Metro East Sun

City of Edwardsville Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee met July 3

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

I. ROLL CALL:

Present Absent

Jo Gibson, Chair Danielle Adair

Susan Hume, Vice Chair (temporary Secretary) Paul Brazier

Aaron Newcom Greg Brumitt

Stephanie Robbins Musonda Kapatamoyo

Jason Stacey Emily Morrison

Steve Stuart

Steve Stricklan, Staff

Cathy Hensley, Staff

II. PUBLIC COMMENT: None.

III. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Stacy made a motion to approve the minutes of the June meeting, second by Stuart. Motion passed unanimously.

IV. NEW BUSINESS:

a. Marketing – BPAC Messaging: Gibson reported on a discussion that Gibson, Hume, Newcom, and Hensley had to brainstorm ideas for a possible over slogan or branding for BPAC. Newcom suggested “Live More, Drive Less,” and Hensley suggested playing on the “B” in BPAC, such as “B-Active, B-Aware” etc. Gibson suggested “Experience Edwardsville, Explore Edwardsville, Educate Edwardsville” etc. Gibson noted that BPAC’s homepage on the City’s website already explains who we are and what we do, and that there is a Slow Down Town page and a Bike & Hike page. Gibson reported that $794 was available in the committee’s budget for marketing. Slow Down Town banners come down in August and will probably be stored by staff member Breana Buncher with other BPAC items, and then put up again next year. Stacy wondered if we could add an “Initiative” button to the City’s website to direct the public to what we are doing, like under “Pay My Bill,” but then later clarified that we could have an “Initiatives” header on BPAC’s homepage with our three initiatives listed under it to reinforce what we are doing. Hensley said that is certainly possible to do. Newcom asked if we could use the existing logos from our three initiatives as buttons on BPAC’s homepage to link to each initiative’s pages, and Hensley said that should be possible. Robbins asked if the BPAC should have more of a presence on Facebook. Gibson responded that, for example, everything was on the City website for Bike Bus and it was helpful to be able to direct everyone to one place. Stacey asked if BPAC should have a generic logo specific to our committee? Hensley responded that other committees talked about having a logo, too, but we need to  be careful about diluting our presence rather than enhancing it and reminded us that the City has a logo. Henley mentioned that the City website would be refreshed in August with an updated look. Gibson said we have the BPAC circle surrounding other initiatives like “Slow Down Town” and “Bike & Hike,” and maybe that is enough. Stacy suggested we focus on our initiatives rather than on being “BPAC” and there was general agreement among the committee. Newcom suggested that “Live more, drive less” can be an internal moto guiding the committee to help drive future initiatives, and Hume agreed. Stacy and Newcom suggested playing on the “Slow Down Town” slogan with “Slow Down and sip, savor, browse, meander, etc.” Stacy suggested we could link “Slow Down Town” banners to these “Slow Down and Sip” and other ideas to connect to local businesses. Stacy asked if we could alter banner to add these expanded slogans. Hensley stated that BPAC can save some money by not altering banners. Hume suggested that we could use other forms of advertising, such as the webpages to promote these slogans without having to pay for new banners. Stacy asked if we could get the banners up by the beginning of May 2025 to overlap with the Bike Bus and first Bike & Hike event. Gibson asked City staff if BPAC needed to go through all stages of approval to use the same banners again. Hensley and Stricklan thought not, but Gibson said she will check on this. Hume asked about the durability of the banners for reuse. Hensley pointed out that the banners featuring veterans each hung for four years during the months of October and November and seemed to hold up well in the weather.

b. Envision Edwardsville Comprehensive Plan – BPAC Formal Written Input: As reported in a previous meeting, Gibson had given written input from BPAC to the Envision Edwardsville planning team at the Edwardsville Comprehensive Plan Transportation Stakeholders virtual meeting. She stated that if BPAC wanted to provide additional input, we needed to do so by August. Stricklan noted that the end of August is the end of the public engagement phase and that next phase will focus on goals and strategies. The planning team will take the City’s existing master plan and all the public comments and distill these into goals and strategies. Stricklan said an open house showing initial results is tentatively scheduled for the end of August. Stricklan also mentioned that the upcoming Goshen Market on Saturday, July 13th would have another popup listening session with particular focus on getting more public input with regard to two scenarios for the future development of North Main and the I-55 corridor. Hensley noted the planning team is trying to get as much input from as diverse a population as possible.

V. OLD BUSINESS:

a. Updates from Sub-Groups

i. America Walks – Newcom reported that this national organization is promoting a “Week without Driving” for September 30th – October 6th, 2024. The organization’s main goal is to persuade people to walk, bike, or call a friend for a ride when you would normally drive, and also to better understand transportation challenges for those who don’t drive. Newcom and Gibson met with Mayor Risavy, who agreed to add recognition of this event to the August 20th City Council Meeting agenda. Newcom will speak about the event on behalf of BPAC, but other members are welcome to come. Stacy suggested that there could be a tie-in with the “Living History Days” weekend October 4th-6th and he encouraged Newcom to speak with event organizer Steve Hansen. Gibson mentioned that “Living History Days” would include walking tours. Robbins also suggested getting Main Street Community Center involved since they are very interested in supporting transportation for seniors and they sponsor a walking group. Stacy mentioned a Bike Bus tie-in, which will be scheduled for September 27th, October 4th, and October 11th. Gibson also suggested that this would be a good time to encourage kids to ride school buses instead of having parents drive them. Newcom said America Walks is encouraging local communities to have a sign-up sheet in which members of the public pledge to participate in a “Week without Driving.” Newcom asked Hensley if they could get together to see how BPAC could do a digital sign-up sheet that maybe could be launched the evening of the August 20th City Council meeting, and she agreed. 

ii. “Draft” Community Meet and Greet Wednesday, July 17th at Cleveland-Heath – Gibson reported that this BPAC-hosted event will be held 6:00-7:30 pm in the Cleveland-Heath event space, so capacity is limited to 42-45 people. SJ Morrison from MCT will update everyone on the status of improvements on the MCT trails. Gibson said the idea is to have a brief presentation and lots of conversations about what people want to see in town with regard to walking and biking. Gibson mentioned Justin Allen from the Cyclery & Fitness Center as a future speaker. Various committee members discussed the possibility of talking about planning-related books such as Strong Towns and Walkable Cities at future events. Stacy suggested that maybe BPAC should have a book club. Staff member Steve Stricklan relayed that city administrators wanted him to remind us that BPAC is subject to Illinois’ Open Meetings Act. Stricklan said they are concerned that if too many members of the public show up to attend this event, then the law requires that the meeting be moved elsewhere to accommodate members of the public. This led to a general discussion as to whether this event constitutes a meeting of the BPAC committee. Stricklan noted that if it is not an official BPAC meeting, then we cannot have more than 3 BPAC members (which is less than the majority of a quorum) in attendance because that would violate this sunshine law. Stacy suggested that we make the “Draft” event an official BPAC meeting so that any number of committee members could attend. This would require an agenda to be posted 48 hours in advance and someone would need to take roll and minutes. Agenda items would be (1) the guest speaker’s presentation and (2) general small-group discussion. Stacy offered that if the gathering exceeded room capacity, we could vote to adjourn and BPAC members could volunteer to leave until we were under our maximum of 3 members present. Steve Stricklan said he would follow up with city administrators to seek clarification regarding our options.

iii. MCT Monarch Trail – Winter Lights & Walk, December 2024 – Gibson reported that MCT will not give approval for this activity because the trails close at dusk. City parks are open 6 am-10 pm, so we could ask people to go to their local parks.

iv. Slow Down Town Campaign/Bike & Hike Update – 35 people signed in at the Bike & Hike table at Goshen Market on June 8th, including 9 cyclists and 26 walkers. Gibson said people were interested in the city map of shared use paths (in existence, under construction, and planned). Stacy and Brazier gave away MCT swag and bike helmets. Stacey reported that they need more MCT swag for the August event. Newcom hosted the table at the Route 66 Festival in City Park and reported that he talked to about 20 members of the public and did a T-shirt giveaway. Gibson reminded us that the next Bike & Hike will be at Goshen Market on August 17th on the grounds of the N.O. Nelson Campus. Stacy and Brazier will again host the booth and offer bicycle safety checks for members of the public. Gibson indicated the recommendation is to provide safe maps for walking/biking from various Edwardsville locations to Goshen Market rather than lead groups since group participation at specific times has been minimal yet many do walk/bike.

v. Policy Development – Gibson and Newcom raised concern about blocked city sidewalk due to construction that creates unsafe situations by forcing pedestrians to walk in the streets. Gibson reported that she had asked Eric Williams, the City’s Director of Public Works, about whether there is a city ordinance and/or MOUs as permits are issued that addressed this problem. Stricklan said he would look into this, but this is the purview of Eric Williams. Gibson would like BPAC to be able to have input in city developments that involve transportation. Steve Stricklan said that staff members Breana Buncher and he or the Public Services Committee are the conduits through which to give our input.

vi. Bike Friendly Businesses Program – Nothing new to report. Stacy sent Hume a link to a program run by the City of Madison, Wisconsin to explore. Hume noted that this is something that should be discussed by the entire committee at a future meeting, but that she would rotate off of the committee soon. 

Gibson asked Stricklan about the upcoming expired terms for 7 committee members appointed three years ago. Stricklan said the Mayor’s Executive Assistant Desiree Gerber would be in touch with committee members whose terms are about to expire. Committee members could be reappointed by the Mayor. Stricklan noted that the City’s committee terms normally ended in April and the administration would like to get our committee on a similar schedule and have staggered appointments so that fewer committee members’ terms expire simultaneously.

VI. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business to discuss, Robbins made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Newcom. Motion passes unanimously.

https://www.cityofedwardsville.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08072024-3456