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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-DAC-2016-02-03Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes February 3, 2016 Present: Vice Chair Scriber DAC Members: Andrew Rappaport David McElrath Cynthia Brock Heath Dragovich Excused: Chair Roberts DAC Members Sember-Chase, Anderson, Others Present: Information Management Specialist Myers Director of Parking Nagy Tompkins County Office for the Aging Representative - Lisa Monroe Approval of Minutes: Approval of the January 6, 2016 Disability Advisory Council meeting minutes was deferred until the March meeting due to lack of quorum. Discussion Items A. Exterior Property Maintenance – Update: CC Liaison Brock reported that at the January Planning & Economic Development Committee meeting there was quite a bit of discussion regarding the proposed changes to the fine structure. There was real push back and forth to keep fine structure simple. She noted that DAC Member Dragovich also attended the meeting to lobby to keep the high fine structure for obstructions of sidewalks and driveways, as a result and because of input from the Disability Advisory Council, no changes were made to the fine structure. Common Council will be voting on the ordinance at tonight’s meeting. Vice Chair Scriber and other DAC members expressed their thanks to CC Liaison Brock for her efforts on behalf of the Council to keep the fine structure the same. They also expressed their appreciation to Alderperson and Chair of the Planning and Economic Development Committee Murtagh for his support. B. Park Mobile – Pay Stations - Discussion DAC Member Rappaport expressed his thanks to Director of Parking Nagy for the recent installation of handrails on the stairways at the Seneca Street Parking garage. However, he noted that only one side of the garage had been done and wondered about the status of the other side. Director of Parking Nagy confirmed that handrails had been installed and were complete on one side; however, on the other side the new railings didn’t fit. There wasn’t a quick fix for the problem either so they are waiting for them to be remade at no additional cost to city. It will probably be another 3-4 weeks before they are done and installed. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes                                                                        February 3, 2016    2    Director of Parking Nagy updated the DAC on the two recent sub-committee meetings of the Parking Committee. The first sub-committee met recently to discuss and provide recommendations for the placement of the new pay stations around the City of Ithaca. He explained that the meeting was well attended and that DAC Vice Chair Scriber and CC Liaison Brock were at the meeting. Everyone had great positive attitudes which was very helpful. At the meeting they discussed where the priority locations for the new pay machines should be. They also reviewed the statistics for current transactions at the pay machines. They are proposing to concentrate placement of the new machines in the downtown area. He also had a meeting with representatives at the Dewitt Mall regarding the placement of a pay machine inside their building. He reviewed what the construction needs would be for, which include placement in a location that has enough natural light to power the machine. The City will need to dig through concrete in the building for the installation, which they are not happy about. Before they can proceed, he needs to discuss the proposal with City Attorney Lavine, and the owner of the building. His biggest concern is the liability issue regarding city property on private property and whether that is allowed or not; he is waiting to hear back. Draft maps of the proposed locations for the new pay stations should be complete for review at the sub-committee meeting which is next Thursday, February 11, at 1 p.m. The biggest thing is that everyone came in to the meeting with an open mind and realized that there are challenges to address, there is a need to place machines on different streets, and the need to relocate some of the machines. CC Liaison Brock stated that at that meeting she requested the draft of that map be available for review by the DAC at today’s meeting. Director of Parking Nagy apologized for not having the map available for the DAC to review today, and stated that he would e-mail it to them later this afternoon. Director of Parking Nagy reported that the second Parking sub-committee is discussing how to advertise and market information on the use of the pay stations to the public. He explained that he is working with the Downtown Ithaca Alliance and a local vendor to discuss producing videos that will show the various ways in which the public can set up accounts and use the pay machines whether they be on the street, in the garages or, in general. He hopes that the City’s website will be able to provide a link to thoe videos. They are also working to create a City of Ithaca logo for the website for Park Mobile and the pay stations. It was a very good brainstorming meeting. He will also be working with the Tompkins County Office for the Aging to set up opportunities at various locations around the community to meet with the public and provide one-on-one demonstrations on the use of the pay machines, and to assist them in setting up their account. The next meeting will be on Monday, February 22. He further reported that the new pay stations should be in by the end of February, and are the lower ones as requested by the DAC. He is also working with the vendor on screen shot concerns related to the light sensor setting for daytime to nighttime and vice versa. Director of Parking Nagy provided some statistics for the DAC regarding the past six months of use of the pay stations in the City of Ithaca. It was expected that use would be about 16% and currently the use is at 24%; all the parking revenue is tracked and recorded through Park Mobile as well. It appears that there are a lot more people using Park Mobile than one would think. The City of Ithaca is well over double what had been expected at this point in time for use of the Park Mobile application at pay stations. DAC Member Dragovich expressed his concern regarding the supposedly ease of use of the Park Mobile application from non-smart phones; a demonstration at today’s meeting had been requested to show how one would set up their account using their regular phone. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes                                                                        February 3, 2016    3    Director of Parking Nagy responded that each pay station provides an 800 number for the user to call; it also shows the particular zone location number. DAC Member Dragovich responded that had been a concern of his in that the decal that shows what zone is on the machine, which is most likely not near where the person is parking their vehicle. This makes it difficult for people who have a hard time walking since they either have to know what zone they are in or walk to the pay station to get the zone number and then walk back to their vehicle. Could the zone number be located somewhere else that would be more convenient and visible as well as closer to parking spaces? Director of Parking Nagy explained that the zone decal is placed on every meter or meter pole as the case may be, in addition to the pay machine. It is also posted on all the backs of the blue signs located around the City. Currently, the City has 3 zones - downtown, Collegetown, and the 9 hour meter zone. He had some of the decals at the meeting, which he distributed to DAC members for their information. CC Liaison questioned whether the font could be enlarged to make it easier to read. Director of Parking Nagy explained that he understands the concern being raised about the zone that someone parks in, and he is making every effort to get that information available to the public in every way possible. He explained that people do not have to get out of their vehicle and go to the pay station once they have phoned Park Mobile and set up their account. He stated that he recently set up his account at Park Mobile at his desk phone; it took 8 minutes to set up the account. The whole process is voice activated, except for keying in credit card information. In addition, at the beginning of the call, an option is given that would allow you to speak with an actual person to set up the account if you do not want to use the voice activated process. After that, the users’ phone number and credit card information are associated with Park Mobile so anytime someone calls they can set up a parking session – whether they have a smart phone or not. He noted, as a point of information, that phone calls in to Park Mobile from users not on smart phones is only 2% of their business. The majority of the public is using the Park Mobile application to pay for parking. DAC Member Dragovich questioned whether other options for paying for parking might be considered as well. He noted Pat Pryor’s suggestion for a scratch-off type of card; which might be more user friendly for older people that may not have a handicap parking permit but have difficulty walking to a meter or don’t want to necessarily set up an account with Park Mobile. Vice Chair Scriber voiced her concern that even with all the outreach and information that has been provided about the use of the pay stations that it does not seem to be reaching the general public. How can that be improved; which she thought was part of the goal of the marketing sub- committee. Director of Parking Nagy responded that the City is working to get 3 videos for 3 different websites (the city of Ithaca, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, and the vendor producing the video’s website) produced and available to the public on how to use the pay stations and how accounts can be set up. They are also working with Tompkins County Office for the Aging to get information in their “Care Givers Newsletter” which is distributed to over 5,000 people in Tompkins County. He is also being connected with the various groups affiliated with the Office for the Aging to set up times to do actual demonstrations at different locations around the county on how to set up accounts with Park Mobile. He also reported that at last week’s advertising sub-committee meeting everyone had homework assignments related to ways to provide Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes                                                                        February 3, 2016    4    outreach into the community in the best way possible about Park Mobile and the use of pay stations, those assignments are due at the next meeting. The information they collect will be used to further promote and provide information on the pay stations to the public. Discussion followed on the floor regarding the parking information pamphlets that are being created that include maps, and specific information on how to use the pay machines. There will be different pamphlets that explain how to use the pay stations on the street or the use of the pay stations in the parking garages etc. DAC members wondered whether it would be possible to include all that information in one pamphlet. Similarly, what about an all in one video rather than separate ones. Vice Chair Scriber noted that coming downtown to today’s meeting, the parking garage was full and she had to drive all around the block and pay with quarters at the surface lot, so information about other parking options around the City would be helpful to include in the pamphlet as well. Director of Parking Nagy responded that if all that information were placed in one pamphlet that people would not read it. The pamphlet needs to be concise and specific to the kind of parking that users need information on. The City wants to provide options for the public so they can choose the appropriate brochure or video for additional information. Vice Chair Scriber asked whether the DAC might be able to review the pamphlets once they’re done to make sure they are acceptable? Director of Parking Nagy responded that would not be a problem. He also noted that staff from “Way 2 Go” is also working on different ways to get information to the public. DAC Member Rappaport noted that the numbers next to the pay stations seem like random numbers to him. Director of Parking Nagy responded that if there is a problem at a particular machine, you would refer those numbers when you call for assistance. Discussion followed on the floor regarding DAC members’ suggestions for locating the new pay stations. Director of Parking Nagy stated that the sub-committee discussing the placement of the new pay stations will have to physically go out into the field and walk around to see where pay stations are currently located to review and suggest locations for placement of the new pay stations. He noted that by doing this some of the already proposed locations may need adjustment due to underground utility lines that would prevent their installation. That is just one of the reasons for the group doing the tour as part of the meeting. Director of Parking Nagy acknowledged that getting this information out to all the various communities in the County so everyone understands and can use the pay stations won’t happen overnight. That is one of the reasons he created two working groups to work on these two distinct and separate issues so that both can move forward as quickly as possible. The new machines will be here by the end of February, and he would like to have them installed May 1st. DAC Members expressed their thanks to Director of Parking Nagy for attending the meeting and his willingness to work with them in every way possible to ensure that everyone has easy to access parking in the City of Ithaca. Commons Playground: Vice Chair Scriber reported that she did not have any updates at this time on the status of the Commons playground and possible modifications to improve its accessibility. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes                                                                        February 3, 2016    5    Director of Parking Nagy responded that currently the City is trying to get the manufacturer to present different options that could be considered. A brief discussion followed on the floor regarding the need for DAC members, therapists from the Racker Center, and the family that attended a DAC meeting after the playground first opened to express their disappointment in the design to meet with City staff to discuss options. Vice Chair Scriber and DAC Member Rappaport, who both volunteered to serve on this sub- committee, encouraged staff to schedule that meeting at 5 p.m. or after so that as to not interfere with work their schedules. Director of Parking Nagy requested that he be included in this meeting as well He noted that he and his staff are responsible for maintenance and oversight of the Commons, which includes any possible changes to the playground. Adjournment: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m. _________________________________________ ____________________________________  Sarah L. Myers, Information Mgt. Specialist Jody Scriber, DAC Vice Chair