where I just finished helping on a General Plan Update and are now doing zoning, can really be a fantastic way to pull together disparate groups and deliver to the General Fund's bottom line. Topics that would be important to flesh out with input from the Arts Community include:
1) The case for live/work units – what is the demand and where and how should they be built? This could be an important Housing Element dimension and also contribute to discussions about land use on Miller and in Downtown.
2) Arts and youth, and the role of parks and recreation programming and relations with the school districts (I recognize the General Plan would not be a parks and rec master plan, but some policy guidance on how the City can coordinate with schools, non-profits and others, on this might be a productive discussion)
3) Arts in public spaces
4) Whether to require 1% for arts in public works capital projects
5) Whether to require 1% for arts in major non-residential development
6) Support for the perfoming arts – continuing the dialogue started with MCT in the Miller Avenue project on their parking and transportation needs; the Mountain Play and its needs; checking in on the Sweatwater.
7) Arts and historic preservation – refining the draft regulations I sent over to the City Manager.

Getting good data on arts' contributions today to the local economy and the General Fund also might provide helpful for policy-making and setting implementation priorities.