10-28-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING OCTOBERT 28, 2013 Mayor Buttigieg: When you do I think any kinds of investment for economic development especially at the infrastructure variety you don’t necessarily have somebody able to guarantee a number of jobs. What we do know from the recent coverage of downtown development is a lot of business investors saying that they want to make a no go; go/go decision and we will probably make couple more no go; go/go decisions about investing dollars and creating jobs downtown, its whether they perceive this two-way project to be on track. I certainly believe it is related to job creation. But we also recognize based on what we have learned by doing William and Lafayette, we may need to revisit and reconsider a different strategy. Councilmember Dieter: Because when I look at each of those as they are Williams Street, basically the only available property is Manor which lies on the east side of the street and when I look at that you know again in comparison to Wichita or whoever are great, but I am looking at William from Washington to Western, if we did this two-way what would go there? That’s what I am looking at. Mayor Buttigieg: I agree, and the more job creation that we are looking at would come from the more trafficked corridors. What better way to get a sense of that proof of concept than to do what I would describe as a no brainer street like William and Lafayette especially from where we are standing down the Four Winds at Coveleski Stadium has some businesses and the most properties that we all look to see have more vibrant retail on it. Councilmember Dieter: And the last question I guess would be for Scott. I thought the overall impression of doing the two-way would be to slow traffic down, is that what we are initially looking at. Mayor Buttigieg: One consequence is that traffic may not move as quickly we think that Councilmember Dieter: If we are doing William the way it’s lined up here you would go from Colfax all the way to Western without stopping and that to me creates a lot of speeding cars. Mayor Buttigieg: Yes, William is an interesting perhaps an exception. Because what we can do is that we can substitute those traffic lights, because you have people waiting for a red light and nobody around, you can put in stop signs. Councilmember Dieter: We agree on something. Councilmember Dieter: And then one last thing, one last thing would be Lafayette and I know Scott brought up some studies from one’s from (inaudible) and one’s 10 years old and then they look at the safety aspect I don’t think that they have a clue though of what would happen on Lafayette with two-way and if we get to Lafayette whether it’s this year or next year, where everybody comes across from the City Parking Lot, I don’t think any traffic institute study looks into everybody j-walking as everybody does from the City Parking Lot coming into the County- City Building. So you now will have to go across two-ways of traffic, plus you will have north bound traffic stopping to turn left into the City Lot, when we get to that point, maybe a cross walk with some flashing lights. That’s all I got for now. Chairperson White: As we bring this part of the Council meeting to closure as it pertains to Bill No. 45-13, I would like to say Mayor in regard to the Smart Streets it was indicated that we have $2.5 million dollars for the corridors. Is that $2.0 million now? Mayor Buttigieg: From that $2.5 I would set aside $200,000.00 that would account for the lighting and then another $350,000.00 for the wells at New Energy. Chairperson White: And also we have heard in regard to questions why the rush, looking at the Smart Streets, I am just going to try to summarize as we prepare for Wednesday’s meeting. Again, the Administration has acknowledged that they have been able to listen to the Council’s concerns which have given them the opportunity to adjust and reshape the budget as it pertains to this bill that is before us. 13 new businesses; community is wanting action; there was a question 11