Thread by @shayshinecastle

It's Saturday morning, #Boulder. I'm at Day 2 of the council retreat. Who's going to follow along with me?

Today, we're talking work plan priorities. They've been grouped into a coupe of categories: Ongoing, Can be done under current capacity, and need more resources

And then combos of those three.

Also, staff conveniently listed which council members put these as priorities so I was able to put them in descending order of support, so you know which ones are more likely to become whole-council priorities.

Ongoing projects:
CU South (Joseph, Brockett, Young, Yates, Friend)
Transportation tax funding (Young, Brockett, Joseph, Yates)
Vision Zero* (Young, Friend, Brockett, Joseph)
*Neighborhood EcoPass is ongoing, but parking reform is current capacity, with 2020 project planned

Community Benefits Part II (Young, Friend, Brockett, Joseph)
Muni (Yates, Friend, Joseph)
Diagonal Plaza future (Yates, Wallach, Brockett)
Use Tables Part II (Brockett, Young)
East Boulder subcommunity plan (Wallach, Brockett)
Alpine Balsam (Brockett, Friend)

and GARE work (Brockett, Young)

These are also ongoing, but parts of them require more resources. (with notes about progress)
And I can't believe this is leading the list, but....
Broadway gondola* (Yates)
*Study underway

BVCP midterm update (Brockett)
Mixed-use zoning / more housing* (Friend)
*Will be done through existing projects
Finishing Hill Hotel, East Bookend, BMOCA, Alpine Balsam* (Friend)
AB underway; East Bookend will be done when facilities master plan is; Hill Hotel revisited in Q1

OK, these CAN be added to the workplan under staff's current capacity.
Financial strategy/budget reform (Yates, Wallach, Nagle)
Additional renter protections (Swetlk)
Diversification of boards and commissions* (Joseph)
*Charter requires gender diversity; could be amended

EMS in-sourcing to fire dept* (Yates)
*More $$ will be needed
Tax on second/empty homes* (Young)
*More research needed
Reuse of airport into housing* (Wallach)
*Feasibility study could be conducted

And... Explore user fees to fund open space* (Wallach)
*OSMP currently collects $$ from facility rentals, ag leases, etc. $637,830 in 2018

We'll go through those one-by-one today, with notes about how much staff capacity there is for each one.

Brockett with the first council comment: I want to make sure GARE work stays high on the list and doesn't get bumped

Brautigam: It is in no risk of being bumped. It is one of the most important things of our age.

OK, here's the list of proposals that will need more staff time and resources to be accomplished, along with notes.

Study nexus between housing/transportation/land use and climate change (Friend)
In-commuter data already collected; staff would have to work across departments

More workforce housing (Friend)
Will cost $40,000 for the remainder of this season; location dependent for next season

Additional anti-fracking protections (Swetlik)
City being sued could cost up to $500,000

Explore $15 min wage in Boulder (Swetlik)
Can be done with existing resources but will need lots of engagement; will cost $25,000

Emergency communications in English and Spanish (Joseph)
Would cost $20K/yr extra for OEM; city hiring language access coordinator

Online survey/reporting system for those receiving services (Joseph)

Explore housing in Planning Reserve with baseline services study (Joseph)
Will cost $50,000-$300,000; to be completed between 2021-2024

Weaver has a new add, too: The state leg will likely overturn the prohibition on cities doing materials bans, meaning Boulder can nix styrofoam and some plastics, if desired.

Brautigam is aware of that and thinks staff will be ready to do something.

Getting an update on Diagonal Plaza from Yvette Bowden, head of parks/rec and community vitality: For about a year, with Brautigam's permission and assistance of David Gehr and Chris Meschuk, we've been exploring core parcels in line with community desires from op zone convo.

"That work continues. We'd hope to match that up with other interest in the area. This is all with the intent of council to create some momentum around mixed-use idea."

That trio has done "really great work," Brautigam said. "We've been trying to have dialogue with those property owners for years if not decades and this is the first year we've cracked it."

Brockett: We will probably just get in the way, but if council can be helpful, please let us know.

So, first headline of the day: Some movement on Diagonal Plaza redevelopment will (likely) happen this year.

An area plan or sub-area plan (?!) will begin "over the next year," Bowden says, pending more conversations. Probably.

OK, back to the list of priorities.

Homelessness is its own category, that will get some discussion today. All three of these proposals will require more resources, staff says.

Changes to homeless services (Swetlik)
Ongoing, but more $$ will be needed

All-winter homeless sheltering (Brockett)

Day services for homeless (Joseph)
Explored a few years ago; would cost $750,000 per year; city exploring better outreach services instead

We're talking Community Benefits Part 2, a high priority this year for four council members. Affordable housing was adopted as the first (and only) community benefit in exchange for more height.

Young wants to focus on affordable commercial for the second phase.

If we do much else, she says, developers will go that direction. They'll take the path of least resistance.

Weaver: I think they'll be a lot of pressure to do something for the arts. We should have a menu option; Planning Board recommended a scoring system.

Interim Planning Director Chris Meschuk: We haven't thought of the program design in terms of criteria-based or scoring system. Once we get a little more work done, we'll figure that out.

Young: Affordable housing and affordable commercial space are our biggest needs. We should focus on those.

Swetlik concurs. Maybe we limit benefits to physical spaces, which can also serve arts.

Wallach agrees. "I urge a very conservative approach about beyond expansing community benefit beyond affordable housing and affordable commercial. If we're serious about those, I'd like to steer community benefit along those lines."

Brockett: We've been working on this concept for years and the ideas of other community benefit have been on the table for years. Arts folks have been working on this very hard for a long time. Let's talk about this formally and have a chance for public input.

Arts folks haven't been coming to us bc they didn't consider that we'd take arts off the table as a benefit at the retreat, Brockett says.

Meschuk on Alpine-Balsam: "The length of time that project took really hampered the public engagement process."

Reminder: Update on that project scheduled for Tuesday's meeting.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture for you, but there is a really lovely view of the Flatirons out the window to my left. We're at Growing Gardens on Broadway/Iris.

In lieu of a photo, I'll describe them for you. They are flat and very irony.

I think I have a correx to an earlier tweet: I accidentally put a note for all-winter sheltering under Friend's priority for more workforce housing.

To be clear: Keeping homeless sheltering open every night of the winter will cost $40,000 extra this season.

Additional workforce housing will cost much more.

RE: Transportation tax funding.

Weaver q: County work ongoing for this. How are we coordinating with them?

Bill Cowern, transportation: Our GO Boulder staff working on funding is "well plugged in" with county peers.

Weaver: How will timing of what you bring to council mesh up with timing of the election? Are we complimenting county proposal, or...?

Cowern: The most interest we've had in ideas we brought to council last year was a mobility fee, to bring in $10-$20M. It "by no means" funds all our needs, but it does fund the highest-priority ones.

Would pursue additional strategies in future years.

County is likely doing something sales-tax related, Cowern says. So we'll do something different. Both will be on the ballot this year.

Brockett: State leg might do some transportation funding as well. At some point, we'll need to pause and look at how the numbers overlap.

Yes, I imagine three separate transportation funding measures might cannibalize one another's success.

Wallach: What alternative funding mechanisms are you considering?

Cowern: Some kind of fee seemed like the most appropriate mechanism to move forward with (through the transportation TMP) or changes to sales tax, parking pricing, something tied to VMT or registration fees

VMT = vehicle miles traveled

TMP = Transportation Master Plan

So I shouldn't have typed Transportation TMP.

Update on transportation coming to council Feb. 4

Friend asking a q we covered with last council: Why won't annexation be done in 2020?

It's my recollection that we opted for a slower process to have more public input. But I could be wrong.

David Gehr: "It takes two to tango, so that will depend on CU's desire to go quickly." The terms are "ever evolving." And part of timing will be "how council reacts to those."

I forget the name of the guy who is talking. Apologies, guy; I should know you by now. Another staff member.

City just got a letter from uni about housing. We've got an update to council planned.

Brockett also doesn't want this to get bumped or delayed for other work items "bc of all the people's in harms way."

Reminder: Boulder hopes to have a final design nailed down by May, with a clear footprint and inundation map.

We have to have that before we talk to open space about disposal, Unnamed Staff Guy says.

Really sorry to whoever this is. I *know* that I know you, but it's early.

Friend: Idk how this council comes together to talk about staying the course, but that would be welcomed.

Staff: We've narrowed it down with the help of council to a single alternative. We're just trying to find that level of flood protection.

OMg I think I know who this is know! Joe Taddeucci, director for public works for utilities.

Anyway, maybe-Joe saying: This is the most complicated utilities project of my career, going back at least to 2005. And this annexation with CU is one of the most complicated annexations.

"There are still ways we can run into significant hurdles. Some of those things don't come to light until you're in a more detailed phase of permitting. In most cases, there's a path through that. You just have to work diligently through that."

Mayor Weaver confirms it IS Joe Taddeuci. *phew*

I promise to remember you next time, Joe. I think his turtleneck was throwing me off. Everyone looks different in a turtleneck.

Reminder: You can always tweet me with info you have that I don't. I love it!

Is it lame that I'm highly anticipating seeing Boulder's facilities master plan? I just love seeing the data on the buildings the city owns!

Anyway, that's related to the BMoCA expansion and the development of the East Bookend of the Civic Area.

BMoCA = Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
East Bookend = East end of the Civic Area
Civic Area = The space (roughly) between the library and the muni building between Broadway-9th and Arapahoe-Canyon

Brockett: We shouldn't leave BMoCA hanging for years.

I'm sorry I don't have more info on this particular issue; it predates my time on the council beat. I covered one study session related to it in 2018 and that's all I know.

Study session in the spring on the facilities master plan; actual plan coming back to council in August.

Wow, that east bookend story was in August 2018. That's the last time council looked at this: dailycamera.com/2018/08/15/cou…

Meschuk has returned to talk Phase 2 of the Transit Village Area Plan (30th + Pearl area, though much bigger than that.

It might need to be broken up into smaller pieces, he says. And we need a financing plan. No capacity for Phase 2 for east of the RR tracks in 2020.

Maybe 2021 for that.

But we should revisit the land uses put in the plan in 2007(!) Meschuk says.

Dear lord, I hope not. Idk what they are, but our community has changed so much in the past 13 years. Unless we were *really* insightful, I imagine some changes would be needed.

I'm realizing I should have queued up links to stories for each of these priorities, but some of them are from so long ago I've never written on them.

Now chatting Planning Reserve and the 2020 BVCP mid-term update. Read more: boulderbeat.news/2019/12/07/wit…

BVCP = Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, aka Comp Plan. Basically Boulder's bible.

Anyway, the study referenced in the story above will apparently cost between $50,000 and $300,000(!)

Meschuk: In planning dept, 80% of staff responsible for day-to-day operations. 8 staff members work on priority projects, including myself. "So it's a pretty limited number who are able to work on these projects."

"Last year, we over-committed ourselves. We need to make sure we don't do that again so we can do our best work."

You'll remember that planning staff were the subject of the Tipton report, very stressed out by workload and shifting council priorities: dailycamera.com/2019/09/27/rep…

"We don't have capacity to add anything else. If we want to add anything else, something will have to come off the list this year in order to get our work done," Meschuk says.

Young: In the past, we've said we want these things done and said hire some temporary employees.
Meschuk: I'd rather not do that again. We have a lot of fixed-term employees whose terms are up soon. Let's reconfigure our work for the dept as a whole; it's more sustainable.

Total Phase 2 infrastructure improvements for Transit Village: $11.3M
$3-4M city share (rest is property numbers)

And those are from 2007.

Sorry we're jumping around a bit. Such is council.

Swetlik, RE: Planning reserve: Do we have enough water to expand?

A question I'd love to write about this year. I have heard many things, but never formally looked into it.

Also a v common talking point among slow-growth advocates.

Here's what I do know: Boulder has reduced its per-capita water usage by quite a bit since the early 2000s.

Also that attached dwellings use roughly half the water of single-family homes, regardless of family size.

BUT that doesn't speak to overall capacity.

Taddeuci up to tackle that.

Not directly answering it, just saying a study has been completed and there will be updates and policy "opportunities."

Weaver: We've been growing at about .7% in population and 1.2% in jobs over the past decade.

"As we move forward in all of these projects, we've been failing at what we set our goal to do in the past" RE: jobs v. housing.

"As we're zoned right now, we have capacity for 6,400 more homes and 45,000 more jobs," Weaver says. We need to focus on "housing first and jobs second. That's not to say roll back jobs." But we need more housing.

"We need to make sure our regulatory structure makes them want to do housing first and commercial second."

Moderator Heather Bergman: A lot of your priorities do relate to planning, so it's important to keep in mind the capacity of planning staff as we chat priorities today.

OMG WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE GONDOLA!

Yates: We never want to have a council retreat without uttering the word gondola.

Brautigam: We are studying the gondola with our partners the Chamber and CU. We'll bring that into to council when we have it. You'll be able to consider if we can afford it and if it's a good idea

This came out of nowhere (to me) but Sam at the Camera was all over it: dailycamera.com/2019/12/24/bou…

We're going over all the weird little things Yates brought forward that he has heard from residents over the years. They are all exactly what you'd expect from Boulder ppl.

Regulations on parking of landscape trailers (unlike cars, they can only park in one spot on city streets for 24 hrs, along with RVs; cars can go 3 days)

Young: There are a lot of campers and vans being parked on our city streets. And ppl are actually living in them. So.. just saying.

"I don't think it's a bad thing. I'm just bringing it up bc it's an observation."

"It may implicate what seems to be a peaceful co-existence right now," she says.

Friend: I'm hoping will talk about this in the larger homeless issue. Brockett echoes.

Another Yates' resident plea: Regulations for idling cars.

No idea what he means. But this and the landscape trailer thing will get a look by City Attorney Tom Carr and be brought back to council.

Wallach: Obviously, idling cars is undesirable. I'm just not sure it's worthy of an ordinance. I'm not sure as a general matter it rises to the level that we should be spending a lot of time on.

Yates intended this for unoccupied idling cars. Other cities have put time limits on it (3-5 min).

Enforcement of this seems really tricky, Joseph says.

"We're running into something that may be discriminatory at some point," she says.

Yates: It would be enforced by complaint. We wouldn't have cops driving up and down looking for idling cars.

Nagle: This seems like a time waster for police.

No council support for this. And, surprise from Carr: It's already state law.

Back to priorities: Swetliks wants more protections for renters, including transparency around security deposits.

I've heard this complaint from renters on the Hill for years.

I looked into it a bit awhile ago and found that renters are responsible for a lot more than you'd think: For instance, roughly half the cost of new carpet; always for the drip pans, which can cost up to $40 from the landlords; half the cost of new paint, etc.

Some discussion over a Democratic Socialist-supported effort at the state level to provide legal representation for renters facing eviction. No right to representation in eviction court right now.

Joseph: I went to mediation for landlords, renters recently. I think it can be done better; maybe before we get to court. It was done right there in front of everyone.

Carr: It's kind of outside our jurisdiction bc it's state or county court, not us. We can provide more info about services we provide (including mediation)

Carr: The city has a form lease we require landlords to use. We haven't looked at that in many years. So we could update that.

Swetlik: If it's not too much work, I'd like to look at that.

Young: Do a lot of renters and landlords use the lease?
Carr: I think it's mandatory. I've never leased in Boulder so idk.

Wallach has a suggestion to explore user fees for open space. "I don't think we can count on more dedicated taxes for open space. ... If I go to a national park, I pay a fee. If I go climbing in Eldorado, I pay a day use fee."

Dan Burke, director of OSMP: Our recently approved master plan has strategies to look at our fee-based programs.

Wallach: Are we looking at parking fees or annual membership or day use fees?
Burke: It will eventually come to that.

Burke: Biggest short-term impact we see is using grants and volunteers "more aggressively"

Brockett: Keep equity issue front-of-mind. If we end up with a system where ppl who live adjacent don't have to pay bc they can walk right on, these tend to be the wealthiest ppl. Folks who live farther away are lower-income; it wouldn't be equitable.

Burke: We're not looking at anything for 2021. Except for the open space dog permit program. Possibly higher fees for those.

Now we're talking Wallach's 'let's build housing at the airport' idea.

Staff testified on this late last year. It will cost ~$100M to the feds for the 179 acres to keep that from being an airport.

Or, rather, to stop it from being an airport. It's more complicated than that, though, bc in exchange for federal funding, Boulder has agreements with the feds to keep it as an airport.

"I'm not looking for anything of a detailed nature. I just want to understand what this asset is and what it might be," Wallach says. "I'm not looking to pursue it, I'm looking to understand."

Brautigam: What we need is some funding to be able to undertake the feasibility statement.

Cowern: This would be something worked on by airport, planning staff. We have enough $$ to cover that.

Friend: How much $$ would we be looking at?
Cowern: We don't need a contractor. Just staff time.

This will come back to council as an info item mid-year.

IF they do it.

Cowern: Airport master plan was done "quite some time ago" and will last through 2024. (Response to Young q)

Weaver: Can we look at using just part of the airport? It has some benefits.
Cowern: We can answer that q.

Brockett: I'm not interested in turning off our airport, but if staff can look at it without impacting work plan, OK

Nagle not a fan of study; Yates as well.

Joseph: I'm for affordable housing, but an airport is very important for safety. ... We want affordable housing that promotes health.

Maybe supports a study of using part of it.

Brockett: I can't imagine living right next to an active airpot would be a great thing.

Friend: I don't want to stick affordable housing next to an airport.

I live right under the flight path for that airport. I never hear planes. But it could be drowned out by the two highways and train tracks.

Swetlik doesn't want to do it, so that kills this idea.

We're breaking for a council photo and a stretch. I will return shortly.

We're a bit behind. Council photos took awhile. You can't rush art.

But good for me, bc I got a walk, a stretch, and I pet a dog!

Kurt Firnhaber, director of housing and human services, up to talk about the city form lease Carr referenced. It's not mandatory; it was updated 2 yrs ago.

And mediation: We receive about 1,000 calls a year to advise how all this works. And 100 tenant-landlord mediations per year.

There's a tenant handbook! It's available in Spanish! And one specific for mobile home residents in progress!

Now talking second home tax, a Young suggestion. This is in my upcoming newsletter, but CPR wrote about this in Avon recently. cpr.org/2020/01/13/man…

I did some extra digging. While Avon has ~45% of homes sitting empty, Boulder has just 6%.

Still, roughly 2,700 homes that are unoccupied, according to 2017 Census data

Carr: Cities can't impose property tax, and if a tax is tied to value of property, it risks running afoul of that state law. An excise tax on an empty home would probably have to be a flat rate. Or Boulder could exempt homes under a certain size.

Oakland has a tax: $6K per year, levied on both residential and commercial properties, Carr says.

Challenge for us is how you would enforce it on vacation homes. In Oakland, its using it less than 50 days a year. But theirs is intended for blight, targeting boarded-up homes.

Carr recommends exploring it for 2021. And including commercial properties to provide an incentive for redevelopment.

Though for those big vacancies (Whole Foods in Basemar, for example) the companies are so large that they'll likely just absorb the cost. Particularly if we do a flat rate and set it low enough to not burden individuals.

But it will still raise $$ for affordable housing, so...

Yates: NYC does this. What you have to do, requires every property owner to annually certify.

In NY, rather than having a tax on second residences, they have a higher tax rate for all residences. There's a presumption that this is not your primary residence. In order to qualify for lower rate you have to annually certify that you live here primarily.

That was per Yates, btw.

Who asked questions that I shouted out answers to.
They were not appreciated. I was just trying to help!

Moving on to bringing more EMS services into the fire dept. Will cost, conservatively, $3-$5M/yr to do so, if I remember correctly from December's study session.

Swetlik suggested more regulations to prevent fracking. Boulder's moratorium expires in 2020, Carr says; we're going to revisit policies this year.

Good news for Boulder is that there is very little recoverable oil in city limits.

Big concern, as always, is open space. We can't get all the oil and gas rights under those lands.

No application for drilling on open space in many, many years. Some active wells that predate regulations.

That was a Carr paraphrase, btw.

Brockett: We could extend our moratorium
Carr: Supreme Court has said we can't have one
Brockett: But legislative climate has changed
Carr: Yes. We'll report back in May.

Friend wants to incorporate emissions data for in-commuters into Boulder's reporting of emissions.

Steve Catanach, director of climate initiatives: We're already looking at that.

Something else related to that Friend wants: A larger look at the nexus of housing/transportation and climate change

That will be a much larger project, Catanach says, "When we start to have to tie them together and draw conclusions how A affects B and C is affected by A."

Brautigam: We need a consultant for that. We can collect the data.

So that will be something new that council will prioritize later in this retreat.

Weaver: We do count every car mile inside the city limits, the emissions for those.

If you want to track land use, housing, jobs... there's a lot of academic studies that get into that.

"There's a wide spectrum" of how ppl believe the way land use impacts emissions, Weaver says.

Weaver Q to Friend: How would you handle that?
Friend (joking) I would rely on some council members with better problem-solving skills than I.

(Serious answer) I think we're often flying blind here. We need to have the facts.

"I don't think I have a 7-pt plan on this. I know we're not doing it effectively now and capturing it in our decisions."

Tanya Ange, deputy city manager: This is really a conversation about data.

This is a significant lift, Ange says. We're currently looking at what data we collect, how we use it, privacy concerns etc.

"I would suggest looking at this as a longer-term strategy for the city to be pursuing."

Brockett: In our climate action plan, land use is one of the pillars of those plan. This could really help get at that.

Young: It also has overarching themes of resilience and equity.

Another Friend suggestion: Removing conflicts of interest in the criminal justice system. For example: where the city benefits from ticketing ppl, bc they make $$ from it.

Let's look at our policies, Friend says, like lower speed limits, "do it in a way that doesn't create more policing" and therefore opportunities for discrimination.

Also wants council "to step back" and ask: If you have an interaction with police, can you have an automatic right to the body cam footage?

And a comprehensive audit of city policies for alignment with Boulder's status as a sanctuary city.

Going one-by-one here: First up, conflicts of interest created by ticketing, etc. by police. Where the city profits from that.

Carr: I think it would be helpful to get more facts on that. It's been on the back burner to do in partnership with muni court.

"I think we're doing really exciting things in the criminal justice system. We're among the most progressive in the country. ... There are still issues and we can address them."

"Idk that the officers feel incentivized to collect funds," Carr says, bc the $$ goes into the general fund, not the officers.

But a "healthy" conversation about criminal justice is a good idea, he says.

Apparently, muni judge Linda Cooke looked at the Ferguson report (specifically ticketing for the purpose of revenue) and most of it didn't apply to Boulder or changes were implemented (per Young). Cooke coming up now to address.

"This is something that's a high priority not only for myself individually, but for the State of Colorado." ACLU enacting reforms at the state leg, Cooke says.

Cooke: "We are doing many, many innovative things that I don't think the general public is aware of."

Having that convo about Boulder's approach "would be very, very helpful."

Most of council agrees they'd like to hear about this at a study session or other update.

Next court update from Cooke: Feb. 4

Friend: Officers do stop and ticket black drivers at 2X the rate of white ones. That $$ goes into the general fund. A lot of interaction with the criminal justice system does start there.

Brautigam: We're still collecting stop data, and "we're trying to refine it so we're doing an even better job."

Friend: Could we not enforce other jurisdiction's warrants bc we can't guarantee they weren't issued by a jurisdiction engaging in racial profiling?

Carr: There's challenges with giving officers too much discretion. And there's life and safety risk.

Carr: There are places who don't enforce warrants.

Carey Weinheim, interim police chief: Our general policy is if a warrant is active and has been confirmed, we make an arrest.

We limit our extradition radius for low-level warrants (trespass in Denver, for example), Weinheimer says. We only arrest if they're going to extradite.

"We have no info about what's behind the warrant other than a judge issued it."

Joseph asking about police interaction with ICE.

Weinheimer: We don't do immigration status arrests. But if they're arrested on a warrant and there's an ICE detainer or hold, that's between Boulder County jail and ICE.

Their stance is they will not hold someone on a detainer; they have to have a federal warrant.

Weinheimer: A detainer is just "please hold this person" while a warrant has judicial review.

Carr: Case law has struck down ICE detainer system. Last I heard, all sheriffs in CO were refusing to hold ppl on those.

Carr addressing body cam footage: We have to be very careful about what we do, bc in pending criminal case, we can't give out info. "We have been reluctant to release (body cam footage) if it could condemn the defendant."

If they're caught doing something illegal on video, it could prejudice the jury against them, Carr says.

But they get footage through discovery process in trial
Friend: But not that day.
Carr: Correct. There are rules around that bc ppl also have right for that video to not exist.
Weinheimer: Ppl do have a right, if they file a complaint, to come in and view that video.

Plus, after reforms last year, that video is more public than it used to be. But timing if release is dependent on process, Weinheimer says.

Friend: I think it would be a more equal playing field if you get a ticket, you have a right to that video footage.
Weinheimer: That could alter the whole discovery process.
Friend: I'm not saying it's easy. It would benefit the ppl being policed.

Young and Weaver need more info before deciding what to do.

Weaver: I think it's a complex issue that would require more work. I'm not sure council understands enough about it. It can go into the parking lot and talk about it in 6 mos.

Brockett requests an information item. That is doable, staff says.

Friend's suggestion: Auditing all city policies for alignment with sanctuary city status
Carr: We have an ordinance that regulates police dept. Going to every dept, some of which have no interaction with that, is a big lift.

Friend: This is something community members have suggested. (The BI situation) "It became apparent that we have contracts or policies that don't align with sanctuary city policy."

Carr: Our sanctuary city policy doesn't cover contracts. And it doesn't cover BI bc it says we don't provide $$ to anyone paid by ICE. And we don't.

But council can change that ordinance, Carr says.

OK, looking at the ordinance and interaction with city dept/policies is being put on the "maybe add to work plan, pending priority discussion" list. That discussion will happen later today.

Joseph has suggested all emergency materials be printed in English and Spanish. Boulder is hiring a language access person; that person will look at WHAT we're translating and WHAT ELSE should be translated.

Emergency docs will be priority, says Patrick von Keyserling

Brautigam: Idk if we have the bandwidth.

There are English+Spanish-language door hangers in case of emergencies or evacuations. But keeping that going will need more $$.

Reverse 911 system is English only and will take more tech advancements to be bilingual.

We should prioritize this, Joseph says. We can't just say we don't have the $$. "We have to put safety above budget."

It will be added to list of things for council to vote on.

To prioritize.

Young is agreeing with Joseph.

Young q: Are the Spanish-speaking communities vulnerable in an emergency?
Weinheimer: Short answer is yes. But I would say a great deal of our community is vulnerable. About 22% of ppl have opted into reverse 911 countywide.

It goes to every landline on the record automatically, but most ppl have cellphones, and those have to be opted in.

Brockett: Door hangers seems like a small budget spend...
Brautigam: $20K... we can find that.

Whoever is calling me: I'm in a city council retreat.

Next up: Downtown alley activation, a Yates suggestion.

Art project launched last year, apparently 10-12 projects done so far on back doors of buildings, Yates says.

Yates: Longmont has already done this. (To great effect, I might add.)

Yvette Bowden, head of community vitality, up again (I think, unless I'm remembering her speaking last night).

We're talking about it, she says. This would add to our workplan.

Friend supports. It's good for the arts, for affordable commercial space (having small little pop-ups that utilize the backs of buildings and alley space)

Swetlik: I support it in theory, but I'm starting to look at the work plan ... Idk if it's worth prioritizing it currently

Swetlik wants to look at a $15/hr min wage.

Denver is going to $16. Starting wages in Boulder are already $1-$2/hr higher than Denver.

Swetlik referencing the multiple benefits of higher min wages, including lower suicide rates. Did not know that one. nytimes.com/2020/01/14/hea…

"We're supposed to be progressive, so let's have a progressive amount of $$ we give ppl for doing a job."

Swetlik: It might actually be easier to do regionally, he says.

Carr: There are specific requirements for outreach city has to do before they pass one. And limited to a certain amount each year. Provision also, for inter-governmental compacts.

Bowden said it is a significant workplan item.
Swetlik: It will take less work to do it regionally
Carr: Yes, but only 10% of regions in CO can do it as a region... (?)

Weaver: This is the only new one I put forward. I want to strongly support.

"I think this is really important, and it impacts a lot of ppl," Weaver says.

Disclosure time: EFAA, for whom I consult, is pushing for a higher minimum wage. They have lobbied several city council members on this issue. I didn't do the lobbying, but I did make the connections via email.

As such, I will probably leave the deep dives on this to the Camera. But that remains to be seen; a disclosure might be sufficient.

Brockett: Let's definitely talk to the county. Let's move on it.

Young referencing EFAA now. Avg EFAA household makes $15K/yr.

EFAA receives ~$350K/yr from the city, given to families to keep them housed. $1,800/yr on average, per family.

That $$ has made a huge difference, Young says. The Dif between $12/hr and $15/hr is $6,000 a year.

Extra fact: The average gap to lift a family out of poverty is $8,000-$9,000, in Boulder.

Nagle praises Young's point. Supports this, but wants to make sure to include small businesses in this discussion.

Friend concurs. Doesn't want to rush bc we need good analysis of ripple effects.

Wallach echoes Friend's point on impacts. Also suggests regional approach.

He's in favor.

Brautigam: It sounds to me like council wants to prioritize this. We have resources to scope this effort; it's going to take longer than 3 weeks. We'll bring it up with county commissioners. Then take *that* input and come back to council.

Swetlik: We discussed this at the last meeting of the consortium of Boulder County cities

Lunch break! Gonna stretch and stuff my face full of crackers and cheese. Back in 30.

Ok, with a walk and a shoulder rub, I'm back.

We're beginning our in-depth discussion on homelessness.

This is broken out as a separate item. Joseph has suggested keeping sheltering open during the day and Brockett for extending it for every night of the winter.

Staff has been reluctant to do this. All available resources should go toward long-term housing.

Swetlik, rocking a man-in-black look for a wedding he's attending later, is suggesting expanded services for the homeless. Nothing in particular; he categorizes it more as a Vision Zero for homelessness.

Friend wants a "deep dive" on the issue and working group to look at solutions, camping ban, safe parking, etc.

Young wants to look at encampments.

Actually, I'm going to start a new thread for this. Hop on over with me.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!