WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.040 All right. 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:10.960 We are live with our committee on persons with disability. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:11.960 My name is Mario. 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.880 I'm the deputy city manager, and I'm going to hand it over to our chair, but before we 00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:21.720 get started on officially calling the meeting to order, I just would like to say a couple 00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:24.360 of housekeeping items. 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:29.160 This committee has not met for several months due to COVID. 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:34.740 We were scheduled to have a meeting, I believe, in March, and so a lot of the issues with 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:41.360 the pandemic started, and so as a result, city council authorized several of the committees 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:47.480 to stop meeting for the foreseeable future, and this is our first meeting back, and we 00:00:47.480 --> 00:00:51.620 are doing a meeting virtually through Zoom. 00:00:51.620 --> 00:00:56.880 So a couple of housekeeping things for our members and also for our committee members 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.280 and also for the viewing public. 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:07.320 Obviously, we're not in person, so this meeting is going out live via our streaming system 00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:08.980 at the city. 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:16.280 So please be cognizant of the fact that we've got three presenters, staff presenters, certainly 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:18.720 members, was it a 11 member committee? 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:23.320 So it's a large committee, so please be cognizant of the fact that trying not to over speak 00:01:23.320 --> 00:01:27.700 on people just because we're trying to keep some sort of order when it comes to the video 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:32.600 quality, audio quality of these meetings, and so if possible, if you could please raise 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:42.000 your hand, keep your microphones on mute so that we don't hear any feedback from the audio 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.660 that's going across your speakers. 00:01:44.660 --> 00:01:50.640 So if possible, if you can raise your hand to be acknowledged so that the chair can acknowledge 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:57.720 you and allow you to speak, and so if there's a situation where there may be some crosstalk 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:04.400 that may not be audible, I'm going to do my best to try to reemphasize or at least restate 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:10.440 what was stated from the members so that way we can get that clearly on the record. 00:02:10.440 --> 00:02:14.520 So with that, if there's any questions at that point, if there's no questions, I'd be 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:18.200 happy to hand it over to Mr. Rivera, but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to try 00:02:18.200 --> 00:02:21.120 to answer that as best I can. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:22.120 Okay. 00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.280 Well, with that, Val, please take it away. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:26.280 >> All right. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:27.280 Thank you, Mario. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:28.280 Appreciate that. 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:29.280 Thank you, everyone. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:36.680 This is the Denton City Committee on People with Disabilities meeting, and it's nice to 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:37.680 see everyone. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:44.200 It's been a few months, so it's nice to see everyone, and I guess it's time to get to 00:02:44.200 --> 00:02:45.200 business. 00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:46.200 Do we have any comment cards? 00:02:46.200 --> 00:02:50.140 Do we need virtual cards now? 00:02:50.140 --> 00:02:51.140 >> No, sir. 00:02:51.140 --> 00:02:52.140 >> Okay. 00:02:52.140 --> 00:03:00.000 So we will go to the next item, which is CPD 20-013, consider the approval of the minutes 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:06.960 of February 20th, 2020. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.400 Yes, Rex. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:17.760 >> I still move to accept the minutes as printed. 00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:18.760 >> Alex? 00:03:18.760 --> 00:03:21.760 >> I second. 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:28.200 >> All in favor? 00:03:28.200 --> 00:03:29.200 >> Aye. 00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:30.200 >> Yes, yeah. 00:03:30.200 --> 00:03:36.120 So we will approve those minutes as stated. 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:45.700 Our second item, CPD 20-014, receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction 00:03:45.700 --> 00:03:53.000 regarding the allowable uses of the downtown reinvestment grant program and the possible 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:06.840 addition of funding of funding Americans with Disabilities Act improvements on eligible 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:07.840 projects. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:09.000 >> Good afternoon, committee members. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.440 This is the first time that I've met many of you. 00:04:11.440 --> 00:04:15.160 I'm Jessica Rogers, I'm the director of economic development. 00:04:15.160 --> 00:04:21.320 One of the responsibilities of our department is overseeing what we call development districts. 00:04:21.320 --> 00:04:25.520 In this case, we're talking specifically about a tax increment reinvestment zone. 00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:28.180 We have two here in the city of Dutton. 00:04:28.180 --> 00:04:34.980 Out of our reinvestment zone that exists in downtown, we operate the downtown reinvestment 00:04:34.980 --> 00:04:35.980 grant. 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:39.480 So I'm going to give a brief presentation about a suggested change that we're making 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:42.200 to that program that we thought the committee would be interested in. 00:04:42.200 --> 00:04:48.360 So give me one second, and I'm going to bring up the presentation. 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:52.440 And while Jessica is doing that, one of the things that we've been working with our council 00:04:52.440 --> 00:05:00.040 and other committees is to allow the presentation to go all the way through, and then the presenter 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:04.700 will then minimize the presentation and allow committee members or council members to ask 00:05:04.700 --> 00:05:09.320 questions if that's okay. 00:05:09.320 --> 00:05:12.280 >> Right. 00:05:12.280 --> 00:05:18.200 So as I mentioned, we'll be discussing and getting your feedback about our plan to include 00:05:18.200 --> 00:05:24.240 ADA improvements as eligible costs in our downtown reinvestment grant program. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:29.520 A little background on the program is that the downtown reinvestment grant program provides 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:35.880 matching grants of up to $25,000 for improvements, renovations, rehabilitations, and historic 00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:39.000 preservation projects in downtown Dutton. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:43.520 Projects have to be within the boundaries of the downtown tax increment reinvestment 00:05:43.520 --> 00:05:51.200 zone, number one, which is pretty much most of downtown, and those grants are funded through 00:05:51.200 --> 00:05:57.900 dedicated tax dollars that come in through the reinvestment zone itself. 00:05:57.900 --> 00:06:04.740 So in the grant program, applicants can submit for eligible projects that are within any 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:07.000 of these five categories. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.720 So in the grant application, an applicant has to demonstrate the expenses, and the project 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:16.240 meets these categories. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.140 So it could be a facade rehabilitation or a building renovation. 00:06:20.140 --> 00:06:25.200 It could simply be an improvement to the awning and signs on the exterior of the building. 00:06:25.200 --> 00:06:27.840 It could be impact fee reimbursements. 00:06:27.840 --> 00:06:32.540 So there are many buildings in the downtown area that have to make utility improvements 00:06:32.540 --> 00:06:35.820 during their renovation because they have older utilities. 00:06:35.820 --> 00:06:39.120 And so this allows them to be reimbursed for a portion of those costs. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.560 They may also do direct utility upgrades that could include water, wastewater, electrical 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:45.560 service. 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:51.220 And those utility upgrades could be either interior or exterior to the structure. 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:54.840 And lastly, any interior or code improvements. 00:06:54.840 --> 00:07:01.240 That might include an asbestos abatement, mold abatement, or a fire suppression system. 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:06.200 Just to give you an example of what type of projects were going on that we fund with this, 00:07:06.200 --> 00:07:11.120 this is actually a project that's being completed right now on McKinney Street. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:16.560 If you're familiar with the area, so actually Locust would be right over here on the right 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:18.480 hand side of the skate shop. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:19.480 And this is McKinney Street. 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:25.000 And so this is a former auto mechanic facility, and it's actually being renovated and converted 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.480 to a restaurant. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:31.600 And so here's a rendering of what the project will look like when it's completed. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.680 And it's actually under construction now. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:39.840 It looks substantially different than this if you make your way past it today. 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:44.000 This is a rendering of what the, sorry, the schematic of what the interior will look like. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.000 So if McKinney Street is over here, this is the front entrance. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.160 And so those bay areas where the vehicles are in the last image are being converted 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:58.640 to a patio area, a bar area, a dining room, and then they're adding a full kitchen and 00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:02.040 restroom and office and storage facilities. 00:08:02.040 --> 00:08:04.480 So that's a project that came to us through the grant project. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:09.280 Now because of this, the nature of this project and the conversion and the change in use of 00:08:09.280 --> 00:08:15.080 the building, there are requirements that they meet come up to code on some ADA improvements. 00:08:15.080 --> 00:08:21.000 So one of that is making sure that the bathrooms themselves meet ADA or compliant with ADA 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:22.000 requirements. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:29.720 So a change in the grant that we're talking about would be to specifically call out ADA 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:34.000 improvements, like the one I just described, in the interior and code improvement section 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:39.080 of the grant to make sure that those expenses would be eligible if they were included in 00:08:39.080 --> 00:08:41.760 the renovations that were occurring. 00:08:41.760 --> 00:08:48.400 So our two boards that review these grants are our TERS board, and they expressed that 00:08:48.400 --> 00:08:54.900 they wanted to specifically include ADA improvements under that interior and code improvement section 00:08:54.900 --> 00:08:56.600 as an eligible project. 00:08:56.600 --> 00:09:01.480 And then our downtown economic development committee also concurred with the TERS board. 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:06.760 And after we talked with those boards, we wanted to come to this committee to make sure 00:09:06.760 --> 00:09:12.660 we have all of the feedback and understanding to move this forward. 00:09:12.660 --> 00:09:17.720 And so our proposed change, like I said, is to add a specific definition under the interior 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:23.680 and code improvement section that improvements made as required or in accordance with the 00:09:23.680 --> 00:09:29.740 Americans Disabilities Act as amended, certainly because it may change as we move forward, 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:33.480 would be eligible project expenses. 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.840 So just calling that out a little bit more is that the interior code improvement will 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:42.080 include that language now, or we're going to propose that to the TERS board at their 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.200 meeting next week that they adopt that language. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:49.280 And then what will also change is the scoring criteria for grants. 00:09:49.280 --> 00:09:54.280 ADA improvements can now be scored and can be awarded points on the scoring matrix for 00:09:54.280 --> 00:09:55.280 the grants. 00:09:55.280 --> 00:09:59.920 And so that may allow an applicant to get additional points, which increases the grant 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:04.800 that they're eligible to up to $25,000. 00:10:04.800 --> 00:10:09.120 So the result of the work that we're doing is that we'll include clear language that 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:15.000 ADA improvements made as part of projects, either if they're required or elect if the 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.720 renovation, throughout the renovation there, it's elected to make those changes that those 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:25.380 are eligible expenses, and they can now be included as part of the scoring criteria. 00:10:25.380 --> 00:10:30.720 So for our next steps after our discussion today, we'll move on to final review with 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.280 our TERS board next week. 00:10:33.280 --> 00:10:37.520 And if the TERS board accepts the proposed changes, it will be going to the city council 00:10:37.520 --> 00:10:41.400 for consideration later this summer. 00:10:41.400 --> 00:10:57.960 And that's all I have and I will stop sharing my screen so I can see everyone. 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:00.240 I believe Mr. King has a question. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.240 That's right. 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:02.240 Thank you. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:03.240 I'm sorry. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:16.200 Yes, before you distribute the grant, do you secure financial background on the on the 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:22.560 individuals to make sure they have sufficient funds to on their part to finish the project? 00:11:22.560 --> 00:11:24.600 Yes, sir. 00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:25.920 It's a reimbursement grant. 00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:30.640 So they actually have to demonstrate the actual dollars they spent. 00:11:30.640 --> 00:11:34.880 And so we approve the grant amount up to a certain dollar amount. 00:11:34.880 --> 00:11:38.800 And then for us to before we actually pay them, they have to demonstrate that they made 00:11:38.800 --> 00:11:43.920 those expenditures and provide us the invoices and receipts to document, to document those 00:11:43.920 --> 00:11:44.920 expenses. 00:11:44.920 --> 00:11:47.920 All right. 00:11:47.920 --> 00:11:48.920 I have a question. 00:11:48.920 --> 00:11:49.920 I can't raise my hand. 00:11:49.920 --> 00:11:50.920 So I'll just jump in. 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:59.320 One of my main question is, if the grant is based on a competitive nature and a business 00:11:59.320 --> 00:12:10.000 does not either get the grant to make those improvements, is there language that the business 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.320 where the business will understand that the ADA is a mandate regardless of whether they 00:12:17.320 --> 00:12:19.360 get this grant or not? 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.800 I guess that's how I'm trying to get here. 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:26.520 For every business, I mean, the ADA is a mandate and they should be accessible. 00:12:26.520 --> 00:12:32.520 So this should be looked at as, you know, an assistance to that. 00:12:32.520 --> 00:12:38.160 But if they do not obtain it, it does not exempt them from not complying. 00:12:38.160 --> 00:12:40.160 Yes, you're correct. 00:12:40.160 --> 00:12:47.080 So many improvements that are made as part of these projects are well beyond the $25,000 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.840 in the grant, but they're still required to be made. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:54.720 If someone's renovating a building, they have to bring it up to code at a certain point. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.960 So yes, those would still be required, and those would be required as part of our building 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.240 review and development process. 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:07.880 The grant could help pay for them if that's what they elected to request in the grant. 00:13:07.880 --> 00:13:11.200 Thank you. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:13.200 Beth? 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:30.840 If they are requesting funds to use in their application for ADA renovations, are those 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:38.960 renovations and plans overseen by an ADA coordinator or an ADA engineer to make sure they're really 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:44.360 doing proper renovations? 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:48.840 I'll defer to Mario a little bit, because that's handled through our development services. 00:13:48.840 --> 00:13:53.120 So the actual plans that are filed go through our development services department. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:59.040 And so we require that someone from development services sign off and say, yes, the improvements 00:13:59.040 --> 00:14:02.760 that they're making meet code. 00:14:02.760 --> 00:14:09.160 I'm not sure of the exact detail of that process on their side. 00:14:09.160 --> 00:14:10.160 Right. 00:14:10.160 --> 00:14:16.200 As far as the design, certainly it would have to be designed through a licensed engineer. 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:21.480 But as far as the inspections, to make sure, as Ms. Rogers said, as far as the inspections, 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.000 those would go through our building inspections department. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 And I believe you may have seen a presentation several months ago from Scott McDonald, our 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:29.160 chief building official. 00:14:29.160 --> 00:14:34.360 So him, along with his inspectors and the assistant building official, they're required 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:41.440 by law to make sure that those ramps and other improvements that are ADA required are done 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:51.840 according to code. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:58.120 Are there any other questions? 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:00.000 Thank you for the presentation. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.400 Well thank you for letting me join you guys today. 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:07.800 Just to make sure, because it does give staff direction, I would assume that the committee 00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:13.560 is in favor of this provision within the grant requirements. 00:15:13.560 --> 00:15:14.560 Okay. 00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:15.560 Yes. 00:15:15.560 --> 00:15:16.560 Okay. 00:15:16.560 --> 00:15:17.560 Yes. 00:15:17.560 --> 00:15:21.560 We just want to make sure that that's included as part of the staff report, that it was presented 00:15:21.560 --> 00:15:26.240 before the committee, and that the committee was in favor. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.240 Thank you. 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:28.240 Okay. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:39.640 Our next item, CPD-20-015, Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction 00:15:39.640 --> 00:15:46.520 regarding an update of the AWAP crosswalk pilot program at the downtown intersections 00:15:46.520 --> 00:15:55.400 at Oak and Elm, Oak and Locust, Hickory and Elm, and Hickory and Locust. 00:15:55.400 --> 00:16:02.360 And Mr. Chairman, if I may, this presentation is going to be made by, I believe, Brian Yahn. 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.220 He's in our traffic department. 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:05.820 He's not on site. 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:10.720 So I believe he'll be able to load the presentation here shortly, if you'll give him just a few 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:11.720 seconds. 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:12.720 Sure. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:13.720 Yes. 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:14.720 I'll try and share my screen. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:15.720 Right. 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:33.760 There you go. 00:16:33.760 --> 00:16:34.760 Okay. 00:16:34.760 --> 00:16:35.760 We see you, Brian. 00:16:35.760 --> 00:16:36.760 Awesome. 00:16:36.760 --> 00:16:37.760 All right. 00:16:37.760 --> 00:16:38.760 Can everybody see that? 00:16:38.760 --> 00:16:39.760 Yep. 00:16:39.760 --> 00:16:40.760 Excellent. 00:16:40.760 --> 00:16:46.640 So, Brian Yahn, City Traffic Engineer, here to talk today about a pilot program. 00:16:46.640 --> 00:16:53.160 And if you'll remember, late last year, close to the end of November, beginning of December, 00:16:53.160 --> 00:16:58.600 staff implemented a, what we're calling an AWAP crosswalk around the square, those four 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:04.640 intersections, those four traffic signals that bound the four corners of the square downtown. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:10.680 And what we did was we created a pedestrian-only phase. 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:19.680 So if you activated the crosswalk button at the end of the vehicle cycle that was currently 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:27.800 underway, it would provide 26 seconds of pedestrian crossing time that could get you across one 00:17:27.800 --> 00:17:32.240 or possibly two of the intersection approaches. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:38.120 So during that phase, none of the other cars were allowed to move. 00:17:38.120 --> 00:17:41.080 We put up no left turn on red and no right turn on red. 00:17:41.080 --> 00:17:48.440 So all the vehicles were supposed to stop when that pedestrian phase was activated. 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:54.080 So we had to, again, we put up the signs, PD went out and we did some enforcement. 00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:59.120 And at the same time, during those first several months, and I think we actually pulled the 00:17:59.120 --> 00:18:03.720 data that I'm going to be talking about today, middle or end of June. 00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:10.400 So we had an online survey where people could provide their responses and their opinions 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:15.640 and their experiences with this AWAP crosswalk so that we can get some feedback of is it 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:16.640 good? 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:17.640 Is it bad? 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:18.640 Do you like it? 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.640 Do you not? 00:18:19.640 --> 00:18:20.640 So that's what we're here today. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:29.280 I've summarized what I think are the hot topic questions and there were some that were very 00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:35.840 difficult to quantify and it was what we're looking at today are just the high level. 00:18:35.840 --> 00:18:37.540 How was your experience? 00:18:37.540 --> 00:18:40.200 How did you use the crosswalk? 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:44.900 And would you like to see this continue? 00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:48.160 So the first question was IMA. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.400 And you'll see the big area in blue, that is a Denton resident. 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:57.100 The other options were a visitor, employee of a business, student or business owner. 00:18:57.100 --> 00:19:03.320 So by and large, the greatest number of people who use these AWAP crosswalks were Denton 00:19:03.320 --> 00:19:06.160 residents who were visiting the square. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.400 The second question is have you traveled through an AWAP crosswalk intersection? 00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:14.680 92% of the respondents said yes. 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:18.480 And then this question was to try to figure out how did you use it? 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:19.480 Did you drive through it? 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:21.480 Did you walk through it? 00:19:21.480 --> 00:19:25.140 Did you go through it as a cyclist or as a transit passenger? 00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:34.880 So 44% were drivers, 51% were pedestrians, we only had about 3 or 4% of transit riders 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:35.880 are cyclists. 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:41.920 So primarily drivers, people driving through those intersections, and pedestrians, people 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:47.040 who are just walking around the square going to a destination. 00:19:47.040 --> 00:19:50.280 As a pedestrian, how safe did you feel at this AWAP crosswalk? 00:19:50.280 --> 00:20:01.000 35% said they were safer, they felt safer than they did before, 35% were neutral, about 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:04.320 the same, and then we had 10% that didn't feel as safe. 00:20:04.320 --> 00:20:13.720 So if you look at the neutrals and the people who felt safer, you've got about 90% of pedestrians 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:19.840 thought that the AWAP crosswalk were at least as safe, if not safer, than moving with traffic 00:20:19.840 --> 00:20:22.940 with the vehicular traffic at the same time. 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:30.440 And then, this is kind of a follow on question, did you like the fact that basically did you 00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:38.440 feel safe because there were no vehicles moving, 86% said yes, we felt safe, 9% were about 00:20:38.440 --> 00:20:44.600 the same, and then 5% felt less safe crossing with just pedestrians versus crossing with 00:20:44.600 --> 00:20:47.540 pedestrians and vehicles. 00:20:47.540 --> 00:20:53.840 And then, as an auto driver, this is looking at that other 40 or 50%, do you feel that 00:20:53.840 --> 00:21:01.440 they are safer or less safe than the option of moving pedestrians and vehicles at the 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:08.920 same time, and 55% were in favor or felt they were safer, and 28% neutral, and 17% didn't 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:10.760 feel it was as safe. 00:21:10.760 --> 00:21:22.080 So if you add again the neutral and the safer, then you've got about 83% of the respondents 00:21:22.080 --> 00:21:29.280 that said that if you're as a driver, it was as safe or safer than moving with pedestrians. 00:21:29.280 --> 00:21:37.400 And then, the next question was basically aimed at all modes of transportation, do you 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:42.600 feel that the all walk crosswalks are safer in general, 78% yes, 22% no. 00:21:42.600 --> 00:21:48.920 So again, we're seeing a majority, two thirds to three fourths at least of the respondents 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:58.600 that are finding the all walk crosswalk to be a safer option. 00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:08.120 And then, this was with that all walk crosswalk, with that pedestrian phase, there's a little 00:22:08.120 --> 00:22:15.760 bit of an additional delay inherent because we're offering only the vehicles move at one 00:22:15.760 --> 00:22:17.620 time and the pedestrians move at one time. 00:22:17.620 --> 00:22:22.720 So on average, whether you're a pedestrian or a driver, it's going to add at least three 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:28.200 to four seconds to your overall trip, that's just a nature of the way we've segmented the 00:22:28.200 --> 00:22:34.600 time of the traffic signal, but again, 75% said yes, that three second to four second 00:22:34.600 --> 00:22:40.480 delay, well worth the enhanced safety. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:46.440 And do you think that there are benefit to downtown again, 75, 25 in favor? 00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:50.480 Would you like to see all crosswalks, all walk crosswalks at other pedestrian heavy 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:58.480 locations within Denton, two thirds said yes, 25% no, and then this, the 8% was, it's kind 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:04.200 of a miss, there was a follow on question, but basically what we're talking about in 00:23:04.200 --> 00:23:10.440 this question is, would you like to see these at other intersections where we've got high 00:23:10.440 --> 00:23:17.440 pedestrian volumes, whether it be around UNT or TWU, anywhere we've got pedestrian volumes 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:23.600 that are significant enough to, we're really concerned about that, or we've got a long 00:23:23.600 --> 00:23:28.080 crossing, or we're really concerned about getting the pedestrians across safely and 00:23:28.080 --> 00:23:33.880 not having that conflict with the vehicles, whether they're turning left or turning right. 00:23:33.880 --> 00:23:38.840 So with that, I'm not sure if any of you have had the opportunity to pass through any of 00:23:38.840 --> 00:23:47.880 those intersections, but we would love some feedback or opinions or other input relative 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:55.640 to the question at hand is, should we retain this as a permanent operation or should we 00:23:55.640 --> 00:24:00.320 terminate the pilot and revert back to having the vehicles and the pedestrians moving the 00:24:00.320 --> 00:24:01.320 same time? 00:24:01.320 --> 00:24:12.800 So I'll open up, I'll minimize this and I'll open up the floor for questions and comments. 00:24:12.800 --> 00:24:15.320 Val, I believe Mr. King has a question. 00:24:15.320 --> 00:24:18.800 Sorry, my screen hadn't popped up yet. 00:24:18.800 --> 00:24:19.800 That's okay. 00:24:19.800 --> 00:24:22.240 Go ahead, Rex. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:23.240 This is more of a comment. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:31.080 I have to use an electric wheelchair, occupational hazard of killing commies for mommy. 00:24:31.080 --> 00:24:43.320 The new program where you have all intersections open for pedestrian traffic has greatly enhanced 00:24:43.320 --> 00:24:48.580 my ability to get that electric wheelchair across the intersection safely. 00:24:48.580 --> 00:24:55.920 There have been times where I've been in the intersection prior to this all intersection, 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:02.120 all stop situation where people were in a hurry and were making right or left hand turns 00:25:02.120 --> 00:25:11.280 on red and I've actually been hit and they didn't hit me hard enough to kill me, but 00:25:11.280 --> 00:25:12.920 it was a bit annoying. 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:23.000 So I, for one, am very pleased with this and I think it should be continued at intersections 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:25.240 where there are a lot of pedestrians. 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.580 I can't get out of the way of people when they turn like that. 00:25:28.580 --> 00:25:32.720 They can't see me because I'm lower in electric wheelchair. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:39.600 And so I think this is an enhancement and it's a safety issue. 00:25:39.600 --> 00:25:47.360 Tom, then Beth, or John, I'm sorry. 00:25:47.360 --> 00:25:50.640 I agree that they're safer. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:57.680 And I think I'm completely blind, I've not met any of you yet, but I find those crosswalks 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:59.280 easier to cross and safer. 00:25:59.280 --> 00:26:05.600 Now, if we can keep people from stopping on top of the crosswalk, then that would be great, 00:26:05.600 --> 00:26:08.000 especially at Hickory and Locust. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:14.840 But yeah, I think these new crosswalks, the new crosswalks set up is great. 00:26:14.840 --> 00:26:16.000 Beth? 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:24.360 One, I apologize for my dogs, I can't work the mute button properly. 00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:34.400 Two, I've gotten a lot of feedback from college-age kids and they say that they love the new system. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:36.120 They're all for it. 00:26:36.120 --> 00:26:45.040 They particularly would like to have the diagonals put in that we have talked about before. 00:26:45.040 --> 00:26:52.240 But the comment that was the most striking was one said to me, "It's not just about 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:53.840 the crosswalks." 00:26:53.840 --> 00:27:01.880 He said, "Pedestrians no longer lunge in front of our cars midway down the block trying 00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:06.240 to beat the light cycle." 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:10.480 They were afraid of the light cycle, so they just try to jump out in front of cars and 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:11.480 run across the street. 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:17.120 And they said that that has cut way back. 00:27:17.120 --> 00:27:19.400 Sonya? 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:24.080 Thanks, Val. 00:27:24.080 --> 00:27:30.560 I'm looking at the feedback that was provided to us in our agenda on the feedback forum, 00:27:30.560 --> 00:27:38.520 similar to what Beth said, a lot of comments about diagonal and making that a crosswalk, 00:27:38.520 --> 00:27:43.440 making that time frame a little bit longer. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:52.200 And so I didn't know how y'all were going to be using that feedback as I think the majority 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:54.040 of the comments were really positive. 00:27:54.040 --> 00:28:00.880 And so I think keeping this would be ideal and expanding to other locations where there's 00:28:00.880 --> 00:28:06.840 high pedestrian volume, but how are you going to be using some of this feedback and incorporating 00:28:06.840 --> 00:28:11.280 that into more permanent designs? 00:28:11.280 --> 00:28:12.280 Let me address that. 00:28:12.280 --> 00:28:20.800 So our intention all along has been that if this is received in a positive manner and 00:28:20.800 --> 00:28:25.560 the city council decides to make it a permanent operation, then we're going to come back and 00:28:25.560 --> 00:28:27.360 add those diagonals. 00:28:27.360 --> 00:28:30.480 What we didn't want to do, and because it's going to take some capital dollars, we actually 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:35.360 have to reconstruct partial portions of the corners, what we didn't want to do was create 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:43.280 that diagonal and then have the program not be successful and then not have that safety. 00:28:43.280 --> 00:28:45.640 Basically you provided a crosswalk that we can no longer protect. 00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:51.200 So that's always been the plan is if this is is permittized, if we continue to do the 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:57.680 all walk crosswalk, then we will come back with sidewalk dollars and create those diagonals 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:03.360 is that's going to help a lot of getting instead of having to make two crossings, you'll just 00:29:03.360 --> 00:29:04.360 have to make one. 00:29:04.360 --> 00:29:10.480 So yes, that is the plan and we are committed to that. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:17.160 So as far as the like timeframe, some of the other feedback in the feedback form is increasing 00:29:17.160 --> 00:29:22.400 the length of time, you don't anticipate the need to increase the length of time if you 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:24.640 add those diagonal crosswalks. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:25.880 Exactly. 00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:30.880 If we add the diagonals, the feedback that I saw, sometimes it's difficult for people 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:35.400 to depend upon how fast they're actually able to travel to make it across two. 00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:40.320 So if we put the diagonals, it's actually a shorter distance, so we might not have to 00:29:40.320 --> 00:29:44.840 increase the time, they may find that they can make that diagonal very comfortably within 00:29:44.840 --> 00:29:46.720 the amount of time that we're providing. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:51.000 Of course, we're constantly looking at opportunities to tweak it. 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:57.280 So when we when we do put the diagonals in, initially, we'll leave the timing as is, but 00:29:57.280 --> 00:30:02.360 we'll constantly monitor and we may be able to shorten the time, because now you can get 00:30:02.360 --> 00:30:06.560 across that intersection diagonally, you don't need the same amount of time that we were 00:30:06.560 --> 00:30:09.440 trying to provide to be able to cross two legs. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:14.320 So if you're crossing one leg, or you're making a diagonal, you may actually need less time, 00:30:14.320 --> 00:30:15.780 we just don't know yet. 00:30:15.780 --> 00:30:22.200 But we'll constantly monitor whatever direction we end up taking, we'll change those timings 00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:25.200 as needed. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:29.920 Yeah, sorry, lots of questions. 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:35.880 My other question is, again, looking at the feedback and me being a violator myself, I 00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:42.640 know it was took a little bit of time to get used to not turning right on red, and be mindful 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:43.640 of that. 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:47.080 So what type of education did y'all use? 00:30:47.080 --> 00:30:51.440 I know I saw some of the signs and those kind of things, but what do you plan on continuing? 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:55.440 Or did you see that decrease as time went on? 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:04.160 Well, so I drive through the square as often as I can, just to watch this pilot program, 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:06.080 and it has diminished significantly. 00:31:06.080 --> 00:31:11.880 The turns on red, now, we still get violators, and we still get pedestrians that are crossing 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:18.200 without trying to activate the button, they just walk. 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:23.440 We'll never get rid of all of that, but we will continue the enforcement with PD, and 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:29.240 the social media on the website, and we'll continue the education process as long as 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:30.240 needed. 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:36.440 And it is a learning curve, and as people are now starting to drive again, they may 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:40.760 not have driven through those in a while. 00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:46.200 So we still have, because we're coming out of the entire COVID, and people are starting 00:31:46.200 --> 00:31:50.080 to go back, and activity is starting to pick up, we're going to have a little bit of that 00:31:50.080 --> 00:31:51.840 learning curve all over again. 00:31:51.840 --> 00:31:59.680 So we quelled a lot of it, and now people are going to be kind of new again, oh, I don't 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:02.960 remember that I can't turn right on red here, or left on red here. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:07.920 So that education will continue. 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:19.440 >> What type of textual feedback will you provide for blind people on the diagonal crosswalk? 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:24.160 >> Could you repeat that, I missed the first part. 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:30.080 >> What type of textual feedback on the diagonal crosswalk will you provide for blind people? 00:32:30.080 --> 00:32:36.360 >> Well, it will be the same as the other, the domes will be there, it will be the same, 00:32:36.360 --> 00:32:41.760 we may actually do a, well, it's better to have it channelized, we have found. 00:32:41.760 --> 00:32:47.440 So it's just going to be another accessible ramp that's pointing diagonally. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:51.640 So you'll have, potentially have three ramps on a corner. 00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:55.240 I don't like to lay down, where they lay down the entire corner, that doesn't give enough 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:59.600 direction as far as I'm concerned, and you're not lined up. 00:32:59.600 --> 00:33:03.560 So it will be, and that's the construction that I talked about, we have to go back and 00:33:03.560 --> 00:33:08.120 add those additional ramps, so they'll have the same treatment that the other facilities 00:33:08.120 --> 00:33:09.120 do. 00:33:09.120 --> 00:33:10.120 >> John? 00:33:10.120 --> 00:33:18.920 >> I agree with you about the corners not being fully flattened, that's very difficult 00:33:18.920 --> 00:33:24.120 to figure out which direction to walk, and if there's any way, since we're talking about 00:33:24.120 --> 00:33:32.120 the crosswalks, to have any other textual thing, maybe along the sides of the crosswalks, 00:33:32.120 --> 00:33:41.080 that would be great, it's not the truncated dome that's necessarily as large as it is 00:33:41.080 --> 00:33:48.280 on the ramps to the crosswalks, but I know there are countries with textual stuff within 00:33:48.280 --> 00:33:53.440 the crosswalk that have to blind out tremendously. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.840 We try to walk straight, but it doesn't always work out. 00:33:56.840 --> 00:34:03.000 And we can certainly look at options, again, if we're going to initiate a construction 00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:09.040 project to create those new ramps, we can certainly look at options to address the crosswalks 00:34:09.040 --> 00:34:10.040 themselves. 00:34:10.040 --> 00:34:16.120 It may be something that we want to incorporate as a standard on an all-walk crosswalk, or 00:34:16.120 --> 00:34:21.760 maybe all-crosswalks, to see if that's an additional, tactile reference for pedestrians. 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:35.160 Beth, you're muted or I'm mute. 00:34:35.160 --> 00:34:40.660 I just wanted to mention that when we first were learning about the all-walk crosswalk, 00:34:40.660 --> 00:34:48.040 we talked about the initial pedestrian delay that they had been using, and one of the things 00:34:48.040 --> 00:34:56.120 we talked about was adding that initial pedestrian delay to every crosswalk in Denton, because 00:34:56.120 --> 00:34:58.800 we didn't see any reason not to. 00:34:58.800 --> 00:34:59.800 Correct. 00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:06.780 You're talking about what we call the leading pedestrian interval, where the walk sign comes 00:35:06.780 --> 00:35:13.440 up five or six seconds, and we're installing that, we are. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:18.320 It's taking a little bit longer than we thought, we got pulled in some other different directions, 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:24.000 but that's still our plan is to, wherever we've got pedestrians, we're going to have 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:25.600 that leading pedestrian interval. 00:35:25.600 --> 00:35:26.600 Okay. 00:35:26.600 --> 00:35:27.600 Thank you. 00:35:27.600 --> 00:35:30.600 Yeah, that's still the plan. 00:35:30.600 --> 00:35:34.280 All right, great. 00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:39.880 I just have one comment that's maybe a minor thing, just on the use of language of the 00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:50.600 all-walk, perhaps change that to all traverse or all direction, so that the language is 00:35:50.600 --> 00:35:52.200 inclusive of everyone. 00:35:52.200 --> 00:35:55.040 How about the all-ways crosswalk? 00:35:55.040 --> 00:35:56.040 That's perfect. 00:35:56.040 --> 00:36:02.560 That was something that was, I don't know that we coined it, but it's out there in the 00:36:02.560 --> 00:36:09.000 industry, and I hear what you're saying, and we can certainly wordsmith that title. 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:12.080 Yes, I have. 00:36:12.080 --> 00:36:16.080 Mr. Chair, before we move on to the next item, I do want to make one quick comment. 00:36:16.080 --> 00:36:20.000 One thing I don't think that Brian mentioned in his presentation is, and it was something 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.800 that's come up since the whole pandemic, was to try to figure out a way to minimize the 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:29.040 touching touch points there in some of those public areas. 00:36:29.040 --> 00:36:34.000 And so there will probably be, and that is an item that was brought forward by some city 00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:37.880 council members and some members of the community that was providing input. 00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:43.160 And so what they'll be doing in addition to, and again, I don't want to speak for the committee, 00:36:43.160 --> 00:36:50.760 but if you all do recommend moving forward with this proposal to maintain that is it 00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:57.840 always a crosswalk, that we also look at the appropriate technology to, again, minimize 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:00.480 those touch points around the square. 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:05.200 And we're also looking at not just the square, but around those more highly pedestrian areas, 00:37:05.200 --> 00:37:11.760 but certainly kind of get started with the square just because it is a high profile area 00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:17.320 with a lot of pedestrian traffic throughout the course of any part of the year, any part 00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:20.100 of the day. 00:37:20.100 --> 00:37:23.160 So if you don't mind, Mario, I'm going to follow. 00:37:23.160 --> 00:37:26.320 We are doing a pilot project. 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:27.920 It's not downtown. 00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:35.160 We are testing some of this technology that is basically, it's a passive pedestrian detector. 00:37:35.160 --> 00:37:42.560 So it's just a sensor that mounts on a pole above the crosswalk or the landing. 00:37:42.560 --> 00:37:47.000 And our first location we're going to try is Riddell at 380. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:50.880 That's a fairly high pedestrian crossing and it's a long crosswalk. 00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:55.880 So one of the issues that we're trying to figure out how well that technology would 00:37:55.880 --> 00:38:00.740 work around the square is sometimes people just dwell there on the corners and they're 00:38:00.740 --> 00:38:05.120 not really ready to cross yet, but they're standing there and they're talking and they're, 00:38:05.120 --> 00:38:10.880 so we're trying to figure out how sensitive we can make this equipment so we can really 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:15.140 just detect only those people who are ready to make that crossing. 00:38:15.140 --> 00:38:17.680 So we are working towards that. 00:38:17.680 --> 00:38:26.960 Okay, one more question, Beth. 00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:30.600 When are you going to be testing that at Riddell on 380? 00:38:30.600 --> 00:38:39.920 I, so we met about a month ago with the vendor and the pilot is at no charge to us. 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:45.640 So I think he said we were 60 days out, so probably another 30 days for them to get the 00:38:45.640 --> 00:38:52.080 hardware and get it installed and start our test period. 00:38:52.080 --> 00:38:53.080 Thank you. 00:38:53.080 --> 00:38:54.080 You're welcome. 00:38:54.080 --> 00:39:02.240 No other questions, comments? 00:39:02.240 --> 00:39:03.240 That's your Brian. 00:39:03.240 --> 00:39:10.600 So Mr. Chair, again, just like the previous item, we were just trying to get input from 00:39:10.600 --> 00:39:18.160 the committee to recommend or not recommend to the full council on this program. 00:39:18.160 --> 00:39:23.780 So just really just looking at consensus or shaking of nodding of heads or whatever you 00:39:23.780 --> 00:39:28.720 all feel is comfortable. 00:39:28.720 --> 00:39:36.240 I think there is consensus considering with all the comments and the minor. 00:39:36.240 --> 00:39:37.240 Good deal. 00:39:37.240 --> 00:39:38.240 Well, thank you very much. 00:39:38.240 --> 00:39:39.240 Yeah. 00:39:39.240 --> 00:39:40.240 Thank you, Brian. 00:39:40.240 --> 00:39:41.240 Okay. 00:39:41.240 --> 00:39:52.200 Our next item, CPD-20-016, receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff direction 00:39:52.200 --> 00:39:58.800 regarding the 2020 debt mobility plan update with a focus on the one-way versus two-way 00:39:58.800 --> 00:40:02.040 traffic analysis. 00:40:02.040 --> 00:40:06.840 And this will be Brian Yon again, be bringing that presentation to the committee. 00:40:06.840 --> 00:40:07.840 Okay. 00:40:07.840 --> 00:40:15.960 All right, I've lost my mouse, so there we are. 00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:16.960 Okay. 00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:25.160 So I'm going to share my screen again. 00:40:25.160 --> 00:40:31.640 Can you see that? 00:40:31.640 --> 00:40:33.640 Yes. 00:40:33.640 --> 00:40:35.640 Okay. 00:40:35.640 --> 00:40:41.680 So, can everybody see that? 00:40:41.680 --> 00:40:42.680 Yeah. 00:40:42.680 --> 00:40:43.680 Okay. 00:40:43.680 --> 00:40:45.640 There it goes. 00:40:45.640 --> 00:40:46.640 Okay. 00:40:46.640 --> 00:40:55.960 So, this topic has been brought about by a request from council to look at the conversion 00:40:55.960 --> 00:41:02.280 of Elm and Locust and Oak and Hickory from one-way operation to two-way. 00:41:02.280 --> 00:41:05.560 What are the impacts and how does that work? 00:41:05.560 --> 00:41:09.600 So I changed the title of this. 00:41:09.600 --> 00:41:14.680 I used to say one-way versus two-way, but there's not really a versus. 00:41:14.680 --> 00:41:21.360 Both types of streets have their good points, their bad points, they both have their place. 00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:27.400 It's really up to the community as to what type of street they want to have. 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:32.480 So basically what I want to talk about today is some of the characteristics of one-way, 00:41:32.480 --> 00:41:42.600 some of the characteristics of two-way relative to pedestrians, congestion, mobility, et cetera. 00:41:42.600 --> 00:41:46.800 So if you ask any two, sorry, this is my humor. 00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:50.320 If you ask any two traffic engineers are two-way streets better than one-way streets, you're 00:41:50.320 --> 00:41:53.920 going to get three answers, yes, no, and it depends. 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:57.900 And it's really that middle answer there that it depends. 00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:03.680 That's what I want to focus on because it really does depend on the choices that the 00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:10.720 community makes and their goals and what they want for their community. 00:42:10.720 --> 00:42:17.120 So relative to goals, improve safety, that's always one of our top goals. 00:42:17.120 --> 00:42:24.000 We always are striving to increase the safety of the intersections and the roadways in town. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:30.920 Mobility options, how do we get all modes of travel better served? 00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:39.200 Economic vitality, how can we serve our business stakeholders to the highest level? 00:42:39.200 --> 00:42:41.960 Is that with a one-way street, is it with a two-way? 00:42:41.960 --> 00:42:46.760 And then the last one is to decrease congestion. 00:42:46.760 --> 00:42:52.960 This historically has been the traffic engineer's first thing as well, we need to decrease congestion. 00:42:52.960 --> 00:43:00.600 But at some point, there are times when the tradeoff versus increased congestion is worth 00:43:00.600 --> 00:43:06.600 the increase in safety or increase in mobility or economic vitality. 00:43:06.600 --> 00:43:10.520 So it's really, it's always a tradeoff. 00:43:10.520 --> 00:43:16.440 One of the ground rules of this particular study is that we are not reconstructing these 00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:17.440 four roadways. 00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:21.840 We're taking them as is, curb to curb, the pavement that's there, it's not going to get 00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:23.120 any wider. 00:43:23.120 --> 00:43:25.200 So that's one of our constraints. 00:43:25.200 --> 00:43:30.880 So we're looking at how do we best purpose these roadways one-way or two-way? 00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:36.040 So I'm going to start with safety and I'm going to start with pedestrians. 00:43:36.040 --> 00:43:41.840 So on a one-way street, if you're crossing the main street and it's in one direction, 00:43:41.840 --> 00:43:42.840 you only have to look one direction. 00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:45.720 So that's kind of a plus. 00:43:45.720 --> 00:43:55.280 Just as a side note, when I was at the city of Fort Worth, we converted the West Seventh 00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:01.640 area from two-way to one-way and it's significantly enhanced the ability of pedestrians to cross 00:44:01.640 --> 00:44:02.760 the street. 00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:09.080 So with two-way streets, if you're crossing a, say if you took Locust and made it two-way 00:44:09.080 --> 00:44:14.840 and you want to cross from east to west, well now you've got to make sure you look both 00:44:14.840 --> 00:44:15.840 directions. 00:44:15.840 --> 00:44:22.360 And to that end, if you're crossing a one-way street that's more than one lane wide, the 00:44:22.360 --> 00:44:27.160 first car at the curb sees you as you step off the curb, it stops, but that second car 00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:31.080 may not because you're now shadowed by the car that stopped for you. 00:44:31.080 --> 00:44:34.520 So that's a definite detriment for pedestrian traffic. 00:44:34.520 --> 00:44:43.360 They're not, with multi-lane one-way streets, you have this factor of basically invisibility. 00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:50.560 On a two-way street, the same width, one lane in each direction now, both cars have a clear 00:44:50.560 --> 00:44:57.680 line of sight to the pedestrian as they step off the curb, whichever direction you go. 00:44:57.680 --> 00:45:03.460 One of the other things we look at as we analyze the safety of a given situation are the number 00:45:03.460 --> 00:45:05.200 of conflict points. 00:45:05.200 --> 00:45:13.320 So we look at pedestrian and vehicular conflict points on a two-way, one-way, and when you've 00:45:13.320 --> 00:45:19.320 got a one-way main street, you've got literally half as many conflict points as if you have 00:45:19.320 --> 00:45:20.600 a two-way. 00:45:20.600 --> 00:45:26.720 So again, you've got cars now coming in both directions, you've got pedestrians that have 00:45:26.720 --> 00:45:28.640 to look left and right. 00:45:28.640 --> 00:45:35.160 So that's a very important factor that we look at is just the more conflict points we 00:45:35.160 --> 00:45:40.100 have, that's a greater opportunity for crashes to happen. 00:45:40.100 --> 00:45:45.440 So with the fewer conflict points, you have a lower crash potential, increased conflict 00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:50.880 points, higher crash potential, and the key word there is potential because just because 00:45:50.880 --> 00:45:56.680 you have more conflict points doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have more crashes. 00:45:56.680 --> 00:46:01.440 One of the other characteristics of one-way streets are because you don't have that friction 00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:07.320 of somebody traveling in the other direction, you tend to have the potential for higher 00:46:07.320 --> 00:46:13.720 speeds and that higher speed leads to higher severity of crashes. 00:46:13.720 --> 00:46:18.080 On a two-way street, you've got the potential for somebody to be traveling in the other 00:46:18.080 --> 00:46:19.080 direction. 00:46:19.080 --> 00:46:20.320 You've got a head-on traffic. 00:46:20.320 --> 00:46:25.080 Somebody facing you, people tend to slow down, lower speed, more survivable crash, so the 00:46:25.080 --> 00:46:32.560 severity of those crashes on a two-way street typically go down. 00:46:32.560 --> 00:46:36.920 So I just wanted to throw up the little summary here. 00:46:36.920 --> 00:46:49.040 This is the last 10 years of crash data from the state, and their database is filled or 00:46:49.040 --> 00:46:53.420 created by all of the cities throughout the state submitting their crash reports. 00:46:53.420 --> 00:46:59.200 So this is a fairly accurate depiction of the number of crashes on Oak and Hickory, 00:46:59.200 --> 00:47:05.240 that's the top slide, and then Elm and Locust, and I apologize, but north would be to your 00:47:05.240 --> 00:47:06.240 right. 00:47:06.240 --> 00:47:12.280 So that on the bottom half of your slide where it says 219, that is Elm and Locust, those 00:47:12.280 --> 00:47:16.240 two yellow lines, and that's University Drive 380. 00:47:16.240 --> 00:47:23.400 So Oak and Hickory in the last 10 years, we've had 617 crashes, zero fatalities, but a hundred 00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:24.400 and ten injuries. 00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:28.000 Now, some of those injuries are severe and some are not. 00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:34.080 On Elm and Locust, much higher volume roadways, higher speed roadways, almost 1,100 crashes 00:47:34.080 --> 00:47:38.640 in that same 10-year period, two fatalities, and 362 injuries. 00:47:38.640 --> 00:47:42.080 This is the kind of thing that we look at, we look at the hotspots. 00:47:42.080 --> 00:47:51.160 If you look at on the bottom half of your screen, the 322, that's around the square. 00:47:51.160 --> 00:47:58.040 So a lot of crashes around the square, and a lot of crashes on Elm and Locust at University. 00:47:58.040 --> 00:48:03.520 Now, that's not saying it's because they're one way or not, but that does give us some 00:48:03.520 --> 00:48:08.680 indication of the type of crashes, the number of crashes that we can expect. 00:48:08.680 --> 00:48:12.200 Hey, Brian, can I stop you for just a moment? 00:48:12.200 --> 00:48:21.080 Hey, Val, I believe I'm getting a word in my ear that I believe Mr. Rivas may have his 00:48:21.080 --> 00:48:26.160 hand up, the virtual hand that you can do with Zoom. 00:48:26.160 --> 00:48:31.280 I don't know if you need to just acknowledge Mr. Rivas to see if he has any questions before 00:48:31.280 --> 00:48:34.280 we move forward. 00:48:34.280 --> 00:48:44.720 Can you bring the presentation down, Brian, for just a moment, please? 00:48:44.720 --> 00:48:47.920 Yeah. 00:48:47.920 --> 00:48:51.400 You see everybody now, Val. 00:48:51.400 --> 00:48:54.920 If you don't mind asking Joe if he has anything. 00:48:54.920 --> 00:49:08.560 Joe, did you have a question? 00:49:08.560 --> 00:49:15.120 Joe, we can barely hear you. 00:49:15.120 --> 00:49:36.680 I don't know if you can bring your image up, please. 00:49:36.680 --> 00:49:46.560 Okay. 00:49:46.560 --> 00:49:48.560 I'm not hearing anything on my end either. 00:49:48.560 --> 00:49:53.920 Mario, would it be appropriate if you had a question to use the chat just for accommodation? 00:49:53.920 --> 00:49:54.920 Sure. 00:49:54.920 --> 00:49:55.920 Yeah. 00:49:55.920 --> 00:49:56.920 Certainly. 00:49:56.920 --> 00:49:57.920 If he could, if that's possible. 00:49:57.920 --> 00:50:10.200 What I'll do is I may touch base with our folks in manager DTV, maybe reach out to Mr. 00:50:10.200 --> 00:50:20.360 Rivas via text or by call and see if there's some technology issues that's happening. 00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:29.040 We can barely hear you, Joe. 00:50:29.040 --> 00:50:54.200 Was there a question, Joe, or did you have some technical issues? 00:50:54.200 --> 00:51:02.600 No. 00:51:02.600 --> 00:51:10.480 Okay. 00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:34.640 I may recommend if that's okay ... Well, I'm just ... Maybe we should ... If that's 00:51:34.640 --> 00:51:38.440 okay with the committee, do maybe just take a five-minute break. 00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:40.160 Would that be okay? 00:51:40.160 --> 00:51:43.120 Just to make sure we can make ... I just want to make sure that if he's got some connection 00:51:43.120 --> 00:51:48.120 problems, we can try to get those resolved for him before we continue. 00:51:48.120 --> 00:51:49.120 That's fine. 00:51:49.120 --> 00:51:50.120 Okay. 00:51:50.120 --> 00:51:55.560 It is ... Again, you'll need to call us to recess, but it's 1-53, so could we just say 00:51:55.560 --> 00:51:57.360 we'll be back online at two? 00:51:57.360 --> 00:51:58.360 Is that okay? 00:51:58.360 --> 00:51:59.360 Sounds good. 00:51:59.360 --> 00:52:00.360 Okay. 00:52:00.360 --> 00:52:01.360 We'll just take a quick break. 00:52:01.360 --> 00:52:04.880 I apologize, but we'll see if we can get Mr. Rivas resolved on any technical issues that 00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:05.880 he may be having. 00:52:05.880 --> 00:52:10.800 We'll be back at two. 00:52:10.800 --> 00:52:15.640 All right. 00:52:15.640 --> 00:52:17.960 We're back from our recess. 00:52:17.960 --> 00:52:23.040 Joe, did you have a question before we proceed? 00:52:23.040 --> 00:52:24.040 No. 00:52:24.040 --> 00:52:25.040 Yeah. 00:52:25.040 --> 00:52:26.040 He does have a question. 00:52:26.040 --> 00:52:27.040 I'm not sure if he already covered this. 00:52:27.040 --> 00:52:28.040 It was kind of breaking in and out when we were on the computer, but he was wondering, 00:52:28.040 --> 00:52:29.040 are they going to expand the frostbite program to other areas of Denton? 00:52:29.040 --> 00:52:46.120 The all-way crosswalk and other parts of Denton? 00:52:46.120 --> 00:52:52.520 Right now, the issue at hand was that the proposal or the presentation that was made 00:52:52.520 --> 00:52:57.640 just a few moments ago for the committee, it was a pilot program that was initiated 00:52:57.640 --> 00:53:05.280 late in 2019, and so the information was brought to the committee back last fall, and we're 00:53:05.280 --> 00:53:11.920 now at the conclusion of that pilot program, and we were requesting input from the committee 00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:19.480 to then bring it to the city council to either continue it as it was, as it was previously, 00:53:19.480 --> 00:53:27.880 which had stopping at various intersections, or doing the all-way crosswalk as the pilot 00:53:27.880 --> 00:53:30.520 program was in place. 00:53:30.520 --> 00:53:34.840 So right now, it was just really the square area that we were considering. 00:53:34.840 --> 00:53:35.840 Okay. 00:53:35.840 --> 00:53:37.200 Thank you. 00:53:37.200 --> 00:53:39.840 You're very welcome. 00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:41.400 Anything else, sir? 00:53:41.400 --> 00:53:42.400 No. 00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:43.400 Okay. 00:53:43.400 --> 00:53:44.400 Very good. 00:53:44.400 --> 00:53:45.400 Thank you. 00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:46.400 Thank you all for everyone's patience. 00:53:46.400 --> 00:53:52.080 And if that's okay, Val, can I go ahead and allow Brian to continue where he was? 00:53:52.080 --> 00:53:53.080 Yes. 00:53:53.080 --> 00:53:54.080 Okay. 00:53:54.080 --> 00:53:55.080 Brian, please proceed. 00:53:55.080 --> 00:53:56.080 All right. 00:53:56.080 --> 00:53:57.080 Thank you. 00:53:57.080 --> 00:54:06.200 Let me share my screen again. 00:54:06.200 --> 00:54:13.480 Okay. 00:54:13.480 --> 00:54:17.560 So we were just talking about some crash data, historical crash data on the four streets 00:54:17.560 --> 00:54:19.040 in question. 00:54:19.040 --> 00:54:28.140 Again, higher volumes and higher crash numbers on Elm and Locust versus Oak and Hickory. 00:54:28.140 --> 00:54:33.680 So the next item we're going to talk about is economic vitality, and basically this is 00:54:33.680 --> 00:54:43.440 how do one-way and two-way streets either benefit or are they a detriment to the businesses 00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:45.640 along them? 00:54:45.640 --> 00:54:51.440 And one-way streets for visitors are much more difficult to navigate. 00:54:51.440 --> 00:54:56.200 If you've ever visited a city and you don't know the one-way street pattern, a lot of 00:54:56.200 --> 00:55:01.840 times it's easy to get confused and turn around and frustrated because you can see where you 00:55:01.840 --> 00:55:04.280 want to go and you can't get there from here. 00:55:04.280 --> 00:55:07.440 Two-way streets have the advantage of they allow access from both directions. 00:55:07.440 --> 00:55:13.600 So you can turn left, you can turn right, you can travel east, west, north, south, and 00:55:13.600 --> 00:55:19.560 it's much more friendly to visitors. 00:55:19.560 --> 00:55:25.640 Other characteristics of one-way street, because you can only travel one direction, you typically 00:55:25.640 --> 00:55:30.280 will have to, especially on the one-way cupboards like we're talking about where you've got 00:55:30.280 --> 00:55:34.360 one in one direction and one street in the other direction, you'll have a little bit 00:55:34.360 --> 00:55:35.580 farther to travel. 00:55:35.580 --> 00:55:41.160 So if you look at, and I just picked Giuseppe's there on Locust. 00:55:41.160 --> 00:55:46.920 And if you're coming from, in this photo, or this slide, north is to your left. 00:55:46.920 --> 00:55:51.480 So that red arrow on the left-hand side of your screen is University. 00:55:51.480 --> 00:55:54.760 So if you're coming down University with a one-way street system, you have to come down 00:55:54.760 --> 00:56:01.840 Elm, cut across, come back up Locust, versus if it was a two-way, you're coming from University 00:56:01.840 --> 00:56:07.080 and you simply turn left onto the new two-way Locust and you arrive at your destination. 00:56:07.080 --> 00:56:12.480 So it shortens the travel distance, which is, again, another index that we look at of 00:56:12.480 --> 00:56:13.640 vehicle miles of travel. 00:56:13.640 --> 00:56:19.840 If you can reduce the vehicle miles of travel, you can reduce emissions and you have fewer 00:56:19.840 --> 00:56:23.480 opportunities for crashes, so your conflict points are down. 00:56:23.480 --> 00:56:27.720 It's just much more convenient. 00:56:27.720 --> 00:56:28.640 Mobility options. 00:56:28.640 --> 00:56:38.700 So what we want to talk about are bicycle, some transit, some deliveries. 00:56:38.700 --> 00:56:46.840 How do our vehicles and our pedestrians and our cyclists move through these corridors? 00:56:46.840 --> 00:56:52.800 So looking at bicycles, on a one-way street, you're going to need one bike lane because 00:56:52.800 --> 00:56:54.360 there's only one direction of travel. 00:56:54.360 --> 00:57:00.120 Typically, the bikes would travel with the vehicular flow, on a two-way street, since 00:57:00.120 --> 00:57:04.840 you have two directions of travel, the expectation is that you have two bike lanes. 00:57:04.840 --> 00:57:13.280 So that basically adds up to utilization of pavement and then that puts us into the area 00:57:13.280 --> 00:57:18.320 of having to decide, do we want to put on-street parking, do we want to have two bike lanes, 00:57:18.320 --> 00:57:21.880 do we want to have a bike lane on every other street? 00:57:21.880 --> 00:57:26.440 And so it just becomes, again, that trade-off and that decision that we have to make is 00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:32.560 how do we best utilize the pavement that we have. 00:57:32.560 --> 00:57:38.960 So relative to deliveries, and I'm going to lump deliveries and transit in here because 00:57:38.960 --> 00:57:41.400 they both have very similar characteristics. 00:57:41.400 --> 00:57:46.520 They want to drive down a street, stop and unload or load, and then continue. 00:57:46.520 --> 00:57:50.840 So on a one-way street design, like Elm and Locust and Oak and Hickory, where we have 00:57:50.840 --> 00:57:57.640 two lanes in each direction, even with a bike lane, you have an opportunity for a delivery 00:57:57.640 --> 00:58:06.900 vehicle or a transit vehicle to stop in a lane of traffic and still allow other vehicles 00:58:06.900 --> 00:58:12.040 to bypass because you've got a parallel lane of traffic that's not being blocked. 00:58:12.040 --> 00:58:17.000 So on a two-way street system, if we converted these two-lane streets to two-way, one in 00:58:17.000 --> 00:58:22.400 each direction, that delivery vehicle now blocks the one and only travel lane that you 00:58:22.400 --> 00:58:23.400 have. 00:58:23.400 --> 00:58:31.200 So potentially, if there's significant oncoming traffic, motorists have to stop behind this 00:58:31.200 --> 00:58:35.520 vehicle until he's ready to move on or until there's a gap and they can drive around. 00:58:35.520 --> 00:58:40.440 Again, it's a convenience factor and it does lend itself to some safety issues because 00:58:40.440 --> 00:58:48.580 you might get drivers on that two-way street that take a chance on getting around that 00:58:48.580 --> 00:58:57.200 vehicle when there may possibly be a gap that's too small for them to make that movement 00:58:57.200 --> 00:58:58.200 safely. 00:58:58.200 --> 00:59:03.520 Another issue as we talk about mobility and how we use this pavement and how we keep that 00:59:03.520 --> 00:59:11.600 all modes of traffic flowing, on-street parking, while it has a definite, you know, we need 00:59:11.600 --> 00:59:19.080 parking and especially around the downtown area, some of those buildings were never designed 00:59:19.080 --> 00:59:24.080 to provide off-street parking, so the parking occurs on the street, but again, we're working 00:59:24.080 --> 00:59:27.520 with a limited pavement, we're not widening the streets. 00:59:27.520 --> 00:59:34.920 So we may conflict between if we go to a two-way and we want two bike lanes, we may have to 00:59:34.920 --> 00:59:35.920 lose some parking. 00:59:35.920 --> 00:59:42.280 So again, that balance and that trade-off, we have to decide which is the most critical. 00:59:42.280 --> 00:59:43.280 So decreased congestion. 00:59:43.280 --> 00:59:48.240 And this is the one that most people will say, the traffic engineers, this is how they 00:59:48.240 --> 00:59:56.360 rate a facility and that's how fast can I go and how many cars can I get down that roadway. 00:59:56.360 --> 01:00:02.440 Two-way streets, because they don't have that friction of oncoming traffic and because you've 01:00:02.440 --> 01:00:14.920 got twice the number of lanes in one direction, you can get up to 50% more cars, bikes, whatever, 01:00:14.920 --> 01:00:18.400 more vehicles in that corridor than you can with two-way. 01:00:18.400 --> 01:00:23.480 So that friction that you introduce when you have head-on traffic and people wanting to 01:00:23.480 --> 01:00:30.680 turn left, which actually operates or acts very much like a vehicle making deliveries 01:00:30.680 --> 01:00:37.720 or a transit picking up and dropping off passengers, it stops for a shorter period of time. 01:00:37.720 --> 01:00:42.200 To make that left, you have to stop, wait for a gap, make your move, and the people 01:00:42.200 --> 01:00:45.600 behind you have to wait as well. 01:00:45.600 --> 01:00:56.200 So just because of that increased delay, we decrease our capacity on a two-way street. 01:00:56.200 --> 01:01:01.280 One of the other elements that's inherent to a one-way street system is that it allows 01:01:01.280 --> 01:01:05.680 much better progression because we don't have the turns. 01:01:05.680 --> 01:01:11.920 All the turns from a one-way street, all the turns from the main street are free. 01:01:11.920 --> 01:01:15.720 If you're traveling on locust northbound and you want to turn left, you don't have to stop 01:01:15.720 --> 01:01:16.720 for anybody. 01:01:16.720 --> 01:01:18.440 Same thing with a right turn. 01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:23.080 But if you make that same street two-way to turn left, as we just talked about, you've 01:01:23.080 --> 01:01:30.200 got to wait for a gap in traffic, make your move, and that basically takes away some of 01:01:30.200 --> 01:01:34.080 the efficiencies and it doesn't allow us to have that progression. 01:01:34.080 --> 01:01:38.960 This is all, again, from a driver's standpoint, but it's still something that we have to look 01:01:38.960 --> 01:01:44.840 at, and what we don't want to do is make it so difficult to get down the roadway that 01:01:44.840 --> 01:01:51.680 you get the driver in the road rage and people are starting to make some bad choices. 01:01:51.680 --> 01:01:58.760 This is another impact of that same characteristic of a two-way street, when you have that additional 01:01:58.760 --> 01:02:04.080 delay and the capacity is diminished because of the left turns, what you see is you get 01:02:04.080 --> 01:02:09.560 people migrating from the primary roadway to parallel facilities. 01:02:09.560 --> 01:02:10.560 Sometimes that's okay. 01:02:10.560 --> 01:02:16.120 In the case of Elm and Locust, we've got Carroll not far away, you've got Bell, and in the 01:02:16.120 --> 01:02:20.280 future you'll have a widened, improved Riddell. 01:02:20.280 --> 01:02:24.400 That overflow is fine because those streets are designed to carry the traffic. 01:02:24.400 --> 01:02:29.680 When you talk about Oak and Hickory, that's a much more residential characteristic neighborhood. 01:02:29.680 --> 01:02:35.840 So when you push people off of those two roadways, Oak and Hickory, because you've introduced 01:02:35.840 --> 01:02:40.960 this delay and some increased congestion and diminished capacity, you now have them driving 01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:45.040 through people's neighborhoods, and that's not really where we want that traffic to be. 01:02:45.040 --> 01:02:51.240 We want it to be on the roadway that's designed to carry that traffic load and where we can 01:02:51.240 --> 01:02:57.840 make safety improvements to enhance the safety of the entire corridor. 01:02:57.840 --> 01:03:01.540 So this is just an example. 01:03:01.540 --> 01:03:03.760 I've got two slides. 01:03:03.760 --> 01:03:07.680 One of the elements of our mobility plan, which this one-way, two-way conversation is 01:03:07.680 --> 01:03:14.080 part of, was an analysis of the travel demand in and around Denton. 01:03:14.080 --> 01:03:21.800 So we forecast 24-hour traffic volumes using software and our land use and comprehensive 01:03:21.800 --> 01:03:27.600 plan, and we try to forecast future volumes, and they did a scenario. 01:03:27.600 --> 01:03:29.020 This is as is. 01:03:29.020 --> 01:03:32.340 This is one-way Elm, Locust, Oak, and Hickory. 01:03:32.340 --> 01:03:37.480 And then the next slide is two-way Elm, Locust, Oak, and Hickory. 01:03:37.480 --> 01:03:44.000 So if you look at the green number on the top, Elm and Locust, north of the university, 01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:45.880 it dropped between the two streets. 01:03:45.880 --> 01:03:53.040 It dropped about 11,000, and you can see that Bell picks up part of that and Carroll picks 01:03:53.040 --> 01:03:54.360 up part of that. 01:03:54.360 --> 01:03:56.320 So that's okay. 01:03:56.320 --> 01:04:04.680 Those roadways, at some level, are designed to carry that traffic volume, especially Carroll. 01:04:04.680 --> 01:04:08.200 So that's not so much of a concern. 01:04:08.200 --> 01:04:13.560 But when you look at Oak and Hickory, we've dropped 8,000 cars a day on those two. 01:04:13.560 --> 01:04:18.080 Just because of the number of -- if you think about those two streets, you've got so many 01:04:18.080 --> 01:04:27.200 residential driveways, there's a lot of increased delay and increased congestion, because of 01:04:27.200 --> 01:04:30.840 -- just because people are coming home and turning into their driveway or turning left 01:04:30.840 --> 01:04:38.800 on a street, you've got two-way traffic now, so we introduced a lot of left turns. 01:04:38.800 --> 01:04:44.160 The downside is that those 8,000 cars are now in the neighborhoods. 01:04:44.160 --> 01:04:50.680 There's no significant facility east-west until you get down to Eagle to carry that 01:04:50.680 --> 01:04:51.720 displaced traffic. 01:04:51.720 --> 01:04:57.080 So that's -- again, that's the intent of the slides to show you what might be diverted 01:04:57.080 --> 01:05:00.200 from the primary corridors that we have today. 01:05:00.200 --> 01:05:05.200 In the future, if we make those two-way, that traffic is going to go somewhere. 01:05:05.200 --> 01:05:12.280 If it has too much delay on those two streets, Oak and Hickory, it's going to end up in the 01:05:12.280 --> 01:05:13.280 neighborhoods. 01:05:13.280 --> 01:05:17.720 So this is one of my last slides, I promise we'll get to the end. 01:05:17.720 --> 01:05:20.120 Just a quick summary of parking. 01:05:20.120 --> 01:05:22.280 We talked about it may conflict the bike facility. 01:05:22.280 --> 01:05:30.680 One of the things we looked at, or flexibility, parallel parking offers the best flexibility 01:05:30.680 --> 01:05:34.200 when we talk about the conversion from one-way to two-way, because it doesn't matter what 01:05:34.200 --> 01:05:40.120 direction the traffic -- you parallel park on the left, you parallel park on the right. 01:05:40.120 --> 01:05:43.000 Parallel parking is nondirectional. 01:05:43.000 --> 01:05:45.680 Parallel parking requires much more of that pavement. 01:05:45.680 --> 01:05:52.920 You get a lot more parking on a block face, but it eats into your opportunities for bike 01:05:52.920 --> 01:05:56.120 lanes and turn lanes, et cetera. 01:05:56.120 --> 01:06:02.880 And then this last comment, if a one-way road is converted to two-way, and this is specifically 01:06:02.880 --> 01:06:08.080 around the square, we looked at where we've already got the -- the islands are designed 01:06:08.080 --> 01:06:14.680 for directional, and now we're going to change it, we may lose without reconstruction, and 01:06:14.680 --> 01:06:19.760 again, we're not talking about rebuilding these roadways, if we just remark that parking, 01:06:19.760 --> 01:06:21.240 we may lose 5 to 10%. 01:06:21.240 --> 01:06:25.880 So just a quick discussion of some of the impacts and some of the decisions associated 01:06:25.880 --> 01:06:27.720 with on-street parking. 01:06:27.720 --> 01:06:36.940 So a quick summary, one-way streets, higher capacity, less congestion, safer space for 01:06:36.940 --> 01:06:43.880 delivery and transit, fewer conflict points, however increased travel distance, potentially 01:06:43.880 --> 01:06:50.980 higher traffic speeds, and that leads to potentially more severe crashes. 01:06:50.980 --> 01:06:57.600 Two-way streets, lower traffic speeds, severity of crashes go down, but because we've introduced 01:06:57.600 --> 01:07:02.440 all these conflict points, the likelihood that the number of crashes will go up is very 01:07:02.440 --> 01:07:03.440 high. 01:07:03.440 --> 01:07:06.800 They'll be less severe, but you'll see more of them. 01:07:06.800 --> 01:07:09.880 Construction of vehicle miles of travel, we've talked about that, it's much easier to get 01:07:09.880 --> 01:07:13.720 from point A to point B if you don't have to loop around. 01:07:13.720 --> 01:07:17.480 More convenient access to business and neighborhoods, just you don't have to know which street to 01:07:17.480 --> 01:07:22.200 be on, you just need to know where you're going because you can now travel any direction 01:07:22.200 --> 01:07:23.840 on any street. 01:07:23.840 --> 01:07:28.320 Better visibility for PEDS cyclists as they cross because they don't have that shadowing 01:07:28.320 --> 01:07:32.560 of the two-lane, one-way street, that first car stops and the second one doesn't. 01:07:32.560 --> 01:07:39.560 Again, we talked about more conflict points, possible increase in delay and congestion, 01:07:39.560 --> 01:07:46.880 possibly need double the bike facility, a little bit lower in the capacity, and that 01:07:46.880 --> 01:07:53.520 last point, the potential for traffic to migrate to parallel streets that may not be intended 01:07:53.520 --> 01:07:59.320 to carry traffic, or may not be where you want traffic to divert. 01:07:59.320 --> 01:08:05.160 So just as we're going through a series of meetings, in June we met with the Main Street 01:08:05.160 --> 01:08:09.440 Association, in July we met with Economic Development. 01:08:09.440 --> 01:08:18.520 Most of the comments we're getting back are, primarily leave it as it is for now, a lot 01:08:18.520 --> 01:08:24.200 of the business owners are concerned if we make them two-way and people divert and they 01:08:24.200 --> 01:08:32.980 lose some pass-by traffic, but not a strong argument in favor of the conversion to two-way. 01:08:32.980 --> 01:08:42.000 And so with that, and I've got recommendations and, but what we want today, as Mario said 01:08:42.000 --> 01:08:44.880 with the last presentation, we want your input. 01:08:44.880 --> 01:08:51.560 We're trying to get your feedback so we can formulate and summarize all the input from 01:08:51.560 --> 01:08:56.440 the public and the committees, we're taking this on Monday to traffic safety, and then 01:08:56.440 --> 01:09:02.480 July 28th, we'll package all of that input up, all the responses, and take it to city 01:09:02.480 --> 01:09:07.260 council to see what direction they want us to take. 01:09:07.260 --> 01:09:12.960 So right now I'm going to close this presentation and open the floor for questions and comments. 01:09:12.960 --> 01:09:21.960 And there you go. 01:09:21.960 --> 01:09:28.120 I'm sorry, let me give a good question and comment and I'll pass it on. 01:09:28.120 --> 01:09:33.720 I think one of my concerns and probably the concerns of others is the changes and how 01:09:33.720 --> 01:09:41.720 that would impact the existing accessible parking spots and the potential for adding 01:09:41.720 --> 01:09:49.400 more, because that's definitely something that's needed, especially in the square area 01:09:49.400 --> 01:09:52.840 where the accessible parking is very limited. 01:09:52.840 --> 01:10:00.520 So my concern would be how that would impact that. 01:10:00.520 --> 01:10:08.200 So no matter what direction we take, and I'm going to address around the square first, 01:10:08.200 --> 01:10:12.240 we actually have a plan to add more accessible parking around the square. 01:10:12.240 --> 01:10:18.040 We've looked at where the ramps are and we can add some spaces. 01:10:18.040 --> 01:10:22.760 If we had to change the direction, we're still going to maintain the same number of accessible 01:10:22.760 --> 01:10:23.760 parking. 01:10:23.760 --> 01:10:27.920 Before we lose accessible parking, we'll lose some general purpose parking. 01:10:27.920 --> 01:10:33.560 Now the impact it might have is that if you have to take away parking on a block phase 01:10:33.560 --> 01:10:37.880 because you just don't have enough room to put all the features that you want, that might 01:10:37.880 --> 01:10:45.080 reduce some parking that, while it may not be truly marked as accessible, it might reduce 01:10:45.080 --> 01:10:50.920 the overall parking space. 01:10:50.920 --> 01:10:51.920 Thank you. 01:10:51.920 --> 01:10:53.880 Was it Sally? 01:10:53.880 --> 01:11:04.360 Yeah, I'm going to speak as a cyclist, if you don't mind. 01:11:04.360 --> 01:11:11.840 My experience is I find one-way streets much easier to navigate and much safer. 01:11:11.840 --> 01:11:15.640 I've had more close calls on two-way streets myself. 01:11:15.640 --> 01:11:22.960 I just wanted to throw my two bits in. 01:11:22.960 --> 01:11:23.960 John? 01:11:23.960 --> 01:11:26.320 I think two things. 01:11:26.320 --> 01:11:32.560 The statistics may say things about two-way streets being safer in ways, but you're talking 01:11:32.560 --> 01:11:37.000 about the square being area that's got a lot of bars. 01:11:37.000 --> 01:11:42.920 I have no problem with that, but if you have two-way streets, you're welcoming more head-on 01:11:42.920 --> 01:11:49.920 collisions, which will definitely increase injuries and deaths. 01:11:49.920 --> 01:11:56.360 And then the pedestrian side of it, I find traveling in downtown cities or wherever with 01:11:56.360 --> 01:12:03.320 one-way streets to be safer for a blind person because it's the flow of traffic one direction 01:12:03.320 --> 01:12:07.320 all at the same time, you just have to pay attention to. 01:12:07.320 --> 01:12:11.640 I hardly ever even need to find a crosswalk button because I just listen, and then that's 01:12:11.640 --> 01:12:12.640 when I go. 01:12:12.640 --> 01:12:13.640 So that's important. 01:12:13.640 --> 01:12:23.520 So to that, John, if you'll remember, I talked about the West 7th area in Fort Worth. 01:12:23.520 --> 01:12:25.280 It's a 12-block area. 01:12:25.280 --> 01:12:31.520 There's over 40 bars, and our crash history when we converted it from two-way to one-way 01:12:31.520 --> 01:12:33.360 dropped over 50%. 01:12:33.360 --> 01:12:38.240 Well, what's the speed limit right there? 01:12:38.240 --> 01:12:42.760 It's unmarked, so it's 30, but you can't. 01:12:42.760 --> 01:12:48.440 When the bars are active, in that particular area, it's practically gridlocked. 01:12:48.440 --> 01:12:53.280 Most of the crash history was coming after the bars were closed or during the day. 01:12:53.280 --> 01:13:00.380 Well, around here, even on neighborhood streets, there are people that drive way too fast, and 01:13:00.380 --> 01:13:05.560 I just like the one-way traffic better. 01:13:05.560 --> 01:13:07.360 Thanks. 01:13:07.360 --> 01:13:09.040 Beth? 01:13:09.040 --> 01:13:16.320 You're muted, Beth. 01:13:16.320 --> 01:13:22.680 No, maybe not. 01:13:22.680 --> 01:13:23.680 Go back. 01:13:23.680 --> 01:13:24.680 I'm sorry. 01:13:24.680 --> 01:13:25.680 Maybe you weren't. 01:13:25.680 --> 01:13:26.680 Hear me now. 01:13:26.680 --> 01:13:27.680 Yes, ma'am. 01:13:27.680 --> 01:13:28.680 Okay. 01:13:28.680 --> 01:13:35.960 On the parking issue, some of y'all have heard this, but maybe not everyone. 01:13:35.960 --> 01:13:43.040 It is not easy for a lot of disabled people to do reverse parking, and it is not easy 01:13:43.040 --> 01:13:49.000 for disabled people to do parallel park. 01:13:49.000 --> 01:13:58.640 If you're looking at parking options for handicapped spots, I would not recommend parallel parking 01:13:58.640 --> 01:14:05.120 or reverse parking, because those can just be really difficult for people like me that 01:14:05.120 --> 01:14:09.600 have arthritis in their neck and can't turn their head all the way and look, or if you've 01:14:09.600 --> 01:14:15.800 got a scooter on the back of your car, you can't back up far enough. 01:14:15.800 --> 01:14:19.440 That was my concern with the parking talk. 01:14:19.440 --> 01:14:20.440 Agreed. 01:14:20.440 --> 01:14:27.360 Parallel parking is all but impossible to mark as an accessible space. 01:14:27.360 --> 01:14:39.120 Although we do have some, there's a couple of parallel spots behind the Wells Fargo building 01:14:39.120 --> 01:14:40.640 that comes to mind. 01:14:40.640 --> 01:14:41.640 Right. 01:14:41.640 --> 01:14:45.520 Where we've got the pavement, we can make, and we have an area for the landing. 01:14:45.520 --> 01:14:46.520 Yes. 01:14:46.520 --> 01:14:47.520 I have a question. 01:14:47.520 --> 01:14:48.520 Go ahead. 01:14:48.520 --> 01:14:49.520 Is most handicapped parking free in all areas? 01:14:49.520 --> 01:14:50.520 Yeah. 01:14:50.520 --> 01:14:51.520 Did you catch that, Brian? 01:14:51.520 --> 01:15:16.040 No, could you repeat that? 01:15:16.040 --> 01:15:17.040 Sure. 01:15:17.040 --> 01:15:22.680 The question is, from Joe, is all handicapped parking free in all areas? 01:15:22.680 --> 01:15:23.680 Yes. 01:15:23.680 --> 01:15:29.640 Even at the Wells Fargo Bank? 01:15:29.640 --> 01:15:39.840 Well, if it's in the public right of way, it's free. 01:15:39.840 --> 01:15:40.840 Yeah. 01:15:40.840 --> 01:15:45.880 Basically, the answer is, if it's a public lot, it's absolutely free. 01:15:45.880 --> 01:16:01.880 If it's a private lot, where they're charging fees to park, then you do have to pay. 01:16:01.880 --> 01:16:03.920 Does that answer your question, Joe? 01:16:03.920 --> 01:16:04.920 Yeah. 01:16:04.920 --> 01:16:05.920 Okay. 01:16:05.920 --> 01:16:06.920 Thank you. 01:16:06.920 --> 01:16:07.920 Yeah. 01:16:07.920 --> 01:16:13.080 Are there any other questions or comments? 01:16:13.080 --> 01:16:21.720 So, Val, because again, you've got competing interest, not on this committee so much, but 01:16:21.720 --> 01:16:28.720 as Brian mentioned, he has gone before a number of groups here locally. 01:16:28.720 --> 01:16:35.280 Some of it is more business-oriented because some businesses are suffering, and so they're 01:16:35.280 --> 01:16:37.680 wondering, "Why are you doing this now?" 01:16:37.680 --> 01:16:38.680 Which we're not. 01:16:38.680 --> 01:16:41.120 We're not looking at implementing this in the immediate term. 01:16:41.120 --> 01:16:46.800 That's something that would be discussed with city council and then recommended to be phased 01:16:46.800 --> 01:16:52.480 in in the future time, but you do have some competing interest in the community versus 01:16:52.480 --> 01:16:58.680 those that want to make sure businesses are well-viewed by the commuting public when it 01:16:58.680 --> 01:17:04.360 comes to two-way, but it sounds like from this committee's perspective, you all are 01:17:04.360 --> 01:17:05.360 more concerned. 01:17:05.360 --> 01:17:09.720 And again, I don't want to speak words, but you're more concerned about just the pedestrian 01:17:09.720 --> 01:17:17.960 safety of being able to traverse the roadways there in the square, and you all would be 01:17:17.960 --> 01:17:20.160 more inclined with a one-way option. 01:17:20.160 --> 01:17:21.160 Is that correct? 01:17:21.160 --> 01:17:27.280 I believe so, yes, from the comments here. 01:17:27.280 --> 01:17:28.280 Okay. 01:17:28.280 --> 01:17:29.280 Yes. 01:17:29.280 --> 01:17:32.280 So, Brian, is that the input that you need, or is there some other components that you 01:17:32.280 --> 01:17:33.280 need for... 01:17:33.280 --> 01:17:38.960 No, I think that's just the general preference of one-way versus two-way. 01:17:38.960 --> 01:17:45.600 Obviously, even if we did decide to go to a two-way option before we did any conversion, 01:17:45.600 --> 01:17:51.680 we'd do a design and we'd, again, receive feedback on what elements need to be included. 01:17:51.680 --> 01:17:55.040 So I think just the general consensus of one-way versus two-way. 01:17:55.040 --> 01:17:56.040 Great. 01:17:56.040 --> 01:17:57.040 Okay. 01:17:57.040 --> 01:18:02.040 I think that's what we have. 01:18:02.040 --> 01:18:13.160 We'll go on to the next item, the CPD 2018 staff report. 01:18:13.160 --> 01:18:14.160 Sure. 01:18:14.160 --> 01:18:16.160 And let me go ahead and I'll provide... 01:18:16.160 --> 01:18:20.760 This will be more of a verbal report, if that's okay. 01:18:20.760 --> 01:18:25.040 Just to make the committee aware, this will be my last meeting. 01:18:25.040 --> 01:18:28.640 Actually, I'll be resigning to the City of Denton come early August. 01:18:28.640 --> 01:18:34.840 I'll be assuming a new position in a different location starting in, I guess, sort of early 01:18:34.840 --> 01:18:35.840 August. 01:18:35.840 --> 01:18:38.560 So, hello and goodbye, all at the same time. 01:18:38.560 --> 01:18:45.040 I know I've worked with you all early on on the early on in the committees, and I know 01:18:45.040 --> 01:18:50.680 Mark Oliphant was a liaison for the last several months, and that transitions to that next 01:18:50.680 --> 01:18:55.600 topic is replacing Mark, Mark's position. 01:18:55.600 --> 01:18:59.600 Mark left the City of Denton towards the end of June. 01:18:59.600 --> 01:19:07.160 And so we are in the process of replacing that position, and we're retooling the position, 01:19:07.160 --> 01:19:08.160 just so you all know. 01:19:08.160 --> 01:19:14.840 What we're looking at doing is creating a transportation/ADA coordinator that will be 01:19:14.840 --> 01:19:17.680 specifically on the transportation side. 01:19:17.680 --> 01:19:23.400 Now, as you all know, if you've been on the committee for a while, the city, because of 01:19:23.400 --> 01:19:29.080 its size and scope, has basically three coordinators from an ADA perspective. 01:19:29.080 --> 01:19:32.960 One is regarding facilities, which is our facilities manager. 01:19:32.960 --> 01:19:36.800 And we actually have an architect on staff that has those skill sets. 01:19:36.800 --> 01:19:42.640 I think you may have met him, but certainly we'll still maintain that. 01:19:42.640 --> 01:19:48.360 We have one on the human resources side when it comes to interfacing with the community 01:19:48.360 --> 01:19:53.900 in regards to our employment, any issues related to those kinds of things on the soft skills 01:19:53.900 --> 01:19:55.900 kind of areas. 01:19:55.900 --> 01:19:58.280 That's in our human resources. 01:19:58.280 --> 01:20:05.040 When it comes to infrastructure, as far as trails, paths, sidewalks, the items that Brian 01:20:05.040 --> 01:20:09.720 covered this morning, or excuse me, earlier today, and some of the areas that were discussed 01:20:09.720 --> 01:20:12.640 by Jessica, those fall under engineering. 01:20:12.640 --> 01:20:19.840 But what we're wanting to do is, because of this opportunity that we have with that vacancy 01:20:19.840 --> 01:20:26.920 that Mark created, is to go down that path, kind of this next generation of employee skill 01:20:26.920 --> 01:20:27.920 set. 01:20:27.920 --> 01:20:32.240 And so what will happen with that is we're working with human resources to make sure 01:20:32.240 --> 01:20:39.680 that the job description on our recruitment incorporates ADA expertise in the job description. 01:20:39.680 --> 01:20:48.920 So it's not something that will be, certainly there will be opportunities for training and 01:20:48.920 --> 01:20:56.600 seminars, just to keep those skill sets fresh and that continuous learning. 01:20:56.600 --> 01:21:02.040 But the job description that we'll be recruiting towards will have those ADA coordination or 01:21:02.040 --> 01:21:08.280 ADA skills through policy regulations. 01:21:08.280 --> 01:21:12.280 All those components that are required under the ADA law, we want to make sure that that 01:21:12.280 --> 01:21:15.160 is incorporated as part of that recruitment. 01:21:15.160 --> 01:21:18.520 So that will be, we're working on that as we speak. 01:21:18.520 --> 01:21:25.120 And so that will be forthcoming in the near future as far as when it comes to recruitment. 01:21:25.120 --> 01:21:32.360 In the meantime, Brian Yahn, who you heard earlier, will serve as your liaison for the 01:21:32.360 --> 01:21:33.360 near future. 01:21:33.360 --> 01:21:37.720 This is not a permanent assignment, it's just a temporary thing until we actually bring that 01:21:37.720 --> 01:21:39.920 person on board. 01:21:39.920 --> 01:21:51.040 So I just wanted to keep the committee informed on that. 01:21:51.040 --> 01:21:56.400 And then the last thing, and then I'll open it up for questions that you all may have, 01:21:56.400 --> 01:22:01.680 is the last piece is, you know, this is certainly our first meeting in a virtual environment. 01:22:01.680 --> 01:22:10.640 And as long as the governor along with and his authority across the state is allowing 01:22:10.640 --> 01:22:15.760 cities and counties and other public entities to meet virtually, we would like to continue 01:22:15.760 --> 01:22:16.760 that. 01:22:16.760 --> 01:22:19.120 We've been doing this with city council for several months now, and we will continue doing 01:22:19.120 --> 01:22:21.500 that as long as we're allowed to do so. 01:22:21.500 --> 01:22:27.360 And so what I would like to ask of the committee is, do you prefer to do the virtual meeting 01:22:27.360 --> 01:22:34.560 as you have had today, or is your preference to do something in person? 01:22:34.560 --> 01:22:39.040 I would say for me personally, I think the virtual meeting just makes the most sense 01:22:39.040 --> 01:22:47.080 right now, considering not just the circumstances, but the makeup of the individuals in the committee 01:22:47.080 --> 01:22:54.600 as individuals with disabilities or immune compromise or underlying health conditions. 01:22:54.600 --> 01:22:59.160 Okay, well, I appreciate that. 01:22:59.160 --> 01:23:03.160 I mean, you know, knowing that the committee is an 11 person member committee, and we do 01:23:03.160 --> 01:23:09.280 have sort of tight spaces anyway, being able to keep that social distance between, you 01:23:09.280 --> 01:23:15.300 know, person to person, and just the logistics of being able to have bring folks under the 01:23:15.300 --> 01:23:19.480 within a in person environment does make it more challenging. 01:23:19.480 --> 01:23:25.960 So as long as the committee is is is okay with that, then we will continue to host these 01:23:25.960 --> 01:23:27.900 meetings virtually. 01:23:27.900 --> 01:23:31.560 And as long as law allows, we'll continue to do so. 01:23:31.560 --> 01:23:35.520 And hopefully, it will get better with time as we get more experience in this in this 01:23:35.520 --> 01:23:40.640 environment. 01:23:40.640 --> 01:23:42.800 I think Sonia has a question. 01:23:42.800 --> 01:23:43.800 It's okay. 01:23:43.800 --> 01:23:44.800 Thanks, Val. 01:23:44.800 --> 01:23:52.880 Just a quick question, do we anticipate increasing the frequency of the virtual meetings? 01:23:52.880 --> 01:24:00.720 Because I know we have a long gap this during the initial stages of that transition. 01:24:00.720 --> 01:24:04.600 So I didn't know what the timeline and what to prepare for. 01:24:04.600 --> 01:24:11.880 Well, again, I don't want to speak for for the chair and the committee members. 01:24:11.880 --> 01:24:15.680 But you know, I think we, you know, obviously, with the gap, that was just to kind of get 01:24:15.680 --> 01:24:17.680 our trying to get things in order. 01:24:17.680 --> 01:24:22.040 And so now we're kind of bringing these committees back into the fold all virtual. 01:24:22.040 --> 01:24:28.640 And so the thought would be is to sort of maintain that once a month meeting, just because 01:24:28.640 --> 01:24:33.140 it is a it's a it's a large lift for our staff. 01:24:33.140 --> 01:24:37.960 You heard Billy Matthews earlier, speaking to Joe via phone, it is a large lift for him 01:24:37.960 --> 01:24:40.640 and his staff, and he has a limited number of resources. 01:24:40.640 --> 01:24:48.160 And so as we bring these committees in a virtual environment, it is it's it while it's it's 01:24:48.160 --> 01:24:51.200 it just makes it more challenging because of just, you know, making sure that everybody 01:24:51.200 --> 01:24:55.560 has the technology and the bandwidth at home or wherever they are. 01:24:55.560 --> 01:24:57.440 And and not only the bandwidth for own staff. 01:24:57.440 --> 01:25:02.440 So my suggestion would be that we do it on a monthly basis still. 01:25:02.440 --> 01:25:08.240 But we make sure that that to be cognizant of your time and the cognizant of the time 01:25:08.240 --> 01:25:14.420 for staff is that we are tighter on our presentations and our agenda items and that we make sure 01:25:14.420 --> 01:25:19.600 that that those those presentation materials are to the point. 01:25:19.600 --> 01:25:23.440 And that way you all can get the information that you need and ask ask the questions that 01:25:23.440 --> 01:25:27.040 you need to give input as necessary. 01:25:27.040 --> 01:25:38.320 That's going to be transportation slash ADA coordinator. 01:25:38.320 --> 01:25:45.040 What percentage is transportation and what percentage is ADA coordinator? 01:25:45.040 --> 01:25:47.640 You know, it's it's hard to say. 01:25:47.640 --> 01:25:53.280 Certainly the job description will will dictate that it's that it's a 50/50 split it just 01:25:53.280 --> 01:25:58.040 as far as just the the expertise and the and the needs. 01:25:58.040 --> 01:26:04.120 But you don't know until you start recruiting to see what the actual skill set skill sets 01:26:04.120 --> 01:26:07.920 that are out there and the just people that may apply. 01:26:07.920 --> 01:26:17.480 And so certainly having someone that has a full cadre of ADA skills and and policy understandings, 01:26:17.480 --> 01:26:21.960 it does limit the population that's out there that has that expertise just because it's 01:26:21.960 --> 01:26:25.280 a very it's a very niche industry. 01:26:25.280 --> 01:26:30.480 But but we are definitely interested in making sure that that person comes to the table with 01:26:30.480 --> 01:26:31.480 those skill sets. 01:26:31.480 --> 01:26:35.640 They may have it on paper, but then on the resume, but then when they go through the 01:26:35.640 --> 01:26:39.680 interview process, we want to make sure that they have the requisite skill set so they 01:26:39.680 --> 01:26:53.480 can hit the ground running and not be too new in that in that arena. 01:26:53.480 --> 01:26:54.480 Thank you. 01:26:54.480 --> 01:26:55.480 Welcome. 01:26:55.480 --> 01:26:56.480 Vow. 01:26:56.480 --> 01:26:57.480 Yes. 01:26:57.480 --> 01:27:08.320 Good afternoon, everyone, and to you, Deputy City Manager, when the committee is formed 01:27:08.320 --> 01:27:14.200 for interviewing selected applicants for the position, will you consider having our chair 01:27:14.200 --> 01:27:16.640 or co-chair participate on that committee? 01:27:16.640 --> 01:27:17.640 Absolutely. 01:27:17.640 --> 01:27:21.200 We can certainly make sure that that's something that that's that's considered. 01:27:21.200 --> 01:27:22.200 Yes, ma'am. 01:27:22.200 --> 01:27:23.200 I'm Mario. 01:27:23.200 --> 01:27:35.680 I'll be one say that I'll be sad to see you leave and wish you well on your new endeavors. 01:27:35.680 --> 01:27:36.680 Well, thank you. 01:27:36.680 --> 01:27:37.680 Appreciate it. 01:27:37.680 --> 01:27:38.680 Yeah. 01:27:38.680 --> 01:27:42.880 I do agree that the meeting should probably continue as once a month. 01:27:42.880 --> 01:27:51.200 I think one of my questions and concerns is, as Mario mentioned, streamlining the processes 01:27:51.200 --> 01:27:56.600 for putting agenda items on, making those suggestions. 01:27:56.600 --> 01:27:59.080 The other one is making this format more accessible. 01:27:59.080 --> 01:28:09.240 I know we talked about closed caption when we were live, but now that we're streaming, 01:28:09.240 --> 01:28:15.960 that might be a concern that we have to to address. 01:28:15.960 --> 01:28:23.880 I'm just writing those things down. 01:28:23.880 --> 01:28:33.360 Are there any other questions or just for the concluding remarks? 01:28:33.360 --> 01:28:34.360 Yes. 01:28:34.360 --> 01:28:35.360 Beth. 01:28:35.360 --> 01:28:43.640 No, I think I'm I'm sorry, Rex. 01:28:43.640 --> 01:28:50.640 Beth. 01:28:50.640 --> 01:28:51.640 You may be muted. 01:28:51.640 --> 01:28:52.640 OK, better. 01:28:52.640 --> 01:28:53.640 Yes, ma'am. 01:28:53.640 --> 01:28:54.640 All right. 01:28:54.640 --> 01:28:59.760 I feel like I'm preaching to the choir, especially since Mario's leaving. 01:28:59.760 --> 01:29:04.720 But the committee was already behind when we started and all the city employees worked 01:29:04.720 --> 01:29:10.280 really hard to get us to where we are. 01:29:10.280 --> 01:29:15.920 And it was a steep learning curve just not just for us as a committee, but for the city 01:29:15.920 --> 01:29:21.200 employees that really didn't know much about disabilities. 01:29:21.200 --> 01:29:24.480 And I feel like we're still behind. 01:29:24.480 --> 01:29:27.040 We haven't seen the ADA plan. 01:29:27.040 --> 01:29:31.240 We haven't had input on the 2030 plan. 01:29:31.240 --> 01:29:35.400 We're still addressing parking and bus stops. 01:29:35.400 --> 01:29:43.760 And we haven't gotten as far as I feel like we should maybe. 01:29:43.760 --> 01:29:48.700 Or better, we need to get better at working faster. 01:29:48.700 --> 01:29:56.280 But I think we're now further behind because of the covid crisis, because Denton will have 01:29:56.280 --> 01:30:03.200 a much larger disabled population when that crisis is over. 01:30:03.200 --> 01:30:09.560 People that have recovered have decreased lung capacity, balance and walking issues, 01:30:09.560 --> 01:30:12.400 amputations, brain injury, strokes. 01:30:12.400 --> 01:30:14.680 The list is long. 01:30:14.680 --> 01:30:22.040 And when you start looking at the number of handicapped parking spaces and walkable areas 01:30:22.040 --> 01:30:29.320 in Denton, you really need to consider that you're going to have a larger and much younger 01:30:29.320 --> 01:30:33.460 disabled population when this virus is over. 01:30:33.460 --> 01:30:41.080 So if we started out behind, we need to catch up fast and start running forward. 01:30:41.080 --> 01:30:46.080 And one way to do that is there's got to be a way for committees to communicate better. 01:30:46.080 --> 01:30:53.840 It's like we're all working in our own bubbles and information's not being shared between 01:30:53.840 --> 01:30:58.760 the committees. 01:30:58.760 --> 01:31:01.680 So that was what I had. 01:31:01.680 --> 01:31:11.440 Thank you, Beth, I'll kind of piggyback off a couple of those items, I think. 01:31:11.440 --> 01:31:16.680 Being away for five months, I think there were some opportunities that were missed for 01:31:16.680 --> 01:31:23.560 this committee to input on, especially in the navigation of a pandemic and how that 01:31:23.560 --> 01:31:26.720 would impact our community. 01:31:26.720 --> 01:31:31.720 The same goes for the social unrest and use of police force. 01:31:31.720 --> 01:31:38.440 I understand that the mayor has a hand pick committee, but I would safely say that this 01:31:38.440 --> 01:31:44.360 committee has a lot more diverse and more broad perspectives on those kind of things. 01:31:44.360 --> 01:31:52.920 So I think what Beth said is true is making sure that this committee is at the forefront 01:31:52.920 --> 01:32:00.200 of almost every issue that could come up, you can almost put a stamp on disability and 01:32:00.200 --> 01:32:04.120 say how does this impact our residents with disabilities. 01:32:04.120 --> 01:32:10.200 Well, let's take this to the committee and see. 01:32:10.200 --> 01:32:14.640 I will share one thing, if it helps. 01:32:14.640 --> 01:32:18.760 We are in the process, the city is in the process of doing some building renovations, 01:32:18.760 --> 01:32:24.200 and so we'll be bringing those things to the committee for your input. 01:32:24.200 --> 01:32:27.720 There's two buildings, or I guess really two areas in specific. 01:32:27.720 --> 01:32:33.320 One is our public safety, we're renovating the police headquarters along with adding 01:32:33.320 --> 01:32:38.240 the police substation on the southwest side of the community, and then our development 01:32:38.240 --> 01:32:46.280 services building, which was a former day break facility just off of McKinney. 01:32:46.280 --> 01:32:55.120 So that will be coming forward to you all for input in the coming weeks, months. 01:32:55.120 --> 01:33:07.160 Are there any other questions or concluding comments? 01:33:07.160 --> 01:33:11.480 Will our meeting date remain the same, the third Thursday? 01:33:11.480 --> 01:33:16.000 I think so, I think that's kind of what everyone sort of already has penciled in. 01:33:16.000 --> 01:33:21.800 So we'd like to maintain that schedule and at least get back to normal as normal, whatever 01:33:21.800 --> 01:33:22.800 normal means now. 01:33:22.800 --> 01:33:23.800 Exactly. 01:33:23.800 --> 01:33:29.840 And John, let me welcome John, John's a new committee member. 01:33:29.840 --> 01:33:32.320 Oh, well, I didn't realize, welcome. 01:33:32.320 --> 01:33:33.320 Thanks. 01:33:33.320 --> 01:33:41.040 Yeah, I just wanted to know, will we keep the same time slot also if we're doing every 01:33:41.040 --> 01:33:42.520 Thursday still? 01:33:42.520 --> 01:33:43.520 It's up to you all. 01:33:43.520 --> 01:33:44.520 We're here. 01:33:44.520 --> 01:33:49.160 We're already working so whatever committees wishes are. 01:33:49.160 --> 01:33:53.640 Does this time not work for anyone? 01:33:53.640 --> 01:34:00.920 I took off of work to be here. 01:34:00.920 --> 01:34:05.760 I guess an after hours option would not be available. 01:34:05.760 --> 01:34:12.680 At this point, it's not just because what we're trying to do is leave those time slots 01:34:12.680 --> 01:34:14.120 for city council. 01:34:14.120 --> 01:34:16.960 Those go, they meet weekly and they go long. 01:34:16.960 --> 01:34:24.640 And so our, we're trying to as best we can keep those committees and other board meetings 01:34:24.640 --> 01:34:28.320 during the work day, if at all possible. 01:34:28.320 --> 01:34:33.920 And so Ali, maybe it's something that maybe working with Becky Owens, we can maybe try 01:34:33.920 --> 01:34:41.200 to find an amenable time that might work for you or again, my hope would be that the most 01:34:41.200 --> 01:34:45.280 that the committee meets, again, if you're meeting monthly, try to keep the meetings 01:34:45.280 --> 01:34:50.000 to about an hour and a half, no more than two hours tops, because just at some point, 01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:53.080 you know, you just, people just lose steam and they've got other things going on. 01:34:53.080 --> 01:34:58.880 So that's why I'm very, you know, key on keeping those meetings pretty, those, those topics 01:34:58.880 --> 01:35:03.880 tied and the presentations on point to get people in and out. 01:35:03.880 --> 01:35:05.240 I agree. 01:35:05.240 --> 01:35:07.240 Becky, do you have your hand up? 01:35:07.240 --> 01:35:14.020 If you all could just share an email with me on a preferred time or a preferred day of 01:35:14.020 --> 01:35:20.080 the week, keep in mind, I'm working with 27 other public meeting committees for time slots 01:35:20.080 --> 01:35:22.280 between eight and five. 01:35:22.280 --> 01:35:27.240 So what we tried to do for this particular meeting was keep it on the same third Thursday 01:35:27.240 --> 01:35:32.680 of the month, but we may have some wiggle room in the time slot. 01:35:32.680 --> 01:35:37.240 So please share your or voice your opinions. 01:35:37.240 --> 01:35:41.480 It's best if you could share those individually to me in an email. 01:35:41.480 --> 01:35:47.780 So then I can just juggle everything and then perhaps throw out some options on availability 01:35:47.780 --> 01:35:49.880 for the coming months ahead. 01:35:49.880 --> 01:35:51.880 All right. 01:35:51.880 --> 01:35:55.960 Any other final thoughts? 01:35:55.960 --> 01:36:04.560 Anyone I want to make a motion to close the meeting? 01:36:04.560 --> 01:36:06.600 Any seconds? 01:36:06.600 --> 01:36:07.600 Great. 01:36:07.600 --> 01:36:11.440 Well, thank you everybody for joining us. 01:36:11.440 --> 01:36:17.960 Thank you Mario again for being with us and our speakers and we'll see you guys next month. 01:36:17.960 --> 01:36:18.960 All right. 01:36:18.960 --> 01:36:19.960 Take care everyone. 01:36:19.960 --> 01:36:20.960 Good, good meeting. 01:36:20.960 --> 01:36:21.960 Thank you all. 01:36:21.960 --> 01:36:22.960 Have a great one. 01:36:22.960 --> 01:36:23.960 It's been a pleasure working with you. 01:36:23.960 --> 01:36:24.960 Absolutely. 01:36:24.960 --> 01:36:28.320 Best to you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye now.