[MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08

[Jed Taylor]

At least in this particular case, the city doesn't care what's in your
garage; it's interested what's on its streets and trails.  Bikes as a form
of transportation will only become more integral to Missoula.  Just as the
infrastructure to support motorized vehicles costs money, so does the
infrastructure to support bikes and pedestrians.  Just as motorized vehicles
pay licensing fees to help support the infrastructure, so should bikers.
 
Should your bike never leave your garage, it should enjoy the ability to
reside in complete anonymity.  Should you decide to avail yourself of the
public infrastructure that connects your garage to wherever you want your
bike to take you, then it seems reasonable that the city would take an
interest in that, and would expect a reasonable contribution toward
providing it.
 
 

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From: missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com
[mailto:missoulagov-bounces at cmslists.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Klemz
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 14:51
To: Phil Smith; missoulagov at cmslists.com
Subject: Re: [MissoulaGov] committee update 12-10-08


I'm hearing everything but justification for why the city needs to know
what's in my garage. The fact that it's a law doesn't cut it--Missoula has a
wealth of laws it (thankfully) can't enforce. 

Incidentally, I speak only for myself.

On Dec 11, 2008, at 2:45 PM, Phil Smith wrote:


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

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

406-728-1052

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-- 
"Rocks in the water do not know the suffering of rocks in the sun."
Haitian proverb, www.GrassrootsOnline.org

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Patrick M. Klemz
Missoula Independent
w: 406.543.6609 x109
c: 406.214.2425
pklemz at missoulanews.com



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