Thread by @mmwpro63

The meeting is start now with a little delay due to audio problems. You can watch on Youtube or join via the zoom link.

Youtube:

Zoom Link: zoom.us/j/91301988501

https://twitter.com/mmwpro63/status/1453419864505257985

@PhilArballo reads the agenda changes, Officer Belli's report and Midtown trail update are going to be coming first because staff needs to leave earlier.

Officer Belli reads the collision stats 2 fatal collisions since the last meeting. 2 other collisions not listed here includes when a drunk driver hit a man eating in front of a Taco Truck. Another was hit in an alley. abc30.com/taco-truck-cra…

Not listed here, a 18 pedestrian fatalities so far this year including the previous fatalities mentioned.

2 bicyclists have been killed so far this year.

Joe Martinez (public) asked about speed in one of the collisions and wheather or not the cyclist was wearing a helmet. He says helmet wouldn't have mattered.

Midtown Trail Update

First segment along shields is being split into 2 phases, a and b in order to meet budget requirements.

Susan Smith (D7): Is concerned about the slip lanes on shields which she was terrified of traveling through during a ride with her 8-year-old son.

2nd phase of the project will have Public Works work with Cal trans to square up the off-ramps.

Public Comment:

Tony Molina: Notices a bike lane on the north side of the lane. Doesn't see it on the south side even though it might be standard to have a lane with the trail.

There is a bike lane there, though it is hard to see. Again, more modifications will be made later on.

Moving on public comment.

Tony Molina: Requests that the zoom link should be posted on BPAC's Facebook before the meeting starts. Jon Liu was asking for a link.

Aparently Phil saw my fb link, but didn't realize it wasn't posted to the Facebook yet. :/

Task Force Reports:

Budget Task Force

Phil doesn't remember if he is on the task force. 😬He is the chair.

Asks that each task force send a 1 page report to summarize things before the next meeting.

Charter Task Force:

Tony, Susan, Laura, and Phil have met. They might have draft to share soon.

Vision Zero task force:

I summarized how we want to meet with Jesse-mintz Roth again to discuss vision zero in more depth as well as invite Officer Belli and more to meet with us in order to engage them and earn their support.

We noted how we didn't have enough time to put together a ceremony for International day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims day though we might be able to get a resolution in front of council.

PSA Task force: Melanie: Worked with Phil's wife to translate the scripts for the PSA's into Spanish!!

Asking if anyone has any revisions for the HAWK PSA. No one has comments.

Task force will need to be formed eventually to send out awards next June.

Member Reports:

District 2: Reached out to fresno bee reporter @JoshuaTehee on including data in traffic collision news articles.

District 3 @climateadvocat1 reported on a District 3 pilot program for speed bumps, ending the city's 15 year ban on speed bumps. abc30.com/fresno-speed-h…

District 4 Laura Gromis: USGBC is having a webinar this December 9th at noon on safe pedestrian access to parks.

Steven Martinez (D7): Notes in his neighborhood growing up speed bumps seemed to just make the cars go fast.

Engaged with @MarekTheBee on his article on how the Herndon trail is like the HSR bridge

Melanie Ruvalcaba (vp): Discuses a bike ambassadorship program. We have through October to apply for it. Would be great to have an ATP coordinator program to coordinate this.

Laura Gromis agrees.

And we segue into the ATP coordinator update. There is currently 1 qualified applicant. 😬

Typical for the current labor market unfortunately. Though public works did hire a new grant writer! Frees Jill Gormley up from doing that job.

Melanie shared the ATP coordinator job description with Calwalks.

I offered to share the job description with @StreetsblogCal .

November/December meeting update. BPAC doesn't want to have a meeting that conflicts with Thanksgiving.

Some members want to have our december meeting to December 8th to not conflict with Christmas.

Motion to move the November meeting to December 8th at 5:30 pm. 2nd: Matthew Woodward.

BPAC work plan: Susan is wondering whether a Midtown trail segment was supposed to be awarded this summer.

Scott Sehm clarifies only 2 have been awarded.

Nick Paladino: Wondering about whether a project between by Elm ave is going to the city limits or the sphere of influence.

Jill: the project is between Marks and Elm(on Jensen I belive).

Raised Cycle Tracks:

Jill wants some feedback from BPAC on raised cycle tracks. Example from Fremont, CA walnut/civic center.

Vertical element in this case is the curb. Looks like a trail, but is not.

PW is thinking about putting this in areas that aren't built out yet...

...possibly in Southeast Development Area or maybe West of highway 99.

This one doesn't have parking, but it has a buffer. Parking could be included if needed.

Sidewalk would be separated.

Melanie is concerned people might try to bike in the white dashed line area:

Laura Gromis (D4): I grew up in a city in Germany that had a ton of these, they definitely got more people biking. It would be great if they were in Fresno.

Jill Gormley: It would be difficult to go in and add this to existing streets, but this is what we want to do where feasible.

Andrew Benneli: The posts in the class IV bike lanes are finding out to be hard to implement. Harder to clean.

Notes, when you have on street parking, it triggers the need for ADA parking. ADA vehicles unloading need space for a ramp.

Raised cycle track without parking can eliminate that issue.

Steven Bradley (D7): How many of those flexible posts have you replaced?

Jill: I don't know, I'll have to check, probably none.

Laura: A lot of these concerns come from a car-centric point of view and a lot these need to be put together from the perspective of trying to get people out of their cars.

It's a different perspective.

Jill Gormley: I agree, there needs to be a mind-shift. We talk about this all the time it's just these are hard projects to implement. We want them to exist, but again, they are HARD to implement.

Steven Bradley (D7): A lot of the rules at the state level are about the rights that cars have.

Andrew Benelli: On the Maple Cycle path, they are using it all the time, more so than R. Though there are complaints from homeowners. Hasn't heard from them lately.

3 hands up in the public.

Phil: Asks Nick to be quick

Nick Paladino: I can't be quick about protected bike lanes.

Caltrans requires that cycle tracks need to be mid-level from the sidewalk, there also needs to be a bike lane still or you are going to discourage on-street cycling.

Phil: This is just an idea.

Nick Paladino: I'm giving my comments and concerns like everyone else, except I'm not jumping for joy. More needs to be considered.

This is the separation Nick is talking about.

Nick: It needs to be 7 ft wide, you want to force people like me off the road. People need space for bike trailers and trikes.

On to Tony Molina (FCBC): Concerned about the lack of bike lane, but likes how the cycle track would allow for people of all age and abilities to use it.

Tony Molina: Likes how unlike a parking protected bike lane bike riders and pedestrians can see traffic going by if they need to cross.

Nabil Kherfan @Maxwell4Fresno staff member: Ears perked up when he heard Andrew Benneli talking about the Maple bike path. How useful ...

... has it been?

Andrew Benelli: No data yet, but when we do the ATP reporting, we will be collecting data then. Anecdotally, students are using it all the time.

Jill: Summary report of a West Fresno Virtual Walk audit. Recommendations are included. Attached to tonight's agenda fresno.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?…

Laura Gromis(D4): While I am supportive of virtual walk audits, this one demonstrated the need for in person meetings. We had too many projects added and couldn't get down into the finer details of solution finding.

One person attended a BPAC meeting from west Fresno months ago and he had a ton of information.

The outcome wasn't the best. Although we brought a ton of agencies together, we didn't get the best outcome.

Matthew Woodward: We had a walk audit around Woodward Park a month ago, why couldn't this.

Jill: When we started it was earlier in the summer when some restrictions might have still been in place.

Melanie Ruvalcaba: If it was my team working on it, then they were pushing for virtual.

Laura Gromis: This grant was offered as a virtual option, no in-person.

Final notes: Fingers crossed the Active Transportation Plan Update gets funded by the Sustainable Communities Grant Program.

I motion to adjourn in recognition of @WDRemembrance World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

@climateadvocat1 2nded my motion.

@WDRemembrance @climateadvocat1 @threadreaderapp unroll