All right. Um, why don't we go ahead and get started? It's 5:01. That is probably the promptest be starting time we've ever had. Um, welcome everybody. Uh, we will kick it off by making a round of introductions. I'd love to start with folks on Zoom because I feel like we
always leave them last. Um, and I know Tommy's making sure they have chatting privileges. Um, so just uh name maybe what neighborhood you live in, maybe what brings you here and um one thing you're looking forward to about summer.
Your sound is xed out at the very bottom, Tommy. I don't know if that right that might be so that there's feedback. Okay. But I don't know if online folks can you hear us? Yes.
Natalie, you want to kick us off? Uh, sure. What was the thing we're supposed to tell like our fun fact? Your something you're looking forward to about summer. Oh, okay. Um, hi, I'm Natalie. I'm on my way. I'll be there
soon. And I'm on city council. And one of the things I am looking forward to this summer is riding my bike around town a bunch. Um,
can other folks chat talk? Sorry. Real quick, if I'm promoting you to panelists, that will allow you to talk. So if you want to talk, then accept my request if if if Yeah. This is not like a it's not a
nightmare situation where you're like required to speak and you're naked and have no Josh has uh declined my request. Oh, all right. Well, Josh, we don't All right. Well, maybe while people work that out, uh we'll go around the table.
So, Meredith, can we start with you? Sure. I'm Meredith Lra. I live in Thrive Spring and I'm I'm excited about getting in a pool during the summer. I hate summer.
Uh Tommy Sophrenic, city bike ped coordinator. Um and I live in the Martha Jefferson neighborhood. And the thing I'm looking forward to uh summer is obviously biking a bunch, walking a bunch, running a bunch. Beach is also
another thing, going to the beach. I'm Kevin Gox. You may have heard of me. Sorry. But uh I've lived in town 62 years, worked at UVA for 32, walked across town and back two and a half
miles one way for 25 years. I'm very familiar with what pedestrians face. I've hitchhiked all over the world, all over the country, through many different pedestrian settings. What I look forward to this summer the most is growing
flowers and tomatoes on Preston Avenue and giving them to complete strangers. I've never done the tomatoes before. Did the flowers last year. Brandon Duncan, I'm the city engineer. Um, I look forward to moving another kid
out of the house this summer. Hi folks, I'm Zoe Mackenber. I'm the city of the new transit planner started about two months ago this week. Yay. Um, I am really looking forward to getting to know Charlottesville because I moved at a perfect time. It was just turning
one another and now this summer I get to explore a bit. I'm Kyle Roband. I'm the city's safe routiner. Um, I'm looking forward to big impulse travel in summer.
I'm Seville. I'm a climate justice policy manager at the event. Uh, I'm looking forward to I don't know leaving frequently your job. No. Oh, leaving frequently
city over the summer. Uh Mike Breezy. I represent Rose Hill neighborhood. I'm also uh interning. I just started for the summer in long range planning. I'm also looking forward to leaving for a big fat Italian fighting in Philadelphia.
Should we grab Elbert for Albert? Now the county transportation planner since we left. So you know gone for not promotion. Yeah, sure. Um downtown mall and I'm looking forward to November when I can wear sweaters in the cold. Thank
I'm Peter from the environmental council. I'm going to be real iconic class and say I love summer. And one of the reasons why is you just wear the same thing all the time. You should definitely wear the same t-shirt every week. You
can wear the same thing inside and out. Um, I'm James Van Branken, one of the co-chairs of PPE. Um, also just like summer, we recently discovered we recently discovered the joys of the
city pools and are going to be spending many evenings and afternoons mounting by the side of the pool. Um, Satie Van Rankin Rich Street. Uh, I'm a teacher and so I'm looking forward to time.
I'm co-chair James. I live in Belmont. I'm looking forward to eating more. Lady live in north downtown. I look forward to festivals. Hi everybody. Uh, I'm Kevin Winchell. I'm the new executive director over at
Charlottesville Community Bikes and uh we just moved up from Florida two months ago. So, I'm really looking forward to this uh because Florida summers are not as fun. Uh and uh this is this is the first time I've been out of the state living somewhere else. So, I'm looking
forward to exploring the new places, finding new trails, and uh doing a lot of fun stuff with my kids. So, if you had recommendations on things that nine-year-old and 5-year-old might like that adults would also like, um, please tell me. Thank you. City pools.
Uh, I'm Matt Dalton. I live in Fry Springs. Um, I am looking forward to fall. Wait, next. Uh, Jen Fleer. I work at for Bluidge Health District. Um, and I'm looking
forward to uh getting surfing, but it's getting out of town. I'm looking forward to June 18th. I'm looking forward to June 18th. Oh my god. So, looking forward to June 18th. Yes, that's exactly.
Um, do we have folks online who'd like to introduce themselves? Josh Cart, um, this would be you. Oh, hey. I'm Josh. I know most of you. Um, I volunteer with local library on
the ebike library. All right. So, again, if um I'm giving you permission to uh move over to the panelist, that will be your opportunity to speak. Um, but the chat is also open. Um, and yeah. Yes, absolutely. We'll
keep our eye on the chat. So, if folks want to contribute that way, um, please do. Uh, great. uh approval of the agenda and meeting notes from uh agenda for today and meeting notes from last month. Anyone interested in making move
second in favor? Great. Um public comment. Anyone here for public comment? Kevin. Yes. I just want to share something with you that happened in the last couple of days. I
got a message from a woman living with a disability over on the Harris Road neighborhood and she told me about the situation that she faces on Harris Road. She has to cross that street uh several times a day sometimes and
quite frequently the drivers refuse to stop. It's a very harrowing experience. So I went over there and took a look and I didn't get past the intersection of Naylor Street and Harris Road which is about one block from the school.
But what I found was there was curb ramps in place for a crossing and there is a crossing. It's just not marked. There were curb ramps in place for a crossing at Harris Road and also at the street with no name. This is the
opposite side of Naylor and it hasn't been accepted into the city system but it's Naylor continued. There are 1 2 3 four curb ramps or two crossings and no more crosswalks. Now what really got me was when I went
to Google Street View and discovered that this has been this way for at least 6 years. It's a block from the school. Why? It's not on a quick build list. Why do I have to go and make an issue of
this which is clearly something that should be there and should have been there when the ramps were put in place. This also happened at tent and little high ramps were put in place. It was months before I happened to walk there. I didn't don't usually go there and
notice there was no march crosswalk. There wasn't going to be one until I spoke up. So why why is the burden of identifying these things and get them fixed put on the public too often? Now, you know, I'd like to quick build list, don't get me
wrong. It's a great step. I really like the striping on fairway. So that's all I have to say. I just wanted to share that with you. Thank you. Anyone else for public comment? Okay. Um, moving on. Questions for
staff? We don't have Ben today, but we do have Kyle and we do have Tommy. Um, and folks should have received a staff update the Google group. Uh, if you're not though, if you're at this meeting, but you are not on our Google group list, please um get with me and James
after the meeting and we'll make sure you're out. I have a question before I forget. Do you happen to know how many people are on that Google group as of today? Like a hundred. About a hundred. Okay. Yeah, it's a good group. But please join us if you're not there. Um, I have a question for for staff for
for um, which is in relation to the quick build list. Uh, and had a chance to chat with Ben briefly at the bike parade on Saturday. Um, kudos Tommy for organizing bike. Uh and the the question
was around um we were told at one point as part of the quick build project list and and kind of roll out. We were told that there were going to be signs put up by quick build projects with QR codes that would link to a form where folks could offer feedback on these, you know,
the the interventions that are being deployed in their neighborhoods. Um so the city could collect feedback. Ben told me on Saturday that that's actually that got beaten by the traffic engineer. Um I was curious if BPAC thinks it would be a worthy use of our time to actually
take that project on um to get the signs designed, get the QR codes up, get a Google form, like something very simple so that we could collect the data to have an understanding of what's working, what's frustrating people, what more is
needed, that kind of thing. Um can I ask please? Uh so I don't know I first of all um since traffic engineer is here I don't think that was maybe want that was above us wasn't it that wasn't that was
that was a management decision maybe I don't want to not trying to get anyone in trouble that was what I recommended venture and to to your point is I personally would love to collect this data um not so much solely on like what's not working but what is working.
Okay. So, right now all the information is getting to um Brennan and didn't I see Caleb a second ago? Um uh but they're going to receive a lot of
um feedback that it's most likely negative. Um and and that doesn't mean that's not good data. Um, but we're I think we're going to miss out on like other data which is thank you or this is awesome but we should tweak it here or something to that effect. So by not
doing it how we intended, there's maybe other opportunities to collect that data. Great. And Ben said he'd be happy to cover the cost of printing the signs. Um, do do we have any insight why staff wasn't allowed to to do this and
would we be allowed to do this? Um, I think if Ben says that he's open to supporting you, then you have uh arranged to move forward. I don't have any insight. I was not at that meeting. Sure. Thank you. I'd be
hugely in favor of doing it for the reasons that Tom Tommy said it feels like something that um fits well within our role as an advisory committee as a committee designed to hear from the community. Um
if the city's not doing it, I feel like it should be done and we're a great organization to do it. Cool. Um I it could just be an actual extension of the quick build committee that was already assembled and I was chairing our committee. So I'm happy to do that
again. Um if anyone would like to join me and James um or maybe just just uh like review our plan for the questions we'd like to put in our party. It's a great idea. I talked to a lot of people in Fairway on Fairway who were affected by the recent
striping and uh most people were really pleased with it. But there is one problem and that's the stretch between me and Caroline. The striping confuses people. It looks like a bike lane but it's not. It's where people park their cars. So, but it's only about half a car
width out from the edge of the street. And so, it really would have been better off to left that off and start the striking at Caroline. Um but and so that's something to consider with other projects I think. And so there is things to learn from this. You're right. I know
we have that same issue on um cross in by the church, the big church across from the park where it's a bike lane and then it kind of turns into parking, but it's very unclear exactly what happens there. That's on purpose. Yeah. Right.
Okay. Yeah. On my street on Sunday. Yeah, I thought it was kind of Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's a parking that you can ride your bike, right? Confusing. Yeah. On fairway, it may be that we need to remove that parking because it's not intended to be parking
there, right? It was all I mean, it was partially intended to be a shoulder because there is no sidewalk in that location either. So, it was partially intended that it's a pseudo pedestrian. There's a sidewalk there on the other side. on the other side on the car on
the Caroline Caroline side on the Caroline side there's not right um there and so there's we were delineating a a 20 foot travel width which is what delineating deleting parking on both sides or just the Caroline side wherever
there isn't sufficient width that would be well I think that's good you could submit that feedback um and platform. That would be great. Yeah. And just like um Kyle's safe to school projects that have turned into concrete
projects, like it would be helpful to be able to point to what the community is experiencing um with these projects, I think. Yeah. Well, and of course that whole intersection is about to get a lot of attention um with the with the the other demo project through the moose le.
Yeah. Yeah. So, do you need the quick build subcommittee to stand back up again so we can all put up design and put up these signs? What What do you Yeah, I think I think I'll email the quick build committee and with maybe some maybe James and I can work up a draft and then
get folks sent and then I was going to ask Josh Crown to design some signs for us if he's willing. Josh Crown, did you hear that? He can't talk. He can't talk. So, we're good. We're good, Josh. Thank you. I
will say you also have somebody here who designs things and you can maybe tie it back to pre-existing biking and walking. Oh, yeah. To that point, I just want to say real quick,
uh, I want to give Meredith a huge shout out. Um, if you haven't been to the FCville website and seen all the work she's done, um, I was gonna say this for later, but Meredith really helped make um, bike month special one this year.
Yeah, Josh had a comment there to you about trying to get access to the chat for the non-panelist. You um yeah, I want you to become a panelist. Oh, but Josh is a panel, right? I think Josh is asking on behalf of they they
have to accept my request. I can request again but I think the requests will have gone by now. It doesn't mean you have to talk. It just means you can talk. No, we would and we would love for you to introduce yourself. Hey,
and there are more people. Um, any Zoom folks who have not yet introduced yourselves, would you like to in the spirit of welcoming everyone? Totally fine if you don't. Um, no other questions for staff.
I thought I'd get a shout out from gosh about all the hyperlinks I add into the Okay, right. Um All right. Well, then we can keep moving for our agenda because we got a lot to talk about. Um utility PS
Dominion and ADA clients. All right. So Brandon, you are up. Yes. Thank you for being here, Ben. Yeah, no problem. Um, so I'll start off. We we've been in discussions with a lot of the utility
companies starting really in earnest uh you know last year. Um we had a utility summit uh last year, a couple of them actually because it wasn't as well attended in the first one as we were hoping and it wasn't that much as well attended as we wanted on the second one
either. But um we have around 15 um independent utility companies that you know work um on the poles and and stuff around the city. There's only two of them though that own the poles. So there's Dominion and there's Bright Speed. Um those are the two that kind of
have their own poles. The rest of them are all just attaching to you know the other poles um and have attachment agreements with those other utilities. So they are not getting any agreement with the city necessarily to attach to those poles. We have no say as to you
know when they come or you know when they what their parameters are for how they're attached when they're attached. Um they do get a franchise agreement to operate in our right of way but the actual pull agreements um to the to date at least Dominion and Bright Speed have
seen those as proprietary and have not been willing to share those with the city. So, I'll start there. Um, we have made progress um especially with Bright Speed. Um, we have regular meetings with them um to to kind of move their lines
off of the poles they don't own um that are Dominions. Um but one of the issues there is the the order of transfer of lines um goes from the bottom up or sorry from the top down. Um and they are
you know a lot of times one of the lower ones on the pole. So you know they have to trying to coordinate with the other 13 utilities um before some of these poles can be removed. Um so
sale at is complicated. Um and it's it's not easy. It's not quick. Um, I know we we had the one if if people remember there was the semi-truck out at Park Street and uh High Street that got tangled to the lines trying to make that
turn and ended up, you know, pulling down power lines and frying the traffic signal and and all that kind of stuff. Um, part of that was they, you know, pulled one of the poles kind of cockeye. Um, and that's been a year and a half
almost at this point. And you know, we're still working with all the utilities to try and and get stuff off of there. So, um it's not that we're not doing stuff behind the scenes. It just might not always be readily apparent um to the public. Um but we have made
progress. We've got I want to say the last time I checked it was somewhere between 30 and 50 poles in the last year that have have been removed. Um we've been able to get, you know, double polls removed. So, it is moving forward. Um, you know, we're giving them a list kind
of 10 at a time. Um, we figure that's been more I don't know what the right word is, but but easier to to get them to kind of focus and concentrate on these are our next 10 priority and and kind of go that route rather than just give them the
full 3 to 500 double pools and say go fix them all. Um, so, um, you know, it's it's definitely an issue. And that's that's just the double pull. That doesn't get in to the ADA issues because we've got plenty of those where we have single poles that are still an ADA
issue. And um, the new PROAG guidelines that were passed uh, late last year got rid of the exception for poles and fire hydrants and other stuff. So, stuff that might have even been compliant under the old ADA regulations are now no longer compliant. Um, so you know, we're
working with them. Technically, I think those are grandfathered in, but as soon as they were to set a new poll, then they're under the new new guidelines. So, um, you know, we're working with that. We're we're probably end up having to, especially with the transition plan,
um, we're planning on having to go around basically build new sidewalk around those poles rather than moving the poles. Um, a lot of those they gravity works works against them if they just start moving singular poles out of
the way. Um, because the lines have weight to them and so they start if you're if all your poles aren't in a line, they start to pull on the poles. So then they need guide wires. They need more pull to hold up the poles um, you know, and stuff to if if you can't keep them in a straight line. So a lot of
these where you know, oh there's only one pole that needs to be moved. Well, if you move that pole, you end up having to either move the whole line or something. So, that's where we're kind of figuring out where where we need to get additional right ofway from people um to to kind of move around those and
and provide an accessible route. Um so, all that to say, there's progress being made. It's slow um but we are we are trying to to move them in the right direction. Um, Dominion has has been
difficult um to work with. They're a necessary utility um as designated by the state and federal government. So, it's not like we can just kick them out um for for not complying. Um they're working under a 1920 franchise agreement
that has been determined by the courts that is perpetual. Um we cannot renegotiate it. We can they are not willing to renegotiate it. Um, that one was, however, the that one was made. It was a 1905 or 190 agreement.
1901. Um, nothing's changed since then, though. It's fine. Exactly. Nothing's changed. Um, well, the the 1921 that we're under was forced through legal action by the city against Dominion then. So, um, you know,
I don't know that we'll get there or that the, you know, hopefully we never get there. Hopefully we can get them to work with us, but um you know, if push comes to sub, that that may have to be the the final straw is to get them to go through that process to renegotiate that
franchise agreement. Um but they are at least pulling permits now um for the majority of their work. We're we're still catching them every once in a while when they're not. Um this the smaller utilities are definitely a struggle. Um you know, all these are
forprofit. I spoke to, you know, having to move off of the the old poles. Well, there is absolutely no financial incentive for them to do that. So, um, you know, it's it's difficult to get them to come out and move. They've already got their service to their
customers. They're getting revenue. All it is is a cost to them um to go and and leave their lines off. So, um, like I said, just being hesitant, resistant, whatever you want to call it on their part. Um, Dominion's
system that they use to track who's attached to their polls is rather archaic. Um, I believe um, and no one at Dominion is really tracking that either. So, they put in basically a work request that the next person is supposed to, you know, when they moved over to a
new pool, the next person is supposed to move off, but no one is necessarily double-checking on their end to say, you know, okay, you know, per your agreement with us. Again, city doesn't know what that agreement is, but per your agreement, you you have 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, what whatever it is to
move off. No one's actually double-checking and making sure that gets done. So, that's that's kind of the struggle that we're we're having right now um with that. So, and Dominion itself is about eight different companies within Dominion. They've got
their they're very siloed, which I've I've learned over the last year as well. Um, so just in the local office, they have six different departments that do work within the city that don't necessarily talk to each other. Um, and they have another two or three that are more corporate based um, that will come
in and do grid hardening work and and stuff um, that may end up replacing poles that the local office doesn't even necessarily know they're out there doing the work. So, it's like I said, it's it's been a challenge. Um, but that's kind of where we're at.
Yeah. Um, thank you for coming. Thank you for explaining a lot of that. What how, if any, does the city have to uh stop Dominion putting new poles right in the middle of the side? So again, we've we've asked and requested that they
notify us beforehand, get pulled their permits, you know, if they're putting new new infrastructure in the roadway, whether it's poles or whether they have to put anything in our right of way, um that they're they're pulling permits for those. Um so that we can review it, make sure it's in a good location and that
they're not just putting it in. Um that works okay if it's a planned uh issue. Um if it's an emergency issue again something like you know a tractor trailer comes in and snaps off 30 poles um you know they're not pulling those
permits like they are restoring service and they are going out there and they're just doing their work. Um and and so a lot of times I think some of the issue the the worst issues we have are those types of things where um there's there's the one on Tennant Street by Wise right
there at Barracks Road Shopping Center where I mean that pole looks like it's been ready to fall over for two years now. Um and you know they they went in put in their new pole but again getting all the other utilities off of it has been been a challenge. So, um,
I see. So, so ideally, um, Dominion would ask for a permit to put in a pole, you'd see that that putting it in the middle of the sidewalk and and and trying work with them on the best place to put that. And if if it has to go on
the sidewalk, then we're working towards installing sidewalk around it in that location so that we can keep ADA compliant. Yep. Um, quick rules. Uh, one I think I just need clarification. Were you saying that
because of this arcade rule, they're allowed they have an exception to ADA compliance, they're allowed viate? No, they they don't have No, they don't have it's it's just that a lot of our the mechanisms
that are in our franchise agreement that dictate how they can operate in the city limits are old. and a lot of the modern infrastructure stuff wasn't considered. So, they are still required by federal law to do it. Um, but some of the
mechanisms that we might have with newer utilities to enforce stuff isn't in that original franchise. So, is it a is it Dominion or the city or both were in violation of federal law? That would be a question for a lawyer and I am not a
lawyer. forget that's an important question, which is why I am not going to answer it partly. Are you in Okay, so my second question is are you in contact with any other municipalities where this is an issue because I'm sure it's a widespread issue probably it's widespread issue
across the country. I mean you can but I mean Dominion specific, right? But I'm just saying it's it's not just a Dominion issue. This is a a nationwide issue that you know this is happening. I mean, I've traveled to Northeast, Southwest, like you know, the the east,
I will say. So, the fact that we're on the east coast, we have older communities, we have narrower right ofways, um, makes it more difficult and more prevalent to have these issues. So, you know, cities that were built in, you
know, the late 1800s, early 1900s or whatever versus, you know, cities that might have been, you know, more built out in the later 1900s. Um, you know, there is a huge difference. Um, Midwest out west rightways are 60 to 70 feet
normally. Here, we're lucky if we get 50 feet. Um, and when you start putting in, okay, we need a 5ft sidewalk on each side. There's 10 ft. And you need a 20ft travel lane, there's your 50 ft. It's gone. So, you don't have space for bike
lanes. You don't have space for tree lawns. Like, where else are those power poles going to go? So, that's that's really the driving factor on a lot of this is just where the city property ends and how much we need to put in there. So just uh are are you in contact
with other news bodies that are having similar problems with Dominion? Not particularly. No. I mean we've talked to Dominion about their stuff, but we're trying to fix their stuff here. Not necessarily fix their stuff.
Yeah. Like general assembly. Yeah. Like or just you know like a bad like Dominion doesn't care about people in wheelchairs. Once they go through, you don't do it. I'm just a city. If there's an ADA non-compliant issue on the public right
away, the city's responsion poll, if it's public right away, it's the city's responsibility. It's still their responsibility as well. But then that's between you and them. It is. I I don't between She asked who was in violation of federal law and it boils down to it's the city's responsibility
because it's in the public right away. So, this is a very indepth topic, but I'm just going to throw it out there. Any consideration about burying power lines like every other civilized country, it's expensive. And going back
to the narrow rightways that I was talking about, we that I was just talking about the stuff we have above ground. We also have gas, water, sewer, storm sewer, other duck banks that are already in the ground. um RWSA which you know they don't connect to our water and
sewer they're even deeper. So like underground is crowded. when you have a 50ft rightway and especially when you're talking about power that can't just be in a conduit that has to be in a concrete duck bank that's protected so that if somebody is digging like you
know so I mean those end up if you if you've never seen it imagine you know the size of this table you know full of stuff that is running you know horizontal through through the ground with you know different pipes in it so
it takes up a lot of room it's basically the size of a car under the ground um with a pipe. So like putting that in and then also having to get water and sewer and storm sewer. Um one it's it's just difficult engine from an engineering
perspective and it's expensive and there's not you know all that money much money that's just floating out there to go and do that. Yeah, I have another question and that is about regulating Bright Speed and the other telecommunications companies. I
think that because their agreements between Dominion and their companies doesn't preclude the city from having a certain degree of regulatory control over the telecommunications companies. I know that they have to meet sidewalk closure permit requirements. And I look
in the franchise agreement and I see that there are requirements in there for permits, inspections, fines for non-compliance. And so I wonder what can be done realistically to get the mess cleaned up because it does look like they're not
going to do anything or very very little. And the mess is it's reaching a level where it's actually urban pollution. A lot of it is being engulfed by English ivy and porcelain berry and other things. I know some people now are going out with wire cutters and taking it off themselves, which is a very
dangerous thing to do. But what can be done to get this mess? These things are hazardous. You know, they take off bus mirrors. They've pulled people out of their wheelchairs. They've caused a lot of damage. Bicycles have gotten tangled up. There's one down here on Market Street that's been reported multiple
times. I reported it last night. It's hanging in the street, running down the street through the trees and uh for about 20 yards. the one at 10th Street. Yeah. Yeah. It's still there when I came in today. So, do you have any ideas how we what realistically can be done to
solve this? We're we're working towards that. I I can't I don't know exactly what all we're going to be able to do, but we're I can tell you we're working on it. Um, hey Brendon. So, the permit system, I'm curious. Is that permitting through
your office? Yeah, it's a traffic permit. Yeah. I I figured I just wanted to clarify. Yeah, I have a question. Is there a Is there a poll person? This sounds like a full-time project management nightmare. No, we do not have a poll person.
We need a pancer. I knew you were going. There's got to be someone dealing this. You can't somebody Yeah, um yeah, this seems like a lot. We've we we've hired a new um records retention
and finance person that is is trying to help manage in the the actual franchise agreements. And um as as part of that, we're we're trying to get the utilities to
give us, you know, a at least a monthly update of kind of what they're doing every month. Um and you know, some of them have agreed to do that. Some of them have not. Um, but you know, again, just trying to monitor where they're at and and what they're doing. Um, yeah,
it's a it probably could be a full-time job, but you know, we because that's only the poll part. We haven't even talked about like how then it goes to public works and gets the sidewalk part done. Right. Right. So, I mean, the the ADA part of it, a lot of that is going to be addressed through our ADA
transition plan um part of it. Um, you know, we're looking at that portion. Um, you know, we have to figure out how we're spending the money we've got. Majority of our deficiencies that were in there were vertical height displacement stuff, some trip hazards.
Um, so we'll probably try and knock out, you know, those over a three or four year period. Um, to to get that number down and take care of those some of those easy ones. Um, while we're also trying to address, you know, ramps and that kind of stuff. Um, and then, you
know, a portion of it will go to poles and, you know, going around poles. I mean, some of them are easier, some of them are harder. I mean, I I when you're working with a company and, you know, when you've got curb line, sidewalk, and a retaining wall, uh, and you know, the the poles there, like, you know, now
it's not just putting in a sidewalk around that pole, it's tearing out a retaining wall and and doing that as well. So, um, again, it's it's or coming the other way into right away. And I'll just say that like that's or or losing bike lanes or something. The number one
thing that Brenn the number word Brennan hasn't said yet that has probably been my nightmare is the word drainage. So if we're like moving sidewalk into rideway and changing curve line. Now we have to like look at changing drainage which is
like its own like nightmare. Um question is is Deb that person that you're referring to? Yeah. Um she's awesome. Um go Deb. So I'm curious. So like um uh
maybe not so much in terms of um accessibility, but in terms of like quality of work, you know, like when um Dominion or someone comes in and replaces a guy wire and um from the outside looking in, it kind of looks
like this probably could have been done a little bit better. you know, they're cutting in a 12 in x 12 in square, dropping a guideline wire in. Um, a is there any type of like communication being had with them about
like the quality control and or b um I know from your side that you get a lot coming in from the community, a lot of reports. Is it helpful to get reports? Um, again, yes, because you know, we don't have there's not a pull person
that we've got. And I mean, we do we've only had a traffic inspector for the last three years, I think, now. Um, which has helped some because they're actually out driving the city daily and and are picking up, you know, more instances where Dominion or other utilities or other contractors are just
out doing work without permits and stuff. Um, so that has helped. Um, you know, we Dominion has said that they've acknowledged that their quality of work has has not been the greatest um in the past and you know with uh you know
pulling permits now and and trying to get do the right thing um you know hopefully we'll catch more of those and you know we don't have some of the stuff we've had in the past. Can I add one thing to what you said and that is uh Dominion carves ginormous holes in the
sidewalk two or three times larger than they need for the poles and they ruin the sidewalk and it never gets fixed. The earth settles it and becomes a serious trip hazard and an accessibility issue. Uh a number of these have happened since the first meeting where they were told they had to comply with
the ADA. There have been at least two I know of. One on Fairway and Montichello Road. Why did that happen? the one on Fairway, that was when I talked earlier about having six departments in the city and another several departments that are
outside. That was one of the outside departments of Dominion that came in to do that work. Um, okay. But that's a Dominion issue. That's not So, what can what can a city do to respond to Dominion blatantly ignoring the conditions that they were supposed to
meet? I mean, we're on the fairway one. our rightway agent is working with the property owners out there so that we can go around the pole um and you know make it 88 comp and then on these holes who I I I've seen some tremendous damage and then it gets left for sometimes weeks
and then finally city public works crew fixes it who's paying for that we we back bill them if we have to fix it observation on the question the observation is the city doesn't need to
encourage every time into the roadway to get more sidewalk. Actually, the curbing gutter has little resemblance to what the actual ride of way is in an old city like Charlottville. So, oftent times you could go into the yard. Um, so council
hear that that if if there's questions that it's important for us to use all available means. The other question, and just tell me if this is too off topic, but um this the spaghetti of our polls
and the data and electricity that they carry is a real resilience risk. Like is the city doing resiliency planning around its data and electrical grid the way it is around flooding and heat and
the water supply? You probably have to talk to I think the environment they're doing the resilient together plan. I'm assuming that they're talking to them about that but that's a great question and I can make a note to follow up with them or be pack. Okay. I mean I know on
the power side of things like they have redundant service like for most of their stuff where it can be fed for multiple directions which is why there's so from Linda. Um but okay it's not ADA. I know that uh related but not related. They
are the ones that are working with Brennan's office to look at um some of the lighting um goals um as well, right? I mean, they're they're looking at the lighting citywide, right? Yeah. And just follow up, like there's a
quality control in terms of aesthetics, but it's also when we spend so much time and effort as a city to put these sidewalks in and they potentially might be harmed because of the quality of work that they're doing, I'm worried that the the concrete, you know, itself is going
to be jeopardized by that. Right. No, to your point, but Kevin, I just want to make that point known to the rest. We've we've made it clear to Dominion that they are to get a permit every time that they are putting a new pole in. Now, whether they're
going to pull that permit or not is a different question. Um I thought that there was an issue over maintenance uh excusing permits and that installing a replacement pole was considered maintenance. That's what James Freeze had said at one point. Well, again, usually that is a um emergency type
repair. Um, so if it's an emergency type of repair, it's an emergency. He just said, okay, it's periodic maintenance to replace a pole and it's not periodic maintenance. It's not equipment. That is our stance right now. Yes. Okay. Thank you. It's really expensive to put them on the ground. UVA's been doing that. I've
talked with some of them about their projects and I think what like it's not it's more than double the cost of like I mean we're talking about project, you know, quadruples. We're we're undergrounding the section from uh N from Market Street here up to Locust as part of the East High Street street
streetscape. That is $3.5 million to underground that like two blocks or three blocks. Sounds like skinnier fire trucks too, right? It is. It is not cheap. Any further questions for Ben?
Thank you. Thank you so much for um and I guess sorry I will I will add one last question. Um what could we do that would be helpful to you Brandon beyond identifying all the places where we are encountering these things. Um and if y'all aren't using the myal app would
encourage you to do that. Um what else can we do? like what how can we like decide to point around like but you know this clearly isn't just a Charlottesville only problem most of likely what could we do to I mean email the email Dominion right
speed I I know I know for a fact that they have heard the complaints from the public on that EMTT street one um so you know it does make a difference when they're getting constant calls and stuff about you know a particular problem poll
um so you as a group or whatever if you guys want to pick a few bulls and start calling and email about those to get those done like is there a particular person or email address or phone number we should direct these to who would be
the pain the most yes there is there is I've thought about this a lot and I've talked I bet you who know and the person to go to with a an impassion plea from the citizens is the CEO of Dominion or his twice and go to them and know this
has been done with the railroads and it actually worked. Okay, you go they don't they often don't know what is going on out street level. And if you take some of the pictures that I've taken and send them to them and say please protect us, uh you may be much more likely to get a
response than if you, you know, use uh Brightpe's contact page. When you get that person's phone number, please email all of us on they I'm sure they can be reached. Okay. Yeah, I think that's I think it's a very good idea. Man who'd been a corporate
lawyer with the railroads for 30 years told me what happened when someone did that and it does work. All right. Um, thank you, Brandon. Um, all right, Kevin, we're gonna turn it over to you. Thank you. So, uh, really glad to be here tonight
and thank you for making room for me on the agenda as well. Uh like I mentioned before, I'm new with community bikes and um I want to begin first by thanking you all. Uh because when we were looking to move to the Charlottesville area and
learning more about the transit scene and bike scene and everything else, uh one of the first groups I found when I was doing lots and unhealthy amount of internet research from Florida was BPAC and subscribing to the email attack the Google group and everything and seeing
um the like Pawnie level parks and wreck uh you know details that that happened about how things uh you know how how we navigate change here locally and you know the politics of everything. It was really insightful to really start to
understand how things work over here and what some of the challenges are that people are facing and uh you know how we're all working together to try to address those. So uh thank you for the um the being allowing me to jump into the deep end with you and uh learn all
of that and being more prepared for the work that I'm doing. Um, so in any case, how many of you out of curiosity are familiar with community bikes already? Yeah. Okay. You're you're my people. Uh,
nerds. So, um, we So, a a little like quick primer on us. Uh, we've been around for 24 years now. Uh the first like 20 years of that was a really scrappy uh not necessarily professional
operation run by a lot of volunteers uh just focused on you know meeting some basic uh bike needs for folks who may not otherwise have access to it. And uh over the last 5 years or so uh the team has professionalized a lot and sought
more funding from uh foundations and grants and and those sorts of places. So, we've got a budget just north of $500,000 now. Um, but um we we were over at Avon Street before. Many of you may remember the the old uh shop there. Um I
know Kyle, you spent some time over there, too. Um uh and so now being over at Preston, we're we're happy for the new digs, but we recognize that a lot of our uh programming that we want to move into or ideas that we have are limited by the space that we have and which
partnerships we have and funding and everything else. And so um coming up on our 25th anniversary next year, uh we're trying to think through what we want the future to look like. And we can't make any of those decisions without knowing the rest of the ecosystem. uh both what
work you all are doing uh in your lanes with what you're best at doing uh to make sure that we're able to support you because we're all in this ecosystem together. Uh it takes all of us to be able to get one person safely from point A to point B as quickly uh and with as
much access as possible. Um, but we also recognize that uh there may be opportunities or ideas out there that you all are aware of that you see that we may not have a perspective about right now that may not be on our radar. And so I'm looking to you all as people
who are uh living and dreaming this work every day uh to help me help our team expand our imaginations a bit about what's possible and what we want a you know transit uh ecosystem in Charlottesville to look like and you
know you all really know this better than anybody else. So that's why I'm here. Um so with that all having been said um I'd like to get an understanding from you all about what what role there really two questions and I put them on
the email to everybody earlier today. Um, first, what do you see community bikes as uh specializing in that other groups don't? So that we can double down on the things that we're best at doing um in support of this broader mission
that we're all a part of with with transit and to a lesser extent uh you know public health, environmental sustainability, economic and racial justice, etc. You know, all these issues that connect to transit. So what do we do differently or or better than other folks that we should continue doing and
try to do even better than we're already doing? But then also what opportunities do you see uh whether those are for programs or partnerships or uh you know location opportunities uh or you know strategies funding etc.
you know, what do you see out there that we could tap into and uh perhaps expand into um as we're looking to make some changes to have a deeper impact over the next few years. I I'd love to know any of those thoughts that you all have. And
I'll I'll kind of stop right there and let you all talk and I'll take a ton of notes from what you say. Um and and the last thing I'll say is simply if I want to respect the 15 minutes as well. Um, I want to try to get my kids to sleep
later. Um, I'm out in prosay and um, uh, if any of you want to talk more, I'd love to just have oneonone with you. We'll go out and get lunch or something and uh, chat for a couple of hours about um, ideas you have and everything else too. So, please educate. I'm also taking
notes, so you can just listen and then I'll though, can you tell us what community bike's vision is or its mission right now? Christina. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, good question. So, um the uh we we want to
make sure that there are as few barriers to entry for people who need to get from one place to the other and our we do that specifically through uh giving people access to bicycles for free. So, uh last year we received about right
around 2,000 bikes donated to us. Um, and our team of mechanics, we have uh about seven, eight people on staff now, uh, most of whom are mechanics. Uh, they fix up bikes to really high quality, uh, bike shop level of, uh, quality. And,
uh, of the 2,000 bikes we had donated, we gave out about 1,500 of those for free last year to people who were here in the Charlottesville community. uh about a thousand of those were bikes for kids and about 400 or so of those were bikes for adults who need them to get to
work or to, you know, school or doctor's appointments or whatever else. Um any bikes that we receive through donations that have that still look really good and look like new and have great paint and everything, we'll refurbish those as well, get them to a really good point, and we'll sell those to help fund our
operations. Uh we get about about a third of our budget comes from shop sales uh where we're selling used bikes and we're the only used bike shop in Charlottesville. Um but about twothirds of our budget comes from grants, donors, foundations, and groups like those. Um
and any bikes that we absolutely cannot uh fix up to a level to sell to somebody else or certainly to give away to somebody else, we'll salvage those for parts and take as much as we can off of them. Uh and then uh we work with someone who scraps them so that they
stay out of a landfill and they get recycled in some sort of way. So trying to you know limit our environmental impacts as well by reuser. Yeah. Um so I you know I think it's it's laudable that you see yourselves as
Vanguard on the transportation space and getting people to work and all of that. That that's quite important. But you're not the only provider of bicycles in Charlottesville. And you're not even the only provider of free bicycles in Charlottesville, right? Like Craigslist,
for example. But um what you do that is pretty unique is the way that you help people get in touch with their own ability to be self-sufficient. And that that is, you know, almost as important as the transportation piece.
And so, so definitely don't, you know, lose that. So, it it wouldn't be, you know, we talked about alternative places to work. It wouldn't it wouldn't be um a win for you guys to lose your sketchy
basement and have a nice showroom and that's your interaction with the public and the magic happens with your mechanics in some off offsite location, right? like like the getting your hands dirty and your ability like you guys
used to share a space with the um uh quality communities council that was that led to all the community gardens we have in Charlottesville. Every one of them came had its birthplace in that Avon shop too and that that kind of
synergy is really important. Can I just add in via question, Kevin, when you said 400 bikes were given away to um for free to people who who needed them for transportation to get to work, was that all through the bike referral
program? Correct. So, just you want to give a little bit more information on that? So, um we recognize we're not social workers, nor do we have the uh competencies to be able to ascertain whether someone needs a bike or not. We don't do means testing or anything. We
rely on partnerships with around 30 nonprofit and government organizations in the area who have clients uh who uh we give them a certain uh number of bikes per month that they're able to request for clients. And so they vet clients and let us know who needs a bike
and then we measure them and figure out what they want to use the bikes for. and we look through our inventory and find something that'll work for them and we attempt to have a two week turnaround time max uh to get that bike to that person who needs it. And re one of the reasons why I'm wanted to make that
point for everybody is I recently had a meeting with the social services and droptown down center about that sister ebike voucher program we've been talking about that would like target the communities that can't afford an ebike even if they get a thousand dollar voucher. and they we were talking about
the process that they go through identifying those clients that would be best served by bike and how they might modify that for an ebike. So um uh again relying on those partnerships is is going to be key and we're looking at
your program and how to replicate it um moving forward. Cool. Thank you. Um, one thing that I love about community bikes, and I say that as a this as a parent, is that a number of my child's bikes over the years came from
community bikes. And anyone with a child under the age of 12 can just get a free bike. Like, you just show up and they fit they they fit you out in a bike that they have and it's awesome. Um, and I love that spirit of like there's no
barrier um to access. And while I understand that, you know, there could be very good reasons why some folks need to be vetted, I'm also like, what if community bikes had that as their kind of principle for anyone who
needs a bike? there's no barrier to entry and you just let people know that hey if your income is such and such this is what you could pay for this bike or a suggested donation um and if you can't then you just get the money like there's
to kind of remove some of those hurdles of like ma kind of matching people and pairing people and some of the challenges of like meeting stepping which sure while well-intentioned are also like are barriers um so I just put offer that because I think it's one of your greatest strengths that it's like
you just roll in there with your kid and like and and the other thing that I think is a huge strength of community bikes that I don't want to I would not want to lose and kind of Peter was kind of alluding to this is like there's so much joy in the process of picking out a bike with your kid of like going in there and
having these like super helpful really quirky bike nerds help you out. Um so just the joy and I'm like I'm on team Joy for biking like period end of story. I feel like that's like number one um reason for a lot of folks to just you
know and of course there's lots of other good reasons too that joy should always be Thank you. I have thoughts. [Music] Anything you want to share right now? The answer is yes.
Uh not specifically right now. Sorry. You'll have to wait. Yeah. Is there uh I did volunteer there for a while and I work at PRC. So, okay. There's a lot of like political, social, financial things that I'm going to talk about. Okay. I'm
in. Okay. Kind of off of her question. I I'm just wondering like how many adult bikes are you selling that are used bikes? Are you kind of fixing up and reselling? If you're giving away 400, are you selling another 500? Are you selling a,000? Are you selling 2,000?
Last year we sold about 350 or so bikes. Uh and those would range from anywhere from around $250 to uh $2,000 or so. Uh usually these would
come about um a a third or so of the price that they would uh cost at a retail shop. Something we've been very careful about is making sure that we carve out a lane that is separate from our local uh businesses that sell bikes so that we're not cannibalizing their
business. We're trying to position ourselves as the on-ramp to get them interested in cycling to make it accessible. And then when they really want to get more serious about it and they have the means to do so, then they're able to go to Blue Ridge or Endeavor or wherever else and you know
uh get something that's newer and of you know the you know top quality and everything else. So we try to maintain a really positive relationship with them and be that on rent for everybody. But it's also like I bought a bike and donated to like you're getting that same
you know wholesaling of the for Yeah. Like I traded in two and bought one, you know? So like yours. No, I mean it's just what happens. You get in there and you're like, "Please take these bikes off my hand and I need a bike, you know?" Like, so no, I I guess I was asking the question more because it
seems like if just to open it up to anybody who needs a bike as an adult, like you're not it's not like we're talking like thousands of people, right? We're not talking thousands of people. It seems like especially if you limited of like your free ones are still your
low-end ones. You can leave the th,000 and $2,000 bikes for sale, but if somebody just needs a bike and they come in, might only be another hundred people on top of the 400 you were serving or a pay what you can model like they're actually generate more revenue. I know
with my kids uh fundraisers and stuff a lot of times for your car wash, you're much better off just uh you know putting a donate what you can rather than saying, "Oh, you know, we expect $5 or we expect $10 or whatever." You'll get people that come in and you know, oh,
you're, you know, here's $200 for wash my car. So, um, you know, you definitely probably, if you just said, do a car wash. No, no, I'm not saying a car, but it's the same bike, but a bike. There you go. Oh my god, I have a number on
your bike. But no, just just the the model of just being like, hey, we're making this free, but this is a we are a a service to the community and like if you can donate, please do you know that type of thing might
get you more than you would actually get selling those cheap bikes that you're selling right now. Sure. Yes. Well, well, I was just going to ask Kevin, maybe speak on some of the programming that you do as well. Um I know some of it but there's probably some I don't
know. I'm specifically thinking about what you do at Southwood. Sure. Yeah. So um recognizing that our shop has a physical location that can't be moved to get closer to people who might need bikes. Uh two years ago,
we started doing mobile clinics where we load up our van and our trailer with a ton of bikes and uh maintenance gear and everything else and go out to different neighborhoods uh with whom we have uh connections if there's like a a resource
center or a nonprofit organization that that runs a neighborhood um association or something like that and uh set up a a time in that community where we give out a ton of bikes, where we uh ask people to bring in their bikes so we can fix
them up on the spot. Um especially if they don't otherwise have the ability to get to our bike shop, you know, because of our geography or because of our hours or something else. So oftentimes we try to partner with other organizations that are going in so we can try to provide as
many wraparound services as possible. Um, and that way we we're all able to kind of synergize with each other and they might come for the uh the book bus uh but they might stay because we're also able to pick up their bike at the same time or vice versa they come for
the bikes but then they leave with some books too. You know figuring out how how we can layer more services on top of each other so that there are more on ramps to then get to even more resources for folks. And you know that that's certainly a model that we want to replicate um and expand even more as
we're able to grow staff that need volunteers. Have two more. Do you have any Oh, I just wanted to add to that there's maybe a gap in between like the bikes that are being offered for free and the like $250 maybe starting range of a bike
that you can purchase. And I'm curious, you know, I don't really know the answer, but to what extent there there are people in that middle range of like, I want a bike, but I'm not able to spend $500 on it or even $250, but also maybe I'm not connected to these social services groups. Um, I just am curious
what the what the future could look like if there's a way to Yeah. So, um, if you've if you've ever seen this in action, especially with Todd in our shop, uh, he likes to I've been learning a lot in my new employee orientation over the last two months. And something
Todd told me is that we don't negotiate with people. We if they end up saying like they can do this amount, then our not negotiation is simply we accept that and go with it. So, if they say like we were just just in the shop the other day, there was a person who found the
perfect bike for them. and it was listed like $425. She said, "I've got 280 bucks right now." We said, "That'll work." And and so we took that and if we see that somebody um can't afford something for 250, I've seen us before, too. Uh we've
just kind of we we can make ourselves a referral organization. Um there there are some liabilities with that and you know, it it gets a little screwy on the accounting side, but I'm learning to be pretty creative with all of that in QuickBooks. um we we can make ourselves
a referral organization and just comp a bike to them as well. So you know and if we have a chance to talk with a person get to understand their their circumstance a little bit more we can figure it out and u ultimately we don't want anyone to be turned away without something that they need or at least a
solid plan in place to get them what they need within two weeks. Yeah. I wonder what what that could look like. I love that. And I wonder, this is obviously a difficult messaging problem, but how to kind of put that out there to the wider community in a way that doesn't make it sound like just come grab bikes for us and we don't care.
What our concern is um is that we we want to try to have a two week turnaround time on everything. And when we open it up more, then the wait list gets longer and then people are waiting two months to be able to get something and then uh bad things start happening
and they they lose some faith in it. So that that's the balancing act that we're trying to drive right now. Yeah. Um hearing you talk about uh the mission and removing barriers, right? And having
some personal experience being at community in the past. Um and then so hearing you say that and then hearing you talk about becoming a self-referring organization, you know, as like whatever magic happen behind the scenes is
whatever But I think just kind of throwing this out there as like an idea going back to the beginning of the conversation of what is the mission of what what is the future of of community bikes and where does it fit in? what what can it do more and things like
that. And you know as the organization grows or strives to grow um there is the potential for the organization to be self-referring in a way um and potentially have somebody who
and you know like you said earlier like community bikes isn't qualified to vet somebody or to to to say who who can or cannot have a bike. That's the whole reason behind the voucher program, right? Um but maybe in the future
um community could be qualified to do that because I've seen many times people do come into the shop and even though there are ways to be a self-referring organization currently um it's not always something that happens and that
could be a potential barrier you know or a potential extra step for someone to come and say hey how do I get a bike for free oh go talk to these Right. So, just a little piece of maybe there's some potential for something like that in the future. Thank
um I would love to add to that I think um we are very interested on BPAC in you know there's like people who show up around this table on the first third day of the month and we might make assumptions about their interests and their backgrounds and we
don't often get to hear from people who don't show up around this table on the first Thursday of the month and so any feedback that you can offer us yeah around what folks who utilize your bites experience as fellow bikers out there in
Charlottesville, I think would be really useful to us or for us to know about um so we can be thinking more holistically about how to best advocate with the city. Absolutely. And I plan to regularly attend going forward. So, as I hear things in the shop, you know, from
clinics and clients and everything, I'll make sure to bring that back to everybody. Thanks so much. Who would like to talk more at some point? Yeah. What was your name again? Jen. Jen. Cool. Hey, cool.
Cool. Um um we're gonna have a meeting in some. Yeah, we've uh but we're on our third attempt of scheduling a meeting. Yeah. City between us and you guys, but we'll get there. It will happen. It will um Tommy's informing this next agenda item
is going to be very quick. It is an update on the contract formal with VO. Yeah, I feel like there was somebody else that had a hand raised for Kevin at some point. I did, but I'll let Oh, okay. Um
Yeah. So, VO uh currently um there is a draft um a new permit for VO um draft form at with the city attorney's office. Um once they reviewed it, um uh we're going to provide it to VO. Um, and um,
we can probably have it for you guys to review um, as well at our I haven't put much thought into this. Maybe the best mechanism is to share it via email or what do you guys think is the best mechanism to
say do you want it? Yeah, I don't know. I haven't had a chance. Well, let me give So, we um, we sent it to our attorney's office. I they were reviewing it yesterday. Um, so maybe I'll follow up with them and then I'll reply back to
you and James and we'll figure out the best mechanism. But if there are certain things that you all want to say now during this time that you think would be appropriate just to um suggest like what's under
under discussion um and also I maybe check with the attorneys whe whether you email it or bring it to a meeting it's then public and I'm not sure if draft legal documents should be public but anyway back to I guess my I guess I'll I'll
confirm but I guess my view point is if I'm sharing it with VO then at that point it's public. Does that make sense? Because if I'm sharing it with an entity um because anybody could permit it but I can confirm. Um so what's on what's
under discussion in terms of the permit far as uh yeah I guess I'm open to hearing what anyone wants to say. Um, no, but what's in the draft? Like what? But I but what I'm saying is I'm not going to answer
that. If like the attorney is if we got to get confirmation on the attorney, if I'm going to share it, I'm going to share it either what's on our mind. So you're more like what do you want from Got it. Sorry. Oh boy, I misunderstood. You thought this was a short we did talk
about Connie. You can't give us any idea of what kind of changes you're considering in the relationship with with viola fines change will uh what are the requirements will there be directed parking spaces what can you give us some
idea of things might improve combined by riders right that's feedback from you Kevin that want more higher fines I thought he was saying that the contract was ready and it's in the attorney's office waiting for No, they
had the draft. Not quite. No. Uh where we I need to hear back from them. Um so they might say, "Yeah, you're good to go." They might say, "No, no, no. We need to tweak X, Y, and Z." Okay. Are the same? So I think what are the fines the same? I don't know yet. Okay. But
I'm hearing you provide that feedback. Yeah. And and requirements around parking, right? I mean, if if we find people $500 for parking in a disabled parking space, why not find ve $500 for allowing their riders to block a curb ramp? The curb ramps are critical.
People have died because missing curb ramps in Charlottesville. And so I that's definitely a suggestion. Make the fines hurt. I think the balance there is if you make stuff too, they'll just leave. And it's it is a necess it's not
necessary, but it is a useful thing to have them in the city. They provide a service is hundreds of thousands of rides. Yes, but the blocked round critical issue. I do not disagree with you and we need to find a way to address it. I'm just saying raising fines to a
point that they're like we're out like and anybody any other person is out like even the contracts that we've had in the past that was why Bird left and that was why uh line like so you know we I don't disagree with you but we can't
just be like all right $10,000 if you park in the on the curb what about directed parking I' I'd like to request that there that there be more directed parking for parking ve likes to call it directed parking especially around the corner in the downtown area.
Got it. Is there do you have any sense Tommy of if that whole um like geoloccation enabled programs for parking to determine like oh no this is not a place where you can leave this scooter if that's going to be is the forest parking working well? Is that what your question? Well, I know there
was like they were going to like roll out some AI enabled thing that never happened to to kind of try to reduce people parking in places that were just wildly unacceptable. Yeah. Do we is there any update there on like the status of that technology? They are
working on fixing some bugs. Okay. So, I'm not holding my breath when it comes to the AI stuff. I never was. Yeah. Um but uh I will what I will say um is that um from our conversations with the folks at
UVA that that the forced parking is not going perfectly as well. um it might help um and hopefully they can get the science down to the technology to be a little bit more accurate, but right now
the geo um the technology is just the geo fence is just way too wide to really force people into a specific uh you know hub or corral if you want. Uh there I just want to we had this um we tried like back in December to have a city
county convers once your stuff is ready I guess I know back back then Ben was like not a good time right now come back once but just want to yeah and while I'm thinking about it unrelated let's talk about BPAC in general at some point um
yes let's have a conversation um I I don't know if everyone saw and then my staff updates, but they're removing 130 some odd vehicles off the roads next week um to reduce their fleet in Charlottesville. Um so there's going
to be 580ish um vehicles um in Charlottesville. Correct. Is that just over the summer? Correct. So their their permit currently allows up to like 750.
Um this is not a permit related uh request, but I would love to see like if if there's to be more dedicated bike and scooter parking that it be done in conjunction with daylighting intersections and crosswalks and bike
parking like putting bike racks. I think part of the challenge is a lot of those hubs get parked in by people who are like parking or whatever, but if you had a couple staple racks on either end, people wouldn't be able to park there. um even if no bikes were locked to the
track. Um and I know that oftentimes in the mind of a scooter rider, it seems like um or or a a veil bike rider, even though you're not locking them to a rack, it feels intuitive to park them there because those are for bikes. Yeah,
I think Natalie brought this up a while ago and I totally agree. I think Brendan, since you're in this room right now, I'll remind myself to follow up with you. Um, you know, uh, we had identified several of these type of locations a couple years ago. So, um, let's follow up at some point, you and
Caleb and I, about, um, maybe using the locations that we had already identified and maybe maybe identifying a few more. Okay. At some point. Yeah. Like also where those can function as bumpouts. That's and that was what we had kind of identified. Great. Um, like the one right over here actually works in that
capacity. Yeah. It just feels like a much better use of our bike hub. I would say at that time, and this is what I said before, that like, you know, my thought process was to not put infrastructure in those hubs and that they would be constantly full of videos, but then when they're not, they don't
act like really like a bump out. Exactly. Right. So, they're not serving any other, but if there was like some sort of like bike rack or bike infrastructure, stack the functions. Yeah. I I don't I think there's some problems there. Awesome. And related to that, but not related to the permit, which is why I wasn't bringing it up
again, um, is that DACA mobility hub is worth knowing. We won't do it again. Um, but just a picture of a scooter and a picture of a bike, I think maybe. Or we could maybe just move forward just an orange block and say the orange blocks.
No. All right, we can figure it out later. Okay. All right. Just a silhouette. I didn't come up with the name. Uh, I know. Any they have any um outreach or programming that makes it
cheaper? Yes. Yeah, they do. Um it's called the access program. Uh social services is aware of it and they tell their clients they it's not used as well as I would like it to be used. It's a great program and more people should
promote it. Um and uh and and they doesn't do a huge promotion for it. So maybe if some feedback from me would be right more easily accessible on their website. Yeah. Are they currently required to
um make them more required? Have that be the landing page instead of heavy dig or have them put some signage up or put them on put like on the vehicle themselves like kind of up. Yeah,
you could do. Yeah, we're not on the same page yet. Yeah, I'm confused. I thought that riders they excuse me had to take a photograph of their scooter. So what happens when they take a photographic one and it's you know completely blocking the sidewalk or
landing cross per Yeah. So from what I've gathered is that let's say you end your ride and you take a photo up here the sky. You you end your ride and then um unless there's someone who reports it
as blocking access, they don't go back in to confirm that that end ride photo um matches with. So, um, that's what they're hoping the AI would fix and it wouldn't allow you to take a photo up
here. It would it would force you to take a photo of the scooter where it's at. I understand. Then one other thing, and that is uh I'd like you to consider for the contract requiring veto ve to um block scooter riders after a first
violation. block them for two weeks, just something after the first violation because, you know, you got to get their attention. So, um, that's good feedback. Um, I would say another thing I've learned, and I
think I've learned a lot on how the program works, um, is that I don't know. I I I'm I'm still trying to figure this out, but I think to some extent users are are able to get a new
account via a new phone in that um folks who have been removed from the system are able to still use the system via um VPN or something. Yeah. So, um I've seen people with them on the downtown mall. I
thought that was, you know, there was a geoence around the mall. There is a geoence. Um but uh some people have figured out how to disconnect um and or they will force their uh they'll power through and force the because it doesn't
stop it. It just reduces the power to minimal and like oh it be like an electric shock like put yourself in the mind of a a video writer, right? You're acting like they're they're Russian hackers who are like
it's a kid who's like on a scooter and they're like I'm here and I want to be over there and it's downhill, you know, so like I'm gonna power it through. Right. So yeah. Yeah, it's Well, go ahead. Oh, well I was gonna I was gonna
table the conversation and and just uh ask folks that if you have additional comments for Tommy to just email him because we are coming to time. Um announcements of our business. Did I do a quick quick builds update? Yeah,
we didn't do a round of applause for quick builds. We're we're roughly a third of the way through already of the 30some that coun the council hasn't actually did they finally um but but we we're moving forward on
those. Um the next ones that will be installed will be some of the speed tables. Um so they already did the one on Langford. I don't know if that got announced at council or not. No, but we got some feedback about it already. Okay. Good or bad? Um, there might be a piece missing. It's
been installed. They they ran out of material when they went out there to install them. So, like it got 2/3 installed and then the rest of it. Okay, I can forward you the email. Okay, that's fine. U, but they'll they're doing next probably tomorrow. They'll be working on all of those roads that connect between Montichello and a and
Avon um other than Elliot. So, all these kind of steep. So, that should start tomorrow. Um, I don't know if they'll get all those done tomorrow, but those those will be the next ones on the list. So, um, can you tell me why Naylor and Harris is known?
Naylor, that's the one you talked about branch there. You talking about the crosswalk? Yeah, the painted crosswalk. I looked into that. I saw your my Seville comment just before this meeting about it and I looked into it. Um, and
that's on the safe routes uh like crosswalks be painted list and I went into the public works system that shows what's been completed and what hasn't been completed. Basically, their work order system and there's a discrepancy.
It says that it's completed um but it is not. So, I need to I need to get Yeah. Yeah, a lot of I mean there's there's the list of 34, there's another list of 33 that we're working on through other funding sources and then there was
really another 30 some plus more that we had kind of identified. Um so like I mean there's a lot of locations um you know we're trying to address the ones that have the most impact um as part of these quick builds and that we know we
can get done you know before the end of the year. So that was that's kind of why and then a lot of the striping stuff was not on there because that's being done through either safe routes or Ben's neighborhood transportation funds and that kind of stuff. So most of these quick builds are actual building things.
Um but all the stuff getting built is on the quick builds website now. Yes. And it and identifies where that funding is coming from right on that website or web page. So if anyone's interested, they can look at all of that. Um but yeah, quick question about that. Can there be
a completion column on We talked about that. Yeah, we talked We just met Tuesday, I think. Yes, Monday. Monday. It's this week. Um about about getting that up there. So, part of it is is like they're kind
of running that website and our staff is installing them as quickly as they can. So there, you know, um, but we will try and even if it's after the fact, we'll try and keep that updated. Um, so yes, that would be cool for folks to see.
Two part question. Um, do you know when you're getting to Rose Hill? Just to give people a heads up for there's a bunch of stuff happening. Roundabouts. There's a lot. There's speed tables. There's the speed tables aren't on Rosel. There's speed tables around the
world in the neighborhood. Yeah, I think we have five on the list. Yeah. And so those will probably be done on the next round after the Montello Yvon um grouping. I just asked because we were going to do a walk with in mid July, but
could they be done by then? I don't know. Um we we had the great idea to put them in and then when we started designing it um it may be a bigger construction project just because of where the a ramps and the current crosswalks and stuff are at like we can
put it in a circle but then your crosswalk is basically through the travel lane. So we have to kind of black out. So it's it's just a we're still hoping to get it done but it's probably going to be towards the end of the year rather than slightly less quick build.
Yes. Yeah, it's it's we're we're trying to knock out the ones that the new website that we can that we can do. So, we're we're we're going back and looking at how we can tweak that um to minimize, you know, the restriping and
stuff that might have to happen there. But, um but yeah, that's that's the goal right now. So, I I don't I don't have a specific timeline for Yeah. No, that's okay. I was just trying to get a general idea and we have our timeline. Yeah. And I can check back with you, too. Y um the
other question was with maybe Tommy the other person to talk about it the feedback loop like how do you guys envision that working like when citizens say we hate flex right they really need flex what happens next
ask for concrete so part of the discussion all along and if you look at Ben's like presentations to council it has been not only like identifying what projects we can put out there with paint and plastic but also doing like an inventory and um uh like assessment of
the projects and what we can turn into like concrete permanent projects moving forward. So there is a like reviewing process of all these projects. So some of them we just need to like keep our eye on them and you know keep reviewing them because hopefully they they turn
into something more than just plastic and we're trying to parse through and you know is it the visual aspect of the flex post that they have the problem with or is it the physical like orientation that because I I've had a lot of people um you know the oakleaf
green leaf one in particular um where the problem isn't necessarily the design of it it's just that it's ugly like there there is ugly. Right. There's also some people were talking about at night um distracting being a little confused,
I think. Yeah. Did they slow down? Sometimes confusion. I said that they didn't like that. But and these were older drivers as well. Why don't suggestion for the feedback? Maybe instead of just a general, hey, what do you think about this? It's a guided Oh, yeah. Oh, the
form I think needs to be very specific. what you know what do you like what do you not like you want this to become concrete yes you know like so that that was part of my question was can I say with the flex post like this might be a step towards
I think you can say it might those words and might are really important they're doing a lot of work in that sentence and again I go back to drainage uh you know we're going to run into those type of issues training going from paint plastic to like concrete
Um but um but yeah, I mean I think that like the more we can support these type of projects like like we've shown this to be like a good process like some of the stuff that Kyle has identified over the years is turning to concrete and like it's working. Yeah. So let's
continue that that um we are four minutes over our time. Um I so I just want to acknowledge that if anyone needs to go I have two announcements real quick. Okay. And and um Okay. Go ahead, Tom. Well, I just want to say real quick, bike month was awesome and uh there's opportunity to continue um some
of this stuff. Number one, bike valet. I've had I have a partnership with the city police to allow us to continue the bike valet. So, that means that I don't have to be here every Friday. So, if people wanted to volunteer for Fridays after 5, um then we could continue that.
We can talk about that later, but we could we have that ability to do that. Number two, Ben is going to be at City Market uh on Saturday at 9:00 doing a quiet route. So, if people wanted to continue the um Saturday morning bike
rides, um uh we we could look into continue to do that. Ben is going to be there on Saturday. Great. Um one very important announcement about July's feedback meeting. It falls on July 3rd. I know staff have already let us know that they will probably not be in the
office. Um, so we may want to decide that we either don't have a July Vback meeting or we turn July's Vback meeting into a quiet ride or into a neighborhood walk or just a social um, and not really conduct any business, but just take the
opportunity if you're already holding this time on your calendar to to just kind of hang out. Sounds like it should be at the pool with everyone. I don't know. Yeah. Jesus. So, so and does anyone have like show of hands maybe like Oh, yeah. I'm not here
in July 4th weekend. I'm not here until Yeah. Heck yeah. Okay. Um getting out of town with the theme. Um All right. So, maybe we'll just James and I'll make a call. Show of hands. Who would be here if we had a
regular meeting or a walkabout meeting? Okay. Well, yeah, maybe we'll just we can reconsider. Okay, quick quick question or quick announcement. Um, VOTE and GBPDC have posted a couple of surveys um that I can forward to BPAC.
One is the street between Harris and Pinehurst and one is on 29. Um, just listening feedback about like what do you use this for? What would you like to see? And it includes um like one some of the options are biped stuff. So, I'll send it out so that people can take a
look if they want and then forward it on to anyone else who may know. Are you talking about these two on the staff updates? Oh, maybe. Um, anything for next meeting? Yeah, look at that. Thanks. If you have questions about those,
direct them to either Taylor or me for Yeah. Anything for the maybe perhaps August agenda? Look at that. They're right there. All right, we'll follow up. Thanks y'all. A motion to adjourn. Second in favor.
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