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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafe City - 1997-01-14 1 -- SAFECITY\1997-01-14 SAFE CITY COMMITTEE MINUTES JANUARY 14, 1997 The Safe City Committee held its meeting under the Chairmanship of Councillor Karen Redman and Trudy Beaulne with the following members present: Alan Richardson, Karen Taylor-Harrison, Rita Westbrook, Rahim Atabakhsh, Philip Fernandez and Nancy Brawley. Others Present:Brock Stanley, Julie Dean, Dianne Robertson, Bob Arnot and Avril Tanner (Minutes). Absent:Councillor Mark Yantzi, Susan Dub and Bryan Stortz. é ACTIVITY REPORT FOR FUTURE MEETINGS From: JANUARY 14, 1997 NAMECOMPLETION DATETO BE DONE Brock StanleyNext MeetingLook at including graphics Have a Draft Web Page All Committee MembersAs soon as possibleNotify Avril Tanner (2301) if you will be staying for the “Public Meeting” after the Safe City Meeting so she can make the proper catering arrangements All Committee MembersNext MeetingReview the 1997 Initiatives as we will be approving them at our next meeting. 2 -- ADMINISTRATIVE 1. APPROVAL OF JANUARY 14, 1997 AGENDA. Trudy Beaulne inquired if we were going to discuss the Regional Crime Prevention Report that was circulated to Committee members. It was decided to add this as item #6 under Working Group Reports. Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Rita Westbrook CARRIED. 2.APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 3, 1996 MINUTES It was agreed upon that the minutes of December 3, 1996 were an accurate reflection of what took place at the meeting. Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Rita Westbrook CARRIED. OTHER BUSINESS 1.DEMO OF CITY’S HOME PAGE ON THE INTERNET Avril Tanner introduced Dianne Robertson and indicated that Dianne would be giving us a demonstration of the City’s Home Page on the Internet. Dianne started by giving us a quick overview of what the Web Page looks like currently and gave the Committee an idea of the options available to us. She also indicated that if the Safe City Committee would like to be added to the City’s Home Page we would be included under the Council Committee Section. The following is a list of options that would be available: Pictures or Graphics could be added. 3 -- Calendar of Events with a direct link to specific sections of the Web Page. The Departments e-mail address could be included. The following is a list of questions that were asked after Dianne’s demonstration: 1.How much mail is received on a daily basis? Approximately 8 mail messages a day. 2.What kinds of requests are received? Some high technical questions (i.e. - Zoning) a lot of how do I get to..... questions. If a question can not be answered it is forwarded to the specific department that can deal with the type of question being asked. 3.Is the source of the request tracked? There is a monthly statistical report that lists the location of the requests. It was mentioned that the Environmental Committee page was set up by Larry Masseo and the Heritage page was set up by Leon Bensason. Brock explained that 2 different draft formats have been developed and we will review them when we move to the other meeting room. 4.Are we limited to the number of pages available for the Committee? No. 5.When you refer a request to another department how is it referred? Dianne saves and prints a hard copy and then sends to the specific department. If they had e-mail the request could be sent directly through the e-mail system. 6.Are there any minutes included on any of the web pages? No. 7.Could you make any suggestions for making the job easier to update on the web page? Anything typed in WordPerfect can be forwarded to Dianne and she can make the necessary changes. The document should be already developed and that would make it easier. 8.Is a monthly update reasonable? Yes. 9.How much lead time would be needed to put in a hot topic? 3 months would be too far ahead, Hot Topics are a quick blurb that can link to another page in the web page. 4 -- Brock indicated that we have developed two different approaches that could be taken. One is a more relaxed and the other one is of a more formal approach. He reviewed the two drafts and indicated that the more relaxed approach was developed from the brochure created last year. The Committee liked the more relaxed option as it seemed more friendlier and had more specific information. It was also mentioned that the Need Help section was a great idea. Rita wondered if we could include the Mission, Goals and Working Group sections from the more formal draft at the end of the more relaxed option even if it was a little repetitive. It was also suggested to include a list of all the Safe City Members and information on how to join the Committee should also be provided. Information should also be included on how they can join one of the Working Groups, how to help with a Special Project and an invitation to come and check us out should be given. It was noted that if we could get a general idea of how we would like the web page set up Dianne could create a draft of what it would look like on the screen for our next meeting. It was decided to use the more relaxed version and to include the Mission, Goals, Working Groups and a list of the current Committee members. It was also decided to include how to become a member and the Departments e-mail address (when it becomes available). Julie would like to expand the Current Initiative section of the Working Groups and set up as a direct link to an information page on that specific initiative. The web page should also include Key Agenda Items for the next 4 months. It was suggested that we move the Act part under the What We Want To Do section to the top of the list. Brock mentioned he would have a draft web page developed and will bring it to the next Committee meeting subject to Dianne Robertson’s availability to do the conversion. Avril reminded everyone that we can place pictures on the web page and Julie noted that we have a logo for the Safe City Committee that we could use. Trudy Beaulne suggested having jokes or something light & lively instead of only having text. Brock will look into having graphics and pictures added to the web page. 2.RESPONDING PROCEDURE FOR CURRENT EVENTS It was decided to defer this item until after the working group reports. 5 -- WORKING GROUP REPORTS 1.PRIORITY WORKING GROUP REPORT Julie noted that our 1997 Initiatives are completed and indicated she would like comments. We added a column called implemented in order to keep track of the initiatives. A lot of items scheduled for 1997 were bumped to 1998. If you would like to look at where a specific initiative was and where it has been moved to, initiatives for following years will be available for the next meeting. Julie noted that there were changes under Research and Education, and indicated that Rahim will be working on item # 1. Alan drafted two letters, one to the Chief of Police asking for information and statistics and one to the Boards of Education asking for statistics and information (the letters were sent under Karen’s name). A meeting will have to be scheduled with Trudy, Karen, Rahim and Julie to decide how to format the information received. This meeting time should be scheduled before the end of today’s meeting. Julie mentioned that Karen Taylor-Harrison and Rita Westbrook volunteered to be a part of the Research & Education Working Group. Nancy indicated that she would also like to be a part of this working group. Karen noted that they will contact Lori Grove to see if she would like to be included as well. It was also suggested that someone form the K-W Record Research Group might be a good resource person and that Brian Stortz may also be interested. Brock explained that the Planning Department is putting their Annual Report together and that the Safe City Committee would be included. He suggested that in light of this it would be a good idea to approve the initiatives listed for 1997 as they will be included in the report. It was decided that all Committee members would review the list of initiatives for 1997 and they will be approved at the next meeting. 2.SAFETY AUDIT WORKING GROUP REPORT Julie explained that a meeting was held this morning and a lot of questions arose about the SafeWalk Pilot Program. Julie noted she would like to get some clarity on these issues. Julie mentioned that at the February 4th Safe City Committee Meeting the Lighting Consultants will be addressing the Committee, looking for some direction from us and will be asking some questions. They will be choosing an approach that we decided on. The 6 -- Kitchener Downtown Advisory Committee will be invited to the February 4th meeting as well. Dinner will be provided for those people at the Safe City Meeting who wish to stay for the a “Public Meeting” being held after the Safe City Committee meeting. The “Public Meeting” will start at 7:00 p.m. and the Lighting Consultants will be seeking information from the people in attendance of what they see as problems, what their perception is and what they would like to see changed concerning lighting. It is thought that other problems will be raised about the downtown at the meeting as well. They may have questions about the safety audit, a decision should be made on if we will be giving any information out on the audit and if so how will this information be given (i.e. report, map, etc.). Please find attached a copy of Julie’s Flip Chart notes that she reviewed with the Committee concerning the SafeWalk Pilot Program. It was mentioned that if there is no community involvement then we do not have a SafeWalk Program as we can not do this job without input from the community. Julie mentioned we want to make maximum use of the consultants time at the next Safe City Committee Meeting, we must decide how we want to approach this. We need to think about the issue of the SafeWalk Pilot Program and whether it should be included or separated from the Lighting Issues or maybe Lighting is one section of the SafeWalk Component. April 1st there will be another public meeting where the consultants will share their direction with us . They will answer questions like: what type of lighting will be used, what type of standards will be used etc. On May 1st there will be another public meeting where the consultants will get into the specifics i.e. style of poles being used etc. Julie indicated that the goal is to have the lighting installed by Octoberfest. It was indicated that there are no other public meetings other than the February 4th meeting scheduled before the April meeting. Brock noted that the Safe City Committee could hold another meeting on our own without the consultants if required. It was suggested that maybe we should let people know about the SafeWalk option and have them sign up to help with this item. The purpose is to receive community input about the downtown from the community’s eyes. The aspect of safety should be involved to draw the people out to the meeting. It was indicated that whatever we say should include the word safety however should not lead them to believe that we will actually be walking through the city. When dealing with the consultants during negotiations it was decided that in order to decrease the costs we would take on more of the administrative functions. 7 -- After a lengthy discussion the following idea was decided on “Safe Passageways To Key Destinations Within The Community “ and a brochure will be developed that can be handed out. It was decided to defer the rest of the agenda items to the next meeting or the meeting after. Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Rita Westbrook CARRIED. Brock indicated that Susan Dub is no longer in the city so we are now short 2 members, é however, there is an individual that is interested in filling her position from Roof. It was decided to approach this person about joining the Committee and indicating to this person that they are not there to represent Roof but because of the experience they offer the Committee. A report will be sent to Planning Committee outlining this persons interest in the Committee. Moved By: Alan Richardson Seconded By: Trudy Beaulne CARRIED. Meeting adjourned: 6:20 pm. A. Tanner LIST OF ATTACHMENTS 1. Draft Samples of Web Page Layout. 2. 1997 Initiatives. 3. SafeWalk Pilot Program Notes. 4. Updated Working Group List. 5. Brochure for February 4th Meeting.