Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-03 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Alter, Bergus, Dunn, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas Staff Present: Jones, Goers, Grace, Ralston, Walz, Hightshoe, Fleagle, Seydell Johnson, Knoche, Havel, Sovers, Olson USG: LeFevre, Monsivais Teague: It is 4 PM on Tuesday, October 3rd, and I'm going to call the meeting to order for the City of Iowa City work session. The first item is to- Well, hello everyone. The first item is to discuss traffic safety in Iowa City with staff review of our 10 -year, pedestrian collision analysis report. And I think Kent Ralston is going to come forth and give us that. Welcome. Ralston: Thank you- thank you, Mayor and Council. Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. My name is Kent Ralston. I'm the city's transportation planner. Also with me today is Sarah Walz, also a transportation planner and happens to be our bike and ped expert here in Iowa City. We've got maybe 30 minutes or so of presentation to give to you all. We can either answer questions as we go or answer questions at the end, however, mayor, Mr. Mayor, you would like to handle, that's fine by us. We, as the mayor said, we'll be discussing the Iowa City of pedestrian collision analysis that we recently completed. It covers about 10 years of data, 2013-2022. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Sarah Walz here did an excellent job on the report and did most of the heavy lifting. So thanks to her. As far as the presentation outline is concerned, I will or- excuse me, Sarah will cover a little bit about why we did the analysis. Trends in pedestrian collisions, highest collision locations. She'll talk a little bit about statistics and major findings comparison to other communities. And then I'll jump back in and discuss what we're doing right, which is the fun part about the presentation. The other thing I'd like to mention is that certainly everything that's covered in today's discussion and everything we do in our office, looks through the lens of the council's strategic planning goal of mobility, which we've highlighted here on the screen. It's vitally important to what we do here in our office. And of course, vitally important that community as well. With that, I will turn it over to Sarah to discuss a little bit about why we did the analysis and I'll jump back in here in a few minutes. Thank you. Teague: Great. Welcome, Sarah. Walz: Thank you. Sarah Walz with the MPO and City of Iowa City. Yes. Why we did the analysis. What inspired us to do the analysis is every year we get the Governor's Highway Safety associations annual spotlight on Highway Safety, pedestrian traffic fatalities by state. And it provides a fair amount of detail of what's happening safety wise across the country. And there were some aspects of this study that I thought were interesting. Traditionally, we've just looked at locations. And the this allowed us to focus in not just on locations of collisions, but locations where they were serious and collisions fatalities. Some of the characteristics of those collisions that we could look at, not just at a specific location, but along a corridor and see things that might be in common at different locations along a corridor throughout the community. It also- their study also looks at environmental factors, or some years it looks more at, at environmental factors than others. Like what time of day, whether things like that. And so we just wanted to look at things comprehensively just to see if we were missing things. Also other influencing the actions of pedestrians and drivers. They put some effort into looking at distracted driving, distracted pedestrians, people under the influence, things like that. And so the thought was that by identifying some common characteristics or factors, we could begin a systematic way of applying This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 2 countermeasures at locations, perhaps before collisions and definitely before there were serious injury or a fatality. So the data that we use is the same data that the GSHA use- GHSA uses, which is we use our data that's collected by the Iowa DOT. They collect the data from the police departments. So when there is a collision, the report that is filed by the police, it gets almost immediately recorded by the DOT. Something to note is that while the GHSA report looks at all pedestrian collisions, and a pedestrian is anybody who's not in a motor vehicle or on a bike. We removed collisions that were on the interstate or 218 because obviously we have no way to control those situations and those aren't places that are designed for pedestrians, so we remove those from our report. So just thinking about pedestrian collisions by year here in Iowa City, you will notice that this begins two years before the actual study is 2013 to 2022. But we had some basic information about years before. So I included 2011 and 2012 in this chart. And I also dropped in where we are as of yesterday in 2023. So again, that 2011 and 2022 is not a part of the analysis. And I think it's important to keep in mind that this is a representation of over a decade. And that in that decade, Iowa City has grown considerably. We've had many large road projects, many changes, many intersection improvements. We've also gone through some major, you could say, cultural changes. So the adoption of smartphones. COVID definitely accounts for that very low number of 11 in 2020, but you can see that the trend was already dropping in 2019. Then right now, who knows where we are? I mean, a lot of people are working from home. We're relying a lot more on deliveries. So that low number of eight will that stay? We have no way of knowing whether that will be the case, but that's where we are now. And then we don't just want to look at number of collisions, but we want to look at severity. So again, this breaks it down by year starting in 2011. You can see that in the period that the study covered, there were three fatalities over those 10 years. And then this year, which is 2023, which is not considered in the study, we've had another fatality. So we had gone for five years without a fatality. But we want to keep track of not just our- our collisions not increasing, but what the severity of those collisions are. And that's the GHSA report, focuses mainly on fatalities. And then visions zero of course, looks at fatalities and serious injury with the idea that people will inevitably- inevitably make mistakes, but that we want to take the severe injury and fatality number to zero. So on this next slide, um, those were the locations and- and some of those locations had multiple, um, collisions, the severity- the worst severity of a collision at that site, and then we overlaid this, um, on the- on the speed of the roadway. And so one of the things is that- to note is that we- for most of our streets, the vast majority of our street miles are 25 miles an hour is the speed limit. Now we know not everybody goes the speed limit, but that does, you know, keep things on the low end. Um, this also gives us an opportunity to just look at patterns. So the places, what you've probably noticed first is the places that are attractive to pedestrians so the University in downtown area, you know, in the center, um, you know maybe the Ul sports area, and then we have a couple of, uh, commercial areas. This would be the area around the Hy -Vee at First Avenue and Southeast Junior High, over here on the West side the area around the shopping center on Mormon trek. Um, but that's kind of where things are clustered, um, and those are places where we see higher densities of pedestrians. But then the other pattern that sort of stands out is a place where we don't see- where we regularly see pedestrians but not a high density of pedestrians which is along the Highway 1 and Highway 6 corridor, and there we have a number- two of the three fatalities during that period, and then a number of serious injuries. So, um, you know, and that's not a pred- predictable thing from the- from the point of view of, um, those are not centers of pedestrian activity. So the location ranking, um, table. This is sort the the traditional way that we do with motor vehicle collisions, where there are points assigned based on the number of collisions and then there's severity numbers. And so this is a ranking of the top 20 intersections or mid block locations. The two that are highlighted in sort of pale gold I guess you say are actually University owned streets but we put them in there because they sort of function as part of our street network. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 3 Um, but that- that collision point that's the total number of collisions at that location in 10 years. So the highest number was- was eight, um, at a single, um, intersection. So that's less than one a year, which is not to diminish, you know, we'd like that number to be zero but we don't have, um, an intersection that has an average above of one or over. Um, and to give an example, um, of one of the shortcomings of the- of the collision ranking in this way is that we're trying to get toward a rate and this- the collision rankings here take into account, um, the vehicular, you know the average daily traffic on that street. That's information that we can collect ourselves but we also get it from the DOT. What we don't have for all these sites is the average daily pedestrian traffic. So it skews things again toward the high pedestrian area. So for example, um, if you look at that top ranked intersection Burlington and Gilbert street, um, with eight collisions over 10 years. During the PM peak hour, that's one hour at that intersection, 474 pedestrians pass through that intersection. And that area has a- average daily traffic of a little over 20,000. So that would be very different than an intersection down along Highway 6 where we don't have numbers but I think it would be safe to say it's lower than 100 a day. Still high traffic though but- but low on the pedestrian end. Then in terms of, uh, location characteristics, um, while the majority of all pedestrian collisions occur at street intersections when we focus in on those that result in serious injury or death, uh, a little more than half happen at non intersection locations, so at the mid block locations. And, um, just in general, generally speaking, the mid block locations, again, these are pedestrians which is anybody who's not in a car. So these could be people who are standing in the roadway, crossing the roadway, walking in the roadway. And when I say crossing the roadway that- unless there's a mid block crossing, it would be an illegal crossing so like jaywalking. Um, entering or exiting a car, um, or crossing a driveway access will sometimes be in there as well. So these aren't necessarily, um, you know, when we say pedestrian I think we think of somebody who is walking to get somewhere, you know, they're walking intentionally and this includes some other things. So just to be aware of the risks that come with all the different ways that we use our streets. And then another location characteristic looking at our city streets, I'm sorry, that font got goofed up there. Um, nationwide nearly two-thirds of fatal pedestrian collisions occur on non freeway arterioles. Again, that GHSA data included interstate, um, collisions and I wasn't able to ascertain exact- you know precise numbers for that. But I think when you subtract those it brings it closer down to where our number is I think it's at about a third nationally, um, are on the none freeway arterioles. And that this has been studied, um, in the journal of transportation and land use they had, uh, a landmark study that shows that these areas that have three or more lanes speeds over 30 miles per hour which is not that high when you think about it, um, with segments flanked by retail groceries or other essential services, that's where we see the high fatalities. So - and that describes various parts of our community but definitely the Highway 1 and Highway 6 corridor. And then just a little information about the vehicle action proceeding crash. Again, the pie chart is- is looking at the severe injury fatality. And clearly the vast majority are traveling essentially straight and so that again counts for your mid block because the car is not turning, um, the left-hand turn is the next one. And if you think about it, a car that's traveling straight when it strikes someone is at a higher speed. A left-hand turn would be higher speed than a right-hand speed- turn because the turning radius is different. So from that perspective that's kind of what you would expect. And then contributing pedestrian circumstance. Again, the pie chart is just looking at the serious injury fatalities. So improper crossings are part of that and failure to yield. Um, these are things that we need to look at where there might be potentially, um, uh, either a crossing needed or are these places where people are lacking facilities? And if you let- if you think about it, if you don't have a sidewalk to be on that means you also don't have a crosswalk to cross, it means you don't have a pedestrian signal at that intersection if there's not a sidewalk so those things all go together. Um, so just again highlighting you know the importance of all these things that work together to keep pedestrians safe. We looked at a number of other things but I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 4 think the only other one that stood out was the pedestrian collisions involving children and I just wanted to mention this because we, you know, children are the most vulnerable road users along with elderly people but people you know want their kids to walk to school, want their kids to walk to activities. Um, and so there weren't, over the 10 years, there weren't a terribly high number of children. The- uh, the red dots are the ones under 12 and there's that little small cluster, um, oops, sort of near, um, of the right age group near South East Junior High and that is an area that we're working to create a more walkable environment. It's going to take some time but we're looking at PED refuge islands, some other things to make that area better. And then how we compare to other Iowa communities. This is just looking at fatalities, um, and that's pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 population. And these are standard ways that- of comparison and pedestrian fatalities per million vehicle miles traveled. And, you know, I think the thing that stands out is the communities that are sort of, um, known for education. So Cedar Falls, Ames, Iowa City are on the low end. Iowa is- is- is also one of the lowest states for pedestrian fatalities and then we are on the low end of Iowa City. Um, there could be a variety of reasons, you now economic reasons, um, the fact that college communities tend to, um, probably invest more in pedestrian facilities at least around their universities where they're anticipating students walking, taking the bus, that kind of thing. So I'll hand it back over to Kent. Ralston: Yeah, thanks. Um, so now that we've heard a little bit about some of the highlights of the data that were in the study from Sarah, I just like to quickly walk through, I think some of the things that we're doing right, which is the more fun part of the presentation. Uh, and again, uh, with the goal of providing mobility for everyone, which is part of the strategic plan. Ah, after all, we're all pedestrians at some point in time, whether that's our primary motor transportation or whether we're getting off our bike or getting out of the bus, whatever the case is, and finishing up our walk to our- our final destination. Ah, so talk just a little bit about provision of sidewalks and curb ramps, uh, low -speed roadways, pedestrian crossings, uh, signalized intersections, and then some corridor enhancements, uh, as well. So first off, uh, sidewalks. And this, uh, is not shocking that sidewalks help get folks out of the street and provide a safe refuge for them. Uh, but we do have areas in town where we don't have sidewalks. Uh, I would say primarily, um, I'm gonna throw out a number, but 90-95% of our roadways have sidewalks, they're in good shape and- and that are present. Um, but we do have some, uh, neighborhoods, uh, isolated, but some neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks. Ah, and then we have some arterial street sections and things that don't have sidewalks. But primarily, we're doing a good job. Um, and obviously that's an important element to reducing, uh, collisions. Ah, that said, sidewalks are required with all development as part of our subdivision and development standards, ah, and have been for many, many years and that really puts us in a good place, uh, to start. So, ah, in my time here at the city for over 17 years, uh, that's been a policy and a standard that's been in place. Um, so, ah, folks that were here before it, myself and engineers that were here before myself did a good job of making sure that was, ah, a standard that we have. So that has set us in a good place, uh, compared to a lot of other communities. Uh, areas that are lacking sidewalks, ah, are usually dressed as other infrastructure projects occur and through our sidewalk infill program. So through the capital improvements program, there's a line item for sidewalk and the fill. Ah, and then what we tried to do to be as efficient as we can is put those sidewalks in, uh, during other projects, whether that's a sewer project, ah, a water main project, or a road reconstruction. That's the time we wanna go in, uh, and put sidewalks in, uh, where we can. And then lastly, ah, I noted on the slide The Complete Streets policy. So the Complete Streets policy that the council adopted many years ago, uh, I believe we were second in the state to adopt a Complete Streets policy, which is something to be very proud of, ah, just keeps us on track and kind of keeps- keeps us grounded. Um, when you all may not be on council when I'm not in my position anymore, you know, that gives, ah, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 5 marching orders for people that come after us. So, uh, just kind of keeps us honest and what we're trying to do. Uh, in terms of low -speed roadways, ah, we all know that the average risk of death, uh, or pedestrian injury rises dramatically as speeds increase. This is not a shocker to any of us. Ah, the good news is, and Sarah alluded to this earlier, is that we don't have a ton of high-speed roadways, uh, in our community, which is- is positive. Ah, you can see in the map that's in your - in the presentation there, uh, largely the center of our community, which is also the most dense and population, ah, dense in housing, dense in jobs and where most of our vehicles are, ah, some of the higher vehicle counts are all 25 mile/hour or even lower in the, uh, the central business district. Um, what you sort of see is that outlining sort of arterial street, sort of network, sort of towards the, ah, suburbs, if you wanna call them that here in Iowa City where we may be at 30 or 35 mile/hour. And then, of course, we've got Highway 1 and Highway 6, um, 218 and I-80 aren't identified on those, but certainly Highway 1 and Highway 6 as Sarah mentioned, uh, are higher speeds and are traditional highways, so it's a little bit more of a challenge for us. Uh, and I should have also mentioned that when we have- uh, these were posted speeds, of course, when we have streets that have higher speeds than that we would like higher than our posted, ah, we also have some tools we use to combat that. Uh, we have the traffic -calming program, which you all are aware of, that we come to the council with, uh, semi -frequently and ask for your help with approvals for traffic -calming, ah, but we also do some more, uh, design -related things on roadways where we use for three lane conversions, for instance, to try and kind of naturally - naturally, uh, slow traffic as well. Ah, in terms of pedestrian crossings, uh, marked pedestrian crossings are appropriate intersections in mid -block locations, ah, to indicate a preferred pedestrian crossing location, alert drivers to- uh, excuse me, alert drivers to an often used pedestrian crossing and then of course to indicate school walking routes. Uh, but I think we do a really good job of this in some of our, um, more important neighborhood locations. Ah, this photo happens to be a school crossing in the north side, uh, neighborhood. And as you can see, it's got continental in the kind of foreground of the picture. It's got the continental pavement markings, which provide bas- better visibility for motorists, but also provide a better visual cue for pedestrians if that's where they should be crossing and especially if they're younger, uh, children. And then you can also see that signs are maintained in good condition. Um, we actually went through all of the city signs within, I'm gonna say about the last 10 years we use the snow plow routes and actually replaced all of the cities signs as part of our row- of our retro -reflectivity standards. Um, so if you go to other communities, you'll notice that they are all not in that good a shape, uh, but in Iowa City we really do a nice job. Uh, you'll also notice in this photo that we use the high -visibility, ah, yellow, green signs, um, which isn't a requirement, but something we've chosen to do, ah, many years ago. And then something that I think is a- is a small thing for us to do, but I think makes a big impact is that you'll notice in the photo there, we've started to add the reflective strips on the post itself. Ah, this is something that North Liberty was actually doing, and we had noticed- um, we have noticed, uh, called them, discussed it with them, and they'd been getting some good feedback. Uh, so we started doing it here as well. They're able to give us their manufacturer and the details on what their- their price was. Uh, we're only using these on pedestrian crossing signs at this time and that's on purpose so that we're only drawing as much attention as we can, just to pedestrian, uh, crossing signs. Um, some other communities around the country use them on stop signs and other signs as well. But right now we've chosen to just use them for pedestrian crossings. Uh, sort of, changes that shape of the sign itself. And then, of course, at night the visibility and conspicuity of the sign. Uh, and then at some locations where we've got higher volume roadways, we enhance that pedestrian crossing using a- a host of other tools. Ah, and I've just noted a few here. The first is in street yield to pedestrians signs, which I think you're all familiar with. Uh, and those signs simply remind motorists of the law. Uh, the law in Iowa as soon as the pedestrian takes one foot in the crosswalk than they've established This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 6 themselves there. And motorists must yield. Uh, in Iowa, you do not have to yield to a pedestrian if they are behind the curb essentially, uh, is how that works here. So those signs is really reinforce to the motorist what the law is. And I think we've got some good feedback from those. Ah, the second is the image there is, uh, pedestrian refuge islands, which Sarah had mentioned earlier in the presentation. Uh, this one happens to be right adjacent to MacPherson Park, uh, and was installed with the recent overlay project the Muscatine. Those are a tool that we'd like to use more of. Uh, they're not inexpensive, but I think for, sort of, our bang for the buck so to speak, they're pretty, uh, effective. So the idea being you only have to cross one lane of traffic at a time. Um, they also sort of naturally slow traffic. So we sort of, ah, kill two birds if- if you wanna say that. And last one on here is rectangular rapid flashing beacons. And I would also throw our radar feedback signs into this. So sort of two electronic methods, we're using. The image in the bottom happens to be the cleary walkway. And this was actually a University of Iowa project. This was not a city project, it is a city street, but if it's a University project. And I would say these have mixed results. Um, sort of the jury is still out, I think, on radar feedback signs as well as these as to their effectiveness. I don't necessarily think they hurt anything, but for the cost, I'm not sure if we're seeing a real benefit to those. So more time, I think more steady needs to go into those. Um, I think in the right locations that can be helpful. I don't wanna say they're not, but just it's something that we're not completely sold on just yet at this point in time. Uh, and then it signals - signalized intersections. Uh, with respect to them, we have a host of tools we use as well. Uh, the first are pedestrian countdown timers, which I'm sure you're all familiar with, uh, in and around downtown, uh, there almost at every signalized intersection, I think, if not all at this point in time. The idea being to show exactly how much time is left to the pedestrian so they feel safe when they're leaving the curb. And if they don't think they have enough time, of course that gives them the information they need to hold back and- and wait till the next signal cycle. Uh, the second is leading pedestrian intervals we use as part of our, um, signal fazing. This one you've all probably used. But a lot of, I think folks don't even realize it's in place. So the- the- the way the lead pedestrian interval works is typically when you're at an intersection, the green light comes on for motorists and the walk signal also it comes on for corresponding pedestrian traffic. When we use the lead ped- ped interval, that walk light actually comes on about 5 to seconds- 5-7 seconds before the motorist gets the corresponding greenlight. The idea of being then that pedestrians out in the intersection has established themselves, feels comfortable and is more visible to motorists. Um, as pedestrians, you've probably also, um, witnessed the fact that if you're on the corner and there are vehicles turning right on red. You sort of get pinned back in the corner sometimes if they're not being courteous and then you're sort of stuck. Uh, this also helps get you out and- and then like I say, established so that, that doesn't occur as well. Um, and we've used those that almost all the signalized locations in town at this point. Um, if we haven't, we just haven't had a, I guess a requests to do so or- or felt the need to do it at this point in time. The next item is the APS systems for visually impaired. So the audible pedestrian signals. Um, these are requirement that we use these now. Um, you've probably all walked through the intersection right out here at Clinton and Washington where it actually tells you when it's safe to walk. So if you're visually impaired, it tells you when to walk and in what direction, which is very useful for some of our residents. Then the last is just a simple tool, but it's turning traffic yield to Pedestrian signs. So these are often on mast arms, uh, up on the signals in downtown Iowa City. And it's simply reminding motorists to expect, um, pedestrians on the crosswalk. And again, to remind them they mu- they must yield to those pedestrians. Uh, in terms of some other corridor enhancements, something we're trying to do more of is use landscaping, hard escaping to separate vehicular traffic from the pedestrian way. Uh, these are just a couple of examples that, ah, we quickly pulled up. Um, the first, of course, is the University's, uh, music building at the corner of Clinton and Burlington. And you can see there in the image, uh, there's a raised bed, uh, with a curb and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 7 then some vegetation and that. Um, one is to make the pedestrian more comfortable, and two, it also, we've provided more space so the pedestrian actually isn't as close to the curb. So it just kind of a quality of walking situation where you're probably safer because you're further away from the curb, but also just to feel more comfortable and, uh, to have a more pleasant walk. Uh, the second is also, uh, this image is the Towncrest area, and there's a whole bunch of visual cues and then of course, some physical cues as to where you're supposed to be and where you're not supposed to be as a pedestrian. Uh, this helps us direct pedestrians to the actual crosswalks themselves, uh, because of the vegetated beds, and then also just provide some, ah, it's more aesthetically pleasing and then just provides a little bit more space between the pedestrian, uh, and the motorist as well. In some cases, uh, in terms of corridor enhancements, it's nice to provide completely separated facilities. Uh, neither of these photos will probably come as a- a surprise to you. The first there is Burlington street at Riverside Drive, which is the pedestrian overpass. Uh, the pedestrian overpass there has something like 1,500, uh, pedestrians a day that cross it on average. The one on Iowa, I think, is actually a little bit higher and has over 2000 pedestrians a day. So when you have these really intense sort of atypical situations, uh, we've been wise enough to provide completely separated facilities. Um, I would also say that, uh, the second bullet point there is, the city council has had a longstanding policy to provide either an eight foot or even now a ten foot wide, wide sidewalk along arterial streets. So when we construct a new arterial street, we're providing a minimum of eight foot walk on one side of the street. It's separated not as much as maybe an off street trail, but I mean, you're- you're separated, I would say enough to feel very comfortable as a pedestrian, uh, a dog walker, somebody pushing a stroller, that sort of thing. And recently when we did our bike master plan, uh, just several years ago, it actually rem - recommended that we increase that to ten feet now for bikes, uh, as well, so what we're finding is a lot of bicycles are using a wide sidewalk as a trail essentially. So adding that additional two feet really gives them more space to again, share that space with the dog walkers, the stroller pushers, that sort of thing. And then of course, we've got our off street trail system as well, uh, which provides the most comfortable and safe routes. Uh, and often in Iowa City, those are parallel routes to an arterial street, for instance, um, which really helps out in- in terms of just getting folks to where there need to be, not just for recreational purposes. Uh, in terms of corridor enhancements and other thing that we do is provide street lighting at all intersections and all crossings of- of trails at- at arterial streets, for instance. Uh, that's done by way of policy, we don't bring those to the City Council. We just- we just get those done, um, which provides a huge safety benefit to pedestrians, and also gives motorists queues where- where they need to be turning in that sort of thing. Um, will also provide mid block lighting where block length exceeds 600 feet. Um, so in certain situations in town where we have really long, Uh, residential blocks will also add mid block lighting, uh, periodically if that- if that blocks longer than 600 feet. And then the last bullet point, of course, we've got some pedestrian lighting and areas of really high pedestrian traffic downtown Iowa city, uh, of course, and then some of the University trails as well. And then lastly, uh, in terms of street design, I wanted to mention these, uh, none of these three, uh, well, all of these three are within the curb lines themselves. So these are really more vehicular, uh, in nature but have a benefit to pedestrians. Uh, the first lane widths, um, you know, for the last decade or so, we've really been trying to narrow down or land widths of our streets, which slows traffic, with- which then also has the result of making being a pedestrian more comfortable, uh, on the side of the roadway. Um, the second is a 4-3 lane conversion, which we've done, uh, pretty, um- um, I would say it with great success on First Avenue and Mormon Trek. And even though we're not moving the curb line, what we've done in both those situations is we're from the four lane section to a three lanes section with the center left turn lane, added bike lanes. But by doing so, you've also added about six or seven feet worth of pavement before you even get to the curb line, uh, and then, of course, as a pedestrian, you're going to feel more This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 8 comfortable, uh, walking along those- those, uh, corridors. And then the last is of course, traffic calming, which is slowing folks down, slowing motors down in residential neighborhoods, which then of course just improves the quality of life in general, if you're in your front yard, if you're walking on the sidewalk, uh, that sort of thing. So this is by no means an exhaustive list of the things we're doing. We just wanted to provide some input on how we're trying to reduce pedestrian collisions, uh, and- and essentially make Iowa city a safer place. Uh, unless there's any questions at this point, I'll turn it back over to Sarah just to provide, ah, some information on the next steps that we'll be taking. Walz: So obviously the- the- the ultimate time to improve uh pedestrian a- accommodations is with a new construction- new street construction, whether it's a whole new street or a major overhaul of a street. But, um, in the interim time when we're dealing with the street as we have it, um, we're going to use this study to help us with a number of things. So the first of which is to, um, evaluate those top pedestrian collision locations and corridors. Evaluate and- and we're already doing this for- for some characteristics so that we can make improvements. So right now we're really looking at those multilane roads, the lane- the roads with three or more lanes that are higher speed or uh, um, have major um attractions, whether that be grocery stores or schools alongside. Um, um, also as we're doing major road construction projects. So, um, with, for example, Benton Street and next year we'll be doing Court Street, um, gosh, let's raddle them all off Rochester. What we've been doing is doing, um, a full assessment of all the signage where pedestrian crossings are they appropriately marked? You know, just cleaning up. Sometimes over the years we've gotten other too many signs are and we're just trying to clean things up so that especially in the case of pedestrians, that those areas where pedestrians are gonna be that that's the thing that stands out as you're driving along the road and to making sure that, um, we're getting the curb cuts when we don't already have them there. Um, we're also reviewing mid block, um, the existing mid block crossings. So for example, um, where we already might have either a crossing or a ped refuge island or something similar to make sure that those are all signed, um, consistently, that are roundabouts are signed consistently so that when people approach these things, it's- it always looks the same and they know- and they're very predictable. Um, we are now collecting pedestrian and bike counts with all of our intersection studies. So lately we've been working on, um, Burlington streets, so we're getting those peak hour counts so that we will have a better ability to assess crash rates at the intersections. And once we have more data, I think we need a few more years of data before we can really evaluate the four to three lane conversions in terms of pedestrian safety. Um, we have developed recently a matrix for prioritizing where we get new curb cuts like Kent said, we're still lacking them in some areas and- and also for prioritizing pedestrian refuge islands, and we're coordinating that with transit because thanks to all of you, we have the fare free bus service, which means a lot more bus riders, which means a lot more pedestrians. And so we have to make sure that those folks can cross to where they need to get to go- to- access the bus- to and from the bus. Um, so again, focusing on bus routes, routes to school, access to parks, access to shopping, and essential services. And with growth and development and change, um, roadways that we- you know, we may update a roadway, and then things change along that roadway. Um, with development and growth- growth, the way the- the road gets used changes. So when we think about the riverfront crossings we're evaluating various ah, ah, intersections right now for different treatments that extends over to the west Riverfront, you know Benton street, Orchard, Myrtle. Lots of things are happening over there. Even up on North Dodge, we're seeing a change to the commercial uses along North Dodge and some difficulty crossing, um, from one side of the street to the other to catch the bus. Um, Pepperwood's another area that's changing. We're looking very carefully at Kirkwood, which right now does not have curb cuts, does not have pedestrian crossings, has special populations, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 9 has commercial uses. Very important to get that updated. And then Kirkwood and Sycamore, you know Kirkwood Community College is not what it was, but things are changing, and so those uses along their role change and we may have to reevaluate what is there. So with development and redevelopment, we want to see improvement, um, where there aren't sidewalks and curb cuts get those where there are too many, um, driveway access points, consolidate those. So really development and redevelopment should really be an opportunity like with zoning code changes and new subdivisions and new redevelopment, is to look at, ah, what can we get for the street to make the street function better and be safer? Because it takes as- we know, it takes a long time to change it once it's done wrong. So that's all I have for you. Teague: Thank you. And uh Councilor Dunn, I think you're on the phone, so if anyone has any comments or questions, please chime right in. Alter: I just had one comment and I was glad to see that it wasn't- that I hadn't noticed it for years and years. But the reflective piece that goes down on the- the post is extremely noticeable. It's really great. And it was something that I know I was like that's new. I've not right. And it just it- it really pops. It does show exactly where. So just wanted to commend you guys for it because it really is a great addition and I've noticed it all over town. Walz: Yeah, it was just done like three or four years ago. I think. [BACKGROUND] And It's just at the crossing. So when you have the crosswalk ahead signs, those don't have it. It'll just be directly at the crossing. Yeah. Alter: Um, I take Keokuk. So, the Lucas farms. Walz: Yeah. Alter: Right there. Walz: Right. Alter: It's that really, really helpful-. Walz: Yeah. Alter: -because that's an area that has some- Walz:Yes, has challenges. Alter: -a lot of kiddos[OVERLAPPING] -and a church and all of that. So, um, and a weird curve. So yeah. Thomas: Well, thank you both for your presentation. For the fellow Councilors. I- I did meet with Sarah and Kent before, you know, about a couple of weeks ago maybe to talk about this. And also just my more general concerns about traffic safety. Um, a few comments, one, I've had one injury as a pedestrian. And it happened actually to be in the curb ramp, uh, you know, with the ice at the bottom of the ramp where actually it was my first, the night of my first city council meeting, broke my glasses, um, had to go into the co-op and get some scotch tape to tape it back together again. So what- what I've just learned is that there's a new public right-of-way accessibility This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 10 guidelines. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that. You know, it does talk about a whole variety of issues related to that. You know, accessibility within the public right-of-way, one of which is addressing standing water and ice on the curb ramps. Walz: Yeah. Thomas: So, um, in our climate where we- we get both right, it's in some- some locations in Iowa City. I- I would say there's several inches of water if it's summertime and similar thickness in winter with the ice. Um, so I would hope- certainly hope that when we reconstruct a street, we repave the street that those locations are dealt with to make sure that flow line doesn't go up the curb ramp because it too is kind of a breakdown in the accessibility when that happens and can be a source of injury as well. Um, one- one thing I found interesting was I think half of the 20 top collision intersections are our streets that are included in our strategic plan, Burlington, Jefferson, Market. Um, so there is an opportunity there. It's on, on the strategic plan as well as North Governor and our strategic plan. I think it has North Governor and Dodge. Taylor: And Dodge. Thomas: Because it is those streets with multi -lanes in one direction where our speed limits begin to break down. And we- as- as was noted, there are a lot of 25 mile an hour streets in the center of town and unfortunately many of them see speeds well over 25. Ah, and if- if we can diet those roads, ah, turn them back to two-way traffic, I think we probably would see, um, fewer crashes. Ah, and I would also say, and this is the dimension that I had been thinking about when I asked for, you know, a discussion on this as what's the experiential state when we're walking our streets. You know that the- the collisions and fatalities, the serious injuries are- are tragic and terrifying and really do need to be addressed obviously. But there's also this other dimension, which is just how do you feel when you're walking on our streets. And, you know, that contributes- that's what I hear a lot of commented on from residences. I don't feel safe on the street. Um, and so it just contributes to the sense of quality of life. Ah and most likely there is some correlation between the collisions and so forth on those streets where you just don't feel safe. Ah, I do think the- the refuge islands are really important strategy. You mentioned, we're- we're seeing higher bus ridership. So I could easily see, ah, you know, the risk of someone seeing the bus down on the other side of the street. They see the bus coming and they're going to run across the street to make sure they don't miss it. Ah, and so I think that's yet yet another kind of incident where having a refuge island where okay. Maybe I just get to the midpoint and then I'll, you know, may not be safe to cross the whole street, but I'll take it one line at a time, um, making sure that connectivity to the bus stops is so important. Um- I- I just want to mention in- in brief that, you know, I talked with Kent and, you know, the staff on the- the issue of the pedestrian- the pedestrian master plan-, Sarah, I'm sorry, I forgot your name at the moment, the pedestrian master plan, um, that Cedar Rapids put together. And they- they did base their analysis on that kind of experiential dimension and- and asked people where they felt safe, uh, what types of experiences, um, are they particularly concerned about. And they mentioned, um, you know, that feeling unsafe when crossing busy streets, things of that sort, and then built their- their policy and ordinances around those experiences that were highlighted. I thought that was a really interesting approach. Uh, and they also identified hotspots where these experiences were felt, um, that, you know, we might want to think about in terms of coming up with priorities in terms of where we pay special attention to that feeling of being unsafe in addition to where we've got these metrics on collision data. Um, it's a quality of life thing, um, as much as a safety thing, you just, how do you- how do you feel? What's the- what's the feeling? Uh, because if- if we're not feeling safe when walking, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 11 that sort of pushes us back in the car. And, uh, the same- this is about pedestrians, but I think the same thing applies to biking. If you don't feel safe, you're not going to ride the bike. Um, so, um, that- that to me is a sort of an interesting metric as well, as just how do you feel when you're - when you're out there on the street? So thank you. Burges: I had a related question to that, I think. You did a great job articulating the different sort of levels of- of injury and the incident and, um, why we might pay attention more to that. And obviously those- the reporting mechanism seems like that is one of the reasons why that's the data that you're collecting, that those would be incidents that go from the police department to the DOT. Walz: So they- they will have, um, it. I forget the lowest, but there's like, um, property damage, so damage to the car would be one, and then there's unknown. So- so any collision that is reported, the police, that will go into it, So it doesn't- it's not just an injury collision. Like any collision that's reported police, but as you know, just like with- with cars, when people get in, I don't even want to call it a fender -bender, light sky minor accident, it doesn't get reported. And so I would assume in a case where a pedestrian doesn't feel that they want to report it, it doesn't get reported. So, you know, but it would be that way with all collisions. I think that, you know, there's just a certain level where people don't report it. Bergus: And I didn't know if there was any interest or if you've thought internally about how to collect any information about sort of close calls are like really inconvenient areas or anything like that. Walz: I think, you know, with the bike master plan, we did collect information on where people were having difficulties. Um, and we've done that also with the long-range master plan- the long range transportation plan a couple of times. With close call, I mean, it's a- it's a little- how do you define a close call? It's- it's hard to treat that as if it were a collision, I think would be difficult, but I think it can feed into like an area where- where people have a concern. Bergus: And I think I was thinking more like what, um, Councilor Thomas was saying of that perception, you know, even more than the reality. Where do people feel like they've been threatened or inconvenienced? Ralston: Yeah. I was just- sorry, sir. I was just- I was just going to mention that, um, Councilor Thomas mentioned the Cedar Rapids, uh, pedestrian plan, I'll call it pedestrian master plan. And their pedestrian master plan, uh, had a ton of public outreach, and I think they did a really nice job. And it almost mimics exactly what we did for our bicycle master plan. So I think in the future, if we wanted to, as a community, we could put together a pedestrian master plan that did that very same thing. It looked at trying to identify sort of hotspots, if you will, where people just felt uncomfortable whether it actually resulted in- in an actual collision or not. Um, and then one thing I was going to mention, maybe stealing Sarah's thunder here, is we did apply for a Safe Streets for All grant, um, in the last few months. And we're supposed to find out in October if we received it. So, uh, the MPO actually worked with all of the MPO communities, North Liberty, Coralville, Iowa City, Tiffin, University Heights. And everyone joined onto a Safe Streets for All grant application. So we applied through the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. There was funding for those to, uh, it was basically for 300- $300,000 to get a consultant to come in and do that very same thing. So, um, if we get the funding, we'll actually hire a consultant to come in and look at sort of hotspots. Now, that's community -wide, not just Iowa City. Um, but it's not to say that Iowa city couldn't go it alone and do something either if we didn't get that funding or just wanted to do something, uh, on our own as well. Um, so we were supposed to find out in October This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 12 if we received the funds, and if we did, it will fund a consultant actually come in and help us, uh, identify that. Run through the public, um, um, information process and public gathering process to find out where people don't feel comfortable, uh, where we might be able to make improvements when we're not seeing it show up in the- this kind of report. Bergus: My last question is just if you have any, um, strategies or ideas on the sort of the marketing and public relations component of the fact that, you know, collisions are going down and the perception is just so different than that. I mean, I'm hearing so much about people's concerns with traffic and traffic safety and-. Walz: I do think it's- I do think it is one of those things that when you really start to look at the national data. Um, so- so we all read in the newspaper and we hear on the radio and other places that pedestrian fatalities are way up. And certainly, Iowa City has one this year. And we had two car tragedies. So I don't in any way wish to diminish that. But, um, when you get into the- the weeds of the report, you know, there- there are a lot of states, particularly down south, where there just are not sidewalks in large parts of the community. I know, Kent and I often talk about this when we travel different places and, um, when you get off on like commercial strips and places like that, um, you know, like to get from the- the hotel on one side to the McDonald's in the other, there's no- there's nothing for you. And those are places where- where people work, you know, those are places where people- and we- we observe this. I mean, fortunately and throughout all the- all the MPO communities, they're doing a pretty good job on sidewalks, but we're more out doing like early morning and peak hour counts to see where people are walking. People are walking under the interstate, along, you know, Coralridge Avenue. Um, just, you know, that- that there are people who have to walk in very un- unsafe conditions. And so there are a lot of things tied to, um, characteristics tied to fatalities that I- I think you have- anytime you are walking down the street, you are a vulnerable road user by definition. I- I don't think our streets are unsafe, but I think there are unsafe situations. And you do have to be alert. And when you- when you read the safety system information, it's incumbent on everyone, um, to do their part. So as a pedestrian, as a bicyclist, as a motorist, we all have to approach intersections with care. You know, even when we have the green light, you do have to check that nobody is coming, which is not at all to blame anybody who is- is struck by a car. But, um, I- I think people think when they - when they hear, you know, this-, you know, these startling numbers nationally that they think is taking place here. And I don't- I don't think that that's reflected in the data. Ralston: Sorry, I keep- this is a team effort. If, uh, I would also say too that I think part of our presentation tonight was what we're doing right. And I do think it's okay to say we're doing a pretty good job. You know, I think that's okay. I think we get caught up a little bit and that, you know, we still have fatalities. And like Sarah said, we don't mean to diminish that any possible way. But the fact of the matter is, we do and part of what Sarah was saying earlier when pointing out that, you know, we have Burlington Street, for instance, with 20 some odd thousand cars a day and intersections that have 500 pedestrians a day. In one hour on average, is that if you would go stand on one of those corners, which we do a lot. I mean, everybody is out doing their- living their lives, but when you actually sit there and watch traffic for an hour, it's organized chaos. I mean, it really is. And I don't mean that in- in a flippant way, but I mean, when you have that much activity and then you really don't- it's not borne out in accidents, um, I think it's okay to say we're doing a really good job and sort of tout the things that we are doing. We can always do better. The goal is zero, of course. Um, but I do think there's some- um, some positivity and just saying that we are really doing a good job. We'll do better. But, um, when we compare ourselves to other communities, we're- we're really- we're really ahead of the game. And that's because of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 13 what the council's policies and goals have been. That's because I think staff and engineering are doing a great job. Um, I think we just need to keep that up and do better. Bergus: And talk about it. Ralston: But keep the messaging up that we are-, you know, that it is a safe place, that your kids can go to school, uh, hopefully safely, you know. And in most cases, that you can get out and recreate safely and- and travel about. Walz: I do think there is, um, we hear a lot about the frustration with the pedestrian crossings. So we're different than the state of Minnesota. In the state of Minnesota, when you step up to the corner, people stop for you in advance of you. That takes a little getting used to, by the way. People can be really insistent that you cross. That's not the law here in the state of Iowa, um, and that leads to a certain culture of driving. And so we have a lot of people who say, you know, they're not yielding for me at the pedestrian crossing. And so I will say, so what's- tell me what's happening. And they'll say, well, I'm waiting at the pedestrian crossing and nobody's stopping. And it's a complete frustration because legally, they don't have to until you step into the crosswalk, which is , a Catch-22 so, um, so I think we have to do more obviously, um, particularly given the fatality that we had this year to educate people more on how we certainly don't want, um, to give drivers permission to not pay attention at the crosswalks because they have an obligation to. But also that- that- you know, I don't know how many people are coming here from out-of-state and- and their experience and their home state is different. But it is- it is one of the strange things about Iowa's law. We have brought this up as part of the, um, Iowa's vulnerable road users assessment. I'm on the, um, pedestrian and bicycle Committee for the State DOT and I bring it up regularly. So it is- but it is- it is a frustration for sure. Bergus: Thank you. Alter: I was going to actually, um, sort of piggy -backing on all of this is, um, I was wondering about the potential of, um, I mean, so much is being done in terms of actually making the roads and the signage and- as safe as possible. And of course there can be improvement, but I- I was very impressed with actually all that there is to signal and to make it standard and whatnot. And I was actually very struck by the- the slide that talked about pedestrian collisions. And unfortunately, the number in which distraction by the pedestrians not by the drivers. And I was wondering if there's another piece to this that goes along with the perception of feeling unsafe about trying to help message the ways in which we- we're doing a pretty good job. But then also to be able to communicate about it for lack of a better way to put it. It- it is a partnership between pedestrian and- and drivers and cyclists and whatnot and about making sure that everybody is sort of doing what they need to do. I mean, it's- the last thing I wanna do is- is blame anyone. But I'm looking at the statistics here and there are, some of them where it's like there could be more vigilance. And I think of myself, especially in a college town, both as it's amazing how your- your attitude changes, whether you're in a car or walking, right? And who has the right-of-way and with a large body of pedestrians, just as with a large body of cars, you kind of be like It's my road, right? And I just wonder if there could be, I don't know the extent to which your work can go to sort of that educative piece as well. Um, because I think that that's something that could- could help bolster even more safety is that it- jaywalking is not just an inconvenience, it's something that actually it really has a safety or potential safety impact. And unfortunately, you know, we have different incidents where we know that's true. So I just wanted to sort of bring that up because I was really struck by that. And especially given that we're in a University town where we have so many This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 14 students and that somewhere in this presentation as well that was noting that a lot of this was actually on game day, um, you know, where people are living their lives, but just those are the types of things as well to be aware all around. Drivers be aware of pedestrians, pedestrians be aware of drivers. So, I think I'm oversimplifying the case, but - Walz: We are looking at some- at some educational programs that have gone on in other communities to look for ways that we can communicate better with people about that. But the- the grant that, um, Kent mentioned it would certainly put that. Alter: Yeah. I think that's going to be immense and it's going to hit a yes. And the perception - Walz: Yeah. Alter: And some of the education. Walz: Yeah. Taylor: My comments kind of relates to next steps and also relates to probably one of your loves, the Myrtle- Myrtle Avenue, Benton street, that area in-between there. And I had previously seen people that actually do cross mid- mid street. So I was really happy to see are under the- under the bridge was next. You followed up with a great plan to sort of rearrange the street. So for follow- up, I just kind of like to see numbers as far as until the cars, until the drivers get used to, they have to kind of swerve around that area, as well as how many pedestrians are actually using that walkway. What can that be in the plans if we can kind of keep an eye on that to make sure that that really was a good idea and it's worthwhile. Ralston: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. No, I think it is and, um, we collect- we try to collect data. But it's not always predated because sometimes we don't know when exactly projects going to occur. Um, but we usually always try. Usually always- we usually try to collect post data. So whether it's a traffic calming installation, whether it's a new trail, whether it'd be the situation you're talking about with that project. We tried to collect as much data as we can because pretty much everything we do is data -driven. So at the end of the day, yeah, I think that's definitely something we can look at. Taylor: Well, I was- I was thinking you kept saying trying to do the right thing and I think doing the right thing before there is a problem. I think that's a situation like this is what that's going to be helpful for. Ralston: Yeah, I agree and I can't imagine it'll change the vehicular traffic patterns much if any. But we can certainly take a look at the pedestrian traffic and see how many people were potentially jaywalking, that sort of thing and how many people are using the new facility. Taylor: Now, particularly with the increased density in there, with the number of multiplexers that are going up in the area, the density has gone up. And pedestrians are going up. Walz: That's one of those examples when there's not a facility there. So there was kind of just a space that you could walk through that wasn't comfortable or so. And then then you make poor decisions. Because there is no good decision so - This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 15 Taylor: Thank you. Teague: I guess I have, um, two related things that has been spoken by my colleagues. One is Riverside Drive going towards the airport. Can you tell us a little bit about the sidewalk plans for there? Walz: Do you know when that is programed for? Ralston: Yeah. So there's a series of projects that sort of addressed that whole area. And so if we're looking at the highway one/six, Riverside intersection on then of course, passing south Mayor like you're saying down to the airport, there's probably three or four different projects- unfunded projects in the council is capital improvement program that would address that. None of those projects, I think are funded this year or will be proposed to be funded at this point from the staff level. But that doesn't mean that couldn't change of course, when it goes to the city manager's office and then onto you all. Um, I do know that the Iowa DOT is looking to replace the highway six bridge over the river. It was I think slated in a 28 time frame and now it might be pushed a little bit further than that. And that's been one of the real barriers to that whole area is that there's really no river crossing there. There's some very narrow paths on either side of the bridge that I'm not sure that we're ever intended for pedestrian traffic to begin with, but that's what they use it for. But I think when that bridge is replaced, then through the design of that bridge, That's really when it's going to open up the opportunity for Iowa City to address all of those issues and then extending down to the airport as well. Because when you get to the highway one/six, Riverside intersection, currently there aren't pedestrian facilities. So that would be an island if we created a sidewalk or a side path right now down to the airport. Um, I do also know though, that I think it's either this year or next year, um, there is a project in the funded CIP to actually study the design of the intersection. So that coupled with the DOTs bridge project in a few years is going to I think provide the impetus to really get that portion cleaned up. Then as you all know, Public Works is just finishing up the- one of the sections of trail on Highway 6 in southeast Iowa City, and then also we've got another funded project- phase of that project coming up along Highway 6, I believe it's next year. So that all of those pieces are falling in place. But yes, we have designed money for the highway one -six and Riverside intersection. I think that'll- that'll be kind of the thrust and move forward with that. Teague: Yeah. And then it'd be a great option for bike and I guess if you don't want it to be on the road either. Raltson: Definitely. Teague: And then I'll just make a comment as far as like reaching out and educating. We have USG of course that's in the room. And so maybe connecting um, with them to make sure that there are some education, share it with the students would be great. Ralston: Good idea. Walz: Thank you. Teague: All right. Thank you both if no more comments. Ralston: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 16 Teague: All right. We're going to go onto clarification of agenda items, which is Item number 2 on our agenda. Hearing nothing. We're going to move on to item Number 3, which is Iowa information packets. September 21st. We'll move on to September 28th. There are a couple of things and maybe I'll just let our City Clerk lead us in that discussion. Grace: Yeah. So the joint entities meetings coming up on October 16th, Monday. So they're looking for, uh, items from the different entities. Uh, I do have a note, um, the desire to include childcare initiative updates. Teague: Will you pull your mic closer, please? Grace: Yes. All right. Teague: Thank you. Grace: Um, to include a childcare initiative update at the next joint entities meeting, um, that would include an update from the school district on their preschool initiative, as well as updates from those involved in the local child care coalition. Teague: I -I think that's probably enough from the City of Iowa City to suggest. Um, it would be great if, uh, Public Health could do something, maybe that's, you know, something that we can suggest to the county to make that suggestion. Bergus: I agree. I think that's a great idea, especially with the like the new boosters. Teague: Yes. Bergus: And the flu shots and Kellie, do you know if the joint entities is that 4:30? Grace: Yes. Bergus: Okay. And at the school district, right? It says in the memo. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Teague: So that was IP5 and then IP6. Grace: Uh, yeah. The tentative schedule for next year. Um, Mayor and I worked together to throw together some dates, uh, just any comments or concerns with what was proposed? Teague: And if -if, nothing comes to mind today, we wanna be sensitive to any, um, holiday that, you know, we did not catch, that someone may want and, uh, certainly we know we'll have, um, you know, uh, some, uh, turnover on the council. Um, so there will be those individuals that will also have an opportunity to weigh in. Okay. Well, if nothing is, uh, noticed now, then we will go on to item Number 4, University of Iowa student government, USG updates. Welcome. LeFevre: I'm gonna pull this closer me. Hi council. We'll actually have Matthew start off today. So go ahead. Monsivais: Hello, Council. Um, sorry. Um, just a reminder, uh, we are setting up more of those introductory meetings and we wanna get those kind of out of the way so we can get down to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 17 business. And, uh, yeah. And then also homecoming week is this week, so that's really fun. We have the fun things like the parade per usual, and then we also have, um, mental health fair coming up that I will be tabling for USG for us, that's fun and also a performance from rap artist, Swae Lee, um, on Friday as well. So that's really cool. And then I'll have Noah continue. LeFevre: Awesome. And let's hope we don't lose in football cause that's always disappointing to me. Um, it's the one football team I care about. Uh, are, uh, we've -are really doing a huge campaign currently about supporting Narcan implementation. And so since the Board of Regents were visiting, we passed a resolution, uh, in support saying that USG will do something about, uh, the current bar situation. Uh, so we're currently looking at getting Narcan in all of the Iowa City downtown district a -alcohol serving establishments. We have a meeting with them this Thursday or Friday, I can't remember. But we will be actually like fleshing out the details outside of USG. But USG seems really on board. Our health and safety and GR team is working really hard on this and I'm really proud of everyone including Matthew. Matthew wrote the entire resolution and he did really well for him literally just joining. Um, I don't even think I could do it. Uh, but most importantly, we had the Board of Regents come last week. Um, it was a really good time. I talked really well with, um, Regent Lindenmayer um, and I learned a lot about what the future of DEI could be, especially at the University. As well as they talked about what their, um, concerns are and our concerns, um, not only including DEI, including food security, housing, anything like that, especially with tuition. Um, I can go on forever about that. But, uh, they are looking to push for another $1 million, not another. They're looking to push for $1 million again, uh, in the House and Senate, uh, looking to get that. There's gonna be three million in total, but, uh, one million each to all big three universities. So us, Iowa State, and UNI. Uh, this will be going towards mental health funding, especially on campus and like increasing how many therapists or counsels we have. Um, it failed last year. So we're really hoping to do this again. It's a big push for USG always because that mental health funding goes really long way. And so it's a big issue, especially on campus. So that's all I really have and do you have anything else? Awesome. Well, thank you, guys. Teague: Oh yeah. You can. Alter: I'm sorry. I'm going to call you back. I just have a question and I'm -I'm not sure if you can answer yes or not. Um, I know also that the, um, graduate student union was meeting with, uh, the Board of Regents that there was a protest and that they were asking for an emergency 25% increase. Do you have any insights about how that went? LeFevre: Um, unfortunately, I have not kinda figured out how that went. Um, I'm going to err on the side of caution and probably say, not much is going to happen. There might be a push. Um, this is a good question for GPSG and I can reach out to them, but I -I don't know. We'll see, um, how that goes. Uh, COGS and -we're looking for more interactions between us and COGS and GPSG itself is just that we've been really disconnected, uh, especially in previous administrations for GPSG, which is the graduate professional student government just for clarification. So but I do not know. I can get back to you on that. I'll look into it. Yeah. Alter: Thank you. LeFevere: Any other questions? Awesome. Thank you, guys. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023 Page 18 Teague: Thank you. We'll see you Friday at homecoming. Item Number 5 is Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees. Any updates? Taylor: Councilor Harmsen and I are part of the rules committee and we met recently as you probably saw in your packets, uh, with which I was very pleased to see, uh, came from the TRC, their bylaws, uh, that they proposed and, uh, we just, um, requested a few minor modifications, but, er, we were pleased to see that. Teague: Okay. And that is a part of our consent agenda today. Bergus: Councilor Taylor and I, uh, attended the JEC meeting just last week or a couple of weeks ago. Um, and I think updates from that relating to the integration of kind of the 988 rollover. Not really being utilized yet. Um, there's staffing challenges at the JEC right now. And as there are in so many places, but I think its, um, it'll be interesting to see how maybe some additional training can get the dispatchers to a point that they feel more comfortable with that, um, transferring those calls. Teague: Hearing nothing else. So we're going to adjourn our work session and we'll be back for our formal meeting at 06:00 P.M. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of October 3, 2023