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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/21/1997, C-8 - DOWNTOWN SERVICES REQUESTED BY THE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION (BIA) council io 2► -q l acEnaa Report Ihm"um6w �8 C ITY OF SAN LU I S O B I S F O FROM: Ken Hampian,Assistant City Administrative Officer Prepared By: Wendy George,Assistant to the City Administrative Officer u1) SUBJECT: Downtown Services Requested by the Business Improvement Association (BIA) CAO RECOMMENDATION Receive a report on a meeting between City staff and representatives of the BIA regarding requests for services to the downtown; and accept this meeting in lieu of the BIA's request for a formal meeting with the Council on these issues. DISCUSSION In a September 11, 1997, memorandum to the City Council, the BIA requested a meeting with the Council to discuss a number of issues related to the level of City-provided services in the downtown. At its September 16'hmeeting the Council referred this memorandum to staff for Council consideration in November, with the exception of the street sweeping issue which was to be accelerated for consideration on October 21 . The recommendation for increasing street sweeping is addressed in a separate item on this agenda. In the meantime, City staff'met with representatives from the BIA to consider the issues raised in the memorandum. The meeting was collaborative and productive and, while not bringing immediate resolution to all the BIA'S concerns, led to a number of agreed upon action steps. As a result, the BIA has expressed its willingness to proceed to address those issues in the manner discussed at the meeting and to withdraw its request for a meeting with the Council at this time. Attached is a summary of the results of the October 2'meeting between the BIA and City staff. CONCURRENCES The BIA concurs with the results of the meeting with City staff and the withdrawal of its request for a meeting with the Council at this time. FISCAL IMPACT None Attachment Memo:mdum to Pierre Rademaker dated October 10, 1997 cityO sAn lu1S oBispo i 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249 October 10, 1997 TO: Pierre Rademaker,BIA President FROM: Wendy George,Assistant to the City Administrative Officer V-111 SUBJECT: Outcomes of Meeting on October 2, 1997,regarding Downtown Services In response to your memorandum dated September 11, 1997, a meeting was held on October 2, 1997, to discuss the level of services provided by the City to the downtown area. Attending from the BIA were: Pierre Rademaker and Deborah Holley. Attending from the City were: Mike McCluskey, Joe McDermott, Greg Walker, Todd Martin, Bill Statler and Wendy George. City staff members present felt that the meeting was collaborative and productive and,while all issues were not necessarily resolved, a number of action steps were agreed upon. The following information summarizes our understanding of the discussion on each of the issues addressed. Street Sweeping During prior years of budget cuts, the number of days of street sweeping in the downtown area was reduced from six to five days, with no sweeping on the weekends. As a result, the downtown streets are currently very unsightly on Saturday and Sunday. The Public Works Director intends to place an item on the October 21' Council Agenda which will pre^ent options for increasing the number of days the downtown streets are swept. Restrooms Representatives of the BIA expressed concern that there is currently only one public restroom available in the downtown area, located in Mission Plaza. City staff acknowledged that there is a need for additional public restrooms, but indicated that one major obstacle to providing more facilities is the lack of public parks in the downtown area in which to place restrooms. The question is, literally, where would they go? After discussing a number of options, such as the City contracting with private businesses to make their restrooms public, the Public Works Director agreed to explore the possibility and cost of purchasing the self-contained public restroom stalls that are currently being used in San Francisco. The BIA representatives agreed that even if it meant giving up a parking space or two in lots, it would be extremely beneficial to place such units in at least two downtown locations. Depending on the result of the Public Works Director's research, and after consultation with the BIA, the possibility of installing these units could be brought to the Council for action, most likely as a budget request for the next fiscal year. OThe City of San Luis Obispo is committed to include the disabled in ail of its services, programs and activities. /►G Telecommunications Device for the Deaf(805) 781-7410. ` O Sidewalk Scrubbing All parties agreed that the issue of sidewalk scrubbing is a dilemma. The City used to steam clean the sidewalks, but eliminated this approach during the drought. The current procedure is to scrub them with a machine that uses a very limited amount of water and also produces very limited success in cleaning. However, simply reverting to the old method of steam cleaning is no longer an option, as it sends chlorinated water into the storm drains in violation of environmental regulations. There is new equipment available which accomplishes the steam cleaning and then vacuums up the water, but it is labor intensive, and therefore more expensive. The City has just signed a two-year contract with a new service provider to scrub the sidewalks for $20,000 a year. To contract with someone who uses the new equipment would require terminating the current contract and upping the cost of the contract to $50,000 a year. The new equipment also has the downside of dirtying storefront windows with the mist it creates. After considerable discussion, the group agreed that the City would continue using the current contractor, who seems to be doing a much better job than has been done in the past. Should he fail to meet the terms of the contract at any time during the next two years, the City will explore terminating the contract and re-contracting with someone who uses the new equipment. In the meantime, the BIA agreed to research how other cities scrub their sidewalks and will provide that information to the Public Works Director. It may be possible in the future even to use a combination of sweeping/scrubbing on some regular basis and quarterly intense cleaning with the new equipment. Graffiti Abatement/Stickers The Public Works Director explained that the City's highest graffiti removal priority is painting out gang graffiti on public buildings. Removing stickers on poles is something that can only be accomplished as time is available, and, as a result, occurs infrequently. The status of the Graffiti Task Force has also become somewhat problematic because the BIA volunteer who organized graffiti removal on private buildings no longer works dovmtown and no other BIA volunteer has undertaken this responsibility. Currently, a BIA staff person is removing graffiti on private buildings. City staff hopes that the BIA will pursue reinstating the Graffiti Task Force as the City does not have the resources to perform graffiti removal on private facilities. City staff stressed that they cannot remove graffiti on public facilities unless they are notified of its existence. The BIA agreed to better communications with its members concerning the division of responsibility for graffiti and to encourage calls to the Public Works Department when appropriate. The Public Works Director agreed to explore using the department's volunteer service program to help with the sticker problem. 2 C�'-3 Landscapint The BIA expressed concern that downtown planters need attention and have unattractive plaits. City staff explained that part of the problem is that in order to reduce water usage, in many cases plant selection has been reduced to less colorful plants. Also, to replace plants more frequently requires more labor. It an attempt to remedy the maintenance problem, the City is beginning to develop an "adopt-a-planter" program with the private sector. Currently, Santa Lucia Nursery and the Downtown Center have adopted planters. While this program, especially if it continues to expand, should help to assure trash and weed removal from planters, there still may be somewhat of a visual problem due to the choice of more drought resistant plants. The BIA also asked for a better understanding of the regulations on placement of private planters. Currently there are certain blocks approved for private planters. Businesses located outside those areas have also expressed an interest in placing planters on the sidewalk. The Public Works Director indicated that, while the City does not want planters placed randomly on a case-by-case basis, if a whole block is interested in planters it should come through the BIA to the City with that request. The only street that is off-limits to planters is Higuera Street, due to the foot traffic and the number of objects already on the sidewalks. Banners Thw-BIA wishes to display seasonal banners on light poles, not just holiday banners. The BIA is willing to buy the banners, but cannot afford to have them hung. Currently, the BIA does pay a company in Fresno to hang, remove and store the holiday banners. City staff was supportive of the seasonal banners, but suggested that it would be considerably more cost effective to continue to use the company in Fresno rather than use City staff to hang banners. Not only would it cost more to use City staff, it would also take them away from their regular duties. The City recommended that the BIA put together a proposal for hanging seasonal banners, assuming contracting for the storage, placement and removal, and present it to the Promotional Coordinating Committee for possible funding. The BIA agreed to do so. Tree Lig_bts The BIA indicated that several concerns have developed with their tree lighting program. The lights look unattractive during the day; maintenance is higher than expected; and tree pruning damages them. There is also a problem with placing permanent conduit for electrical connections. As a result, the BIA is currently re-thinking the program, possibly using inexpensive holiday twinkle lights that could simply be removed and replaced when the trees are pruned. Another possibility is to reconsider using a single spotlight, pro-perly placed, to light the tree canopy. The trees are pruned annually; one year a light pruning followed the second year with a comprehensive heavy pruning. The City's Arborist confirmed that it is impossible to prune the trees without damaging some or all of the strings of lights. The BIA agreed to research different ways of lighting the trees, as the lights are seen as a valuable asset to the Downtown aesthetics, and coordinate their research with the Arborist. Trash Collection and Cans In response to an earlier concern from the BIA about trash pick up on the weekend, the Utilities Conservation Coordinator has arranged for trash to be picked up on Sunt"I starting October 121b. At this time, the cost for the additional pick up will be absorbed by San Luis Garbage; however, this cost will eventually be factored in when new rates are set. The BIA was also concerned about the cleanliness of the stone trash contair-1--s. Cleaning is only done on a case-by-case basis, due to earlier budget reductions, so it is important for Public Works to be notified by the BIA of those containers needing cle^ring. Public Works will arrange cleaning as soon as possible, but it must be worked into existing schedules. c: Deborah Holley Bill Statler Mike McCluskey 4 Cf S