HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/25/2003 Minutes - Town Hall Meeting1
MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL
CITY OF DIAMOND BAR
TOWN HALL MEETING
February 25, 2003
CALL TO ORDER: M/Herrera called the Town Hall Mee ing to
order at 6:38 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Mtana.gement/Govarmerit
Center Auditorium, 21865 E. Copley Dr. Diamond Bar, CA
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mayor Herrera led the Pledge of
Allegiance.
ROLL CALL: Council Members Chang, O'C nnor,
Zirbes, Mayor Pro Tem Huff, and Mayor Herrera.
Also Present: Linda Lowry, City Manager; James DeStefano,
Deputy City Manager; David Doyle, Deputy City Manager; David Liu, Public
Works Director and Lynda Burgess, City Clerk.
OVERVIEW OF STREET -SWEEPING PARKING REGULATION PROGRAM
— Power Point presentation by PWD/Liu.
PUBLIC COMMENTS: Walter Tees, 1604 Fox Glen Dr., stated
that he got a ticket for forgetting to move his car and not being able to move
a handful of leaves off of the street. It hit him wrong. He has a short
driveway that would not contain all of his vehicles. In addition, from tinle to
time he brings his RV home and parks it on the street to ready it for a trip.
He belongs to a club that travels on the weekends. His street sweepinc day
is Friday. He suggested that Council reconsider the severity of the fine and
make it like a "fix -it ticket" wherein if someone is on the street during a street
sweeping time, they get a ticket. if they don't clean up the street theMSE,ives
prior to the next street sweeping visit, they are fined. The tree in his parl, way
belongs to the City. It overhangs the street and the street sweeper hast go
out around it. There is an area in front of his house that does not getswept
because of the tree. For him to be fined $50 for forgetting to move his car off
the street seems harsh.
John Forbing agreed with the reasons for the fines but felt $50 was a bit
excessive and should probably be reduced to $25. It is a bit early to be
ticketing people prior to 8:00 a.m. because many residents who work do not
leave their homes until that hour. In addition, giving tickets to people who
ordinarily move their vehicles out of the roadway is a rather strange thing to
do. It 'is very frustrating for people who are not even dressed for the dale by
that time of the morning. He felt that if the time could be delayed it w uld
help many people. People who live outside of the community and visit the
City for whatever reason, including to pick someone up, and have to park for
a short period of time while waiting, and receive a $50 parking ticket iso t of
line. There should be an easy way for those people to get that ticket waived.
Finally, the signs are located too close to street corners and too high and
are, therefore, unreadable. The signs should be moved back further do n
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 2 CITY COUNCIL
the street so that people have an opportunity to read the sign once they turn
the corner. It would be much better to start the street sweeping a little later
in the morning to give people an opportunity to move their vehicles. In some
areas, the sweeper moves too fast and dirt remains in the gutters. If there
are areas that are being avoided by the sweeper, someone should review the
quality of the sweeping at the same time the parking situation is being
reviewed.
Doug Berg, 1714 Fern Hollow Dr., was also concerned about the location of
the signs. He felt that it would help to move the signs up a half a block or
place them between stop signs in the neighborhoods. He felt that the $50
fine was excessive. It appears the City is trying to make money. Another
concern is selective enforcement. A friend of his was ticketed while parked
in front of his house. The following month he followed the sweeper and found
cars parked on the street that did not have tickets.
Carmen Taylor, 24164 Meadow Falls Dr., was concerned about the inability
to read the street sweeping signs. She is a 40 -year resident who has
children and grandchildren who drive. There is no way that they can park
more than three cars off-street. In order to park, they have to walk at least
a mile. Old homes in D.B. have a two -car garage and the policy presents a
terrible problem for large families. She has called the City several times about
having street sweeping on alternate sides of the street and was told it was
not cost efficient. During emergency situations, repairmen should be able to
park on the street.
Bill Wilkerson, 1658 Fox Glen Dr., did not understand anything about the
program except the matter of street cleaning. He was not aware of any other
city or entity that takes away five and one-half hours of parking for an entire
neighborhood in order to clean the streets. He realized this is all about
money but whoever came up with the five and one-half hours of no parking
probably lives outside of D.B. He wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the street -
cleaning people. The City needs more sweepers and it needs to complete
the job in a much more timely fashion. Two or three times he has had to take
one of his vehicles to the Albertson's parking lot and leave it there until the
street sweeper finished his job. If he received a ticket for forgetting to move
his car he would go in front of the judge and explain that his street was not
posted. He stated that he had seen the literature, but what about people who
don't live in the area; what about the service people — FedEx, Sparklettes,
etc. If the City fines people $50, give them a chance to avoid the fine. He had
no problem with street sweeping, only the process.
Roger Myer, 2634 Crooked Creek Dr., felt that the City should go after repeat
offenders, not people who might forget to move their car. It would eliminate
service people getting fined. He did not receive a notice about every -other -
week street sweeping and the signs do not indicate every other week. He
agreed that the street sweepers do not clean the streets as thoroughly as
they should. The City should be more concerned about treating the residents
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 3 C14Y COUNCIL
fairly than satisfying bureaucratic requirements and mandates.
Beverly Fleming, 24020 Prospect Valley Dr., stated that her house is the only
house that gets dirt, rocks, etc. piled in front of her property. She call(!d the
City and was asked if she could prove it was the street sweeper and why
didn't she chase them down the street. She is 72 years old and she s not
going to chase a street sweeper down the street to try and get them to -ome
back and clean it up. She called Mr. Liu's office and was told he wain a
meeting. Ten minutes later a City truck came out and the driver swept little
bit. She keeps her house and yard spotless. She does not expect thestreet
sweeper to come by and drop rocks, dirt and mud on her street. She c sked
for a telephone number she can call to register complaints. She lives across
the street from Golden Springs Elementary school and parking is a nightmare
on her street.
Jeri Braviroff, 2370 Canyon Park Dr., has worked as a teacher for W
USD
for 14 years. As soon as this program was announced, she felt there would
be problems. She lives in a townhouse development on the corner of Morning
Canyon and D. B. Blvd. In her immediate neighborhood, there are 10
block
buildings each containing six townhouse units. Each unit has a one
-car
garage and she has two cars. There are a total of six off-street parking
lots
for the 60 -townhouse units, obviously inadequate. A person at City Hal
told
her she should go shopping on Friday afternoons. Friday afternoon is
her
street sweeping day. She gets home about 3:00 — 3:30 in the aftern
on.
She has to have her car off of the street until 5:00 p.m. She too, sal
the
signs are very difficult to read. Signs are posted very close to the corner
As
a driver executes a corner it requires that they slow to a near stop in ord
r to
read the print on the sign. She proposed that the City sweep alternate zides
on alternate weeks. That way people in high-density units are not deprived
of all of their parking for the greater portion of the day. Most of the people
living in her complex have more vehicles than parking spaces. Alleyways
that lead in to the garages are posted "no parking." If she is not I
cky
enough to snag one of the six overflow slots she gets a ticket which is exactly
what happened to her about three weeks ago when she was at home and
ill.
Her complex contracts with a gardening service that cleans the curbs
on
Thursdays. In addition, trash bins are placed in alleyways and if t ash
remains from trash pickup, it is not picked up because they do not sweep
the
alleyways. She agreed with the need for street sweeping but believed
that
the $50 fine is extremely harsh for those who try to be conscientious
and
have no place to park their cars.
Anthony Gonzales, 852 Silver Fir Rd., said the program has been very he pful
to his complex. It forced a number of residents to finally clean out Meir
garages. The complex had a parking problem and usually by 7:00 p.m. tt ere
was no parking available on the streets. With the implementation of st eet
sweeping and fines the residents now park their vehicles in their garages nd
the streets are now accessible. The signs are located too close to st eet
corners. When making a turn onto a street it is impossible to read the si ns.
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 4 CITY COUNCIL
It would be nice if the signs were moved back and if the print was larger. In
addition, it would be better if street sweeping could be moved back to 8:30
instead of 7:30 to give people a little extra time to leave for work.
Nick Marsman, 443 Gunsmoke Dr. felt positive about the street -sweeping
program in general but empathized with previous speakers' concerns. The
streets are looking much cleaner than they were a year ago and the City in
general looks better. The street sweeping has eliminated street parking of
vehicles for days and weeks at a time. The sweeper sometimes moves at a
high rate of speed leaving debris on the street. At other times, the sweeper
moves at a slower rate of speed leaving the street much cleaner. He usually
tells neighbors and visitors about the street sweeping program. In some
areas people leave their trash cans on the street three or four days after
pickup day and it deters the street sweeper. He suggested that the City not
give tickets during special times of the year such as December/January and
during changes in the street sweeping day due to holidays.
Christine Au, 1100 Clouds Rest Dr., did not have an issue with cleaning the
streets, but did have a problem with the implementation. When she moved
to D.B. 23 years ago she did not have driving aged children and now she
does. Her household has four vehicles and she lives in a home with a two -
garage garage and a one -car driveway. Her husband does not work a 9-5
job and his car remains in the garage during street sweeping. Her children
go to college, have rotating schedules and cannot always guarantee their
absence during street sweeping. She has wonderful neighbors who allow her
to park in their driveway. Not everyone enjoys such a circumstance. She in
turn reminds her neighbors that because of holidays the street sweeping day
has changed. She attends a senior's class on Highland Valley Dr. There are
only five guest parking spaces in the complex that fill up very fast due to lack
of parking for residents. Seniors who attend that program have to park and
walk a good distance from the center. Street sweeping precludes parking on
neighboring streets because of the scheduling. A five and one-half hour time
period is a long time to have to find other activities to cause you to drive your
car away from your home. To get to activities where there is limited parking
requires arranging for carpooling. She would like the City to come up with a
compromise that allows people who want to move their vehicle on street
sweeping day to have a place to go. She also noted that the shopping
centers are posting signs that limit parking to patrons and employees of the
center. She did not want to leave her car unsupervised for a long period of
time in a shopping center parking lot. She had an issue with the quality of
the street sweeping. She witnessed the street sweeper avoid a pile of trash
on her street.
Shelley Gentry, 1223 Calbourne Dr., understood the reason for the street
sweeping but had issues with the program. For instance, she has to sweep
up the trash left by the street sweeper. She also felt the $50 fine was
excessive. Most of the houses on her street have two -car garages and many
people park on their lawns to avoid getting tickets. She got a ticket for
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 5 CITY COUNCIL
parking on a holiday. If it is a regular holiday it should be treated as such.
She and her neighbors did not receive a list of street sweeping holidays.
She said that many people do not read the City's publication. If tho City
sends notices to people they should be clearly marked. Further, she d d not
realize that if a holiday falls on Monday that the street sweeper would ,ome
to the neighborhood the following Tuesday. People need to be inforrT ed in
order to comply.
Tim Shows, 362 Grapevine Dr., has lived in D.B. for seven years. It cot him
$175 when his truck was towed because it is too large for his driveway . He
would rather have had a $50 ticket. He called C/O'Connor to report that trash
was dumped on his street. Public Works arrived the next day and cleaned
up the pine needles and slurry and blew the rest of the debris int his
neighbor's yard. He called C/O'Connor again to report what happened. He
works in D.B. and most of his clients do not want him to park in their
driveways. Further, he witnessed City employees throwing tangerine kips
on the ground after the street sweeper left. He also works in Walnu and
when the same street sweepers are in that city, they do a better jo and
actually wait for people to move their vehicles.
Betty Elliott, 1648 Cypress Grove Ln., lives in an area that is swept on
Fridays. The holiday week moves the street sweeping to Saturday. Her
family has five cars and park two or three cars on the street. During the
week it is not a problem because the cars parked on the street are go a by
7:30 a.m. There is a problem on Saturday. She suggested no street
sweeping on Saturdays or no fines on Saturdays.
M/Herrera stated that the City does not issue fines on Saturdays and d ring
holiday weeks. If a holiday falls on the street sweeping day and the str et is
swept on a different day, no tickets are issued.
CM/Lowry said that in accordance with signage, there would be no poi it in
issuing tickets if street sweeping were done on a different day becaUSE the
ticket would be unenforceable. In addition, D.B. does not pay the She iff's
Department for Saturdays to accompany the CSO to issue citations. In act,
the City's policy has been broadened so that if street sweeping occurs d ring
a holiday week where the holiday has disrupted the program, no citation are
issued after the holiday has occurred in that week.
Antony Selim, 1571 Eldertree Dr., said that if the City is concerned about
cars being parked and disrupting the street sweeper, where there iE no
debris, there is no reason for the street to be swept and no need to fine
people for leaving their cars parked on the street. In several areas of the
City, it goes unnoticed that the street sweeper has passed by because there
are no overhanging trees that leave debris. He felt residents shou!d be
recognized for putting forth a best effort to get their cars out of the way wien
there is debris to be picked up.
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 6 CITY COUNCIL
Chris Layton, 1517 High Bluff Dr., has received two tickets. Last week his
family had an emergency and spent the night in the emergency room. When
he got home two of his five cars had tickets. He wanted to know who gets
what portion of the $50 fine.
CM/Lowry explained that there is a cost for the CSO that does the ticketing.
There is a cost for the data processing company that processes the citations
depending on the extent of the processing and whether it requires additional
noticing and notification to the Department of Motor Vehicles. In addition,
there is a certain amount that the City has to pay to the courts for each
citation as well as an amount per citation for a hearing officer. The highest
amount received in one month is about $19,000 that it received from the
accumulation of issued citations.
Mr. Selim agreed with other speakers that street sweeping should be
conducted on different sides of the street on different days. Street sweeping
is a great inconvenience to the residents.
Jim Hedley, Decorah Rd., has not received a ticket. As difficult as the signs
are to read, the residents had about six months to get used to the program.
Several notices were mailed to his home. He had a copy of the chart in his
pocket. He agreed with many others that it behooves City officials to do a
better job of communicating the days, weeks and holidays that the street
sweeping would occur. Last week, for example, Monday was marked as a
holiday. Nevertheless, his trash was picked up on Monday. All of his
neighbors moved their cars on Tuesday and there was no street sweeper.
The street sweeper came on Wednesday. All of the cars were on the street.
That is bad communication.
Juan Velasquez, 21904 E. Paint Brush Ln., said he has the same problems
reading the signs. There are no signs on his street. He works split shifts.
Sometimes he gets home at 11:30 at night and with no reminder, he forgets
that the next morning is street sweeping. By the time he wakes up, the
sweeper has passed by and he has a ticket.
Clyde Hennessee felt the fee was too high. With respect to selective
ticketing, the sweeper travels so fast the CSO has a very limited time in
which to issue a ticket. The street sweeper often leaves debris on the streets.
This City knew that residents did not have adequate parking for demands
placed on them. This City sent a number of mailings to each residence over
a period of six months. There is no excuse for not having read at least one
of the communications. There should be no complaints about not knowing
where the signs are and not being able to read them. He doesn't like the
program but the intent of the program was good. There are many cities that
do not allow vehicles to be parked during the entire street sweeping day. It
does keep junk vehicles and debris off the street. The program does not
work unless the residents help make it work. There is no excuse for people
not complying.
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 7 CiTY COUNCIL
A resident wondered about the cost between one and two days of ttreet
sweeping.
PWD/Liu responded that the current bi-weekly contract is $130,000.
Alternate -side street sweeping would increase that amount by 50% to
$195,000, an additional $65,000. The additional $65,000 is for street
sweeping only and does not include ancillary charges.
Carmen Taylor asked why the City would not try to accommoda e its
residents. When people have emergencies, the City should take tha into
consideration. There are a lot of people who are not here to represent
themselves this evening who feel they are being treated unfairly. Sh felt
that sweeping alternate sides of the street would help solve a lot of prot lems
for a lot of residents.
M/Herrera explained that the purpose of tonight's meeting is to gather
residents input. No solutions will be offered this evening. Staff will tae all
recommendations under consideration and make its recommendation to
Council for consideration at the March 18 meeting.
RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS:
PWD/Liu stated that staff recently conducted its own quality assurance
program and monitoring of the City's street sweeping contract. He read
comments from staff members. Based on two weeks of observation, staff
believes that in general the contractor is doing a fairly good job but there is
room for improvement. Staff,, in coordination with the Sheriff's Department,
is tracking the speed of the street sweeper. The average speed nece sary
to complete effective service is between 5 and 10 miles per hour. It is
possible that during second passes the sweeper could move at a fasterate
of speed. The street sweeper does not pick up piles of debris because f the
possibility of hazardous waste, skeletal remains of dead animals, etc.
CM/Lowry explained that staff is seeking increased coordination among
various contractors to include tree trimming where necessary and folloN up
maintenance of excess debris sites, etc.
COUNCIL COMMENTS:
C/O'Connor said it was her understanding that gardeners, UPS, F dEx,
repair personnel, were not ticketed.
Deputy Dodd responded that C/O'Connor's assumption is correct. Se ice
providers are not cited.
C/O'Connor explained that the aforementioned would not apply to self-
employed individuals who parked their vehicles in front of their homes. She
agreed with the quality of the street sweeping. She has had debris du ped
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 8 CITY COUNCIL
in front of her curb and sidewalk area and had to clean it up on more than
one occasion. She has watched the street sweeper speed up and down the
streets. She felt the street sweeper should use more water during their
cleanup process. She believed the quality of the program could be improved.
C/Zirbes asked PWD/Liu to revisit alternate side street sweeping. How many
signs would be required, the approximate placement and approximate cost.
PWD/Liu explained that Option 5 would result in an additional cost of
$705,000 to the City. In order to implement Option 5, the following would be
required: signage for both sides of the street on light standards 150 feet
apart, for a total of 8,800 signs at $80 per sign for a total of $705,000.
C/Zirbes encouraged residents to consider signage every 150 feet on their
streets. The street sweeper drives fast on his street and felt the contractor
could do a better job. He recommended the City look at the current provider
and the $50 fine. He was encouraged by the comments received from the
community this evening.
C/Chang said the City recognizes that the street sweeping program is
effective but is most likely not being done as well as it could be done. The
City should look at this issue from the residents' points of view. Many
residents do not have a place to park during the hours of street sweeping.
It is easy to correct the placement of signs and the size of print. He believed
that the $50 was too harsh and that the quality of street sweeping is not to
the City's current standard of expectation. He strongly favored alternate side
street sweeping. He felt it would resolve the majority of the problems
expressed by the community. He thought that $65,000 was a worthwhile
expenditure to ensure a good quality of life for the residents. He did not
believe the City needed to spend $705,000 for additional signage. The
current signage cost only $12,000. If the signage was doubled for an
additional $12,000, it would suffice. Staff should thoroughly study the matter
before recommendations are made to the Council for consideration. He
thanked everyone for attending tonight's meeting and participating and for
expressing their concerns and ideas.
MPT/Huff asked what the legal requirement is for placing signage on
opposite sides of streets.
PWD/Liu explained that staff was not aware of any specific legal requirement.
High- density communities are advised to place signs a minimum of 400 to
500 feet. However, due to the layout of D.B.'s streets, there would not be
adequate coverage. Therefore, staff looked at the installation of light
standards and determined that they are generally spaced at 150 feet.
MPT/Huff felt it was clear from public comments that the City was under-
signed and that it was difficult to focus on signs placed at street corners. He
initially opposed this measure because he felt the City should be doing
1
1
FEBRUARY 25, 2003 PAGE 9 CNY COUNCIL
alternate side street sweeping and he still felt it was the best solution The
City also needs to address the matter of RV permits and for n rses,
housekeepers, etc. The City needs to trim overhanging trees. He d d not
believe it would work to have alternate side street sweeping on the same day
and he asked staff to reconsider doing opposite sides of the street Dvery
other week as recommended by a speaker. If there were a la , -k of
agreement on the Council, there would likely be neighborhoods where such
an accommodation would have to be implemented.
M/Herrera thanked the residents for their attendance and input. Council
realizes that all neighborhoods are not created equal and that this pro ram
would not work perfectly in every area. During the past year, modif icz tions
have been made to accommodate those differences. Staff will digest
comments made during this meeting and return to the Council on March 18
with recommendations. She stated that Council received a fax
communication from resident Emerson Chen, 20802 East Rim Ln. Mr. hen
was opposed to the program and the signs. He recommended swe ping
alternate sides of the street.
10. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to coni
M/Herrera adjourned the Town Hall Meeting at 8:19 p.m.
ATTEST.
CAROL HERRERA, MAYOR
LYNDA BURGESS, CITY CLERK