SW Trails
October 25, 2012
The Watershed Building in Hillsdale
6388 SW Capitol Hwy
Portland OR 97239
Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler, Sharon Fekety, Virginia Hendrikson, Cole Trusty, Dianne Mays, Chris Mays, Arnie Pantich, Glenn Bridger, Don Baack, Mark Turner, Timo Forsberg, Michael Kisor, Barbara Stedman, Dave Manville, Mel Sax-Barnett, Grant Humphries
Don called the meeting to order at: 7:02
Don gave a short history of SW Trails for new people.
Mele from TriMet talked about the new TriMet GIS mapping system. She has been with TriMet for 15 years. The new mapping system can be accessed at: maps.trimet.org She gave a history of the project. She said there are a lot of avid walkers and bikers in the region. They realized TriMet needed a multi-modal trip planner. However, some of the available systems were cost prohibitive. They got a small grant and used open source mapping software and PSU interns to create their own system. The system uses all open data as they wanted to keep costs under control. She said it is very much like Wikipedia it takes three data sets. The commercial applications are very expensive. They hired college students to input mapping data. She said open maps is better because there are so many users it is corrected and updated often. She said it is also important that the data is available to the community. She said we have very good data in Portland. They are working with the Intertwine project. The students improved the maps in several ways. Developers around the world got involved and made improvements to the system as well. The system is running in 10 countries and seven languages. Interest is growing all over the world.
Mele displayed screen shots from the site. You can select several aspects of the trip such as bike or walking and elevation changes. There is an elevation chart for a trip. Don asked if newly installed bike sheds would be included and she said yes. Grant said the code to add these are already in place. There is also aerial photography. It will also show bus locations. She showed an example of planning a bike trip. There is a time saving feature that shows where it would be faster to bike to a further bus stop. There is even a feature to include elevators in the route. Glenn said it is a wonderful system and asked if weather could be integrated. She said they are in contact with ODOT about that and would like to include it. She said they have a long list of features to add such as a mobile application. They are working on features for people with disabilities. They would like to include neighboring transit systems. She said there is a lot of negotiations to get it working. Michael asked if they plan to integrate it into IOS6 and they said it will integrate with Apple however, not directly as Apple data is proprietary. Dave asked about saving individual routes. She said there is an option to email the route to yourself. Don asked about our walk to Lake Oswego and if it showed several bus options for us to return from Lake Oswego? . She said they are working on that feature. She connected to the internet and showed several examples. Walking only takes the shortest route. Timo asked if there was an option to drag the route and she said that was on the features to add list. She showed the many apps that are available on TriMet. She said many people have submitted apps and that is one advantage of open data. Mele said they had the Hooley bridge on the system the day it opened. Timo asked if there was a button to report a bug. She said yes and it was important that people use it. She said it can be used on a mobile device currently via a browser.
Grant displayed maps from open streetmaps. He asked people to mark any changes. We worked on the map for ten minutes. Grant described the markings on the maps. The short url is: Bit.ly/RZqkEB
We submitted our edited maps to TriMet.
Agenda: The Agenda was approved with the addition of a discussion of the problem of cars leaving the Hillsdale Center lot.
Don said on November 8th Oregon Field Guide on OPB will have Jim Thayer talking about the Portland to coast trail.
Minutes: Glenn made a motion to accept the September minutes. Dave seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Walks: Sharon said Chris and Dianne will lead the November hike and Lee will lead December.
Red Electric Video: Glenn said he is working with Peter and Amy and they have outlined the film and want to get a lot of video the next month. They want to capture as much trails visually as they can. They would like to have the video to be three to five minutes.
Red Electric Brochure: Don said over 1000 have been printed and most are gone. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is printing another 3000. They should be done by the end of the month. Cole did several revisions. Cole, Don and Amy are working on distribution of the brochure. They have had four or five hundred hits on the facebook page.
Glnn said he and Don submitted three projects to the city for active transportation. He said they need multiple people asking for projects and to keep pushing for the improvements. Don said he asked them to focus on the Red Electric trail. There is a property on the Red Electric route that is up for sale. However, the property owners want to sell the entire property and not just the strip for the trail. Don said it was important to get it in the comprehensive plan.
Don said he attended a meeting at the Pedestrian Advisory Committee. Included was the Hoot Owl corner and an intersection by Thriftway. They also included 1 million for the Red Electric Trail. They also put in money for the Barbur improvements. There will be a joint meeting with Bike Advisory Committee. One omission is the gap on Barbur from 13th to 19th.
Don said they plan to put in 12′ sidewalks by Safeway and Walgreens.
Glenn said the city has designed an improvement on Spring Garden and Capital They met with the project manager on the project. They would like to move the sidewalk into the right-of-way as much as possible next to the Golden Touch and south . However, a business is using the area for parking. They would like to get a bike lane. However, that might not be possible. Don drew a diagram of how the sidewalk could work with parking. It would require a car rail to make sure people don’t park on the sidewalk.
Lee made a motion that SW Trails ask for bumpers to keep cars off the sidewalk on 19 and enforcement so that cars do not obstruct vehicle travel. Cole seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Website: Don said Mark is starting work on the website and asked that people let them know what they would like to see.
Memberships Glenn moved we continue ST Trails membership fees at the same rate to 2013. Sharon seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: Chris said we had $1496 in our bank account.
Multnomah Days 2013: Chris made a motion to sponsor booth at the 2013 Multnomah Days celebration. Dave seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
There was a discussion of a booth at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market as well. Glenn said winter farmers markets can be very cold. The vendors do well but people just come and go Don suggested April or May Glenn said the month of May gets a lot of attendance.
DeWitt Park Drinking Fountain: Lee made a motion to write a letter of support for the grant for a drinking fountain at DeWitt Park. Sharon seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Don discussed the un-built right-of-way at the Multnomah Presbyterian Church. He said Mark Lear of PBOT would like to focus on this soon. An easement agreement is the key first step.
Don said there is a trail near SW 25th near Bertha that needs some work. The principle of Robert Gray broke her arm on the trail and got volunteers to dig out steps Don said we might be able to get some Robert Gray students to volunteer to further improve the trail. Cole said the other side of Bertha is a problem as well. The bottom of SW Jackson and 18th is another location that needs work. This would require an easement. Don said the property owner is willing.
Barbara talked about the parking lot at Food Front. She said cars tend to drive right on to the sidewalk without stopping. She said this is dangerous as the hedges impair visibility. She suggested a sign reminding people to stop. She said the problem is worse in the day. Don suggested a protected bike lane on Capitol during certain hours. Glenn said there is other signs that need to be upgraded such as handicap parking. He suggested an overall look at signage.
Glenn made a motion that SW Trails assist in a signs need inventory at the Hillsdale parking lot including improved handicap parking and pedestrians crossing at exit points. Barbara seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Dave will talk next month on the trails on Woods park.
Glenn and Don will do a talk next month for AARP about active transportation.
Don went to the Intertwine and gave a brief talk on the 4T trail.
Barbara said they started a bike train from Hillsdale to Hayhurst in October and it went well. Sharon said there is also one that goes from downtown to the SW charter school in South Portland.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:05
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Buhler
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