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June PeTT Meeting Summary

June PeTT Meeting Summary

This is a quick summary of the last two meetings of the Community Assembly‘s Pedestrian, Traffic and Transportation (PeTT) Committee from Carlie Hoffman, our neighborhood’s PeTT representative. It provides some context to the discussion about Photo Red funding that took place during the June meeting of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council.

MissionGap

John Snyder spoke at the May 26 PeTT Committee meeting. He noted that there have been unused funds each year since the program began in 2010, about $200,000 per year.  Each district now gets $150,000 per year (up from $100,000) with a $50,000 limit per project (up from $40,000).

Snyder proposed that the neighborhood councils and the Community Assembly discuss the option of using some of the surplus unallocated funds to help fund a larger project through a loan.

  • The loan would be paid back using funds from the unallocated photo-red funds over a set number of years.
  • The loan would be created to enable a grant-matching amount so that the total price of a large project (e.g., Mission Gap) would be supplemented.

This concept presupposes that the Photo Red camera project would continue to have an excess of funds each year to cover the loan repayment.

At the June 23 PeTT Committee meeting, this issue was discussed further, and all agreed that the neighborhood councils had concerns about the following three areas of the proposal:

  • Sustainability of the Photo Red money
  • The larger project’s fit to the purpose and goals of the Photo Red traffic-calming focus
  • Involvement of the neighborhood councils in the choice of the projects that would involve unallocated funds.

Two additional documents offer additional information on the Mission Gap project that prompted Councilman Snyder’s proposal and PeTT Committee chair Paul Kropp’s summary of the situation to the neighborhood councils.

If you have questions about this proposal as it relates to Emerson-Garfield, please contact Carlie via e-mail.

Traffic Calming on Mansfield & Montgomery

Traffic Calming on Mansfield & Montgomery

Earlier this year our neighborhood submitted a request for traffic-calming measures to the city. The request was for curb bump-outs along the 1100 to 1400 blocks of W Mansfield Ave. They were intended to slow speeders and discourage drivers from using it as a cut-through between N. Monroe and NW Blvd.

City engineers recently investigated the request (we think that’s when the electronic speed limit signs appeared) and they discovered that the problem included W Montgomery Ave as well. If anything, Montgomery had a bigger problem than Mansfield. A traffic light at the intersection of Montgomery and Monroe means that people hotfoot it for a block or two when the light is green. Trinity Catholic School is along that road, too, which makes inattentive speeders doubly dangerous.

Instead of curb bump-outs, the engineers proposed something more effective: traffic circles (aka “roundabouts”). They will address Montgomery Ave immediately and Mansfield will follow later, although it might require another application process next year to ensure that the project remains a top priority. Their preliminary plan for a total of six roundabouts — with trees and flowers, no less  — is depicted below.

Mansfield & Montgomery traffic calming proposal. Click for a larger view.

Over the next few weeks, the City of Spokane will be sending out letters to residents and businesses in the Montgomery area. If you’re in support of the project — and why wouldn’t you be when it means less transient traffic, fewer accidents, and fewer speeders? — you should promptly sign this letter and return it to the city. A group of volunteer residents will also doorbell with signature sheets to ensure that everyone understands the positive impact the project will have. We’ll need signatures from 50% +1 of properties for approval.

It’s important to note that this is not being funded by tax dollars. It comes from Photo Red funds. Photo Red funds come from people who are fined for running red lights. This money is pooled and then allocated to implement these types of traffic-calming projects. In other words, red-light runners are paying for you to be safer and your property values to go up.

More info will be posted as it becomes available. If you’re interested in helping to gather the required signatures, please get in touch. It will only take an afternoon at the most.

Corbin Park Swing Set Proposal

Corbin Park Swing Set Proposal

We received the following e-mail from Garrett Jones at the City of Spokane Parks & Recreation department:

The City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department Operations Division is looking at updating a number of swing sets in the park system.

One of our highest priorities is addressing the swing structure at Corbin Park. Our proposal is to replace the existing swings next to the tennis courts and replace them with a two bay (four swings total) arch swing structure. We would like to relocate the new swings closer to the existing play structure to accommodate families and maintenance needs. The project would include the new swing structure, concrete containment curb and resilient surfacing (engineered wood fiber). There would be at least one toddler swing.

I have attached a general concept of the area we would possibly locate the swings [image below]. I have outlined two possible locations. The preferred location will be selected that will have the least amount of impact of existing conditions. I have also included a picture of type of structure we are proposing. This picture was taken at High Bridge Park where we recently installed a new playground.

The Park Operations staff is hoping to to proceed with this project provided that there are no concerns raised by our neighborhood. New and updated swing sets are always welcome, but there might be an issue we’ve overlooked.

If you have questions or concerns about this proposal, you can contact Garrett directly at gjones@spokanecity.org or simply leave a comment below. We’ll compile all feedback, if any, and present it to him.

The timeframe seems to be quite short on this, so the issue might not be able to wait until our August potluck/council meeting. We’ll post more if that changes.