2026-11-04 - Mobile GR Commission

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00:57>> Do you have a presentation?

00:58>> I do.

00:59Well,

01:00>> Nick was going to

01:00>> All my friends are like,

01:02>> It'll be great. We love our life.

01:02>> Yeah, it's

01:03>> Do we need to add it to New Question?

01:05>> It's part of the order.

01:14>> [music]

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02:36>> All right.

02:37I'm going to start to

02:40going to raise the flag to get

02:43everyone ready and in their seats.

02:49It is 12:02.

02:52All right, I'm just going to I'm just

02:53going to do it. Everyone still take your

02:55time, get situated. We'll take roll in a

02:57moment. Uh all right, to the members of

03:00the public present, welcome to Mobile GR

03:01Commission meeting.

03:03This Commission provides input on

03:04mobility-related activities and programs

03:06to Department staff and also makes

03:08recommendations to City Commission on

03:10policies related to these activities. As

03:12members of the public, we have an

03:13opportunity where you can provide

03:15comments. We are not able to respond to

03:17your comments directly. We are listening

03:19and using your feedback to inform our

03:20decisions. Thank you for taking the time

03:22to join us today.

03:24Uh can we get roll call?

03:26>> Yes, good morning everyone. Um Mary is

03:29uh not here today and so you all you

03:31you've got me.

03:33Um

03:34so if I mispronounce your name, please

03:36let me know.

03:37Okay, starting at the top. Chad Patton.

03:40>> Uh here.

03:41>> Lars Sætha.

03:42>> Here.

03:43>> Did I do that right?

03:45>> You did not.

03:47Sætha.

03:47>> practice later.

03:48>> Sætha. [laughter]

03:49>> Thank you, I'm so sorry. Andrew Roark.

03:53Kevin Whissellink.

03:54>> Here.

03:55>> Anthony Parker.

03:56>> Here.

03:57>> Chanel

03:58Wright.

03:59>> Present.

04:00>> Uh Kim Magallanes Cypriano.

04:03>> Here.

04:03>> Adam Weiler?

04:04>> Here.

04:05>> Rick Armbruster?

04:06>> Yep, here.

04:07>> David Legrand?

04:09Stefan Poelster?

04:10>> Here.

04:11>> Wesley Wilson?

04:12>> Here.

04:13>> Lindsay Perez Pelchner?

04:18Okay, we have a quorum.

04:19>> Awesome.

04:20Um, and I do know that at least I'm

04:22aware the mayor mentioned he he is

04:24coming, he'll be here late.

04:25>> And Lindsay's on her way as well.

04:27>> And Lindsay's okay.

04:28>> Oh, perfect.

04:29>> Fantastic.

04:32All right. Um, can I then get uh, an

04:35approval of the agenda? Or a motion at

04:38least.

04:43All right. Yeah, we have a motion from

04:45Commissioner Armbruster.

04:47>> I'll second.

04:48>> Awesome. And was that Weiler?

04:50>> Yes.

04:51>> Where are you? You're right here.

04:54It was someone. All right. We have a

04:56motion on the floor. Any discussion?

05:00All right. Uh, all in favor say I.

05:03>> I.

05:03>> I.

05:04>> Any opposed?

05:06All right, that motion carries. And then

05:08we'll move to approval of the minutes.

05:09Do you have a motion?

05:11>> So moved.

05:12>> All right, Commissioner Wilson.

05:14>> Second.

05:14>> And Commissioner Poelster, we have a

05:16motion for approval of the minutes.

05:19Uh, any discussion?

05:22All right. All in favor say I.

05:24>> I.

05:25>> I.

05:25>> Any opposed?

05:26All right, the minutes are approved. I'm

05:29seeing no petitions and no action items.

05:32So, we'll move right. We have a lot of

05:34discussion items. So, um, I'm going to

05:36try to to triage these and and save

05:38enough time for discussion and whatnot.

05:40Um,

05:41so we'll start with the

05:44Mobile GR Commission discussion item

05:46dash and transit engagements. And then

05:48Jessica, I

05:50you know,

05:50we might have a joint statement on this

05:52because I know that we've made some

05:53changes uh, compared to what we did

05:57uh, what we wanted to put together for

05:59um,

06:00for our from our last meeting. So, um,

06:03I'll I'll let you start. I can I can add

06:05some things unless you'd rather I I kick

06:08us off, which I'm happy to do.

06:09>> Why don't you start?

06:10>> All right.

06:11Um, yeah, I will start then. So,

06:14Janelle Janelle and I had a chance to

06:15connect with Max and Jessica. I think

06:17there were really two things at play

06:18here. One is,

06:20um,

06:21we wanted to make sure that we still had

06:23an opportunity to talk about the

06:24amphitheater season 1 in review. That

06:26was, if you remember, that was on the

06:28agenda

06:29uh for our last month's meeting. And

06:32this feels very important, especially

06:34given that the soccer stadium is going

06:36to be opening soon as well. And so we we

06:38wanted to prioritize a conversation

06:40around that first. Um,

06:42and then the other thing that I want to

06:44do, and that in talking with Jessica has

06:48has been, we have a few things that we

06:50feel are coming up and are very

06:51important for us to address immediately.

06:54And so I I want to acknowledge that we

06:57had a lot of conversations that, um,

07:00I think are important. I think also some

07:02elements we need to focus on within the

07:04working groups and they might be a

07:06little in the weeds in and and not in

07:09line with what Mobile GR's department

07:12can and and will do. Um,

07:15but I think that there is an opportunity

07:17for us to come back to that as well. So,

07:20Jessica proposed a couple of other items

07:23including the Dash and Transit as well

07:24as the parking market uh competitiveness

07:27framework. Um,

07:29I gave the the okay on it. So, we're

07:31going to move forward with those and

07:32then keeping in mind that as we work

07:35through our work groups, there's more

07:36that we can do to address some of the

07:39other issues and concerns that came up,

07:41um, when we last spoke. So, I want to I

07:44want to apologize for, um,

07:47for me not providing the proper context

07:51for some items that we feel are

07:53important to discuss immediately.

07:56Um, and and then hopefully we'll have I

07:59I want to focus on an opportunity to to

08:01meet those other items later.

08:04I'll turn it to you.

08:05>> Thanks, Chad. And the And the other

08:07thing just to note and and I'm sorry I

08:09was out last month and and couldn't be

08:10here as a resource. The

08:13The City Commission has their workshop

08:16kind of looking ahead and also looking

08:17at kind of what their

08:19hot issues are coming up next week. And

08:22so the intention here is to cover some

08:25of the items that are the City

08:27Commission has asked for your your

08:29thoughts and your advice and your

08:30feedback on. So as we're having these

08:32discussions today, the there's there's

08:34four things here. Um the first one, the

08:36Dash and Transit Engagement, something

08:38that I think is very near and dear to

08:39this commission's heart. And the City

08:41Commission wants to hear from you all on

08:42what you think with the information that

08:44we're going to give you today. So we've

08:45got a lot of data, we've got a lot of

08:47outcomes that were discovered. We've got

08:49our friends from the Rapid, thank you

08:52Kevin, that's got some information to

08:53share with you too. And we were and I'd

08:55really love to hear your input and your

08:57insight and your and your feedback

08:58there. And then also, I know that

09:01Parking Market Competitiveness Framework

09:02is the longest title ever, but really

09:04that's looking at operational um and

09:07rate changes over the last 3 years and

09:10and where we should be moving next.

09:12We're in the last 2 years of that

09:13framework and I need a little I I never

09:15ask you all that for this, do I? But I

09:17would like to hear your insight on a

09:20work plan for the next couple of years

09:22on how to tackle those next things cuz

09:23that framework only brought me up

09:25through year three, which we're almost

09:26through. So I I really want to hear your

09:28input and your insight, where you're

09:30hearing

09:31um things that we could be diving into a

09:33little bit more

09:34in a work plan scenario. So I'm really

09:36excited about that today. The

09:38Amphitheater season review and preparing

09:40for soccer stadium and opening are

09:41mostly informational

09:43um

09:44exchanges for you all, but any of these

09:46topics that you all have a discussion

09:48and have feedback and insight on, it is

09:50my intention to get you that memo put

09:52together, bring it back to you um for

09:54your review, and then you can um

09:57send that on up to your friends at the

09:59City Commission to let your voice be

10:01heard and and give the you know, this

10:03advice that they have asked you all for.

10:04So I'm really excited about today

10:06because I think that this is one one fun

10:08things that you all get to do, which is

10:10really put together your your insights

10:12and advice and and send that on up to

10:14your friends at the City Commission. So,

10:17um that's the intention of these four

10:18items today. So, I'll be taking diligent

10:20notes and then even though Mary's not

10:22here today, she'll go back and listen to

10:23your conversation and put that together.

10:25And we'll make sure you all are on the

10:27same literal page before we send your

10:29your info back to the City Commission.

10:31So, okay. So, um

10:34without any other context, Max has a lot

10:37of information for you all. I have

10:39instructed Max to keep it as brief as

10:40possible because we want to allow you

10:42all a lot of time to talk today. We are

10:44scheduled in this room until 2:00 p.m.

10:47If you have to take off, please, you

10:48know, do so if you need to, but would

10:50love to focus our time that we have

10:53remaining today on that. And then we

10:54have a few quick updates at the end of

10:56the meeting will probably take us like

10:5810 to 15 minutes. So, Chad and Janelle

10:59are going to be managing time for us cuz

11:01we get too excited up here. So, all

11:03right. Thank you all. Go ahead, Max.

11:05>> Yeah, thank you.

11:07All right. So, as Jessica mentioned,

11:08going to try to go through this pretty

11:10quickly, but these are complex and um

11:13uh you know, important uh

11:16topics. So, I really do want to uh allow

11:19for as much detail on the slides as

11:21possible. So, if there are any

11:22questions, please just let me know. So,

11:24um this is something that we are uh also

11:26sharing with City Commission. So, the

11:27first two uh

11:29two slides especially are things that I

11:31think this group is pretty well aware

11:32of. Um but when we talk about the Dash

11:34and uh transit engagement, it's really

11:36important for us to talk about the

11:38capital

11:39uh and operating cost increases that

11:41that have occurred over the last um

11:43uh 12 months or so. Um so, that did

11:46include a 48% um and this is actuals

11:48now, not predicted like we saw before,

11:50um increase in our hourly contract rate

11:53uh for the Dash, as well as um some cost

11:56avoidance from capital

11:57uh investments.

11:59And then just a a short kind of um

12:02summary or not short, but a quick

12:04summary of the the Dash and how it's

12:05evolved over um the last uh few years.

12:09Um again, more for the City Commission's

12:11um

12:12kind of uh,

12:13but, uh, everyone here is pretty

12:14familiar, but just showing especially

12:16that difference between DASH 3.0 and

12:18then the circulator from downtown,

12:20especially with the additions of the the

12:21north, um, segment onto Leonard, and

12:24then the new, uh, the new focused, uh,

12:26more focused and more fiscally

12:27sustainable pilot that we launched

12:29early, um, last year. Or sorry, this

12:32year, um, earlier this year.

12:34Uh, so, we wanted to do a lot of

12:37engagement for those two things, and

12:38that's the primary thing I'm going to

12:39talk about today, and, uh, and then we

12:42also have some options moving forward

12:43that we're really excited to talk about,

12:44and we have some some numbers and and

12:46things from the Rapid that are going to

12:48be really helpful. Um, but I did want to

12:50just finally highlight for the group

12:51here just to show a little bit more

12:53specificity to what that, um, more

12:56focused pilot, um, had, uh, in it. So,

12:58we went from nine vehicles to three. We

13:00did go up to four for amphitheater

13:02events. Um, that went from uh, weekly

13:05hours of buses on the street from 632 to

13:08315. The frequency did go down, um, from

13:1115 minutes to eight minutes because of,

13:13um, the smaller route as well as, um, a

13:15few other things that we were able to

13:17achieve.

13:18And then, of course, the geography got

13:19smaller. We There's no longer the direct

13:21service to the north, um, uh, uh,

13:24up towards Leonard, um, the the main

13:26library, the downtown market, a few

13:27other locations were removed from the

13:29route. Um, there was no, uh,

13:33uh, change to the the service hours,

13:35either. So, those remain the same.

13:37Um, and then just

13:39a quick high level of the DASH spending,

13:42um, that we have had over the past, um,

13:45oh, sorry. I'm It's changing on my

13:47screen and not this one. My apologies.

13:48Um,

13:49uh, so, yeah, sorry. These were the

13:50numbers I was talking about just a

13:51moment ago, the vehicles and the weekly

13:53hours. Um, and then, so, here's a

13:56overall, uh, view of the FY27 for the

13:58DASH spending. It's it's it's tracking

14:00under budget, um, which is, um, you

14:02know,

14:03obviously there was a lot some

14:05estimations that had to go into

14:06budgeting for this with the major

14:08changes that we had. Wanting to be

14:09fiscally responsible and and and

14:11sustainable. Um, so, that's a good sign,

14:14but it also kind of lends to the

14:16conversation we're going to have in a

14:17moment when we're talking about how to

14:18use these funds going forward. So, just

14:20wanted to highlight here, um, you know,

14:22we we obviously made a major change for

14:24budgetary reasons, so we wanted to

14:26provide some budget information for you.

14:28Um, again, this change happened in May,

14:30so these are only through uh September,

14:33but so far tracking to to remain pretty

14:35close to the original, um, the budgeted

14:37numbers.

14:39>> Max, do you Your budget goes July 1st to

14:42June 30th? Okay.

14:45>> Um, so we conducted two survey efforts

14:48to support, um, the DASH. I'm just going

14:50to look at the screen here, so I don't

14:51make the same mistake. Um,

14:53so we conducted two uh survey efforts

14:55to, um, support, um, you all in these

14:58decisions that we have to make going

15:00forward and recommendations to City

15:01Commission. Uh, one was a DASH pulse

15:03survey. So, we, um, we didn't want it to

15:05seem like it was a final pilot survey.

15:07It was relatively early in any sort of

15:10transit survey that you're going to

15:11conduct 3 months in. So, we made it

15:13clear it was a pulse survey. Um, and uh

15:16I think the results, um, uh do do still

15:19tell a message, but I do want to be

15:20clear that there are certainly, again,

15:22if you're looking at uh best practices

15:24for transit surveys across the the

15:26country and the world, you want to check

15:27the in on these things a year after,

15:29maybe even longer than that, to get some

15:31real uh thorough uh and maybe more

15:33accurate data because there's going to

15:34be this initial reaction to change that

15:36that folks are frustrated with. But,

15:38that being said, um, you know, we had

15:39241 uh participants with this survey.

15:43Um, 93% of them said their experience

15:45was worse, and 70% of that was uh much

15:49worse. Um, there the highlighted kind of

15:52thing that made them feel that way the

15:54most was removal of stops and geography,

15:57um, and then just a general sense of

15:59dissatisfaction. We had some uh comments

16:02or anecdotal responses, uh qualitative

16:04responses we wanted to highlight too.

16:06Um, and again, I think with this with

16:08this show it a lot of, and we can see on

16:10the bottom right here, the top ranked

16:11priority for change was routes that

16:14connect to our neighborhood. Um, so what

16:17what we see a lot here, or what I'm

16:18reading from this, so I don't want to

16:20you know, if you can interpret it your

16:21own way, but I'll just say my personal

16:22interpretation here is a real clear um,

16:26evidence that that one of the biggest

16:28losses to this was um,

16:30you know, this personal connection to a

16:32neighborhood and that's something that

16:34right now, you know, Mobile GR would

16:36really struggle to replicate across the

16:38neighborhoods um, including the ones

16:40that we did take this one from. So

16:42because we we had anticipated that, we

16:45also wanted to conduct what we called

16:47the Transit Access Engagement effort and

16:49we talked to this body about that

16:51beforehand

16:52um, and what that was doing was just

16:54saying we understand that geography is a

16:57real concern for folks when it comes to

16:59the DASH, but there's just no way with

17:01our fiscal

17:02um,

17:03resources that we can accomplish that

17:05across the city, but also we have a a a

17:09organization that is charged with that

17:11and we don't want to compete with them.

17:13We want to support them. So the Transit

17:14Access was to talk with folks through

17:16the lens of of the DASH and the

17:17financials there and also to just say

17:20like if we spent some of this money

17:22supporting better geography across the

17:24city, is there a better way to do it

17:26than just keep expanding the DASH. Uh,

17:28so that's when we had this Transit

17:30Engagement or Access Engagement. Um, it

17:33was conducted much more like a focus

17:34group instead of a survey effort. We had

17:37a a brief presentation at the beginning

17:38where I talked through the the the

17:40history of the DASH program and and some

17:43of the fiscal um, you know, reasons for

17:45the reduction service there, but then

17:47um, kind of the role of Mobile GR in

17:49supporting transit in Grand Rapids and

17:52then we posed some options to folks and

17:54also left some open-ended um,

17:56options for them to kind of come up with

17:58new options for us. Um, I'll just

18:00quickly go through the ones that we

18:01posed just cuz I think that's important

18:03before we see the next data, but I did

18:05want to also highlight we conducted them

18:06in all three wards, total of 63

18:08respondents. These were um, so these

18:11numbers are lower than the survey, but

18:12these were in-depth conversations that

18:14lasted around an hour, so they were

18:16really great for us to get a lot of like

18:18good um, answers to questions uh

18:21like what how why people felt that they

18:23were barriers. What what were some

18:24solutions that they felt could be

18:26helping to to eliminate those barriers.

18:28So, um the options we we covered um

18:31they came out of four major cut

18:33categories, which was cost

18:35um

18:36So, the first one was cost uh which uh

18:38included a fair support for students and

18:41folks on income assistance. Um the

18:43second was uh fair support for the Go

18:45Bus system. And the third was uh a fair

18:48support system through community

18:50partners. So, employers or advocacy

18:52groups um

18:53Uh so, all those were addressing cost as

18:55a barrier. The second one uh the barrier

18:58that we were talking about was route

18:59frequency. So, fre- we've we've heard

19:01from our own internal uh surveying

19:03efforts um outside of just um the DASH

19:06program, but for transit across the city

19:07that frequency and convenience was often

19:09the top priority for communities. So, we

19:11wanted to propose an option there, which

19:13was increasing on select routes from the

19:15rapid better evening and uh weekend

19:17service frequency.

19:19Um or even hours of coverage if we're

19:21talking about going later into the

19:22night. We also wanted to address route

19:25geography. Um and that was potentially

19:28proposing a solution to that barrier was

19:30was new cross-town routes. A lot of what

19:32we heard from when the DASH was reduced

19:34was um this idea that there was no

19:37longer a way to cross the river um

19:39especially in the north part of the

19:40city. Um

19:42so, looking at options like that for

19:44cross-town. And then finally was um

19:46looking at specific audiences, and that

19:48was the downtown shuttle that currently

19:50exists. So, looking at ways to support

19:52the downtown core, the residents, the

19:54visitors, the commuters that that um

19:57that live and and work there and and

19:59visit there.

20:00Um so, uh again, those options were

20:02built on past survey efforts we had done

20:04plus discussions with this this board

20:06here. Um so, we were really excited to

20:08share those with the community.

20:10Now, there's no perfect way to rank

20:12these. So, I want to highlight how we

20:14ranked them here and um be very clear

20:17about that. Um but and when I say

20:19there's no perfect way to rank it, if

20:20someone says this is uh my first rank

20:24and this is my second rank, the

20:25difference between those is qualitative

20:27and we tried to get that out of folks

20:28through questions, but we can't really

20:30see that in the numbers here. So, I just

20:31want to be sure.

20:33So, the best way we we thought of

20:35approaching that was just to say we're

20:36going to have

20:37see which had the most top three ranks

20:41and I do think this did tell us a pretty

20:42clear message because

20:45pretty consistently the top three were

20:46missing the all three cost options. So,

20:49at least for the folks that we talk to,

20:51it cost didn't seem to be the large

20:53barrier that

20:54that some may think was that there was

20:57there especially when the dash is a free

20:59to ride service and a lot of times we

21:00talk with folks that was an element that

21:02they really enjoyed removing that

21:03barrier.

21:04So, 45 there was 45 total top three

21:08votes if you will for increasing evening

21:09and weekend service on select routes.

21:12There was 39 total top three votes for

21:14Crosstown routes and you can see there

21:17there's a lot more second ranked votes

21:19there than first ranks, but still when

21:20you add them all together, you get that

21:22that higher number and then there was 36

21:24total for maintaining the the free

21:27downtown dash shuttle and prioritizing

21:29that.

21:30Um

21:31there

21:32Jessica mentioned we're a little brief

21:33on time. I hope in the future or maybe

21:35we can share out more detailed reports

21:37on this. We do have a lot more because

21:39like I said there's other ways you could

21:40rank this which we've done to see this

21:43is the one that we as staff felt was the

21:44most

21:46the the most accurate way to do it, but

21:48I think there are alternative ways to

21:49show this data, but there's also a lot

21:51of very valuable

21:53you know qualitative information that we

21:55got from this specifically to address a

21:58lot of

21:59a lot of the concerns that we have seen

22:01throughout community when talking about

22:02transit.

22:04So, I summarized that a bit here you

22:06know frequency was a was a big topic of

22:08conversation.

22:10You know the the lack of evening and

22:12weekend service was another one. There

22:14was just so much

22:16so many times when we would have

22:17conversations with folks that say I

22:19would love to use the train system, but

22:21I literally can't cuz I work third shift

22:23or

22:24I don't have the the service during the

22:27times I need.

22:28Um And

22:29generally, you know, there like I said

22:32before, there was this this pretty clear

22:35focus on removing barriers

22:38through

22:39through frequency and timing and

22:41geography versus cost. So that was

22:43something that I think was helpful to to

22:45get information on. And then there was

22:46this strong dissatisfaction

22:49with um

22:51uh with the the change of the dash as

22:54well. And and I think some of that

22:56obviously is reflected by the priorities

22:58that they're setting here with with

22:59things like frequency and geography. Um

23:02so again, happy to go into detail if

23:04there are any more specific questions,

23:05but also happy to share out with this

23:07group after this the more detailed

23:09assessments we've done for this program.

23:10It was a really or this act this

23:12engagement. It was a really great

23:13exercise. It gave us pages and pages of

23:15data that we're happy to share, but for

23:17the sake of time, don't want to go too

23:19deep into it today. Um but um

23:22what this did help us do is work with

23:25the Rapid on coming up with some

23:27options. And I think when we looked at

23:29those fiscal numbers before of where the

23:31dash is currently,

23:32what we were interested in and this was

23:34pitched to the engagement folks when we

23:36started was this idea of could we

23:39address some of these concerns more and

23:42more with a more focused lens on the

23:45dash and then address some of these

23:47concerns across the city with those

23:49options. So I didn't lead with this, but

23:51when we proposed all those options, the

23:53idea was

23:54these could be a bucket of things. These

23:56could be where addressing one, two,

23:58three,

24:00and then that means we're doing a little

24:02less with the dash or we're doing a

24:03little less with frequency. So there's

24:04some some some things that play there

24:06that I think are really helpful, which

24:08is why the prioritization was so

24:09important for us.

24:11But Kevin was very timely today. I

24:13appreciate him bringing this cuz it's

24:15really helpful to have this information

24:17for all of you to think about as we go

24:19forward because Kevin has some actual

24:22numbers. I want to be very clear, these

24:23are very preliminary numbers

24:25and all of these options are going to

24:27have to go through city commission and

24:28adoption

24:30at any rate, but obviously we're we're

24:31starting here with this discussion and

24:33and talking about looking forward. So,

24:35you know, I do want to have that caveat,

24:37but what we're interested in is hearing

24:39your opinions on hearing from that

24:40feedback, hearing from your own thoughts

24:42and in your own experiences with transit

24:44and the dash. And then once Kevin is

24:46able to show some of the options that we

24:48have worked with the rapid on,

24:51you know, we could maybe come up with

24:52some priorities and and it doesn't have

24:54to be we only do one. There's a lot of

24:56ways we can do a few of them and that's

24:58really exciting, but it does mean

24:59there's going to have to be some give or

25:01take there. So,

25:03yeah, so without

25:05further ado, Kevin, if we could go over

25:07to your presentation and then I can wrap

25:08up really quickly to start the

25:09discussion.

25:10>> Yeah, thanks Max. Just off the top, I

25:13apologize. Our planning director Nick

25:15Moneyas was supposed to be here to

25:16present, but he has illnesses in the

25:18family, so he couldn't make it. So, I'm

25:19pinch hitting at the last second, so

25:21please bear with me for this. And as Max

25:23mentioned, this is very preliminary. I

25:24mean, anything we do we These are some

25:26options we can look at, but it would

25:27take the whole process to implement on

25:29our side as well. So, it's not like, you

25:31know, if we made the change, it's like

25:32we want to go and the funding came, we

25:33couldn't do it tomorrow. There's There's

25:35things we'd have to go through. So, I

25:36want to kind of level set what the

25:38realistic expectations are. But that

25:40being said, we did receive Thanks. The

25:43the list of priorities from the study

25:45from from

25:47Mobile GR and just kind of looked at

25:48what are the options we could do to

25:50address some of these and they're really

25:51in in three buckets. Um there's

25:53increased route frequencies in the

25:55weekdays and evenings and weekends, uh

25:58crosstown route options and then some

26:00dash service change options. So, I'm

26:02going to kind of walk through those.

26:05So, the first is looking at increased

26:07route frequency

26:08on the system. So, we wanted to look at

26:10specific routes we could increase the

26:11frequency on that would have a good

26:13geographic distribution throughout the

26:14various wards,

26:16our very our popular routes in our

26:17system and have some frequency

26:20limitations, especially when it comes to

26:22weekday evenings and weekend services.

26:24So,

26:26on the map here, the highlighted ones

26:28are the ones that we would be looking

26:30at. Of course, there's options here, but

26:31we felt these would address what you're

26:33looking for in terms of

26:35routes that cover the cover the city

26:37area.

26:38Um so the first is weekday evenings. Um

26:40the proposal here would be to bring all

26:42of our these

26:43eight routes to 30-minute frequencies

26:45throughout our evening service. So this

26:47wouldn't be an increase in the span, but

26:48it would be making sure that they would

26:50maintain that level of frequency.

26:52Um so this

26:54route by route basis that shows how many

26:56hours we would need to add to that

26:58to bring that frequency up and then the

27:00total weekly hours and then what the

27:02annual cost would be on a very

27:03preliminary estimated basis. So that's

27:06that's the first bucket.

27:08Um the second is Saturday and Sunday. Um

27:11so this is basically taking the these

27:13same routes and bringing them to 30-day

27:1530-minute frequencies throughout the

27:17day. Many of them are on hourly

27:19frequencies right now, which obviously

27:20is not the most usable to a transit

27:22user. So for these key routes, they

27:24would all move to half an hour

27:25frequencies throughout the the span of

27:27Saturday and Sunday.

27:29Um and then once again, it comes with

27:30the estimated number of hours and an

27:32estimated total cost, which actually all

27:34three of those buckets end up with a

27:35very similar cost

27:39for each individual one.

27:42Um and then the other the next

27:45categories are crosstown routes. The

27:47first one is our Leonard Crosstown.

27:49Um this would be two vehicles operating

27:51basically for a normal service day 5:00

27:53a.m. to 10:00 p.m. 17 hours a day.

27:56Um and this would be

27:58and then at 30-minute frequencies. Um

28:00you can see these do overline with a

28:02significant number of routes that are in

28:04that area already. It provides that

28:05crosstown connection that was talked

28:07about. Um and yeah, just to back these

28:10would be about be about roughly $900,000

28:13a year to run this service.

28:16The other one we looked at

28:18was the Hall Street Crosstown.

28:20Um so this would be doing something

28:22similar on the south side of the city

28:23connecting along Hall and down to Burton

28:26and Breton ultimately over to the Black

28:29Hills neighborhood. Um this would be two

28:30vehicles again. Once again, the

28:32$100,000. This would actually This

28:34alignment would be on 20-minute

28:35frequencies just because it is a shorter

28:37alignment, so you could

28:39have a slightly increased frequency

28:41here.

28:44And then once again, this shows that

28:45there it does overlay with the routes

28:47that it would overlay with across our

28:48system in the southern part of our

28:50system.

28:52And then there's some DASH options. The

28:54first one was bringing back a DASH work

28:56option. This is one where we would run

28:59basically kind of a Westside service

29:00connecting to the Westside parking lots

29:02to the downtown employment centers.

29:04This one is at 15-minute frequencies

29:08throughout the daytime, kind of the

29:09workdays, Monday through Friday, 6:30

29:11a.m. to 6:30 p.m. And it comes out at

29:13about 330,000.

29:16The other option we looked at was to do

29:18the event

29:20the So, we have a coming event route we

29:22do for the DASH and apply that to event

29:25nights. So, this is an estimate, of

29:27course, we don't know the number of

29:28events, but if we had 150 annual event

29:30nights, running it from 4:00 a.m. to

29:3212:00 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. at

29:3510-minute frequencies would be about

29:36380,000 dollars a year. Of course, this

29:38would fluctuate based on the number of

29:40events and all of those things, but once

29:42again, it gives us a rough idea of what

29:44this would entail.

29:46So, this is just a frequency

29:48a summary table of all the potential

29:50options. Once again, this is very

29:51preliminary. We said that again, but it

29:54kind of gives you an idea of what the

29:55cost would be to do these various things

29:58in light of what we saw from the mobile

30:00GR feedback. So,

30:02I know I went through really quickly on

30:03that, but happy to take any specific

30:05questions about the service options that

30:10>> Uh

30:11If we were to remove the two crosstowns,

30:14would we be able to get that 30-minute

30:16service on the weekdays and the weekends

30:19down to 15 minutes?

30:22>> I I Once again, I don't have the numbers

30:24in front of me, but

30:26something we could look at, I would

30:27imagine.

30:28>> So, what would be really helpful for us

30:29is is recommendations like that. So, we

30:32had our transportations and our staff

30:33look through the data and come up with

30:35some options, but obviously we're only a

30:37few folks. So, ideas of like, yeah, what

30:40what further cost options should we look

30:42at so that we can come forward to you

30:45all and say here here are here's the a

30:47la carte and we we want to try to get

30:49this to around a $2 million total

30:52and to be fiscally sustainable without

30:54you know, any increase of of revenue.

30:56That was what we would need and then you

30:58can say, all right, these are what we

30:59want. So, these are our preliminary

31:01ones, but if there are options like that

31:03like so 15 minute frequency on the same

31:06routes that we talked about before.

31:08>> Yeah, I I'm I'm not sure if it works

31:10that way. That's why I'm asking cuz it's

31:111.8 for both Crosstowns and it looks

31:14like it's around 1.8. I can't it's the

31:16green is really hard to read from here.

31:19So, yeah, I'm wondering if does it does

31:22it scale in that same way?

31:25It's the same amount of cost.

31:26Maybe it halves it.

31:28>> Yeah, great question. We don't have the

31:29answer now, but I think we can get that

31:31to you. And then similarly, just to want

31:33to thank the Rapid so much for working

31:35on this especially with short notice,

31:36which I we really appreciate. But, you

31:38know, the routes we worked with the

31:40Rapid on coming up with those, but if

31:41folks are like these are the select

31:43routes that we don't we don't think

31:44these select routes cover what would be

31:45best. If you have other ideas on the

31:46routes,

31:47other creative ideas on on ways to

31:50increase frequency or or geography

31:52through something other than Crosstown

31:54or and then also different ways to

31:56approach

31:57trying to achieve as much as we can with

31:59the goals with the dash. But, you can

32:01see like a big goal of the dash is night

32:02time service. If we're running that

32:04night time service all year round, it

32:06costs about a million dollars. If we do

32:08it just for events, we can get that down

32:09to 300,000.

32:10>> [snorts]

32:11>> Yeah, and I guess I just like to add for

32:13for context as well.

32:16Looking at that and wanting to remove it

32:17cuz I'm using

32:18I'm stating this as a as a user of

32:21multiple systems. I don't own a car on

32:23purpose.

32:24I ride my bike when the weather is nice

32:26and then when it's not nice, I take the

32:28bus or walk.

32:30And so I'm usually downtown for meetings

32:32like this or I'm working in in the

32:35community. So, I'm in each ward all the

32:37time.

32:38And so immediately when I looked at

32:39this, I thought I don't need Leonard and

32:42I don't need Hall cuz I can get my way

32:43through

32:45using using the system

32:47already the way that it is. What would

32:49be really beneficial is if we could get

32:50that down to 15 minutes. And that's why

32:53I thought let's remove the Crosstown

32:54Hall. What would that look like? Does it

32:56even help? And if it doesn't, then I'm

32:58like, well, I guess we should keep the

32:59Crosstown. I just probably won't use it.

33:02I could be surprised and do end up using

33:04it, but the way that I see that, the way

33:06the places that I go,

33:08whether it's

33:09you know,

33:10the Studio Park or any grocery stores or

33:14restaurants in in either of the wards

33:16down there. Um

33:18this this seems to to to fit very very

33:21well. I'd like to mention that the route

33:22one actually serves the forgotten first

33:25in the first ward. So, that's what I use

33:27all the time.

33:28So, it's doubled up on the

33:30in in that like third ward cuz the third

33:31first are about it down on the south

33:33side like that. So,

33:35um

33:36I I see the dash work route as well. It

33:39looks like it's just four workers and I

33:41think I think people might hear work and

33:44then they're like, oh, I need to be at

33:44work and never look at it twice. People

33:47use it all the time. It's just another

33:48hack to get in there and yeah, and and

33:50use it as well. I used it all the time

33:52when I wasn't driving in to work. I was

33:54working over at the at Win Cat. Yeah,

33:56and that's what I would take it.

33:58Exactly. Exactly. So, I'd love to hear

34:02for the folks that are watching and are

34:04tuning in to get their feedback as well.

34:06Residents that might see this and

34:07overlay it into their into their brains

34:09like, okay, where where do I go in the

34:10city? How do I get there?

34:13And and see that so far from my

34:16standpoint, it seems to get to all the

34:18places that I could get. It would even

34:20be better with 15 minutes. That's why

34:21I'm looking at that. How could we move

34:23money around to get there?

34:25>> That's very helpful. Thank you. Mayor

34:26LaGrande.

34:27>> Yeah, I I guess I

34:29I guess I I I would second what Ken

34:32says, which is like a system that comes

34:35every hour feels functionally useless to

34:37me. Um

34:39I I mean, it's hard to imagine a task in

34:41which I'd be willing to wait for an hour

34:43for I mean

34:45I'd start thinking about walking, right?

34:47Um then and and half an hour gets close

34:49too, cuz that's that's 2 mi of walking.

34:51Like I can

34:53you know, so if I'm less than 2 mi away

34:55and it's every 30 minutes, I'm not

34:56taking the bus, I'm walking. Um

34:59so I often say biking is not really a

35:01car substitute, it's it's fast walking.

35:03And buses in some sense are fast walk is

35:06fast walking too, in which case

35:08frequency really does matter. Um

35:11the other thing I'd say is um

35:14I don't know has there any thought to

35:16revisiting the question of I I don't

35:19know how much an an Apple Pay

35:22uh

35:23thing on the bus costs. Half a million

35:25was what sort of stuck in my head. Um to

35:28put to put payments on the DASH system.

35:31Um but if we did a buck at if we did a

35:33buck a ride, we're picking up about 600

35:35grand a year.

35:37Um

35:38I I I warm I'm warmer to the DASH work

35:43thing even if it's misbranded than I am

35:45to the DASH event thing if it's a free

35:48service.

35:49Um

35:51You know, people are paying a premium to

35:52park closer.

35:54Um and so I think I'd be willing to pay

35:57a buck to jump on a DASH bus to get from

36:00zero cost parking down to an event and

36:04I'm not sure that we want to flat-out

36:06make that free and I'm not sure

36:08intuitively why I want to make that

36:09free. If people are paying 100 bucks or

36:12300 bucks to listen to the Doobie

36:14Brothers, why do why are we making their

36:16transit options free?

36:19>> [clears throat]

36:19>> Why not make them cost Why not have cost

36:20recovery or something like it for that

36:22for that system?

36:25>> Yeah, going off of that, I think if

36:27I don't know. A lot of times when I take

36:29a bus to an event, it's more like a

36:30shuttle, but if we're trying to

36:33um brand this as public transit,

36:37then we should charge money for it for

36:38events.

36:44>> Um yeah, so thanks Max and Kevin. This

36:48was really great.

36:49So, I have sort of similar feelings. I I

36:52mean, I love the bringing, especially on

36:55the weekends, to the 30-minute

36:56frequencies for those routes. I use some

36:58of those and having it be an hour is a

37:00pain, so that would be a huge help.

37:02I agree like if we can maybe look at

37:06um

37:06ways to get those even down to 20 or 15,

37:10that would be also a huge win. Something

37:12that I don't see here is

37:16like expanding hours to like later

37:20service times. Like the Dash is what,

37:22midnight? Like getting maybe some of

37:25maybe even just these routes to like

37:27midnight on

37:29definitely like probably Friday and

37:30Saturday

37:31um to start.

37:33Um

37:34I think that would be something that I

37:35would be interested in. I sort of agree

37:37that you know, initially I was pretty

37:39excited about the crosstowns. Like I

37:41mean, seeing Leonard, I was like, "Oh, I

37:43would use that." Um

37:45but thinking about it again and and

37:47hearing Ken's feedback, I do agree that

37:48those are already kind of served

37:51a little bit in that way. Um if we're

37:54thinking about like the north side

37:56crosstown, I think Knapp would be a

37:58really good candidate for this cuz Knapp

38:00doesn't have any transit service on it.

38:03Um so, I mean, if we're if we're

38:05thinking about crosstowns and a a way to

38:07bring something to somewhere that

38:09doesn't have it. And I've heard a lot

38:10from community how they want something

38:12on Knapp because it's a big barrier for

38:14them.

38:15Um

38:16I think if I had to uh

38:19rank these, I would probably put um the

38:21two Dash options as the lowest. Um but I

38:25do agree that you know, especially for

38:27the events, it feels like

38:29especially if this is transit, like you

38:32know, it's kind of who are we serving

38:34with a free route? You know, are we

38:36serving residents? Are we serving, you

38:39know, people from the outside?

38:41Um communities coming in for events. And

38:44I think, you know, it's it's okay that,

38:46you know, Grand Rapids is like the, you

38:47know, cultural center and we have all of

38:49these events that people come from

38:51around the region to.

38:53Um, however, I don't know that we need

38:55to be providing free service for people

38:57who don't live in the city.

39:00Thank you.

39:02Commissioner.

39:04Hey Max and Commissioner Patton, sorry

39:05for being late. I was talking on the

39:06phone call. Um,

39:08yeah, in general,

39:10I'm not a frequent user of the uh of the

39:13bus system, but when I look at the at

39:14the crosstowns that were proposed

39:15because and as Ken pointed out, these

39:18they already are are they're already

39:20pretty well served by other routes. Um,

39:23I I agree with the mayor's comments on

39:25frequency. I think, you know, if we

39:26could look at the frequency,

39:28you got to wait an hour for a bus. It,

39:31you know, I'll I'll just tell you

39:32personally, I just won't I just won't do

39:33it. I'll, you know, maybe they're going

39:35to walk, ride my bike, or or find some

39:37other way to get there. Um,

39:39or just drive my car. Um, which I don't

39:42know if we can say that in here. Um, I

39:44also agree with the dash. I mean, I I

39:46don't have a problem with with keeping

39:48Grand Rapids an inviting place for

39:50people,

39:51you know, outside of town, you know,

39:52Rockford, Wayland, and you can just keep

39:54going further and further away. I don't

39:55I don't have a problem with with Rock-

39:57with Grand Rapids being a town that

39:59people want to come to to take part in

40:01cultural events and, you know, they

40:03don't have to drive to Detroit. They

40:04don't have to drive to Chicago anymore.

40:07But Detroit and Chicago don't don't get

40:09free bus rides for people to come to

40:11come to concerts and that that costs our

40:13neighbors money because our neighbors

40:16pay their property taxes, they pay other

40:18types of taxes, and then that that money

40:20is then going to subsidize somebody who

40:22has enough money to buy

40:24a $300 ticket to the Doobie Brothers

40:26for a free bus ride. I mean, I know it

40:28sounds cynical, but it it but really, I

40:30mean, let's there's costs involved.

40:32Let's let's not

40:34let's not just give it away.

40:38>> I just kind of want to pair I think what

40:40everyone else is saying. Um, the with

40:41the

40:42more frequency as someone who's

40:44chronically late,

40:45>> [laughter]

40:46>> if I miss if that's the stress level,

40:48you got to get or you miss your bus and

40:51then you're fired from your job because

40:53you have to wait another 30 minutes.

40:55I would be much more amenable to using

40:57something with more frequency where

40:59you've got some of that flexibility.

41:01And I so I think kind of everyone here

41:03here who's spoken already is on a good

41:05track with

41:06having that be the focus.

41:08And I also agree that

41:10uh

41:11I think this is valuable enough to the

41:13community that the community

41:15would be fine with a low cost if it

41:17helps make it sustainable.

41:19And I've heard enough from my own

41:21neighbors and stuff who use it to get to

41:22work and so on that they really want

41:24this and if it was a dollar or something

41:26really affordable, I don't think that

41:28would be a problem. And like

41:29Commissioner Sessa said and others

41:31especially for the events and so on. Um

41:36I'm just in agreement with all the

41:38comments.

41:40>> Thank you. I I saw a few hands. I'm

41:41going to go with Commissioner

41:42Armbruster.

41:43Um I'll go with Commissioner Puelka and

41:45then Commissioner Miguel Cipriano.

41:48>> Great. Thank you. Um

41:50this is great data. I wanted to just

41:52provide some

41:53>> [snorts]

41:54>> I guess anecdotal data from my work at

41:57Upcycle Bikes. For those of you guys

41:59that don't know, I'm basically refurbish

42:02adult bikes, provide them to the

42:03community for free for for people that

42:06need affordable access to basic

42:07transportation. So it goes along with

42:09this.

42:10I think three things that that we've

42:11heard consistently.

42:14One is hours.

42:16People that are working second shift

42:18can't get home on the bus right now.

42:22Um and tell me if I'm factually

42:23incorrect. This is just anecdotal stuff

42:24that I'm hearing.

42:26So so one is hours. When people get out

42:28at 11:00, they don't have access to the

42:30bus.

42:31Um the other is

42:34sort of the hub and spoke model. We

42:36don't have cross town access

42:38in a lot of areas.

42:40So that makes it that makes it difficult

42:42for for people to to travel.

42:45Um

42:46And then

42:49Let's see. Cross town, there was one

42:50more. Um

42:54Oh, the frequent the frequency again,

42:55you know, it's an hour. I mean, going

42:57back to what the mayor said, I mean,

42:58people are not are not going to do that

42:59when they get out of work at 5:00 or

43:0111:00.

43:02Um you know, to wait an hour for a bus

43:04is is difficult. So,

43:06you know, I I'm excited by this because

43:08it seems like we're moving in a

43:09direction, but uh obviously there's

43:11budget constraints to everything, so you

43:12got to pick and choose. So, so I don't

43:14really have personally a perspective on

43:16on this, but um but those are things

43:18that we that we're hearing in the

43:19community and we hear it often.

43:22>> Thank you.

43:24>> Thank you.

43:25>> Just let me share a

43:2740-year-old anecdote. Um I came here

43:30from a city that had a much better bus

43:32system. And uh first time I tried to

43:34ride a bus, I dutifully wrote it to

43:36essentially Fulton Heights Foods, and I

43:38got out of what I was doing, and I stood

43:40at the bus stop, and I stood at the bus

43:41stop, and I stood at the bus stop, and

43:43eventually I looked up and realized that

43:45the service had stopped at that in those

43:47days at 6:00, and I thought, "What kind

43:48of Mickey Mouse system

43:51uh stops its buses?" Um and then but for

43:54me, where that thought ended was

43:57buses should at least run till the bars

44:00get out. Otherwise, how do you get home

44:01from the bars, right? Like uh if we

44:04don't want to have drunk driving,

44:05there's a huge benefit to having buses

44:08that operate past closing time. So, I

44:10just want to throw that out. And that

44:12may be true for I mean, I don't know

44:13that the Dash gets gets going to get a

44:15lot of people home cuz it's the the

44:16footprint's not big enough, but someday

44:18I dream of having a city where the bars

44:20close before the bar before the buses

44:22stop, not the other way around.

44:26>> Big second, Mr. Mayor. Um

44:30I want to say thanks, Max, and and and

44:33to the Rapid uh

44:35for putting this together. This is

44:36really uh nice to see concrete um

44:39numbers attached to this kind of stuff.

44:42Um

44:42for me, frequency is the biggest

44:44priority.

44:45Um

44:46time and time again all across the

44:48country and the world, we see that

44:49frequency is the largest driver of

44:51ridership for um transit services.

44:55Um,

44:56thinking about

44:58uh myself,

45:00I would certainly I mean I I use the 11

45:02almost every day to get to work in the

45:03in the winter months and stuff. Um, that

45:05would make my life a little easier, too.

45:08Uh, but

45:10um, I'm very privileged in that in that

45:11regard. I I I want to mention there are

45:14many people in our city that rely on our

45:17bus service, you know, to get around.

45:19So, a frequency change

45:22um, and also

45:24later or earlier hours would make a huge

45:27impact in those people's lives that uh

45:30you know, um,

45:32would be good for everyone because a

45:35more used transit service is a more

45:37robust and funded transit transit

45:39service. So, um, that that that's that's

45:43how I would prioritize this. I would

45:44love to see more

45:46put into

45:48increasing frequency on those routes.

45:50That would be great. Um,

45:53if that comes at the cost of a Dash

45:56event or a Dash work or the Crosstowns,

46:00for me that would be okay. Um, I do

46:03appreciate the comments from my fellow

46:04commissioners about a potential fair for

46:07use uh

46:08on on like a Dash event. That would make

46:11sense to me. Um,

46:13connecting our parking lots as the Dash

46:16is I guess is supposed to do um

46:19should should come at a cost. Yeah. So,

46:22thanks.

46:23>> Thank you.

46:24>> [clears throat]

46:24>> Uh, so I heard some concern from some of

46:27our commissioners. So, I'd like some

46:29clarity about the the Dash event route

46:32uh because I

46:33I understand that the Dash for a long

46:36time had been also funded in part by the

46:39DDA, the Monroe North TIF.

46:42And so,

46:44being the chairperson for the South

46:45Division Grand Rapids Avenue Quarter

46:46Improvement Authority, I would be a

46:47little bit

46:49miffed if if it wasn't recognized that

46:51like oh, my my organization actually

46:53helps foot the bill. So, is Is amount

46:55the only amount or is it a matching

46:57amount

46:58for the DASH event because if it is the

47:01case I think that's a pretty small

47:02amount for a matching amount that has

47:04already been footed by the DDA and the

47:07Miro Tiver.

47:09>> So

47:11just to be clear the DDA does not

47:14and has never supported

47:16financially operations of the DASH. The

47:19only thing the DDA has contributed to is

47:21capital cost such as the buses. So take

47:24that off the plate and we don't have

47:26that agreement anymore as of this fiscal

47:27year. So no more DDA

47:30funding towards capital and there was

47:32never any funding towards operations for

47:33that. The North Monroe did have some

47:38a little bit of funding in there but

47:39that also cannot be used for operations.

47:42It was only used for capital. So and

47:44neither of those um

47:46neither of those funding sources are

47:47available today.

47:49>> Thank you.

47:51>> I'm going to I know [clears throat] we

47:52have three more things [snorts] to talk

47:53about Commissioner Arora. I'm going to

47:56kind of wrap things up with you

47:58and then if anyone else had anything

47:59that either came to their mind

48:02we we can bring it to the commissioner

48:04moment.

48:06for discussion. Yeah.

48:08>> It's literally just just coming back on

48:10one thought on the DASH work. I know

48:11that I think the way you described it

48:13Commissioner Wasilinko was that it would

48:15be 15 minutes frequency from start to

48:16end. Um

48:18maybe go you know just a way to recap

48:21it's a small amount but a way to

48:22recapture some of that is maybe move it

48:23to a 30-minute frequency after 9:30

48:26until 3:30

48:28I'm just throwing that out there as a

48:30way to maybe capture just to do a little

48:32bit of recapture and and yeah.

48:36>> Great.

48:37>> Thank you. Thank you all so much. This

48:38is really helpful for us. What we're

48:40going to do is continue to work with the

48:41Rapid on some new options based on the

48:44feedback we got here today today and

48:46then like I said I think it's maybe a

48:49little glib but you know this idea of

48:50like a bit of an a la carte thing where

48:52we can say these are our priorities out

48:54of here. It might be like if we we

48:56aren't prior to I'm making this up out

48:58of nowhere but if we're not prioritizing

49:00cross town routes and we would really

49:01want to prioritize frequency and you

49:03know that means that we can maybe have a

49:04dash work but not a dash event or you

49:06know something like that and obviously

49:07that'll just be a recommendation from

49:08this board for our city commission to

49:10think of as they go forward, but this

49:11data is really helpful for us to help

49:14create that for you to look at and then

49:15make some recommendations. So that'll be

49:17our next steps on this, but thanks again

49:19and yes, either in commissioner comments

49:21or throughout the next few weeks if you

49:23think of anything route specific change

49:26or any sort of options you want to reach

49:28out to us, it's really helpful. So thank

49:29you.

49:30>> Yeah, and I

49:31pretty much what I think I'm hearing is

49:33exactly that the the faster routes are

49:36important.

49:37I'll quick put my little plug in here

49:39that extended hours, you know, I'm if

49:42I'm going to come from a workforce

49:43development point of view, I people need

49:46the bus longer time so and waiting an

49:49hour may not be the best way to do that.

49:51So and then I also heard I think

49:53maybe less so on the event dash but more

49:57so on maybe considering the the dash

49:59work would be

50:00positive.

50:01>> And just to

50:03clarify cuz I I I don't think I did this

50:05before, but both if we did change the

50:07dash work and the dash event, that would

50:09mean removing the current dash route as

50:12well.

50:13So it wouldn't be like those are in

50:14addition to the existing one. Those

50:17would be

50:18obviously but but that's another one

50:20that we'll include on the the options

50:22list is maintaining the current dash,

50:23but that does leave very little room if

50:25any for all these other options. So that

50:27was the thought process there is we can

50:28reduce the $2 million operating cost for

50:30the dash and do a 300,000 work, 300,000

50:34event and then do these other options.

50:37I just wanted to clarify that. They

50:38weren't they're not in addition to the

50:39current route.

50:41>> Yeah, and this this is going to have

50:42some cross sections with the dash

50:44working group as well too.

50:45>> Yes. Yep.

50:47>> Great.

50:48All right, let's move on to the

50:50amphitheater and amphitheater and the

50:53soccer stadium.

50:55Well, they reach separate.

50:56>> So yes, this one

50:58is a bit more of a

51:02humble brag. Um so, very proud and

51:05excited about this. Um but very open to

51:07discussion as well. Um but yeah, and I'm

51:10I apologize for missing last week's

51:11meeting on short notice. Was really

51:13excited to go into more detail here. So,

51:14I'll do my best to be brief, but also

51:16really proud of not just um our team's

51:19work, but the work across the city that

51:20went into this. I think um this was such

51:23a and I I said this more recently after

51:25the launch, but this was such an

51:26exciting moment for me as someone who's

51:28been in this in this in this uh

51:31department for 10 years to see a lot of

51:33the theory that we had theorized come to

51:36actuality when it comes to mode shift

51:37around um basically this idea of it's if

51:40if it's a little less convenient, people

51:42may shift their mode, and we really saw

51:44that here. Uh so, super excited about

51:46that. Um and I think that it we're going

51:47to show that in a little bit. It really

51:49speaks to the late night hours because

51:50the rapid was was very um

51:53helpful in extending hours that night,

51:55and we have some data to show how that

51:56worked out. So, just generally for folks

51:58who missed it, there was a major major

52:00uh amphitheater that launched here in

52:01Grand Rapids, 12,000 seat venue um in

52:04May. Uh we started off the planning

52:07process with that with focusing on five

52:09pillars uh five pillars, excuse me. Um

52:12very different. Um so, that was planned

52:14before the first show. We we had we had

52:16learned from folks so often that

52:17planning was not part of how they

52:19attended events. Uh they just came down

52:21and figured it out. We When we looked at

52:23successful cities across the country um

52:25that had more uh complex parking and

52:27transportation um elements to their to

52:30their um event venues, everyone planned.

52:32It was very common to do so. If you're

52:34going to a Chicago Bears game or Detroit

52:36Lions game, you're not not planning.

52:38You're figuring something out. So, we

52:39wanted to change that behavior. So, we

52:41really were intentional about that. Uh

52:43we wanted to be very um intentional with

52:45our pricing for parking specifically. We

52:47wanted to incentivize people to park

52:49farther away um to to walk, and we

52:51wanted to um you know, make it cost more

52:53money to park closer. But also, we

52:55wanted to be really intentional about

52:57accessibility um so that we weren't um

53:00you know, from an equity lens, we

53:01weren't um punishing people with ex- ex-

53:03accessibility needs. Um but outside of

53:05that, that was the model there.

53:07Um, we wanted a single source of truth.

53:09Um, you know, there's always

53:10misinformation going around. We saw a

53:12lot of that leading up to the

53:13amphitheater, so having um, one website

53:16that all of the ticketing agencies, all

53:18the event venues, our city, and everyone

53:20reference was able to allow for

53:21hopefully some

53:23um, some of that to not be a concern.

53:25Um, we we really pushed multimodalism,

53:29and we we were we were clear to folks,

53:30if you have concerns, if there are

53:32barriers, there are solutions to those

53:34that aren't just figuring out how to do

53:35that with a car. And we we explained we

53:38did that through um, and my team was so

53:40great with this, and I'm so gracious to

53:42them because we had 50 com- I I say

53:44complaints, I should say 50 concerns a

53:46day from community of of this this thing

53:48leading up to it, and they talked

53:50individually with those folks through

53:51the trip planning, and said, "Well, this

53:53park and ride option could work." And

53:55they're like, "I don't want to do that."

53:55And then they're like, "Well, maybe try

53:56it out." And it is so that wasn't

53:57something you can just do through

53:59communications. That's engagement work.

54:01It takes time and effort, and they did a

54:02such a wonderful job with that. Um, and

54:05also our on the

54:06on the ground staff did wonderfully. We

54:09we worked with them, we talked with

54:10them. I was lucky that I came up through

54:12parking operations, so I had a bit of

54:13social capital going to them and saying,

54:15"Hey, we got to apply some

54:16transportation planning elements to

54:17this. If folks come in and they're

54:19frustrated with the situation, talk to

54:21them about the bus. Talk to them about

54:22where they can park farther away and

54:23walk." And and they did wonderfully with

54:25that. They were really well-staffed,

54:27including our partners at GRPD. So, a

54:29great job from all operational elements.

54:32Um, and then

54:33>> [clears throat]

54:34>> again, like I talked

54:36before, this planning ahead model wasn't

54:37just about making your transportation

54:40um, successful. It's also about this

54:42idea of um, of of winning. We we we

54:46learned a lot from our focus group

54:47efforts and our surveys that people saw

54:50um, failing in parking, or paying too

54:51much for parking, or not finding a

54:53really great parking spot as a failure.

54:55Um, so we made it more of, if you're

54:57enjoying your transportation trip,

54:59that's the win. If you're coming

55:00downtown early and going to a

55:02restaurant, and and and making a night

55:03out of it, that's the win. If you're

55:05walking by a park, or by some art,

55:06that's the win, and and if you're

55:08planning ahead and making this a night,

55:10then those are the victories instead of

55:11just finding the perfect parking spot

55:13right in in front of the building and

55:14then getting out as quickly as you can.

55:16Um so, we worked intentionally on that.

55:19Um so, as I shared with the group before

55:22we launched and we got some great

55:23feedback from commissioners um on on

55:25adding some some more multimodal

55:27versions of this, which we we did do,

55:29but we really were focused on um you

55:31know, that there was a lot of folks who

55:32were worried about uh parking

55:34availability, and we knew internally we

55:36had plenty of availability. Um but

55:38again, like I talked about, we had these

55:40targeted messages and themes depending

55:41on who reached out to us. So, if they

55:43were worried, if they were like, "I'm

55:44just here for the show." Um we were able

55:46to give them, you know, these quick in

55:48ways in and out and talk through them

55:50that that way. If they were worried

55:51about the cost, "Parking is way too

55:52expensive." We we talked through

55:54different options for for ways to, you

55:56know, address that concern. Um and then

55:58if they were like, "This sounds like

56:00it's horrible. Like you're you're

56:01ruining my experience through parking."

56:02We talked about how we can turn that

56:04into a positive experience and and ways

56:05to enjoy the downtown area. Um we I

56:08often compare it with Pine Knob, and not

56:10to throw shade over to them, but when

56:12you leave Pine Knob, it's basically you

56:14go into a giant parking lot, you wait

56:16for a long period of time, and then you

56:17go home. When you leave here, you have

56:18parks and restaurants and stores. It's

56:20so much cooler, and and we really pushed

56:22that for folks and and said this isn't a

56:24really a problem, it's a really great

56:26opportunity for you to enjoy our vibrant

56:28city.

56:30Uh capacity was a concern leading into

56:32it from external sources. We knew

56:34internally we had so much capacity, but

56:35obviously that's kind of a bit of a

56:37trust us moment, so we were really

56:38excited to see that hold. Um we and I I

56:41think, just check, yeah, we have some I

56:43have some very cool capacity data in the

56:46next slide. Um but parking reservations

56:48was a huge element of that. We we see so

56:50much traffic circulation um taken up by

56:53people looking for parking. It's

56:54actually a really um you know,

56:56frustrating statistic to see, and really

56:59the only way to address that other than

57:00the multimodal planning that I talked

57:02about is to get people to reserve

57:03parking ahead of time. You're not

57:04looking for a space if you've got one

57:06ahead of the event. So, we saw a ton of

57:08successful use of that system. We've now

57:10turned that into our Griffin season, our

57:13our arena season, our our convention

57:15arenas convention season that's coming

57:17in for this winter and then we'll talk

57:19about in just a minute our soccer

57:20stadium. So super excited for that to

57:22work out. I think that helps everybody

57:24from a lot of different perspectives.

57:27As I mentioned parking occupancy was not

57:29a concern throughout the entire season

57:31even on the most busy nights. I think we

57:33peaked at 65% capacity and that was a

57:37night where every single thing was sold

57:38out in the entire city pretty much. So

57:4020 Monroe, Intersection, DeVos Place,

57:45obviously the amphitheater were all

57:46going on and we had a cultural event as

57:48well at Calder Plaza and that hit 65.

57:50The average we are looking at for event

57:52nights and was 40%. And that's just our

57:57public parking.

57:58So that does not include any private

58:00operators of parking. Um

58:03This one I'm the most excited about and

58:05I'm claiming it to be the greatest

58:07parking survey of all time until someone

58:09can prove me wrong. We did a parking

58:11survey we did chaser kind of thing. So

58:13after you had you know parked with us

58:15and you were leaving for the night we

58:16were like here please tell us how we did

58:18and

58:20you know even my wildest imagination

58:22could not have expected us to get the

58:23results we did. We had 248 responses.

58:26We handed out thousands. Obviously

58:28people not responding at all is almost

58:30kind of a good thing too cuz usually

58:31when it comes to parking other things

58:33are like I want to tell you what you did

58:34wrong. But instead they really told us

58:36everything that we did right which was

58:37so encouraging.

58:399 So this is people who said either

58:41satisfied or extremely satisfied. 96% of

58:44them said they were they felt good about

58:45finding a space. 93 said cleanliness.

58:48Huge shout out to our maintenance team.

58:50Awesome work. Safety and lighting 96%

58:53signage and waiting wayfinding which was

58:55a priority for us going into this was

58:5692% and overall every category that we

59:01had was

59:0292% or higher. So super excited about

59:05that. Again that's that's the great work

59:07from our operational staff in the

59:08parking division.

59:10And then

59:11I talked about the mode shift. So, we

59:13saw a 21% increase on Dash for event

59:18for event nights. But, one really cool

59:20thing and we're trying to get more

59:21information on the rapid, but they seem

59:23to anecdotally confirm this was pretty

59:25consistent throughout. But, we saw on

59:28just one event night snapshot compared

59:30to a non-event Saturday, 1,600 increased

59:34rides on on that that service. And that

59:37when you think about it so that and that

59:38was a night that only had the

59:39amphitheater going on. There wasn't

59:41anything else. So, if you think about

59:43the fact that you have, you know, 12,000

59:45people and 1,600 people increase for

59:48that alone is just a huge amount of mode

59:50shift when you when you look at some of

59:52the the biggest cities in the country

59:54and how they use it. We're looking at

59:5610, 11, 12% on transit and that's what

59:58this was for that event. So, I think

1:00:00we're going to increase that as it goes

1:00:01forward, but it's super exciting early

1:00:03data. And then, anecdotally, we heard so

1:00:06much and we'll see this on on my last

1:00:07slide here. We heard so much from

1:00:08community in our surveys, but also on

1:00:10social media, through emails that we got

1:00:13of people saying, "Hey, the bus option

1:00:15you pitched for me, that worked. That

1:00:16was great. I really enjoyed that." So,

1:00:18that was really exciting to see as well.

1:00:20Um

1:00:21there are some things we want to improve

1:00:23on.

1:00:24You know, we we always and this is

1:00:26always going to be a thing at the when

1:00:27the show ends, there's always going to

1:00:29be some congestion and and

1:00:31I think that's inevitable to a degree.

1:00:33However, we can work on on trying to

1:00:36keep people here later night and going

1:00:37out to eat and and and maybe working in

1:00:39different ways to make that more

1:00:40enjoyable or spread that out a bit.

1:00:42That being said, our average exit times

1:00:45were around 20 to 30 minutes and that's

1:00:47for our like at the top of the ramp to

1:00:50the bottom. So, you're looking at seven

1:00:51or eight floors of vehicles all trying

1:00:53to exit at the downtown core at once

1:00:54during an event night. So, they're still

1:00:56pretty good statistics, but we want to

1:00:58always try to work on improving

1:00:59improving them. We do need to look at

1:01:02our

1:01:03There was there was a few ramps that

1:01:04didn't fill to the degree that we would

1:01:06like to. So, we're probably going to

1:01:07have to look at some price changes for

1:01:10those.

1:01:11Our farthest away ramp from the

1:01:12amphitheater, our Pearl and Onyx ramp,

1:01:14which um, I was always a thorn in my

1:01:16side when we had a ramp that was $15

1:01:18cheaper, um, than the one right next to

1:01:21the arena, and that would never fill. We

1:01:22would usually look at about 20%. That

1:01:24filled almost every night. So, we're

1:01:25really excited about that. We were able

1:01:27to communicate that well. But, there was

1:01:28a few middle ramps that I think we need

1:01:30to reprice and refocus on our

1:01:32communication to spread out the

1:01:34occupancy a little bit there.

1:01:36And then, um, you know, whenever there's

1:01:38downtown concurrent events, we can do we

1:01:40can improve our planning. And I think,

1:01:42um, it makes sense that that was when we

1:01:43saw some of the biggest, uh, hurdles was

1:01:45when there was four or five different

1:01:47events going on at once. So, just

1:01:48working to better, um, coordinate on

1:01:50those events.

1:01:52Um, so, I I kind of already brought it

1:01:54up, but I just wanted to share this,

1:01:55especially for, um, to be on the record

1:01:58and to share with folks going, uh,

1:01:59forward as we continue to look at at

1:02:01developments, um, throughout the city.

1:02:04Um, you know, this this is our

1:02:06occupancy, um, rates. We We So, area

1:02:08three and area eight, uh, and area six,

1:02:11I don't think anyone here would be

1:02:12familiar with the names offhand, but

1:02:13just to let you know, area three is the

1:02:15one that it's not directly south of the,

1:02:18um, arena, but it's just a little bit

1:02:19southwest. It's where Irish on Ionia,

1:02:21um, is was held when it was was in that

1:02:23parking lot. Um, so, it's a small

1:02:24parking lot. Area eight is a small

1:02:26parking lot. Um, uh, area six is the one

1:02:30that's directly under 131 next to the

1:02:32Rapid. It's a little bit bigger, but

1:02:33it's another surface parking lot. So, we

1:02:35The only real place that we saw this

1:02:37occupancy be hitting was our surface

1:02:39lots, and that makes sense. They were

1:02:40smaller, they're really adjacent, it's

1:02:42surface level parking. Um, but, where we

1:02:44see some of our largest ones, including

1:02:47the one directly below us, our

1:02:48Government Center ramp, 21% occupancy.

1:02:51So, within a dash ride visit of the

1:02:53amphitheater, we had hundreds and

1:02:55hundreds of spaces on average empty

1:02:57there. Uh, DeVos Place ramp, the one

1:02:59across the street, um, to the west here,

1:03:01um, you know, another one with hundreds

1:03:03and hundreds of spaces. Now, when winter

1:03:06comes and there's convention and, uh,

1:03:08you know, arena or so, when there's

1:03:09convention events and there's, um, you

1:03:11know, shows at at DeVos Place, those

1:03:13those will fill up, of course. But, when

1:03:15we're seeing how these are seasonal,

1:03:16we're those aren't as busy during the

1:03:18summer. So, I think we're going to have

1:03:19a lot of availability here if we want to

1:03:21increase.

1:03:22Um

1:03:23So, anyway, really excited about this

1:03:24data. It leaves gives us a lot to work

1:03:27with and to calibrate how we're going to

1:03:29do our reservations going to the next

1:03:30season. So, even more excited to to show

1:03:32how we spread this out.

1:03:35Um so, for the sake of time, this is

1:03:38more informational, so I won't go

1:03:39through everything, but we are taking a

1:03:41lot of the lessons learned here from the

1:03:42Amway Stadium. So, I'm not going to go

1:03:44over what I just said, but a lot of the

1:03:45stuff we did from for for what carries

1:03:47over. For instance, we're going to we're

1:03:49going to replicate that. But, there are

1:03:50some differences that I want to

1:03:51highlight. Um one is and this is really

1:03:55exciting for the future of the stadium,

1:03:58but we're doing some

1:03:59construction along Mount Vernon

1:04:02for a right-of-way improvement

1:04:03specifically to um vulnerable users, so

1:04:06pedestrian and and bike improvements

1:04:08along that stretch. Um for '27, that's

1:04:10going to happen between Pearl and

1:04:12Fulton, and that will of course have an

1:04:13impact on those logistics. So, we just

1:04:15wanted to highlight that. Um and then in

1:04:18'28, we're going to have it um between

1:04:20Pearl and Bridge uh to the north of it.

1:04:22So, both will be heavily impacting.

1:04:24Neighborhood parking is one. Um you

1:04:26know, we uh with the amphitheater, we

1:04:28were in the middle of of a either an

1:04:30industrial or a retail kind of space for

1:04:33the downtown. Didn't see a lot of of of

1:04:35residential areas approximate. We see

1:04:37that with the soccer stadium. So, we

1:04:38want to be conscious of that. We've met

1:04:40with um one neighborhood association.

1:04:42We're meeting with the other um soon of

1:04:44these areas. We're going to talk with

1:04:45them about this and just see you

1:04:47different ways we could be creative.

1:04:48But, we're being really intentional on

1:04:50how we market this, especially how we

1:04:52price the the parking ramps, and that we

1:04:54make our options available to everyone.

1:04:55So, hopefully we can use things like the

1:04:57facility right down below here, which is

1:04:59a pedestrian bridge away from um pretty

1:05:03much being at the front door of the

1:05:04soccer stadium instead of having people

1:05:06uh park in the neighborhoods.

1:05:08Um and then yeah, so another element of

1:05:11this is um we have a lot fewer um uh

1:05:14parking facilities um approximate to the

1:05:17soccer stadium than we did with the

1:05:19amphitheater. So, we've been working

1:05:20with partners on that one, especially

1:05:22Grand Valley has been really helpful

1:05:24because they have so many facilities

1:05:25across the the river.

1:05:27Um and one of the big elements of that

1:05:30is with accessibility. Um with the uh

1:05:32amphitheater, we were operating a

1:05:35facility directly next door and we could

1:05:37help with accessibility there. We do not

1:05:38have that um when it comes to the soccer

1:05:41stadium, so we really need to work with

1:05:42partners to identify a way to have an

1:05:43accessible option for folks who who need

1:05:46it.

1:05:47And then, again, just I mentioned I was

1:05:49doing a little bragging. This is

1:05:50something that I thought was really

1:05:51cool. This was um

1:05:53This is taken the the night after, so

1:05:55the 16th of May, the day after um the uh

1:05:58first show, and it's a lot of Reddit and

1:06:00Facebook comments that are super

1:06:01positive. So, very rare things to find

1:06:04in this world, but we were really

1:06:05excited about it. I mean, you know,

1:06:07things like uh

1:06:09you know, they did an excellent job at

1:06:10mitigation. They made the amphitheater

1:06:12almost a non-event, you know, uh and I

1:06:15won't read them all, but it's it's super

1:06:16exciting. There's lots of really cool

1:06:17things from here. Um uh again, I

1:06:19mentioned a lot of the buzz comments and

1:06:20everything. So, from us and I especially

1:06:23want to again thank my staff who who go

1:06:25out and interact with folks on social

1:06:27media all leading up to it. There was a

1:06:28lot of fear and concern and and anxiety

1:06:30around the transportation element, and

1:06:32that really shifted all summer. And this

1:06:35happening within one night was again

1:06:36beyond wildest dreams, but it's super

1:06:38exciting to see. So, just want to

1:06:39celebrate that for a moment. Um but,

1:06:42that being said, uh happy to hear on

1:06:44different ways folks can think we can

1:06:46improve um cuz I I while this is

1:06:48certainly a bit of a celebration, it's

1:06:50also um we know there is a lot that is

1:06:54going to be coming with the soccer

1:06:54stadium and a lot that we need to do in

1:06:56general to to work on improvements. Um

1:06:59but, we also, like I said, we we went

1:07:01into this and we got a lot of good

1:07:02advice from this group here, so I want

1:07:03to also just highlight the the

1:07:05positives.

1:07:06>> Max, can I just to double-check, did you

1:07:09Do you still have something after this

1:07:10about the soccer stadium or did was that

1:07:12Okay. All right, good. Yeah. So,

1:07:14>> them together.

1:07:14>> Perfect. Thank [snorts] you.

1:07:16Um

1:07:17All right, so yeah, I'll open it up and

1:07:18what Max said,

1:07:20anything, any lessons learned that we

1:07:22might consider for the soccer stadium,

1:07:24but then I'll open it up to any any

1:07:26comments on the amphitheater as well.

1:07:27Commissioner Rohrer, I see your hand up

1:07:29first. Anyone else? Commissioner Sessa,

1:07:32Commissioner Parker, Commissioner

1:07:33Poelker,

1:07:35Vice Chair Ray.

1:07:37All right, now I have to remember that.

1:07:39All right, go ahead Commissioner Rohrer.

1:07:42>> I don't think we'll we'll grade you if

1:07:43you get it a little bit out of order.

1:07:45Good luck.

1:07:46>> Thank you.

1:07:46>> Uh so first off, this is really great,

1:07:49fantastic data.

1:07:50Um that's so I'd say kudos to the whole

1:07:52team for A, you know, putting together a

1:07:54plan and then executing it obviously so

1:07:57well.

1:07:58Uh also to you Max, um

1:08:01God be with you. I can't believe you

1:08:02actually went and read the comment

1:08:03section, but congratulations.

1:08:06Um

1:08:06I I guess what the one thing I would say

1:08:08on this is I think it's great that you

1:08:10you guys have actually identified a

1:08:11couple of things like we talked about

1:08:13the pricing and then, you know, close in

1:08:14and far out and then right in the middle

1:08:17you didn't get the you didn't get the

1:08:18fill, so you're already looking at you

1:08:21know, maybe doing some tweaks around the

1:08:23edges, you know, uh

1:08:25from my perspective, that's really

1:08:27probably what you need to do at this

1:08:28point is just make those tweaks and just

1:08:32keep going with it. Um the one thing I

1:08:34would offer is that I think still

1:08:36publicizing the

1:08:39you know, the options that people have.

1:08:40There's still a lot of people

1:08:41unfortunately in the comment section

1:08:43that are quick to jump to say, you know,

1:08:45oh, they didn't have this, I couldn't

1:08:47find this, I couldn't do it.

1:08:49And it's when you read it, you're like

1:08:51thanks for telling on yourself that you

1:08:52didn't bother to actually look for the

1:08:53information. So if we can help people

1:08:55find the information, um I think that

1:08:57that's going to go a long ways to to

1:08:59kind of close up some of the gaps and

1:09:01and some of the, you know, what you've

1:09:03identified as as, you know, shortfalls,

1:09:05but

1:09:06I mean, I think it's great.

1:09:08>> That's helpful. Thank you. I appreciate

1:09:09that.

1:09:10>> All right, I had Commissioner Sessa,

1:09:12yep, then Commissioner Parker.

1:09:13>> Yeah, I just want to say Max, you should

1:09:15be proud.

1:09:16Um you're like, this is a humble brag. I

1:09:18think you can drop the humble, fully a

1:09:20brag, and the well-deserved. So really

1:09:23congratulations to everyone um for this.

1:09:26Um

1:09:27I mean, I'm really excited about the

1:09:28mode shift that we saw. I think,

1:09:31especially the micro-mobility piece is

1:09:32going to be like even more important for

1:09:35the soccer stadium given the location.

1:09:38So excited to see where that goes. Um

1:09:41Also, really really happy to hear all of

1:09:43the

1:09:44the like targeted communication like

1:09:46like speaking to people individually who

1:09:49have concerns, who call in maybe.

1:09:52Um that like is an enormous undertaking.

1:09:55So, I mean, and it seems like it it made

1:09:57a huge difference. So, that's also

1:09:59really great. I think it goes to show

1:10:01that you know, in in the current

1:10:04environment, it seems that if people are

1:10:07complaining that they don't know what's

1:10:08going on,

1:10:09there it seems like they're actively

1:10:11trying to not understand what's going

1:10:12on. So, um really really nice job.

1:10:15>> [snorts]

1:10:15>> That's all I have.

1:10:16>> [laughter]

1:10:17>> Thank you. I appreciate

1:10:21I'd like to keep the echo and sentiment

1:10:23of all the positive stuff going on here.

1:10:25So, congratulations on that. But, I

1:10:26wanted to also maybe refresh everyone's

1:10:28memory, too. We had a ton of

1:10:29construction going on during this time.

1:10:31So, with everything that was happening,

1:10:34particularly the exits to get into

1:10:35downtown, the Pearl Street exit, the

1:10:36Market Street exit, which obviously two

1:10:39of the main corridors coming into

1:10:40downtown,

1:10:41not being accessible for people and

1:10:43having them go into more of the

1:10:44outskirts probably contributed to some

1:10:46of the success further away and maybe

1:10:47not as much success closer to it. So,

1:10:50maybe that's a positive look at for next

1:10:51year when those exits are maybe open and

1:10:53some of those projects are are done. And

1:10:55then as we get into the soccer stadium,

1:10:57>> [sighs]

1:10:57>> I think that also you'll see some of

1:10:59that, too,

1:11:00with a lot of those construction

1:11:02projects that are wrapping up. So,

1:11:04>> We got really bad news for you, Andy.

1:11:07We closed those streets on purpose.

1:11:09For the impact.

1:11:10>> Some of them. Yeah. So,

1:11:11I'm aware [laughter] of some of them.

1:11:12Yeah, there's the

1:11:14Yeah, the Market Street exit was closed

1:11:17on purpose, but the rest yet not. And

1:11:19no, that's that's really good

1:11:21insight. And I do think and obviously

1:11:23it's it's Michigan. I don't know if

1:11:24we'll have one summer with with little

1:11:26construction. But, yeah, there's but

1:11:28that's a good point to the something to

1:11:30point out. There's also a little bit of

1:11:32the worry we have on on

1:11:34So,

1:11:36uh um I think there was a lot of the the

1:11:39anxiety and the concern led to a lot of

1:11:41the success because people were so

1:11:42worried about it. They were looking into

1:11:44information that to your point they were

1:11:45they were reaching out to us and

1:11:47engaging. So, there are some concerns

1:11:49whether it's uh difference in

1:11:51construction, uh difference in weather

1:11:53also. We had great weather uh throughout

1:11:55the whole time and we we did a lot of

1:11:57preparations as a city on on what to do

1:11:59if there was rain. That barely ever

1:12:01happened. That also impacted the

1:12:03transportation side of it. People were

1:12:04willing to walk. So, a lot of things

1:12:06that I think were we were appreciative

1:12:07of that we want to be make sure that we

1:12:09are addressing going forward. So, I

1:12:10appreciate you bringing that up. It's a

1:12:11good lens to look through.

1:12:14>> Commissioner Poolka.

1:12:16>> Yeah, kudos to you and your team, Max.

1:12:18Really well done this year. Um I'm very

1:12:20very excited to see uh the second

1:12:23iteration of this um with

1:12:25even more uh activity downtown. Um

1:12:29I think we or I hope we may have started

1:12:31a new tradition on a yearly basis. We

1:12:33might get a year in review of of how

1:12:35these events go at least for the for

1:12:37next year and then

1:12:38maybe a couple years down the line. Um

1:12:41it's it's really uh

1:12:44it makes me feel good at least. And I I

1:12:46hope it makes others feel good that uh

1:12:48you know, we're we're advancing things

1:12:49along as a city. Um

1:12:52the mode shift uh piece the dashes is

1:12:56all well and good, but I think the the

1:12:57huge impact there is is in the the huge

1:13:00flashing beacon is is the rapid um

1:13:02that's

1:13:04quite topical for our last conversation

1:13:06um because if we were to change those um

1:13:10uh frequencies and and hours to be laid

1:13:13later or continue the later hours, um

1:13:16who knows what the possibilities are,

1:13:18right? Um so,

1:13:20that's [clears throat] awesome. Um and

1:13:22then I just hope to see some

1:13:23coordination with VO um with like

1:13:25surging

1:13:27uh for like when a what

1:13:30Let's see. How do I put this? Having the

1:13:33assets away from the stadium before the

1:13:35game starts, and then obviously they'll

1:13:37all be there after. So, you know, I'm

1:13:39sure there's there's planning involved

1:13:41with that, but

1:13:42>> Yeah, no. First, appreciate your

1:13:43comments a lot. But, yeah, and I did

1:13:47miss a little bit in trying to go go

1:13:49quickly on the micro-mobility side of

1:13:51it. I think I mentioned when we we

1:13:53talked about this after the first event,

1:13:55we ran out of bicycle parking. We didn't

1:13:57run out of car parking. Like that was

1:13:58super exciting. You know, we're we're

1:14:00trying to and through our downtown

1:14:02circulation study, we're going to try to

1:14:03get this even more. We're trying to get

1:14:04more data on that capture, but we do

1:14:07have the shared micro-mobility data, and

1:14:09that was fantastic. And and we can I I

1:14:12should include that in this

1:14:12presentation. But, anecdotally again, as

1:14:15someone who went down and witnessed many

1:14:17event nights, there were so many people

1:14:18who were riding their bike, so many

1:14:20people were doing that. So, a way to

1:14:21capture that data-wise would really

1:14:23helpful. But, I'm glad both of you

1:14:24brought that up because I I did miss

1:14:26that when talking about it. That was

1:14:27another big element of Mo Cheffit and

1:14:29walking as well. We saw people walking

1:14:31from a few miles away carrying lawn

1:14:33chairs because they were like, "I don't

1:14:35want to get involved with the parking

1:14:36situation or the you know, so all those

1:14:38things are really cool. And I do I agree

1:14:41with you that we should do this annually

1:14:43because like I said, we things are going

1:14:45to change your point every season. So,

1:14:47getting insight from this group would

1:14:48really helpful for us. This is a big

1:14:49operational,

1:14:51you know, planning effort as we enter

1:14:53into this new post-2027

1:14:57seasons when we have no slow season

1:14:59anymore. We used to have a slow season

1:15:01in the summer from a parking operations

1:15:03perspective where we could really plan

1:15:05things out and get things together. We

1:15:07don't have that luxury anymore. So,

1:15:08having groups like this help us further

1:15:10that along quicker would be really

1:15:11helpful. So, I love the idea of doing

1:15:13some sort of annual, this is what just

1:15:14happened, any thoughts on ways to

1:15:16improve.

1:15:17>> One quick thing I forgot.

1:15:19There are probably for bicycle parking

1:15:21at these venues, there are probably some

1:15:23local organizations that might be

1:15:25willing to help

1:15:27with like putting together some

1:15:29temporary bicycle parking and and stuff

1:15:31like that. That was one thing I heard

1:15:33there was not enough of. Whether that's

1:15:35Mobile GR's problem or not, probably

1:15:37not, but we can facilitate the exchange

1:15:39of information.

1:15:40>> Absolutely. We can facilitate it cuz I

1:15:42think it's something we want to work on.

1:15:44Whether it's yeah. So, thank you. I

1:15:45appreciate that.

1:15:48All right. Vice Chair Wright.

1:15:51>> Oh, well, the comment I had on was

1:15:53bicycle parking. That was probably the

1:15:55one like

1:15:56flaw I would say that I heard from

1:15:58people that I like respect and trust. Um

1:16:02Yeah, I don't know if Mobile GR has any

1:16:03sort of purview on

1:16:05like required permanent installation of

1:16:08bicycle parking, but if you could yeah,

1:16:09relay that to the soccer stadium and

1:16:11make sure it's there and that people

1:16:12know

1:16:13um where to find it. That'd be awesome.

1:16:16>> Yeah, so the soccer stadium we are

1:16:19learning from lessons for the

1:16:20amphitheater and doing something more

1:16:21ahead of time and I think hopefully for

1:16:23season two amphitheater we can we can do

1:16:24that as well. I I do think possibly

1:16:26partnering with other organizations to

1:16:28increase it is great because it is on

1:16:30it's a cost that's incurred upon the

1:16:32event venue.

1:16:33So, but yes, I think

1:16:36I'm hopeful that we have a lot more for

1:16:38the soccer stadium. That's part of the

1:16:40planning right now.

1:16:43>> I'll give my kudos, too. I think

1:16:45aligning [clears throat] with

1:16:46Commissioner Sessa the the

1:16:48tactical outreach at an individual level

1:16:51was

1:16:52I don't know. How often do you get that

1:16:53anymore? And how many how many times do

1:16:56people think

1:16:58that the city has me in their concern

1:17:00and and that is an opportunity to show

1:17:02we do have you in in our concern. So,

1:17:04that that's huge. I think that's really

1:17:05awesome.

1:17:06Um

1:17:08and then I'll say I'm going to out

1:17:09myself. I when I would go to the

1:17:11amphitheater and I'm someone who who

1:17:13drives almost everywhere.

1:17:15You know, I I still have my places that

1:17:17I I know where I can park for free. So,

1:17:19um

1:17:21you know, and until that changes,

1:17:24we'll we'll see what happens, but I know

1:17:26that this this is

1:17:29demonstrative of the amount of

1:17:32uh

1:17:33the limited

1:17:34capacity that people have or the

1:17:36opportunity people have to think through

1:17:37that mode shift. And uh

1:17:40my goal is to get there. So.

1:17:43Thank you all for those comments, too.

1:17:45Um oh, and Mayor Mayor LaGrand and then

1:17:47we'll move on to the next.

1:17:49>> Um so, first of all, thanks, Max. I

1:17:51mean, macro terms, you know, you solved

1:17:53it and and I love all the positive I

1:17:55mean,

1:17:56and I love your shifting to positive. I

1:17:58mean, that's great. Um so,

1:18:00I clearly you hit it out of the park

1:18:02here. Um really high level of confidence

1:18:04that you're going to be able to do it

1:18:05again for the amphitheater. So, I mean,

1:18:07the talk is to you.

1:18:08Um in in terms of really just sanding

1:18:11the edges. So, consider these rando

1:18:13thoughts, okay? Um people who bike are

1:18:16active and so, they're also willing to

1:18:18walk.

1:18:19Um and so, you might think about

1:18:21essentially a bike collector lot if your

1:18:24very close places are our highest

1:18:26pressure for things like people who have

1:18:28mobility issues. People on bikes, most

1:18:31of them don't have mobility issues. So,

1:18:33you know, park in a block away if you

1:18:34had a clearly defined bike parking area,

1:18:37uh a significant chunk of uh away

1:18:39wouldn't be that big a deal if you're

1:18:40going to bike anyway. Walking two blocks

1:18:42is no big deal. Um one of the smart alec

1:18:45comments that people talk about and say

1:18:47about Americans is, you know, we don't

1:18:48have a parking problem, we have a

1:18:49walking problem. Don't for the

1:18:51amphitheater, which is great to see. Um

1:18:53that being said,

1:18:55one of my favorite books is called Nudge

1:18:57and it talks about how we're all herd

1:18:59animals and so, we there's a reason

1:19:02consumers tells you how much electricity

1:19:04your neighbor's using uh cuz it makes

1:19:06you turn your lights off. So, I would

1:19:08love to see some data on what percentage

1:19:10of people are flat out walking to this

1:19:13because it'll probably instill like, oh,

1:19:15holy smokes, a quarter of people are

1:19:17figuring out how to walk to this thing.

1:19:19That's awesome. It would also, from my

1:19:21perspective, make it more clear that

1:19:22it's a community asset. Like, nobody's

1:19:24walking here from Rockford, right? Um

1:19:26but uh

1:19:27I, you know, I walked to the

1:19:29amphitheater and it was awesome. And it

1:19:31was a community building event and and I

1:19:34think that's another part of this that's

1:19:36imperfectly captured by like thinking of

1:19:38this just terms of

1:19:39modes of transport. You're walking,

1:19:42you're hanging out in the community.

1:19:44If you're driving and parking, you are

1:19:46not.

1:19:47I don't think that I mean that the

1:19:48number of times I've had a pleasant

1:19:49interaction with somebody in a parking

1:19:51lot I can kind of count on one hand. I

1:19:52mean we're almost all in our own little

1:19:54silos and like I don't want to talk to

1:19:55you I don't want to make eye contact. If

1:19:57you got a you know

1:19:58uh

1:19:59if you've got a chair on your back,

1:20:01you're just in a different social mode.

1:20:03So, seeing people who are walking in

1:20:06they were really really friendly with

1:20:07each other.

1:20:09So, that's got value. That's a that's a

1:20:11really significant community

1:20:14interaction value add that I think is

1:20:16worth pointing out. The other random

1:20:19thought I have is I don't know if how

1:20:20flexible we can be but like okay so the

1:20:22government's

1:20:24center ramp is underutilized.

1:20:26Um

1:20:27really leaning into

1:20:30ride or the the what do we call them?

1:20:33VEO? Is it VEO? Right like if there were

1:20:36ton of VEOs like really really visibly

1:20:39on Calder Plaza, you can make it a

1:20:41thing. I mean we're we're talking about

1:20:42the the you know everyone's talking

1:20:44about the march to the to the soccer

1:20:45stadium, right? Well, you know we could

1:20:47have a VEO a VEO to the guy soccer

1:20:49stadium. Like come on down and park in

1:20:51Government Center and we got 500 VEOs on

1:20:54the on the Plaza.

1:20:56Like I could see that selling and I

1:20:58could actually see that being a thing.

1:21:00And again, like 500 people biking to the

1:21:03soccer stadium, they're bonding.

1:21:06500 I mean you know people on Harleys

1:21:08bond, right? People on bikes bond, too.

1:21:10So,

1:21:11it's not as bonding as being a

1:21:13pedestrian but it's a whole lot more

1:21:14bonding than being your individual car.

1:21:16So,

1:21:17so just I just want to point out the the

1:21:19like macro for me value above even

1:21:21transportation which is community

1:21:23building and and so that's all the way

1:21:26of saying thanks. Random ideas but like

1:21:29if we're getting underutilized further

1:21:31parking spots, connecting VEOs kind of

1:21:33bloody obvious. But, you got to hit

1:21:35people over the head with it. It's got

1:21:37to be something they can't not see and

1:21:39if they see it

1:21:41eight times before they need to use it,

1:21:43that that maybe There's got to be a

1:21:44number like if you've got to see

1:21:46something a lot and then be like, "Oh,

1:21:47right, I could do that." You're not

1:21:49going to be like, "I'm going to go down

1:21:50and see if some if see if, you know,

1:21:52with the mayor's offhand comment in an

1:21:53open meeting got followed through on."

1:21:55You're not going to do that on an event

1:21:56night, right? You'd have So, you have

1:21:58So, that's part of it, um, too, I think.

1:22:01Anyway, thanks.

1:22:02>> No, thank you. I appreciate it. And just

1:22:03to echo that, and one of the reasons we

1:22:05were so excited about Pearl Pearl and

1:22:07Ionia filling up pretty much every night

1:22:09was cuz that was our facility when that

1:22:11that was the one we were hitting people

1:22:12over the head with. We were like,

1:22:13"Please fill this up." Um, and I think

1:22:16similar for here. One just anecdotal

1:22:18kind of idea, um, is, you know, you

1:22:20develop this place, you come out, you're

1:22:22at Lyon Square, you cross Juliette

1:22:23Bridge, you go through Ann Arbor and

1:22:24Park, and you're at the front door of

1:22:25the the soccer stadium. Like, that's a

1:22:27great trip. There's so many people who

1:22:28are worried about crossing the river

1:22:30here, and then it's like like that is a

1:22:32great pedestrian experience. So, things

1:22:34like that we're going to work with. We

1:22:36did this before, too. Work with, uh,

1:22:37influencers and other folks to do

1:22:39videography of that and show how that

1:22:41trip works. Um, so, yeah, that's great

1:22:42advice. So, thank you.

1:22:45>> All right, we are going to move on to

1:22:47our final discussion item, uh, which is

1:22:49the parking market competitive

1:22:51competitiveness framework.

1:22:54Ooh, say that five times fast.

1:22:57>> All right, so I will run through this.

1:23:00So, we have

1:23:01quite a few Who was here in December

1:23:032023?

1:23:06Okay, great.

1:23:07So, the rest of you have never seen this

1:23:08before. So, there is a or or you've only

1:23:10heard us talk about it, but you weren't

1:23:12involved with the, um,

1:23:14with the conversations in the

1:23:16development of the parking compet-

1:23:17parking market competitiveness

1:23:19framework. So, what that is is a, um,

1:23:22proactive way to manage operations and

1:23:24rates at Mobile GR on the parking side

1:23:26of the house. So, what I want to cover

1:23:28for you today, because so many of you

1:23:30are new, is an overview of that adopted

1:23:32framework. Why was it established? What

1:23:34is it? How was it developed? Um, I'll

1:23:37give you a status where we're at on all

1:23:39the work that the Mobile GR Commission,

1:23:41um,

1:23:42you know, moved forward with for the

1:23:44department on this on this framework.

1:23:46And um, and what changes have been made

1:23:49and then that final piece where I like

1:23:50to spend the most of the time is hearing

1:23:53um, some feedback from you all given

1:23:55that it's we're at the end of the third

1:23:57year and in years four and five it's

1:23:59kind of open to what are we going to do

1:24:01next? So essentially the framework the

1:24:04work has been just about completed,

1:24:07right? So

1:24:09um, and then I'd love to hear what other

1:24:11information do you all need because

1:24:13there's not a lot of like hard and fast

1:24:14data in here for you today. I want to

1:24:16hear what kind of things would you need

1:24:17to see

1:24:19um, that I can bring back to you to help

1:24:21you kind of have an informed discussion

1:24:24and um, and continue to give that advice

1:24:27um, to the city commission on operations

1:24:30and rate changes that might be in the

1:24:32future.

1:24:34So first of all the

1:24:36the why that we did it, it was a

1:24:38proactive approach to sustainable

1:24:40operations. We had a um, fiscal

1:24:43challenge in uh, I believe fiscal year

1:24:4620 five that we were looking towards. So

1:24:49in December 2023 we're looking at doing

1:24:52a budget that would start in um, July

1:24:542024 and that would be fiscal year 25.

1:24:58This is about a year before I got here.

1:24:59No, this was this was right before I got

1:25:01here. I got here in um, June 2024. So

1:25:04the discussions happened and the work

1:25:06took place in calendar year 2023 and I'm

1:25:10going to try not to get all of those

1:25:12mixed up. So what we were looking at

1:25:14doing is making sure that we're entering

1:25:16that long-term fiscal sustainability of

1:25:18the parking fund so that that bank

1:25:21account that is all of the revenues um,

1:25:24that have been built over time and we

1:25:26keep a amount of money in a fund called

1:25:29the parking fund with a policy level to

1:25:32it. So the CFO says, you need to keep

1:25:35um, and I'm sorry this is this is not

1:25:38off the top of my head right now. I

1:25:39think it's 10% or 20% or something of

1:25:42your your operational costs, right? You

1:25:44got to keep that in the bank for

1:25:47emergencies, right?

1:25:49And the last emergency we had where we

1:25:51had to really look at this was COVID.

1:25:54This is it's a situation where you have

1:25:56very little or no revenue coming in,

1:25:59but you still have to pay your staff,

1:26:01and you still have to replace elevators

1:26:03and things like that. So, um the next

1:26:06And so, that's really if you think back

1:26:08to December 2023, that was the fiscal

1:26:11issue you were in. We had several years

1:26:13of uh low to no revenue. So, we're

1:26:16really eating away at that little

1:26:17savings account. So, there's the amount

1:26:19of money the CFO says that we have to

1:26:21keep in the account, so that's that

1:26:22policy level

1:26:24of amount that has to stay in an

1:26:25enterprise fund. And then there's a

1:26:27little uh a little cushion on top of

1:26:30that. And And what what we put on top of

1:26:32that is $3 million.

1:26:34And the reason why is because an

1:26:35elevator costs a million bucks. So, if

1:26:37an elevator goes out, I can't not have

1:26:39that, right? That's an ADA issue, that

1:26:41is a customer service issue, that's it's

1:26:43a real problem, right? So, if a major

1:26:45thing happens,

1:26:46um and we have to replace it real quick,

1:26:49uh $3 million is a is a is a little a

1:26:52little emergency fund, if you will. So,

1:26:54we have the policy level of fund and the

1:26:55emergency level. So, policy they um so,

1:26:58neither of those were looking real

1:26:59great, right? So, we had to come to some

1:27:01conversations. And so, we also wanted to

1:27:04do things to talk about a a proactive,

1:27:06transparent, consistent approach to

1:27:08parking rate

1:27:09decisions.

1:27:10And then also balance that fiscal

1:27:12responsibility with city economic

1:27:14development goals.

1:27:15Um you know, how do those two things

1:27:17work together?

1:27:19And then also improve parking

1:27:20availability and customer experience,

1:27:22and then maintain that competitive

1:27:24position um relative to private

1:27:26operators and peer municipalities. So,

1:27:28in other words, what are we looking like

1:27:29in the market?

1:27:31So, the way that we did that is there

1:27:33was a rate survey that looked at our

1:27:35rates versus other places.

1:27:37Um we had input from this commission. We

1:27:39had held focus groups. I think Max was

1:27:41really involved with all that. Um we had

1:27:43stakeholder input, which were round

1:27:45table discussions with business owners

1:27:47and uh retail, hospitality, commercial

1:27:50real estate, that sort of thing. And

1:27:51then the outcome is that we had these

1:27:53synthesized findings into guiding

1:27:55principles and a 5-year kind of road map

1:27:57of what to do next. So, these guiding

1:27:59principles look like this. It was fiscal

1:28:01responsibility, marking comparison,

1:28:03economic development, and operational

1:28:04efficiency.

1:28:07The road map looked like this. That

1:28:09first year, and I'm going to talk in

1:28:11calendar years now, that first year

1:28:13right after this was established in

1:28:15December 2023 from the Mobile TIER

1:28:17Commission, is what we needed to focus

1:28:19on is closing that funding gap and

1:28:21strengthening that parking fund health,

1:28:23right? Getting us back up to that policy

1:28:24level and making sure we had a cushion

1:28:26in case something falls apart. Um so,

1:28:29the strategy was to implement some rate

1:28:31changes. So, these were considered

1:28:32market rate adjustments, right? They

1:28:34were big adjustments to mar- to parking

1:28:36rates that happened um in June 20 or

1:28:39July 2024.

1:28:42Welcome to my first day on the job.

1:28:45And that's what I heard about, you know,

1:28:47for a couple of weeks when I first got

1:28:49here is that how dare you raise the

1:28:51parking rates, right? But it was all in

1:28:52this this plan that was discussed um

1:28:54here.

1:28:55So, we implemented rate changes and we

1:28:58had some operational changes. There's

1:28:59some things we can do operationally to

1:29:01help um close funding gaps and

1:29:04strengthen those funds, right? So, the

1:29:07things that we did during that time

1:29:09period was implement on-street rate

1:29:10changes. Um we did annual monthly

1:29:13parking pass rate increases. And what

1:29:16what we established was 2% every year

1:29:18we'll increase monthly passes pass

1:29:20prices by 2%.

1:29:22And then we had some enforcement hour

1:29:24changes, right? Remember that when we

1:29:26extended enforcement hours. And then

1:29:28also we introduced I believe we

1:29:30introduced tiered I meant to ask Max

1:29:33about this. We introduced tiered special

1:29:34event rates, correct, in this year? So,

1:29:36that's the ones that you're all used to

1:29:38now, right? We've had three summers of

1:29:39that where it's like when it's a little

1:29:41event, it's one price, and then it's a

1:29:43different event based on demand. The

1:29:45more folks coming down to many a parking

1:29:47space, we charge for that parking space.

1:29:50Um that also triggered you had to update

1:29:52the city's omnibus fee schedule and the

1:29:54city commission either adopts that or or

1:29:57does not. Um, and that was adopted. So,

1:29:59these changes were adopted in the

1:30:00omnibus and then, you know, became live

1:30:03July 1st. And then we also added two

1:30:05positions to operations and that was an

1:30:07additional um, parking violations

1:30:09checker or that that ticket giver. And

1:30:12then a parking customer service

1:30:13representative. So, that's the

1:30:14dispatcher you hear you when you dial

1:30:16the button. We run that 24/7 365 days a

1:30:20year and we did it with three people. We

1:30:22were spending a lot of money on uh,

1:30:23temporary

1:30:24uh, part-time folks to come in and and

1:30:26fill in those gaps cuz three people over

1:30:297 days a week wasn't really working out.

1:30:31So, that was um, some operational

1:30:33efficiency and a little quality of life

1:30:35of our folks.

1:30:37So, year two, uh,

1:30:40the focus was to evaluate changes and

1:30:42stabilize, right? Kind of see how it

1:30:44worked. So, looking over during that

1:30:46time, we really focused on like

1:30:48measuring those results and refining

1:30:50what was going on and any kind of little

1:30:52tweaks we needed to make.

1:30:54Oh, I'm not doing this at all. Thank

1:30:56you.

1:30:57Uh,

1:30:57>> [snorts]

1:30:58>> I'm over here reading my own notes.

1:31:00>> [laughter]

1:31:01>> So, uh, we wanted to evaluate like

1:31:03financial and operational impacts. And

1:31:06so, some of the things and remember this

1:31:07is my second year on the job, right? So,

1:31:09so what I started to look at and make

1:31:11some adjustments uh,

1:31:13department-wide is there was I had to

1:31:15reorganize the department for some

1:31:16operational effectiveness, efficiency,

1:31:18and some fiscal clarity. We had

1:31:20different parts of the department um,

1:31:22basically being paid for out of the

1:31:24parking fund that weren't

1:31:26parking-related. And so, we had to do

1:31:28some reorganization. Not in it it's not

1:31:31parking-related stuff. The The idea of

1:31:34what is parking operations-related and

1:31:36what is not kind of gets mixed up. For

1:31:38example, the DASH is paid for out of

1:31:40parking revenues, right? So, we look at

1:31:42that as like an amenity um, as part of

1:31:45the parking system, right? So, and and

1:31:47that is, you know, continuing to evolve

1:31:49over time. So, that's a that's an

1:31:51example. Another thing that's paid for

1:31:52out of parking revenues is micro

1:31:54mobility, right? Um so and then also um

1:31:58I'm sorry, not micro mobility, the the

1:31:59Dart car share, which is a form of that,

1:32:01right? So the Dart car share is paid out

1:32:02of that parking fund. So these are like

1:32:04amenities that you that might show up in

1:32:06a parking facility, and so that's kind

1:32:08of how we connect them there. But some

1:32:10of the the um

1:32:12job job specifically, I tried to sort

1:32:15out who was being paid by what um

1:32:18funding source.

1:32:19And then we also looked at uh we

1:32:21modernized some job descriptions. One of

1:32:23the big ones was that parking and

1:32:24mobility operations manager.

1:32:26And also updated the compensation there

1:32:28so that we could have a competitive job

1:32:30for folks to come in and and recruit

1:32:31for. We added a couple of more uh

1:32:33full-time employees there, and that was

1:32:35another shift supervisor. At the time

1:32:37when I came in, we had three shift

1:32:38supervisors covering 24 hours a day, 365

1:32:42days a year. So there was a lot of gaps,

1:32:44and we were missing some uh

1:32:46uh

1:32:47we were missing some third-shift help.

1:32:49So I literally had folks on staff, and

1:32:52still today we have this gap, too. I

1:32:54have people on staff that do not have a

1:32:55supervisor on site, and that's that's

1:32:57not great.

1:32:59Um and then we updated omnibus schedule

1:33:01with a monthly pass CPI adjustments

1:33:03only.

1:33:04And [snorts] we recommended an

1:33:05adjustment to the neighborhood business

1:33:07district parking violation fees by about

1:33:09five bucks. Um

1:33:10that was to consistently

1:33:12uh charge the same price for parking

1:33:14ticket all over the city. That proposal

1:33:16was rejected by the city commission, and

1:33:18um you know, we haven't kind of breached

1:33:20that subject since.

1:33:22And there were no change to tiered

1:33:24special event rate prices at time. So

1:33:26year three, this is where we're at

1:33:27today. So the focus was to respond to

1:33:30this changing demand. We have the

1:33:31amphitheater, right? And we were asked

1:33:32to operate that. So we got to implement

1:33:35any rate changes or operational changes

1:33:37in response to those downtown

1:33:38development changes, which we knew were

1:33:39coming in this year.

1:33:41So we added those amphitheater rate

1:33:43operations, and we added a few FTEs, a

1:33:47building maintenance mechanics, which is

1:33:48a type of it's a weird classification,

1:33:50but it's it's basically the person who

1:33:52helps take care of um I have custodians,

1:33:55and then I have this classification, and

1:33:56these books kind of do stuff inside

1:33:58buildings where custodians do things

1:34:01outside buildings.

1:34:02Um and then the uh we had another

1:34:06parking violation checker thrown in

1:34:08there. So, because we had additional we

1:34:10had 340 additional spots added and we

1:34:12got a lot of people coming downtown and

1:34:14so we continue to add enforcement folks

1:34:17so that they can get in there and um

1:34:19help out there. The other thing that

1:34:20enforcement really has a big pinch point

1:34:23on is odd even parking in the

1:34:25neighborhoods. So, this is just going to

1:34:27continue all reasons to bring those in.

1:34:29And we reestablished um a facilities

1:34:31maintenance manager. That had been um

1:34:35done away with in past years, but I

1:34:37still have facilities and they still

1:34:38need to be managed. So, I reestablished

1:34:40that position and and got that sorted

1:34:42out. And um

1:34:44we're recruiting for that right now.

1:34:47So, we did increase some special event

1:34:49rate maximums on key parking facilities.

1:34:51So, places where we thought things would

1:34:53demand would be really high. We went

1:34:54ahead and the the max uh special event

1:34:56rate right now is $25. So, we went ahead

1:34:58and popped it up to the max in the

1:35:00omnibus schedule um and the commission

1:35:03approved that.

1:35:04And [snorts] then we implemented a

1:35:05parking reservation system. Some of the

1:35:07things that Max was talking about. So, a

1:35:08lot of the things Max was talking about

1:35:09was really our focus this year in

1:35:11operational improvements.

1:35:14So, years four and five, what we're

1:35:15supposed to be doing. So, you got to

1:35:16think about January um

1:35:19January 2027 through December 2028.

1:35:22Sorry, this number is a little bit

1:35:23weird.

1:35:24Um the the focus is really continuous

1:35:27improvement in the in the framework. And

1:35:29so, what we want to do is continue to

1:35:31evaluate the fund

1:35:33performance and operational needs on an

1:35:35annual basis. So, that's the next step.

1:35:37It's like, how do we continue to do the

1:35:39good work and how often do we need to

1:35:41relook at it and is there kind of a

1:35:43different sort of action plan that we

1:35:44need to be looking towards? So, initial

1:35:47operational and uh fee action

1:35:50recommendations are to continue um

1:35:52annual monthly pass um rate increases at

1:35:55at 2% CPI adjustment.

1:35:58Explore on-street and special event rate

1:36:01changes. And I know you all we've

1:36:03talked, you know, a little bit about

1:36:05some of those things. Continue the

1:36:07parking reservation system. It's on a

1:36:09one-year pilot. I got to put an RFP out

1:36:11to continue that. So, would love some

1:36:13some thoughts on that as well.

1:36:15And [snorts] then, um, of course, we got

1:36:17to update the omnibus fee schedule every

1:36:19year for any changes that we recommend.

1:36:22So, some other work plan recommendations

1:36:24over the next 2 years that I just, off

1:36:26the top of my head, I was thinking about

1:36:27and things that have kind of bubbled up

1:36:29from time to time that could be helpful

1:36:31is like updating parking rate survey

1:36:33data and gathering input from

1:36:35stakeholders.

1:36:36Um, we want to know more about our

1:36:37customers' experience and how we can

1:36:39make that better and improve their

1:36:41service.

1:36:42Um, look at that dynamic on-street

1:36:44parking fee structure. That's something

1:36:46we've talked a little bit about. Want to

1:36:48look at revenue trends, parking

1:36:49operational costs, um, amenity needs,

1:36:52what whatever those things look like,

1:36:53and then really reviewing our asset

1:36:55management plan and the CIP in the

1:36:57future.

1:36:58Um, so, those are some things that just

1:37:00like off the top of my head and things

1:37:01that I have heard, um, here and there.

1:37:04So, with all that context, what I'd love

1:37:06to hear from you all is like, what data

1:37:08might you need to better weigh in on

1:37:11annual fund performance and operational

1:37:13needs evaluation and to help be able to

1:37:15give some feedback there. And then,

1:37:18what stakeholder engagement, I mean, we

1:37:19did stakeholder engagement now, 5 years

1:37:22ago, what are we thinking about needs to

1:37:24be what what is the conversation? How's

1:37:26the conversation on parking and its

1:37:28integration in the larger transportation

1:37:30system changed and what do we need to be

1:37:32thinking about? And then maybe are there

1:37:34potential shifts in focus that we need

1:37:35to take place in these next 2 years to

1:37:37help support city strategic goals. So,

1:37:39these are just like starting questions,

1:37:41but you all, I hope you also have your

1:37:43own thoughts that you want to share. So,

1:37:45and let me know if I need to go back to

1:37:47any information.

1:37:48>> All right. First hand I saw was Mayor

1:37:49LeGrande. Anyone

1:37:51anyone want to get in the queue here?

1:37:54All right.

1:37:55Yeah, Commissioner Wheeler.

1:37:56>> So, so while we're, um,

1:37:59the first thing that comes to my mind

1:38:00is, and I'll I'll make an analogy here,

1:38:02um pension plans. uh, Um when when

1:38:05cities don't fund pension plans, then

1:38:07you have a time bomb that goes off in 30

1:38:09years.

1:38:10Um and you know, we have we largely

1:38:12solved that with GASB and better

1:38:13accounting measures. Um

1:38:15I am assuming I mean, there's a million

1:38:18condo associations just collect money

1:38:20because they know the roof is only going

1:38:21to last 30 years, and you know, and then

1:38:22they pay for the roof. It doesn't sound

1:38:24to me like we have a maintenance reserve

1:38:26fund where we're looking at our assets,

1:38:28the rate at which we know they

1:38:30depreciate. All of our parking

1:38:31structures have life cycles. It's what?

1:38:3330 years, maybe? The I mean, the last

1:38:35time I checked, parking structures last

1:38:37about 30 years. Maybe it's longer, maybe

1:38:38we built them better. But whatever,

1:38:40there's a there's an expected life cycle

1:38:42out there. So, it seems to me that our

1:38:44all of our funding should be capturing

1:38:46should be full cost recovery, right? And

1:38:49then the other thing that occurs to me

1:38:50is as we look at the street uh parking,

1:38:52one thing that come that you need for

1:38:54street parking is streets.

1:38:57Um and you have to plow, and that's

1:38:59stuff you don't have to do in a parking

1:39:01structure. So, there are um

1:39:05those aren't thoughts that necessarily

1:39:07feel all this necessarily think about

1:39:08when they think about street parking,

1:39:09but incorporating those in a costing

1:39:12model would be interesting to me. And I

1:39:13don't know if

1:39:14we don't have time to get into that now.

1:39:16I just wanted to at least flag all of

1:39:17this because

1:39:19um I I'd love to hear answers and when

1:39:21we have further discussion. And if we

1:39:22don't have a model for that, we probably

1:39:24should have one baked into this. But I'm

1:39:26I'm sure we have a model on some level.

1:39:28The other option is to, you know, what

1:39:29we all do with our houses. We get a

1:39:3130-year mortgage and we act like the

1:39:32mortgage is the

1:39:34depreciation function on the house. And

1:39:36when we paid off our debt, we say,

1:39:37"Yay!"

1:39:39Um so, I know we've got that in the

1:39:40system. So, I know this is a complicated

1:39:42subject, but I would love to have a

1:39:44review of that because maybe we need to

1:39:45tighten it. Maybe we've underfunded our

1:39:47pensions, so to speak.

1:39:52>> Just thinking about the numbers of the

1:39:54sum total parking lots in downtown that

1:39:56aren't specifically owned by Mobile GR,

1:39:58and what

1:40:00uh just seeing the broader context of

1:40:02how those plan to evolve and just I

1:40:04don't know, would like to put continued

1:40:05pressure on our commissioners to work

1:40:07towards a collaborative effort with all

1:40:09those endeavors.

1:40:11I don't know how that informs this

1:40:12specifically, but just thinking about if

1:40:13there's

1:40:154,000 parking spaces that are on the

1:40:16road that are right down the road that

1:40:18uh are off-limits, are there new

1:40:20collaborative ways to think about that

1:40:22collectively and not just independently

1:40:24of our city-owned properties?

1:40:28>> I would add to that, you know, I know

1:40:30we've looked previously at

1:40:32what are similar-sized cities, what are

1:40:35they charging, um what are the

1:40:38um

1:40:39the private entities

1:40:42uh that manage parking, what are they

1:40:44charging? I know that and I would like

1:40:46to continue to see that Mobile GR

1:40:47continues to

1:40:49uh charge at a little bit less um

1:40:52as a sort of public um

1:40:55uh benefit in a way.

1:40:58Um

1:40:58and and I know that has continued to be

1:41:00the conversation in in past years, but

1:41:02for.

1:41:03Um I'm I'm interested

1:41:06in some graphs, right, of what

1:41:09what what do we need to potentially

1:41:11cover? And I think that could uh connect

1:41:13to Mayor LeGrand's uh

1:41:16mention of what

1:41:17we know we need to fund infrastructure.

1:41:20And so where where does that fall in

1:41:21there? Um I also know that we've got

1:41:24some some updated initiatives coming

1:41:27around EV EV parking, and so what what

1:41:30do we expect to see those changes uh

1:41:33are going to look like on the budget

1:41:35overall and and for um

1:41:37you know, the cost of parking, too.

1:41:40Um it might even be good looking at

1:41:42similar-sized cities of what innovations

1:41:44have they been working toward, too, not

1:41:46just on a on a pricing level, but are

1:41:49are have we been seeing trends and

1:41:51different focuses

1:41:52um from from other mid-size cities, too.

1:41:56So, I'll throw those out there.

1:42:01>> Um so, I have

1:42:03yeah, some some similar thoughts. Uh

1:42:06I guess in terms of the maintenance,

1:42:07like I guess I don't know like what is

1:42:10like an average maintenance spend like

1:42:12in a year to just maintain what we have.

1:42:15Like with the age of the facilities and

1:42:18what might be like a 5-year outlook for

1:42:21like like the mayor said things last a

1:42:23certain amount of time and so like what

1:42:26do we know is going to need to be like

1:42:28replaced or repaired.

1:42:31I'd also love to see like the so yeah,

1:42:34more collaboration with the private

1:42:36parking sector.

1:42:38Um

1:42:39and you know, I'd I'd love to I don't

1:42:40know if we'll we'll get the data, but I

1:42:42would love to see that type of capacity

1:42:44analysis for like Alice parking lots for

1:42:46instance for the like all our event

1:42:49nights and all that stuff. I think that

1:42:50would be also really informative because

1:42:53you know, I think still a lot of people

1:42:54don't really know when they're parking

1:42:56in a parking lot or ramp like is this a

1:42:58public one? Is this private? Who owns

1:43:00this? Like it's it's not really known.

1:43:02So like that distinction isn't maybe

1:43:04like the most important for the people

1:43:05who are going and are like okay, I need

1:43:07to park somewhere.

1:43:09So I think all of that would be

1:43:11interesting to see.

1:43:18>> All right, a lot of good feedback. I'll

1:43:21I might add one more for stakeholders.

1:43:23You know,

1:43:25always want to hear from you know,

1:43:28businesses as well as those who are

1:43:29utilizing

1:43:31um

1:43:32our our parking infrastructure.

1:43:34Um

1:43:35I know that has been important in the

1:43:36past and and I think it should still be

1:43:38important for those points of view.

1:43:41Heck, I might be interested on where

1:43:42commissioners stand on this too.

1:43:46If we can get that.

1:43:51All right, I'm going to sing

1:43:53>> Can I ask a couple follow-up questions

1:43:55just to get some clarity?

1:43:56Okay, so when you

1:43:58let me start with what you just said to

1:44:00you with city commissioners

1:44:03their thoughts what

1:44:04about what?

1:44:05>> Yeah, about

1:44:07>> [sighs]

1:44:07>> Oh, that's

1:44:10the overall

1:44:12I don't know their their thoughts and

1:44:14feelings about the current state of

1:44:16parking

1:44:17within our city

1:44:19um

1:44:20and potentially even where they see

1:44:22the see opportunities.

1:44:25>> Okay.

1:44:26Um Adam, the

1:44:29there was a note about

1:44:31um

1:44:34full inventory parking spaces downtown

1:44:36collaborative way to use what's

1:44:38available, not just city on park. Are

1:44:39you talking about I think you mentioned

1:44:41surface.

1:44:42Are you talking about surface and

1:44:44>> Yeah, I would

1:44:45>> expand on that?

1:44:45>> maybe yes and with with Commissioner

1:44:47Sessa where it's like what

1:44:50the collective capacity of downtown. We

1:44:52know what internally our rate like to

1:44:55see that at most they're 65% utilized on

1:44:59the most busy nights. Well, if we have

1:45:01additional 8,000 you know, an 8,500 seat

1:45:05capacity

1:45:06institution right across the street,

1:45:08what are other assets that are largely

1:45:11vacant? Is Corewell at 45% vacancy?

1:45:14Could there be parking be parking

1:45:16agreements?

1:45:19>> Uh Sessa, do you want to add anything in

1:45:21that area?

1:45:23>> Um

1:45:25No, I think I agree. Yeah, I didn't I

1:45:26didn't think about the the um like added

1:45:30agreements with other um private parking

1:45:33owners. Like I think I saw when we were

1:45:34doing this like Corewell actually owns

1:45:36most of the parking in the city. So, um

1:45:39yeah, that'd be an interesting

1:45:40conversation to have with them.

1:45:42Uh and yeah, [snorts] I would I would I

1:45:45just just a more like holistic picture

1:45:47of what capacity looks like outside of

1:45:50just our our publicly owned lots.

1:45:54>> I'm surprised Anthony has no comments.

1:45:57Got anything to add for me, Anthony?

1:46:00>> I have a lot of comments on that. As

1:46:01overseeing

1:46:02uh one of those private companies um

1:46:06said I work for HCA facility. We have a

1:46:07lot of surface lot and ramps in the

1:46:10downtown area that are

1:46:12very accessible and we have a lot of

1:46:14open spaces, too. I think we we were

1:46:16expecting the big huge wave of people

1:46:19coming in downtown and hearing all the

1:46:20cries of

1:46:22no parking available. I can

1:46:24definitely say that we had a plenty of

1:46:26vacancy.

1:46:28>> [clears throat]

1:46:29>> Right across from the amphitheater.

1:46:30We're going to be right in the heart of

1:46:31it when the soccer stadium opens up. So,

1:46:35obviously we're prepared for that. We

1:46:36want to I think a collaborative effort

1:46:38would work in everyone's favor.

1:46:40Just getting it out getting it out there

1:46:42that there is parking available. There's

1:46:44There's certain days where there's

1:46:45higher demand. Looking at the dynamic

1:46:46pricing, what does that look like across

1:46:48the city?

1:46:49So, it's all things that we've looked at

1:46:51as a private

1:46:52operator

1:46:54what that looks like moving forward.

1:46:58>> Okay, cool.

1:46:59Let me pivot one more thing and then I

1:47:00know we've got a few things we need to

1:47:02do. One thing I've heard a lot about

1:47:03here is like the downtown parking um

1:47:08uh facilities.

1:47:10Business districts are are very engaged

1:47:13and and and it's a huge part of their

1:47:16world to think about street parking in

1:47:18our neighborhood like kind of hub lots.

1:47:21Are there any kind of general thoughts

1:47:23around those? And I'll tell you just a

1:47:24little context is they typically don't

1:47:26make a lot of money, right? So, um and

1:47:29that's that could be an operational

1:47:31change or something, but it's not really

1:47:32the

1:47:34uh we want to have cost recovery, but I

1:47:35don't have that out in the slots. So,

1:47:37it's being subsidized by kind of these

1:47:38big things downtown. But it's really

1:47:39important for business owners. What are

1:47:41people thinking about with street

1:47:42parking and the hubs in these

1:47:43neighborhood business districts?

1:47:47>> For hub lots specifically,

1:47:49I'd like to see

1:47:51a higher and better land use.

1:47:54Whether that's selling the air rights to

1:47:56a developer to build an apartment or

1:47:58retail above

1:48:00um while still maintaining the surface

1:48:02parking below or digging a

1:48:04a ground, but that

1:48:06that would in my mind help with cost

1:48:08recovery a ton

1:48:09and then provide to the vibrancy of

1:48:11those neighborhoods as well.

1:48:15>> I'd also like to see a state see a state

1:48:17in the acquisition business because

1:48:20you know

1:48:21Jessica you and I toured a potential

1:48:24bike route and

1:48:26you know if there are five or six spots

1:48:28in front of a couple businesses and

1:48:30there's an empty lot next to it and you

1:48:32can buy the empty lot and then you're

1:48:33essentially swapping you have the

1:48:35ability to swap street parking for

1:48:40a very close collector lot and and so I

1:48:44think they're surgically

1:48:46really important if we can if we can

1:48:47make sure that the quid pro quo is

1:48:49obvious right? Because if you just give

1:48:51people something then they have it.

1:48:53So

1:48:55maybe you know the sequence sequencing

1:48:57and communication around that's critical

1:48:58but I I I want to sustain the

1:49:00acquisition business for collector lots

1:49:01because if we want our streets to do

1:49:04things other than just be car spaces

1:49:08then we're talking about parking land

1:49:10intrusions a lot.

1:49:13>> Do you have something?

1:49:17>> I think for the like a vibrant

1:49:19streetscape a collector lot is

1:49:20definitely better than

1:49:22on street parking.

1:49:24But I know a lot of

1:49:26hub lots like collector lots I've parked

1:49:28in are usually free. Are you thinking of

1:49:31changing that?

1:49:33>> I I have very few lots like that so I'm

1:49:36not quite sure. We'll have to talk about

1:49:37that. But most of them are metered.

1:49:40>> Okay I guess I'm thinking of there's one

1:49:42in Creston on like the east side of

1:49:45Plainwell. Yeah.

1:49:47>> Both sides Plainfield.

1:49:48>> Yeah but on the other side it's it's a

1:49:50paid lot.

1:49:51So.

1:49:56They both have payment.

1:49:58We're disagreeing over here. I'll find

1:49:59out for you but it's very few most of

1:50:01them are paid lots so

1:50:03let me let me say how often do people

1:50:05actually pay for it not great.

1:50:07>> [laughter]

1:50:07>> So essentially I think your your thought

1:50:09that a lot of them are free it's like oh

1:50:11you might not know that you're supposed

1:50:12to be paying but yeah. Yeah so um

1:50:16>> That could yeah I think it's right there

1:50:17res lounge.

1:50:18>> In general, there's one over on Leonard

1:50:21that's a free lot near the library, but

1:50:24in general, free parking is not great,

1:50:26right? We all know that.

1:50:28>> Um yeah, so specifically for the

1:50:30business districts, I know this is a

1:50:32very hot-button issue, and I know that

1:50:34we're going to get angry business owners

1:50:36about this, but I mean I I do think

1:50:39that, you know, removing on-street

1:50:42parking in business districts is okay.

1:50:45Um you know, we have data from a lot of

1:50:48cities across North America. Like

1:50:51Indianapolis is a great example, Salt

1:50:53Lake City, Minneapolis. Like all of

1:50:55these cities have examples where they

1:50:57have done exactly something like what

1:51:00was proposed on Wealthy, removing

1:51:02on-street parking in favor of like

1:51:05protected micro-mobility lanes, and

1:51:08those are super successful for everyone

1:51:12involved. Like the businesses, they hire

1:51:14more people, they get more money, they

1:51:16get more customers, and so like just

1:51:19maybe if we can

1:51:22I don't know what

1:51:24like how we can broach that topic, but

1:51:27just, you know, maybe saying that

1:51:31it will be okay

1:51:32>> [laughter]

1:51:32>> if five parking spaces on the street in

1:51:35front of a business don't exist anymore.

1:51:38>> So in our last couple of minutes, let me

1:51:39just focus this back to we're talking

1:51:40about parking operations or revenue

1:51:42here. Is there anything that you all

1:51:43would like to see um as far as those

1:51:47types of numbers that will help you have

1:51:48this discussion?

1:51:50>> I guess I have one more question. Um the

1:51:52beginning of the presentation, you

1:51:53talked about um your funds during COVID

1:51:56like weren't where you wanted them to

1:51:58be. Um what are they like now? Um the

1:52:01changes that you made in the past 5

1:52:02years, have they like gotten those

1:52:05funds to a better place?

1:52:06>> Yeah, we have a healthy parking fund

1:52:08now.

1:52:08>> Okay.

1:52:09And like projecting what you have done

1:52:12in the past 5 years, if you continue

1:52:14that, um

1:52:15is there anything you'd like to do that

1:52:19you can't accomplish because of like the

1:52:20increase you've

1:52:23you've set. Um

1:52:24like do you have ideas of changes that

1:52:27um

1:52:28will just enable different projects?

1:52:34>> Can you Can you say more?

1:52:35>> I don't know. If you wanted to have more

1:52:37like um I'm thinking of like amenities.

1:52:40If you wanted to expand those.

1:52:42Um

1:52:43are you looking to I don't know increase

1:52:46the rate from maybe 2% to 2.1% or

1:52:49whatever. Um have you

1:52:53like thought about the impact to those

1:52:56amenities and how they could be

1:52:57improved?

1:52:59>> Yeah, great great question. So it sounds

1:53:00like it would be helpful to see how um

1:53:04revenue increases would open up

1:53:06additional funding for other things

1:53:09besides asset management and maintenance

1:53:11and operations. Is that right? Okay,

1:53:13yeah. Yeah.

1:53:14>> Yeah, like what for me like what's the

1:53:16opportunity cost here? Um

1:53:20I would I would love to see the the

1:53:21numbers like kind of what deficit the um

1:53:24neighborhood hub hub lots are running

1:53:26at.

1:53:27Um how do we measure the

1:53:30supposed economic impacts of those lots

1:53:32um

1:53:33and

1:53:34again, what other options are there for

1:53:37us to maintain those lots while also

1:53:39maximizing the usable space of them?

1:53:43>> Mhm.

1:53:44>> Okay, cool.

1:53:45Thank you. All right, I'll I'll give it

1:53:47up. Thank you for all this is really

1:53:48really good feedback. It helps me focus

1:53:50on some stuff to bring back to you all

1:53:51to have you take a look again.

1:53:55>> All right, we have about 7 minutes left.

1:53:57Um

1:53:58>> [clears throat]

1:53:59>> Commissioner Sessa, do you have an

1:54:00update for Vital Streets Commission?

1:54:03>> Um yeah, so we met last month. We sent

1:54:06our um recommendation to city commission

1:54:10regarding um prioritizing um safety and

1:54:13connectivity for um

1:54:16the road infrastructure improvements.

1:54:19Um we also had um

1:54:21a bit of a robust discussion about

1:54:23design standards for things like traffic

1:54:26lights. Um, I don't know if um, anyone

1:54:29is out looking at traffic lights on

1:54:31Division, but like they're huge.

1:54:34Like the poles are massive. It looks

1:54:35like they belong on a highway and

1:54:37there's a lot of discussion about like

1:54:39why that is and maybe what um, we can do

1:54:42at the city with like design standards

1:54:45um, to sort of right size those back to

1:54:49like an urban scale versus like maybe a

1:54:52more highway scale. Um, so that was the

1:54:55biggest um, conversation we had. Um,

1:54:58yeah.

1:54:59>> Great. Thank you.

1:55:02And then I know with limited time, I

1:55:04know that this is our first updated MGRC

1:55:08quarterly update, correct? Um,

1:55:11I I guess if there's anything that

1:55:13stands out and you have questions and I

1:55:15encourage you to bring that up and I'm

1:55:18if I can give you some homework, if you

1:55:19can take a look at this and see if

1:55:21there's anything that you feel is

1:55:23missing

1:55:24um, because I know that that was

1:55:25something we discussed at our last

1:55:27meeting as well.

1:55:28So I'll open open it up. Anything for

1:55:31uh, the department or for the commission

1:55:33uh, that you have questions about or

1:55:34want to highlight.

1:55:47Okay.

1:55:50All right.

1:55:53Then I will go ahead and move. I know

1:55:56I'm I'm looking at the pages

1:55:58uh, the rifling of pages. Okay, I'm

1:56:01going to move to the working group

1:56:02updates. I uh, Commissioner Polka,

1:56:06do you do you have an update that's

1:56:07maybe high level? Okay.

1:56:11Let's I'm

1:56:12>> Chad?

1:56:14I just really quickly, Aaron has a high

1:56:16level update. Is that okay?

1:56:17>> All right, let's go. I I was going to

1:56:19give her the uh, I was going to give her

1:56:21a break, but let's go for it.

1:56:23>> [laughter]

1:56:25>> Uh,

1:56:26yeah, I don't know if Commissioner wants

1:56:27to to speak further to the the DASH

1:56:29working group. Timely, we have a second

1:56:31DASH pilot working group meeting on

1:56:34Monday planned. So, lots to discuss with

1:56:37Commissioners

1:56:38and Cipriano and Whistling uh there and

1:56:41then others who working groups are

1:56:43scheduled to coming up uh next week and

1:56:45the week after. So, mobility is meeting

1:56:47next Tuesday the 10th and then safety on

1:56:49Thursday the 19th. Um I've had great

1:56:52pre-conversations with Commissioner

1:56:54Sessa and Cipriano

1:56:56>> [clears throat]

1:56:56>> um

1:56:57and the sort of purpose of that first

1:56:59meeting is just to talk about goals,

1:57:01roles um of the meeting, of the working

1:57:03groups, and then establish the goals of

1:57:05what we want to work towards. And

1:57:06there's a couple different operating

1:57:07models um that we discuss and then kind

1:57:10of come to a little charter and we'll be

1:57:12able to share out or have you all share

1:57:14out on those um more at the next

1:57:15meeting.

1:57:16>> Yeah.

1:57:17Yeah, let's maybe we'll have convened.

1:57:20Were you going Were you going to say

1:57:21something?

1:57:22Okay. Um yeah, go ahead. Okay. Yeah, so

1:57:26for the DASH um working group, uh

1:57:28obviously there's a lot of crossover now

1:57:30with this new information that we have.

1:57:31So, that's going to change probably the

1:57:34context of our of our discussions and

1:57:36that's great. Um we just I guess I was

1:57:39looking for more clarity on when um

1:57:41we might want um

1:57:44our our output to be um presented to

1:57:47this commission.

1:57:48The our output being um

1:57:51recommendations {slash} uh more informed

1:57:53discussion amongst this commission to

1:57:55then inform the city commission. Um so,

1:57:59Jessica, I'm just kind of looking at you

1:58:00for that one, but um

1:58:02I heard December.

1:58:04>> Yeah, I know that the commission's going

1:58:05to talk about it next week. And then um

1:58:08so, I mean

1:58:09I mean

1:58:10we're going as quick as we can, right?

1:58:12With the working groups, I know that

1:58:13took us a while to get established

1:58:14there. So,

1:58:15um

1:58:16you know, time is of the essence because

1:58:18what you're dealing with is um to make

1:58:21any

1:58:22changes to the current um

1:58:24route if you have if there are any

1:58:26funding things like that. Um we start

1:58:28put we put our budget in in January. So,

1:58:31um, and then the commission looks at it

1:58:32in April. So, I I can't change my

1:58:34numbers after January.

1:58:36So, um, that's what you're looking at.

1:58:38So, the commission,

1:58:39um, needs to see your feedback somewhere

1:58:41between Well, I need to see what your

1:58:43feedback is so that it can inform, um,

1:58:46anything that that I suggest before

1:58:48January. So, I anticipate that I need to

1:58:51see whatever recommendations take place

1:58:53in an action item by your December

1:58:55meeting. So, you have your your next

1:58:56meeting here.

1:58:57Um, and then and but what we could do to

1:58:59help you out there is maybe help draft

1:59:01something ahead of time. Aaron can do

1:59:03that. Help draft something ahead of time

1:59:04if you all have had those quick

1:59:05discussions. That was one of the reasons

1:59:07I was, um,

1:59:09you know, I when we talked about a DASH

1:59:11uh, working group, I was like, you guys

1:59:13got to work quick cuz we're we're kind

1:59:15of out of time, um, on the one-year

1:59:17pilot just because one year means it

1:59:20started in May, right? And and we have

1:59:22to make decisions for, um,

1:59:24budget inputs pretty early. So, so,

1:59:28December at this group, um, if we can

1:59:31get something drafted in front of this

1:59:33group for the December meeting,

1:59:35um, I think that could be helpful. And

1:59:37hopefully you all have everything that

1:59:38you need at this point between the

1:59:39information that we've presented today

1:59:41and and we can get Aaron anything else

1:59:43you guys want to dive into.

1:59:44>> Okay. Thank you.

1:59:45>> Yeah.

1:59:46>> Yeah.

1:59:47I I might recommend if

1:59:49Aaron and I can connect with you, too,

1:59:50but if maybe if it's possible to get

1:59:52just some email communication about

1:59:54prior

1:59:55aligning priorities with what we heard

1:59:57today and hearing maybe some some

1:59:58feedback from from folks. So, um, we can

2:00:01hopefully expedite that.

2:00:03Hopefully this also gives you an

2:00:04understanding of why we made some

2:00:06changes to the meeting, uh, agenda

2:00:08today.

2:00:09For, uh, the sake of timing.

2:00:12All right.

2:00:14Uh, I will now open the floor for public

2:00:16comment on a or I'm sorry, uh, public

2:00:18comment. The board would appreciate

2:00:20having the members of the public

2:00:21attending the meeting today identify

2:00:23themselves before providing comment.

2:00:25However, it is not required to give your

2:00:27name. Do Do any public comment?

2:00:33Okay.

2:00:34I know the public's trying not to make

2:00:36eye contact with me.

2:00:39>> [laughter]

2:00:39>> All right.

2:00:40Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close

2:00:42public comment. Do we have any

2:00:44commissioner comments? Mayor Liu Grand.

2:00:47>> Um just occurred to me in sitting in the

2:00:49meeting, um

2:00:50Waymo eventually is going to drill down

2:00:52to city RSI cities RSI's.

2:00:55Um we might want to be have a

2:00:56conversation about policies before they

2:00:59get here rather than after.

2:01:01Um that's a long-range thing that I'd

2:01:02like to put on the table, but like

2:01:05rather than being reactive, we could at

2:01:06least be have some preliminary

2:01:08thoughtful discussion about it. Um

2:01:11I happen to think that like it's a

2:01:12possibility for a whole lot less

2:01:15um injuries and fatalities cuz I think

2:01:17they actually do tend to be safer, but

2:01:19that's just my opinion and we've hardly

2:01:21dug into it. So, but I do think it as a

2:01:23as a group it'd be it's it's a

2:01:25conversation we ought to be having.

2:01:27>> Cool.

2:01:28>> Okay.

2:01:29>> Uh

2:01:29I just want to recognize one of our

2:01:31members after last night, Lindsey Paris

2:01:33Plecher, being elected as the Grand

2:01:34Rapids Ward 1 City Commissioner.

2:01:37>> Yeah, congratulations.

2:01:39>> With nearly 70% of the vote.

2:01:48>> All right.

2:01:48>> Is that why you were running behind you

2:01:49were partying last night?

2:01:51>> [laughter]

2:01:52>> Congratulations.

2:01:54No, it's great. Congratulations.

2:01:56>> All right. Um

2:01:58seeing no other comment, then we'll go

2:01:59ahead and adjourn. Thank you, everyone.

2:02:05>> I didn't know that.

2:02:06Good job.

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