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CITY OF MERIDIAN
CITY OF BOISE
ADA COUNTY COMMISSION
ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT COMMISSION
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING AGENDA
Thursday, February 6, 2014
ACHD Auditorium, 3775 Adams Street, Garden City, Idaho
Roll -Call Attendance
David Zaremba 0 Joe Borton
Charlie Rountree Keith Bird
Genesis Milam Luke Cavener
Mayor Tammy de Weerd
1. Introduction and opening statements
2. Fairview Avenue Corridor Management Strategy
3. Discussion
4. Closing Remarks
Meridian City Council Special Joint Meeting with ACRD, City of Boise, and Ada County — February 6, 2014- Page 1 of 1
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Jaycee Holman
From:
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A o:
Cc:
Subject:
Robert E. Simison
Chief of Staff
Mayor Tammy de Weerd
Robert Simison
Wednesday, February 05, 2014 7:46 PM
Joe Borton; Luke Cavener; Genesis Milam
Jaycee Holman
Fwd: Speech I would have given at ACHD mtg.
Begin forwarded message:
From: Mark Peterson <mpeterson a,petersoncars.net>
Date: February 5, 2014 at 5:15:24 PM MST
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Subject: Speech I would have given at ACHD mtg.
Hello Mayors, members of City Councils and ACHD Commissioners,
I was originally asked to speak tomorrow for the businesses on Fairview as part of a
"collaborative" effort. At the last minute today I have been asked not to speak. Further evidence
that this effort has not be "collaborative" at all.
Here is the short speech I would have given:
VOICE OF THE FAIRVIEW BUSINESSES
I would like to thank Jeff and ACHD for the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the
stakeholders and the businesses that make up Fairview Avenue.
We all know Fairview is special, it has a culture of it's own. It is a true avenue of small business
unique to any other roadway in Idaho. In Automobiles, my business, 24% of all the new cars sold
in Idaho are on Fairview Avenue. But it's far more than just cars, Fairview represents the true
entrepreneurial spirit of the small business. So critical to what makes America great. There are
thousands of different kinds of business's like Debbie Sager's Dance Unlimited that has taught
dance to hundreds of young women ages 2 to adult for the last 15 years. Or George's Bikes who
moved to Fairview because of the thousands of cars and potential customers that pass by his
doors every day and may need a bike... With Tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of
thousands of customers Fairview is an unmatched producer of jobs and tax revenue for Boise,
Meridian, Ada County and all of Idaho. We need to be careful with how we treat Fairview.
Let's take a look at some statistics (ya know, statistics are interesting because they can usually be
presented in a certain way to support a certain argument) for example: ACRD reports that for the
5 years from 2007 to 2011 nearly 400 crashes were reported on Fairview every year. Sounds like
a lot. But not when you consider that over 35,000 miles cars per day travel it. That's over
12,000,000 car trips per year or a crash rating of only .0033%. Of these accidents, most are rear
end collisions and over 85% resulted in only minor damage. The vast majority of accidents on
Fairview are small fender benders.
Even in knowing this the stakeholders were excited to work with ACHD and the cities to develop
strategies to make Fairview even safer and ensure that safety long into the future. Some of the
strategies we agreed on were:
Reducing conflicts near intersections
Improving turning lanes
Reducing the number of driveways where it makes sense
Better signal light timing and coordination
Completing sidewalk gaps
and the list goes on.....
One radical strategy we strongly disagreed with was the construction of non -traversable medians.
Medians may best increase safety on high speed corridors like Highway 55 Eagle Road. But
Fairview is a much slower moving retail Avenue. Data shows that of the accidents occurring on
Fairview only a small percentage could be prevented by installing non traversable medians. On
the other hand, medians present the probability of increasing crashes by adding forced U-turns in
intersections, where the majority of accidents occur.
Surveys have shown that the Public, the every day person who works, lives or drives on Fairview
strongly oppose the idea of medians on Fairview. In response to ACHD's open meeting for
proposed strategies on Fairview, public opinion showed that nearly 80% opposed medians on
Fairview... Last Friday, KTVB posted a story on Fairview medians and over 95% opposed the
idea. I can't recall when an issue has ever met with that much negative response. We all know the
Voice of the public cannot simply be ignored on this issue. Medians represent so much more
than just a "little inconvenience".
In summary, we're all for safety on Fairview, but let's not make hasty or radical moves we may
all regret. As Stakeholders we were asked to be part of a collaborative effort, we gave our input
and then we were "told" what the answers were. it was a flawed process out of which came a
radical solution, medians, which would drive out business, eliminate jobs, shrivel up tax
revenues and frustrate the entire public. Together, we have come up with so may other great
ideas. Let's put these in place and keep Fairview the vibrant and safe business avenue we all
want it to be so that business's like Debbie Sager's Dance Unlimited and George's Bikes can
succeed and keep serving the people of our great communities long into the future.
Thank you
Mark Peterson