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Home My WebLink AboutMN-BPAC-2013-06-04CITY OF ITHACA BICYCLE & PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, June 4, 2013 — 5:30 p.m. Second Floor Conference Room — City Hall In attendance: Voting Members: Dave Nutter, BPAC chair - person Daniel Keough, BPAC secretary Steve Williams Matt Freedman Jan Schwartzberg Members: none <member attendance times entered for voting purposes> Expected Absence: none --------------- - - - -- Public attendance: none I. Introductions n/a II. Agenda changes: none III. Minutes approval: May minutes approved unanimously, 5 members, with one change of clarifying Andrejs' story. IV. Public comment: n/a V. Announcements: There has been some work by Daniel and by Matt in looking for members, and there are a couple of people interested in being involved with BPAC. Matt announced that he will be moving out of town in July, and so will be resigning from BPAC. Daniel announced a program that has been available for a long time, through the Bicycle Commuter Act: The most recent piece of legislation supported by the Bike Caucus is Congressman Blumenauer's Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council Meeting Minutes June 4, 2013 Bicycle Commuter Act, which allows employers to offer a fringe benefit of $20 per month for employees for the purchase of a bicycle and any bicycle improvements, repairs, or storage costs. Daniel also announced the results of his court case from receiving a NYS V &T ticket, as well as a Disorderly Conduct ticket. It was disappointing to be harassed by a driver, who happened to be off -duty IPD officer Greg Firman, then much later receive a tickets though Daniel states he was riding in a completely legal manner- - a fact that is uncontested in the explanation of this ticket. Though the tickets have been dismissed, there has yet to be any accountability for this police officer's violent behavior both in and outside of his vehicle, despite the Community Police Board complaint filed on March 20, 2013. Officer Firman failed to cooperate with the Community Police Board's investigation, refusing to speak with them on multiple occasions. The role of the Community Police Board would be much more significant if the CPB had subpoena or other power to require officers, when requested, to simply cooperate with their investigation. Daniel spoke to Kent about the Bicycle Friendly Community application with the League of American Bicyclists. Note: Cornell received LAB recognition for Bicycle friendly University in 2011, at the Bronze level. BFC & SRTS: During the meeting Dave N found information about the previous BFC application and LAB response, which Kent had posted to the Bikelthaca site. Dave re- sent this link to the BPAC listserv. LAB recommended several areas for the City to improve. This included reference to 3 NHTSA videos to help police enforce bike laws. We watched one short ( -7min) video at the end of the meeting. Jan will try to get the 2- hour CD -ROM for us to review as well if it is not too expensive. Dave wasn't able to find the SRTS video during the meeting. Dave N said that any new BFC application should refer to specific data which can be verified before submission and checked for progress in the future. Examples include lists of bridges, intersections with traffic lights, locations and lengths of bike lanes and trails, locations of racks, and references in City Code, regulations, job descriptions, etc. Pedestrian safety: Jan has noticed a lot of people on bikes, rather than take the lane or ride just outside of the door zone, they choose to ride on the sidewalk when there is a car approaching from behind, putting pedestrians at risk. It is unclear what a good solution to this is. She also complained of Seneca at Geneva St. thinking IPD enforcement would be a good option for this area. Cass Park crosswalk also seems to be a problem according to Jan, though others have had better experiences. Bike riders need education to ride in the street instead of on sidewalks. Police could and should help, but we need more confidence that IPD understands and supports safe legal riding on the streets. IPD should be part of this, including the SRTS program. 61 Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council Meeting Minutes June 4, 2013 Drivers tend not to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks across Seneca or Green where there are no traffic lights, such as at Seneca & Geneva. Drivers who stop might be rear - ended (Dave N had this happen to him at the mid -block crosswalk at the police station), and drivers in the adjacent lane might illegally continue and endanger pedestrians. Dave N mentioned being wrongly pulled over by IPD for stopping on Green for pedestrians waiting in a crosswalk. The bump -outs planned at Corn and at Plain may or may not affect whether drivers yield to pedestrians. Daniel made a request to DPW last week to have a YIELD to Pedestrians sign in middle of the road at the start of S Aurora St; the South part of the E MLK St /Aurora St intersection where drivers turning up the hill especially ignore pedestrians in the crosswalk. This is another example of the dangerous conflict of a displayed WALK signal concurrent with green lights for traffic from E MLK /E State St. An area that is often problematic with bicycles on sidewalks, is the bridge on Taughannock Blvd by Cass Park. A solution is to paint the 14' wide lane with a divider between a 10' traffic lane and a 4' bicycle lane, just over the bridge. If there is a bike lane, there is little reason for people to ride on the sidewalk. Daniel will contact Tim Logue, or perhaps NYSDOT to make this request. Daniel spoke about the Bikes for Kids (possible name) to have the currently online auctioned bikes (IPD sells the bikes to http: / /www.propertyroom.com ) Steven mentioned that the company that buys the bikes has "pre- qualification" to purchase the bicycles from the City, so any organization we use /create may need to get a similar status in order to accept the bicycles to give away. The Youth Bureau may also be willing to accept, store and /or distribute the bikes. We will likely need to create an entity to accept, refurbish, and distribute the bicycles, and perhaps to sell the nicer bikes so as to generate revenue for parts, which is what the Friends of the Bike Clinic does. Jan suggests that we contact Ithaca Housing Services to see if they have storage they could commit for this community initiative. BPAC Officers: Dave N stepped down as BPAC chair. He will continue as an active BPAC member. Daniel Keough was nominated, accepted, and was unanimously voted in as BPAC Chair - person. To include more people who are interested in membership, a poll was sent out to current members and those who have voiced interest in joining. Education, Public Service Announcements: Jan has contacted HCU, the owner of several radio stations, about doing a PSA, and will also contact other news outlets to get some bicycle safety recommendations out to the community. 41 Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council Meeting Minutes June 4, 2013 VI. Reports a. Dave met very briefly with Jennifer Dotson. She said a Parking Director was being hired which could affect the bicycling environment. b. Planning Conservation Advisory Council responded to site plans for Enterprise Car Rental's proposed new location from Cascadilla St south between Fulton St and the railroad, an expansion of the current Atlantic Dental site. CAC asked that more trees be retained or planted because, among other reasons, they will shade the Cayuga Waterfront Trail and buffer it from Enterprise and NYS -13, significant from the BPAC perspective. The trees will provide a good buffer to the CWT from cars moving in the parking lot, but will also provide shade and a better experience on the trail. Daniel also sent a request to the Planning Board with similar recommendations as CAC had made, as well as recommending indoor bicycle storage for the residents living in the Purity proposed housing. <Google Maps image of CWT at Enterprise proposed site > d. Engineer We watched a brief, -7min law enforcement training video. "Enforcing Laws for Bicycles" video, linked from the NHTSA website, Dave thought would be useful a part of the training for IPD officers. >This video refers to additional resources at: nhtsa.dot.gov Enhancing Bicycle Safety: Law Enforcement's Role" ipmba.org as well as to "Community Bicycle Safety for Law Enforcement" NHTSA 202.366.1739 Adjournment: 7:45 pm Daniel Keough City of Ithaca Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council Cl