April 22nd, 2013
This month’s guests were Parking Director James Troup and Traffic Engineer Eric Eby.
Start 7:04
Captain Sullivan – Not much to report. Going after homeless people sleeping in Kerouac Park.
Greg – $179.29, $5 for those from 18-70 (plus $25 today)
Eric Eby – Traffic
· Crosswalk @ Shattuck and Market? Would require ADA crosswalk and a loss of a crosswalk
· Two-way street conversion may complicate this. May 29th (Wednesday) public meeting in Mayor’s Reception room @ 6:00 to discuss traffic changes. Don’t lose any parking. Merrimack even two-way.
· Sullivan – all at once changes?
o Yes, Summer 2014
· Craig – Light synchronization is a problem. Public safety issues if we make these changes?
o We’ll do what we can.
· George – We need to make signalization paramount and ADA compliancy.
· Ken – How was this idea created?
o Jeff Speck plan.
· Ken – Dutton/Overpass rotary is scary, especially inbound
o 4-way at Fletcher/Jackson
· Sun Blg is a mess, how long till it’s fixed?
o 18 more months they’re saying.
o Henri will send info to LDNA.
· Corey – can we do something about the curb width at Central and Market?
o Craig – and the sidewalk in front of Centro is a mess.
o George – I hear this sort of thing from a lot of people with wheelchairs.
§ Henri – Contact Chris Samaras
o Downtown sidewalks are horrible – I have to replace my wheels…tree roots, etc.
· Eric – Line painting on May 6, citywide. Not the crosswalks
o Steven – Sharrows?
§ No.
o New light at Lawrence and Church
o Redo VFW/Bridge
o New University Ave Bridge (Howe) will open by fall. New light @ Pawtucket and Fletcher.
§ Monument where old bridge was.
Jim Troupe – Parking
· 172 new Kiosks, significant amount replacing existing kiosks.
· Major spring cleanup with Republic Parking by college graduations
· Working with UML to study garages – prioritizing structural issues in existing garages.
· We still have issues with the security vendor
o US Security is the security vendor.
§ Jim – called the regional manager for US Security myself.
o LPD can help out 10-11.
· Craig – Can we run breathalyzers leaving the Roy Garage?
· Sam – The new company is far, far worse.
o Security guard was told to not leave cashier
o Madison used to have two.
· Sam – New Kiosks hopefully are better than the old ones
o Amarao is the kiosk again.
o We’ll have new signage, etc.
o Kiosks will be moving to 4G.
· Cameras in the staircases?
o Would be nice.
o Sam – also please power-wash them.
· Credit card minimum is $2 for cost reasons.
· Steven – please clean drains in the garage…they’re decaying.
· Homeless People are hitting the machines until they give up coins.
· Shattuck St – people are parking in the bus stop, blocking the handicapped ramp.
· Early Garage is too narrow – can we restrict the end-spaces to compact cars?
· Corey – Roy garage isn’t much better
o We’ll fix it.
· John – when does US Security come up to bid again?
o Very discressionary…3 yr contract.
· Corey – can we re-examine the fee structure to balance garage and street parking?
o Yes
· Craig – Peak hours of parking misbehavior are often late at night. We are not helping restaurant businesses.
o Meters might have event rates.
Corey
· Neighborhood cleanup – Mack Plaza 9:30 on Saturday
· Meeting on Thursday license commission.
End 8:30
Post meeting
Eric:
the city has several bike ring bollards that we are looking to install in key areas around the city. One thought is to put one up between each parking meter number post in the downtown, but I wanted to get your group’s input as to whether you would like to see them in certain spots more than others. They look like a parking meter post with a ring that is used to lock a bike on each side. You may have seen similar ones in the downtown already.
We are looking to install them shortly, so any input you have would be appreciated.