District 4 Advisory Board

District IV Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 9, 2013 www.wichita.gov The District IV Advisory Board Meeting was held at the 6:30 p.m. at the Lionel Alford Branch Library, 3447 S Meridian. Six (6) DAB members, four (4) staff and one (1) citizen were present. Members Present Staff Present Councilmember Blubaugh Kelli Geier, City Manager’s Office Don McManamey Isaac Unruh, Century II events coordinator Benny Boman Officer Davidson, Patrol West June Bailey Officer Robinson, Patrol South Nancy Wilhite Jim Underwood Michael Pochek Order of Business Call To Order Councilmember Blubaugh called the meeting to order at 6:37 p.m. The September 9, 2013 agenda was approved as submitted. (Underwood/Boman: 6-0) The August 12, 2013 meeting minutes were approved as submitted. (Boman/Underwood: 6-0) PUBLIC AGENDA The public agenda allows members of the public to present issues not on the agenda to the District Advisory Board. Each presentation is limited to five minutes unless extended by the Board. 1. Scheduled Items No items were submitted. 2. Off-Agenda Items No items were submitted. Action Taken: Received and filed.  STAFF PRESENTATIONS Public Safety Reports 3. Community Police Report Police staff reported the following: Officer Davidson - Patrol West  Steady or increase in auto thefts o Auto theft recovery at west Kellogg motels. Map out where taken and where recovered to find correlation or trend and be proactive to prevent these thefts.  Complaints of homeless in Riverside Park violating City ordinances. Officers have made arrests and done special assignments to help resolve the issue.  Burglaries at businesses on West Street south of Kellogg o Boman asked if the burglaries occurred at night. Davidson replied that he was not sure, but would find out. o Bailey asked if the businesses had alarms. Davidson answered he was not sure. Officer Robinson – Patrol South  Increase in residential burglaries, so officers are shifting work schedules and increasing police presence on the police beats to try to catch these suspects since they are watching when people leave their house to enter the houses and steal.  Burglars are positioning stolen cars all around their target area to make them easy to access and alternate. o McManamey asked if there are particular cars that are being targeted. Robinson stated that there is usually not a particular car targeted (although usually not classic cars), only cars that have easy access and are not easily missed. They either strip or sale the car usually. Little cars, vans and trucks are popular to use to hide drugs.  Prostitution is increasing, so officers will do a sting operation soon. They keep migrating between the north and south parts of town.  Reminder that an officer will not write numerous (entire blocks) tickets for cars parked within 8 feet of a private drive. Bailey asked if a citizen should call 9-1-1 or the community police station to report a suspicious car or activity (i.e. someone knocking on your door just to see if you are home.) Robinson said that it is always best to call 9-1-1 when you see suspicious activity because they are able to respond much quicker. Underwood asked if the drainage project on south Seneca is causing an issue. Robinson stated he wasn’t sure because that area is not is his beat. Councilmember Blubaugh asked if criminal activity levels follow the current economic situation of the community. Robinson stated that crime fluctuations do tend to follow economic indicators. When the economy is bad, criminals get more bold and desperate. Robinson encouraged everyone to keep a watchful eye out for their neighbors and suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. 4. Fire Report No report was submitted. Action Taken: Received and filed. NEW BUSINESS 5. Discussion of Street Closures for Special Events Isaac Unruh, Century II events coordinator, presented this item to the Board. The City of Wichita encourages community events throughout the city. These events include block parties, charity events, car shows, festivals, concerts, carnivals, and runs. Runs in particular can require extensive street closures to ensure the safety of not only the participants, but also for those in the area. Although these street closures are a necessity, many public spaces, communities, businesses, churches and other events such as weddings or other social gatherings can be affected negatively. The majority of these troubles stem from lack of awareness in regards to upcoming street closures. The City of Wichita is looking into several solutions to improve runs and their street closures, so that communities and events can coexist in a more advantageous manner. The current solutions being proposed are:  Adjusting the time frame in which run promoters send out notifications to affected businesses and neighborhoods o Currently promoters are required to send out notifications to those affected by the street closures via mail, email or in person. Some may do this many weeks in advance and others may only do a couple of weeks. Determining a better timeline to notify communities could prove to be beneficial  Placing trained volunteers, security guards or officers at key intersections o Informed personnel at certain intersections could improve the flow of traffic, allowing vehicles to pass through when an opportunity arises.  Comprehensive online calendar detailing run routes o An online calendar detailing routs and dates of runs across the city would conveniently allow anyone with internet access to check for any upcoming street closures caused by runs.  Contacting media outlets o Media outlets such as local TV news stations, City 7 and the Wichita Eagle could help notify the public in areas affected.  Signage in the areas that will be affected o Standard or electronic signs could be placed in certain areas that will be affected by street closures 10 to 14 days in advance of the event.  Placing reminders in church bulletins o If churches are interested run promoters could provide flyers or small articles in church bulletins to remind affected congregations of upcoming street closures. Councilmember Blubaugh asked if we have looked at how other cities handle these events. Unruh stated that staff has not looked at other cities to model their practices after for these events. Underwood suggested contacting Seattle to see how they organize these events Bailey suggested using the City’s facebook page as an additional way to notify citizens of these upcoming events and street closures. Bailey also suggested that the City of Wichita could purchase electric signs to notify the public of these events and rent them out to the event promoter to recover the cost of the signs. Bailey further inquired how many run requests the City of Wichita receive in a year. Unruh said that there were 40 requests last year and that it is slowly increasing. Bailey also asked if the City of Wichita has looked at other paths away from traffic to offer event promoters in order to control and minimize traffic and business disruption. Unruh replied that this has not been done. Councilmember Blubaugh asked if it is user friendly to sign up for these events, as he has heard that some participants have difficulty receiving additional pertinent event information after they have registered. Unruh said that he is not sure. Nancy Lawrence, a shop owner in Delano, stated that many of these events go through the Delano neighborhood, but that the participants just run through and do not stay to shop. She added that she wants all events in the community to be successful, but it really hurts the small businesses’ customer base when they have to deal with street closures, especially during a peak time such as Saturday morning. Lawrence suggested having them run along the bike path or the river or other designated trails in the City of Wichita and have them curb the amount of times a certain area can be used for these events. Unruh stated that the problem with using trails is that they are not able to fit everyone on them for larger running events. Lawrence asked if the event promoters have to pay for security the entire time of the event. Unruh said that they do. Underwood asked how far in advance staff is notified of these running events. Unruh stated that usually local events give about 6 month notice, and the usual timeframe is 30 days in advance of the event, but it can be as little as 2 weeks prior to the event date. Underwood also suggested adding fire stations, hospitals and funeral homes to the event notification lists. Action Taken: Provided feedback.  OLD BUSINESS 6. No items were submitted. BOARD AGENDA 7. Board Updates and Issues Gabel commented that the sod on south Seneca looks great. Gabel stated that he had Wichita Independent Neighborhoods (WIN) Neighborhood University agendas to distribute to the neighborhood associations. Underwood asked if it is possible to defer an item if more information is needed before a decision is made by the Board. Councilmember Blubaugh stated that an item can be deferred if more information and time is needed to make a decision, but the Board may miss its opportunity to provide input to the City Council if they vote on the issue before the next District Advisory Board (DAB) meeting takes place. Bailey added that if there is not a timeframe placed on the issue, that it can be beneficial to defer an item if more information is needed and additional stakeholders need notified. Bailey used the example of the Grace Med Clinic that went in at Dodge Elementary. The issue was deferred for a month and during that time all stakeholders got together and found a solution to the parking issue and came back and presented it to the DAB the next month. Underwood also inquired how to go about bringing up an issue not on the agenda (i.e. more signage for no swimming along the river) and making a recommendation for action on it. Geier responded that she would look at the by-laws to find out the proper way to do this. Underwood further mentioned that they are going to have a group neighborhood association meeting to hear the City of Wichita staff presentation of the Wichita State University Community Investments Plan survey results. McManamey asked for an update on the south Seneca drainage project. Boman said that right now they are working at the intersection of May and Dodge and will follow May to Exposition and then Exposition to Dora all the way to Meridian. When discussing why the drainage would flow into the river instead of the Big Ditch, it was explained that the Big Ditch is at a higher elevation than the river so the water would have to flow against gravity; as well as, there are requirements for the amount of water going in verses coming out of the Big Ditch that have to be observed. Councilmember Blubaugh stated that he has had a lot of resident complaints in this area regarding other people walking in their yards. The rain has delayed this project some, but the additional upcoming drainage project on Meridian is expected to start in late 2014 instead of early 2015 as earlier anticipated. 8. Adjournment With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.