[OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session at the OMS Conference

[David Snider]

Sheldon, I'm not seeing where the assumption was made that "anyone can walk
at least a mile to access necessary services".  I'm a 47 year old dude with
a bad back, so I certainly wouldn't make that assumption.  :)

I guess the point I'm attempting to get across here is that there are many
people in our community that believe we have an on-street parking shortage
where none in fact exists.  Again, 65% of on-street parking in our downtown
is not utilized at our busiest hour, and even at our busiest hour you can
come downtown and park within 2 blocks of where you want to go 100% of the
time according to the research we have done on this issue.   That indicates
quite clearly to me that we do not have a parking problem in our downtown.
Yet there are members of our community that vehemently disagree with this,
and I'm not sure what they are basing their opinions on.

I understand that other communities our size around the state deal with
this issue quite often as well, and I would be quite interested to learn
how those communities have approached this issue in their downtowns.
Perhaps this topic would be a good one for the Main Street Conference?




* -- David C. Snider*
*Economic Development Manager*
*City of Sandy*
*39250 Pioneer Boulevard*
*Sandy, OR  97055*
*(503) 489-2159*
*dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>*


On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com> wrote:

> David, I am very well aware of ODOT regulations, and the background of
> health and recreation at against which they are written, in addition to the
> multiple federal court findings that find communities at odds with ADA
> compliance, even though ODOT attempts to keep up. The question truly is
> much larger than the 15 yards Sarah mentioned. I guess that I am really
> questioning the underlying assumption that anyone can walk at least a mile
> to access necessary services, when, in fact, many cannot. Pendleton, as I
> was growing up, had 7 doctor's offices on Main Street. Now, one dentist has
> his office in the same building as Pendleton Downtown Association, while
> virtually all others are clustered around the new hospital on the South
> edge of town. It seems to me that this is an issue which flies directly
> opposite to the vision of the National Main Street organization. How do we
> best engage mixed use in our downtowns when we do not enable an
> increasingly aging population to access multiple services in a way that
> allows them and us to be independent as long as possible? The flight to
> non-downtown areas simply increases, and yet the conversations of downtown
> associations assumes that all people are still under age 60 and are truly
> able bodied. Those assumptions are patently false, and must be addressed,
> if our city centers are to remain centers, rather than derelict
> afterthoughts.
>
> Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.
> On Aug 24, 2017 1:31 PM, David Snider <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us> wrote:
> Sheldon, I don't think Sarah was referring to people with medical issues.
>
> We have had a similar problem here in Sandy from time to time, and it has
> to do with people's perception of what is an acceptable amount of on-street
> parking.  We get complaints all the time that there isn't enough on-street
> parking in Sandy and that we need to provide more parking.  However, ODOT
> describes a parking capacity issue as when your on-street parking is
> something like 80% full.  The latest parking study we've done has indicated
> that at the *busiest* time of the day, our on-street parking was at *35%
> capacity*, and we couldn't identify anywhere in our downtown where a
> citizen would not be able to find an on-street parking spot within 2 city
> blocks of their destination, and in almost every case there was an
> available parking spot on the same block.
>
> * -- David C. Snider*
> *Economic Development Manager*
> *City of Sandy*
> *39250 Pioneer Boulevard*
> *Sandy, OR  97055*
> *(503) 489-2159*
> *dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us <dsnider at ci.sandy.or.us>*
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 12:52 PM, Sheldon Delph <s_delph at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Sarah, I, most of the time, find that, due to medical conditions, find
>> that walking 100 yards is difficult. 15 yards is roughly the length of 2
>> cars. The concept that walking 10 blocks round trip to participate in a
>> Farmer's Market or go to a business with no nearby parking, solely because
>> someone believes that we are supposed to walk a mile a day, is, frankly,
>> discriminatory, and very much against both the intent and the letter of the
>> Americans with Disabilities Act. Your concept is good, but far too narrow.
>> Perhaps the conversation needs to be around how to best serve all people in
>> the community to access the most services.
>>
>> --Sheldon Delph, Weston, Oregon Main Street
>>
>> Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Tablet.
>> On Aug 24, 2017 12:07 PM, Sarah Lu Heath <sarah at astoriadowntown.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> How change perceptions about parking. IE: We don’t have a parking
>> problem, we have people with philosophical problems walking more than 15
>> yards.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sarah Lu Heath
>>
>> Executive Director
>>
>> Astoria Downtown Historic District Association
>>
>> No.1-12th Street, Suite 114
>>
>> PO Box 261
>>
>> Astoria, OR 97103
>>
>> 503.791.7940
>>
>> www.AstoriaDowntown.com <http://www.astoriadowntown.com/>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* OMS_MANAGERS [mailto:oms_managers-bounces at l
>> istsmart.osl.state.or.us] *On Behalf Of *STUART Sheri * OPRD
>> *Sent:* Thursday, August 24, 2017 11:19 AM
>> *To:* Oregon Main Street program managers <oms_managers at listsmart.osl.st
>> ate.or.us>
>> *Subject:* [OMS_MANAGERS] We welcome your ideas on a interactive session
>> at the OMS Conference
>>
>>
>>
>> *This email is being distributed over the OMS listserv. All responses
>> will also go over the listserv.*
>>
>>
>>
>> We will be wrapping up the Oregon Main Street Conference, Oct. 4-6, in
>> Oregon City, with an interactive session to *Trouble Shoot Issues on
>> Main Street*. The idea is to help a community address an issue in their
>> downtown. In 5-minutes or less, towns will present their issue to a panel
>> of experts and then the experts will brainstorm solutions. Our awesome
>> facilitator is Michele Reeves from Civilis Consulting – you might know her
>> as a presenter at several of our previous conferences. We have some ideas
>> submitted from a few communities already, but we still have room for a few
>> more. You can respond over the listserv or email me directly at:
>> sheri.stuart at oregon.gov
>>
>>
>>
>> Here’s some of the issues towns have mentioned (we welcome feedback on
>> these topics as well – which are you most interested in hearing some ideas
>> and ways to assist?):
>>
>>
>>
>>    - Property owners that use historic buildings as “storage”
>>    - Strategies for filling up vacant buildings in an historic small
>>    Oregon town.
>>    - Creating a collaborative relationship between Downtown
>>    Associations, Chambers, Visitors Centers & regional tourism NGOs when the
>>    missions overlap and the players see the dynamic as a "zero-sum-game"
>>    - Funding a downtown organization to include a paid downtown manager
>>    on a stable basis. What are the tools and how are they employed to convince
>>    skeptics?
>>    - Educating local business owners on running their business like a
>>    business and not like a hobby.  (i.e., meeting the needs of the community
>>    and not the personal needs of the owner.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards, Sheri
>>
>> _____________________________________________________
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>
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