April 19, 2019 Meeting
Notes
In addition to ongoing
communications, an April 19, 2019 Taskforce meeting consisting of sixteen
members met at Halff Associates’ Richardson office. A list of attendees is
attached to this report, along with an updated list of those interested in the
Focus Area Teams. City of Dallas Transportation Director Mike Rogers was among
those in attendance. He fostered discussion on ways GDPC can and should engage
in the City’s (five year) Strategic Mobility Plan.
This led to an overview of
current progress with the City’s needed review and refinement of policies and
their implications. He highlighted the importance of informed engagement –
saying the current focus is on first understanding the wants and needs of the
city; but, in the framework of a larger picture that ties in all initiatives
together in ways acceptable to both the current and future City Council. He
suggested we be ready to mobilize to demonstrate support at the appropriate
time. We believe that’s also when our op ed piece should hit the papers. We
plan to coordinate this with the editorial board of The Dallas Morning News to
ensure that happens timely.
Asked how these issues will be
evaluated – Mr. Rogers described a process that considers a more data-driven
and quantitative approach. Touch points he mentioned included the City’s Market
Value Analysis tool initiated a couple of year ago, along with recent transit mobility
studies conducted by UTA doctoral students. Other data points he mentioned were
safety, working with the school districts, housing and economic development. He
mentioned the City is in the process of creating a new division he called a
Data Analytic Team; which he said ultimately may present findings of new
‘zones’ (of interest) to the City Council. MISSION
IS TO SHAPE, PROMOTE
AND ADVOCATE A CREATIVE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THE DALLAS REGION.
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This more
comprehensive view of policymaking requires an unprecedented level of thinking
and conversation across governmental boundaries and multiple forms of public
engagement. City staff are still learning how to do this. Mr. Rogers
acknowledged that the upcoming elections will introduce some new elected
officials, and that this in turn will drive him and his staff to respond to new
priorities and sensibilities. He said he and his staff have not yet fully
accounted for all the stakeholders around transportation policy (GDPC
included), nor do they yet have a calendar of engagement for those
stakeholders. Our pending workshop will be a way of initiating that process.
NCTCOG MOBILITY 2050 ENGAGEMENT
A web-based calendar is being developed to include as a link
from the GDPC members’ resources page for those who’re logged in – with the
notion of it being replicable for our other two task forces. John Clarkson will
have an update on these later this month, and he plans to engage with the
Website committee that’s currently being organized by Brian Keith. John
provided a mock-up on Friday, April 19, 2019. Subject to further development.
DALLAS STREETS MANUAL UPDATE
Regarding the eagerly awaited Streets Manual, Mr. Rogers
indicated that recent delays were the result of some final needed adjustments
that have emerged – in part – dealing with access or potential delays of
emergency services. The final version of the manual is expected to go to the
City Council in May rather than April.
Following is an updated list with additional names of the
three Focus Area Teams that were established in February:
1. Engage in City of Dallas’ Long Range Mobility Planning.
Outcome: A sub-group, or team was formed to attend/monitor
City-scheduled meetings. Participants
include Mike
Carleton, Tony Sosebee, Jeremy McGahan, Nikki Simon, Phil Malachowski, Matthew
McLeod, Peter Aguirre, Lenny Hughes, Trey Ingram, Tom Grant, Ross Kahn, and Bud
Melton. April additions: Vincent Perini, Ami Parikh, Christopher Taylor, David
Nevarez, John Clarkson
2.
Engage/coordinate with NCTCOG during development of Mobility 2050, the region’s
Long Range Mobility Plan.
Outcome: A
sub-group (team) was formed to more closely follow NCTCOG meetings and
activities, and attending when possible to ensure GDPC’s voice is considered. Participants
who signed up include Christopher Hernandez, Nikki Simon, Phil Malachowski,
Doug Showers, Peter Aguirre, Matthew Ables, Trey Ingram, Hamza Khan, Tom Ryden,
and Bud Melton. April additions: Wes Hoblit, David Nevarez, Christopher Taylor
3. Educate
GDPC members on ongoing transformation of mobility within our region such as
DART and TXDOT, and the impact of technologies like E-bikes, scooters, and apps
such as DART’s GoPass Version 3.0.
Participants in this team include Hamza Khan, Kendra Cobbs, Matthew
McLeod, Matt Craig, Christina Sebastian, Lenny Hughes, Dave Retzsch, Matthew
Ables, Tom Grant and Bud Melton. April additions: Tom Ryden, Colleen Zwiebel;
Ami Parikh, Vincent Perini
Ancillary Items (Melton)
A GDPC OP ED?
On the subject of our op ed exploratory, Mr. Ridley had suggested that whatever topic we choose for an op ed - it should be timely, as well as pertinent to GDPC’s mission.
LUNCH & LEARN
In that vein, City of Dallas Transportation Director Mike Rogers may have handed us our topic at our April TF meeting. During our meeting, he suggested that a new policy on rental bikes and scooters needs to be developed before the current policy sunsets in October. He said the city would welcome an informed opinion from us before settling on a policy. Matthew Ables and Hamza Khan —along with others from the mobility task force, continue to coordinate with Dallas city staff. A Lunch & Learn focused on Micro-Mobility and Infrastructure Planning around these modes is being organized by taskforce members who’ve reached out to Jared White at the City of Dallas. The event will be scheduled sometime during early to mid-May – to help accommodate GDPC’s engagement and input into the Strategic Mobility Plan (SMP).
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