Jonathan – I disagree with the idea
of going to
Remember the old outhouse saying? “No
job is ever finished until the paperwork is done!”
I believe that we need to do our work as a
Bicycle Board first. That’s what I understand that we are here for.
Perhaps we need to recruit more members
for the Parking Committee to help on this.
Don
From: bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org
[mailto:bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org] On
Behalf Of Jonathan Rosenbaum
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008
1:58 PM
To: 'Bicycle Board'
Subject: Re: [Bikeboard] Parking
Plan for City
Don, this is good to hear, and it makes valid sense
that someone from the Parking Authority could be that person we are looking
for. Someone who would not only address Bicycle Parking on City
proprieties, but who would also address Bicycle Parking Facilities on all
potential City properties.
At this point I am fed up with creating plans, it seems like it is the only
thing I spend my time doing these days. Plans mean absolutely nothing if
they aren't acted on. Two years ago, the Bicycle Board presented a
comprehensive plan to the TC, how much mileage have we gotten out of
that?
The Bicycle Parking Committee has amassed a huge amount of information on
Bicycle Parking Standards and we would be happy to present that again to the BB
as we have done in the past. This is the same information that was
presented to WVU including some information which overlaps what we presented to
the High Schools. We have already spent substantial amount time
collecting and becoming experts in this area, including follow-up meetings to
solidify this knowledge. Now time is running low, if you want to see a
budget item by this January, we need to act now, we can't just endlessly (and
mindlessly) keep running this by the BB at meetings. What is our vision
for Bicycle Parking in
So let's get into contact with the Parking Authority now (today or tomorrow)
and find out what their commitment level would be. If they
aren't interested let's find out who else the City could offer via the TC or
City Council. Otherwise, this is just going to drag on and on and nothing
will ever be accomplished. What do people on the Bicycle Board think
about going this route?
-Jonathan
Jonathan - I believe that we already have someone that we can work with andthat is Tom Arnold from the Parking Authority. Nearly two years ago heexpressed a willingness to work with us in generating parking centers in theParking Garage, but we were not able to follow-up on his willingness at thattime. I believe that the first cut on all parking planning needs to be the ParkingAuthority. Once we have something that is acceptable, then we can go to theTraffic Commission and ask for their support in presenting whatever we needto communicate or request to the City Manager and the City Council. Before we go to Tom again, however, we need to have a draft comprehensiveparking vision and plan that the Bicycle Board has reviewed. Hopefully HughKierig will be able to dialog with us in putting a preliminary plantogether. Don -----Original Message-----From: bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org [mailto:bikeboard-bounces@cheat.org] OnBehalf Of Jonathan RosenbaumSent: Monday, September 08, 2008 1:43 AMTo: Bicycle BoardSubject: Re: [Bikeboard] Trail stripe I plan to be there, thanks on this Frank. Mark must be a telephoneperson because he never responded to an email I sent him last month. Inrelation 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 haveyour (BB) support. There will be a lengthy explanation (because I enjoywasting lots of time saying the obvious), but please read it all if youcan. When developing a strategy to get the City/County to act,"communication with collaboration" is the most important ingredient toreach a successful outcome. In some areas I've been working on thatstrategy has been well demonstrated. With the Campus Connector projectof the WVU Committee from the very beginning many key players have beeninvolved which include the Assistant City Manager (paid employee) andseveral City Council people. Even more importantly, Jim Hunt (paidDirector of Sunnyside Up) has been actively involved in the fundingaspects and fully supports the connector because Sunnyside Up will be abeneficiary. Meanwhile, WVU Facilities & Services has the WVU propertyside covered and have done their own independent studies. The only realobstacle to the success of the CC are some unresolved property issues onthe City side of the connector. However, there has been no lack ofcommunication or collaboration in this pursuit, nor will the connectorbe built in a haphazard way because there are too many eyes watching theprocess. Significantly, there are paid people involved, so there is ahigh degree of accountability involved in doing it right and actuallygetting it done. At a prior BB meeting, it was asked how can the City copy what WVU didwith Bicycle Parking? In the case of the WVU Committee's work with WVUthis April/May, a paid employee, the Campus Planner, listened to ourrecommendations which included APBP standards developed from countlesshours of research that establish proper rack standards, proper sizing,spacing and placement specifications, other recommendations includedexamples from other Cities and Campuses, recommendations about differenttypes of parking and applications in relation to long and short termparking, security/sheltered parking, planning for future expansion ofparking, and the list goes on. He listened to us and determined whatcould be accomplished in the first phase given the present budget. Thenhe went out and did a study of all locations that met the specificationswe presented to him in relation to the budget, and then he brought backthat study for our input. That same process was repeated over again asecond time so that we could provide secondary feedback for a finalizedstudy. This study was then presented to the campus facilities andgrounds budget committee for approval. Again, there was no lack ofcommunication or collaboration in this process. On the other hand, with the Bicycle Parking Committee of the BB, whichhas a great group of volunteers, the one important thing that has beenlacking is a close relationship between our committee and a dedicatedemployee from within the City similar to the Campus Planner from WVU. One who could listen to our recommendations and work closely with usfrom the ground floor up to put together a comprehensive budget item forthe City this January (discussed during the August BB meeting). Theadvantages of such a relationship are obvious, first of all thisemployee will become intimately knowledgeable about what recommendationsthe Bicycle Board wants implemented, second of all, this employee willbe accountable to the City to get it right through a process ofcommunication and feedback with the BB. Asking volunteers to puttogether a budget item without having a City employee working with themwho is an expert on City property and budget details is not a productiveprocess and will greatly limit our success. I would really hate to seethe City get bicycle parking wrong because it would be an incrediblewaste of time, the facilities wouldn't be used, and it would send aterrible message to citizens. If anything - given the City's commitmentto reducing traffic congestion - if the City really wants to send apowerful, positive message out to the citizens of Morgantown authorize existing employees to spend part of their paid hours workingclosely with committees like the BB to provide compelling alternativesto the common way most people travel in this town. In the case ofbicycle parking, if you do get it right, it sends out a message tocitizens that the City fully supports and encourages people to commuteby bicycle. The better those bicycle parking facilities are, thestronger the message sent out. Proper bicycle parking facilitiesprovide an impressive kind of PR and will get many people out on theirbicycles. Ofcourse, painting stripes incorrectly on the rail-trail,including in a multi-million area whose charm is linked heavily to therail-trail is the worst kind of PR imaginable. I would hope the Cityhas 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 aCity employee who is knowledgeable in City property and budget detailsto work closely with the Bicycle Board's Parking Committee to realize aBicycle Parking budget item for this January 2009's City Budget thatwould include facilities on City properties including the City's parkinggarages. The expectations and reasoning for such a collaborativeemployee are discussed above. Versione completata. -Jonathan Frank Gmeindl wrote: