[MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08

[Phil Smith]

Just for information:  all bike licenses sold get entered into the
computer; the records are kept indefinitely.  When the police recover a
licensed bike, we make every effort to find the owner (although many
owners have sold their bike to someone else and moved away).  The bike
shops (like Open Road) have a card they have agreed to give to every
bike purchaser.  The card says that 
"...City Ordinance requires that all bikes ridden in the city be
licensed.  If your bike is stolen and the police recover it, the license
number enables City staff to return your bike."  It then directs the
purchaser  to go to City Hall to get a license.   When we set this up in
the past year, shop owners told us it would be much easier to handle
than a license form and a cash transaction.  Frankly, we were getting
VERY low compliance with the old system of shops selling licenses.  I
don't know how good a job shops are doing with this newer card system.

 

However, it does allow shops to provide information about bike licenses
easily and in a non-pushy way to their customers, and puts the burden on
the bike owner to actually get a license.

 

Phil Smith

Missoula Bike Ped Program Manager

 

From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com
[mailto:missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com] On Behalf Of Ethel MacDonald
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 2:27 PM
To: Marilyn Marler
Cc: missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: Re: [MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08

 

Re bike licensing -- I'll respond to this list to encourage broader
discussion.  I just left my licensed bike in France with friends to
avoid the hassle and expense of shipping it next time I go, and bought a
nice new one at Open Road.  I didn't even think to license it!  Why not?
Because in the past, bike shops sold licenses with the bike.  That is
absolutely the best way to get people to license bikes as a matter of
course.  And the reason for licensing?  So if the bike is "borrowed" and
abandoned, the City Bike-Ped office can easily find the owner.  If that
hasn't been happening -- i.e. if "found" bikes are not examined for a
license, and the owners contacted, that would be an oversight in the
Bike-Ped office.  

   The longevity of bike licenses has never been clear -- I've always
assumed the bike license is "forever."  And the record of license
numbers should be retained forever.  

     Because $20 seems a little steep -- i.e. unless there's
enforcement, people would not pay it -- I would recommend $10 for 5
years and hope that people would renew,  but also hope that the Bike-Ped
office would keep the old records anyway.  A simple postcard reminder
like the dog license ones should work -- after all, we at least don't
have to go through the hassle of getting a rabies shot for our bikes
before licensing them.

     I think licensing bikes is a good idea.  Ethel MacDonald

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 7:48 AM, Marilyn Marler <marler at bigsky.net>
wrote:

Thanks Bob for the weekly updates.  

 

A clarification on the Conservation Committee- we did not approve the
new Parks fee schedule.  We just set a public hearing for January 12th.
So people can comment on it before we approve it. Also, I think it's
worth mentioning that some folks from the swim team community were there
and they spoke in favor of the new 50 m pool rental fees. It's nice that
there has been some improvement in communication between Parks and the
swimmers, and everyone seems happy.

 

Also, I'd like to hear from cyclists about their positions on the $10
for 4 years ($15/family) bike license. How do you think we (as the city)
could encourage more cyclists to purchase bike licenses? What we came up
with in committee as suggestions were:

-Make available on the new city website

-Give out freebies or Bike Benefits stickers with the license

-Have the summer Bike Ambasssadors sell them occasionally

-Better marketing of how the proceeds are spent (on programs that
benefit cyclists)

-Make the license more expensive (like $20) but have it be permanent

-Work with local non-profits to spread the word to their memberships and
audiences

 

Email me off list if you like, marler at bigsky.net, or send ideas to all
of council at council at ci.missoula.mt.us  And if you don't already have a
bike license, maybe you should go get one! Although it's a little
inconvenient- you have to physically go to the Treasurer's Office on the
2nd floor of city hall.

 

Thanks again, Marilyn Marler

 

 

 

 

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Bob Jaffe <mailto:BJaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us>  

	To: missoulagov at cmslists.com 

	Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 11:23 PM

	Subject: [MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08

	 

	Greetings,

	This morning I found out we have a cat ordinance.  We were
amending it to limit the number of cats a person can own to 5. If you
want more you are supposed to get a cat breeders license. We also
considered revisions to the dog ordinance. The only one I really wanted
to see more discussion on was the part about doggy day care facilities.
In the past these types of businesses were not addressed by any of our
ordinances. The zoning office had made the interpretation that they were
the equivalent of vet clinics. The new ordinance defines doggy day care
and exempts it from the nuisance barking rule. I'm not so sure I am in
favor of this.  We have one down the street from us on second. It is in
a D zone along the tracks but is very close to a number of homes and
other businesses. I have received complaints about the barking but they
have been exempt from the rule that says you can't let your dogs bark
all day. That may be changing soon. The public hearing will be on 12/22.

	 

	In Conservation we covered a few items. We approved an agreement
where the County pays us about $65,000 per year to maintain fort
Missoula park. Once you subtract out all the fees we collect for use of
the park it ends up costing the city about an additional $35,000 to run
that park.

	We also approved an easement for Northwest Energy to put in a
Cathodic Well along a pipe line in the north hills.  That is a deal to
help the steel pipe from rusting by changing the way electrolysis would
naturally work against the pipe.

	We also approved the new parks fee schedule. Everything is going
up a few percent.

	 

	In PAZ we took up the Clark Fork Terrace number one subdivision.
CFT #2 is the one where we are being sued for asking the developer to
put in trails.  There were two issues that came up in the discussion.
The trail easement and the SID waiver for off-site improvements. Parks
would like to assure that we will secure a trail easement along the
southern edge of the property that parallels the Milwaukee trail. If we
can't get an easement on the actual old rail line we want to at least
get something parallel to it. Considering the likelihood of  litigation
I probably shouldn't say any more about the project outside of the
public meeting.

	We were also planning to have an update on the zoning rewrite
but our consultant got stuck somewhere do to the weather.

	 

	In A&F we made a modification to our agreement on the repayment
of the brownfield revolving loan fund for the millsite project. The
$1.25 million loan is supposed to be paid back from tax increment from
the project over a number of years. During the interim period while the
clean up is happening MRA has been paying interest only on the loan.
There was a clause in the agreement that said that if the property isn't
closed on by 1/1/09 then principal payments need to start. It was
assumed that if the deal didn't go down by then that the options to
purchase would expire and the deal would be dead. But as we have it we
are still waiting for DEQ signoff on the clean up. The property can not
be financed and purchased until this is done. The Millsite people have
negotiated another extension on the option and DEQ approval is expected
this winter.  So we took out the 1/1/09 deadline from the agreement.

	 

	We also had an interesting discussion about our bike license
ordinance. We did some housekeeping on the language and then discussed
how we could make the bike license program effective. Phil Smith, our
bike ped coordinator was extremely pessimistic about the possibility
that licensing bikes would ever be embraced by the community and the
whole thing was a big waste of time. It was tried 10 or 15 years ago and
was a lot of work and never really took off.  I'm a little more hopeful
that folks can get behind the idea of paying a small fee that would go
towards supporting bicycle programs in the city. The current fee is $10
for four years. $15 for families and $5 for children. Bikes with wheels
under 24" do not need to be registered. I'm thinking the cycling
community in Missoula has a high level of civic engagement and would
eventually be supportive of this program. There could also be incentives
thrown in to get it going. We will also want to work with the retailers
to find a way to make the program work for them.

	 

	The other A&F item we discussed was the sewer rate increase. The
general consensus was that we wanted to wait to approve any rate
increase until the study on flow based billing was complete. I will be
more comfortable voting for the rate increase if it is combined with the
new billing based on usage. That way the low users of the system will
hopefully see a rate decrease. It is possible we will have the
information needed some time this spring.

	 

	In Public Works we approved the request to make changes to our
rules on deicer. We removed the restrictions on corrosiveness and we now
allow solid products.  The argument was that our streets department will
do everything possible to find the best solutions and we shouldn't tie
his hands. Stacy and I voted for an amendment that would make the change
sunset next fall but that failed. 

	   

	Thank you for your interest,

	 

	Bob Jaffe

	Missoula City Council, Ward 3

	bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us <mailto:bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us> 

	406-728-1052

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