Chicago City Wire

City of Wheaton Bicyclist and Pedestrian Commission met Aug. 21

Here are the minutes provided by the commission:

I. Call to Order

7:00 pm

Members present: Michelle, Lou, Bob, George, Bill, Rita, Laurel, Connor

Members absent: Mike, Alyse, Cate

Public Present: None

II. Agenda Item

Approval of July Minutes

Motioned: Rita

Seconded: Laurel and George

Unanimously approved via voice vote.

III. Public Comment

None

IV. Agenda Item

Chair ReportA. August City Council Meeting

George attended the meeting - here is his summary:

A new police officer was sworn in. In addition to English, he speaks Spanish and Russian.

The People's Resource Center thanked the City Council for their support to upgrade their facilities.

Council also approved buying a new bucket truck and 6 new vehicles.

B. Safe Routes/Bike to School - see report under Ongoing Business

C Grant Writing/Bike Plan Consultant

Lou, Alyse and Michelle have been working with Kyle Moss, City of Wheaton Finance Dept. on submitting our application for the SS4A grant that is due 8/29/24 to fund our bike/ped plan update.

We are requesting a total of $80,000 (this was the average cost for a bike/ped plan update per the consultants we talked to). This is a matching grant, so the USDOT part would be $64,000 and City of Wheaton’s part would be $16,000. Per Kyle Moss, he plans to submit all the required documentation by 8/23/24.

D. IPP Welcome Signs:

Per John Duguay, the County did not approve our design presented, so they have drafted another for their consideration. It is back with the County for approval. A follow up with Andrea Rosedale and she said the county has yet to name a coordinator at this time. She will let us know once she hears back from the coordinator.

E. National Night Out Summary:

Laurel, George and Lou covered the Wheaton Bicyclist and Ped Comm. table at the National Night Out organized by the Wheaton Police Department. We gave out all 30 of the goodie bags, but Laurel made folks interact with her to get one. Laurel would ask them if they ride a bike and then showed them what was in the bag , (in particular the light and the reflective leg strap). Laurel also told them about the Wheaton Bicyclist and Ped Commission before she handed the bag over. We have 20 goodie bags left and Laurel proposes that we give them away for our next table along the IPP near the French Market along with the flyers for the history ride. Laurel will return the box of remaining goodie bags to Bob since she picked up the box from him.

Note that we did leave early at 6:45 pm as it started to rain and we all had to ride our bikes home (except for George, who had two flat tires.) We did interact with both the DuPage County Sheriff police officers (at the table next to ours) along with the Wheaton Police Officers so it was good publicity for us.

F. WBPC Commission Member resigned

Lou reported that David Duve, one of our commission members, emailed his resignation from our commission a couple of weeks ago due to an increase in his work responsibilities. Lou notified Andrea Rosedale of this resignation.

V. Ongoing Business

A. Carlton Crossing Proposal

Motioned: Michelle

Seconded: Bill

Unanimously approved via voice vote.

Bob, Connor and Lou will present at the 9/3/24 City Council meeting.

B. History Ride - Sept 21st

i. Distribution of Ads/Other advertising

Bob connected with Susan Bishel who keeps the Wheaton City calendar. He forwarded this to Ralph Banasiak at the Daily Herald who will write a column and to Ride Illinois for their Let's Ride directory.

Susan will put our blurb in city mailings and on social media again this year. If you know of other good places to send the link, please do.

https://www.wheaton.il.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=2915

Laurel dropped off flyers at the library and Midwest Cyclery and she will take them to the Wheaton Park District also. We will also ask the French Market for a table on 9/14/24 to distribute flyers.

ii. Police support

Alyse emailed that Sargent Mirobali had Officer Berlin reach out to her about the History Ride. She provided the info he requested. He is hoping to support and will let Alyse know.

iii. Final Prep

Michelle has been in contact with the City contact person about the 2023 virtual ride and he said he could not work on it right now, however he said he will insert the narrative for the 2024 history ride.

Michelle will reach out to the City contact person and invite him to come for a practice ride that will take place on 9/15/24 from 2-4 pm. Meet on the west side of the library. vIf the City contact person cannot come on this date, we will take a video of the ride ourselves on this date.

C. Safe Routes mapping out Routes

Connor said the City contact person sent him the traffic analysis for the 3 middle schools and she told him we need to work with D200 directly on these mapping routes. Connor will follow up with Joe Tebrugge/Director of Engineering in a couple of weeks to get more direction on how we should proceed.

FYI: The City contact person Connor has been working with is leaving her position on 8/23/24.

D. Sept 16 Council meeting-Michelle looking for audience participation (See E)

Michelle is reaching out to the PTA’s of Whittier and Edison schools as well as area neighbors to attend this meeting to show their support for the Arbor/Warrenville crossing proposal.

E. Arbor/Warrenville Crossing Proposal

Motioned: Bill

Seconded: Bob

Unanimously approved via voice vote.

Michelle will present this proposal at the 9/16/24 City Council meeting.

F. Group Rides

September 21, 2024 - History Ride

October 19, 2024 - Fall Foliage FP ride

VI. New Business

A. Bill brought up that the City needs to maintain and clear sidewalks of snow to bus stops and on routes to schools during the winter months. Bill will work on a proposal and present at our October meeting.

B. WBPC Annual Report will be the focus of our September meeting.

C. Michelle said she received a report that the pump at the bike shelter was broken. Michelle forwarded this issue to the City.

Next Meeting: September 18, 2024

X. Adjournment - 8:05 pm

https://www.wheaton.il.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08212024-2614