HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-05-17 TranscriptionPage I
Council Present:
Council Absent:
Staff Present:
Others Present:
Cole, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Botchway, Dickens
Fruin, Andrew, Korpel, Yapp, Boothroy, Craig, Ralston, Rummel, Havel,
Panos, Clow, Bockenstedt, Nagle -Gann, Knoche, Karr, Dilkes
Neal, Simpson (UISG)
Questions from Council re Agenda Items:
Throgmorton/ All right, so, uh, work session for Tuesday, May 17. Questions from Council
about agenda items, and we're gonna begin with, uh, with Ron, uh, discussing two late
handouts having to do with the Gateway.
ITEM 4d(16) Iowa City Gateway — RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING
AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST AN AMENDMENT TO THE NOVEMBER 18, 2010 AGREEMENT BY
AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND HNTB CORPORATION OF
KANSAS, MO TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR
THE IOWA CITY GATEWAY PROJECT.
ITEM 4d(17) Iowa City Gateway — RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING
AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
AND HNTB CORPORATION TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT
SERVICES DURING CONSTRUCTION OF THE IOWA CITY GATEWAY
PROJECT (HDP -3715(650)-71-52)
Knoche/ On tonight's Consent Calendar there's two, uh, Iowa City Gateway items. Uh, the first
item is amendment #3, the design contract with HNTB. Uh, this was for additional
design services above and beyond what was in the scope of the ... what is an amended
contract currently. Um ... those six items.... there's basically six items (mumbled) the
major items that were, uh, that came out of the part of ...uh, review comments from the
University of Iowa and came out from comments of the neighbors along the corridor, uh,
and those items are, uh, we added a retaining wall, uh, to the driveway to the lower level
of Mayflower. Uh, that was, uh, comments that came back from the University of Iowa.
We have retaining wall and overlooks at Kimball Road and at Park Road, uh, south of
Park Road. That was, uh, comments that had come out of the aesthetics, uh, part of
the ... of the design, and then the retaining wall modification south of Park Road is for the
future trail extension along the Iowa River, uh, on that east side. Uh, we have,
uh... worked with the consultant to include a utility trench, uh, for the private utilities
along with some of the public utilities. Uh, Kimball Road was redesigned, uh, due to
some comments from the neighboring property owner, and we did a tree inventory early
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on in the contract... or early on in the design that was not a part of their original contract.
Uh, this amendment is for $349,912.50. Um, this does extend their contract, uh, of their
design services to not to exceed of $6,123,015.89. Uh, so that is a ... the first item on the
Consent Calendar that's in regards to Gateway. The second item, uh, is ... uh, hiring
HNTB and Stanley Consultants, uh, and as a subcontract to provide our construction
services during the Gateway construction. Uh, this contract, we negotiated with them
based on the hours. Um, it is a not to exceed contract of $1,401,046. Um, it is an on-call
services contract. So, uh, as items come up, uh, there will be items that are a general part
of the construction that they'll have to review, uh, but as questions do come up from the
contractors, they will be on-call to provide answers to those questions.
Throgmorton/ Great, uh, are there any surprises ... for staff in these two items?
Knoche/ No. There ... there were really no surprises. The, you know, the ... the contract
amendment from the design standpoint, you know, there were some contentious times at
the end of the design and, uh, this was left open, uh, in amendment #2 for them to come
back and .... and negotiate with us. Um, there ... their starting point was $1.7 million, so we
were able to negotiate down to $349,000, which .... which was a win for us. Um,
and ... and in regards to the construction services piece, um, it...it...we had some
negotiating (mumbled) hours, um, but for the most part, uh, we were comfortable with...
with where they were at, uh, on their scope.
Throgmorton/ Great! Any questions for Ron? Thank you, Ron.
Knoche/ Yep!
Throgmorton/ Okay, other agenda items? Anything anybody want to bring up?
ITEM 4d(15) BIG GROVE BREWERY FAIyADE GRANT —RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SIGN AN AGREEMENT WITH
BIG GROVE BREWERY TO PROVIDE A FAIrADE GRANT FOR
IMPROVEMENTS AT 1225 SOUTH GILBERT STREET
Thomas/ I just ... had a question on the, um .... Big Grove, uh... and ... and what ... I may not have
participated in that committee. How.....how the financial analysis is conducted,
determining, you know, whether to ... support the request or not.
Fruin/ With the facade grants, urn ... that we do and ... and we've primarily done these in the
downtown and Towncrest area. Um, there is not a financial gap analysis asso...
associated with that. It doesn't get put through the same test as a tax increment financing
review. So what we looked at with the Big Grove request was really just a .... a look back
at, uh, past practice and what we've done downtown. We've done a dozen or so facade
grants downtown. We've had three or four in the Towncrest area. Uh, the Big Grove
request, uh, was $40,000. Um, that is on the higher end of facade grants. It's not the
highest that we've done. I believe the highest is about $47,000. We've had another one
at $40,000 downtown. Most of `em fall in that $20 to $30 range I would ... I would say.
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Um, but this is also a much larger project than a lot of the downtown facade projects.
Uh, in terms of percentage of overall cost, um, we're not looking ... we didn't look at the
total investment by Big Grove. We just looked at really the ... the facade piece of it, which
was about $108,000. Um, and that, you know, percentage of total investment fell within
line of what we required through the Buil... Building Change Program as well.
Throgmorton/ That good enough, John?
Thomas/ Yeah! Thank you.
ITEM 4f(5) Michael Shaw: Community Support and Threat Assessment for Recent
Hate Crime [Staff response included]
ITEM 4f(7) Alison Oliver; Kim Palmer: City response to hate crime; Marcus Owens
Assault
Throgmorton/ Great! Thanks, Geoffl I ... I think I'd like to mention at least one item, uh, it's
really Items 4f(5) and 4f(7). These are basically emails, um, concerning, uh, the incident
that occurred on April 30 ... April the 30`s, uh, concerning, uh, an alleged hate crime. Uh, I
would like to speak to this briefly, right at the start of our meeting. I'm not sure whether
to do it ... uh... during public... during discussion with regard to the Consent Calendar or to
do it right after roll call. Is ... is there a best time to do it?
Dilkes/ I generally would say do it, um, right at the beginning of the Consent Calendar
discussion since it's on the ... the emails are (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ Right. Okay. That's what I'll do then. Uh, I ... I won't go on at length. I just want
to make a ... a ... a brief comment about that.
ITEM 4d(13) CHAUNCEY SWAN PARKING LOT PARTIAL RELEASE -
RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PARTIAL RELEASE OF A NO -BUILD
EASEMENT ON LOT 6, BLOCK 43, IOWA CITY, IOWA
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, I'd also just like to note that 4d(13) has been pulled from the Consent Calendar
and will be voted on separately, renumbered and will be voted on separately for 5 ... as 5a.
So for those of you who ... may not have been ... uh, able to vote on that one, it will be
removed. It'll be 5a, and need not be part of your motion. It's simply been renumbered.
Throgmorton/ Okay, so I don't have to say ... that that item is being (both talking)
Karr/ I mean you certainly can announce that, if you like, but ... but it has been posted as a revised
5a.
Dilkes/ We'll have to catch Kingsley when he comes in and ... he'll handle that item, so you
and ... and Rockne can abstain.
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Throgmorton/ All right. I better make a note about that.
Dilkes/ Yes.
ITEM 4f(15) Mary Murphy: Invitation to Neighborhood Council Meeting
Throgmorton/ All right. Let's see ... any other agenda questions? All right, I think I have ... two
more brief ones. With regard to Item ... ah, what is this ... Item 4f(15), it's an email request
from Mary Murphy Geerdes to have one or more Council Members attend a meeting of
the Iowa City Neighborhood Council... on either June the 8s' or September 14. Uh... I'd be
happy to do that, but I'd love to have one other Council Member join me, or if two people
really want to do it, uh, I'd be happy to let two people (laughs) do it so ... uh, and I think
June 8d' would be a really good time, but uh... would any of you be interested in joining
me for that? (several responding)
Cole/ I can do the September 10 (several talking)
Throgmorton/ All right, so you can do the 14a` (several talking)
Mims/ I think I can, yeah.
Karr/ You think you can do the (both talking)
Mims/ September 14d, yeah.
Throgmorton/ Well, frankly I'm happy to have a couple people do it instead of me. So if y'all
are interested in jointly doing that on the 10, that would ... of September, that would be
fine (several talking)
Karr/ So Mims and Cole.
Mims/ Okay!
ITEM 9. ICPL BOOKMOBILE FUNDING - RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY TO UTILIZE FUNDS BUDGETED IN FY 17
FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING OUT A NEW BOOKMOBILE SERVICE
TO THE COMMUNITY
Throgmorton/ Yeah. All right, good deal, and ... let's see. I ... I guess I'd say with regard to Item
#9, the Public Library bookmobile funding. The arrangement with, uh, Antelope.
Brilliantly done, Geoff. I think it's a really impressive process that you led people
through. It was very effective, so...
Fruin/ Credit goes to the ... those two agencies, urn ... I was just there taking notes and facilitating
discussion. (several talking)
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Throgmorton/ Well ... good facilitating!
Thomas/ Good note taking! (laughter)
Taylor/ I was also very impressed, Jim, and hopefully the items that were brought up and
discussed, they'll follow through with those. I ... bookmobile data, that sounds very
exciting.
Council Appointments [agenda item # 251:
Throgmorton/ Right. Okay, any other agenda items? Don't think I'm hearing any. All right, so
we can move on to Committee, or not ... to, uh, Appointments, Council Appointments.
We have, uh, five applicants to fill one unexpired term on the Housing and Community
Development Commission. The five are John McKinstry, Paula Vaughn, Jonathon
Oseroff, Charlie Eastham, and Jacob Schwebby. There's no gender requirement so ... all
five are... completely eligible. Uh... anybody have recommendations?
Mims/ I guess I was most impressed with either John McKinstry or Paula Vaughn. Um ... I think
...I don't know. To me one of maybe pros for Paula is she's not as long term a resident
(mumbled; noises on mic) and sometimes I think it's ... really nice to give newer people to
the community an opportunity to ... to get involved. So ... those were kind of the two that I
felt the most strongly (mumbled)
Cole/ Well and I'm a huge fan of Charlie Eastham. He has served in (mumbled) capacities as
well. Um, I also know John McKinstry and I think he would make a great, uh, candidate.
So I want to be supportive of, uh, John.
Mims/ And to your point on Charlie .... my concern there is one of the things we've tried to do is
open this up to more people and different people.
Cole/ Yeah.
Mims/ And... Charlie's done a lot of things and I think it's a good opportunity for somebody else
who's really qualified to get (both talking)
Cole/ Agreed! (several talking)
Thomas/ Charlie would be .... is, uh, imminently qualified and, um ... yeah, that was a question I
had, but um ... you know, we ... we just recently saw the budgets that come through that
group and it is helpful to really understand that landscape, which ... which he does.
Taylor/ I .... I .... would be in favor of Charlie, um, just because ... kind of the opposite reason — that
he has had experience on other commissions and his attendance has always been
exemplary on .... on all the commissions and, uh, he's offered feedback at our meetings.
He's, uh.... uh, very concerned about the community and, um ... uh, I would think he
would do well with this with his experience on the Planning and Zoning.
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Mims/ But .... I think the point you're missing ... is that then you get the same people doing it over
and over, we recycle people from one committee and one commission to the next, and...
I mean that was something that we'd had a lot of conversation about and was ... I mean
just in changing the way we're doing ... the length of the terms and the ... the timeframes of
when we're going to be doing the appointing was the idea of really trying to open up
these opportunities to more people in the community. I mean, yeah we've... we've got
people who are incredibly qualified and are very, very good, but are they the only ones
we're ever going to appoint to these positions? I just don't see that as being reasonable
and fair and open to other people who want to get involved in city government. And
Charlie has had a number of positions and I think it's time to (both talking)
Cole/ I agree with Susan!
Mims/ ...open that up to other people.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so, uh, I should express my own view. Uh, I think Charlie's imminently
qualified, for all sorts of reasons.
Mims/ Don't disagree!
Throgmorton/ Uh.... (both talking)
Cole/ I agree (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...agree with what you said as well, and so with due respect to my good friend
Charlie, I ... I think it'd be better to appoint someone else. Uh, with regard to that, uh,
John McKinstry's terrific. Uh, I think he'd be really good in many, many ways. I know
him pretty well. In fact, we used to be neighbors, but ... which is not to say we're really
tight buddies (mumbled) but, uh, Paula Vaughn I know as well and she's definitely a
good person with a good heart, and uh, apparently a terrific background with an MBA
and so on. So I personally would be very happy with either John or Paula. So ... where
are we at? I'm .... I'm...
Mims/ I say John or Paula.
Cole/ I say John.
Thomas/ I would support John.
Mims/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Okay, it sounds like four then in favor or, uh, John McKinstry.
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Discussion of School Assignment Zones:
Throgmorton/All right, at this point I'm ... I'm thinkin' about, um, our lineup here and .... due
mainly to my request, the next item on our work session agenda is the discussion of
school assignment zones, and I'm conscious that the next topic, which we asked staff to
prepare for, the review of downtown ... the downtown traffic model report is going to take
about a half an hour. And I'm conscious of the time. So I think it'd be better to do the
downtown traffic model report. Then we can get into the school assignment zone thing
and ... if need be, and I think we probably will need to, we'll have to come back to it after
the formal (several talking) Okay, so, uh, I don't know who's going to speak, uh, about
this. Kent?
Review Downtown Traffic Model Report:
Ralston/ Yes, thank you. Kent Ralston, uh, Transportation Planner. And I will also try to be
conscious of the time and keep this, uh, to a half hour or so. All right, as long as I don't
bump things I think we're... we're okay.
Throgmorton/ Are you going to be able to provide us with, uh, an electronic copy of this?
Ralston/ Yeah, definitely!
Karr/ It will be archived as part of the stuff as well for each meeting. Yes.
Ralston/ Yeah, and some of these slides will be a little difficult because there's a lot of detail, so
I think that's a ... that's a great request. Uh, so again, Kent Ralston, Transportation
Planner. Uh, thank you for inviting me to speak this afternoon on the downtown, uh,
traffic model study. Uh, very quickly, the presentation outline. We'll talk about what the
traffic model is. I think some of you probably aren't, uh, too familiar with that. So we'll
go through that quickly. Why the study, uh, the study area, the elements of the study, the
study results, and then we'll get to some staff recommendations, uh, at the end. So
quickly, uh, what is the downtown traffic model study. It's a complex computer -driven
traffic model built to test transportation scenarios. Uh, it was produced by Shive-Hattery
and Olsson Associates. Uh, Shive-Hattery a local firm; Olsson Associates out of Omaha,
Nebraska. Led by a steering committee, uh, with represen... representation from
Neighborhood and Development Services, Public Works, Engineering, Transportation
Resource Management, and also the University of Iowa, uh, who was also,
uh... participated financially, to the University of Iowa. Uh, it's multi -modal in that it
covers, uh, all modes of transportation — bicycles, pedestrians, transit, private vehicles,
uh, and also took into account delivery vehicles ... uh...
Throgmorton/ This is unique, isn't it? A multi -modal kind of thing.
Ralston/ Yeah! Yeah, and in fact, um, arguably this is probably the most complex traffic model,
I would say.... produced in my time here and possibly ever. Uh, traffic modeling's
becoming more and more important anyway, but um, yeah. Arguably I'd say this was,
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uh, probably the most detailed traffic model ever produced for the downtown area. Uh...
in term of deliverables, we've got data collection, uh, which was a big undertaking at 39
intersections in the downtown area and then as far as the study goes, it has
recommendations based on level of service, traffic patterns, and overall operational
impacts. So quickly, why the study? Uh, an attempt to satisfy a multitude of requests,
uh, University of Iowa interests, uh, they have interest in the Cleary walkway, uh,
specifically, as well as transit and other issues. Uh, the downtown streetscape project,
which the City Manager gave, uh, a report to you all at your last work session, I believe,
which had some recommendations for street improvements and so forth. Uh, we've got
capital improvement program projects, uh... I believe the ... I believe at your last work
session as well you talked about, uh, the Clinton -Burlington, uh, intersection ... uh....
reconstruction as well as the Madison and Burlington intersection reconstruction. We've
got Blue Zones' designations, complete streets policies, bike friendly community status,
uh, of which, uh... the Council would like to ... to move forward with a gold, uh, bike
friendly community award in 17, and we've got public (mumbled) We've got all these
different balls in the air, uh, and thus the study. So as far as the study area is concerned,
this is going to be a little tough to see, uh, but all these different bubbles represent the
area where datal... data was collected. So this is the 39 different, uh, locations where data
was collected. Uh, generally speaking, the study was Market Street to the north, Gilbert
Street to the east, Court Street to the south, and Madison Street, uh, to the west. So
really, uh, the downtown urban core I think is how you could think of that. Uh... the 39
different bubbles also... represent again where we collected data. We collected data in the
A.M. peak hour, the noon peak hour, and the P.M. peak hour, and we did so for bicycles,
pedestrians, transit vehicles, and personal vehicles. So ... again, a really, uh, robust set of
data that was used to build the model. So as far as what was included in the, uh, model,
there's all these different scenarios and all these different elements. Uh, there were the
Market and Jefferson Street one-way, two-way conversions. Uh, the, uh, four -lane to
three -lane conversions or road diets on Madison, Clinton, and Gilbert Streets. There was,
um ... uh, review of the Cleary walkway and the need for pedestrian -actuated traffic signal
at that location, and we got into some, uh, more detailed signal issues, uh, and all -red
signal phases at Iowa and Clinton, and Iowa and Madison. I can touch on those a little bit
more in a minute. And then generally bicycle accessibility east to west. As it stands, uh,
biking east to west through the downtown corridor is somewhat of a challenge. Um, and
that was partially the reason for the one-way to two-way conversion of Washington Street
a few years back, uh, in the downtown core. These two items at the bottom that are in
this gold color, urn ... but are not specifically something I'm going to cover tonight, but
were included in the plan and we wanted to share those with you all. Uh, one was
priority signalization and this is where, uh, on the Burlington Street corridor, either transit
or emergency response would have the ability to hold green time longer, uh, or possibly
even change to green time so that they can get through the intersections quicker and
either increase, um ... the, uh, service for transit or get places quicker in the case of
emergency response, and then lastly, uh, there was also a component of the study
where... staff wanted some more information on a potential change of the downtown, uh,
transit interchange location, uh, from its current, uh, hub down to the Court Street
Transportation Center, which is where it's operating out of today because of the
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Washington Street, uh, reconstruction. Uh, those are things, again, that we might be able
to bring back to you at a later time but...
Throgmorton/ Sorry, I didn't mean to ... (both talking) I didn't mean to interrupt you. (mumbled)
Kent, I just wanted to observe ... on ... on our computer screens the, uh... uh, the yellow's
not coming through at all so...
Ralston/ Okay!
Throgmorton/ Please, uh, don't use yellow again (laughs)
Ralston/ Yep! Sure! It was just the two things, it's just the relocation of the transit interchange
and signal prioritization, which won't show up again on the presentations. Thank you for
that! Uh, as far as the study results are concerned, I wanted to quickly show you what
kind of data and what kind of feedback we get from the model and how we sort of review
that, and that's where we come up with our... ultimately our recommendations. Uh, what
you'll see in the slide on the left is, uh, level of service and what we do is we will take
seconds of delay, which is an average second of delay for a vehicle, an average vehicle,
at an average intersection. We then translate that into a letter grade A through F, and
that's just so we all understand it a little bit easier. This, uh... this graphic on the right
actually shows those A through F letter grades. Uh, A being free-flow traffic and
basically F being, um, a complete breakdown or gridlock. That's just an easy way for us
to be able to ... to share the results of a model. Uh, the bottom left of the screen shows a
level of service or LOS score for pedestrians and bicycles, and those are a little bit
different. Those don't just take into, uh, account average delay, but they also take into
account things like the actual width of the crosswalk, the circulation area, and how much
space is there, uh, right and left-tuming vehicles, and a whole host of other information.
So ... so anyway, in a nutshell, that's what we get back and that's how we determine, uh,
what's working and what might not be working. I wanted to quickly show you again this
graphic. It looks, uh, similar to what you've seen before. Again it's these 39
intersections that are in the study area. And what's very hard to see on the right, uh, but
will show up better when we share the ... share this with you electronically is that this is
existing intersection level of service for all of that downtown study area. And what
you'll see is we get level of service for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles, and then that's
A.M. peak hour, mid-day, and evening. So, again, a really robust set of data that we were
able to use and collect, and again, arguably, um, really nothing's been done like this in
the downtown area. Then I wanted to show you just a little bit more micro level, uh, of
what the results might look like. And this, again, is the existing, uh, vehicle capacity and
level of service, and basically when you ... when you see these charts, green is good, red is
bad. So ... green is things operating well, and red is where things are breaking down, and
for example, uh, the red E you'll see at Burlington Street and Dubuque Street, it's 73
second delay which then translates to a level of service E, which is, uh, something we try
to avoid, and we want to be roughly at a D or better. So, just wanted to share that with
you and show you kind of how that operates. So ... on to the actual, uh, study elements.
Uh, the first is .... the Market and Jefferson Street, one-way to two-way conversions, and
this graphic shows, uh, existing Market Street corridor between Madison Street and
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Gilbert Street at the top of the slide, and at the bottom of the slide it shows the potential
conversion and what that might look like. And I apologize again — these are going to be
pretty small, um, but again we'll share this with you at a later date. Um, on the top and
existing you'll see a cross section of bearing width of about 32 feet, up to 41 feet. We've
got two west -bound lanes and a average daily traffic of about 6,000 vehicles. The
potential conversion of Market, uh, to a two-way would be the same cross section. You
know, we're not ... we're not playing with the curb lines. We're holding those steady. Uh,
with bike lanes added, of course you'd have one, uh, travel lane in each direction, uh,
bike lanes on the north and south, uh, of the corridor, and signal improvements at these
green dots. So each of those green dots represents a location where we'd have to make
some signal improvements. In this case because we're actually taking traffic in different
direction, (mumbled) extra mast arm to hold the signal heads and .... and, uh,
communicate to drivers what they need to be doing in those locations. Moving on to
Jefferson Street, it's the same set up where it's got the existing corridor on top and the
potential conversion on the bottom. For Jefferson Street, as you all know, it's existing
cross section, uh, has two east -bound lanes of traffic. It's about 41 -feet wide, uh, back of
curb to back of curb, and there's on -street parking on the south side. Uh, average daily
traffic of about 6,500 vehicles a day or so. Uh, with the new cross section on bottom, of
course, we'd have one travel lane in each direction. Uh, bike lanes added, uh, on both
sides of the ... of the roadway, and again, we've got signal modifications at those same
locations, uh, Clinton Street, Dubuque Street, uh, and Gilbert Street. Uh, quickly ... uh,
getting into the pros and cons of these, uh, potential conversions, and I want to mention
before I get into these, um, you know when we look at the pros and cons, we're looking
at this purely from a transportation planning standpoint. Uh, we don't get into things like
do these conversions increase taxable value of a property or ... do they help, uh, sales and
businesses. Those are things, and data, that does exist. Just something that's, uh, outside
of my area of expertise and just frankly something that wasn't part of the study. Sol
want to throw that out there before we get into the pros and cons. So the pros, uh, the
Market and Jefferson Street conversion are reduced speeds or the potential for reduced
speeds on Market Street and Jefferson Street. When you've got head-to-head traffic, that
will, uh, have the ... the potential to slow folks down a little bit. There's a little bit of extra
friction. Uh, we've of course got the addition of bike lanes. Uh, the consultants said this
might balance vehicle volumes on those two corridors right now, either during the A.M.
or P.M. or special events. You might have really heavy traffic on one but very little on
the other, depending on where folks need to be. Uh, and this'll balance that out a little bit
better. Uh, and then another, uh... uh, another pro is that it did show that there'd be
decreased vehicle delay on Dubuque Street, and this is basically just because you've got
more options to head east or, uh, well .... east in this case than you do currently, which is
Jefferson Street. You'd be able to do that on Market or Jefferson. Uh, some of the
drawbacks are that transit and delivery vehicles may block through lanes during stops,
and I think it should actually say `will block through lanes' during stops, uh, which'll
slow things down a little bit. Uh, there's additional conflict points for pedestrians,
bicycles, and vehicles, just with two, uh, way traffic. There's a reduction in vehicle
roadway capacity. Uh, although slight, there is that reduction, and there's an additional
direction of conflict for pedestrians at the Cleary walkway, and I'll talk about that in a
minute, uh, which was a ... which was a drawback in the eyes of the consultant. Um, there
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will be some loss of on -street parking, uh, where we introduce some turn lanes at various
streets. Urn .... the consultant put together a rough, rough ballpark number of about
$325,000, uh, in costs to be able to construct these new mast arm signal, uh, posts and so
forth, and then there will be, uh, some additional design costs for reconstruction of the
Jefferson, Clapp, and Market and Rochester intersections. Uh, as you can imagine, the
way they are set up right now it is for one-way traffic and those will also have to be, uh,
reconstructed. That wasn't part of the study, but I would ... I would venture to guess that
that won't, uh, that ... that those costs will be substantial. Uh, this is something that I
wanted to point out quickly, uh, when I said that that additional direction of flow at the
Cleary walkway was something that the consultant thought was, uh, a ... a drawback of
this, uh, Market and Jefferson Street conversions. What you see in this graph, this is
Jefferson Street at the Cleary walkway, um, they actually collected data for 12 hours and
the blue line represents pedestrians, the red line represents, uh, vehicles. And what the...
and what you can see if you hone in about 2:00 in the afternoon, which is that peak blue
line, is that we're close to about 1,100 pedestrians in one hour, versus in the red line, uh,
less than 100 vehicles. So what the consultant said was there's really no point in adding
an additional conflict point for those pedestrians at that location when clearly, uh, it's, uh,
far and away a pedestrian intersection for the most part. Uh, they also said, uh, with
regards to the pedestrian actuated signal and what this is basically is just a .... it's a signal
for pedestrians that, um, folks have been interested in for some time. You push the
button, you wait, and you get the green light and you walk. In this case with 1,100, uh,
pedestrians, I don't think, uh, the college folks are going to push the button and wait,
when you've only got about a hundred cars opposing during that same hour. So ... so in
summary ... the consultant recommended that the ... the conversions of Market and
Jefferson Streets should be limited between Clinton and the eastern limits, basically due
to what we just talked about with the Cleary walkway. So they're basically saying from
Clinton Street to the east, you know, if that's something the City wants to look into, they
thought that was a good idea, but basically between Madison and Clinton, they said that's
something you should probably let be, uh, again because of these interactions at the
Cleary walkway. Ub, they said that the conversion between Madison and Clinton will
not provide additional value to roadway users. That again creates that additional conflict
point, uh, that a pedestrian actuated signal again should not be, uh, introduced; however,
the conversion between Clinton and the eastern limits will not result in a significant
change (mumbled) for motorists. So what they're saying is if you convert it from Clinton
to the east, for motorists it's kind of a wash. You know, the level of service roughly stays
the same. Uh, the conversion on Market Street and Jefferson Street to a two-way has a
positive or neutral effect on pedestrian and bicycle level of service, and this is a term they
used throughout the study is positive or neutral. They say, you know, at a lot of locations
it's sort of a wash and it has a neutral effect for pedestrians, but in this case with the
addition of additional bike lanes, um ... they thought that there would be a ... a positive
effect for pedestrians as well. And, uh, something that I asked the consultants to look
into was, uh, whether or not these ... these conversions of Market or Jefferson could
potentially have an effect on northside neighborhood traffic. For years now I know
we've had some issues with, uh, with cut -through traffic in the northside and specifically
they looked into that and thought that Market and Jefferson Street conversions would
actually not have a detrimental effect. They actually said in some cases it might reduce
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cut -through traffic, again, because you've got more options for east -west, uh, traffic
movements, which I thought was very interesting. Uh, moving on .... before I get into the
road diets, we've got, uh, three potential four to three -lane conversions or road diet
scenarios I'll run through. I wanted to quickly just give you kind of a primer on what the
road diet is or what a four -lane to three -lane conversion is. Uh, in this case, in this image,
you've got the before image on the bottom which are four 11 -foot travel lanes, which,
uh... coincidentally is roughly the same ... well isn't the same. It's 45 -feet back of curb,
back of curb, street width for Clinton, Madison, and Gilbert. So basically this is the exact
same cross-section we're looking at in the next three scenarios. When you convert to a
road diet, you've got (noises in background; loud speaker) sorry, and then when you
convert for the road diet, you then reduce the four 11 -foot lanes to two 11 -foot through
lanes, a 12 -foot center, left turn lane, and then you of course have the extra pavement
width for two additional, uh, five-foot bike lanes. So that's kind of in a nutshell, uh, what
we're talking about with a four to three -lane conversion. So moving on to, uh, the
Madison Street four to three -lane conversion, again you've got existing on top and the
proposed on the bottom of the slide. Uh, again it's 45 -foot, uh, as it exists today, 45 -foot
wide section between Burlington and Market Street. Uh, there's no parking, uh, but
heavy, heavy but routes. So this is a ... a heavily, um, used facility for buses. In the
potential conversion, uh, it would be converted to a three -lane section with, uh, bike lanes
then, north and south, uh, two 11 -foot through lanes with the center left tum lane as, uh,
the images showed that we looked at, and then two five -and -a -half foot bike lanes. Uh,
in terms of pros and cons ... uh, for Madison Street, again .... and you'll see a lot of
repetition in the pros and cons because, uh, the four to three -lane conversions kind of
have the same, urn ... well, the same, uh, benefits and the same drawbacks. Uh, the
potential for reduced speeds. Again, because you've got a little bit more friction with
sort of head-to-head traffic. Uh, the additional mode of travel is accommodated with the
bike lanes. Uh, the center left turn lane might help reduce rear -end collisions. That's sort
of, uh, one of the big benefits of a four to three -lane conversion. Uh, fewer lanes for
pedestrians to cross. Uh, less conflicts. And the consultant said that the roadway scale
matches internal campus roadway character, which is debatable but I hap .... I happen to
agree that having bike lanes on campus, uh, does fit the character a little bit better, and in
Ma ... in the case of Madison, uh, really a low cost. There really isn't any signal, uh,
modifications to ... to, uh, to take on. Uh, in terms of the drawback, again transit will
block through lanes and bicycle lanes during stops. Uh, slight increase in overall delay
for vehicles and transit. Uh, and then something I want to point out is the potential for
long southbound queues. So Av... Iowa Avenue and Madison in the peak periods, uh, I
think we can anticipate some really long southbound queues. So possibly queuing from
Iowa all the way to Jefferson, and maybe to in front of the IMU.... to kind of put that in
perspective. So ... so with four (mumbled) three -lane conversions, I mean there are these
drawbacks, um, but that's one that I think we can expect for some pretty long queues at
that location. In summary again, uh, slight increases in overall vehicle delay. Um, the
conversion of Madison Street as a positive or neutral effect, again there's that ... that term
they use, uh, on pedestrian, bicycle level of service, uh, they did recommend that the all -
red pedestrian phase at Iowa Avenue and Madison Street be removed to try and reduce
those queues, and the all -red pedestrian phase is when, uh, there's only a few left in town
but at that location, if a pedestrian, uh, hits the push button and calls the signal, when
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they get the red, uh, and walk signal, it's ... it's red, uh, arrow ... or, excuse me, it's none of
the vehicular movement's going to go. It's all red for vehicles, it's all walks for
pedestrians, and that's what we call an all -red then, uh, pedestrian phase, and they
actually recommend that be removed, uh, to try and eliminate some of those queues and
get traffic moving through the intersection. Uh, an additional sort of bonus that the ... the
consultant worked on is also a concept for Iowa Avenue. This really wasn't part of a
study but something they thought they should at least sort of, uh, give us ... tip us off to,
uh, for further consideration. Again, you've got existing, uh, at the top of the slide and
the potential conversion at the bottom. Uh, in this case, urn ... as you all know, Iowa
Avenue's sort of a four -lane facility with turn lanes, and uh, what the potential for Iowa
Avenue could look like is more of a two-lane facility with turn lanes and bike lanes. Uh,
just as a caveat I want to throw out that they have not looked into the Riverside, Iowa
Avenue intersection, and that's something that, uh, staff will still have to look into, but I
think that the goal would be to take a look at that and possibly implement this at the same
time as we would implement a four to three -lane conversion on Madison Street. So, little
bit of work left to do but I wanted to throw that out there, um .... for you all. Moving on
to Clinton Street, again, uh, four-way to three-way conversion, excuse me ... uh, you've
got the existing on top again and the potential conversion on bottom. Uh, in this, uh,
existing cross-section, we've got four travel lanes, uh, with on -street parking, both
parallel and angled at different locations between Burlington Street and Jefferson Street.
Uh, again, heavy on the transit routes, as you all know, uh, and an average daily traffic of
about 9,000 vehicles a day, uh, in this section north of Burlington. So a little bit higher
than, um, Madison Street. For the potential conversion, again, uh, we would change that
to two 11 -foot travel lanes and one center left turn lane, uh, we would retain the on -street
parking and of course add bike lanes, uh, in both directions. In terms of the pros and
cons, uh, again you'll notice a lot of these are repetitive. The potential, uh, in terms of
pros, to reduce, uh, travel speeds, uh, the additional mode of travel of course is
accommodated with bicycle lanes, uh, the center left turn lane and the ability to reduce
rear -end collisions, fewer lanes again for pedestrians to cross, uh, the roadway scale
might match more of an urban, uh, core setting with a ... with a four to three -lane
conversion, uh, and again, a relatively low-cost change. In terms of the cons, uh, again
transit may block, uh, the through lanes during stops and the bicycle lane will actually be
located at the back of angled parking stalls, uh, in some locations, which is not ideal, um,
but doable. Uh, trucks may block bicycle lane and through lane during deliveries, and
that's where I think the City's going to want to have a discussion if implemented on how
to handle deliveries. You know, the delivery trucks sit in sort of a dead space in the
center left turn lane. Do we have special delivery hours that we establish? Do we have a
special delivery location or .... or create actual locations for deliveries? Those are things
to be worked through, uh, but I think ... but I think, uh, with discussion they can be. Uh, a
reduction in vehicle roadway capacity, a minor increase in delay for vehicles, and uh, no
surprise of a Burlington Street intersection suffers the worst delay, uh, in this case.
Throgmorton/ Kent, can I follow up on that particular point?
Ralston/ Sure!
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Throgmorton/ Does this take into account the modifications to that particular intersection?
Ralston/ Yes! Yes it would. Correct — good question!
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay.
Thomas/ So, Kent, on the service parking, could some of the, um ... parking, you know that would
be say the metered parking or ... I .... I would imagine it's metered. Could some of those be
utilized by service vehicles?
Ralston/ Yeah ... yeah, certainly, and I think those are things we'll have to investigate, uh, should
we want to move forward with this, but yeah, there's a lot of options, and in fact if we
look back at ... little bit hard to see, but in the bottom here you can actually see where
there's not a lot of areas to tum left, so you just ... you know, with a four -lane to three -
lane, we would establish the center left turn lane, but in a lot of cases in front of the, uh,
what I call the Old Capitol Mall still, there's not a, you know, there's not areas where you
can turn left for the most part, uh, so those are areas of...of kinda what would become sort
of dead space that we might be able to use for deliveries. I don't know how delivery
folks feel about delivering from the middle of the street, but they, you know, they did it
for years on Dubuque and, you know, it's just something that I think we would have to
work through, but certainly some of the existing parking could be used. It's a good
question. Uh, quickly, uh, in summary ... the conversion may increase bus travel times by
up to two minutes of additional delay, primarily for northbound, uh, bus routes on
Clinton. I will mention that this is a .... not only this, but Madison and Clinton
conversions are of concern to Coralville transit. I've talked to their transit manager. Um,
no specific concerns. I don't think she's been able to wrap her head kind of around the
whole thing, but just wanted to mention that, you know, slowing transit down on these,
uh, locations, or the potential to slow transit down, is a concern of theirs. Uh, the
University of Iowa and, uh, the Cambus manager has also had the same concerns. So I
just want to throw those out there, um ... for you.
Botchway/ When you say `slight increases,' and I missed part of it, what does that mean because
(both talking)
Ralston/ Well I'm....
Botchway/ I'm seeing major increases as I think about it, as a driver and as a, um, previous
Cambus driver, but .... can you talk to me about (both talking)
Ralston/ Yeah!
Botchway/ ...the timeframe?
Ralston/ Yeah, so, um .... and are you talking about for vehicles or for transit?
Botchway/ Both.
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Ralston/ Both. So for vehicles, um, you know when we say slight increases, for all of these
corridors, you know, we're looking at multiple intersections. So it depends on what
intersection you're looking at. Most of them are kind of a slight increase, and we're
talking of a magnitude of, urn ... you know, instead of maybe a ... a 30 -second wait, it's a
40 -second wait. Average per vehicle. You know, when you pull up you can expect on
average to wait maybe 30 to 40 seconds. Those are sort of, uh, in my mind sort of a
wash. You know, it's not a ... it's not a real big deal. Urn ... at some intersections where
there are issues, uh, they ... they will be much longer, where instead of one signal cycle,
you may wait two or three signal cycles, and the one, uh, I called out on Madison Street
is where we expect pretty long southbound queues at Iowa Avenue. So southbound on
Madison and Iowa Avenue, you know, that might be one that jumps from a level of
service of, uh, I don't have it in front of me, but you know, instead of a level of service of
a C, you might drop to a level of service E. Those aren't (both talking)
Thomas/ (both talking) ....period of time would that ... would that level of service change from
what period of time?
Ralston/ Right, that's a good question. So I was going to say these... those... that isn't unusual for
Iowa City, you know, we have a lot of locations where we have failing level of service at
certain... for certain movements at certain times of the day. To your question, um ... for the
most part it's for the peak hour. You know, so when we're talking about the peak hour, it
might not even be an entire hour. It might be a half hour. So .... if you have something
that's failing, it might be for a half hour to an hour out of a day. But for the other 23
hours, the other 22 hours of the day, it functions fine. So ... and nationally that's been, I
think, um, sort of a trend where we used to try to build things and keep everything at a
level of service maybe of a D or better, and now I think just with the reality of traffic
and ... and communities that we live in, we're starting to accept a little bit lower levels of
service, where we ... we understand that we just can't build our way out of some of these.
So, depending on the situation, uh, Kingsley, you know, some of them are a little more
significant, some less. In terms of transit, this is something, uh, to your second point, that
we wanted to look into pretty closely. Again, because Coralville, uh, Iowa City for that
matter, but definitely University had issues and concerns with transit and these delays.
They're on pretty tight schedules and you know a little bit of delay over the course of a
day or during a peak hour can really kind of, uh, complicate things for them. And when
they looked into it, what they found, and again, it's a model. It's not ... it's not a perfect
scenario, but what the model shows after a significant amount of work was that
southbound on Clinton Street really wasn't much of an issue, didn't increase travel times
during the peak hour for ... not too significantly. But what they did in ... in the summary is
that for northbound they said it could be up to about a two minute additional delay for
transit vehicles, uh, as they move northbound through the corridor. That's a worst-case
scenario, and again, that might only be for a half hour of the day but ... you know, transit
managers do want to keep on time and that affects service and affects ridership and so
forth. So something we want to keep in check. There are things we can do, um ... we can
do bus pull -offs and different things to try and, uh, remedy some of that. I guess in ... in...
in this case I would say if we move forward with a conversion we kind of throw it out
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there, see what happens, and then we've got some things, uh, some tools kind of in
our ... our toolbelt to be able to alleviate some of that I think. Good questions!
Um ... again, uh, the last bullet point in the summary is that the all -red pedestrian, uh,
phase at ... similar to Iowa and Madison, the all -red at Clinton and Iowa, would also
probably be removed, uh, to try and increase traffic flow a little bit. Um, what's
interesting about that is they actually found that although people like the all -red
pedestrian phase, you know, pedestrians really like that, you actually wait longer as a
pedestrian to wait for that traffic phase than you would a traditional phase where you get
the walk with the corresponding green, uh, for traffic. Um, moving on to Gilbert Street,
uh, existing again on top and the potential conversion on bottom. Uh, the existing cross -
section's just the same as Clinton and Madison. It's 45 -feet wide, uh, it's a ... it's a 45 -
foot wide section. Two northbound lanes and two southbound lanes, as you all know.
Uh, no parking outside of Sunday church parking on Gilbert, uh, within the study area.
And a ... an average day (mumbled) traffic with about 9,500 vehicles a day, so we're
edging up just a little bit, uh, from Madison to Clinton to ... uh, Gilbert. Uh, in the
proposed section again it would be at the road diet, uh, one lane in each direction, the
center left turn lane, with the addition of bike lanes, uh, through this corridor. Uh, in
terms of the pros and cons ... for Gilbert Street, the, uh, consultant noted that again it has
the potential to reduce traffic, uh, reduce speeds. You've got the bike lanes, which is
obviously a benefit, uh, the center left turn lane and the ability to reduce possibly some
rear -end collisions, and fewer lanes for pedestrians to cross. So we've seen all those
before. Uh, in terms of the cons, again, transit might block, or will block the through lane
at times, which is going to slow things down a little bit. Uh, there is a reduction in
vehicle roadway capacity, which is more of a concern, uh, for me than it is on Clinton
and Madison, just because this is our major, uh, north -south thoroughfare, uh, kind of
bordering downtown. Uh, the consultant notes that significant southbound queuing may,
uh, cause gridlock at the College Street intersection, and this is very similar to that, uh,
example, again, on Madison where, uh, things might back up to the IMU. In this case it
would probably back up southbound from Burlington through College Street, and
beyond, possibly onto Washington Street. Which brings us to our last bullet point there —
is there might be potential issues with emergency response. I have not had a chance to
really vet this with, uh, the Fire Chief, but I think that's a discussion we'll want to have
with him, uh, to make sure he's comfortable. The issue being if traffic queues up, you've
reduced it from four lanes to two through lanes and the center turn lane, is that if traffic
queues up either from.... Washington Street north or Iowa Street south, there's a potential
to actually block the fire station, and that's something that we'll have to ... that we'll have
to work through.
Mims/ Kent, on a number of these you've talked one of the pros being reduced traffic speeds.
Ralston/ Uh huh!
Mims/ Have we done any traffic speed studies on any of these streets to see if...there is a
preponderance of speeding on these?
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Ralston/ I think throughout the years we ... we probably do have data on speed. I don't know that
we've done a speed study per se. Um .... I think that Clinton, just anecdotally, is probably
the slowest of ...of the three. Madison, Clinton, and Gilbert. Uh, I'm guessing that
Gilbert's probably the fastest, but I don't know that for certain. Um ... the idea just being I
think in the downtown core, it's probably better to have slower speeds generally and ... and
beyond, um, but I think that's the real goal and there are some national studies that show
when you have, uh, more head-to-head traffic, or ... or traffic that's head-to-head
(laughter) at a closer space that it ... that it does reduce speeds. So I don't know what we
would get out of that, but I'm guessing in the magnitude of a few mile an hour,
which ... which is significant. So...
Taylor/ And on that line it mentioned several times about the rear -end collisions. Is there also
data on that, have there been a significant number?
Ralston/ We do have the numbers on rear -end collisions. Uh, I don't ... we asked the consultant to
look at it to, uh, in terms of...how it looks compared to other intersections, or the collision
rate we call it, and basically what they said is it's not alarming, but there are a lot of year-
end collisions. So ... so even though it's not alarming and it's not something we're trying
to proactively address, I guess, it's something that is certainly a benefit if we ... if we did a
road diet. It would be one of those, um ... well, one of the benefits to come from it. Good
question!
Throgmorton/ Kent, uh, with regard to traffic speeds and slight reductions in traffic speeds, I'm
aware of some other cities that have intentionally reduced their speed limits to 20 miles
an hour, rather than keep `em at 25.
Ralston/ Right.
Throgmorton/ So the... the.... the simple fact of reducing traffic speeds in itself doesn't worry me
at all.
Ralston/ Yeah, I mean... wholesale reducing traffic speeds really, yeah, I mean it creates a safer
environment for motorists and pedestrians and bicyclists and the like. The issue being
that slower speeds will cause more congestion. You know, if you ... you've got a hose,
you can only pass so much water through the hose, so faster it goes, you know (both
talking)
Cole/ But that's not necessarily true. I mean there have been four to three -lane conversions
throughout the ... the country, and they've done analysis of the impact on traffic. I'm sure
you're familiar with the work of Jeff Speck. He's cynical of the, uh, traffic study (both
talking)
Ralston/ Right.
Cole/ ...and they've shown no diminution in traffic volume, so how do they respond to that
particular point, um, and two when you're talking about level of service, you're talking
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about level of service only for vehicles because it strikes me if we're doing a multi -modal
study, we also need to look at the level of service to the pedestrians as well as to the
biker, which have an equal right to access to the roads.
Ralston/ Right. So .... so a couple things on that. So it won't actually likely reduce the volume,
but what I'm getting at is it will increase congestion, because the less traffic you can
move through there, you'll probably end up backing up further and further and further, so
I don't think it'll reduce the actual volume of traffic, but I think the slower speeds may
actually increase congestion, and I think there's some studies that will show that. Um,
and in terms of level of service, you're right. We ... you know, it is a multi -modal study
and we did look at bikes and pedestrians, and I think for all of these corridors, the bicycle
and pedestrian level of service was either a neutral, kind of a wash, or a benefit, certainly.
So that is part ... I mean that would be part of it for Gilbert Street as well. And we've got
statistics. I didn't want to share these all with you. You know, the study's 100 -and -
some odd pages long, but we have all of the actual model in-house, so we can pull
individual, uh, stats for individual movements and we can really, you know, get down to
a micro -level (both talking)
Cole/ And in terms of a safety component, the Iowa Department of Transportation has also done
a number of studies from four to three, and as ... hasn't there been a dramatic impact in
terms of reduction of accidents (both talking)
Ralston/ Substantial, yes.
Cole/ (both talking) ...yes.
Ralston/ Yes, a substantial safety benefit. That's really .... the crux mostly of, um ... a road diet is
to get that left turning traffic out of the through lane. In this case, it just so happens that
with 40 -foot wide cross-sections on Madison, Clinton, and Gilbert we've got the room to
also then add bike lanes as well. So it's like an added benefit, and I know you've all had
the conversations about, uh, Mormon Trek and First Avenue, road diets as well, and it's
the same thing. It's really a safety issue with the added benefit of bike lanes, and in this
case, I would say it's.... it's a little more, uh... I would say it's more balanced, where, you
know, bike lanes probably are a little bit more important because we've got more bikers
downtown.
Botchway/ Kent, as we've been talking about kind of, you know, national ... Rockne kind of
brought up the national and kind of state analysis about four to three -lane conversions,
how much analysis has been done to provide more of an apples -to -apples comparison
with cities with Big Ten universities? Um, with the current model that we have here
where, you know, the University is literally, you know, eaten in our downtown, so to
speak.
Ralston/ Right.
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Botchway/ Cause I feel like that ... I mean, I ... I agree with you as far as, you know, how that
works but ... every time I look at this I'm thinking of Charleston, um, again that's where
I'm from and ... it's not advantageous. Maybe it's advantageous for people that live
downtown and you can think about that from a socioeconomic standpoint, but then it's
not advantageous for visitors or other folks that are coming into the city, for whatever
reason.
Ralston/ Right. These are obviously in the eye of the beholder. You know, if there's increased
congestion, we're gonna have more motorists that are frustrated, but ... we can also explain
to them that there's the added safety benefit, I mean you know it ... there's a lot to it. I
mean in terms of comparisons to other Big Ten universities, we really haven't done that.
We're more interested in the average daily traffic on these, uh, roadways because that's
really the determinant on whether or not they'll work. Um, the DOT says anything under
20,000 you can look at. You know, once you're up towards that 20,000 mark, you really
have to take a hard look at it, but those are more suburban type studies too. You know, in
the urban core like this, we look at it a little bit differently, but you know, we're down
...for Gilbert Street in particular, around maybe 9,000 to 10,000 vehicles a day. So we're
really nowhere close to that. Um .... so .... but I want to make clear that there are trade-
offs. You've all picked up on that, obviously. There's trade-offs, uh, more congestion,
slower speeds, l mean almost certainly. It's just .... it's just .... it will happen to some
degree, but added benefit of pedestrian safety, motorist safety, and convenience, you
know, with bike lanes. So .... so lot of trade-offs. Um ... in summary for Gilbert Street four
to three -lane, uh, again we've already talked about the benefits it might have on bicycles,
urn ... the Burlington -Gilbert Street intersection was, again, a concern for the consultant, a
concern of staff s, um .... and what they say is that third bullet point, is additional studies
on the Burlington -Gilbert intersection geometry and signal timing should be performed.
The consultant actually went through about three or four different iterations and different
lane configurations to try and get it to work a little better. Still didn't work great. It's
about a level of service E during a peak hour. Um, and then lastly, uh, the consultant
indicated that the conversion is not recommended unless a ... a solution to Gilbert and
Burlington Street intersection be found, such as adaptive signal technology and other
things, or if the trade-off for additional vehicle delay is considered acceptable. So that's
exactly what we're talking about here tonight. And quickly, uh, I know we've got kind
of a time crunch here ... I just want to get into staff recommendations and then, uh, we can
talk as long as .... as you all would like. Uh, for staff recommendations, we'd like to
move forward with Clinton and Madison Street four to three -lane conversions with bike
lanes and integrate those with the ongoing Clinton -Burlington and Madison -Burlington
intersection reconstruction, uh, that you all know about and that is occurring. Um, my
understanding is that Clinton and Burlington Street likely will be reconstructed in 2017,
and then Madison following in 2018. Uh, we'd like to consider Gilbert Street, uh, four to
three -lane conversion with bike lanes after we implement Madison and... Clinton. The
idea being, Madison and Clinton, I think, in our minds are clearly the low -hanging fruit in
terms of complications that might occur. So we can kind of pick those off, uh, possibly
implement those, take a look at them and see if we can learn anything before we move
on, uh, to Gilbert, which is just a little bit more complicated. And then lastly, uh, initiate
design and public outreach for Market and Jefferson Street one-way to two-way
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conversions in 2018, and 2018 kinda would coincide with, uh... the capital improvement
program. That one-way to two-way conversion, again, as we looked at, the .... the cost is
higher than these .... these road diets. Um, so we're likely going to have to get a, uh, CIP
item, uh, there in 2018 if we want to move forward with that. And again, because
the ... the price tags a little bit higher, we thought it'd be wise to have sort of a public
outreach campaign and see how, uh, the neighborhoods and the public really feel about
those.
Mims/ And on that, Kent, are you looking only east of Jeff ..uh, east of Clinton?
Ralston/ That would be my recommendation, would be east of Clinton, um, I think we can talk
about the section between Madison and Clinton, but uh, again, I mean when we start
lookin' at the figures for pedestrians vs vehicles at the Cleary walkway, um....
Mims/ Well I think there ... I think there's that and I think there's the winter weather.
Ralston/ Yeah (both talking) vehicles as well.
Mims/ I think you have vehicles going both directions on those going down the hill to the river
and ... I mean.... we're gonna have absolute disaster (both talking)
Ralston/ Right.
Mims/ ...with accidents (both talking) um, up and down Jefferson and Market (several talking in
background)
Ralston/ That's a really good point, and when we look at the study and ... and we look at the
details as well, the consultant notes there's really no benefit to vehicles. You know,
that's a lesser traveled section to begin with. It ... it just....the benefit wasn't there, uh, as
much as the ... the benefit was to pedestrians to keep it the way it is today.
Mims/ The other thing I would say, I think .... I think the public outreach on Market and Jefferson
is absolutely essential because ... I think when people look at this, I think there's going to
be a lot of people who do not see enough public benefit to make those changes. I think
this is going to be an incredibly, um....involved public when you start talking about
changing Jefferson and Market from one-way to two-way, and ... um, my guess is you're
going to have a lot of outspoken people, and a lot of outspoken people against it, because
they're comfortable, they're familiar, and they're not necessarily going to see the benefit,
or agree with what the benefits are.
Ralston/ Right. Right, those are good points (both talking) and I think that's why we wanted to
couple it with the design, because then we'll be able to put a design together and put a
little bit firmer, uh, price tag on that. You know, it was the $325,000 which was ballpark
is mostly just for traffic signals, but when we start talking about the reconstruction or
reconfiguration I guess I should call it, uh, for the far east end, you know, we're ... we're
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gonna want to get those numbers a little more clearly I think before we speak to the
public about it.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I'm sure Susan's right about public response, initial public response, on
those two-way conversions.
Ralston/ Right.
Throgmorton/ But, uh, I think it'd be really helpful to think about, um, beneficial effects for the
property values of property adjacent to roads that get converted or get ... get modified one
way or another.
Ralston/ Right.
Throgmorton/ So one of the things I was wondering about was out of...out of the list of streets
you've identified, which of them have the greatest development potential that .... is, um...
hasn't yet, uh, taken place be ... partially because of the traffic situation. So I think of
Gilbert I think of, uh, Market Street. Maybe there're others but those certain two come to
mind for sure. Uh, so I ... I would think that that... definitely should be taken into account
when doing this public outreach and... connecting with people and exploring the
possibilities of the two-way conversions and...
Ralston/ Right.
Throgmorton/ ...makin' a change to Gilbert Street.
Thomas/ I mean I would add ... one-way conversions through a commercial area are considered to
be a .... there's a real benefit to that, you know, and Northside Market Place is in some
ways isolated from the downtown because of the ... the Jefferson and Market, um, the
relationship there, uh, and then the exposure, you know, you're just going in one-way, all
the time, so you're not seeing, you know, it's more affected by your direction than a two-
way street. So that, you know, my readings tell me that commercial zones are especially
benefited from ... to .... you know, with the two-way conversion.
Ralston/ And I'm sure there's a lot of research out there that I'm not aware of. It's kinda outside
of my realm of expertise, but I think, uh, I'm sure there's a lot of good information out
there (several talking) to property values and how they're affected and sales (several
talking)
Botchway/ And I ... and I have a couple of concerns. Um ... one, I kind of, you know, I want to
agree with Susan as far as .... public outreach because, you know, I know that Jim's point
is to look at the property values in conjunction... or in relation to what could be affected if
we make some changes, but I'm also interested, maybe more in a ... an entire city
perspective because I .... I travel Market, Jefferson, Governor, and north Dodge a lot, um,
and I'm invoking my Rick Fosse here because I remember him particularly talking about,
um, in my COP class how one Council plopped a couple buildings right in front of some
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intersections as we were talking about growing and I'm worried. So I'm just throwing
that concern out there as we .... as we kind of deliberate, and so making sure that our
public outreach is a little more expansive is important to me. Um, when I think about
Clinton and Madison, um, and as we're talking about moving forward — I know that's the
recommendation — I'd be very interested to hear about what the students have to say as
well. I'm not sure what that outre ... outreach would look like, but urn ... urn, I would ... I'd
think there'd be some concerns. Um, now I'm all for, you know, changing maybe, um...
the, um, you know, the pro ... or changing ... I don't want to us to (mumbled) I'm trying to
figure out a different word. Forcing or trying to change the ... the nature of those
particular intersections because of pedestrian traffic, because of, um, wanting more use of
bicycles, but ... I .... I'd be interested to see what, you know, they would have to say, um, in
that regard. Um ... along those lines. So from ... it says moving forward but I would be
interested in the public outreach, along those lines as well, and then lastly, um, one thing
that I ... and again I might have missed a portion that I thought was missing, and I'm trying
to invoke my John Thomas here, is ... you know, has there been any thought on
condensing the lane width, because I know that has led to, you know, slower traffic speed
and some other things. Um, it seems like we're maybe jumping a step, but that's just
my ... my own thought on the matter. I mean, condensing it but having that bike lane or
additional bike lane would be, uh, would be advantageous, or at least from my standpoint,
just from a... kind of how you're moving down or moving up, whatever way you see it
perspective -wise, um, kind of in relation to where we're getting to right now. So .... those
are my thoughts.
Cole/ When I think in terms of the public outreach, I mean, to me it should start with safety, and
I think as we approach the public, I think we need to emphasize that and that we have the
data from the Iowa Department of Transportation. I think that's really key. And then
two, um, you know, again, this isn't sort of the first time this has ever been done, uh, the
traffic volumes have, I think, been just fine in other cities that have done it. Um, there's a
little bit lower, uh, speeds, but again, that's directly related to the safety component to it
too. So I think if people are presented with that, as opposed to well, it might be a little
more convenient for bikes. Well the safety has to be the primary focus in my view and
the data on that is overwhelming, uh, that if you slow down the speeds of the fatalities go
down and people feel much more comfortable in terms of accessing those areas. So, I
think the po... I think the other thing too is that the economic growth may be outside of
sort of what you're focusing on, but I think that's sort of part of the problem historically
is that we get the reports from ... from the traffic experts, but we're not looking at the
picture as a whole, which I think is what our mandate should be.
Botchway/ Last point ... to Rockne's point, um, cause I think Jim mentioned the property value, is
economic growth, because I don't know if that's necessarily tied into ... I mean I might
have missed that, tied into that report, as far as individuals wanting to access downtown
as well and what that would mean overall.
Ralston/ Right, and it ... and it (both talking)
Botchway/ Yeah (both talking)
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Ralston/ ...transportation focus.
Botchway/ Right. Right
Throgmorton/ Yeah, so I'd like to mention a couple points with regard to Kingsley's, uh,
comments concerning students, uh.... with regard to Madison and Clinton Streets. I do
agree it's worth connecting with students and trying to get a sense of how they might
respond, but we also know that students are cohorts .... I mean there're cohorts of students
who move through, uh, the University and, uh, the new incoming students will know only
what they've... what they encounter when they first encounter it. Uh, and ... and also I've
spent so much time in the downtown area, having worked at the .... in the Jefferson
Building for 25 years, uh, my guess is students would love the three-way, I mean not
three-way, three -lane, uh... conversions on Madison and Clinton, but with regard to the
development potential along.... Market and/or Gilbert Street, I ... I don't mean to
emphasize only the development potential. What I mean to emphasize is enhancing the
quality of the streetscape for people who would be able to walk on the streetscape, access
buildings that would be newly built along the streetscape, uh, and thereby enhance the
overall sense, uh, from a pedestrian and ... sense of place point of view. So I think there's
tremendous potential, especially on Gilbert Street. I know Gilbert and ... and, well, and
Market Street at least, there's tremendous potential there.
Mims/ The only other thing I would add is I think we need to be very cognizant, Kent, of the
comments you made about slowing down the bus traffic. And... coordinating very closely
with, you know, with our transit department, Coralville, and the University of Iowa,
because I...I think that's really crucial in terms of what are ... you know, what are the real
impacts going to be there and how are they going to be able to run those systems in a way
that still really works, um, efficiently and effectively for them, and ... I mean, I can tell you
now, you talk about the buses blocking the through lane, um, I ... I can tell you coming
south on Clinton Street now, the ... you can see the frustration with drivers when the
Cambus is in front of one of the dorms, I can't remember which one it is, they do not pull
off. There... there's a spot there. There's a....there's a bus stop off to the side. I'm not
sure what the reason is, um, but they always sit in the middle of the traffic, and you can
just see cars ... they're j ust ... they're watching pedestrians and if they can, they are going
out into that oncoming lane to go around the buses, and so ... I just think that ... that can
become a real concern when we talk about safety, when people are like I'm ... why is this
bus sitting here, you know, they're blocking the through lanes and so I think ... while we
can talk about all the other, you know, potential positives, I think everybody up here has
shown great support for transit, and if this is going to have negative impacts on transit, I
think we have to look very, very carefully. The last comment I would make is if we
move forward with the first recommendation, that is Clinton and Madison, what is the
potential to do this for let's say a year or two and then really... reassess and determine
whether or not it is `working' or should we go back?
Ralston/ Right. And I think, uh, the answer to that is there's of course that potential and I think,
urn ... the previous City Manager, Tom Markus, made similar comments about road diets
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on Mormon Trek and First Avenue and other things that we had done. Um, you know
there is a financial cost to these. You know, it might be anywhere upwards of -well, I ... I
won't guess but...
Mims/ Yeah.
Ralston/ ...we're talking in the hundreds of thousands of dollars just for the road diets, on each
individual corridor. So you know, these are going to add a, um, you know I think
through some work with Engineering Department, Public Works we can put a better
finger on those numbers. Um .... but undoing them, of course, then you know it's, uh, you
don't want to come up with a throw -away cost, but it is ... at some point if you have to
undo that (both talking) throw -away cost, and that's why, again, I think staff's
recommending starting with the low -hanging fruit, trying to learn from any mistakes we
made or ... or, uh, you know, try and work on some of the ... the things that we did right,
and then maybe apply that to Gilbert Street, because what ... I think none of us want is to
be able to try to implement one of these, have it fail miserably, and then I think that might
be the last road diet we see in Iowa City for a while, so...
Mims/ Right. I agree.
Ralston/ Um ... so I think we ... I think as far as staff's concerned, we just want to be careful with
that. But yes, they can be undone. There's just that financial component.
Throgmorton/ Okay, Kent, Geoff, what do you need from us?
Fruin/ I think.... the.... the most important thing right now is, um, on the Clinton and Madison,
that first bullet point. Um, Clinton design will be advancing here yet this year and ... and
we'll be dustin' off the Madison plans here shortly too. So, urn ... going into those
engineering contracts, we need to make sure that you're comfortable with the four to
three, uh, conversion. If you're not, then that's going to change how we approach those
projects.
Simpson/ Can I ask one question real quick? Um, I should have asked this when you had the
Clinton Street slides up, but ... um, with access to the, um, parking garage, um, I don't
know if you covered that but um .... at certain times during the day, um, with the current
system, the right lane is often backed up at certain peak rimes, and the left lane, uh, going
north is backed up, and so with the four to three -lane conversion, how will that work?
Ralston/ Well, um, I think the quick answer is I don't know, and I think it could be blocked
occasionally, but with the Clinton -Burlington intersection redesign, there will be a
dedicated right turn lane there, at least preliminarily that's what the design's looking like.
So I'm not sure how that'll ... how that'll balance things out. I'm guessing at the end of
the day it might, uh, not be a lot different than it is now, just because that extra capacity
with the right turn lane where you don't have that today, um, so it'll kind of fan out in...
you'll have a dedicated left turn lane, dedicated.right turn lane, and then a through lane,
whereas today you've got, um, basically two lanes. Um, so it ... so I don't know the
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answer to that, but it could be blocked at certain points in time, and like you said, it...it
may be already blocked today at certain points, so might not be a big change. That's a
good question.
Fruin/ The other thing I'd ... I'd mention... if you're serious about gold bicycle friendly status, and
you're serious about aspiring to platinum, on -street accommodations have to be provided.
That's clearly where we are, um, behind when we look at those program metrics. So....
we ... we can't do a few more education programs and PR campaigns and really expect to
get to gold status. Um, we ... we do have some good projects in the works, but ... First
Avenue and, um, Mormon Trek, Sycamore, that's probably not enough, uh, to get us
there too. I think we need to show a ... a commitment to, urn ... greatly enhanced bicycle
accommodations on street. Again, if you're serious about that gold and platinum, uh,
certification levels.
Throgmorton /Okay, folks, I recommend that we proceed with the staff s recommendations.
What do you folks want to do?
Botchway/ So I would cautiously recommend it. I do think, and I understand your point, Jim,
but I think that's frankly why a lot of students may not stay, because they feel like at
times Council, or um, the residents or however you want to view it, um, of Iowa City,
um, you know, don't care about what they feel like, even though they're a cohort, cause I
used to be that cohort being an out-of-state student and so, urn ... uh, and I don't know how
you feel about it, as well, but I do think that, um, we gotta ask the question, I mean, um,
if we don't, again, I'm looking at those particular, um, thinking about those particular
points and .... you know, they're heavily used by students, um, especially if I think
about ... as I'm thinking about the Madison one, and I'm just ... I'm eyeballing it from me
driving it on a regular basis for my various activities down there. And so ... um, I would
say that, um, gotta ask, and then obviously, you know, um, being a bus driver as well
(mumbled) obviously the Iowa City but (mumbled) University from a Cambus
standpoint, um, would be huge as well. Urn ... just because your time matters, so....
Mims/ I mean I'm willing to .... I'm willing to try the first bullet. I'm not willing to give any kind
of recommendation for the other two until we see how the Clinton -Madison work, um,
and I know you've got those specifically pushed out into the future for that reason, but I
would not right now as a Council want to give any indication to staff, or the public, that I
was supportive of these second two bullets, because I'm concerned how the first one's
going to come out. Um .... I would also want, again, I just want to re-emphasize, I know
Dave Ricketts is here from the University with Cambus, to make sure that we're working
as closely as possible with them, um, and if...you know, and if they have any really,
really strong feelings against this, then I think you need to bring that back to us before
staff moves forward with it. Um ... that's critical, and I think it comes back to kind of
what Kingsley's saying is ... I ... I don't know if it's feasible to get the kind of input that we
really need to get from students, because one it ... it's hard I think for people to make a
decision of whether they agree or disagree with something when they don't really know
what the other thing is. They haven't seen it yet. Um ... so that's hard for anybody to do.
But ... I do think, given these studies and the experience that people at the University and
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Coralville and our own transit staff have, we've gotta take their input very, very
seriously, and if they, you know, come back with really strong concerns or reservations,
then ... I would say we need to stop and rethink this. But if they can get on -board with it,
then I'm willing to give those two streets a try.
Cole/ I'm supportive of those two streets, and in addition, I'm supportive of ..of the two-way
conversion on Jefferson and Market. Um, there has been a lot of research done on this
particular topic and I think for me it comes down to a question of public safety. Um, and
again, with ... with respect to the traffic experts, I think what we're trying to do is look at it
as a whole in terms of the impact to the community as a whole, and I think when we get
lower, you know, transportation speeds, but I guess I'd love to have the students give the
impact. If we say that we're going to increase walkability, we're going to increase
bikeability, my instinct is that they're going to love that, and I think that they're going to
think that that's really exciting. The ... the cities that have adopted these conversions have
adopted them with the ... with the input of..of expanding transportation options for young
people, as ... as well for people of all ages, cause the problem at this point is these streets
are dangerous. Um ... the only disagreement I would have with the report, I would like to
get moving on Gilbert at an earlier timeframe. Um, the 2017 timeframe. Um, I think that
the research has been done and we can get ... we can get moving on those. So I'd like to
move those up, um, as far as I'm concerned.
Throgmorton/ John? Pauline?
Thomas/ Yeah, I like the, urn ... the four to three and the ... and the conversions of the one -ways.
I ... I ... and it's kind of interesting cause I think it starts with safety, um, but we've
bracketed out the economic benefit aspects of this, which actually I think in the
downtown are extremely important and, you know, that we have a ... a pedestrian mall
which we're very proud of and yet it is surrounded by streets which are auto -oriented,
and so ... I mean, the... there's... there's extra capacity there that we can reclaim for
bicycling and walking that I think would completely change the tone of the downtown,
make it much more convivial, uh, without significant impacts to the, um, to the drives. I
do think the bus issues, you know, I think looking into bus pull -off zones, uh, may be
something that we need to look at. Um ... but I think expanding the ... the character of the
downtown, which is truly unique to Iowa City, uh, and ... and making it more pedestrian -
friendly will have profound economic benefit. So ... ironically that's not on our table here
(laughs) but uh... that ... that is what is found, I mean that's what ... that's really a .... really
what the focus of much of the discussion on ... on these kinds of conversions is about is the
economic benefit.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Taylor/ I think starting with the first two projects, but I think also not only looking at the bus
service transit system, but you'd mentioned the emergency service vehicles, I think
looking into that and getting input from those folks — the fire and the police and the
ambulances — to see if they (both talking)
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Throgmorton/ ....Gilbert Street, right?
Taylor/ Right, for the Gilbert .... to see if that would, uh... uh, cause...make any difference or cause
a chall ... challenges for them, uh, cause I think that is important, and I think with the, uh,
two-way ... or one-way to two-way conversion, the public input would be extremely
important I think, holding, uh, giving them opportunities, different times of the day, to
give input, and as ... as we've talked about, the, uh, letting them know the safety aspects of
it, the development aspects of it, the property value, uh, letting them know all those
aspects, not just that it's something we want to do and needs to be done.
Botchway/ Before you go on, one thing ... this would be a great part where racial equity, uh,
toolkit analysis because there's unintended consequences that we're maybe not thinking
about from a race point or socioeconomic standpoint, um ... that'd be great. That's all I
want to say.
Thomas/ One other thought I was having was, um, Jeff Speck is coming into town (several
talking) September. Uh, you know, this may be an opportunity to ... to have him look
at...at the recommendations and provide his comments. (several talking)
Fruin/ We hope to have Jeff Speck here in the fall. We have not booked that yet, but we've
initiated conversations.
Throgmorton/ Okay, I want to make sure we're clear about one thing. Uh, the ... the staff
recommended moving forward with Clinton and Madison Streets. I want to make sure I
hear ... I've heard four or more (several talking) express support for that. Okay, so you got
a green light on that.
Mims/ With the caveat of checking very carefully with transit.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. (several talking) I .... I .... we need to move ahead on that, because of the
reconstruction of the Burlington -Clinton Street intersection.
Fruin/ So there, uh, certainly if something comes up during engineering we'll check back in with
you, um, and let you know what those concerns are, what obstacles we encounter. Um,
otherwise, the ... that plan will come back to you for approval before it goes to bid. Um,
and at that point we can talk through the discussion that we've had with the different
stakeholders.
Botchway/ Yeah, I mean I guess I'm confused. I mean I do know that there is a time situation
here but this Council, at least in the last couple months, has been consistent about
wanting to make sure that we provide public input, regardless of whatever decision that
we have, and so I do think it's important that we get some student input ahead of, you
know, whatever decision that we make. I'm not saying I'm not supportive! I'm just
saying that without asking the question prior to doing, it's probably (both talking)
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Fruin/ Yeah, one thing to keep in mind too are these recommendations are... are in large part born
out of the streetscape planning process, which was a ... a pretty extensive public planning
process. So we did have open houses and online engagement, those sorts of things, uh, in
2013 or 14.
Botchway/ I totally agree but I've also been a part of meetings (both talking and laughing)
Fruin/ I understand where you're (both talking and laughing)
Botchway/ ...was needed!
Ralston/ I do .... I have also spoke about this to the University parking and transportation, uh,
committee, and again, that's not necessarily the students, but some of the University is
getting more involved, uh, and I spoke to their ... at the request of Dave Ricketts with the
University. So we have been talking to the University, but not specifically the students.
Throgmorton/ If, Jake, if you could, uh, provide some (both talking)
Simpson/ Yeah, yeah, um, I really appreciate all your concern with student opinion. I think
student drivers who are a minority of students — not very many students compared to the,
uh, whole amount have a car would be upset with this, but ... the vast majority walk, ride
bikes. We've been wanting bike lanes for a really long time as a body, um, I don't think
everybody's going to be upset with a certain decision, but I think overall this would be a
good thing for Iowa City. I think it'd be a good thing for students, and I think the
reception, like Jim mentioned, turnover happens (laughs) and I think people would be
happy overall eventually.
Botchway/ The reason why I added that, um, equity analysis was because as we're talking about
students that live closer in town, they may be a part of that minority, um, they pay higher
rents and so because of that, those students that may be a part of the minority that live
outside of town, that are the drivers, um, may .... may view this as problematic, and so
that's why I feel like the input was key, on top of doing the analysis, because we could be
talking about socioeconomics here as well.
Simpson/ And enrollment's going to go up by a thousand in the next two years so .... we can
expect all that more .... many more cars coming too, so .... yeah.
Throgmorton/ I'm not sure if I heard a full, uh, majority support for the other two
recommendations. I mean I certainly support them because they're hypothetical in a
sense, I mean, consider doing this and .... and initiate design and public outreach. So....
Fruin/ So I just suggest we revisit those in the budget process.
Cole/ We didn't have support for the two-way conversion?
Mims/ I don't. Not at this point (several talking)
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Throgmorton/ It's not being recommended by the staff.
Cole/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, what ... what I heard was initiate design and public outreach for the two-way
conversion. I think that is crucial. I believe if we're going to have any strong pushback,
it's going to be because of Market and Jefferson Street. So we need to kind of move with
some care on that.
Fruin/ Okay to talk about that this fall with the budget process then?
Throgmorton/ Sounds good to me (several responding) Looks like you're getting a lot of
nodding heads. So, okay! Good! Thank you, Kent.
Ralston/ Thank you!
Throgmorton/ Hey, I notice it's a quarter till (several talking) We need to adjourn, give
ourselves time to take a break. I apologize. I thought we were going to get to some
discussion about the school attendance areas, uh, but we'll do that when we reconvene
the work session after the formal meeting ends. All right, so ... we'll convene...
Karr/ Recess.
Throgmorton/ What?
Karr/ We'll recess (several talking)
(BREAK— RECESS WORK SESSION, BEGIN FORMAL MEETING)
(RECONVENE WORK SESSION)
Discussion of school assignment zones:
Throgmorton/ Let's see, we were going to pick up with the, uh, our discussion of the School
Board's May 10 action, right, so are we ready to do that, Marian?
Botchway/ Yes, so briefly I've been talking with Eleanor. I'm going to recuse myself, uh, we
kinda talked through it. Um, it's at the Board level now, but in the event that they do
finally ask me the question, as far as my, um, opinion on it, then I would, you know, be
putting myself in conflict, depending on how we all decide. So ... um, I will... actually go
and get a cookie right quick! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Okie doke! All right, so (clears throat) we're going to be talking about, uh, the
School Board's decision on May 10 concerning school attendance zones. I'd like to say a
few words, uh, at the outset here and I'll take probably three or four minutes, so please
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bear with me. All right, correct glasses on so I can read. Several people in the public
have asked where our Council has been with regard to the School Board's attendance
area process. Uh, have you folks been asleep at the wheel? Statements kinds. like that.
So I want to forthrightly acknowledge that I have been caught off guard by the speed with
which the Board has acted on the secondary attendance areas. Criticism can fairly be
directed at me for what I have not done. But I also want you and the public to know what
I have done. (noises on mic) So there are some background conversations that took
place earlier this year with Chris Lynch, Brian Kirschling, and John Bacon, and either
Susan or John Thomas were involved in those conversations. Uh, they've provided, you
know, lots of very useful background information. But it wasn't until mid-April that I
realized that the Board would be considering some pretty fundamental changes. I
immediately began meeting with Board members to find out what they were thinking,
and to emphasize the need to achieve reasonable balance in low SES and ELL
percentages at the high school level, and for anybody who doesn't know lol... low SES
refers to low socioeconomic status, uh, and ELL refers to English language learners.
These, uh, meetings included lengthy conversations with Tom Yates and Chris Liebig.
On that point, with regard to Tom, I just want to say he's a really good man and I'm, uh,
very sad that he felt compelled to resign from the School Board a few days ago. We had
only one Council meeting between April the 19`s and when the Board acted on May 10.
Perhaps I should have asked you, my fellow Council Members, at our May 3`d meeting
for authorization to send a letter to the Board, but to be blunt, I was still trying to
understand what the individual Board members were proposing and frankly I ... even after
talking with individual Coun... uh, Board members, I wasn't entirely clear and I ... so
anyhow, wasn't entirely clear about what they were proposing. When I learned that Lori
Roetlin had proposed to, uh, what she had proposed for the Board's May 10 meeting, I
had a long conversation with Brian Kirschling. Shortly after meeting with Brian, I sent
detailed emails to Tom Yates, Phil Hemingway, and LaTasha DeLoach urging them to
achieve reasonable balance at the high school level. Uh, and uh... as a side note, I'd say
that the letter I sent was sent under my own name because I didn't have the authorization
to do it on behalf of the Council as a whole. And ... so I expressed my views as clearly as I
can. Those views are pretty darn consistent with what appears in the draft letter that is in
our packet. Uh, when doing so, I thought the Board ... I want to be clear about this, I
thought the Board would be discussing the possible changes during a work session. I did
not understand they would be taking formal action that night. I was wrong. And instead
of going to the Board meeting that night, I was participating in the Human Rights Youth
Awards event.... reading a keynote speech and helping to hand out awards. Over the past
few days, I've had lengthy conversations with Chris Lynch and Brian Kirschling, along
briefer conversations with Tom Yates and Chres ... Chris Liebig. So, if I deserve criticism,
so be it. It's part of the territory. But please direct it toward me, and not toward a subset
of the Council. As I've said many times, I think it's important for all of us to think in
terms of the Council as a whole, not of particular parts of the Council. So, looking ahead,
I would ask all of you to alert me by email, and I'm asking for help here. I'm not
criticizing anybody. I would ask all of you to alert me by email, by phone, in person, or
during meetings whenever you think I am not paying enough attention to an important
topic. I can tell ya, I'm tryin' mighty hard and, uh, doing the best I can, but I'm a fallible
human being. We might also collectively think about how we as a Council can better
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monitor what the School Board is doing. Maybe other institutions as well, but definitely
the School Board. And let's see ... and here's a thought I have. We might request a joint
meeting with the School Board or a three -on -three meeting before they make ... take any
further... before they make any further decisions. In any event, what we need to do now,
as always, is to act as effectively as we can on behalf of the people of our city. So, that's
pretty much what I wanted to say to give you a sense of what I have done, as well as what
I have not done. Uh, as you know, I've shared with you a draft of the letter to be sent,
that could be sent, to the School Board members, and I seek your permission to send that
letter to the Board on behalf of the Council as a whole. But I understand it would be a
letter on behalf of the Council, so you know, if there are things that need to be changed in
it, we need to know what those would be. So without getting into detailed wordsmithing,
urn .... let's first decide whether we want to send the Board a letter. Secondly, uh,
whether there are substantive modifications you want to make, and then perhaps thirdly,
whether we want to ask the Board to meet with us before they make any further decisions
on this particular topic. So ... that's what I wanted to say. And now we can just dive into
it.
Mims/ I would say yes on ... I think we definitely need to send the Board a letter. Um, I
appreciate your comments, Jim. I think what we have to do at this point is look at
moving forward and what we can do to protect this community, because I think the
actions that they took, um, can be very, very detrimental to Iowa City, to our
neighborhoods, and to the efforts that we want to make in terms of neighborhood
stabilization and .... and all those kinds of things in terms of housing, etc. Um, in terms of
the letter itself ..I guess I have ... have a couple of issues. One is ... I think they're going to
have their next meeting next week. I think it's imperative that we get something to them
ASAP. I ... I think that's very important. There are a couple of, urn .... key things that I
think need to be addressed in the letter that are not. One is ... the School District spent
months, if not a full year, with a very public process with hundreds of people involved,
probably thousands if not tens of thousands of people hours, involved in that public input
process to come up with boun... tentative boundary decisions that they ended up with in
2015, and which their initial ... one of their initial votes last Tuesday was basically to
reaffirm those decisions from 2015, and that was voted down and then that's where they
went through a series of motions and ended up where they ended up. Um, I think it's
really important that the letter kind of remind them of that public process, um, with
literally the hundreds of people and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of hours that
were involved, and with these votes last week, they have basically thrown out all of that
public input and just totally disregarded it, which I think is, um, very, very unfortunate.
The second piece that I think needs to be included and I offer some... documents to
Council because of the new Members that we have on Council, um, two resolutions that
this Council has passed, and if you would hand those to Marian so she can know what
I've handed out to people. I think I've got these right. Basically there's two resolutions,
um...
Throgmorton/ (both talking) ...say the dates, please.
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Mims/ Yeah, one of them is from ... December 18d' of 2012, and the other one is from January
23`d of 2013. These are resolutions that relate to .... urn ... issues with the School Board,
and that has to do ... thank you, Rockne... um, has to do with, urn ... the one from, let me just
back up here. From December of 2012, was a rec... was a resolution recommending a
shared vision for the future planning and development of the Iowa City Community
School District and the City of Iowa City. Um, basically it talked about how the School
District should prioritize capital spending to bring all existing facilities to the standards of
recently constructed facilities. Um, that they should pursue construction of two new
elementary schools within the corporate limits of Iowa City, urn ... upgrading gymnasiums,
and in the event it determines the necessity of a third high school, the ICCSD's priority
should be to do no harm to the existing high schools, and ensure balance and equity with
respect to facilities, offerings, and enrollment practices so that all high school students in
the District receive the same quality education. Um, it directed the City Manager and
Mayor to meet with the appropriate ICCSD officials in advance of the RPS vote. That
was the revenue... proposal statement, if I've got that right, um, to discuss the shared
objectives of the City and Iowa City Community School District. Um, the second
resolution I have given to you, again, and I do this because of our new Members who
were not on the Council at the time, was in January.... January 22nd of 2013. This was a
resolution endorsing the Iowa City Community School District revenue purpose
statement in supporting a policy to address socioeconomic and enrollment imbalance in
the District. There was a lot of discussion between the Council, um, between the Mayor,
um, and myself as Mayor Pro Tem at the time, City Manager's office, and leaders of the
School Board and... leadership staff at the School District, talking about the importance of
this issue and basically... came out with this and said, as a city, we will support the
revenue purpose statement. In other words, we will support you putting this vote out to
the public so that you can raise funds for the initial, uh, facilities master plan, if -you pass
essentially an equity policy, um, in terms ... it started out to be a diversity policy. It was
determined to be illegal. They rewrote it, etc., but the idea of equity across the District.
There was a lot of discussion, there was discussion in public at the Council level ... about
this. Obviously we ... it was public, we passed these resolutions at the Council level, and
sol...I comment on all of this tonight because of the new three ... the three new Council
Members that are sitting here that were not a part of this. I think it's very important
that... that you have kind of some of that history, um, of not having been here, of that
significant involvement between the Council and the School Board, between staff
leadership at the City and staff leadership at the School District, that these were really
two pieces that we felt on both sides were very, very strongly intertwined. That we
would provide the support for the revenue purpose statement, the public support for that,
provided that they agreed to basically an equitable education for children across the
District, and this wasn't just children in Iowa City. It was across the whole District. And
as I read, there were some other things in the first, urn... resolution about, you know, two
new ... two new elementary schools in Iowa City, etc. My point in all of this is, one, is to
give you some background. If there's public watching, to also give them some
background in terms of what this interaction is. Potentially to give .... I think these need
to be included with the letter, to give some of that historical background to the four new
members that are still on the School District with Tom Yates. There were five. Tom's
resigned. But keep in mind ... this community, and I mean the whole Iowa City
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Community School District, elected five new members to that board in November. They
don't have that same... historical memory, um, of some of the things that were done and
some of the reasons that they were done. I think it's important to include these as
attachments to the letter. Um ... I think... while I appreciate the significant effort that has
gone into the letter, um, I would encourage the ... I think we can shorten it up some, and I
know we don't want to sit here and do wordsmithing tonight, but I do think the aspect of,
urn ... of the process that they went through for over a year, the work and cooperation
between the City and the School Board, um, for the equity of the entire district are things
that they need to be made aware of.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Great! Other ideas?
Cole/ I am adamantly opposed to weighing in at this particular time. Um, I think that at this
particular time if individual Council Members want to communicate to the School Board
in terms of their positions as a community member, as a Councilor, I think they should
feel free to do that and communicate in their own capacity, uh, in which they serve, as
well as public ... as a member of the community of Iowa City. What I don't want to do is
where we have a three -three board that's deadlocked to ... to weigh in on a very significant
issue for which there's robust debate throughout the community, um, there's going to be
an election, and so I think let's trust the democratic process, and I think to your point,
Susan, um, those were policies that were developed by previous elected officials, and
there was also very time intensive process called an election, and there were people that
didn't like that particular plan, and they ran on that platform and now they have a
different vision for what they want to try and achieve. So for us to weigh in at this
particular time, um, and... and... and talk to essentially a sister entity, um, without allowing
them to resolve their own internal, um, dialog, I ... I think is inappropriate at this particular
time. So I'm not going to support any letter, um, where we put our thumb on the scale,
uh, of the direction of the School District at this time. Um, you know, I think it's
important that we respect the viewpoints, not only ... you know, Jim, you had mentioned
you had talked with Mr. Kirschling. Well, he's obviously on one side of the dialog. Uh,
some of the other School Board members felt the other way. And so I ... I'm taking a
position that we shouldn't support either side in our capacity as Council, while there's a
pending election, and I think ultimately, uh, that election's going to take place in July.
Uh, I think we will have an opportunity to ... to support individual candidates that
ultimately will resolve this particular issue. Um, so I'm just not comfortable, uh, us...
with us intervening, and I think to the point of there's a difference between being
unaware and being ignorant and having a policy disagreement. And I think that there is
room for a legitimate policy disagreement here, and I think we have to respect the three
members, uh, that ... that voted the way that they did that remain on the School Board and
not assume that they don't know what they're doing, but that they have a legitimate
different point of view, and I'm saying that at least at this particular time, uh, we have a
three -three split, um, passions are running strong on both sides. I think I recognize both
sides sincere love for this community, um, for the kids that are involved, and it's an
extremely emotional passionate issue for everyone. I'm not saying at a particular time I
wouldn't support intervening. I think that we do need to have a constructive dialog. I
mean I think when we ... when we talk about essen.... or joint entities meeting, um, with
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the City of North Liberty, with Coralville, that maybe we make that the signature issues,
uh... what we're doing to School Board and really invite every representative of the
respective communities to say this is on our agenda. Um, but at this particular time, I
can't support that. Um, now as to Jim, your point in terms of outreach, I think that that is
a great idea. Um, I would like to have a dialog with the members, but I don't want to
have a situation where we're recognizing some School Board members as having more
valid opinions than other ones. And so I'm maintaining a neutral status at this particular
time. I...I don't want this position to be construed as me supporting one side or the other.
Um, I think we need to respect the democratic process, and so that's where I feel, and I
feel strongly about.
Throgmorton/ Got it! So ... I'd like to make sure I'm clear about one thing. Uh, I didn't speak
just with Brian Kirschling. (both talking)
Cole/ Yeah...
Throgmorton/ (both talking) ...lengthy conversations with Tom Yates, Brian Kirschling, uh, and
uh.... and Chris Liebig.
Cole/ Yep!
Throgmorton/ And also with Chris Lynch over the phone. So ... at least in the past, you know,
couple weeks or thereabouts.
Cole/Yep.
Throgmorton/ Uh, so, John, Pauline?
Thomas/ I ... support sending the letter, urn .... I think ... I think it is important that we as a
Council... uh, represent the City of Iowa City. So we .... the School Board, and I have
full respect for the School Board. It's ... you know, it's... ultimately their decision. At the
same time they need to know where the City Council stands on this question about the,
um, the boundaries for the secondary schools. And how that could affect, uh, you know,
Iowa City. And, you know, I agree with the general thrust of...of Jim's letter in terms of
what that impact could be. Uh... and it ... and that, you know, Jim I thought articulated
pretty well that we have... the... the snapshot of, you know, what the composition would be
at the three high schools now, but if you look at the junior and elementary school
populations, uh, you know, the ... the SES numbers get higher, uh, over time, coming
through the high schools. So ... it's a very dynamic situation, uh, that could get worse.
We all .... those of us ... I've lived long enough to see how, um, you know, when you have
that imbalance at a high school it can reverberate through the District's structure in terms
of affecting, uh, those schools that feed those high schools with respect to neighborhood
vitality and, uh, stability and so forth, where you know you .... you end up seeing a
migration to the ... to the new school, uh, with all the bells and whistles and the lower VRL
numbers. So you have a convergent of factors that as much as I would like to ... to believe
that people don't look at these things, they do. And ... and so I think it is important that we
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as a city ... uh... express concern regarding what ... what could happen with ... with what was
just approved. I ... I feel the ... the current Board did .... made some interesting, uh,
considerations with respect to what to do with the junior high school level, which you
didn't ... you know, express any concern ... for in ... in your letter, and I think what they
were ... what the Board was attempting to do was to ... to minimize the impact on Kirkwood
and Alexander in terms of the proposed changes. So (both talking)
Throgmorton/ That's true.
Thomas/ ....that seemed like a reasonable, um, strategy. I felt that it addressed the issue when
the ... when the children are at a younger age, when geography and relatedness to one's
neighborhood, uh, I think is something to give more consideration to. But at the high
school level, I ... I do have real concerns about how ... uh, you know, their decision
would ... would skew the numbers. imbalance them for the two Iowa City high schools,
and that ... that imbalance could build on itself over time and um ... the other thing I would
just say is that it's really critical at this point aside from that decision is the bond issue
coming up, and... and the time is ticking on that. It's critical that, uh, the School Board
and Iowa City, all the ... all those who have a stake in the outcome of that bond, uh, start
moving toward getting its approval and the longer this decision making process plays out,
the less time we have to form a unified front and voice with respect to getting that bond
approved, which is absolutely critical for everyone. So, urn... that... that's sort of an
overriding issue that we ... we really need to focus on this thing and get it resolved so that
we can move forward.
Throgmorton/ Pauline?
Taylor/ At these Council meetings I've heard many times that we need to respect the process and
obviously the ... Board of Education has gone through a process and done their vote.
Um ... but I don't necessarily agree with how they came about that, and I ... I do think that
we should send the letter because I do think that they need to know, um, how we feel
about it. Uh, to the extent of not telling them how to do their job and say where the
boundaries should be, but just expressing our concerns, uh, and I do also think somebody
mentioned the joint entities. I think it might be appropriate to have that on a agenda, joint
entities meeting, to ... to discuss that, uh, because it does involve even ... even the Board of
Supervisors and the surrounding communities. Uh, so I think that's something we should
consider, but I would send, uh, the letter and also include, uh, these, uh, resolutions with
it.
Cole/ I guess my only point is do we ... do we anticipate that this is going to change a vote of any
of the School Board members, because I think that ultimately is what we need to really
look at doing, and I ... and I don't see us doing that. This ultimately is going to be decided
in July. Um, I think we can individually campaign for whatever School Board members
that we would like to, and that ultimately is going to determine the direction of that. So,
um, I'm still not supportive (both talking)
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Thomas/ I ... I don't know that ... I can't say whether it will change anyone's opinion, but I think
we need to make our position... clear and um, and I thought the letter that Jim prepared
did a pretty good job showing ... what potentially could happen and how that could affect
Iowa City.
Mims/ I would agree with what John, you know, has said. I think ... we have a responsibility to
represent the residents of Iowa City, and to me the ... the boundary changes that were made
last week, um, have the potential as outlined in Jim's letter to have a signif ..I think a
significant detrimental affect to the children in Iowa City, to the neighborhoods in Iowa
City, and quite frankly when I go back through and look at all ... a lot of the items on the
strategic plan, I ... I think we're gonna find ourselves incredibly challenged to .... to find
success with some of those if we get a much more segregated community, uh, both
racially and socioeconomically. And that is exactly, um, what this is ... what this will do.
Um, I mean they talked some about it at the Board, but you talk about affluent flight or
white flight, um, you look at where there is undeveloped land, there is a lot of
undeveloped land around Liberty High, and I can tell you right now the houses are going
to be ... a lot of the houses that are going to be built out there are going to be expensive
houses, and you're going to have, uh, people who are moving in or are going to be
moving, either moving into this area will be ... buying and building out there and you will
have certain element of people who live .... in the southern part of the District, if you will,
who will be moving to the northern part, for either the bells and whistles of a new school,
um, and/or as they see the demographics of these other schools changing, they're going
there. I ... I think we have that responsibility, um, to represent our community, and I ... I
think it's imperative that we do that, and I ... there's a few changes I'd like to see us make,
uh, to the letter, but I think it's... first of all essential that we agree that we're going to
send the letter.
Throgmorton/ So ... uh... we ... we should be really clear and really honest with ourselves. This is a
really difficult issue with all sorts of reasons. It's profoundly difficult. And we need to
be gentle with ourselves and gentle with other people while being clear about ... what we
think and what we value. So, John, you ... you rightly mention that I didn't write very
much about the junior high stuff. Uh, I ... I did that only briefly at the start where I
basically say you made this decision and .... and made another decision. It's the first
decision that we're, uh, objecting to, not the other one having to do with Alexander. Uh,
and then, uh, at the very end, or near the end, or somewhere in there, I ... I say something
about, uh, about, uh, Kirkwood Junior High. So ... so I was trying to touch on those things
without going into great detail, because it's already too long (laughs)
Mims/ (laughs) I would agree! (both talking) See, and I would think from that perspective, Jim,
too, some of my thoughts were... they... they know what the decisions are that they made.
And even to ... to maybe take some of those, some of those details out and, you know, say
that our big concern is ... the resulting imbalance, you know, in those numbers and how...
we would anticipate that imbalance to get even worse over time, because as John
emphasized when you start looking... and you had some of that in your letter, you start
looking at the elementary and junior high numbers as the cohorts move through those
three high schools, the imbalance is going to get even worse. Um ... I ... I think there are
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some of those areas that ... that we maybe could do some... compaction of it, but I ... I do
think reminding them of the process and I think maybe, um, and you .... you had it in
there, but maybe even emphasizing a little more, the fact that, urn ... the likelihood of
passing that bond referendum with the divisiveness (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I thought I was very clear about that.
Mims/ Yeah, and I ... I'd have to reread it. Maybe it was enough. Um ... I ... I think .... I think it's
dead in the water.
Throgmorton/ So, uh, I want to, uh.... a ... ask you, I mean I hear four votes in favor of moving
ahead (both talking)
Cole/ I'm not supportive (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I ... I can massage it some with the good recommendations I've heard. Uh... so
first, do you ... do I have your authorization to do that and send it, um...
Mims/ Yes!
Throgmorton/ All right. Uh... was that a yes too? Yeah.
Cole/ So for me it'd be no.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, okay. Uh, the other thing I'm wondering about has to do with ... uh, the ... the
possibility of...of inviting them to meet ... to defer any future decisions and meet with us,
which is not to say decide with us. But it is to say meet with us. I know in the
conversations I've had with, ub, several of these, uh.... uh, several are friends on the
Board, uh, I've had, uh, a pretty clear impression that they understand certain things way
better than I or you do, you know, and we understand other things better than they do,
and we can kind of probe that stuff with `em and ... I think it might be very fruitful to do
that, but I'm frankly not certain that it would be (mumbled) it might actually be
counterproductive, but I ... I'm wondering, well (both talking)
Cole/ ...this joint entities meeting, um (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, but that's on in the future.
Cole/ I know it is but I think, you know, I'd actually talked to Lori Roetlin about this issue, Jim,
and she said that she, at least to me, was not really amenable to meeting with us, unless
Coralville and North Liberty were considered. So I think as a practical matter, we do
need to have all the stakeholders. Now whether we want to have a stand -along meeting, I
would encourage that. Um, because I think that there are a variety of opinions on this,
and I would totally support that because that ... that we're getting a full and complete
picture, and I think it's important to remember that of the votes here, three of those folks
were from Iowa City, um, so this notion that they're playing fast and loose in the future
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of Iowa City, I just don't think is true. Um, and I think ... and the other remaining vote
was Coralville. No .... none of those votes were from North Liberty. So, I think they're...
they're important issues affecting all of our communities, and I would support, if they're
willing to do that, a stand -along joint entity meeting, um .... so....
Mims/ Is there anybody on the Board from North Liberty?
Cole/ Not that actually voted for these particular proposals I don't think. I mean, in terms of Lori
Roetlin's from Coralville. Is Chris Lynch from North Liberty?
Mims/ No, he lives in Coralville.
Cole/ Okay.
Mims/ I don't think there is anybody from (several talking)
Cole/ ...I think that's instructive, I think, and not ... not to say that they're right, but that I think in
terms of representing the City as a whole, the community is divided, um, even within
Iowa City, and so that's my only point on this, and that's why I think we need to bring
the stakeholders together, if they're willing to do it.
Throgmorton/ So it's an interesting idea, but if...if we suggested that, that'd be ... oh, seven Board
members, seven Council members, uh, there're what, seven at, uh, Coralville and five at
North Liberty, right? So what is that ... 12, 19, 26 people.
Cole/ If they're willing to do it, I mean.
Throgmorton/ We can't do a 26 -person meeting and have ... achieve anything! Can't do it! So...
the only thing that would seem viable to me that we might consider, really consider
doing, is inviting ... a subset of each of those to meet, like three from each, or whatever's
the appropriate (both talking)
Mims/ Less than a quorum.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Less than quorum, yeah. So that'd be two from North Liberty. And that's
11 people. That's a manageable number.
Cole/ I would support if they're willing to do it less than a quorum from each entity, urn ... I
would support that. I can include that in the letter as a suggestion, you know.
Mims/ I wouldn't put it in the letter at this point. I mean .... I guess my thought would be maybe
something to the effect of, you know, we're more than willing to try and set up some sort
of meeting amongst all the stakeholders and leave it at that. I ... I think ... I think, to me the
point of this letter needs to be ... um, the seriousness with which we take their decision.
Um, how detrimental we see it to being for the children of Iowa City, and the community
as a whole because of the effects on neighborhoods, etc. Um, the past cooperation, um,
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that we have had and... and joint support, um, and .... and the emphasis on us literally
seeing the bond referendum is probably dead in the water because, I mean, to pass $140
million -plus bond referendum is not going to happen without.... uniting this School
District. And then it's still going to take a lot of work, cause that's a lot of money. It's
bigger than anything that has ever come close to being passed. And so to have any kind
of significant division across this School District, um, the bond referendum's dead in the
water. And so this has to be resolved, and I think, John, you made a really good point.
They're talking about a 2017 bond referendum. There's not a lot of time...
11$1'iiifl��
Mims/ ...but what people have to be united and start really getting organized to do that
educational campaign across the District to garner the support.
Throgmorton/ What we can't do is tell the School Board what to do.
Mims/ I agree! We have to be cautious with (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah. All right ... so I don't know if there's anything else to say about our ... school
attendance.
Mims/ Well, I....
Throgmorton/ Zone situation.
Mims/ Do the letter and ... you've got our ideas in terms of ..some of the editorials too.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, when I revise this, Marian, I'll send it to you and you can put it on
stationary, okay? And I'll even sign it (laughs) Okay, we can move on ... to wherever, I
don't know where my ... work session thing is.
Mims/ We are to the Information Packets. May 5a'.
Information Packet Discussion May 5,121 KXIC Schedule RP # 4 Info Packet of 5/121:
Throgmorton/ All right (mumbled) Information Packets.
Karr/ Excuse me, just to clarify. Is ... Kingsley still here?
Mims/ Yep. Kingsley, you can come back.
Karr/ If he's here I just want to be sure to involve him or not. (several talking in background)
Mims/ In there filling his mouth (laughter)
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Throgmorton/ All right, uh... any comments on the May 5`h Info Packet? I ... I can see I have one.
Just get it out there, uh, the listening post update that's IP #6. Uh, Marian, I think you
identified, uh, four or five places that are ... that we could go to because we've mentioned
them before, uh...
Karr/ That's correct!
Throgmorton/ We haven't scheduled a day or anything like that.
Karr/ That's correct.
Throgmorton/ Uh, I ... I was thinking that it might be good to, uh, have one in Forest View, which
is on your list. But if we did that ... uh, it would be extremely important, I think to have
someone from the City staff present, uh, because of the sensitivity of that site. Uh... and
we'd need a translator. A Spanish-speaking translator. Uh, a good friend of mine
actually, uh, has worked for years at Mann and is now also part-time at Shimek.
She ... she, you know, is fluent in Spanish and knows all sorts of families in Forest View.
She might be very good, but it could be just (mumbled) skilled translator. So, I don't
know, uh, what do y'all think of that idea? (several responding)
Karr/ When did you want to do it and ... I can work with what two Council Members.
Throgmorton/ Uh... you know, because it would be outdoors ... I, you know, I think it'd be kind of
a walking thing somehow. I ... I don't exactly, but I know it's been done up there before.
Uh, so, um ... not in July (laughs) Uh, so late June? (several talking) I don't know, is this
steppin' in territory we shouldn't step...
Fruin/ No! That's fine!
Karr/ Why don't I, um, get some dates and see what ... what works best, and then get back to you
and see what we can do.
Throgmorton/ Okay. Good deal!
Cole/ I'd love to go too so...
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Uh... anything else for the May, uh, whatever it is, May 5?
Botchway/ Um, IPS, I believe... yeah, IPS. Just appreciate, you know, Geoff, um, or ... or Chief
Hargadine reaching out to Geoff and kind of puttin' that memo in there. Just a good kind
of information as far as, you know, it's ... it started off a little soft, but then it got, you
know, people were showing up and so I think it's just a successful program overall, so I
really appreciate that work, and of pushing forth the diversity initiatives.
Mims/ They've got another one coming up too.
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Botchway/ Yep!
Cole/ Those numbers are impressive too. I mean, talk about turnouts, uh... I'm incredibly
impressed with that.
Botchway/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Simpson/ IP2, uh, the listening post at Old Capitol Mall. I just wanted to thank John and Pauline
for, um, hosting that. Uh, I thought their discussion went well and uh, hopefully can get
more student involvement in the future with City Council, and I think that was a good
first step, and then just a second one. On the, uh, Public Art Commission minutes, um,
the paragraph for the public discussion of any item not on the agenda, the final sentence
in that paragraph, um, is incomplete and I was ... I was reading it because I was interested
(laughter) and it didn't say when the decision would come out.
Throgmorton/ Okay! May 12`h. The Info Packet.
Botchway/ IP .... 12. So I know we've already given ... have we given money to the EDC already?
Throgmorton/ I'm sorry, to what?
Botchway/ EDC.
Mims/ Yeah.
Botchway/ Okay. My only issue ... I mean as (several talking) Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Fruin/ Yes, you did.
Botchway/ My only issue is I think, Rockne, you asked a good question here, as far as ... um
(mumbled) uh, something about, you know, whether or not you're looking at (clears
throat) underserved communities. I just didn't like the answer, to be honest with you,
from the EDC, not from our group. Um, it just, you know, frankly, um, was just like, you
know, we take referrals from anywhere in the state of Iowa, um, anyone can contact `em,
you know, if this was, um, any type of fundraiser or any type of, you know, new
business, they would go out to the community and talk about it, with a ... with different
folks and so I guess my point to that is ... in regards to our strategic plan initiative, where
we talked about .... or leveraging, um, our, um, stakeholders to, you know, work with
underserved communities as far as, you know, business development and other things,
you know, in the future if we have some proposals along those lines, and even now, if we
could press `em a little harder on, um, kind of what they're doing in that area.
Cole/ And which one are you talking about again, Kingsley?
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Botchway/ It was the ... oh, sorry, it was the first one with the EDC.
Cole/ Okay.
Botchway/ Cause it was considering a request for $25,0000, and I think, you know, again, it was
good deliberation. I just .... that particular thing where it said ... you know (mumbled) any
state... anywhere in the state of Iowa. I understand that. I'm sure that's a good way of
doing it, but I just think that, you know, if you're going to work with underserved
populations, there's going to have to be more of an effort of outreach, um, in regards to
that and I think that we can at least provide somewhat of a ... I wouldn't say a stop -gap,
but just....answer that question a little more specifically, especially if we're giving
money. That was my only thing.
Mims/ The only thing I would say to that, Kingsley, is .... not ... not every organization is going to
have, um, the breadth of experience and .... and mission to work with every kind of group
that might come forward. I think when you're .... for example, I think the program
that ... that the City's in the process of doing right now, of `so you want to start a
business,' is absolutely fantastic. It's really... it's starting people from absolute ground
zero that know nothing about a business.... regardless of socioeconomic background,
ethnicity, whatever, anybody is welcome to that, that, you know, is interested maybe in
starting their own business. To me the EDC is a much more, um, it's ... it's a larger,
it's ... it's much more sophisticated, but the kind of, um ... the kind of consultation that they
are going to give is going to be to people and organizations that are much further along in
terms of that knowledge and, urn ... uh... experience maybe of what it takes to start a
business. They still need some consultation, they still need some help, but they're further
along than that very first time ... never done a business kind of thing before, and I think we
have to recognize that we're gonna work with and ... and consult with and give money to
different kinds of organizations that have different kinds of strengths, and different kinds
of focuses. And .... so while I agree that the answer wasn't great, I think maybe he should
have just come out and said ... that's not kind of in our wheel well type of thing. Um, I
don't think it is in their wheel well.
Botchway/ Right.
Mims/ Honestly. Um ... but that's where doing things like, hey, you want to start your own
business and then maybe working with other organizations of, okay, how can you come
in now and help these people now that they've gone through this (several talking) you
know, `so you want to start your own business,' who else can we get involved to maybe
start takin' `em to that next level then once they go through that, I think is important.
Botchway/ Agreed. (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ IP #4, that's KXIC. I'm scheduled for...
Karr/ June 1.
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Throgmorton/ ...first of June. But we need to fill in the others. Uh.... I ... I'd like to volunteer for
July 13. But if others need that date, you know, I can be flexible.
Mims/ Which date?
Karr/ July 13th .... Jim.
Thomas/ I'll volunteer for July 6th.
Karr/ 6th, John.
Cole/ Is June (mumbled) taken?
Karr/ June 15th is not.
Cole/ I'll take (both talking)
Botchway/ I'll take June 8th.
Karr/ June 8th is Botchway. Okay, and June 15th is ... Cole.
Cole/ June 15th is Cole, yep!
Karr/ 22"a, 29t?
Taylor/ I can do the 22 d.
Karr/ 22"d is Taylor. I have June 29th and July 20th.
Mims/ I'll take July 20th.
Karr/ July 20th, Mims.
Cole/ Is July 6th taken?
Karr/ July 6th is taken by Thomas.
Cole/ Okay.
Karr/ The only one I have left on Wednesday is June 29th.
Mims/ I'll be out of town.
Throgmorton/ Terry can do it!
Karr/ I can find (several talking and laughing)
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Throgmorton/ Only kidding him; he's not here! (laughs)
Karr/ I ... I can...
Mims/ June 29th, yeah, I actually... actually I can do June 29th.
Karr/ June 29th (both talking) Okay. And then we have Friday June 3rd, July 1, and July 15th.
Simpson/ I would be interested in July 15th.
Karr/ July 15th.... Jacob, got it. Thank you.
Mims/ You said June 3rd is still open?
Karr/ June 3rd is still open.
Mims/ All right, I'll take June 3rd.
Karr/ And that leaves July 1.
Cole/ I'll do July 1.
Karr/ July 1. I'll revise it and get it out in the packet.
Throgmorton/ Uh, anything else on the .... in this packet?
Cole/ May 12th9
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Cole/ Um, IP6, Rose Oaks, and I don't know if everyone had an opportunity to read my late
memo early today, early this afternoon. Um ... and I don't know (coughing, unable to hear
speaker) but now, Jim.
Throgmorton/ Sorry?
Cole/ Can I talk about that now?
Throgmorton/ I think so, yeah.
Cole/ Um ... so as I indicated during last meeting, I had concerns about whether we're getting a
full and accurate picture in terms of what's happening out at Rose Oaks. And you know,
Susan brought up the question of why am I requesting this if we already think the staff is
doing a good job, and I do. I think (both talking)
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Mims/ That wasn't exactly what I said, but...
Cole/ But that's okay! I .... I mean the point being though is that I commended staff for what they
had done, um, but I do feel that we are losing, uh, a perspective from the Rose Oaks, and
to some degree, I mean, Charlie has sort of taken a de facto role in terms of what I'm
proposing. Um, but I would like that when we have these reports, we also hear a report
from a liaison designated by the Center for Worker Justice so we're getting that snapshot,
um, you know, the term asbestos was used, uh, today for the first time. Uh, the term, uh,
water, uh, that didn't taste quite right was used for the very first time today. Uh, these are
major concerns that we need to make sure that we have our antennae up, um ... there's
nothing special about Center for Worker Justice, other than they've been on the ground,
uh, several of their people have been involved in gathering information. Um, and I think
that they would be in a good position, simply to provide and report information to us as
part of the information that we're receiving, cause I feel, uh, we're receiving very
glowing reports from the .... from the developer. We're receiving glowing reports from
our social service agencies, and I think that they're doing, you know, as well as they can
under the circumstances, but we do have some gaps and I think that this fills this gap, um,
one of the things I don't want us to do is we're sort of going along with our meetings here
and I ... I think we're forgetting what ... what happened and the magnitude of what
happened here. Um, and I want to make sure that this process hopefully will help us
make sure that we're not forgetting it, and we're also making sure that we have accurate
information for proposals going forward. Um, so I'm envisioning something relatively
simple, limited in scope, uh, but what I would want to have is that the staff, when we're
doing these particular updates, that we'd have essentially reports from the Rose Oaks, uh,
liaison, uh, from the Center for Worker Justice so we're having a more complete picture.
Uh, because I don't feel we're getting the full and accurate information at this time.
Botchway/ I agree and disagree. I dis... okay, I agree that there may be a need to hear from
somebody that we, you know, we designate or we publicly say (mumbled) liaison. I feel
some type of way about, you know, CWJ and them working together with the tenant's
association, but not hearing from the tenant's association themselves and hearing from
the CWJ. That's just a matter of empowerment I have a problem with.
Cole/ (mumbled)
Botchway/ True! (both talking)
Cole/ So what I'm proposing though is that they would be able to pick who they want, and they
may decide leadership in the tenant's association will be the person (mumbled)
Botchway/ But to your other points, I ... I am a little worried that.... urn.... one, a social service,
you know, report wasn't glowing. It stated that, you know, people weren't showing up,
um, or the ... the thought was people weren't showing up, and so ... you know, this is a huge
issue. I don't want, I mean, one of the things we talked about was having a lot of people
saying a lot of different things, because then the story's skewed. I mean, it's just like that
game you play with the cups, or the game you play with Pauline says something to John,
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we go around the table, and then you're saying something totally different, I
mean .... I .... I don't want to have too many people there. I do think a voice needs to be
heard because there are some things that were said that are concerning. I do think that if
Charlie or whoever the designee is hearing some of those things, we do have City
processes in place as far as if the water tastes funny. You can talk to other people if
there's asbestos complaints, talk to other people.... circumventing that process
is .... problematic for me because then again you're not empowering folks — you're, you
know, you're helping them circumvent the process, but then later on down the road when
they say that, you know, um, I'm gonna come to Council to talk about my thing or my
particular issue when they move to a different apartment complex, whatever the case may
be, that's literally not the avenue in which they need to, you know, conduct themselves. I
just want a point.... person, I mean, my presumption was that would be the Shelter House.
So regardless of whether or not they were taking their, urn ... uh, individuals based on their
own kind of guidelines, they would still be providing information along those lines. That
is not happening, and so I'm supportive of having some type of point. I just ... I'm very
cautious...
Cole/ (both talking) ...there's still enormous amount of frustration out there, and I think in part
because they're not ... they're not ... being able to utilize the Shelter House. I don't know
whether that's a communication breakdown or whether that ... (mumbled) services I think
what Charlie brought up today, in terms of the credit checks, um, and so I think we talk
about the multitude of voices, I still want to encourage individual community members to
report concerns to us directly, um, but this just gives us one voice, an institutional voice,
that has actively worked with the residents and I think moreover has the trust of the
residents, um, so that's sort of where I'm coming from with that.
Taylor/ I totally agree with Rockne on that. Um ... as far as them not showing up for the Shelter
visits, that's where we need ... needed to hear from them, not just from the Shelter folks or
the Rose Oaks folks that people aren't coming, because then come to find out
they... they... there really was no one there on that Friday when someone tried to show up
to talk to them. And we need to hear that, and as far as, uh, having a representative, the
CWJ folks have been meeting right along side with the, uh, tenant's association with
them, so, uh, they know, uh, what they're hearing from these tenants and so appointing
someone like Charlie, or, uh, (mumbled) or, urn ... some of the others from CWJ to speak
for them, would be a good idea I think ... so that we hear that side of it. There's always
two sides, and it wouldn't be like you're hearing multitude different things. It'll just be
this is what's happening, these people have been told they're going to be evicted, uh,
there's asbestos concerns now and those kinds of things, that we need to know, or this
person was given till June, this person's given till August, there is no place for them to
move, they don't qualify for the funds, you know, we're hearing there's all these funds
and Shelter House is wanting to help them, but they don't qualify for that, so then what
are they supposed to do, and we need to know that. We need to know that out of a 100
people still living there, uh, 35 of them don't qualify and have no place to go and what
are we going to do with `em. We need to know that.
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Botchway/ Well I'm excited about the overall kind of, you know, level of engagement because I
do remember bringing up last work session, and I believe everybody was here except
Susan, where, you know, it was clear to me that there is going to be a gap, and I asked
Council at the time, and maybe I'm confused and so we could maybe put it in the minutes
next time, um, that you know are we as a Council willing to provide some type of
monetary funding towards that particular gap, because again, Shelter House is very clear
about maybe what their expectations are and who the families they're working with, but
there are going to be a lot of folks that don't necessarily have, um, you know, the needs
that some of the folks that work with Shelter House and is the Council of the thought that
where that gap is, where we have residents that still need funds as far as moving, um,
whether or not we would be providing that, because it's clear, at least from a
communication also from the, uh, Rose Oak, uh, ten ... people, that they won't be, uh,
providing that type of funding, uh, any longer. So ... I do have questions out there.
Nobody said anything. We moved on! So...
Mims/ To the ... to the event, or to the item that's on the table, I ... I am opposed to the Council
appointing a liaison, and here's my rationale. Anybody can come forward and give
information to the Council at any time. They can send us an email. They can send us a
letter. They can come speak at the podium. There is nothing holding anybody back from
pre ... from presenting any and all information that they want to present directly to this
Council. Um, one of the comments that was made, and this is ... where I kind of disagree,
Rockne, with what you portrayed my saying last time was as I recall one of the things
you said is, you know, we're hearing this from staff and management and we're hearing
this from ... CWJ and the tenant's association. Okay? We're hearing two different things.
Right? We've got four groups, two kind of we're hearing over here, two we're kind of
hearing over here, and then what you wanted to do was to appoint a liaison from this
group over here, and to me ... that does two things. One, it says to me that you're giving
more credibility to this group than you are to our staff and the management, just
immediately says that because you've got two groups that you say you're hearing
different things from, but you're going to chose one of them then to be your liaison.
(both talking) No, let me finish! So that says to me that you are giving them more
credibility. Secondly, I think regardless of that issue, just .... just even set that aside for a
minute, the minute that this Council officially appoints someone or some organization as
a liaison, we are giving them more credibility and more authority, and I don't think ... I
don't think that's necessary. I think it's dangerous in this... situation, because I think
there are conflicts in the information that are coming forward. And there is no one that is
prevented from providing us with an update and information at any time. Charlie can
come to every single meeting and prevent... present us with information. Chrissy
Canganelli can do that from Shelter House. CWJ can do stuff directly. The tenant's
association can do it directly, and then it is up to us to filter that information and decide
what we are going to do with it. I mean.... there's.... there's one thing that is getting the
information, and I think to ... to appoint a liaison, you're narrowing who you are deeming
to be the official and accurate source of information. I think you're just ... I think you're
automatically doing that the minute you appoint someone as a liaison. So I say leave it
open, let everybody come forward if they feel they have information that we ought to
have. If they don't want to give it to us directly, they can feed it through whatever
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organization they're most comfortable with — Shelter House, Center for Worker Justice,
you know, whoever it might be, we will still get that information. The second part
is ... quite frankly what are we going to do with that information? Um ... you know, Charlie
can stand up here tonight as he did and tell us about these various situations. What we
have to look at it from is ... is a policy perspective, which is what Kingsley has tried to
bring up, is are we ... willing as a Council, and I'm not saying I am or am not, but to give
more money ... uh, to help in this situation if people don't have the resources to relocate.
We cannot sit here as a Council and address every single.... resident's issue out there who
is, you know, who has a lease that is up on July 3151 or ... August 315` and help them .... you
know, figure out their situation. That is not the role of the City Council. The role of the
City Council is to set policy, and the best way we can set the policy is to get the most
information we have and I think we get the most information by leaving it wide open and
encouraging any and all of those individuals to bring forth the information and not to
narrow it and give priority or some level of superiority or ... or validity, um, by appointing
some liaison.
Throgmorton/ Okay, so here's what I think about all this, uh, I ... I do not support the idea of
appointing a liaison. Understand the rationale, but I don't support the ... the particular
idea. I do think we should invite ... any particular organization that thinks it can
reasonably represent the views of the tenants, the tenant's association, uh, the CWJ. I ... I
don't want to determine who that would be. We sh... we should invite them to regularly
share with us their perspective, as ... with as much information as they can reasonably get
into it, so that we do hear the view that ... that they are aware of on the ground, and that
view unavoidably is going to differ from what .... Rose Oaks' management... knows it's
doing, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's filtering down to the ground (laughs) to ... to
individual people the way management thinks it is. So I support the idea of inviting...
the groups I named, uh, at least one of them, to regularly update us, but I don't support
the idea of appointing liaison. I think that would be a mistake. Uh, and then with regard
to the funding part of it, uh, I guess what I would say is pretty much of a standard thing.
If there are three Council Members who think that topic's worth probing more
thoroughly, we can address it in our next work session. We could do it right now if we
wanted to, but I ... you know, time passes and it's gettin' later and ... I ... I think it would be
better to know that we're going to talk about it at a certain moment. So ... I ... if there are
three who think we should be discussing the possibility of, uh, of providing some funds...
Fruin/ Before you jump into that discussion, a couple of points I'd like to make.
Throgmorton/ Sure.
Fruin/ Um, one.....clearly if there's public health concerns, those shouldn't wait to ... to, uh....
Throgmorton/ Right, of course.
Fruin/ ...show up in a report, you know, at a Council meeting. Um, and so ... we will follow up
and we'll make sure that if there's concerns with asbestos or water quality that we can get
out there, same day, and look at ... and look at some of those issues to determine if there's
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a public health risk. So we need to be careful that ... um, when we're establishing
communication channels, they know that there's .... an .... an immediate response that's
available for those critical items. Understand there's a bigger picture that's more
appropriate for .... for this table and this setting. Urn ... second, you know, we've never
really, uh, laid out, uh, the Council hasn't and staff hasn't, laid out what is expected out
of the reports that you receive.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Fruin/ If you are not getting information, uh, that you would like to see, if...if the... information is
too brief, let us know what other, um, commentary you would like in there, and this gets
at the funding concerns. If there's concern that people aren't qualifying for the funding, I
think before we jump in and say, `Are we willing or are we not willing to provide funds,'
let's get some more information, and I would say let's ask Shelter House representatives
to ... to come or to provide a more detailed report that can get into the funding issues, and
they can provide commentary on .... why people aren't eligible to ... to be receiving funds.
Is it because they're not completing the application? Is it because when they do complete
the application they're not eligible under federal rules? Is it because the Rose Oaks'
money that was, uh, you know the $30,000 or the $25,000, whatever the number is that
they donated has strings attached to it that people aren't qualifying for it. We don't have
that, at least I don't have that information right now, but I think the source ... the best
source for that is the ... are the folks controllin' the money and controlling the application
process, and that's Shelter House for us now, and .... um, I am personally worried about,
urn ... uh, the mixed message and ... and .... a City -appointed liaison would send. Um, I
think it, uh, I'm particularly worried with how the other social service agencies would...
would handle that, um, would react to that. I think that, um, I don't ... I don't know that
there's a huge urgency because of the fact that anybody can come and submit information
or present to you at any time. I would personally feel a lot more comfortable having this
discussion with ... someone from the Shelter House who's coordinating the social service
effort, participating in it, so they can share with you everything that they're seeing here
and ... doing on site there.
Thomas/ Geoff, kinda following up on what you just said, I ... one thought I've been having is ... is
the, and I don't know how many actual residents are still there, but ... what I was
envisioning was ... was like a matrix of the ... of the actual people, you know, case #1
through 120, whatever the number might be, where there would be more effort at getting
specific information for each of those residents so that ... you know, we would know
their .... their status .... and you know, if that information then needed to be summarized, or
could be summarized, that would be useful, but it seemed to me that's where I was
experiencing the sense of. ... gap in that, um, it seemed to me it was a manageable number
of people that we could actually achieve that level of information .... so that we could then
understand what ... what actually is going on on the ground there, with each resident.
(several talking)
Fruin/ ....Rose Oaks' management...
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Throgmorton/ Probably 100 households, I don't know (both talking)
Fruin/ I think they've represented to us in past discussions that they're willing to share that with
us. Um ... certainly I think we need to be protective of personal information that's out
there. We don't necessarily want to advertise who's in what unit and...
Thomas/ No, I ... I...
Fruin/ ...but some sort of summary .... I know that the Shelter House has access to that
information, and um, when, uh, folks have raised concerns with me, uh, a ... about specific
tenants, I've been able to call and get pretty quick responses from Rose Oaks'
management on what ... you know, what ... how they view the situation or that particular
tenant's, um ... uh, status within that complex. So .... I .... I feel like that information's
attainable and if the Council would like to see some type of summarized (several talking)
Cole/ ...to that point, I mean, CWJ has been doing a lot of that work. I mean, so it's not as if -so,
I ... my only thing is in terms of the reporting, is that I think in addition to responding to
Rose Oaks' management and calling them, that we call .... CWJ or that we call the
tenant's association because I think they have accurate sources of information, um, and I
don't think we're getting that, so but I think the other thing too is I ... Jim, you had talked
about you had agreed that you don't like a liaison.
Throgmorton/ I don't want to appoint a liaison.
Cole/ ...appoint a liaison, but you would invite... and.... a designated entity to ... to at least share
information with us so we wouldn't....
Throgmorton/ We wouldn't ... I'm not saying we would designate the entity.
Cole/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ I'm saying I know of two entities out there — the tenant's association and maybe
the Black Voices Project, or the CWJ (both talking)
Mims/ And the Shelter House.
Throgmorton/ Well, the Shelter House is ... is playing a different role in this.
Cole/ Yeah, I think so too.
Throgmorton/ And I admire what they're doin' a lot, but they're playin' a different role. So I
would invite... somebody from any one of those organizations to ... kind of provide any
detailed information they think is useful for us, uh, that, you know, in their view differs
from (several talking)
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Taylor/ Well I ... I'm thinking that liaison is probably not the ... the appropriate term. Uh, that's it
more of a contact person and somebody as a centralized contact person that we ... we could
trust is, uh, has their finger on what's going on and sharing accurate information with us
from ... from their standpoint and from the tenant's standpoint. So more of a contact
person or somebody Geoff could count on if he had a question about something, he could
contact whoever it might be, whether it's Charlie or whoever they would designate as
their contact person, not necessarily us appointing a liaison... to be (several talking)
Mims/ I don't see a difference.
Botchway/ Yeah, cause Geoff would have to respond to anybody that would have a complaint.
That's, I mean, that's my point, I mean any ... I worry, you know, and I guess I'm going
back a little bit on what I said because I agree with Susan. I mean ... so say we report
Charlie as the individual that was going to be the person that contacts Geoff, I mean, um,
I don't feel that that's empowering. I think we should allow tenants, if they feel
comfortable... or if they feel like, you know, they should go to Geoff, we should be
steering them to the person that can provide the answer right away. That's why I feel
some type of way about, you know, waiting for a report. I appreciate your comments on
that, Geoff, because... tenants or people are going to wait, if you tell them that's what's
going to happen, they're going to wait on Council to act and that's not fair. If you have a
water issue, you need to get that handled right away.
Cole/ Well, again, I think that's a red herring. I'm not telling people that they can't report
concerns directly. I ... I mean obviously we're encouraging that, but trying to facilitate
that and for whatever reason, they have not been reporting to us directly. I mean so I'm
not telling them that they can't report information, or I'm not discouraging them from
doing that.
Botchway/ (several talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, we need to move on (several talking)
Cole/ Well I think it's important, and I think that, you know ... that's sort of where we are at this
point. We need to do better.
Botchway/ Well and .... to that point, it was just the, um, I want .... I'm willing ... I want John's
proposal, what he just spoke about, to be added to the packet, if three other Council
Members or two other Council Members or one other Council Member, cause I agree
with it.
Throgmorton/ If that can be reasonably produced. I .... yeah. I think I personally agree, even a
table, the matrix you were talking about. (several talking)
Fruin/ We'll work to get that put together in a future Info Packet.
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Throgmorton/ With regard to appointing a liaison, I don't hear four people in favor of doing that.
If I'm wrong, tell me.
Cole/ I got two I think, so that's...
Throgmorton/ Yeah. All right. So, um ... let's move ahead with what, uh, what we just said, uh,
concerning the matrix. All right, uh, we're still on May 12'h I guess so ... anything else
from that Information Packet?
Mims/ I ... I would just comment real quickly on IP8, um, kind of ties in with all the School
District stuff, the one ... the one thing rich parents do for their kids that makes all the
difference. It ties in directly — where do they buy their houses.
Throgmorton/ Right. I agree. Uh, Susan, IP7, Haven for Hope, the information you shared with
us. Uh, you already talked about CIT, you know (both talking) yeah. (mumbled) you
know, I ... I don't know.
Mims/ Yeah, I don't think there's any ... I mean, if people have more questions, I'm happy to
answer `em. If you want more information, like I say, I brought back more paperwork
than I gave to Marian to put in the packet, so if you want more I can ... you want me to put
it in the packet? Okay. Okay, I'll give the rest of it to her to...
Council Time:
Throgmorton/ Okay, any (both talking) from that Info Packet? I think we're at Council Time.
Mims/ We've done it once tonight.
Throgmorton/ We did it once, but I think there might have been something I wanted to say here.
Let me see (laughter) whole bunch of blah, blah, blah stuff. Uh.... I .... I think, uh, there
are a few things I want to tell you that I hadn't said earlier. I had lunch with Mayors
Lundell and Nielson, uh, on the 13th. That ... that was, you know, a valuable thing to do.
It's not going to lead to any action but a good thing to do. Also on the 13a', Geoff,
Stefanie Bowers, and I met with some civic visitors who came from India, Nigeria, and
Australia. That was a fun thing to do. Thanks to Geoff and Stefanie. Uh, and today I
read a proclamation declaring May 15 to 21 as National Police Week, and that was ... good
work. Uh, anybody else have anything they want to bring up?
Thomas/ I... I just will mention that, urn ... uh, I went to, uh, I don't have the date written here but
the ribbon cutting on, uh, the Mercer playground...
Throgmorton/ Yeah!
Thomas/ ...which, that was really fortuitous that Jim wasn't available for that, so I (laughter and
several talking) cause I, you know, with my background, I ... I would be on the production
side of such openings in San Francisco, you know, where we would work on the design
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and then we attend the ribbon cutting and there would be some city official. Well, um,
here I was the city official (laughter) uh, you know, and uh, it was great and ... what I'm
especially happy about is that it ... reflected what I'm hoping we as a city can do in terms
of raising the bar, uh, in terms of our recreational facilities. This truly ... you know, I
encourage everyone to go out there. It is, you know, what I would call a destination
playground. It's ... when I say playground, I ... I think that's limiting what its function and
value is. It's really a place for the community to get to know one another. It's not simply
a recreational experience. It's a social experience, and urn ... this, I think, will draw from a
really wide area, and in fact ... you know, if someone in my neighborhood were to hear
about it, they ... they might actually go down and check it out. So that kind of exchange, I
think, is really important to us as a city. I think we tend to get a little bit too siloed in our
own neighborhood. We need attractions in other parts of Iowa City to pull us ... out of our
own neighborhood and get to know others and ... in Iowa City. So ... it was a wonderful
event. Popcorn, lemonade (several talking and laughing)
Botchway/ From an assessment standpoint, um, one of the things that I think that the City might
be able to use my services for is that, um, you know, my son goes to a lot of these
playgrounds and ... um, the Mercer Park playground I was told, cause his mom took him
there, um, his decibel level while crying being pulled away from the playground was
higher than any other playground (laughter) he participated in, and so, um, kudos to staff
and everybody that put that playground together. They did a wonderful job, obviously,
from his experience.
Mims/ I'd just like to make one other comment and this relates to some comments Jim made
earlier and ... Geoff, please correct me if I'm wrong on the names. Um, but I would ... as
you mentioned, there was a press conference this morning by the Police Department,
and... and I would like to commend the two detectives, Gonzalez and Rich, um, who did
the work on that alleged hate crime. Uh, they did I think a fantastic job. I know they put
in incredible hours to ... to get all the correct information. Um, there was a lot of video
that they ... some of which they showed this morning during the press conference, which
certainly facilitated, um, them getting to the truth. The other person I would like to call
out, and I think this is really important and I'm ..... I'm sure this was probably a joint
decision among.... amongst many people from the City to the County, etc., um, but as the
County Attorney probably the final decision was with Janet Lyness to not file any
charges, uh, against any of the people involved, and ... the biggest reason that Janet gave
this morning for that, and I think this is the absolute critical thing, is that if they had
filed ... and the press asked about, you know, could you file charges for... for filing a false
report, etc., etc., um, everybody involved, and certainly Janet's probably... Janet is
probably the final decision maker was that they felt it was absolutely essential that the
factual information be made available to the public as soon as possible to indicate that in
fact this was not a hate crime, uh, members of this community, particularly minority
members of this community, were not in danger. Uh, that there was not some ongoing
threat. If they had decided to press charges, they would have been compelled to keep a
lot of this information, uh, confidential until they went to court. Um, the consequences
for any charges that they might have filed, they felt were not, um, significant enough to
go ahead and do that, and they felt that the overriding importance was to get the truth out
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to the community, and to do it as quickly as possible. And so, I just wanted to really
commend the detectives, the entire, um, Iowa City Police Department, and everybody
who cooperated with them from the UIPD to the University, etc., and the rest of our staff.
Um, and to the County as well. Um, it was a very, very unfortunate incident,
um ... certainly am glad it was not a hate crime, um, and just glad that the ... the community
has the accurate information now.
Meeting Schedule:
Throgmorton/ Okay, anything else on that? Okay, meeting schedule. I'm gonna ask, uh, Marian
and Eleanor, should I make any kind of comment about the discussion the three of us
have been having about forthcoming meetings? (laughter) Well, you know,
there... whether to conduct a search, you know,
Dilkes/ I think you're getting a memo out tomorrow is the plan right (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, uh, so a memo will be coming to you tomorrow about, uh, a .... a schedule of
particular meetings pertaining to that question.
Pending Work Session Topics lIP # 5 Info Packet of 5/121:
Throgmorton/ Uh, Pending Work Session Topics. Moving on ... (laughs)
Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations:
Throgmorton/ Upcoming Community Events. Let's see (noises on mic) think we're done. Am I
right? (mumbled) Okay, thank you, everybody. We're done with the work session. (several
talking)
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