The agenda for the Tuesday, March 7 city council meeting features requests for a no parking zone in the Cays, a Go by Bike Movie Event grant, review of the 2015 traffic report, and a call to review and reform the city’s business license requirements.
Bicycle Education and Encouragement Event: Request a grant for $2,349 to co-fund a “Bike to a Movie Night.” The event is part of the San Diego Association of Governments’ GO by BIKE program. The program looks for creative ways to encourage people to bike instead of drive. A grant from SANDAG will cover 2/3 of the $3,450 cost so the city’s share would be approximately $1,100 to cover preparation and staffing of the event, which is not included in the grant.
The outdoor event will be held sometime between April 1 and June 15 and feature a family friendly film and a number of bicycle related activities, including skills and safety workshops, repair guidance and a raffle.
Curb Striping in the Cays: At the request of a resident, the city proposes to create a red curb/stripe no parking zone along a portion of Port of Spain Road, where the road narrows to 27 feet. The request was made because parked cars there make it difficult to drive and for residents to pull into their garages. While improving access, the red zone will eliminate five parking spaces.
Annual Traffic Report: Highlights of the 2015 report include: an increase in the traffic volume from 94,218 vehicles per day in 2014 to 99,600, and an increase in the number of collisions from 196 in 2014 to 221. One collision resulted in a fatality and it occurred at Fourth and A. Despite the death, it was not the most dangerous intersection. Orange Avenue at Second, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth streets had the most collisions, more than three each.
The report recommended asking Caltrans to look for ways to improve safety at these intersections. It also recommended evaluating the effectiveness of bulbouts on Second and Orange and the stop signs in the median at Seventh and Orange.
Because the accident data collected locally must be coded and categorized by the State of California, the data is nearly two years old. The city doesn’t rely exclusively on the state report. City engineers and police investigate trends and safety concerns on an ongoing bases.
Business Licenses Reform: A proposal to reform the city’s business license process by eliminating the license tax and occupancy requirements was made by Mayor Richard Bailey and City Councilman Whitney Benzian. They argue that the system is ineffective.
The tax doesn’t generate enough revenue for enforcement. Knowing that the city is not proactive, a business owner may choose not to pay the tax, depriving the city and community of useful information. To encourage compliance they would like a staff report to offer options that would allow the city to collect the same information without imposing a tax.
If the rest of the council agrees, the proposal would be taken up at a future meeting.
The council meets at 4pm in the Coronado City Council Chambers, 1825 Strand Way.
