Tourism Commission

TOURISM COMMISSON June 27, 2018 A meeting of the City of Charleston Tourism Commission will be held Wednesday, June 27, 2018, beginning at 5:00 p.m., at City Hall, Council Chamber, 80 Broad Street. Notice of this meeting was sent to all local news media. PRESENT Mr. Robert Seidler, Chair, Mrs. Elizabeth Alston, Mr. Alphonso Brown, Mr. Randolph Cooper, Mrs. Lorraine Evans, Mr. Ernest Long, Mr. Rick Jerue, Mr. Barry Kalinsky, Mr. James Saboe, Mr. Richard Stello, Ms. Vanessa Turner Maybank, Councilmember Gary White, and Mr. Chad Yonce. STAFF: Ms. Davida Allen, Manager, Arts and History Commission/ Tourism Commission, Mr. Keith Benjamin, Director, City of Charleston Department of Traffic and Transportation, Mr. Tim Domin, Esq, Clawson and Staubes, LLC, Mr. Dan Riccio, Director, City of Charleston Department of Livability and Tourism, Mr. Robert Somerville, Assistant Director, Department of Traffic and Transportation, Mrs. Amy Southerland, Tourism and Special Events Manager, Department of Livability and Tourism. The meeting was opened with a moment of silence. Approval of minutes- April 25, 2018 Mrs. Alston moved for approval of the minutes and any necessary corrections. Mr. Saboe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Chair Seidler introduced the new Commission member Chad Yonce, who replaced Mrs. Elizabeth Bradham as her one-year term ended. City Attorney-Tim Domin, Esq. Mr. Domin said he had no report at this time. Citizen Input Tyler Jones, representing Charleston CARES (Carriage Association for Responsible Equine Safety), addressed the issue regarding the idea of a doing a scientific study of the carriage industry in Charleston. The carriage companies he represented - Charleston Carriage Works, Palmetto Carriage Works and Old South Carriage – didn’t fundamentally disagree or opposed a scientific study just as they didn’t oppose moving the thermometer on Church Street. They wanted to make sure where ever it was moved it would report accurate readings. Since the experts said it would either not give an accurate reading by moving it or wouldn’t change anything, they felt it was unnecessary. They also didn’t oppose putting a scale on Market Street since all of their horses and carriages were compliant. While they didn’t mind someone checking their weight, it was something that would dramatically slow down their operations to verify something they could verify in other ways and they thought it was unnecessary. But that was why they supported the City’s new policy of checking the weights on each tour of the carriages on an iPad. The City now had the exact weight of every carriage and horse in Charleston and with some simple math, they could verify they were compliant within seconds. In reference to a scientific study that was proposed by the opponents of the carriage industry, Mr. Jones said they weren’t opposed to it because they had nothing to hide. The Charleston carriage community was the gold standard for animal welfare in the entire country. They did oppose this particular scientific study for two reasons: 1) Their horses and mules were working animals and not science experiments. If the City or the Animal Society wanted to bring in horses and conduct the scientific study in downtown Charleston they could do so. But their animals should not and would not be subject to a science experiment where there were no examples of any systematic problems with the industry or their horses. There had been numerous studies done in the course of the last 50 years about draft horses and working conditions. Mr. Jones said they supported compiling all of that information and reviewing it. But if they did that they would see what the Charleston carriage community was doing worked and they went above and beyond to provide the best possible care for their animals.  Tourism Commission June 27, 2018 Page 2 2) They opposed this study because it’s being pushed by the same group that came to every Commission meeting and tried to convince the Commission members that they were animal abusers. It was insulting to the owners of the companies who had built their companies from one stand and one horse and one carriage on the street to dozens of carriages, hundreds of employees and millions of dollars in economic activity. These owners demanded the very best from their employees and companies because at their core they are horse lovers. It was also insulting to the drivers, operators and barn hands who work every day because they love horses and Charleston. Mr. Jones said the accusations and insinuations of the opponents of their industry was not only insulting, it was just wrong. In a poll conducted recently this month, the numbers were very encouraging and positive for their industry. The community supported the carriage industry overwhelmingly. Mr. Jones questioned the reason for a study. Had there been any tangible evidence that the current regulations aren’t working? Are the concerns you heard based on facts or emotions? Are they to serve the animals or political agenda? Do they think a scientific study was going to conclude this and have their opponents move on to the next issue? Mr. Jones thought it was time to accept the great work the Commission had done, the changes they made and the exhaustive research and debate they put into many of those issues and finally turn the page. They knew that certain groups would always want more but at what point would they say enough was enough? What they’ve done was working. He said that time was now. He extended an open invitation to everyone to come to their barns, meet their staff and horses, take a ride and ask them any questions. They were 100% transparent. Chair Seidler closed the citizen input period. Tourism/Livability Report – Mr. Dan Riccio Enforcement and City Image a. Code Enforcement – Mr. Riccio Mr. Riccio said they were fulfilling one of the recommendations of the Tourism Management Plan, which was to complete the task of hiring six (6) Tourism Enforcement Officers (TEOs). They would like to continue with more after that if the budget deemed it necessary. b. Tourism Statistics- Mrs. Amy Southerland Mrs. Southerland said the statistics were for the last four months. April was the busiest month. Mr. Brown said at the last meeting Mrs. Southerland mentioned they were going to make some suggestions as to those who do step on tours to change the route they used to Columbus Street. Mrs. Southerland said they had approval from the director of Traffic and Transportation for a small change in the perimeter route for any of the buses that weren’t certified. The change was there was a small section of Chapel Street that was east of East Bay Street. It was the one came out near the gas station and the beer garden. It was just that one block and the street that wrapped around Washington Street. That was added to the perimeter route. Mr. Brown commented he was referencing another tour. Mrs. Southerland apologized saying there was a small change coming to the perimeter route that she was mentioning but Mr. Brown was asking about something else. That hadn’t’ been published it yet because of the item Mr. Brown was referencing. They made a request for certified buses to add an additional portion to the route to get people closer the Philip Simmons’ home studio. This was something they were looking at it but had not met with Traffic and Transportation or the neighborhood. Mr. Brown noted Mrs. Southerland mentioned that until they added it, the buses could be in that area but they couldn’t go up America Street anymore. Mrs. Southerland said that was right but that was still under discussion. She didn’t have minutes for that but it would come before the board.  Tourism Commission June 27, 2018 Page 3 Mr. Brown said she did say temporarily the bus could go up East Bay Street and left on Columbus Street. Mrs. Southerland said that was a suggestion she had for permanent sightseeing but he shouldn’t be there at this point. That was their recommendation that she thought was a good solution and was something they were working on. Chair Seidler concluded when that was finalize it would come back to the Commission. Mrs. Southerland said yes but it might not be something that needed to be voted upon. The other one was a minor change because they had people coming up Charlotte Street without a traffic light and Chapel Street gives them a traffic light. That should take more with residential properties. It hasn’t published. They will bring it before the Commission. Chair Seidler recognized Police Chief Reynolds who was present at the meeting. c. Director of Traffic and Transportation – Mr. Keith Benjamin Chair Seidler said Dr. Weinstein brought up an issue regarding the crosswalk at Charlotte Street. He noted Mr. Benjamin had been in touch with Dr. Weinstein and made some recommendations or changes about the crosswalk. Mr. Benjamin said they were looking at it. Mr. Benjamin said they had been working with Mr. Riccio and Tourism Management on how transportation looked like overall. One of the main factors in the Century V Comprehensive Plan was for those who come to the peninsula specifically, after they park their cars, there was some other way they were getting from Point A to Point B – by carriage, bike or ride share. There were 14,000 new members on the city’s bike share, Holy Spokes. The City had to deal with the fact that the it needed to give priority to transportation. Right now the City and County of Charleston were at the top of the list in the state for the amount of people were killed when walking or biking on our public roads. They were not thinking just about tourists or people who live here, but also those work here, what that meant when they daily traverse our streets, and what that looked like from a maintenance standpoint and an accessibility standpoint. He tried to cross Charlotte Street recently with his wife and his child in a stroller where they had to wait a long time to cross. According to roadway laws, if you are at that crosswalk cars are supposed to stop. Mr. Benjamin discussed with Chief Reynolds the revival of the former Traffic Division of the Police Department that worked with the Fire Department, how they saw that as an investment of roadway construction that made it safe and the enforcement side of how that worked together. Mr. Benjamin said they were about to bring the first citywide transportation plan to City Council in a few days. The Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) identified 13 projects (ten intersections and three corridors) they wanted to see as priority for funding. Included in that 150-page document was roadway design standards and some recommendations for some different pieces they were working on. They would be bringing that to City Council for first reading July 17th. Mrs. Alston said she was still complaining about the bicycles. Sometimes they rode parallel to the cars, especially on Coming Street. Now she saw a lot of skateboards doing that in the street as well. Mr. Benjamin thought a big part of that was how they designated the right-of-way for all modes of transportation. Right now there’s not a lot of biking construction. They just introduced about 161 shared parking. So they can’t just tell cyclists and motorists they want to build safer streets for them to be on versus to be off of. But the broader conversation about where those modes were designated needed to happen right now. We don’t have that. What they have done is through the new Bike and Pedestrian Committee that they revived from 2006. They were working with the BCDCOG on what they called People Pedal Plan, which showed biking construction throughout the peninsula and off the peninsula to help people to get around. They were also going for a TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Build Grant to finally connect West Ashley and the peninsula. Mr. Long asked if there was much enforcement activity over bicycle riders, especially tourists who rent the bicycles downtown.  Tourism Commission June 27, 2018 Page 4 Mr. Benjamin said it was difficult thing to be able to do. He felt there had to be a delicate balance to enforce a rule for infrastructure that doesn’t exist. Technically, someone shouldn’t be riding on the sidewalk but if they ride on the sidewalk on East Bay rather than being on East Bay possibly getting killed because they had infrastructure there accommodate them, there was a balance that had to be kept. They had also to take into consideration, especially on the East Side and the lower peninsula, there were ways that people traverse the streets the way they were used to 30 to 40 years ago that a highway or a particular piece of infrastructure could change how they to get from point A to B. Therefore, giving credence to how people traverse was one aspect of it. He said he was a fan of investment first and not enforcement first as enforcement became an excuse for not making a full investment across the board. Mr. Benjamin said our current rating for death for bikes and pedestrians was higher than most places so they had to figure out how to fix that. Part of that was investment in infrastructure and education aspects for it. In response to Mr. Long’s question, Mr. Riccio said they had laminated bike rules that would be given out to bicycle shops, rental shops and hotels to give a visual of what or what not to do. They also had a certified bicycle officer who goes to the College of Charleston to give safety and roadway instructions to the incoming freshmen. Chief Reynolds said traffic was a very complex issue. It was very complex when you look at what happened with the bridge closure and the impact it had showed how fragile we were. He thought one of the keys was collaboration. Traffic and Transportation was working closely with the Police Department, Livability and many other entities. From a police perspective, he called it the three E’s: enforcement, education and engineering. There was no one simple solution. He said from a public safety perspective for policing, they have looked at a lot of priority policing. They looked at the data and the more that they have done, crime had come down. They were projecting a positive direction. With crime they were going in a new direction generally but with traffic, not so much. They had not resourced that as much and the problems had gone up. In the last 10 years on a graph, the city was over represented in many areas of fatalities, collisions and alcohol related deaths data. They were going to focus on that a lot. It was the priority of the Mayor. They have to look at those areas where they could get the greatest return. Some areas were going to need enforcement. In a committee meeting last night on Johns Island and everywhere he’s been traffic had been very high on the list of concerns and complaints. They had to be responsive to that and that was something they were listening to and would continue to focus on as a high priority. Subcommittee Reports 1. Quality of Life Subcommittee Report- Ernie Long, Chair Mr. Long had no report. 2. Routes, Parking and Touring Rules Subcommittee Report –Robert Seidler, Chair Chair Seidler said the subcommittee didn’t meet. 3. Tour Guide Subcommittee Report- Alphonso Brown, Chair Mr. Brown said contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t a meeting for the committee to make a recommendation that would force walking tour guides to use headphones. It was a nice suggestion to give them the option to use the headphones if they wished on their tours. It would not only cut down on the noise but would also be a nice gesture to the future use of tourism. The committee concluded the tour guides could use that as an option but not regulated by the cause and effect. (Mr. Cooper left at 5:29 p.m.) Chair Seidler added there was another component to this. The tour guide industry needed to be aware that they operated in residential areas and to be mindful of the impact, regardless whether they were carriage operators or walking tour guides. They needed to be aware of the tone and loudness of their voices. Mr. Brown said that was a side issue. They needed to address the fact that since they were in residential areas, they could tone it down a little, especially carriage driver. Chair Seidler indicted Leann Baines, the president of the Charleston Tour Association, was present at the meeting. She was having some discussions with Mrs. Sutherland and there would be greater emphasis  Tourism Commission June 27, 2018 Page 5 on that. He noted to Mrs. Alston that during one of the meetings of the Tourism Advisory Committee several years ago one of the things that came up was the idea of self-regulation of the carriage companies and tour guides. As a community, he thought they were prepared to place credence in that for these organizations to be somewhat self-regulated. Old Business Mrs. Alston asked if there were any new developments on the court case. She understood it was to come up in August. Mr. Domin said they were waiting for the judge to issue a ruling. Chair Seidler said the next Tourism Commission meeting was August 22. He said they might have some further guidance on that. There were several issues on the Tour Guide Subcommittee they were anxious to tackle but they would wait until they get some sense of what was going on there. Mrs. Alston said while Mr. Jones was giving his presentation she had a question in mind. She asked Mr. Jones if other cities had done similar surveys and if the results were different or similar. Mr. Jones said the only one he knew of was one New York City had done several years ago. The results were similar to Charleston’s (they received 64% approval) but they used a different polling company. New Business 1. 3 New Certified Vehicles and 2 Replacement Vehicles – Davida Allen Ms. Allen said currently there were 25 certified buses and 23 of them were active. Adventure Sightseeing requested 2 replacements. They currently have 8 buses. They would be adding one bus, which would be increase their total number to 9 buses, and replacing 2 active buses. All of the buses would be the same. A representative for the company said the active were 1993 and 1996 models. They were replacing those with newer buses. Staff recommended approval. (Mrs. Alston left the meeting at 5:34 p.m.) In response to a question from a Commission member, Ms. Allen said the cap for buses was 36. The 3 new buses would bring a total of 26 buses, 10 under the cap. The lottery system would go in place after the 36th bus. In response to a question by a Commission member, the Adventure Sightseeing representative said they only ran 3 vehicles per day on city tours and the other vehicles go out to the plantations. They would have a total of 6 on the road but only 3 were doing city tours. Mr. Yonce moved for approval as submitted. Mr. Stello seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Gullah Geechee Tours currently had one bus and wanted to add another bus to the fleet. He bought a bus from Alfonzia Miller, who was a certified bus owner. Staff recommended approval. Mr. Kalinsky moved for approval. Mr. Long seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Pineapple Tour Group was adding one bus to their fleet. Their bus was mainly utilized to go out to plantations. Staff recommended approval. Mr. Kalinsky moved for approval. Mr. Stello seconded the motion.  Tourism Commission June 27, 2018 Page 6 The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Brown asked if they ever reach the cap for the buses, could they look at the lottery system because when they first mentioned it in 1994 the bus operators didn’t like the way it was planned. He wanted to know if they could look at it differently. They did discuss if they ever got to that point the lottery wouldn’t work out well. He said those who came up with the idea of the lottery didn’t drive buses or do tours. Ms. Turner Maybank noted the ordinance stated when you get to that level the committee would meet and decide how that would take place. It doesn’t specifically state do a lottery and it could be done prior to reaching the cap of 36. Councilmember White, who earlier questioned what was the cap on the buses, said the reason he asked was because in the 10 years he’s been on the Commission they’ve never gotten to that number. He was curious if they were getting closer even though they still had a way to go. Mr. Domin felt it would be good to get proactive about it now. He received a call from an attorney at a company who wanted to get multiple permits so things could jump up quickly. Mr. Brown said in 1994 the City imposed a $0.50 tourism tax every month. He didn’t remember receiving an explanation as to why. He asked where was that money going? Ms. Turner Maybank suggested if Mr. Brown was interested in knowing they would ask the finance office staff to send an explanation or have someone there to explain it because there was a reason why he paid it and it went to other city needs. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. Marcia L. Grant Council Secretary