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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BPAC-2006-02-09Minutes Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council (BPAC) Meeting February 9, 2006, Thursday, 7pm 2nd floor conference room, City Hall NOTE: From now on, we will meet in 2nd Floor Conference Room, City Hall Members Present: David Kay, Dave McElrath, Jan Zeserson, David Nutter, Carla Shafer, Ken Mudge, Kent Johnson, Michelle Berry, Tim Logue Members Absent: Jennifer Dotson, Ron Chapman, Dwight Mengel Guests: Sue Powell, Nicole Tedesco, Bob Wolfe, Dean Koyanagi • Minutes of January mtg. approved. • PAC News: Michelle Berry, Alderperson and Common Council Liaison to BPAC, reportd on implementation PAC Recommendations. In response to the Mayor's request for student help, Ass't Prof. Berry organized the syllabus of her Public Relations Lab at Ithaca College to meet the request. CSC (Community Services Committee of Common Council) passed a resolution on Feb. 8 endorsing their project to investigate and create plans for the education and outreach recommendations of PAC Report. The class members are six seniors aiming for careers in Public Relations,. All of their reports will be cc:ed to DAC, BPAC, and CSC, and Berry invited our participation in their projects. CSC Chair Robin Korherr is overseeing the global PAC report; Michelle's class is addressing only the educational piece. • Town of Ithaca's Transportation Plan: Nicole Tedesco, Planning Dept., Town of Ithaca, gave us a brief overview of the Town of Ithaca Transportation Plan. Work started in 2001 with baseline counts, road inventories, etc., and three main problems surfaced: speeding, lack of attention to pedestrian safety, and lax planning guidelines for new development. In response, their current goals of interest to BPAC are to enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety on Hanshaw Road, small section of Honness Lane, Pine Tree Road, and Coddington Road. Nicole invites comments: ntedescoktown.tihaca.ny.us Details about the Transportation Plan available at www.townofithaca.org • Cornell University's Ad hoc Committee on Sustainable Transportation: Ken Mudge, member of the Cornell University's Ad hoc Committee on Sustainable Transportation and also a BPAC member; and Dean Koyanagi, Sustainability Coordinator at Cornell, reported on the mission and procedures of this Ad hoc Committee, which was established as part of the negotiated settlement between primarily the students and the Cornell administration of Redbud Woods parking lot project. This is a committee of Cornell faculty, graduate students, transportation services and planning personnel. The committee is chartered until at least May 2006. All of the committee's recommendations will go into t -GEIS and also through a channel of Cornell's financial, planning, and transportation administrators. We discussed how this Cornell committee and BPAC can move forward together. Koyanagi and Mudge invited BPAC members to register comments, either • directly to them by email (kwm2kcomell.edu; drk5kcomell.edu) or • via a Web Forum established for this purpose: http: / /media.cce.comell.edu /hosts /estn/course /view.php ?id =2 or • at their regular meetings every Friday, 1:30 -3:00, Roberts Hall 265. The committee will welcome comments of all kinds from BPAC, including recommendations about specific routes, intersections; and broader issues, e.g., how to gear campus research to solve pressing problems. BPAC members registered the following ideas as examples, although time did not permit discussion: 1. Urge Cornell to become a major player in the car - sharing movement, which was launched in Ithaca last month. 2. Urge Cornell to deal creatively with University Ave, a major thoroughfare to Cornell. 3. Urge Cornell to support profs to address local problems with rigorous research projects in their classes -- for example, feasibility studies re more bike racks on busses, free bus passes for students, a Tondheim bike lift up Seneca St. to campus; and rigorous research re basic, key questions, e.g., the safety of bike lanes. BPAC members are repeatedly struck with how little quality research there exists on multi -use roadways and associated issues. • BPAC Blog /wiki project: Carla Shafer updated ongoing discussion of the blog /wiki project she started for BPAC last year. We've had a test blog /wiki site available to us for several months, but haven't used it. Carla is willing to work individually with us, walking us through the process so that we can discover and assess its usefulness. We need a small budget to carry this project forward: $14 annually plus $7 monthly to keep these domains registered. Ken Mudge and Dean Koyanagi will request one year's funding from their Cornell Ad hoc Committee on Sustainable Transportation as a first step is networking between them and BPAC. An Appendix to these Minutes contains instructions on accessing and using the blog and wiki sites. • BPAC Chair Position: Our grateful goodbye to David Kay, who stepped down as BPAC Chair to join the Planning Board, where he will also act as BPAC liaison to the that Board. Our welcome to Kent Johnson, our new Chair, unanimously appointed. Black Diamond Trail: Jan Zeserson reported recent formation of an enthusiastic group to push forward on this trail. To join the effort, email Jan at jzl7kcomell.edu Hilton Sidewalk Problem: Dave McElrath reported that Joann Cornish visited DAC's last meeting, but still no signs of a good solution. David Kay will report next month, as a member of the Planning Board. Minutes respectfully submitted by Jan Zeserson Appendix to Minutes, Feb. 9, 2006 BPAC News & Notes <http: //bpac.rockwren.us> The blog can be used to post items of general interest. News clippings, local press releases and letters to the editor, briefs on pending issues and research areas, meeting agendas /reminders. What else? To post to the blog: Look for the "Registered Users" bullet towards the bottom of the page, and log in. [Usernames and password are established for BPAC members; contact Carla if you've forgotten.] 2. The login will take you to your personal "Control Panel" where you want to look for the "Write" tab. That's really all there is to it. If you look around, you'll see that you can edit your old posts, and do other administrative type tasks. 3. The Firefox utility I use for posting is called Performancing. It REALLY is the most convenient way to post. If you have Firefox installed on your computer, you can Install Performancing for Firefox version 1.1.1 Now! <htlps:Haddons.mozilla.org /extensions/moreinfo.php?id= 173 0 &application= firefox The Ithaca Pattern Repository <http: //bpac.rockwren.us /wiki /> The wiki should be used to document research, best practices (what we're calling patterns), and other important information that will help BPAC work more efficiently. It is important to note that the wiki is not a forum, and won't work very well for dialog in most cases. The mailing list is probably a much better place for conversation. To contribute to the wiki: 1. Look for the "Register" link in the top right corner of the wiki home page; register and log in. PLEASE use your first and last name to register. This is what will be associated with your contributions to the public space. 2. Find the "Wiki Sandbox" and experiment with editing. You don't have to worry about making any mistakes there. It takes a little practice, but is not hard if you're good at following examples! 3. Hint: The way to make a new page is to create a link on an existing page. Links are made with double brackets [[like this]]. Email or phone me if you want additional assistance! - Carla Shafer