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Home My WebLink AboutMN-BPAC-2013-05-07CITY OF ITHACA BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES — MAY 7, 2013 In attendance: Votina Members: Dave Nutter, BPAC chair - person Daniel Keough, BPAC secretary Jan Schwartzberg <member attendance times entered for voting purposes> Expected Absence: Kent Johnson, Junior Transportation Engineer Garin Danner Public attendance: Jennifer Genega, Science Teacher, New Roots Charter High School Andrejs Ozolins, bicycle advocate I. Introductions II. Agenda changes: a. Update for IPD bicycle auction. This is the first year that there will be no in- person bicycle auction hosted by the Ithaca Police Department. Instead of devoting IPD staff time and storage space to keeping bicycles for extended periods of time for the annual auction, the department has decided to make use of an online company: http: / /www.propertyroom.com /c /bikes . Andrejs suggests that we, or Jen, check what is done with unclaimed bicycles by the City of Elmira. III. Minutes approval: April minutes approved unanimously by those present, Jan, Dave N, and Daniel, and by Garin via email, with one change to Crash Reports part C, requesting a pedestrian improvement at Cayuga St at Seneca St: when the pedestrian has a WALK signal, lights should be read, eliminating the conflict of pedestrian right of way while traffic other wise would be allowed to turn with the green light. IV. Public comment: Ms. Genega from New Roots school spoke about her plans seeking bicycles and bicycle helmet for students at the school to use for Physical Education class and for personal use. Daniel had contacted her in response to her Craigslist ad requesting bicycles with the plan for New Roots to be part of a collaboration in keeping the bicycles for use in Ithaca that are currently being sold to a company in NYC that sells unclaimed property via online auction. V. Announcements The Ghost Bike, at the NW Corner of Washington Park, has been vandalized as reported by Dave, by having the flowers and name plate have been removed on separate occasions. Commons re -build update for bike racks: Daniel emailed project contact M. Kuo regarding numerous questions about the details of bicycle racks within and at the entrances of The Commons. In conversation with Kent Johnson, there is apparently emphasis in having most of the bicycle parking at the entrances. A concern was raised by Kent from some of the available sketches, that the spacing for the bike racks is enough to ensure ease of use and that the racks will not be too close to lanes of moving traffic: racks placed less than 2 feet from the curb is not recommended. Daniel will report back with the response from Mr. Kuo. A concern was voiced for the Commons, in that we want the racks in number at least the same, perhaps more than we previously had within the Commons. Jan and Daniel volunteered for the Streets Alive! event. There was a crash during the event where a minivan driver came through onto the closed street and despite volunteers with stop signs yelling for him to stop, the driver came in and struck a volunteer. The volunteer was apparently not injured. The crash was reported to Ithaca Police. This was a great, well- attended event! Jan voiced a concern about bicycles on sidewalks and has noticed excessive rates of speed from some people on motorized scooters or wheelchairs, being unsafe around pedestrians. Vikki requested that a member of BPAC write a guest column regarding where cyclists should ride. Andrejs suggested using the WHCU, 870 a.m. as well as Ithaca Community Radio. Jan is volunteering to write an outline of media topics. TIGER funding: Andrejs suggests that we have people dreaming of things on BPAC. If we had all the money, for an incredible project, what would it look like, what would it be? It is not the place of BPAC to decide that we have no money for projects. What would be the best improvements for bicycles in Ithaca? One suggestion by Andrejs is for W MLK /W State St from Floral Ave to The Commons which would accomplish a lot: an East West corridor, getting people to the Black Diamond trail. The first step for W State St could be closing off lanes of the W State St bridge, using the increasingly popular method of the "road diet ". Here is an example: http: / /www.streetfiIms.org /mba- road -diet/ Andrejs, as well as Advocacy Alliance training, suggest that we have a Bicycle Advocacy group that is not part of the City government, so as to keep things rolling should Jen from New Roots or Daniel from BPAC move to a different city. An outside advocacy can work to continue the project - -it would give the project, the work longevity even if that group only met very infrequently. VI. Reports A. Engineer - not present Parking change on E. Falls St is expected, though this is not really effect cyclists or pedestrians. E Falls St would be a good candidate to add into the Bicycle Boulevard Plan, especially since the east /west route option for this program are very poor to non- existent. Bike Friendly Communities: Daniel reported that Cornell received the University designation, at Bronze level, way back in March of 2011, yet there are no posted signs of this award on display anywhere on campus. Daniel has made a request for Cornell to post these signs, at least at the Big Red Bikes stations, and is waiting for a response from Susan Powell. Posting of this designation is likely to improve the mindset that Cornell is bike friendly as well as encourage further advocacy to improve current infrastructure and policies in attempting to advance to a higher designation. Jan and Dave agreed that BPAC would like to see the City received a Bicycle Friendly Community designation. It was suggested by Andrejs that we have a student member, such as from LACS or New Roots or Ithaca High School students. LACS does have a bicycle program. LEED for new and existing structures: Daniel spoke about potential changes that could be made in city code or zoning to include indoor bicycle storage for residential units. Speaking with Noah Demarest (RA, RLA, LEED AP) he suggested we set the language to be attached to LEED standards -- -which are widely recognized and when LEED standards are updated and improved, as related to bicycle storage, so to would be the planning board /construction results from this code. Community Police Board meeting: Dave attended and in his three public comment minutes, stated his concerns about how police should be working to protect cyclists, section 1234A does not force the cyclist to the extreme right side of the road. Andrejs provided his story of getting pulled over after Mitchell St had been narrowed. After the IPD officer beeped and yelled at Andrejs, eventually pulled him over. After a long conversation with the officer going over the V &T law, the IPD officer left after acknowledging that the officer himself might not have understood the law as he initially thought he did. Result: no ticket issued and the officer researching the issue. We need to have an institutional shift in a way to address the IPD bicycle related education. Andrejs suggested bicycle riding education Traffic Skills 101 League of American Bicyclists, through Steve Powell, whereas it would completely change the view of those officers who complete the course. Traffic Skills 101 League of American Bicyclists. Andrejs will speak to Steve Powell. League of American Bicyclists: Certified Instructors within 25 miles of Ithaca: Victoria Armstrong Ithaca, NY Mary Bouchard Trumansburg, NY Andrejs Ozolins Ithaca, NY Angela Perry Cortland, NY Steven Powell Ithaca, NY Jan mentioned that a large percentage of the bicycle riders may be City of Ithaca residents, whereas a lot of the motor vehicle traffic is from people from outside the City. Though the responsibility and safety should be assumed and enjoyed by all road users. Adjournment 7:48 pm Respectfully submitted, Daniel Keough City of Ithaca Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council