Pedestrian Safety Board

February 2016 Meeting Minutes Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board Public Safety Building – Training Room 1 Monday, February 1, 2016, 2016; 4:30 – 5:45 PM The Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board’s mission is to promote a walkable environment throughout the City by developing safe, attractive, and accessible walkways that connect neighborhoods and destinations. 4:30 pm Call meeting to order I. Introductions: a. Members - Matt Cross, Bill Reger-Nash, Jimmie Simmons, Ella Belling, Lt Matt McCabe, b. Guests: William Blosser, Frank Gmeindl, Bill Austin, Rachel Brosky (rabrosky@mix.wvu.edu), Damien Davis, Barbara Walker, Amy Boggs of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, City Council Bill Kawecki, Jessica Bladow (jbladow@sse-llc.com), City Council Jenny Selin II. Approval of January 11, 2016 Minutes. Deferred to next month. III. Comments by the Chair  Pedestrian Death: Woman killed was on sidewalk when hit by vehicle. Felony charge will be made. Matt Cross expressed concern for young woman and her family as well as for the fate of the young male driver.  Granville sidewalk development is moving forward. University Towne Center developers proposing walking path around facility. (Sure would be nice to have a walking path up the hill to the University Towne Center. People are regularly walking in the ditch and along the road as they make their way up the hill to shop and work. BRN) Developers are working closely with Bill Austin and our MPO.  Gov’s highway safety program Happy to have Amy Boggs here from the Gov’s Highway Safety program. Here from Charleston. Funding from NHTSA. Her goal is to work further on ped and bike safety. Up to now, there is little happening statewide. Technically under the DMV. She searched for the Complete Streets but was unable to locate any information but that is because Governor Tomblin has chosen to not appointe the oversight committee. Specific groups recommended for the composition of the committee. Complete Streets eligible for highway funds from DOH (CMAC Funds).  Educational Flyer developed courtesy of Sarah Bias. Matt Cross constructed an alternate one. These samples were passed around. Generally, the thought was that the flyers are too busy and not adequately targeted.  Bill Austin offered Jaing to assist with the graphics and attention getting. o Matt Cross suggested that the flyer will be distributed following the model of the Bike Board. Pick up flyers at the Blue Moose, etc. Bike Board distributed them with the utility bills. o Bill Kawecki suggested becoming more targeted. Design must be in line with the targeted audience. Suggested to disseminate electronically City Communication director, WVU Wellness. o Jimmie Simmons recommended promoting several focused messages on different communication pieces, using the content from the existing flyer. These might be distributed on Channel 13 (Public access channel). The current flyer has five distinct 1  messages. Remember that to try to do everything is to do nothing!!!!! Jimmie particularly liked the WV Walks refrain: “Isn’t it time you stated walking!”  New Evansdale Crossing opened today. Jenny Selin pointed out that there are sidewalks on one side of road and not the other. This is a huge oversight which must be addressed immediately. Three huge new parking lots were constructed and there was not enough money for a sidewalk on both sides of the streets!!!! In addition, it appears that the areas are seemingly not accessible. Matt Cross will check out with Jan Deery. o We need to advocate for these sidewalks and accessibility now!  Ride sharing. Suggested as a way to make peds safe. This is bizarre. We have such a car centric society. Walking is one of the most efficient, non-congesting, non-polluting and healthy forms of transportation. The University and Morgantown need to make this activity safer, not force people into cars as a safe way of getting around. Ride Sharing is a good program, but safe walkways is even more important.  Smart phone apt – flash. Place on the slides. Place on the city website and on the flyer. This can be a nice tool to augment pedestrian safety, but not a substitute for well-designed walking corridors.  Snow Removal. Code enforcement Mike Stone. Reminders have been distributed. Stone and and the City Manager suggest there are so many violations that it is overwhelming to communicate with all individuals. Ella reported that first ward neighbors collaboratively cleaned snow but piled it on to one side of the street, which was then snow on her sidewalk. We need to address these concerns because these folks are attempting to do the right thing.  Frank Gmeindl made the point that people in Greenmont and South Park seem to deliberately pile snow on the sidewalks.  State and City Responsibility: The state is not clearing their bridge, such as Walnut Street. How can we enforce snow removal if the city and state are not doing their part with is a mandated requirement to clear their sidewalks. This issue needs to be addressed systemically. Perhaps, the city could place money for snow removal equipment and manpower in its next year budget.  State sidewalks - adopt a highway This may be one means of taking care of the state’s responsibility.  Snow Wall: Barbara Watkins indicated her daughter ingeniously built a snow wall, which keeps snow from being plowed on to the sidewalk. Again, this needs to be addressed as such an approach may be illegal.  WVU Volunteers assisting with snow removal. Mr. Stone recommended that salt is available for volunteers.  Downtown Business Owners, according to Barbara Watkins, did a better job (not perfect) keeping their sidewalks clear this year than in previous years.  Snow Angels: Suggestion to develop a list of people on a block who can take care of others. Frank Gmeindl serves this role in his neighborhood.  Report sidewalk snow and ice violations: Go to http://com3.govtsystems.com/MorgantownWV/Request/. o These issues are addressed and the person expressing their concern receives a response.  IV. Reports  -Mountain Line Maria Smith Not present  -Rail Trail Ella Belling Policy is to not plow rail trail.  -Greenspace Rick Landenberger Not present  -City Council Jay Redmond not present.  -MPO Bill Austin 2   -City Engineering Damien Davis left meeting at 5 pm.  -Police Officer Lt. McCabe Nothing to report  Traffic Commission Matt Cross – Discussion of The Standard. This is a wonderful project in a key part of the city where we want to see increased population density. Bill Austin indicated that he is willing to work on helping come up with solutions which can help mitigate the perils to massive number of peds crossing Route 7/ S. University Ave.  Landmark Development is still moving forward in City Council  Unsafe crossing at a particular church parking lot. There’s an issue with people using the parking lot there, and then taking a set of steps up to the street and crossing the street there instead of at the intersection.  Guest Jessica Bladow asked about the sidewalk/walkway planning process for the city. Bill Austin referred to our comprehensive long range plan prioritizing projects based on need and funding capacities. Next meeting: March 7, 2016, Training Room 1, Public Safety Building, 4:30 – 5:30 pm Minutes submitted on February 1, 2016 by Bill Reger-Nash. 3