HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-MATCOM-2021-11-22MATCOM November 2021 Meeting
● Chair/Co-Chair Report (Megan)
○ Replacement of chair to be completed by end of year
○ Goal of today’s meeting to sketch out future steps
● Liaison Report (Laura + Duc)
○ Council approved a position to specifically work with/support commissions, staff,
and constituent relations. Scope yet to be defined, working group being formed
to address this
○ Parking transport study on hold again for different priorities
○ If streetery is to be reopened next week: staff is being asked to perform a study
and look into alternatives
○ 5 new members of Council to be sworn in in 2022. Unclear if/how liaison
assignments will be shuffled around
○ Question from Theresa: will the studies of major projects around the city be done
piecemeal, and if so how do we look at the whole picture?
■ Answer: this is a concern raised/shared by Council. Funding from the
new infrastructure bill may change how the studies are approached
○ Follow-up from Hector: the Transportation plan was supposed to give a list of
priority tasks to address around the city, and this list has not been well defined
lately
■ Answer: there is a massive backlog to be filled, the infrastructure bill will
likely only address part of it
○ Question from Srikar: what exactly was approved by the Council for the new
position?
■ Answer: Funding primarily, but also a broad definition to be honed later.
The political need for the position was already well-defined, so the ADA
position needs to justify its need first by defining scope extensively
● ADA Project
○ Srikar: No update yet, emails yet to be sent to Julie and Schelley
○ Laura: Cc Faith Favra on said emails
● Snow Removal
○ Eric: New organization is working with Margaret at Bike-Walk Tompkins to be
more effective at lobbying Council/DPW to address snow removal, as well as
bring more people into being interested in the issue. MATCOM would ideally
continue to address the issue too, if desired
○ Question from Megan: Is there anything specific MATCOM can do to help move
along snow removal?
■ Eric: nothing specific, but involvement between both groups is always a
good thing
○ Hector: Should we pass a resolution as a commission outlining our formal
position on the results of the study, and how we want to move forward?
■ Eric: Multiple ways to move forward from here
● What’s next for MATCOM?
○ Megan: Generally seems that we are free to move forward as we wish, and
present things to CA, rather than wait for tasks to be handed down. Recruitment
will be a big part of moving forward in order to decide workload
○ Brainstorming:
■ Laura:
● Working with Eric/Erin to implement PTS once done
● Interact w/ other commissions to determine intersectional issues
(such as streetery)
■ Duc:
● If bike share comes back, MATCOM should have a role
■ Theresa:
● Continue what we’ve started such as ADA position
● Orient new Council members on our recent past projects (ADA,
snow) and solicit their suggestions (either join their meeting or
invite them to join us)
● Play a role in shaping Stantec study
● Recruitment!
■ Megan:
● Look into how to extend + maintain bike infrastructure in all
weather conditions
● Research snow removal in other places, determine possible best
approaches for Ithaca
■ Hector:
● MATCOM often acts like R&D for DPW, etc. This is a good vein to
continue in, such as proposing a way forward for streetery.
● We supposedly have a good pulse of what the community thinks,
but more outreach is always good
■ Eric:
● No disagreements with everything else, but it is important to
somehow address recruitment. Any project suggestion requires
more people than currently involved.
■ Srikar:
● Parking & transportation study (PTS) is very large/slow and
MATCOM’s involvement is limited. MATCOM could take a sliver
of PTS that we think is least likely to move forward and approach
it from a research perspective. Maybe consider doing a public
poll/outreach, like snow removal. Even if this ends in a resolution,
we might be able to make headway with items that would
otherwise be buried within the PTS.
● Scheduling next meeting
○ Hector: Will we have a quorum by then to even function?
■ Eric: Potentially yes, because unrenewed/replaced terms are
automatically renewed
○ Outcome from group: Penciled in for January for now, skipping December
○ Megan: Please contact me if interested in working on recruitment between now
and January. Potential to work with PRUNERS on recruitment
■ Laura: This is an issue prevalent across commissions