04-16-2015-meeting-notes

OAKLAND GREEN TEAM The Oakland Green Team works to improve trail connections and create attractive public spaces. The team will identify, advocate, and implement greening and bike/pedestrian activities throughout Oakland.

AGENDA April 16, 2015 – 6:00pm In attendance: Eric Boerer, Michael Medwed, Julien Comte, Clyde Colledge, Margaret Schmitt, Jonathon Swiderski, Roy Weil, Mary Shaw, Mark Oleniacz, Robert Harper, Barbara Brewton, Elly Fisher, David Zwier.

A.

Public Spaces i. Daffodils:  Not all are flowering, hopefully more flowers next year.  The Green Team will solicit more bulb donations from the Phipps Conservatory and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. ii. Tree Care  Oakland Square and Parkview Avenue: May 2  South Oakland: University of Pittsburgh student government board coordinated with Tree Pgh to do a tree care event in South Oakland. iii. Ophelia Parklet: thanks to Bob Harper for leading a group of volunteers in the cleanup. iv. Boundary/Joncaire Street: looking for volunteers to help clean up  Carlino continuing cleanup of Boundary and Joncaire Street. Looking for volunteers to continue the project. Carlino will talk to Sestili’s nursery for advice on plantings for the parklet along Joncaire Street, potentially dedicating the parklet to late Panther Hollow resident Bob Casciato. v. South Oakland Orchard: May 16, 2:00 – 4:00 pm orchard cleanup and pruning workshop.

B.

Oakland Livable Streets i. Pittsburgh Bike Share  Updated schedule, bikes installed by beginning of May. ii. Oakland infrastructure improvement plan 2015/2016  Updated map from Kristin/Pat: discussed in relation to Green Team requests listed below. iii. Citywide Cyclist/Pedestrian committee coordination  Julien summarized the 4/14 meeting hosted by Bike Pittsburgh. Representatives from multiple neighborhood Cyclist/Pedestrian advocate groups discussed how best to communicate with City Planning and elected officials, and coordinate citywide advocacy.  Advocacy groups within City Council District 7 are submitting complete streets infrastructure and planning requests to Councilwoman Deb Gross for inclusion in the 2016 capital budget. Group consensus that all should advocate to their respective council people to include complete street items in their capital budget submissions.  Green Team will submit a list of requests to City Council Districts 3, 6, and 8. The team used the survey responses to create is list of requests:

 Requests: 1. Bellefield Avenue crosswalk at Filmore Street: safety improvements, people driving rarely yield to those waiting to cross Bellefield Avenue. Green Team suggestions included marking the crosswalk with diagonal or longitudinal lines, or installing a flashing light signal to alert vehicles of people waiting to cross.

2. Add Crosswalks on the northeast side of the intersection of Bellefield and Fifth Avenue.

3. Speed limit enforcement, especially along the Fifth and Forbes Avenue corridors.

4. Measures to reduce vehicle speed in key areas by installing a radar speed sign.

5. Fifth Avenue and Craig Street intersection: when heading east, Port Authority busses routinely make left turns during the crosswalk signal. Enforcement is needed. Including a green left turn arrow in the traffic signal cycle could potentially help as well.

6. Citywide consistency between pedestrian signals is needed. Currently many intersections have different and poorly signalized instructions about when and how to cross.

7. Central Oakland: across the board, cars park too close to intersections and often block crosswalks and sidewalk access ramps. Enforcement by the parking authority requested. The Green Team also requests that the City install traffic calming “bump outs” at intersections to reduce vehicle speed, and increase visibility at intersections. Paint and bollard “bump outs” could be used to test the effectiveness. Furthermore, the City should consider doing an inventory of parking permits per address in relation to legal property occupancy to help reduce the unsafe conditions caused by the lack parking Central Oakland.

8. Fifth and Forbes Avenue Corridors in Oakland. a. Pedestrian crosswalks that span Fifth Avenue are dangerous for pedestrians because vehicles turning onto Fifth Avenue from crossstreets fail to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. b. Study the possibility for a road diet.

9. McKee Place and Bates Street: safety improvements to crosswalk, better signage and more visible crosswalk. Cars rarely stop for pedestrians.

10. Intersection of Coltart Avenue, Bates Street, and Zulema Street: pedestrian safety improvements.

11. Lengthen pedestrian crosswalk signals: Blvd of the Allies and Zulema Street, Fifth Avenue and Bellefield Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Craig Street.

12. Safety improvements for people walking and biking along Neville Street between Forbes Avenue and Joncaire Street. This is a critical connection to the Eliza Furnace Trail and the Great Allegheny Passage.

13. Install signal for pedestrians on Bigelow Blvd crosswalk between Fifth and Forbes Avenues. During peak hours the flow of pedestrians doesn’t allow vehicles to pass.

14. Study complete streets improvements from Fifth and Craig to Fifth and Neville.

Next meeting: Thursday, May 21, at 6:00 pm at the Oakland Career Center, 294 Semple Street.

Volunteer Opportunities Pitt Serves using a system called Noble Hour for promoting volunteer projects to students.

Date Saturday, 4/18

Event WPC daffodil cleaning event

Saturday, 5/2

Oakland Square and Parkview Avenue tree care event South Oakland Orchard training and spring maintenance

Saturday, 5/16

Contact Barbara Brewton: barbarabrewton@verizon.net David Zwier greenteam@opdc.org David Zwier greenteam@opdc.org

City of Pittsburgh: Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Effort Mandatory Training Session: Wednesday, May 6, 6 – 7 pm, Downtown Pittsburgh (location TBD) Timeslot A: Thursday, May 7, 7 – 9 am Timeslot B: Thursday, May 7, 4 – 6 pm Timeslot C: Saturday, May 9, 10 am – 12 pm Sign up on the Department of City Planning’s website: http://pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/bicyclecounts