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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-DAC-2016-09-07Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 Present: Chair Roberts Vice Chair Scriber DAC Members: David McElrath Erin Sember-Chase Andrew Rappaport CC Liaison Brock Others Present: Information Management Specialist – Myers Human Resources Director – Michell-Nunn Director of Parking – Nagy Sidewalk Program Manager – Licitra Excused: DAC Members: Anderson, Monroe Approval of Minutes: Approval of the August 3, 2016 Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes - Resolution By DAC Member Rappaport: Seconded by Vice Chair Scriber RESOLVED, That the minutes of the August 3, 2016 Disability Advisory Council meeting be approved as corrected. Carried Unanimously Discussion Items: Conversation with Human Resources Director Schelley Michell-Nunn Regarding Information from Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee Concerning Tax Credits: Chair Roberts explained that there is an item on the Common Council agenda for tonight’s meeting entitled “Diversity & Inclusion Requirements in the City of Ithaca Community Investment Incentive Tax Abatement Program (CIITAP) – Resolution” at which he would like to speak in support of on behalf of the Disability Advisory Council. He invited Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn, on behalf of the Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee (WDAC), to speak about it at today’s meeting. Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn explained that the Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee has been working for almost a year on the diversity and inclusion requirements for this program. She stated that the incentives provide assistance to developers in an effort to encourage them to come to Ithaca. The abatement is where there is tax relief for a period of time. CC Liaison Brock, who is also the liaison to the Workforce Diversity Advisory Committee, explained that the program is targeted towards certain downtown core areas to incentivize density in particular locations. Depending upon the size and type of project the abatement period could be anywhere between seven and ten years. The projects that would qualify are banks and hotels so a building designed for a specific use, and a building with a lot of different tenants. That means the first year no taxes would be paid, the second year 15% of the taxes would be paid, and then so on for the successive years; usually it ends up being a savings of 45-55% of the taxes that would otherwise have been paid. Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn explained the role that the WDAC played was in that there are different ways to achieve the tax abatement by providing certain things to the community. The WDAC wanted to make sure that developers are mindful of the City's goals of diversity and inclusion, so the committee proposed specific language that would replace more generic language. The WDAC also proposed more specific language in the plan regarding the need to provide demographic data for an organization and the requirement that they participate in the Tompkins County Diversity Consortium. That would entail becoming an affiliate, attending the meetings, and utilizing any training opportunities offered by the Consortium. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 2 She noted, though, that there is no clause in the program for non-compliance by which the city could impose the standards, including diversity and inclusion. The demographic reports would be received by the WDAC each year for review. Again, there is no penalty to the organization for non-compliance, but there would be public acknowledgement that progress has or has not been made through the reporting requirement. It has taken a long time and much work by the Committee to bring the resolution to Common Council for consideration. CC Liaison Brock stated that the WDAC may discuss the no penalty for non-compliance or lack of progress by the organization to meet the diversity and inclusion requirements in the future, and then provide reports to Common Council. Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn stated that the reporting requirement does open the door for if there is consistent noncompliance, then a decision can be made as to whether the program continues with no penalties or not. Discussion followed on the floor regarding what part of the development is required to include the diversity and inclusion requirements, the targeted areas for development, and future parking needs downtown because visitors are already experiencing difficulty in finding parking right now. Chair Roberts noted that there are other kinds of requirements that the City has for providing tax abatement incentives so this is just adding another requirement to them. He believes that the DAC should support the diversity and inclusion requirement of the program. It would also be good for the DAC to express its opinion on the proposal to Common Council in an effort to help people understand that included in diversity are people with disabilities. The reason he wanted to bring this topic to the attention of the DAC was so that he could get their support for speaking in favor of it at the Common Council meeting tonight. Human Resources Director Michell-Nunn explained that the resolution was discussed and approved by the Planning and Economic Development Committee, and tonight it will go to Common Council for a vote. She added that the WDAC volunteered to put together a toolkit for the developers because what they have been told is that developers are interested in the tax abatement incentive program, but they don’t know how it would relate to them as far as readying the environment of the project for diversity and inclusion. Resolution in Support of the Diversity & Inclusion Requirements in the City of Ithaca Community Investment Incentive Tax Abatement Program (CIITAP) By DAC Member Sember-Chase: Seconded by Vice Chair Scriber RESOLVED, That the Disability Advisory Council supports the idea of inclusion and diversity in the Community Investment Incentive Tax Abatement Program, as well as the need to educate developers that included in diversity and inclusion requirements are people with disabilities. Carried Unanimously Chair Roberts reported that he would plan to attend tonight’s Common Council meeting to speak in support of the resolution on behalf of the Disability Advisory Council. Update on Parking from Director of Parking Nagy: Director of Parking Nagy distributed statistical information regarding the first month of the use of the new “Scratch-Off Parking Card” in the City of Ithaca between June 15 and July 15, 2016. He reported that the only complaint received so far was from the Community Service Officers. The complaint is that the base color of the card needs to be changed because when the cards are scratched for use there is difficulty in reading them. Other reports are positive, with one woman who buys ten 15 minute cards at a time because it’s so much easier for her to use than the pay stations. Since this program started, the negative comments have stopped from the 55 and over demographic. He continues to conduct demonstrations at the library and other senior housing locations in the area on the use of the pay stations, and has assisted people in putting the Park Mobile application on their phone to use in the future. For the past two Saturdays, he has been out on the Commons with an information booth about Park Mobile for two different Ithaca College and Cornell University events. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 3 Vice Chair Scriber asked where the City advertised the information sessions, as she had not been aware of the many opportunities being provided to the public on the use of the pay stations. Director of Parking Nagy responded that the Ithaca Journal had a notice about the one at the Tompkins County Public Library; announcements have also been posted at Longview, Kendall and other senior housing locations. He’s found the more the program is talked about the more people show up at these types of events. He reported that the year-end parking revenue for the City of Ithaca was up 33% from last year. All the new pay stations have been installed, except for one parking lot; all the new pay stations installed have been the shorter ones. CC Liaison Brock asked whether there is a plan to expand the area served by the pay stations downtown. Director of Parking Nagy responded that there is a plan which will concentrate the expansion of the pay stations on the Court and State Street corridors. Everything that can be done in Collegetown has been done except to double up on the number of pay machines. DAC Member Rappaport reported that he uses the Park Mobile app and is charged a .35 fee each time he uses it. However, he noted, there is no fee if the “Scratch-Off” cards are used. DAC Member Sember-Chase noted that she used the pay station today and paid with quarters; will there be a fee? Director of Parking Nagy responded that there is no fee for the use of money in the machines. He stated that Park Mobile charges a convenience fee for the use of their application, similar to a credit card. Vice Chair Scriber noted that it was very difficult for her to find parking to attend today’s meeting; it took half an hour to find a spot. She went into the Green Street Parking Garage and it was completely full, then it was very difficult to turn around at the top to go back out. It is going to be hard to encourage visitors to downtown if they can’t find any parking. Director of Parking Nagy responded that the parking garage is full due to all the construction occurring downtown because contractors, of every trade, come in early to park and work all day. When construction is completed the parking will become easier to find. He will check the capacity of the Cayuga Street garage because it should not be full. DAC Member Sember-Chase asked if there shouldn’t have been something at the Green Street Parking Garage that wouldn’t have allowed someone in to park if the garage was already full. Director of Parking Nagy responded that the Green Street Parking Garage is staffed from 12 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The person in the booth should close the lane so that vehicles can’t go into the garage when it is full. If it happened before noon today, they probably weren’t there yet. Chair Roberts stated that at the last DAC meeting there was a discussion about a lot of intangible type paths of travel during construction being found all over the City. For example, sidewalks blocked with signage, garages that have limited parking due to construction. He might want to send a list of all these types of obstacles to Director of Parking Nagy so that the DAC can be directed as to what staff they should be discussed with. He wondered if the DAC thought that would be a good topic of discussion for a future meeting, and then have the appropriate staff come to talk about them so that similar situations can be avoided in the future. DAC Member Rappaport noted that there was another item that the DAC has been discussing for about two years that he would like to remind everyone of, and that is the fact that the City does not have enough accessible parking spaces on the street. The City gave up four spaces next to the Carey Building for the new development there; there should be at least one accessible parking space on the street on each of those blocks. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 4 Vice Chair Scriber noted that another part of the problem with parking in the garages is that cars park over the lines and take up more than one space. It was noted that sometimes cars take up too much space on the street by parking too close to one another now that the meters are gone. A question arose as to whether there are other areas that contractors might park instead of the prime parking spots downtown. Director of Parking Nagy responded that the City has asked many times, when projects are being planned and construction plans are made, that contractors and construction workers should park off-site and then be brought in to the site to work. That has yet to happen; there has only been one developer in Collegetown that has done this for their contractors. He had a shuttle bus from the parking area to the work site for them. . Chair Roberts wondered if statistics are available for the number of tickets issued for accessible parking spaces violations. Director of Parking Nagy responded that he doesn’t normally have those statistics, but he can get them for the DAC; however, he did note that the Community Service Officers are very on top of those types of violations. It was noted by a couple DAC members that they would not be opposed to having a convenience fee associated with the use of the Scratch-Off cards that would transfer to the customer. DAC Member Rappaport stated that he would like to establish a timetable by which some of the items discussed by the DAC should be completed. For example, the need to increase the number of accessible on-street parking spaces. He wondered if Director of Parking Nagy is the right person to bring this concern to. Director of Parking Nagy responded that he is not; but that he would be happy to help orchestrate the discussion on that topic. He stated that it would be up to the Transportation Engineer, Eric Hathaway, to make the decision as to whether or not add those spaces on the street. Sidewalk Program Manager Licitre, who was also at the meeting, stated that he could relay this information to Mr. Hathaway. New guidelines for on street parking have been received by the City, but he is not sure if staff have had an opportunity to review them yet. He wondered if there were specific streets that should be focused on. DAC Member Rappaport responded that every street with a meter - especially if there are businesses on the block should have at least one accessible parking space. Director of Parking Nagy suggested that the same group that met to discuss placement of the new pay stations would be a good place to discuss this. Transportation Engineer Hathaway could chair the meetings to help facilitate this initiative and move it forward. DAC Member Rappaport stated that he would follow-up with Transportation Engineer Hathaway to get that meeting set up. Sidewalk Update from Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra: Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra reported that crews are working on sidewalks on Oak Avenue and have about two more months of work to go before that project is completed. Crews will be working on sidewalks down on the flats and downtown area until about October 15th. The 2017 Sidewalk Work Plan and Assessment was approved by the Board of Public Works; it will go to the City Administration Committee on September 21, and then onto Common Council for a vote. He reported that Director of Engineering Logue has given him the approval to begin work on a grant application through the Transportation Improvement Project fund. If awarded, the federal grant money would be used to construct sidewalks on Hector Street, instead of through the use of sidewalk program funds. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 5 Chair Roberts stated that he has been noticing that long time issues he has had with various sidewalks are going away, and this is great. He is also pleased to begin seeing new sidewalk in places where there were either no sidewalks or long standing problems with the existing sidewalks. CC Liaison Brock noted that for the 2018 Sidewalk Work Plan it would be good to tour sidewalks in the area of Cornell because there are a significant number of areas where there are no curb cuts. She is not sure if these sidewalks are the City’s or Cornell’s responsibility. Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra responded that he would write a memo to Cornell University to inquire as to what, if any, work plans they may have for sidewalks there. Chair Roberts recommended that Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra also try to contact the ADA coordinator at Cornell University, as they would be able to assist with the tour and discussion of accessibility and ownership of sidewalks there. DAC Member Sember-Chase left the meeting at 1:15 p.m. Chair Roberts stated that he would plan to attend the September 21st, City Administration Committee meeting to express the DAC’s support for the 2017 Sidewalk Work Program. He further noted that part of what he thinks that people don’t understand is how many moving pieces these sidewalk or construction projects have at any given time. It was one of the smartest decisions that the City has ever made to take care of sidewalks by the creation of the Sidewalk Program; it’s a great program, and slowing resolving a lot of the long standing problems with the maintenance and repair of sidewalks all over the City. CC Liaison Brock agreed and noted that instead of repairing or replacing sidewalks piecemeal, the new program does an entire block at one time. That is a great way to accomplish the goal of improving the condition of sidewalks all over the City. DAC Member Rappaport reported that sidewalk work was recently completed on East Buffalo Street at the intersection of Osmun Place and two curb ramps were installed. However, one concern he has is that the height of the curbs do not comply with ADA requirements, and there are no tactile warnings; he is not sure why they were skipped. Sidewalk Program Manager Licitra responded that the crew doing that sidewalk and curb work should have completed this before moving on to the next sidewalk project. Tactile warnings are required for all curb ramps and he is not sure why they were not done in this instance. The crew that did that work is now working on Oak Avenue and he will pull them back to redo the curb before the construction season ends. Evidently, there was some miscommunication about the requirements between the City and them. DAC Member Rappaport noted that, typically, if the sidewalk/curb/ramp are not completed correctly the first time, that no one goes back to repair it properly. He is pleased that in this case, that will not be true. Updates: Chair Roberts reported that he talked with Director of Planning, Building and Zoning Cornish about when she would need some type of letter of support from the DAC about the capital project request related to the Commons Playground. She will provide language for a resolution in support of the capital project for the DAC, so that should be coming soon to a future agenda. He has not heard back from Michael Thomas, from GIAC, about when he needs a letter or resolution from the DAC in support of the capital project request for the access lift for the Alex Haley Pool. Therefore, he will just prepare a letter and send it to Mr. Thomas in the next week or so, that way he will have it when he needs it. Disability Advisory Council Meeting Minutes September 7, 2016 6 Chair Roberts further reported that he raised the issue with Transportation Engineer Hathaway regarding the audible crosswalk at Cayuga and Green Street. It is owned by New York State Department of Transportation and the request is on their radar about the problem. They will have to install different hardware and replace some parts, so it’s not just a simple repair job. They do understand how important it is that the audible signal function correctly. Chair Roberts noted that he heard from Director of Planning, Building and Zoning Cornish that staff have found some type of material to delineate the different grade in the surface area in front of the Bernie Milton Pavilion on The Commons so people don’t misstep, fall, and get hurt. He also reported that the divots around the Commons still need to be repaired. There is an especially bad one in front of Mate Factor that he hit with his wheelchair and bounced off of recently. He was informed that the Contractor knows that those still need to be repaired. It is dangerous if people are not paying attention to where they walk or go with wheeled devices. Adjournment: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 1:30 p.m. ___________________________________ ________________________________ Sarah L. Myers, Larry Roberts, Information Management Specialist Chair