I plan to be there, thanks on this Frank. Mark must be a telephone person because he never responded to an email I sent him last month. In relation to that, I have another item I'd like to bring up to the TC, and I would hope this is a fairly obvious one to the BB, and that I have your (BB) support. There will be a lengthy explanation (because I enjoy wasting lots of time saying the obvious), but please read it all if you can.
When developing a strategy to get the City/County to act, "communication with collaboration" is the most important ingredient to reach a successful outcome. In some areas I've been working on that strategy has been well demonstrated. With the Campus Connector project of the WVU Committee from the very beginning many key players have been involved which include the Assistant City Manager (paid employee) and several City Council people. Even more importantly, Jim Hunt (paid Director of Sunnyside Up) has been actively involved in the funding aspects and fully supports the connector because Sunnyside Up will be a beneficiary. Meanwhile, WVU Facilities & Services has the WVU property side covered and have done their own independent studies. The only real obstacle to the success of the CC are some unresolved property issues on the City side of the connector. However, there has been no lack of communication or collaboration in this pursuit, nor will the connector be built in a haphazard way because there are too many eyes watching the process. Significantly, there are paid people involved, so there is a high degree of accountability involved in doing it right and actually getting it done.
At a prior BB meeting, it was asked how can the City copy what WVU did with Bicycle Parking? In the case of the WVU Committee's work with WVU this April/May, a paid employee, the Campus Planner, listened to our recommendations which included APBP standards developed from countless hours of research that establish proper rack standards, proper sizing, spacing and placement specifications, other recommendations included examples from other Cities and Campuses, recommendations about different types of parking and applications in relation to long and short term parking, security/sheltered parking, planning for future expansion of parking, and the list goes on. He listened to us and determined what could be accomplished in the first phase given the present budget. Then he went out and did a study of all locations that met the specifications we presented to him in relation to the budget, and then he brought back that study for our input. That same process was repeated over again a second time so that we could provide secondary feedback for a finalized study. This study was then presented to the campus facilities and grounds budget committee for approval. Again, there was no lack of communication or collaboration in this process.
On the other hand, with the Bicycle Parking Committee of the BB, which has a great group of volunteers, the one important thing that has been lacking is a close relationship between our committee and a dedicated employee from within the City similar to the Campus Planner from WVU. One who could listen to our recommendations and work closely with us from the ground floor up to put together a comprehensive budget item for the City this January (discussed during the August BB meeting). The advantages of such a relationship are obvious, first of all this employee will become intimately knowledgeable about what recommendations the Bicycle Board wants implemented, second of all, this employee will be accountable to the City to get it right through a process of communication and feedback with the BB. Asking volunteers to put together a budget item without having a City employee working with them who is an expert on City property and budget details is not a productive process and will greatly limit our success. I would really hate to see the City get bicycle parking wrong because it would be an incredible waste of time, the facilities wouldn't be used, and it would send a terrible message to citizens. If anything - given the City's commitment to reducing traffic congestion - if the City really wants to send a powerful, positive message out to the citizens of Morgantown, they will authorize existing employees to spend part of their paid hours working closely with committees like the BB to provide compelling alternatives to the common way most people travel in this town. In the case of bicycle parking, if you do get it right, it sends out a message to citizens that the City fully supports and encourages people to commute by bicycle. The better those bicycle parking facilities are, the stronger the message sent out. Proper bicycle parking facilities provide an impressive kind of PR and will get many people out on their bicycles. Ofcourse, painting stripes incorrectly on the rail-trail, including in a multi-million area whose charm is linked heavily to the rail-trail is the worst kind of PR imaginable. I would hope the City has learned their lesson from this and will now work much closer with us.
In review, I want to ask the TC to request that the City authorize a City employee who is knowledgeable in City property and budget details to work closely with the Bicycle Board's Parking Committee to realize a Bicycle Parking budget item for this January 2009's City Budget that would include facilities on City properties including the City's parking garages. The expectations and reasoning for such a collaborative employee are discussed above.
Versione completata.
-Jonathan
Frank Gmeindl wrote:
Bicycle Board Members,
At yesterday's Bicycle Board meeting, I took an action item to call Mark Wise, BOPARC Director, to find out why the trail striping committee that he told us at our July meeting he would form hasn't met yet. I called Mark today to tell him that I was aware that the committee has yet to organize and meet. I also asked him for a timeline or at least a target date for doing something with the current rail trail stripe situation so that I could inform the Traffic Commission at next Wednesday's meeting. He said that he will attend the meeting and ask for a member of the Traffic Commission to join the committee that he said he's going to form.
Since Don Spencer and Jonathan Rosenbaum volunteered at our July meeting to join Mark's committee, I would like to encourage them to attend next Wednesday's Traffic Commission meeting. It begins at 6:30 pm and is in Council Chambers.
When we originally recommended the stripe and the Keep Right signs to the Traffic Commission, they spent a lot of time developing specifications for where the stripe would be applied as well as the stripe's size, shape and color. Unfortunately, none of that was captured in the minutes and we all know what we got.
If all the right people are at the Traffic Commission meeting next Wednesday, it is possible that the corrective action can be decided right then and there instead of dragging out through numerous meetings. It would probably also be tremendously helpful if someone came with some authoritative guidelines for trail striping.
Frank
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