Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Citizens Bicycle Advisory Committee - Meeting Date: 7/7/2008 CITY OF GLENDALE CITIZEN BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Monday,July 7, 2008 Transportation Planning Conference Room Bank of America Building,Suite 315 5800 West Glenn Drive,Glendale,Arizona 6:30 PM MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Bill Wilkinson called the meeting to order at 6:36 p.m. Also in attendance: Fred Coury,Norman Crowell, Saif Al-Alawi,Betsy Turner,Brad Meeks,and City staff—Steve Hancock and Rhianna Encizo Members absent: John Horvath,Gail Hildebrant, and Richard Qualls Guests: None IL APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the April 7,2008 meeting were approved. III. CALL TO THE PUBLIC There were no members of the public wishing to address the Committee. IV. INTRODUCTIONS Members introduced themselves. V. CONTINUANCE OR WITHDRAWAL OF AGENDA ITEMS No agenda items required continuance or withdrawal. VI. REPORTS FROM OTHER COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS Betsy Turner said that there was no CTOC(Citizen Transportation Oversight Commission)meeting in July and that she was not at the June,2008 CTOC meeting,thus she had nothing to report. Saif Al-Alawi said that he was no longer working at Home Depot and was now working at the University of Phoenix. VII. CITY OF GLENDALE'S TRAVEL GREEN PROGRAM Rhianna Encizo said that the Travel Green program was created by the City of Glendale to educate the community about travel options that can help improve air quality in the Valley. She pointed out that there is a Travel Green website on the City of Glendale's internet site and displayed the site on a computer projector. Rhianna said that the Travel Green concept arose from a desire to inform citizens about the impacts of global warming and disproportionate energy consumption in the United States and how our quality of life can be improved by alternate means of travel that don't generate as much carbon dioxide and air pollutants and consume as much gasoline. She discussed the type of air pollutants,citing carbon monoxide,ozone and particulate matter as the cause of harm to the lungs and heart. Rhianna listed alternative travel options as carpooling,trip chaining,bicycling,skateboarding,walking,and public transit. Rhianna also noted that people can have a positive impact by using public transit and"Ride Share"programs,setting water heaters to 120 degrees,carpooling,using CFL lighting,recycling,and driving cars at lower speeds. Rhianna then mentioned the"It All Adds Up"website and a blog discussing a program for high school students that educates them about carpooling and other alternate travel modes. Betsy Turner said that Valley Metro tracked carpooling and found that high school students had the highest level of carpooling reported in trip reduction surveys. Norm Crowell Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee Minutes July 7,2008 —Page 2— asked about light rail plans for Glendale. Steve Hancock said that the City was considering three possible alignments; Bethany Home Road,Glendale Avenue or I-10. Betsy Turner said that I-10 was considered the most probable route. Norm Crowell,in response to a question from Saif A1-Alawi,said that there is no commuter rail in the Phoenix area although it had been used in during the 1985 floods when most of the crossings on the Salt River were closed. VIII. 2008 GLENDALE FAMILY BIKE RIDE Steve Hancock reported on the Glendale Family Bike Ride held on April 13,2008. Steve said the ride attracted 830 participants this year,compared to 610 last year. He said 385 people had pre-registered and 445 registered the day of the ride. He showed a PowerPoint with photos of the ride that depicted major elements of the ride and the various people and organizations that made the ride a success. Steve noted that there were no major incidences on the ride other than a child being briefly separated from his parents when he rode ahead of them and took a wrong turn. He said there were no reports of disabled bicycles or riders being injured or fatigued to point they needed to be transported back to Sahauro Ranch Park. Steve asked the members,many who had been at the ride as volunteers,if they had comments about how the ride could be improved next year. Fred Coury said that we need to have more helmets for sale next year. Bill Wilkinson agreed saying that twice trips to the warehouse were made to replenish helmet supplies. Steve Hancock said that 50 helmets were purchased for the ride. Fred suggested that 100 will be needed for the next ride. Saif Al-Alawi said that he thought having a"master"registration sheet slowed registration down; he had to wait until the master sheet was available to register the people lined up in front of him. He thought there should be multiple copies of the registration sheet that could be combined after the ride into a master copy. Saif and others said they thought there needed to be better coordination so volunteers would know where they will be working and where certain activities will be located. Brad Meek said he must have moved the bike helmets two or three times. Brad also said he was impressed with how well the ride went, saying that any confusion among volunteers was transparent to the people coming for the ride. He said it demonstrated that an even larger number of riders could be easily handled in future rides. Brad also said that having the riders using two lanes of the parking lot to start the ride greatly decreased the confusion amongst long and short route riders when one lane was used last year. Steve Hancock said that the Fire Department EMT's told him that many riders,once out on the route, ignored traffic rules and rode through red lights and stop signs when in large groups. He thought that,with larger numbers of riders, police officers would be needed at all arterial street crossings to control cyclists and traffic. He said that it could greatly increase costs since the Transportation Department will have to pay police officer overtime costs. IX. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Saif Al-Alawi requested that members of the Committee talk about their backgrounds and reasons for being on the Committee. X. OTHER BUSINESS No other business was brought to the attention of the Committee. XI. NEXT MEETING Bill Wilkinson said the next regular meeting of the Glendale Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee would be held on Monday, August 4, 2008, 6:30 p.m., Transportation Planning Conference Room, Bank of America Building, 5800 W. Glenn Dr., Suite 315. XII. ADJOURNMENT Bill Wilkinson adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m. c:\documents and settings\blimbach\desktop\minutes\2008\0708m.doc 04/29/11