Friday, January 15, 2010

Notes from Monday's Meeting

In attendance: Matthew Linn, Maurice Loridans, Loren Demerath, Barbara Jerrell, Feico Kempff, Dan Marcalus, Carolyn Manning.

It was reported that Mayor Glover had talked with one of our members about the sharrows and it was suggested that we should decide where we want them and get with Mike Strong either to get clearence to do it ourselves or get his people to do it for us. Maurice reminded us we need to shore up what we've already got; we did longer intervals than we should have because of daylight fading. 40" from curb are where the center of the sharrow should be if there's no parking, and if it's a substandard lane, i.e., less than 14' wide.

Matthew brought a study containing the survey data for Pierre Bayou. This was used by the city to dig out Betty Virginia Park and was conducted by the city with the levee board; Arty Ceserio lives in Normandy Village and is the architect with information on the I49 money that would've been used to buy and transform those parcels. Feasibility Study 89-D009 has the data.

In regard to getting the information needed by Riverscape people, it was noted that we may need to meet with the Mayor about what we need from Shelly Raigle, since she works for him. [In a recent conversation with Sharron Swanson, though, she said GIS data would suffice and survey data is probably unnecessary for our purposes now.] Sharron and Kent are meeting and Feico will also be involved in that meeting. Ian and Feico are also planning on meeting with Paula Hickman about creating a Greenway Foundation that under IRS rules would allow land to be donated. The foundation would then lease the land to the city.

Name of "Family Ride on the Red" may be changed to "Family Day on the Greenway" to expand to other issues like the dog park, where leashed dogs are invited to come to publicize the possibilities of DP's. Also note that the DP is in the SPAR plan and budget. Bands, refreshments, games, etc.

Carolyn met a judge and real estate agent who have a 50 mile route they ride around the city. Could design rides around routes like that.

The group discussed again the need for greenways for biking instead of relying on streets. Many people, particularly women, elderly, and children, see street riding as unsafe. Even more pro-bike culture cities like New Orleans or even New York, Portland, etc., are not heavily biked relative to what they could be.

Discussed site of the collective work space, "Co-Habitat". Importance of parking for users was noted, and how that's a good site for that on Commerce, especially during the day. Would be zoned to stay open 'til 6 a.m. Loren said he'd report back on it after he and April Dahm met with Mark Hand, John Grindley, and Blake Burris about it.

Carolyn noted support of arts is good for the city, and one opportunity is buying tickets to the Magnet production of a show of Broadway scenes; all proceeds go to the Fringe competition in Scotland as well as something dedicated to the memory of Kari Denson.

Dan reported that the effort by the neighborhood orgs to stop the appeal for the shelter was successful. The clerk said it was the request was withdrawn and Monty Walford said he didn't think there would be a need for people to show up tomorrow and register their objections to the request.

The city should devise a plan for where these services could be in diverse locations around the community. Dispersion vs. concentration are the competing models. Is it just an economic concern where they can't find a big rambling house for a cheap price... NIMBY is a real factor.

Group discussed inability to bury power lines in Shreveport. Need to embrace them, and can even use them as means of decorating a neighborhood. Can use flags. They're not going to go away, so we might as well use them for something. Though the flags might clutter the view further. View of Centenary from Kings is attractive; reminecent of Georgetown University in D.C.; If the area had more of an identity could draw people in more.

Maurice noted that the Fairfield District streetsign toppers have worked well and look good.

Loren reminded all that Dr. John Davenport's greenways course starts Tuesday.

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