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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-08-21 CorrespondenceItem Number: 8.a. I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Mary Gravitt: Bus Shelters on Muscatine and First Ave Kellie Fruehling From: Mary Gravitt <gravittmary@gmail.com> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2018 2:05 PM To: Council Subject: BUS SHELTERS ON MUSCATINE AND FIRST AVENUE Dear City Council Members: SUBJECT: Bus Shelters Work is in progress at First Avenue and Muscatine on the supper -sized Com & Go Gas Station. I requested that a civil engineer be sent as to where the intended bus shelter is to be located. Now is the time to judge if a curb cut -away will be needed. And I do not wish to see the mistake that was made with the William Street right turn for the outbound Towncrest route. Although I pled at Council many times to have the street widened to allow for the bus to make the turn without waiting for on -coming traffic to make its turn, I was ignored. The result is a traffic jam when on -coming vehicles come to the corner of Muscatine and William. I know in the future that this will have to be corrected by removing on -street parking at the corner leading onto Muscatine. This of course will invoke additional cost to the taxpayers. My request for a civil engineer is that I have observed the mistakes made on Lower Muscatine (serving Kirkwood Community College) in locating bus stops and that there 1 are no shelters there either. And I feel if we cannot have adequate shelters, benches should be provided for the disabled at minor stops As for the shelter planned for the inbound Towncrest where Hy -Vee is located, I hope the City can persuade Hy -Vee to allow for a bus shelter there also. The shelter to be located there will not have passengers that will have to compete with traffic coming off First Avenue, as those will on the outbound side. If Hy -Vee will not cooperate, Eminent Domain is called for. The shelter planned at Highway 6 is sorely needed as there is no protection located there what -so -ever. The shelters at Gilbert Street and Hyland (serving Broadway and Lakeside Routes) are needed because of the Crisis Center and the various businesses that have sprung -up as Iowa City's population developing outward. Furthermore, some complain that the shelters will be vandalized. But this is more a result of Iowa City Transit's neglect in the past when in an effort to save money, maintenance -persons were no longer sent out to shelters to make sure they were clean and in good repair. You still see this trend in the winter on buses themselves. I feel that I must continually remind Council that Iowa City consists of neighborhoods, not only the Downtown area. We expect equality of city services. The Towncrest Route has never had shelters. This is discrimination. 4 Mary Gravitt 2714 Wayne Avenue #6 Iowa City, IA 52240 Item Number: 8.b. i r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description James Schoenfelder: Poet Laureate [Staff response included Kellie Fruehling From: Geoff Fruin Sent: Friday, August 03, 2018 7:58 AM To: jimscho@mchsi.com; Council Subject: RE: Poet Laureate Mr. Schoenfelder, Thank you for the email and suggestion. To my knowledge this has not been considered in the past. We will certainly consider it going forward. Best, Geoff Fruin City Manager -----Original Message ----- From: jimscho@mchsi.com <jimscho@mchsi.com> Sent: Thursday, August 2, 2018 2:56 PM To: Council <Council@iowa-city.org>; Geoff Fruin <Geoff-Fruin@iowa-city.org> Subject: Poet Laureate To: Geoff Fruin & City Council Question: Why doesn't Iowa City; a UNESCO City of Literature, and sponsor of the Iowa City Book Festival, and hometown to the Center for the Book; have a Poet Laureate? It should. James L. Schoenfelder 4841 Southchase Court Iowa City, Iowa 52245 319-354-5271 Item Number: 8.c. August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Uarol oeHrosse: Emerald Ash Borer article Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2018 8:03 AM To: Council Subject: As emerald ash borer spreads, cities can't plant trees fast enough - https://protect- us.mimecast.com/s/b6fMCjRB4WtjvvjiWGpja httP://www.startribune.com/as-emerald-ash-borer-spreads-cities-can-t-plant-trees-fast-enough/490068101/ As emerald ash borer spreads, cities can't plant trees fast enough St. Paul and Minneapolis have lost tens of thousands of ash trees, and the urban canopy won't be restored for decades. By Emma Nelson and Jeff Hargarten Star Tribune August 4, 2018 — 8:17pm Jennifer Thomas greeted the work crew outside her house with an unusual request: Before they cut down three ash trees on Syndicate Street in St. Paul, could they take down the squirrel nests and give them to her? The St. Paul Parks and Recreation workers obliged. The gesture moved her, Thomas said. She wept when the trees came down. "This is really devastating for us," she said. "It looks so stark." Nearly 10 years after emerald ash borer was discovered in St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood, the invasive beetles have infested virtually every part of the city. The Parks and Recreation Department has dedicated millions of dollars to removing and replacing ash trees on a one-to-one basis. But it takes at least a year to replace a tree after it's been cut down and the stump ground up, so replanting has yet to catch up with the loss of thousands of ash trees. "We're temporarily going to have less canopy — there's no doubt about it," said Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hahm. "We're responding to a disaster." Between 2013 and 2017, St. Paul removed more than 17,000 trees, including nearly 6,000 ash trees. The city planted about 13,000 trees during that time. Minneapolis has planted nearly 41,000 trees during that period, but it's still about a thousand fewer than it lost. Though the two cities started with different approaches — St. Paul treated some trees with insecticides, while Minneapolis went straight for the chainsaw — both cities are now cutting down dying ash trees as fast as they can. St. Paul has dedicated a portion of its parks budget for emerald ash borer, and Minneapolis levies a property tax. "Our whole sort of philosophy is that all the public ash trees are pretty much doomed anyway," said Ralph Sievert, director of forestry for Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. "But if you wait too long, you could have them all dying within a short amount of time and then you can't keep up with getting all the removals done." St. Paul had about 26,000 ash trees on city streets in 2009, the year that emerald ash borer was discovered — the first time the beetle was documented in the state. The city has since removed nearly 11,000 ash trees. In the beginning, St. Paul kept ahead of the infestation by cutting down some trees that weren't yet showing signs of infestation, said Rachel Coyle, an urban forester with the parks department. But by 2016, the beetles had spread so much that crews started focusing on just cutting down ashes where they had been found, she said. "Since about then, I'd say we've fallen a bit behind on removal of infested trees," Coyle said. Ash tree removals in St. Paul are typically planned a year out. Crews aim to cut down trees in winter or early spring, remove the stump within six months and try to plant a new tree within a year. But the whole process, which costs the city about $1,200 a tree, doesn't always happen that fast. If a resident calls about a dead ash tree on their boulevard, the city will remove it but usually won't replant until the area is scheduled for tree planting. If construction is planned on a street with ash trees, the city won't plant replacements until the construction is done. The lag time could be years. Minneapolis has taken a similar approach, but also tracks and removes trees on private property. The loss of those ash trees, which make up the bulk of the urban canopy, is a major threat because property owners might not replace them, said Kevin McDonald, a supervisor in the resource management and assistance division at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. McDonald worked on a 2015 MPCA report on St. Paul's emerald ash borer plan that recommended the city plant two trees for every tree removed. When a mature tree is cut down, McDonald said, it eliminates all of the "services" that tree provided — from reducing air pollution to cooling the urban heat island. "Those are hard to replace when a 30- or 40 -year-old tree is cut down and then a stick gets put in the ground," he said. "It takes 20 or 30 years for that canopy to grow back again." Cities are still removing ash trees in Michigan, where in 2002 the emerald ash borer made its first appearance in the United States. Many would like to replace trees on a one-to-one basis, said Kevin Sayers, urban forestry program coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, but doing that has become more difficult since U.S. Forest Service funds available early in the infestation dried up. "The reality is, it's not always achievable," he said. The St. Paul parks department's emerald ash borer budget grew from about $770,000 in 2011 to more than $2 million in 2017. Every year, the department looks for one-time funding sources — this year, it was a nearly $1.5 million grant from the Minnesota DNR. In early 2017, the city decided to devote most of its emerald ash borer resources to removing infested trees, rather than to replanting. When residents complained about deforested neighborhoods, the city drew from its capital improvement budget to remove stumps and plant trees. The city's 2017 Emerald Ash Borer Management Program annual report emphasized that was a temporary solution, and warned that replanting might again fall behind the urgency of cutting down infested ashes. "If so, this will unfortunately lead to streets devoid of trees on an indefinite basis," the report said. Parks officials say they recognize how important trees are to residents — and they're still aiming to replace every ash tree. "To the individual property owner, it is their tree," Hahm said. Within hours on Wednesday, the ash trees lining a block of Juno Avenue in St. Paul had become stumps. With all the shade suddenly gone, the sun beat down on pavement littered with woodchips. Joan Powers stood outside her bungalow and watched the crew at work. It seemed inevitable, she said — and she figured that, in time, the city will replant the trees. "It's sad," Powers said, as she planned to count the rings on the largest stump. August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Item Number: 8.d. Description Annie i ucKer: concern about a policy that seems to affect people unequally [Staff response included] Kellie Fruehlin From: Annie Tucker <annie.h.tucker@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 3:50 PM To: Geoff Fruin Cc: Council; Stefanie Bowers; Jim Throgmorton; Rockne Cole; Pauline Taylor; John Thomas; Susan Mims; Mazahir Salih Subject: Re: Concern about a policy that seems to affect people unequally Thank you, Geoff. I really appreciate your informative reply. The background is very helpful. I had to think a bit before I got clear enough to respond. The contract makes complete sense as a private business arrangement, but doesn't take into consideration the disproportionate consequence and the fact that the City government is a public entity. And, since impounding a car is done as part of a person's interaction with the City, this contract makes us complicit in, and a party to, an arrangement that affects low income people disproportionately. And, it may be that in Iowa City low income people are disproportionately people of color. I don't know that - you would know better than I. It is the case with the young women I know. Disproportionate adverse consequences are something we want to prevent, avoid, or correct. I am wondering what can be done. I imagine renegotiating a contract is in the realm of possibility, even if it is not a common choice. Mid 2020 is three years away. That is a very long time for us to know we are part of disproportionate consequences, whether the city benefit directly financially or not. I don't think this is easy. I do think it is important. Looking forward to hearing from anyone on this. And I don't expect to hear anything immediately. Thank you, Annie Tucker On Wed, Aug 8, 2018 at 4:52 PM, Geoff Fruin <Geoff- Fru inCED iowa-city.org> wrote: Ms. Tucker, Thank you for emailing with concerns on the daily impound fee. While the City may direct a vehicle to be towed, we do not conduct the actually towing but rather contract with a private provider. The City bids out a towing contract every several years in order to get competitive rates and responsive service standards. Our current contract runs through mid -2020 and allows for a $25 daily impound fee. Daily impound fees are standard in the towing industry and reflect the costs the company has to safely and securely store a vehicle. If you have your vehicle towed this fee will be paid to the towing company and is not a fee the City receives. The only fee the city receives is related to the violation that led to the tow. The City cannot alter the amount of the impound fee that is charged by the towing company as it is specified by our current contract. Similarly, the towing company cannot increase that fee during the contract period. When we bid the contract again, eligible towing companies will have the ability to bid new fee structures. The prices they propose to charge those whose vehicles are towed will continue to be a factor in who we select. While it may be possible to restrict companies from charging a daily impound fee, I would argue that they will simply adjust other rates to cover their expenses (e.g. impound, mileage, after hour release, etc.). I hope this background is helpful. Thank you, Geoff Fruin City Manager From: Annie Tucker [annie.h.tucker@email.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2018 10:53 AM To: Jim Throgmorton; Rockne Cole; Pauline Taylor; Susan Mims; John Thomas; Mazahir Salih; Stefanie Bowers Subject: Concern about a policy that seems to affect people unequally Hi, Just checking in! I hope this finds each of you well and enjoying your summer! I just heard from a young adult friend of mine that did something (I do not know the nature of the act and am not writing to defend it) and had her car impounded. I am not writing about that consequence. I am writing about the fact that there is an increase of $25 per day on the impoundment fee for every day that the initial fee is not paid. Many people in our community could get their car or their kid's car out of impoundment right away by paying the initial fee. If you are a low income person or a low income young adult, you may have to wait for your next paycheck to be able to pay. That's her situation. And, by the time she will have enough get her car out, the fee will be close to $200 more than the initial fee. The additional daily $25 fee may have initially seemed like a justifiable deterrent. Or something. However, this policy/practice levies an unequal consequence on low income people. I do not think that is what we want to be doing. I am writing to all the current City Council members, Geoff Fruin, and Stefanie Bowers, requesting that you consider this policy and consider changing it. I am letting you know who is receiving this because I do not want you to duplicate your efforts working on this and responding to me: you are busy people doing important work. I would love to know it will be changed. She gets her paycheck tomorrow. I offered to go with her when she pays her fee. I said that I would at that time ask for those extra fees to be waived, so you may hear about this from one of your employees. I am intending to make you aware of the unequal effects of this policy on the human level and request that we do away with this, due to the unequal effects on low income people. I am not expecting any change very soon, and yet do intend to make good on my offer to bring it up at the payment counter, if she wants me to. I hope it inspires her to know she can be part of making positive change in the world. Many thanks for your consideration. Annie Tucker Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Item Number: 8.e. I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Kathy Grout: Drainage issue on Cayman Street Kellie Fruehling From: Kathy Grout <kgrout1950@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 5:21 PM To: Ron Knoche; Tracy Hightshoe; Jason Havel; Geoff Fruin; Council Cc: Ben Clark Subject: RE: Drainage issue on Cayman Street Thank you for taking this serious, & beginning a process for this on going problem. Of course I am anxious to get this started after many long years of frustration. I appreciate your response, & will be waiting for changes to begin. Thank you Kathy Grout Sent from Mail for Windows 10 From: Ron Knoche Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 11:05 AM To: 'Kathy Grout'; Tracy Hightshoe; Jason Havel; Geoff Fruin; Council Cc: Ben Clark Subject: RE: Drainage issue on Cayman Street Kathy: It was a pleasure discussing this issue with you on Monday at the Chip In event. As we discussed, the challenge with your stormwater management area is the residential/commercial mix. We have had an opportunity to develop a plan for this area. We are still developing a schedule but the plan is: 1) The City will meet with the neighboring properties to discuss the maintenance obligations that come with the Stormwater Management Area. 2) The City with City Staff will cleanup the stormwater management area. This is similar to what was performed in 2015. This will not be clear cutting the area, but cleaning up down timber and removing obstructions form the intakes. 3) The City will develop an enforcement plan for the future. 4) The City will continue to review the area and make improvements as necessary. As you understood, these measures do not guarantee the area will not remain wet. This will at least keep the down timber and garbage from decreasing the function of the area. We look forward to working with to improve this area. Thanks, Ron From: Kathy Grout [mailto:kgrout1950@gmail.com) Sent: Monday, July 23, 2018 9:22 AM To: Tracy Hightshoe <Tracy-Hightshoe@iowa-city.org>; Ron Knoche <Ron-Knoche@iowa-city.org>; Jason Havel <Jason - Havel@ iowa-city.org>; Geoff Fruin <Geoff-Fruin@iowa-city.org>; Council <Council@iowa-city.org> Subject: Drainage issue on Cayman Street Hello — I have lived at 250 Cayman for 7 years and there has been a drainage issue in the drainage easement behind my house since I have lived here. I have been in touch with several Iowa City employees who have heard my complaint, but there is never any answers. Apparently, the city signed off on this development in the early 1990's before the drainage easement was completed properly. $5000 in escrow funds, now valued at over $10,000 were never released. I now have a yard that is a swamp. I cannot use the property that I own but I do maintain it as best I can when it is accessible. Property owners along Cayman & Scott Park are not maintaining their properties as the Iowa City laws dictate. There are many over grown trees, weeds, trash, & standing water that is mosquito infested. This has totally plugged the drainage pipes that I thought the city was supposed to maintain. What good are the laws for Iowa City, if they are not enforced? On Friday I received an email stating that the escrow funds will be available but that I was required to coordinate with the neighbors to have this work done. We were told this in the past and had a property owner familiar with development, contractors, etc. seek out estimates to get the area cleaned out but that estimate was found to be unacceptable by the City — so that property owner is no longer interested in participating. I do not feel like I have the knowledge or resources to determine what work can/should be done with the funds nor have knowledge of responsible contractors who can complete the work. Many of the other neighbors are either renters or not directly impacted so they have little if any interest in the issue. I believe the City needs to provide some guidance and oversight at this point in the cleanup so that neighbors are best able to assume responsibility when the work has been completed. This has been an ongoing constant complaint, that goes nowhere! Please take the time to investigate this & come to a conclusion that will solve this forever issue. Thank you, Kathy Grout Sent from Mail for Windows 10 Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Item Number: 81. I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Carol deProsse: Kiwanis Park [Staff response included] Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 9:24 AM To: Zac Hall Cc: Council; Geoff Fruin; Juli Seydell Johnson Subject: Re: Kiwanis Park Thanks for this reply, Zac. The PI in most cases could be dealt with by having someone in a Hazmat type suit go in and cut the it back to the ground and immediately spray the cut with RoundUp. This would require very little use of this pesticide, which like the City, I try to avoid unless absolutely not possible. Containment, not eradication, would be satisfactory. Having PI spread to residences is most undesirable. My backyard neighbor had to contend with it just last year. Carol On Aug 10, 2018, at 08:55 AM, Zac Hall <Zac-Hall@iowa-city.org> wrote: Carol, Thank you for contacting us and thank you for clarifying Willow Creek and not Wetherby Park was one of the areas you had concerns. Forestry staff have been in the parks working to address storm damage, trail clearance and (with help from the Iowa DNR State Nursery) replanting bare root saplings for timber stand improvement. We will do our best to address your specific concerns in a timely manner. Poison Ivy is something we see throughout the park system, as it often gets spread by wildlife throughout many natural areas within urban areas and edges. Our Chemical Use Policy limits treatment to areas that pose an immediate public risk. We will investigate the locations you mentioned and see what can be done abiding by our policy. We appreciate your help and support. As always, do not hesitate to contact us again. All the best, Zachary Hall Superintendent of Parks City of Iowa City 2275 S. Gilbert St Iowa City, Iowa 52245 (319) 356-5093 zac-hall ftiowa-city.orq �'► E 'f' 1' �i��iez. Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2018 3:27 PM To: Council; Geoff Fruin; Zac Hall Subject: Oops Regarding my last email: Meant Willow Creek Park, not Weatherby. Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2018 12:57 PM To: Council; Geoff Fruin; Zac Hall Subject: Kiwanis Park I am asking the Council to please find a couple of thousand of dollars (maybe it won't take that much) to do some badly needed work in Kiwanis/Weatherby Parks. I am referring to the area that is Kiwanis Park and the parts of Weatherby below the shd. Specifically, There is some minor tree work that needs to be done to save a few trees from infestation, as well as to help them grow better. This includes trees that need to have trees other than the intended ones cut out at ground level: a couple of evergreens in Kiwanis as well as a tree just west of the Kiwanis memorial on which a lower branch has been ripped off and should be clean cut trimmed; there is also a large branch south of the community gardens along the walk that should has come down, but needs to be clean cut and hauled off. There are a couple of large dead branches that have come down in Weatherby that should be removed because they are in the way of mowing. These are not trees in the wooded areas (except the one south of the gardens), but specimen trees that are quite nice, but need attention. A HUGE problem is Poison Ivy. I mentioned this a number of years ago, but at that time it was low to the ground and as long as the mower came by it stayed under control. Now it is growing like Topsy, with big leaves 4-6" across and starting to climb into the trees. This stuff is a noxious weed, good for birds which is why it is spread easily throughout the area by bird droppings. There is also a problem with Wild Grape and another vining plant that walkers have pulled down out of the trees over the years, but has started to come back rather aggressively. It is all around the edge of Kiwanis, primarily on the east side and along the edge of Weatherby where the bridge in Kiwanis crosses over Willow Creek and goes up to the shed. All this stuff is better dealt with sooner or later, but it will cost a bit of money to do it unless the City already has the people and the time to do it. Maybe contracting it out for $5,000 or so would be a better option? I hope something can be done about this. I don't want kids or adults to get in contact with poison ivy and I don't want any of the vines, all of which are voracious growers, taking over the few trees along the Creek as over time it would just choke them out. Just cutting them back every couple of years or more would help if removal isn't possible, which it may not be. Carol I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Carol deProsse: Climate Change Item Number: 8.g. Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2018 5:12 PM To: Council Subject: Climate Change Seems like all IC can do is invite up to 2,000 more students into the core of downtown, with underground or off-site parking! I think anyone who supports this inane Clark project is close to insane. However, this link deals more generally with the coming wave of people who know that growth, even density growth, is not sustainable. https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter Page 1 LATEST SECTIONS ABOUT SUBSCRIBE DONATE Q TRENDING: ROBERT MUELLER (HTTPS://TRUTHOUT.ORG/TOPICS/ROBERT-MUELLER/) MEDIA JUSTICE (HTTPS://TRUTHOUT.ORI (http s:l/truth o ut. o rg) ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter More than 1,500 people took to the streets of Albany as part of the "Cuomo Walk The Talk" day of action, demanding New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo stop all (racking infrastructure, move to 100 percent renewable energy and make polluters pay, on April 23, 2018. ERIK MCGREGOR I PACIFIC PRESS I LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES BY believe human -caused climate change is real and presents a direct and William Rivers Pitt. 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Laos, Algeria, 20the 20Change % 20Change % Greenland Oman... there are bad records being set virtual/ eve , g y rywhere 20V oter& u rl=https://truthout.org/a ni c les/the- coming- (https://grist.org/article/the-world-is-hot-on-fire-and-flooding— thunder - of -the- - map. climate -change- is here/) on the Smoke from wildfires in Siberia climate- limate- ge- change- change- voter/ voter/&via=truthout) made it all the way to my front porch (https: //www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/local/smoke-from- ►% siberian-wildfires-reaches-new-england/EasF4dyli28aRRo2aowTQL/) (mai Ito:? subject=Check % 2oout/ in New Hampshire, and Sweden recent/ called for help because there are P , Y p 20this% 20article % more massive wildfires 20from% 20Truthout&body=Check% 2oout% (htt s //www.the ardian.com/world/2018 ul/18 Sweden-calls-for- P ' /1 / 20this 20anicle% help -as -arctic -circle -hit -by -wildfires) burning out of control to the 3A% 20https % north of the Arctic Circle. 3A%2 F% 2Ftruthout.org% 2Farticles% 2Fthe- coming- thunder- of-the- climate- Uncompromised, uncompromising news change - voter% 2F% 3Futm-source% Get reliable, independent news and commentary delivered to your 3Dsharebuttons% 26utm-medium% 3Dmashshare% inbox ever d y ay. 26utm-campaign% 3Dmashshare) name(o)email.com SUBSCRIBE It is beyond dispute: The severity of these events is due © READING LIST (http://www.climatesignals.org/headlines/events/mendocino-complex- ENVIRONMENT &HEALTH fire -july-august- 2018) to anthropogenic climate change... but don't try https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ 8/10/2018 The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter Page 3 The coming Thunder of the telling that to Donald Trump. The undisputed world heavyweight Climate Chafe Voter (https:/Itruthout.org/artLcles/the- champion of nonsense statements, the president of the United States coming -thunder -of -the- himself, finally got around to noticing that one of those states is burning climate -change -voters) to ash and made a predictably perfect hash of things. POLITICS & ELECTIONS Chicago's violence Is Fueled Trump did not have any words of kindness for those killed and displaced by Neoliberalism by the California wildfires, nor did he have words of encouragement for (htips:/Itruthout.org/articles/chicazos- violence -is -fueled -by- those facing terrifying threats like "fire tornadoes neoliberalism/) (https: //sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2ol8/o8/02/fire-tornado-redding- POLITICS & ELECTIONS carr-fire/)"as they work desperately to beat back the blaze. He didn't As violence consumes even bother to summon a boilerplate "Thoughts and prayers" for the Dhaka, Protesters Struggle to Get Their Story Out moment. (https://truthout.org/articles/as- violence-consumes -dhaka- Instead, Trump blamed (https://www.huffingtonpost com/entry/trump- protesters-struggle-to-get- blames -fires- on - california - for- diverting- water -to - their- story- outh pacific us sb67a4d4e4bob15abaa47772) the state's environmental laws EDUCATION & YOUTH — easily the strongest in the nation — for the fires, claiming those Teaching for Black Lives and Bearing Witness Through regulations are "diverting" water into the Pacific Ocean (an action others Poetry chalked up to natural phenomena like "gravity" and "rivers"). Not to be (https:l/truthout.org/articles/teaching= outdone even by himself, Trump then blamed the trees for-black-lives-and- bearing-witness-through- (http: //www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-trump-fires- oet 2o18o8o6-story.html) for the conflagration. The Lorax MEDIA JUSTICE (https://truthout.org articles/we-are-the-lorax-we-speak-for-the- "Big Win for the Public": trees weeps. The Awful Tribune -Sinclair Merger Is Dead There is a terrible desperation to the increasingly pathetic (https://truthout.org/articles/big- (https://www huffingtonpost com/entry/trump-blames-fires-on- win-for-the-public-the - awful -tribune -Sinclair- california- for- diverting-water-to- memer-is-dead/) pacific us Sb67a4d4.e4bob1sabaa67772) rationalizations from the PRISONS & POLICING climate denial camp. This comes as no surprise if you take the long view; Prison Firefighting Program every single undone paradigm in history has died kicking and screaming, Pays a Dollar an Hour to Fight California Wildfires and our current petroleum paradigm is no different. The trick here is (https://truthout.org/video) rison- trying to figure out how we all make it to the new without dying firefighting -program -pays- paradigm right along with the old one, kicking, screaming or otherwise. a- dollar -an - hour- to-fight- california-wildfires/) There will be a political price paid for these filthy paroxysms of deceit, and perhaps much sooner than one might think. I've been on the planet for almost five decades now, barely an eyeblink in the context of climate, I know. I've spent virtually all those years in the Atlantic northeast, a region not easily confused with the tropics, and I have paid close attention over the years to both weather and climate ever since the words "ozone layer" insinuated themselves into my consciousness when I was a boy. https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ 8/10/2018 The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter Page 4 In all those years, I have never, ever experienced as many pounding, vicious tropical downpours as I have this summer, and it's barely August. I watched shingles getting blasted off my neighbor's roof the other day by a microburst that came roaring out of the maelstrom during maybe the 25th thunderdump flood -bomb we've seen in the last few weeks alone. This past March, we got cracked with three (https:// hiladelphia.cbslocal com/2ol8L3/22/four-noreasters-march/) howling Nor'easters in the span of ii days, with a fourth that followed soon after. Again, unprecedented in my experience. We're not on fire here — these wildly uncharacteristic monsoon rains put that possibility snugly to bed — but there's nothing at all normal about this. This isn't the Amazon rainforest. It's not even North Alabama. It's not the North Pole, either. This is New England, and I have never seen the like. There is too much water in the atmosphere, and it is coming down hard. Tack on the extraordinary heat and saturating humidity, and these are strange days indeed. I am not alone in my perceptions. Far from it, in fact. According to recent studies (https://www.apa.orglmonitor/2018/02/numbers.aspx), a full 71 percent of Americans believe climate change is real and happening; 47 percent are "very" or "extremely" certain of it. Some 44 percent believe, like me, that they have already experienced the effects of climate change. Most telling, S4 percent believe their families will suffer harm due to climate change, 67 percent believe the US will suffer harm, 71 percent believe people in developing nations will suffer harm and a full 75 percent believe our children, and their children, will suffer harm because of climate change. In other words, there is more happening here than voters simply caring about the environment. A large and growing group of people see with their own eyes what is unfolding here at home and around the world. Many of those have already been personally affected or expect to be personally affected. Most of them believe their children will be affected. It is hard to see how blaming the trees for climate -caused wildfires can do anything other than offend and motivate this climate change voter bloc. "Large numbers of latent climate voters have always existed," writes (https://www.huffingtonpost com/entry/early-signs-that-2ol8-will be -the -year -of -the -climate us 1iaodaoibe4boo6a16baf1f7f) Nathaniel Stinnett, executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, "with as many as 20 million registered voters listing environmental issues as one of their top priorities — but historically, few of them turn out on Election https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ 8/10/2018 The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter Page 5 Day. Ironically, with the Trump administration explicitly denying the scientific consensus around climate change, the president maybe accomplishing something the environmental movement has struggled to do for years — convincing environmentalists of the importance of voting." "Polling shows that US voters not only understand climate science, but more and more are increasingly worried about it," writes (https: //www.sightline.org/2018/o8 /o6 /climate-change-hot-voter- issue-2oi8-midterms/) Anna Fahey for the Sightline Institute, "including hefty shares of moderate Republicans and Independents. A Pew Research Center study confirms that millennial generation voters — ages 22 to 37 this election season — are considerably more liberal than older Americans. What's more, that group now represents 28 percent of the US adult population. These voters are considerably more likely to support climate action and the Congressional candidates who talk them up.)) With the last of the special elections now behind us, the midterm election season begins in earnest. The political prediction machine will find its fifth gear and speed its guesswork way to November, lobbing presumptions and suppositions as it goes. How much weight the prognosticators give to climate change voters will likely depend on how much time they spend watching their own networks or reading their own newspapers. The climate voters are out there, and their time has come. I rolled the recycling to the curb this past Monday morning and was struck by the silence. It was just before 9 am, and my little town should have been a bustling hive of new -week activity. Not so, not after yet another grim weather report. They were talking about the temperature reaching 95 degrees, a 70+ dew point level and an overall heat index of loo -11o, again (https://www,necn.com/news/new-england/Dangerous- Heat-Advisory-Continues-to-Threaten- New- England - G 9 o22257i.html). The sun was barely over the tree line and I could already sense the invisible steel plate of the day's looming heat pressing down. Even the sky was the wrong color. The only relief would come with another muscular band of thunderstorms, flooded streets and toppled trees. It felt as if the town itself was like some tiny, crouched woodland animal who just felt the shadow of a hawk flit by. https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ 8/10/2018 The Coming Thunder of the Climate Change Voter Page 6 If the silence was any clue, I wasn't alone in my sense of foreboding. Something has gone badly wrong, and all that quiet felt like a clue. Call it the sound of the climate change voter, waiting out the hawks and the heat and the flames and the floods for November. Every election from now on will bear our mark. That is the future, too. { /LLV1la LC I Truthout depends on reader donations. The costs of running an ad -free, noncommercial news platform are not insignificant. Donate now to help keep Truthout running. DONATE (/DONATE) Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission (mailto:editorna truthout.or�). William Rivers Pitt (https:litruthout.org/authors/wflliam-rivers-pitt/) William Rivers Pitt is a senior editor and lead columnist at Truthout. He is also a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of three books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know (htWs://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/i8o395638s/qid=i o 8350763-i22s6os?v=glance&s=books), The Greatest Sedition Is Silence (https: //www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/deta i l/-/07453201 o4/qid=i o 8359763-12256o5?v=glance&s=books) and House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation (htti2s://www.amazon.com/gp/producUoQ77825320/sr=i-2 qid=ii5575� 5663030-2555327?ie=UTF8&s=books). His fourth book, The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible (https://www.amazon.com/Mass -Destruction - Iraq -Disintegration -Responsible- ebookIdplBooM1,3KANO, co -written with Dahr Iamail (http://truth- out.org/author/itemlist/user/447o6), is available now on Amazon. He lives and works in New Hampshire. MORE BY THIS AUTHOR tUTTPS://TRUTHOUT.ORG/AUTHORS/WILLIAM-RIYERS-PITT1) https://truthout.org/articles/the-coming-thunder-of-the-climate-change-voter/ 8/10/2018 Item Number: 8.h. I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Carol deProsse: Prepared for Global Warming Kellie Fruehling From: Carol deProsse <lonetreefox@mac.com> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2018 7:03 PM To: Council Subject: NYTimes: 2018 Is Shaping Up to Be the Fourth -Hottest Year. Yet We're Still Not Prepared for Global Warming. Here's a story from The New York Times that I thought you'd find interesting: It's hot. But it may not be the new normal yet. Temperatures are still rising. Read More... GOOGLING 112018 is shaping up to be the fourth -hottest year + NYT + Aug 9 2018" will bring you to this article. It's the photographs that I most would like the Council to see. 2018 Is Shaping Up to Be the Fourth -Hottest Year. Yet We're Still Not Prepared for Global Warming. It's hot. But it may not be the new normal yet. Temperatures are still rising. By Somini Sengupta August 9, 2018 This summer of fire and swelter looks a lot like the future that scientists have been warning about in the era of climate change, and it's revealing in real time how unprepared much of the world remains for life on a hotter planet. The disruptions to everyday life have been far-reaching and devastating. In California, firefighters are racing to control what has become the largest fire in state history. Harvests of staple grains like wheat and corn are expected to dip this year, in some cases sharply, in countries as different as Sweden and El Salvador. In Europe, nuclear power plants have had to shut down because the river water that cools the reactors was too warm. Heat waves on four continents have brought electricity grids crashing. And dozens of heat -related deaths in Japan this summer offered a foretaste of what researchers warn could be big increases in mortality from extreme heat. A study last month in the journal PLOS Medicine projected a fivefold rise for the United States by 2080. The outlook for less wealthy countries is worse; for the Philippines, researchers forecast 12 times more deaths. Globally, this is shaping up to be the fourth -hottest year on record. The only years hotter were the three previous ones. That string of records is part of an accelerating climb in temperatures since the start of the industrial age that scientists say is clear evidence of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. And even if there are variations in weather patterns in the coming years, with some cooler years mixed in, the trend line is clear: 17 of the 18 warmest years since modern record-keeping began have occurred since 2001. "It's not a wake-up call anymore," Cynthia Rosenzweig, who runs the climate impacts group at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said of global warming and its human toll. "It's now absolutely happening to millions of people around the world." Be careful before you call it the new normal, though. Temperatures are still rising, and, so far, efforts to tame the heat have failed. Heat waves are bound to get more intense and more frequent as emissions rise, scientists have concluded. On the horizon is a future of cascading system failures threatening basic necessities like food supply and electricity. 2017 Was One of the Hottest Years on Record. And That Was Without El Nino. For many scientists, this is the year they started living climate change rather than just studying it. "What we're seeing today is making me, frankly, calibrate not only what my children will be living but what I will be living, what I am currently living," said Kim Cobb, a professor of earth and atmospheric science at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. "We haven't caught up to it. I haven't caught up to it, personally." This week, she is installing sensors to measure sea level rise on the Georgia coast to help government officials manage disaster response. Katherine Mach, a Stanford University climate scientist, said something had shifted for her, too. "Decades ago when the science on the climate issue was first accumulating, the impacts could be seen as an issue for others, future generations or perhaps communities already struggling," she said, adding that science had become increasingly able to link specific weather events to climate change. "In our increasingly muggy and smoky discomfort, it's now rote science to pinpoint how heat -trapping gases have cranked up the risks," she said. "It's a shift we all are living together.. Globally, the hottest year on record was 2016. That was not totally unexpected because that year there was an El Nino, the Pacific climate cycle that typically amplifies heat. More surprising, 2017, which was not an El Nino year, was almost as hot. It was the third -warmest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the second -warmest, according to NASA. The first half of 2018, also not marked by El Nino, was the fourth -warmest on record, NOAA found. In the lower 48 United States, the period between May and July ranked as the hottest ever, according to NOAA, with an average temperature of 70.9 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21.6 degrees Celsius, which was almost 5 percent above average. Sea levels continued their upward trajectory last year, too, rising about 3 inches, or 7.7 centimeters, higher than levels in 1993. What does all that add up to? For Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Los Angeles, it vindicates the scientific community's mathematical models. It doesn't exactly bring comfort, though. "We are living in a world that is not just warmer than it used to be. We haven't reached a new normal," Dr. Swain cautioned. "This isn't a plateau." Against that background, industrial emissions of carbon dioxide grew to record levels in 2017, after holding steady the previous three years. Carbon in the atmosphere was found to be at the highest levels in 800,000 years. Despite a global agreement in Paris two years ago to curb greenhouse gas emissions, many of the world's biggest polluters — including the United States, the only country in the world pulling out of the accord — are not on track to meet the reductions targets they set for themselves. Nor have the world's rich countries ponied up money, as promised under the Paris accord, to help the poor countries cope with the calamities of climate change. A woman who fled her home in Lakeport, Calif., as the River Fire approached in July.CreditNoah Berger/Associated Press Still, scientists point out that with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and changes to the way we live — things like reducing food waste, for example — warming can be slowed enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Some governments, national and local, are taking action. In an effort to avert heat -related deaths, officials are promising to plant more trees in Melbourne, Australia, and covering roofs with reflective white paint in Ahmedabad, India. Agronomists are trying to develop seeds that have a better shot at surviving heat and drought. Switzerland hopes to prevent railway tracks from buckling under extreme heat by painting the rails white. Climate scientists are also trying to respond faster, better. Dr. Rosenzweig's team at NASA is trying to predict how long a heat wave might last, not just how likely it is to occur, in order to help city leaders prepare. Similar efforts to forecast the distribution of extreme rainfall are aimed at helping farmers. Researchers with World Weather Attribution are working to refine their models to make them more accurate. "In Europe the warming is faster than in the models," said Friederike Otto, an associate professor at Oxford University who is part of the attribution group. Her group recently concluded that a human -altered climate had more than doubled the likelihood of the record -high temperatures in northern Europe this summer. The impact of those records is being felt in multiple ways. The continent's power supply is overstretched as air -conditioners are cranked up. Then, there's the impact of heat and drought on farms. In El Salvador, a country reeling from gang violence, farmers in the east of the country stared at a failed corn harvest this summer as temperatures soared to a record 107 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 41 degrees Celsius. The skies were rainless for up to 40 days in some places, according to the government. Wheat production in many countries of the European Union is set to decline this year. In Britain, wheat yields are projected to hit a five-year low. German farmers say their grain harvests are likely to be lower than normal. And in Sweden, record -high temperatures have left fields parched and farmers scrambling to find fodder for their livestock. Palle Borgstrom, president of the Federation of Swedish Farmers, said in an interview that his group estimated at least $1 billion in agricultural sector losses. "We get quite a few phone calls from farmers who are lying awake at night and worrying about the situation," he said. "This is an extreme situation that we haven't seen before." Christina Anderson contributed reporting from Stockholm, Nick Cumming - Bruce from Geneva, and Gene Palumbo from San Salvador, El Salvador. Somini Sengupta covers international climate issues and is the author of "The End of Karma: Hope and Fury Among India's Young." @SominiSengupta - Facebook I r , ,xl Mom CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Kent Stein: PETA: Deer management Item Number: 8.i. Kellie Fruehling From: Kent Stein <KentS@peta.org> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2018 3:15 PM To: Council Subject: PETA: Deer management August 10, 2018 To: The Honorable Jim Throgmorton, Iowa City Mayor Iowa City Councilmembers From: Kent Stein, Senior Cruelty Caseworker, PETA Re: Deer management Greetings from PETA. We understand that Iowa City officials are discussing methods of deer control with the design to reduce local populations in city limits. Please know that lethal methods fail to control unwanted deer populations, and actually backfire. This is because when animals are killed or otherwise removed the resultant spike in the food supply prompts accelerated breeding among survivors and inevitable newcomers, with populations then increasing. Further, lethal initiatives tear wild families apart, leaving young/weak animals vulnerable to starvation and dehydration. Effective deer management plans are adaptive and integrated, the key being a strictly -enforced deer feeding prohibition coupled with habitat modification (e.g. exclusion, deterrents) in landscaped areas, along forest edges, and in restoration and riparian corridors. We suggest the following: • Reduce food sources by wrapping saplings shorter than 4 feet in corrugated plastic tubes or sleeves, deer netting, or mesh. • Trim back low -hanging tree branches, and keep grasses and weeds cut short. • Install deer fencing strategically along wildlife corridors (e.g., trails, paths, and creeks) to deter deer from entering areas where they're unwanted. • Fence in gardens and heavily landscaped areas. • Enforce a strict wildlife -feeding prohibition. • Advise residents to do the following: (1) plant native species and avoid exotic plants, which attract deer, and cover any ornamental plants with netting or mesh; (2) employ scare tactics such as motion detector— triggered lights or sprinklers, models of coyotes, and outdoor radios; (3) strategically place bars of soap (and even human hair) to deter deer; and (4) spray pepper -based repellent on foliage. • To prevent vehicle/deer collisions, install 10 foot high deer fencing where wildlife corridors intersect major roadways. Along roadways, remove or reduce brush to increase visibility for drivers and deer, reduce speed limits, erect "deer crossing" signs, and install a reflector system (e.g., Stricter -Lite). Respectfully, may we please hear from you that lethal methods will be removed from consideration? Thank you for your time and attention. Sincerely, M Kent Stein, Senior Cruelty Caseworker Cruelty Investigations Department 757-962-8378 'y rrMU ®1 �� CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Item Number: 8.j. Kellie Fruehling From: Kyle <Kcomix@comcast.net> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 2:31 PM To: Council Subject: Apartments Downtown Hi, I'm a student at the university of Iowa and I moved into an apartment (leased by Apartments Downtown) with 3 others recently. It was in horrible condition and I met with student legal services to see if we could get any compensation. While meeting there, I was told the company was attempting to build expand in the city. I was told I should share what I saw with the City Council so that you are aware of how the company treats their tenants' living quarters. Here are pictures I took within the first few days of moving in: Filthy corner in bathroom No Itffi� �� �'""• , kN 5. « x - ' * y'^'• `` r* may. w �y t. • -' ,� NL 4�*w.l�,.• ,� � .. *.�� ��. . � 'w � '� +4 �� 1 :'`.�� t �r � , I',waw w. ��"'*'x ti ,� , Yw w. 'w + . �', . �"wrN" «w w gTM�r" .. .�„ xt ^ ` *. .� w `^ �. " �,. ~ ' .� ■ IFlk .r " ; " 'ti — • *.. ' . ,,, r°'-. •r A q, '' . " ay ,,,,,'lr , * _ n�'�' ., • lwl+ "'f * r • " . '; #" m r. M14r �„'.' f • w'� " � -,y. "^ ° � y". 4.f �' `®, " ., � n r � . "� xsk � v � r- .1* �yw �" w 9 r „w` � 'h'" ,rr4. �` r,�r. � '►•, it �l we: ".�'� q .�, ` ',�.'� w'..` '�+" °� .,�- „"• w •, ° tib• �; - •,.n r x , � "`ham � W^y ."� .® _ � " -`., � '•,. �, ..ter 'r •, "% i. r r ,.w-* • a r .. " �■ " � •r ,,•t._ ,. ; - - w • .. ° ." -'•' �.." � .:'�� .�" ,� - -:,, - _ .ter �� '"'� � .t ' �# - �'' •� �.•• "tet r. �" a « ,. ".., r ,.. 1 w ; ,,.` •. - `� �� ;. x � , ,�^.. �- ids �w� , . F • " a . - T yew " _ ,. a � r. _ , �` .� t —... _ _� 4 `� �,` ti„. • - -.a, s},+” .y. w « r e g« i "q. _a . �'". . �' � s.« .. �• � w• IIx r w .4 �` ar t e, r " Lr y " y " d" " , .� � �., a ` " ., +• � I.. " _ 91� � . a m .t _ ^ w _ aw « w Nt ti, r " "w,.." 'ren, .� "", .. •' ♦ - , .. r w ,� a vN ., • w " « IL Black coming out of air vents 6 X M 40 *M. �. j �M zi. `� _��y m'" + � ► ' •�a ��'M AIS 'f �, r M '71w I � � � a w � � � 4 4r� yy • r It �" t' i r± e a e +f' � n.r .. Yd. 'w. • � 6 Streak on the ceiling where it looks like they tried to clean rIj 4 wow", I* 10 Broken molding 11 12 Chipped doorways 13 14 15 man 16 17 Mm k a 18 Air filter covered in dirt 19 20 AC unit filthy 21 ,rte e. wAt r ur a LL, r ten, d 22 Cigarettes left by AC unit (the apartment is nonsmoking) 23 24 Handle on refrigerator missing 25 26 Some dripping behind oven 27 TI 28 Frayed carpet 29 0 30 Marks on walls 31 Stains in carpets 33 34 Urine on bathroom wall 35 36 More wall marks 37 I PLO.. JL va ;j ■ 4k p 1w Ail a dh do 0 x 4L AL .4 jR a f, IL 'ik aL p iL qL: 0 del -e 4, ib OU it 114 4 ur IL IL TA w Ir -A L 4r or dp 0 6L, it Ail� 'a 44 4 104r 16 40 ? 16, 16 -4L jo— ib IV 0 q W L Po 4 40' Ao 0 6 od 16 0 L M it a p 40 dF 4L OF AL 38 Dirt in corners of ceiling 39 40 Air vents covered in dirt 41 �F 4 ' � y,k� Yav ,� •Yi l ,, v. .... a rvn ° 4� � 43 A 44 51 46 LVA 48 Candy under the carpet 49 50 Peeling kitchen counter Thank you for reading this -Kyle Sydness 51 I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Item Number: 8.k. Description Kevin Boyd -Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from the Northside Neighborhood Association [Staff response included] Kevin Boyd x2 -Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from Northside Neighborhood Association [Staff response included] Kellie Fruehling From: Geoff Fruin Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 10:23 PM To: Kevin Boyd; Zac Hall; Juli Seydell Johnson Cc: Council Subject: RE: Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from the Northside Neighborhood Association Mr. Boyd, Thank you for your email. The City Parks and Forestry staff is working to pull together information for the September 4" Council Work Session. We look forward to clarifying our current approach to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) and engaging with the City Council about response options. We also appreciate the Northside Neighborhood's interest in the matter. Having residents fully engaged will help ensure that everyone has accurate information and understands how the City will be responding in the future. The City currently has a less than two dozen trees scheduled for removal throughout the City. Most of these removals are related to the EAB, but a few non -ash trees are being removed for other health and public safety reasons. To put that number in perspective, we estimate that we have over 3,300 ash trees on city property in the community. The trees that are slated for removal are all in poor health and pose an active public safety concern. They are not being removed simply because they are ash trees and they are well past the point of being able to be saved or prolonged by chemical injections. In fact, our ash tree removals are all being prioritized by health condition and public safety concern, as well as conflicts with pending city infrastructure projects (e.g. water main replacements). With only trees that are in poor health and posing a safety risk scheduled for removal, I cannot support a moratorium in order to discuss preservation options that would not be suitable for trees in this condition. That said, there are certainly a variety of different approaches that cities can take with those tress that are healthy. We will be discussing those with the City Council on September 4t" and are also inviting officials from the State of Iowa who have a wider perspective on this issue and work with cities that take a variety of different approaches. We feel that they will be able to add valuable insight to the Council discussion. Again, I appreciate your concerns and want to convey that City staff fully appreciates the value of trees to our neighborhoods. Our staff are dedicated professionals in their fields and have committed their careers to creating a strong urban tree system in the community. We are all devastated by the impending impacts of the EAB and are doing are best to deploy strategies that will help neighborhoods continue to thrive despite this troubling reality. Best, Geoff Fruin City Manager From: Kevin Boyd <kevinmboyd@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 3:16 PM To: Zac Hall <Zac-Hall@iowa-city.org>; Juli Seydell Johnson <Juli-SJohnson@iowa-city.org>; Geoff Fruin <Geoff- Fruin@iowa-city.org> Cc: Council <Council@iowa-city.org> Subject: Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from the Northside Neighborhood Association This email is on behalf of the Northside Neighborhood Association. There has been a lot of concern about the ash tree removal policy of the city. We've had several neighbors approach us with concern about the removal of the ash tree canopy in the right of way in our neighborhood, but also the broad policy throughout the city. We are asking for a temporary moratorium on the right of way removals until at least the September 4 City Council work session, and ideally until spring. That preserves the trees until the Council can provide direction on this issue. It would also continue the process of engaging the community and give citizens and the city time to explore potential treatment solutions and collectively decide how to proceed. We are concerned that several more streets will have their trees removed prior to this September 4 work session on this topic. Once these trees are removed, it will take 50-100 years to replace them. Looking at the Iowa City's Strategic Plan, the removal of the trees seems incongruous with several objectives, including a walkable urban core, healthy neighborhoods, and environmental sustainability. Many other cities across the state and country have implemented alternatives to the removal of the tree canopy in the right of ways and we encourage the city to investigate those. We ask for a temporary moratorium on the right of way tree removals until alternatives have been explored. Thank you, Kevin Boyd, on behalf of the Northside Neighborhood Association Kellie Fruehling Lace Handouts Distributed From: Kevin Boyd <kevinmboyd@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, August 20, 2018 3:46 PM _ d To: Geoff Fruin (Date) Cc: Zac Hall; Juli Seydell Johnson; Council Subject: Re: Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from the Northside Neighborhood Association We appreciate the thoughtful response and are pleased the number of trees being removed before the work session is limited. We hope the Council and staff will consider incorporating the following principles as a policy if fully developed 1. Treatment of ash trees that can be saved. Cities across the country, including our neighbors in Cedar Rapids and Coralville are planning a robust treatment program for ash trees. This should be a priority for our community as well. 2. Transparency about which ones cannot be saved because of safety risks. We understand some trees pose safety risks and others are most likely beyond treatment. The community should know which trees those are. Some of the concern that has arisen around this is the lack of clarity about which trees are being removed. 3. Explore a public-private partnership for trees that are neither clearly able to be treated and those that are imminent safety risks. We recognize that while some trees can clearly be treated and some trees clearly pose a safety risk, there's likely to be some that fit somewhere in between. We would encourage a policy where the City looks to partner either with property owners or neighborhoods or nonprofits who might be interested in taking on a larger role in preserving those trees. 4. Building a diverse tree canopy is part of this process. We recognize a long-term solution is a more diverse tree canopy; however, we encourage a policy that smoothly transitions toward diversity, while reducing sudden widespread canopy loss due to EAB. In that regard, the City should pay particular attention to canopy loss on blocks that are mostly ash trees. Thank you, Kevin Boyd, on behalf of the Northside Neighborhood Association On Wed, Aug 15, 2018 at 10:22 PM, Geoff Fruin <Geoff-FruinC@iowa-city.ore> wrote: Mr. Boyd, Thank you for your email. The City Parks and Forestry staff is working to pull together information for the September 4th Council Work Session. We look forward to clarifying our current approach to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) and engaging with the City Council about response options. We also appreciate the Northside Neighborhood's interest in the matter. Having residents fully engaged will help ensure that everyone has accurate information and understands how the City will be responding in the future. The City currently has a less than two dozen trees scheduled for removal throughout the City. Most of these removals are related to the EAB, but a few non -ash trees are being removed for other health and public safety reasons. To put that number in perspective, we estimate that we have over 3,300 ash trees on city property in the community. The trees that are slated for removal are all in poor health and pose an active public safety concern. They are not being removed simply because they are ash trees and they are well past the point of being able to be saved or prolonged by chemical injections. In fact, our ash tree removals are all being prioritized by health condition and public safety concern, as well as conflicts with pending city infrastructure projects (e.g. water main replacements). With only trees that are in poor health and posing a safety risk scheduled for removal, I cannot support a moratorium in order to discuss preservation options that would not be suitable for trees in this condition. That said, there are certainly a variety of different approaches that cities can take with those tress that are healthy. We will be discussing those with the City Council on September 4th and are also inviting officials from the State of Iowa who have a wider perspective on this issue and work with cities that take a variety of different approaches. We feel that they will be able to add valuable insight to the Council discussion. Again, I appreciate your concerns and want to convey that City staff fully appreciates the value of trees to our neighborhoods. Our staff are dedicated professionals in their fields and have committed their careers to creating a strong urban tree system in the community. We are all devastated by the impending impacts of the EAB and are doing are best to deploy strategies that will help neighborhoods continue to thrive despite this troubling reality. Best, Geoff Fruin City Manager From: Kevin Boyd <kevinmboyd@)gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2018 3:16 PM To: Zac Hall <Zac-Hall(@iowa-city.org>; Juli Seydell Johnson <Juli-SJohnson(u)iowa-citv.org>; Geoff Fruin <Geoff- Fruin@iowa-city.org> Cc: Council <Council@iowa-citv.org> Subject: Ash Tree Removal Moratorium Request from the Northside Neighborhood Association This email is on behalf of the Northside Neighborhood Association. There has been a lot of concern about the ash tree removal policy of the city. We've had several neighbors approach us with concern about the removal of the ash tree canopy in the right of way in our neighborhood, but also the broad policy throughout the city. We are asking for a temporary moratorium on the right of way removals until at least the September 4 City Council work session, and ideally until spring. That preserves the trees until the Council can provide direction on this issue. It would also continue the process of engaging the community and give citizens and the city time to explore potential treatment solutions and collectively decide how to proceed. We are concerned that several more streets will have their trees removed prior to this September 4 work session on this topic. Once these trees are removed, it will take 50-100 years to replace them. Looking at the Iowa City's Strategic Plan, the removal of the trees seems incongruous with several objectives, including a walkable urban core, healthy neighborhoods, and environmental sustainability. Many other cities across the state and country have implemented alternatives to the removal of the tree canopy in the right of ways and we encourage the city to investigate those. We ask for a temporary moratorium on the right of way tree removals until alternatives have been explored. Thank you, Kevin Boyd, on behalf of the Northside Neighborhood Association Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Item Number: 8.1. I r , CITY OF IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE August 21, 2018 ATTACHMENTS: Description Patricia Koza: 101 Lusk Avenue [Staff response included] Kellie Fruehling From: Geoff Fruin Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 8:56 PM To: Patricia Koza; Council Cc: Gerard and Carolyn Rushton; Bill Ackerman; Brad Erickson; Chris Rossi; Craig Syrop; Dennis Befeler, Dina Janzen; Donald Black; James Larew; Jiyun Park; Joanne Madsen; Karin Southard; Kathleen Kamerick; Rebecca Porter; Sonia Ettinger Subject: RE: 101 Lusk Avenue Ms. Koza, Thank you for sharing your concerns. Council members will receive your email and City staff will check into the issues you mentioned and will follow-up with the contractor. Best, Geoff Fruin City Manager From: Patricia Koza <trishkza@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2018 2:30 PM To: Council <Council@iowa-city.org> Cc: Gerard and Carolyn Rushton <grushton38@gmail.com>; Bill Ackerman <ba_iowacity@yahoo.com>; Brad Erickson <baerickson29@gmail.com>; Chris Rossi <monicadreyer@mchsi.com>; Craig Syrop <craigsyrop@icloud.com>; Dennis Befeler <dabefeler@gmail.com>; Dina Janzen <dinajanzenl@gmail.com>; Donald Black <blackdw1956@gmail.com>; James Larew <James.Larew@larewlawoffice.com>; Jiyun Park <jjiyanpark@yahoo.com>; Joanne Madsen <Jsmadsen@mchsi.com>; Karin Southard <karin.southard@gmail.com>; Kathleen Kamerick <kckamerick@gmail.com>; Koza, Trish <trishkza@gmail.com>; Rebecca Porter <jsdillon@mchsi.com>; Sonia Ettinger <spcettinger@yahoo.com> Subject: 101 Lusk Avenue Dear Councilors: As a neighbor of the controversial construction project at 101 Lusk Ave., I am informing you that many of the problems that we tried to point out to the city about this project are really becoming apparent. Today's rain caused noticeable erosion to surrounding areas from runoff from the property. The builder is blatantly ignoring no parking signs on the barricade erected by the City, and in fact has now put a port -a -potty on the city street. The sense of entitlement exhibited by this property owner, who has shown no regard for the neighborhood, was encouraged and inflated by the City when they issued the building permit and ignored the many concerns raised by the neighbors. We were assured over and over that the City personnel would be closely monitoring this project and that no infractions would occur. Sincerely, Patricia Koza, 209 Lexington ave Item Number: 8.m. CITY OF IOWA CITY �n- COUNCIL ACTION REPORT August 21, 2018 Establishment of "No Parking Any Time" parking prohibition on one side of Arbury Drive Prepared By: Emily Bothell, Sr. Transportation Engineering Planner Reviewed By: Kent Ralston, Transportation Planner Tracy Hightshoe, Neighborhood and Development Services Director Fiscal Impact: No impact Recommendations: Staff: Approval Commission: N/A Attachments: Executive Summary: As directed by Title 9, Chapter 1, Section 3A of the City Code, this is to advise the City Council of the following action: Pursuant to Section 9-1-3A (10, 12); Establishment of "No Parking Any Time" parking prohibition on the side of Arbury Drive with odd household numbers. Background /Analysis: This action is being taken to prohibit parking on one side of Arbury Drive. The street is 25 feet wide which makes it difficult for City service vehicles to access households on Arbury Drive when vehicles park on both sides of the street. The Fire Department was contacted regarding this issue and supports the proposed action. Residents on Arbury Drive were notified of the parking prohibition and all correspondence received thus far is attached for reference. ATTACHMENTS: Description Arbury Correspondence Kent Ralston From: John Canady <drjohn@johncanady.com> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2018 7:20 PM To: Kent Ralston Subject: Re: Arbury Parking Dear Kent, Thank you for your emails about this. My current understanding after speaking with several people is that this change is being proposed because a single individual in the neighborhood voiced concern about a theoretical possibility of emergency vehicles not being able to maneuver on the street during football games. Our family has lived on Arbury Drive for 30 years and I am unaware of any actual access problem for any vehicle on this street. That said, I am absolutely committed to safety in the neighborhood but I think it is important to realize that there are probably additional safety considerations beyond the theoretical one of emergency vehicle access. Currently the only cars that are rarely parked on the street in front of my house are my own, however if the current changes are enacted there is absolutely no doubt that there will be cars parked on the curb in front of my house 24 hours a day/7 days a week. I will have no idea whose cars those are and at night I will have no idea if someone is in those cars 20 yards from my front door and ground level windows. In 30 years this has always been a safe neighborhood and my wife and I have felt comfortable walking on the sidewalk here at any time of night or day. Now if there are constantly cars along our side of the street because of this change we will feel much less safe walking and in our home. This is a real world safety issue that affects all the residents on the street, not one person's theoretical issue possibly present only on home football game days. I hope you will reconsider this change and abandon the plans to force parking on only one side of the street. If there is going to be a chance for public comment on this can you please forward me the date/time for that. Thank you for your consideration. Best, John Canady On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 4:20 PM, Kent Ralston <Kent-Ralston@iowa-city.org> wrote: Hello Mr. Canady—The City received a concern about on -street parking from a resident on Arbury. The specific concern was that when vehicles are parked opposite each other, the street is too narrow for emergency response vehicles to pass and access residences when needed. The concern was shared with the Iowa City Fire Chief and he agreed that parking should be removed from one side of the street as Arbury is only 25' wide. Byway of background, the City's Code limits parking to one side of the street for any newly constructed street less than 28' in width. I understand the inconvenience that this change may cause. However, the City takes the safety of residents very seriously and I feel this change is necessary. I've attached the letter that was sent to the neighborhood for reference. If you would like to provide any additional information to the Council, please provide it to me in writing and I'll provide your correspondence to the City Council for consideration at their August 2111 meeting. Best Regards, Kent Ralston, AICD Executive Director I heletropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County Transportation Planner ! City of lova City 410 E 'Washington St to%:va Citv IA 52240 319.356.5253 From: John Canady [mailto:driohn@johncanady.com] Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 3:50 PM To: Geoff Fruin <Geoff-Fruin@iowa-city.org> Cc: Jim Throgmorton <Jim-Throgmorton@iowa-city.org>; Kent Ralston <Kent-Ralston@iowa-city.org> Subject: Re: Arbury Parking Thank you. @Kent - are you able to give me any other details on the background around this proposal? Thank you John Sent from my Whone On Jul 19, 2018, at 12:36 PM, Geoff Fruin <Geoff-Fruin@iowa-city.org> wrote: John -- Thank you for reaching out. Our staff lead on this is Mr. Kent Ralston. I've cc'd him on this email and he can answer questions and record any feedback that you have for presentation to the full City Council. Thank you, Geoff Fruin City Manager From: Jim Throgmorton Sent: Thursday, July 19, 20181:00 PM To: John Canady <driohn@iohncanady.com> Cc: Geoff Fruin <Geoff-Fruin@iowa-city.org> Subject: Re: Arbury Parking John, Thanks for sharing your views about this. By copying the City Manager on this email, I'm asking him to have a staff member explain the rationale and process that led to the change. Jim Sent from my Wad On Jul 19, 2018, at 10:34 AM, John Canady <driohn@iohncanady.com> wrote: Dear Jim, I am writing in opposition to the proposed parking changes on Arbury Drive (i.e., changing from parking on both side to parking only on the outside of the curve). I feel this will cause more problems than it will solve and will lead to cars being constantly parked in front of our house on the street which has not been the case for the 30 years we have lived there. I am not sure what is behind this change but I am personally unaware of actual problems with the current situation of parking on both sides. I am happy to speak with you about this at any time. Best, John Canady 64 Arbury Drive Iowa City, IA 319-330-2570 Disclaimer The information contained in this communication from the sender is confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. Kent Ralston From: Perry, Michael J <michael-perry@uiowa.edu> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 4:47 PM To: Kent Ralston Subject: Arbury Dr. parking Kent, We received your letter regarding proposed changes to parking on Arbury Dr yesterday. We are pleased with the change and hope the council will agree. I would offer one comment. City staff recommend that parking be permitted only on the "outside" of the loop. I note that there are three fire hydrants on Arbury Dr, all of which are located on the outside of the loop. If the purpose of the parking change is to permit accessibility by emergency vehicles, part of the accessibility issue would include the fire hydrants. But if parking were permitted on the same side of the street as the fire hydrants, I can easily foresee people parking in front of the hydrants on football game days, when otherwise free parking spaces are in high demand. Yes, parking in front of hydrants is already illegal, but on game days there is no guarantee that someone won't go ahead park in front of one anyway. It would make more sense to me to prohibit all parking on the outside of the loop, which would help assure fire hydrant accessibility at all times. I therefore suggest you reconsider the side of the street on which parking will be permitted. Thank you for your consideration. Michael Perry 15 Arbury Dr. Iowa City Kent Ralston From: Kent Ralston Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 10:30 AM To: 'pgillespie8l@aol.com' Subject: RE: Arbury Drive On Street Parking Hi Paul — Thanks for the note. Yes, the proposed parking prohibition will restrict parking to one side of the street 24hrs a day 7 days a week. This is to ensure that emergency response vehicles can safely access properties along Arbury at all times. Best, Kent Ralston, AICP Executive Director I Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County Transportation Planner I City of Iowa City 414 E Washington St Iowa City IA 522:0 315.355.5253 From: pgillespie8l@aol.com [mailto:pgillespie8l@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2018 8:56 AM To: Kent Ralston <Kent-Ralston@iowa-city.org> Subject: Arbury Drive On Street Parking Hi Kent, I applaud the proposed change to parking on Arbury Drive that was outlined in the letter we received from you yesterday. I just want to confirm that this new parking regulation would stay in effect during football game days as well. That is the time when the parking problems are most acute. Thanks! Paul Gillespie 48 Arbury Dr. Kent Ralston From: Follmer, Carl R <carl-follmer@uiowa.edu> Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2018 9:53 PM To: Kent Ralston Cc: Robin Follmer- Subject: Arbury Drive Parking To the Members of the City Council, I'm writing in absolute support of the proposed parking restriction for Arbury Drive. My family and I moved in prior to the football season last year and quickly became concerned that during game days emergency vehicles would be unable to reach the homes on our street. Having cars parked on both sides of the street also makes visibility greatly obscured. In the interest of public safety, I urge the City Council to enact the proposed parking restrictions on Arbury Drive. My family and I are grateful for your consideration on this matter. Regards, Carl Carl R. Follmer, Ph.D. Assistant Director, Accounting Writing Program Department of Accounting The University of Iowa Tippie College of Business W259 Pappajohn Business Building (319) 335-0913 ` Submitted by Lucy Barker FrliOUSES INTO HOMES E S WHAT DOES IT COST US TO PROVIDE BEDS AND m FURNISH HOMES FOR FAMILIES? V -_, Storage: $1000/month / --- Pick ups and deliveries: $200/month to rent a truck Costs for a complete furnish, including repairs, cleaning,and I]( ,,,c'L y miscellaneous items: $100/furnish. m+. Y \ ''9 WISH LIST: \` Truck aWarehouse storage U Moving and cleaning equipment See our website for a more detailed wish list. a c 'a Houses into Homes is a 501 c3 nonprofit organization.Your contribution is N tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.EIN#82-4622847 Your donations turn houses into homes! FILED .0 I. AUG 21 2010 City Clerk Iowa City, Iowa HOUSES INTO HOMES WHAT DOES IT COST US TO PROVIDE BEDS AND o FURNISH HOMES FOR FAMILIES? m Storage: $1000/month 7 J Pick ups and deliveries: $200/month to rent a truck /----- '�-- Costs for a complete furnish, including repairs, cleaning, and .,, miscellaneous items: $100/furnish. y -7- s 4o ¢•b. ,,fl 44 N WISH LIST: Truck r° \y / Warehouse storage Moving and cleaning equipment V See our website for a more detailed wish list. u aHouses into Homes is a 501 c3 nonprofit organization.Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by the law.EIN#82.4622847 0 Your donations turn houses into homes!