Okay, we are we are live and good. All
right, so good evening. I as opposed to
our council president since she is
absent.
Now I will start again and get this
meeting started um so that we can move
forward. I'm going to ask Mr. at peak to
call the role and then council can
figure out who they want to appoint as
president prom.
Mr. Marcelino present, Mr.
Hurley, Miss Fible here, Miss Sad here,
Miss
Lankey, Mr. Markham, and Mr. Silverman
present.
Um, so I'm aware of I don't know how
we'll handle this, but I'm aware of Miss
Lamkey's um excused absence for travel
and the others I'm assuming are Mr.
Hurley just came in. He's on his way and
then Mr. Markham will be joining us here
in a few minutes. Yep. So, so then I
would like to make a motion to appoint
um Jessica Sad as our president of town.
Second
voice vote is fine if that's okay with
you guys.
All those in favor by saying I I those
opposed say sign. Beautiful.
You want to make a motion to excuse
Mon'nique? Yes. I would like to make a
motion to excuse President Lami.
Second. All those in favor? I.
All right. Welcome to City Hall tonight.
We have a nice group uh in the audience
tonight and we're going to be hearing
from some very impressive speakers which
we're excited about. So, I would like to
call to order our city council meeting
for Tuesday, April 22nd,
2025. If there is anyone in attendance
tonight that would like to fill out a
speaker slip, please do at this time and
turn it in to Auditor McPeek over here
to my left. Um, and if you would um,
please join me in the pledge of
allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
With that being said, I'm going to hand
it over to Mayor Kesler to do some
introductions for us tonight on our
special guests. Thank you, Miss Sad.
Madame acting president. What is the
correct uh honorary president prom? Um I
we are honored to have our senator
Hershel Craig here to say hello. So,
Senator Craig, if you want to step up to
the podium and uh there we go.
Uh, Senator Craig serves us so well as
in the 15th district, uh, which includes
Columbus and Beexley, portions of
Columbus and Beexley. Uh, formerly a
member of the Ohio House of
Representatives, formerly a Columbus
City Council member, but always a
friend. Uh, Senator Craig, you have
always been such a stalwart uh, and and
strong supporter of Beexley and our
people. So, I thank you for being here
tonight. And the floor is yours. You
need to push the button on that
microphone, though. We're high-tech.
There you go. You got it. You're good to
go. Well, good evening
everyone. Good evening
everyone. Let me thank you for this
awesome privilege. And if you'll join me
and in saluting our great mayor, mayor,
would you would you uh honor him with
applause tonight?
And thank him also for our council, our
Beexley council. Would you give them a
huge round of applause for
you? Let me thank you uh for the
privilege of being with you tonight. I
won't be with you long. I I uh wanted to
come really to say thank you. Uh so much
of what you do because in Columbus, as
you know, so much of the work is
regional and uh we are partners in this
work. the 15th Senate District. As the
mayor's already mentioned, I have the
awesome privilege
uh of representing Beexsley, Whiteall,
uh the south side of Columbus, some
parts of the north of the north side and
and uh uh just about 400,000 people. Uh
and so for me to be here tonight
particularly
uh as you know we've got some real
challenges before us in the Senate. In
fact, the uh the budget has moved from
the house and we will start engaging uh
in the budget uh in the senate in the
senate uh uh here very soon and I know
the mayor has been so helpful and many
of you around these issues are so vital
to our families and our children. uh
this issue around libraries which is so
important, so vital uh to our families.
Uh we fought vigorously
uh on that issue where we'll continue to
be present uh uh the issue around making
sure that all of our families have
wholesome food, making sure that they're
getting their food uh needs met. Uh
there are lots of other issues. this
issue around property taxes. We're
looking at that copiously uh making sure
that there are not unintended
consequences that we're looking at that
issue uh in a way that uh can be helpful
to all families. So, we have lots of
work to do. Uh but we can't do that work
by ourselves or in a silo. And that's
why tonight is so important uh to you
and those that that serve on on
Beexley's council with whom I love
dearly, so many of you, all of you uh
and the work that you do do here to lift
up families uh to make sure that it is
inclusive
uh and that all families needs are met
uh and that we continue to have a strong
community, a viable community. And so
I'm so honored to be before you tonight.
It is really my honor to do that. And so
wanted to come by personally to let you
know how much I appreciate appreciate
you. What an honor it is for me to serve
with you. You know, I'm at the Beexley
Library writing sermons about once a
week. They think I work there. And so um
uh we we honor you. We are thankful for
you and all that you do to lift up this
community. Uh and so I just wanted to
say tonight uh to you I thought about
the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. His mentor uh was a man
named Benjamin Maize the mentor the
mentor uh uh the uh uh that served
Morehouse College as their ameritus
president. He said this I only have a
minute only 60 seconds in it forced upon
me. Can't refuse it. Didn't seek it.
didn't choose it, but it's up to me to
use it. I must suffer if I lose it. Give
account if I abuse it just a tiny little
minute, but eternity is in it. God bless
you and have a wonderful evening.
Thank you for Thank you for joining us,
Senator. Um tough act to follow. Uh but
uh we have uh two visitors here from
Spec Dempsey, Jeff Speck and Johny. And
um they are as you all know they are
helping us launch our commercial design
guidelines and streetscape guidelines
update with a walkability study of
Beexley and then a talk and if you guys
want to come up and just talk about what
you're doing and say hi and answer any
hard-hitting questions that uh council
might throw your
way. Hi everyone. Is this still on? It
is. Mayor Kesler, thank you. Council
members, thank you. Senator, thank you
for being here as well. Um, we just flew
in this morning from Boston where Spect
firm is based. Uh, I like to joke that I
have the best job in America, which is I
get to show up in cities and walk
around, tell them what's wrong with
them, and then
leave. Um, but it's a little more
complicated than that. Uh, we look for
opportunities, we look for potential. We
see a lot here. Um we also see if I can
if I can speak um uh prematurely because
the real show is tomorrow night. Um you
guys are already doing a lot of stuff
that is in the best practices that we
recommend to other cities. And one of
the best best parts of our job also is
that we um get to visit so many
different cities and see what all the
latest technologies are if I can use
that word. It's a fancy word for a
simple thing which is you know what is
the shape of your of your of your town?
What is the shape of your streets? What
uh what is the experience of of using
them? Uh we your city planners, we talk
a lot about walkability, but walkability
is really just a window through which to
to determine the success and and and and
aid in the success of an urban place.
So, um we kick the tires in that way. Uh
we'll be presenting tomorrow night at 7
pm in Drexal Theater. Did I get that
right? Um, and uh, we'll have a lot to
say both about national and
international best practices and making
cities more walkable, but also very much
things we found here, opportunities we
see and suggestions we have for you. Uh,
and since you said I could, I will ask
uh, maybe this isn't the forum and we'll
be meeting with more folks tomorrow. We
met with a bunch of folks today and some
of you. Um, but I will ask if anyone
wants to give us any advice publicly
here in front of all your colleagues uh
about issues that you'd like to see
addressed surrounding the walkability of
Beexley, please uh please raise your
voices.
Would anyone like to go? I mean, I it
I'm so excited that you're here and as
we spoke before, I got to see you at the
sustainability conference in Columbus
and you've done some great work. Bike
lanes figuring it out. you know, we're
already road dieted in this community,
so just focusing on those bike lanes and
how to merge that with the current
traffic we have on these slim streets.
Thank you, Mr. Marcelino. Yeah, when we
uh, you know, talk to people from
outside of Beexley or even neighboring
communities and such. I know a lot of
things out here just how walkable and
how great it is to see families out and
about, whether it be walking a dog,
riding a bike, or otherwise. And I
think, you know, one thing that
separates our communities from others
are those sidewalks because they're
everywhere except for we can probably
count them on two hands. How many
streets don't have sidewalks on them?
Um, and so whatever development you're
recommending, I always just, you know,
encourage you to keep that in mind. And
obviously, I think that's the plan. But,
uh, we see a lot of development coming
and, uh, we want to make sure that with
that development comes that same access
to maneuver without cars and such.
Thank you.
Well, without further ado, uh we will
see I hope many of you uh tomorrow night
uh at 7 and we're very excited to uh to
have a lot to show you which means we're
going to leave and get to work right
now. All right. Thanks so much. Thank
you.
All right. So, as we head into um our
ordinance with our visiting presenters,
Kota tonight, I wanted to just kind of
remind our audience that we're lucky to
have with us tonight a few things about
public comments. Public comments are the
public's chance to share their
thoughts as to matters involving city
business or ordinance and resolutions.
This is not a back and forth process,
nor is it a debate. whether council will
respectfully listen to your comments.
Comments that violate our policy, such
as personal attacks or disparaging
comments, may result in termination of
the comments. The policy is available
online and is printed on the speaker
slips just outside our council chambers.
Each speaker can speak up to five
minutes, and tonight, Mr. Official will
be keeping time for us. If there are any
questions asked during public comment,
the council president will do their best
to write down those questions as they
occur. And once the public comment is
concluded, the council president will
refer the matter to the appropriate
council member or the city
administration for a response as soon as
possible. If there are no questions
asked during public comment, please know
that we appreciate and thank you for
your comments.
I it might be I just know there are
several people that came here to speak
tonight, so we might want to remind them
because this is the second reading, they
will need a speaker slip to speak. So,
if you've not handed in a speaker slip,
they are in the lobby and you can bring
them to Mr. McPeek.
All right. Thank you. Thank you. Yes.
And with that being said, I'm going to
hand it over um resolution
2-25 to Mr. Silverman. So, sh I'll read
it first though. Okay. So this the
second reading of resolution
02-25 to support the link us bus rapid
transit route on Main Street including
the planned median station on Main
Street west of Pleasant Ridge Avenue
introduced by Miss Lamkey substituting
Abley is Mr. Sil Mr. Official thank you
Mr. official. Thank you, Proim Sad. Um,
so as introduced, this resolution is to
discuss the planned BRT transit terminal
uh located in Beexley. Um, and this
would currently authorize
a support of the location being on
Pleasant Ridge and Main Street. Um, if
you remember the Kota link sales tax
initiative was passed this past November
with the 57% voter approval and in
Beexley it was 68%. To speak more
specifically about that, I'm going to
hand it off to Mayor
Kesler. Thank you, Councilman Silverman.
Um, just to also kind of give a little
bit more background before I hand it
over to Megan and I know you guys heard
plenty of me talking at the last
meeting. Um, this has been a multi-year
process to get to where we're talking
about about the current proposal with
the current stop. Um, anyone interested
in learning how we got to where we are
at this point, um,
beexley.org/link us is a website that
has a lot of historical information and
also up-to-date information including,
for example, the latest uh, business
meeting that we have coming up. Um, link
us has been in the works for many years.
Uh we've been engaging with Kota for
many years as they have sought to
elevate the status of public transit in
central Ohio. Um and I say for me
personally um as and in my capacity as
mayor um elevating the standard of
transit, public transit in central Ohio
is an incredibly vital thing for our
region. Um we have for far too long been
underinvested in public transit and
could have made a really good case for
that. um during the latest levy how we
have survived on less funding than peer
networks uh throughout the state and
throughout the country. Um and we've
also seen what link what KOD has done in
recent years with really award-winning
elevation of service and stepping up and
doing more for our region. And we know
that as we face a radical influx of new
housing needs and population and jobs in
the state and as we see the cost of
everything rising, housing, especially
transportation, the cost of owning a
vehicle is higher than it's ever been
before and only growing. Uh that having
good transit options is important for
residents from all backgrounds, for
visitors, for workers. And so we are um
I would characterize that from myself
and staff who's been working on this,
we're ri we're rigorously in favor of
elevating that transit. Linkus is is the
solution that right now we're moving
forwards as a region towards. Alex made
the point Beexley voters approved the
links levy which isn't just improving
link us. improving the tax for Lake us
uh by 67% 10 points better uh than the
overall uh service area uh for Kota. And
so our our community is behind this. Um
we know that we're going to be bringing
uh much faster transit to Main Street
and we have worked literally studying
every single intersection that we have
in Beexley on Main Street and all of its
very various particulars. um along with
a council working group uh that asked a
lot of really good questions and the
more that we studied and knew some of
the infrastructure around it, the
current proposal seems to be the one
that makes the most sense for Main
Street. But, you know, we've continued
to talk about it and learn and I think a
lot of this is about learning and
understanding why we are where we are
and hearing feedback from every sector
of our community. So, with that, I'm
going to pass this over to Megan, who
has prepared a presentation, and then
she will pass it on over to Kota.
Thank you, Mayor Kesler. Um, so I know
that you had kind of a refresh of where
we were in the process at the last
meeting, but I think it's worth kind of
revisiting again here. Um, so in my
capacity as director of administration
and development, I have the pleasure to
work with KOD on an ongoing basis. I
actually worked with them previously in
my role in Whiteall and so I've seen
where this has started and where it is
going um and I've been there along the
way and something that we get to benefit
from staff is that we get to talk about
this weekly if not more frequently and
it's a good reminder and the council
working group um reminded us that you
know as we go along and as we engage we
do need touch points and so that's what
I've been asked to talk about today is
the touch point that we've had with
residents and business owners ers lately
um by way of the survey that we're
hosting and the follow-up that we'll do
from that survey. So, I just wanted to
give you a quick uh snapshot of what
those results looked like and address a
couple of the higher level concerns that
we saw out of that survey. Um and then
I'm going to kick it over to Kota and
let them really get more into the
technical detail. Um so, if I can have
the next slide. Engagement to date. Um
you saw this last time. Um but this is
kind of high level where we are.
Obviously you understand it's a
multi-year initiative. We have both
things that the city administration is
involved in and we have things that are
more open to the public. So moving to
the next slide kind of checking in where
are we now? Um prior to um the passing
of the guest ballot initiative there
were a few years of various check-in
points. Um this is along the way we
would have uh designated Main Street as
what they call the locally preferred
alternative meaning that that will be
the BRT route through Beexley traveling
east west. Um and so that happened along
the way there. Also along the way here
we had the working group form um council
members Marcelino and Sad um and I'm
sorry I'm drawing a blank and I'm sorry
President Lampy I'm looking for it. I'm
not seeing her. and President Lampy have
been meeting with us um pretty regularly
for the last few months and making sure
that they understand the technical
details so that they can come and talk
back to council and to the community as
uh a whole and make sure that we're
answering all of their questions and
asking the tough questions as this is
you know put into actual reality. So
somewhere along the way um after the
October ballot initiative, we really
started to zero in on the station
location question, which is what's
before you tonight, of course, and the
working group began to question, um and
and ask for an evaluation of each
individual intersection along Main
Street to give us the pros and cons.
What is truly the best location for a
station in Beexley? So that happened
sometime after the passage of the ballot
initiative. You'll remember that at the
time when that went to the ballot, it
was going to be at Drexel and Maine. So
any of the literature that residents
would have seen prior to voting would
have had that on the station location.
We'll get in a little bit more with the
KOD team as to why we think that this is
a better location. Um but there is more
information in that background memo in
the council agenda packet for tonight.
So with the changing of the station
location, this is the check-in point. Um
this is new information that the
community and the businesses immediately
adjacent to the new station may not have
heard yet. And so by way of the survey
and our upcoming meet your street um we
really hope to get um more feedback and
answer questions from those immediately
adjacent businesses. Um also the survey
has been a great tool um because it was
not anonymous. We do have information
and specific questions from those
closest and most impacted by the station
that we're going to follow up with
whether the mayor or I follow up with
them directly or both in some cases. Um
and so just to make sure that everyone's
being heard and has a clear
understanding. So, with all of that,
what have we heard so far? Um, and this
is also available if anyone's interested
in the council packet as well. Um, so we
conducted this survey. It's been live
for about two weeks. It was very
open-ended asking here is the
information we have. Here's why Pleasant
Ridge is being suggested. What is your
basic feedback on that? And so, the
mayor and I worked through um the data
and tried to high level summarize it. Um
but the full comments are available as
well to council and have been shared
with council. Um so if you want to
continue on what have we found so far.
Um so in reading through the responses
we did tally up is this comment
generally in support of the bus rapid
transit coming down Main Street um or is
it generally against? And so um just by
you know flavor of the comments how did
that shake out? About three4s of the
comments were generally supportive. Um,
and so that's wonderful, but we also
know that that 17.6% is meaningful and
we need to address their questions. So,
moving on, um, we also went through and
drew out any responses that specifically
talked about Pleasant Ridges, the
location, and about 60% were generally
supportive, said something positive
about that station location being
selected, with about 19% saying
something specifically um, concerning
about that being selected as a station
location.
So, what were those concerns? Right? So,
now we need to ask the why. Why is this
of concern for you? Um, and so just
going through and tallying them the best
we could into these general buckets. The
largest concern we saw definitely was
traffic congestion. Um, I can't help but
think that people would think this no
matter where we were posed a um location
on Main Street, but I do want to address
it directly, which I'll do after we kind
of summarize these um impact to the
intersection turning patterns. As you
know, that intersection is offset um
between Pleasant Ridge and Dawson. And
so, more so um concerns, more questions.
Will it be addressed? Will traffic
patterns change? I can tell you right
now, traffic patterns will not change
from the BRT. Any turn that is currently
illegal will stay illegal. Um there's no
additional median being built, let's
say, east of the intersection that would
prohibit left-hand turns. Um so, all
traffic ma patterns would be maintained.
Um we did see quite a few questions
about proximity to or safety of the
preschoolers nearby. And so um I do want
to take a moment now to address that
directly. Um something that we know
about bus riders and the use of bus
stops now in Beexley is that they have
not caused significant problems
specifically in front of schools. We
know we have a current number two bus
stop right in front of Montro which is
also a preschool. Um and there have been
no recurrent incidents there. nothing of
concern with the adjacency of a bus line
to a um school location. Um and so
that's something I want to remind people
of. You know, Beexley is interconnected.
We are surrounded completely by the city
of Columbus. We do serve as a
thoroughare to go east west through the
region. That's not going to change based
on the BRT station. Um that that will
continue. Something that is true with or
without the BRT is Kota's high
commitment to maintaining safety both of
the riders and the people near these
stations. Um and in fact BRT will make
it safer for people to ride the bus. It
will also make it more accessible for
people to ride the bus. Something that's
really wonderful about the current
station design is that it has a bullnose
which if you want to go ahead and show
to down
there. Oh, I'm sorry. The other way.
Keep going. There you go. Um, so if you
are looking to cross Main Street
anywhere nearby this intersection, this
will be the most safe crosswalk that we
have. Why? Because of that protected
bullnose there. Um, something too that
I've heard is concern about a center
load station. Um, you know, why wouldn't
we have them on the external sides of
the road? Wouldn't that be safer? Um,
something that we know about BRT
stations from their existence in other
major metropolitan areas is that just
having them there is a traffic calming
mechanism in and of themselves. They do
have more prominence than a simple sign
on the side of the road. People are
aware of the location. So, not only is
it protected in a raised platform, it's
much much more noticeable to a driver
coming by and does encourage people to
slow down. So, I did just want to
address that safety component as well.
Going back to traffic congestion, I do
know that Cota is going to speak to this
a little bit more, but I do want to
ensure you know everybody in the room
that something that we do balance in
Beexley is traffic calming. We do
intentionally want people to travel um
at the speed limit through Beexley.
That's part of why we have the medians
and street trees that we have. Um we
don't want people flying through like
this as a highway. So on one hand, you
do want some congestion, some level of
good congestion. Something that we also
know about the way the region is
changing that is that as the population
grows, we need a way to divert the cars
off the roadway. That is what the BRT is
planned to do. So, do I anticipate all
Beexley residents to go and start using
the BRT the day it opens in 2029? No,
absolutely not. I know that that's not
feasible. But I do know that as the
region grows 10, 15 years down the road,
we're going to start diverting those
cars into these buses and they're going
to be more reliable than they are today.
Uh beyond that, the other thing we know
is that the actual stop time at the BRTs
is relatively quick. We're talking
somewhere between 16 to 17 seconds of a
stop at this station four times an hour.
That will be a drop in the water bucket
um with the traffic that is currently on
Main Street. And so what we have also
heard with congestion is, well, what
about the proximity to the number two in
the stations that are at Drexal
currently? And that's a great question.
Um something that I want to you know
make sure that people are aware of is
that the number two will remain um it
has to remain per federal guidelines for
five years after this opens. Um the
amount of times it stops and the
frequency of the stops um can change in
that 5-year time frame. It should also
remain something that I think has gotten
lost in our conversation is that that is
a transfer point. You want the number
two to be somewhere nearby your BRT stop
because people use the underlying
service to get to the BRT just like
making a transfer on any other train.
Um, from a traffic engineering
perspective, they are far enough away
from each other that it should not cause
any kind of pattern that people could
not maneuver around if needed. Um, and
we do not have um reason to believe that
they would frequently be stopping at the
same time regardless. At the same time,
as more people begin using the BRT,
we'll see less people use the number
two. if there's not somebody wanting to
get off the number two bus or not
somebody at the station physically
wanting to get onto the number two bus,
the bus doesn't have to stop. Um, and so
as the BRT gains popularity, we do
anticipate that number two stop to go
down in frequency of use. And so I did
just want to address again those two,
traffic congestion and safety. Um,
because I really do think that's what it
comes down to. Um, and I will let Kota
do that a little bit more. Um, and so
with that, um, I'll ask any questions
yet, or should we go ahead and kick it
over to Kota?
Any questions from council?
Mr. Hurley, just a survey question. I
want to make sure I'm reading this
correctly. So, we had 85 respondents. I
guess first question, is the survey
still live? Okay. Um, but if I'm looking
at your the bar charts here, so of those
85 respondents, only 72 were able to be
put into one of these four categories
that if somebody didn't specifically say
something that was indicative one way or
the other, they weren't tallied. Okay.
All right. Thanks. I just want to make
sure I was understanding that. Yeah.
Okay. Some questions like without any
sort of conclusion about how they felt
about it, right? like how much will this
cost or something along those lines.
Okay, Mr. Marcelino, thanks. Uh, since
it's still open and ongoing, are we
going to just send it out again? Um, can
we continue to send it out this Friday
just as word spreads? Just I'd like to
that we typically would like whatever
you want. We would typically advertise a
couple of blasts and then at some point
in time since it's still an active uh
you know ordinance and everything in
terms of the vote I wouldn't mind
keeping it open at least for another
week and then maybe you can put final
dates so that way everybody knows but
just so we have some there. One thing we
found is like the when we listed
multiple weeks we get the same people
providing feedback. So which is helpful
because we're able to then kind of make
sure that we're not changing the
statistics. Ken Bessler three times
over. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Skewing the results. See what you're
doing there. Yeah. Thank you, Mr.
Marcelo. And I think that's it from
council. Yes. Okay. Well, we have more
to come here and so I would like to go
ahead and invite our guests um from Kota
to go ahead and introduce themselves and
give us more technical detail.
I'm live, right? Buttons pushed. We're
good. Good evening, everybody. Thank you
for the invitation. Mayor Kesler, Megan,
really appreciate it. Great to introduce
myself to all of you as well as the team
from Kota here behind me. I'm Patrick
Harris, chief of external relations with
uh Kota, Central Iowa Transit Authority.
Been there about seven years. And of
those seven years, I will say link us
has been something that we have been
focused on for for many for for most of
those days since I've been in Kota and
listening to Mayor Kesler talk. I can
remember a meeting I think four years
ago here in this building when we really
started to talk about what the East Main
corridor could look like. So really
appreciate the engagement uh both by the
city of Beexley, others along the East
Main Corridor. Um as we continue down
this process, as I mentioned, I've got a
few folks from KOD up behind me. Um Kim
Sharp, our senior director of
development, who will be handling the
bulk of this presentation here to talk
more about the technical pieces, which I
think everybody here is most interested
in. Will follow me quickly. But I also
have Keith Leon, who is our senior
director of risk joining us as well. Um
we have a member of Kimley Horn who's
the engineering team um on the east main
corridor and also want to mention that
we have a trustee of the board of
trustees here today Mr. Kumi Walker who
has served on Kota board now for I think
four or five years originally serving as
Beexley's appointee and then when that
appointment um rolled off then he was
then appointed by the uh city of
Columbus. So we appreciate his
leadership and certain continued
representation of Beexley and those
along the east corridor. Um next slide
there please. Do I have a clicker or is
that you?
Perfect. Question answered. Um before I
turn it over to Kim, just a few things.
Um if you're not familiar with code on
our leadership team structure, we've had
some change there in the last few years.
Um we have a new president and CEO,
Monica Tea Fowler. If you have not met
her, we're happy to set up time for you
to meet with her. She is fantastic. Uh
what I want to point out about Monica is
that she has built these things before.
Um she comes from two large urban areas.
one, the city of Dallas Fort Worth area,
where she helped build a rail connection
between DFW airport and the city of Fort
Worth, a large capital construction
process that also had right away um and
went through many other municipalities
between uh the airport and Fort Worth.
And then before coming to out of
Vancouver, Washington, a community just
across from Portland, Oregon, where she
helped launch um one BRT and was
important team member in a future launch
of a BRT system there. So her coming to
Kota was very purposeful and her
leadership has been really important to
us at Kota as we are heading down a
pathway that as a large transit agency,
we're the only ones in the country
though who that are around our size that
do not have rapid transit. And I think
somebody on here mentioned fast and
that's what we want to build here is
something fast to help get cars up the
street um and become a much more
regional transit um um institution to
help support all the growth that's
happening here in in the region. So,
next slide.
I don't want to spend too much time here
because I'm really here to talk a little
bit about the the the crossing that um
Megan spoke to, but if you're not
familiar with link US, it has been a
plan that was developed by Kota, city of
Columbus, many municipalities through
our throughout our 562 square mile
transit service area as well the middle
high regional planning commission and
later on Columbus Partnership and other
partners. Everybody knows the growth
that's happening here in central Ohio. I
don't have to name all the statistics,
but I'll keep pointing to 700,000 to a
million new people moving here in the
next 20 to 25 years. People talk about
congestion being concern of the project
we're doing. I will say that if we do
not have other forms of transportation
in our region, congestion will be worse.
Congestion is going to happen no matter
what when you have a lot of people
coming to the region. So, we have to
plan and think differently than we have
in central Ohio uh for quite some time.
So, um, my offer to all of you is if I
could ever be a resource to talk more
about LinkUS individually, happy to do
so. But with that, I want to turn it
over to our senior director of
development, Kim Sharp, to talk more
specifically about the topic on the
agenda here today. So, Kim,
Mayor Kesler, Council, thank you for
having us. We're very excited about this
project. We're very excited and happy to
work with all of the cities along our
BRT corridors. So, East Maine represents
13 miles. One mile of that is within the
city of Beexley. And in those 13 miles,
there's access to
um this is why I can't see to two
hospitals, 24 grocery stores, 17 K
through 12 schools, 23 daycare
facilities, and 15armacies. There's a
number of those right here in this one
mile of Beexley. and access to those
amenities are really important to people
who live, work, play, visit along the
corridor. The 23, you guys have been
talking about the growth projections.
Um, we demonstrate the fact that our
region is growing and unless we get in
front of that growth with access to
these amenities, um, we are learning
lessons from Austin and from Charlotte
that it's that it's challenging to
really get around. The next slide,
please. The Pleasant Ridge BRT station
is the onetop located in in the city.
It's a service for your residents, your
students, workers, and visitors. Having
this stop within close proximity makes
it extremely walkable. It also helps
complete the system. And we can talk
more about these data points um at
especially if we're Q&A, but the dash
line you see around each of these
stations represents one half mile, which
is about a 10-minute walk. And that
shows uh research shows, and I think Mr.
Um, spec will talk about this tomorrow.
The average that Americans will walk is
around 10 minutes to get to and from
places. Therefore, that walkable access
to transit is really important to the
community and to the system
overall. And these other systems um the
other stops are in close proximity but
further outside that. And we can answer
more questions about this, but without
the stop there is a gap in the system. I
want to go on to some other numbers. We
can come back to this if you want.
It is. And as Megan mentioned, it is
intended and expected for line two to
underline for a while, for a time. The
national average is showing three to
five years it takes for we're using the
word wean people off of the regular line
um and onto the BRT line. It's a matter
of learning to use the faster system or
wanting to use that faster system. And
line two is simply slower for many
reasons. One is there's a lot more
stops. Um this is the construction
schedule is being represented right now.
It is many years of design, engineering,
right ofway um of which we don't need
any in in the city of Wester City of
Westerville, I'm so sorry, city of
Beexley. I live in
Westerville. Um utility work, but you'll
note what's in the dashed blue line,
blue square is representing about four
months of construction about that would
be for the one construction of the one
BRT station, uh the proposed station in
Beexley.
So the next slide, communication. I
think Megan spent a good amount of time
talking about communication. This is
more about communication going forward.
We are preparing materials, but what's
really important is that we always want
to work with you. We are with you as a
team to ensure these public meetings uh
make sense and that we are clean and
we're consistent and we are talking
about what's meaningful and important to
this community and to you as leaders of
the community. When we have stakeholder
meetings, this really are at the
recommendation of Mayor Kesler and his
staff. And we're happy to meet with
whatever group or whatever businesses
would like to learn more details, have
more questions, have concerns, we will
absolutely meet with them and we'll do
it right alongside with you, with your
staff, uh, whatever is your comfort
level. Uh, the next slide is outlining
parking. So, we're now drilling into the
station location at Pleasant Ridge
Avenue and Main Street. The blue is
outlining the station in the middle of
the street and you'll note these are uh
denoting parking restrictions. So you
see the black line is no parking.
There's currently no parking allowed at
the corner area and then it goes into
two-hour parking during certain times.
At this point in time, there is no uh
requirement. Um this project does not
require any parking spaces to be moved.
As we work through um traffic analysis,
maneuverability, etc., and really look
at those suggestions, there may be you
may want to say maybe two to four spaces
may want to move, but that's going to be
a conversation at this
level. Zoning map is the next one.
Beexley zoning and land use as mentioned
earlier is very walkable. Let me We're
drilling into the station. Why Pleasant
Ridge Avenue? As was mentioned earlier,
we started at Drexel. Where you locate
stops is really where the people are,
where the jobs are, where the students
are, where people are coming and going.
Therefore, Drexel is a highly usable um
place with a lot of
pedestrians. That's why it started
there. But we had a lot of really good
feedback from your team about the
traffic movements, about the pedestrian
activity, about the access, about the
parking impacts, and about the desired
median configuration. So that feedback
along with some other data is why it was
moved to Pleasant Ridge. And Pleasant
Ridge still maintains the best access
for Beexley's. Current 370 plus people a
day utilize your four stations in
Beexley. 87% of Beexley's main street is
within a half a mile of the Pleasant
Ridge BRT station. So that is quite a
bit is in the walkable area. Next
slide. Zoning. Beexley's zoning and land
use goals. You are very walkable and
it's something to be really proud of. It
also makes it really easy to access this
type of mobility choice. And we wanted
to point out that within a half a mile
of of this station are 1,900 plus jobs
and almost 5,000 residents are within a
10-minute walk of the station. And I
think the next slide is the engineering
drawer. Okay, this is the graphic of the
station overall. And you can see on the
far right, it's it's pretty light, but
you see the crosswalk and what Megan was
referring to earlier, the little bulb at
the end
is concrete and that really protects
pedestrians. There in the middle there's
a ramp up. People access the station and
there is landscaping. There is it is
very well lit. There is the call box.
People are sheltered from the weather.
There's real time arrival displays.
There's a place to get tickets or
download the app, etc. And I think the
next slide we're going to look a little
bit more at the engineering drawings to
kind of talk about I heard some
questions regarding the amount of um
movement. We are moving within the
rightway. We're not taking up additional
rightway, but there's rightway in here.
And I don't know if you can see under
this is very technical and I realize
that, but underneath the really dark
line at the top, just south of that is
your existing street line, curb line.
And just north of the very dark dark
line at the bottom by about three feet
is your existing curb line. So that is
moving slightly because your median,
your existing medians are 8 feet wide.
The BRT station is 14t wide. That of
course allows for the state safe access
of the buses on each side. The lane
widths, the travel ling widths are
staying the same. They are currently 11
feet wide close in to the station and to
the middle and 10 ft wide on the
outside. Those are remaining that width.
The sidewalks vary from five to six
feet. They they we are proposing that
they'll all be six feet. So there'll be
some um repaired and renewed sidewalks
that go in per your design guidelines
and standards. and the trees. Um there
are some trees coming out and there's
some trees going in. There will be a
tree replacement for also your
guidelines and we are removing and
replacing the trees and we'll work
collaboratively with your team to ensure
that Beexley is made whole with the
trees. So this is the design. I'm happy
to go now to the illustrations. Some
photos I think you saw earlier. This is
the existing location at Pleasant Ridge.
If we go to the next slide, this is an
illustration of the BRT station design.
So you can see it's accessed from either
side of the street up the middle and
then of course you get on a BRT bus
coming east this side and going west on
that
side. And these are supposed to be about
15 minutes um
apart. The underlying number two will go
down to about 60 minutes between buses.
So you'll see that much less frequency.
You'll see this much more
frequent 60 minutes
approximately. We took some time to
think about um actually you suggested it
at your last council meeting. Thank you
very much. How long would it take us to
go downtown or the arena district or to
go to an Ohio State game? So we worked
on this. We did we do have a lot of very
technical documents that we work on very
early in the process that we provide to
the Federal Transit Administration to
see if we even qualify for this type of
investment, mobility investment. And
this is the type of information they are
very interested in and has a lot to do
with how we score the travel time. What
I find most interesting is we're
becoming more competitive with a bus
rapid transit system. You're more close
to how long it takes to travel by car,
which is really important. Not it's not
one for one but it is a lot faster than
your current fixed route service which
is really important and we're really
excited about this because this is what
makes the difference. The cities that
have seen a true mode shift over time
they have to have transit options that
are convenient andor as fast as
driving. The next slide I believe is a
photo from Indianapolis. We had quite a
few group of central Ohio leaders visit
Indianapolis because they do have center
running stations and they we got to
understand their construction process,
their timing, their riership. It was
very interesting. Some of us went the
day after they opened to do a secret
shopper just to see how things were
working. It's it's really interesting.
We've also visited Minneapolis and a
couple of other cities to understand how
it works, what are some lessons learned
and how things can be
successful. And I believe the next slide
is just one more of your pleasant risk
station just reminding that we are
talking about a center station and I
believe we have a brief moment about
safety. As Megan said, the Pleasant
Ridge crossing will be the safest
crosswalk in Beexley. Uh the station
design does improve drivers attention
driving by. It is a natural calming,
traffic calming. It does also protect
pedestrians. Kota's strategic response
specialist team does respond to buses
quickly and collaborates local with
local law enforcement. Keith can attest
to that. I think he talks to different
uh police departments uh often just
coordinating and making sure everybody
is safe and issues are dealt with
quickly. All BRT stations will have
cameras and emergency call boxes. And I
did download the CESAY app and you can
upload it to whatever municipality or
location you're in. And it's an easy way
for people to click and say some trash
needs picked up or your bus is running
late or whatever. It's a place where you
can uh talk about safety and cleanliness
and report that in quickly. So my last
slide is about achieving desired
outcomes. The desired outcomes of link
us and the many years of planning and
designing these corridors with all of
the communities is focused and
deliberate and we appreciate your time
and your efforts and your commitment to
our future. This is about our future for
opportunity for connectivity for
economic growth as our region and a
competitiveness for our region for the
continued job growth and equitable
opportunities to those jobs. So, thank
you for being a part of this vision and
planning with our future. We're happy to
take any questions or comments. Thank
you. Can I add two things to the
presentation before we go? And I believe
that they weren't covered today, but
we've talked about it in the past. So,
just to reiterate, one of the plans for
this is that the bus rap trans would
have signal prioritization technology.
Correct. So, as they go along, the
lights would change and go to a green
phase ideally. And so that's one of the
one of the questions was about
congestion. The buses themselves will
sort of push movement through the
corridor as they come along. The other
thing that we talked about maybe too
quickly in the past is that in looking
at locations um we looked at every
single intersection in Beexley and this
is these this area was really desirable
at Takakota because of the population
and workplace and student density. But
the other thing that we found as as um
staff very compelling was that these are
I think the only two intersections where
we have a three-way intersection. And so
by the station being on this side of
Drexel as we had proposed it, you're not
you're not eliminating a turn lane. So
you're not changing the motion of
traffic at all. And that's also true of
staying on the west side of Pleasant
Ridge at Maine. you're not limited to
turning motion anywhere else else along
the main street corridor would involve
taking out the lefthand turn motion and
cutting off access to somebody who would
otherwise be taking that left turn. So
that was another reason that those two
seemed like uh compelling station
locations. I also want to note that you
noted here that well your comparison for
Ohio Stadium was a 10-minute park walk
and I would love to know where you park
and walk in 10 minutes
but that was for a passenger vehicle.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Kesler. Any
questions from
council? Mr. Marcelino? Yeah. Uh, couple
questions here. Um, first I saw the
circles and this is on talking about
where the stops are, walking distance,
etc. And it highlighted Nelson. To be
clear on that, there's a station though,
not at Nelson, it's at Allen Creek.
Correct. Was that going to be council
member? It began at Alen Creek. is now
Nelson Road. It is now Nelson. Correct.
No, that's that's good to know. Thank
you. Um, in regards to uh the design of
the bus stop, and I know we may be at
preliminary stages. I mean, I I don't
find the current plan aesthetically
pleasing. Um, personally, uh, I'm not an
architect or anything. Will there be
future designs to maybe assimilate a
little bit better into what's currently
present in terms of the design of that
median and our streets? Is that
something that will take place? Thank
you for your question. I I appreciate
it. We held quite a few design meetings
regarding the station a couple of years
ago. Um, and there have been other
questions about slight modifications,
whether that's the color of the concrete
or the type of landscaping that could
help it be more contextual to this
particular community. And I think we're
definitely open to talking about those
type of things. Uh, third question.
Sorry, monopolize here for a moment, but
in regards to the state itself, I mean,
I'm just looking at it being an open air
station. I'm just thinking about having
a toddler and looking away for a moment
and a toddler running out and you are in
the middle then you're not on the side
of the road. Um is there any
consideration towards putting up some
form of barrier um in a in a different
area of the stop to allow for
potentially some additional safety
there? One thing that's hard to see from
this illustration is there's actually a
glass wind shield about partially
covering one side and partially covering
another. So you actually you can stand
behind it to be protected from the
weather, but you step out to get on to
the bus. Okay. No, that is helpful to
understand there. Um I think those
typically that seems to about cover it.
Oh, marketing, sorry. Marketing from
number two to the BRT. I mean, it's my
understanding that it's going to be five
plus years before we even consider
removing a number two. And I understand
the benefit of some intermediary stops,
but in general, what's your plan to try
to market and push people over from the
number two to the BRT? I don't know if I
want to see if Patrick wants to handle
that with external affairs, but that's a
very good question.
Yeah, it's a great question.
Um, I haven't developed those marketing
plans yet. We're still looking quite a
bit down the road, but certainly as a
system, it's more beneficial that we do
push people to the BRT. So, there will
be a continued effort to be able to do
that. Um, we have the ability to
geollocate and have direct messaging on
board our vehicles to tell people, hey,
there might be a much more faster way to
you for you to get down this corridor.
So, certainly we'll be working on
focusing on messaging on getting people
off the local service and on to BRT.
Thank you. And do you mind if I share a
comment just from my perspective in
regards to our group? I go for it, Mr.
Mercern. I came out as a staunch no to
this. I voted no against it, you know,
in the election whenever that was there.
Um, but after, you know, multiple
meetings with you all and specifically
meeting with, uh, Mr. Walker and
speaking with the city of Beexley, um,
it's kind of changed my perspective on
it in general. I still think there's
plenty to work through to make sure it's
safe for the community, etc. But, I
mean, really, you have to look at this
as nothing that's going to benefit the
city of Beexley tremendously over the
next uh, several years, but more so
what's it going to look like in 20, 30
years uh, uh, time frame for a lot of
our kids, etc., and what will, you know,
I guess transit look like in 20 to 30
years. And I think when you go to a
place like let's say Austin, Texas,
where they've seen a large influx of
population growth, um you're going to
note that they didn't plan for this and
it's it's crippling parts of their city
and the other cities that haven't
planned for it are running into similar
issues. But here we have an opportunity
where I think we may already be behind
the ball a little bit on this, but we
can try to play catch-up with this type
of movement. So what's kind of pushed me
more towards uh being seen in a
favorable light has to do with again
nothing to do with Beexley in the next
several years but more so 20 30 years
with our growth. I mean I think we just
have to try to do the best that we can
to look into the future. Um hard to do
but you don't want to miss out on an
opportunity because if every other
community has one of these stops and we
do not I see a lot of our businesses or
other uh development suffering as a
result of it personally. But I'll leave
it at that and thanks for letting me
monopolize for a little bit. Thank you
for your comments. Um I think Mr. Hurley
was next. Um yeah, you actually touched
on something. Uh it's a question I've
had before. The you had reference to
some writership data. You mentioned 370
average daily passengers at four stops.
Is that just Main Street? Because I
believe we have stops on Broad as well.
Council member, yes, those are the four
stops on Main Street. Thank you. Um, out
of curiosity, can you summarize where
things stand with Whiteall and
Reynoldsburg since they're wrestling
with similar decisions and I think they
both have multiple stops in their
jurisdictions. Correct. That's a very
good question. We spend quite a bit of
time with all of the cities. Um, and
we're spending a lot of time just as
Beexley going through every
intersection, every traffic analysis.
What are potential pros and cons of
these? Now, Reynoldsburg has
two
stops and Whiteall has three I think
three stops. So there's a little more
stops. Um but just like Beexa, you're
already very walkable and you're working
on redevelopment plans that are very
contextual with your um with your
community. I think with White Hong
Reynoldsburg, there's a lot more
redevelopment um opportunities that
they're really discovering and
understanding how this could be an
impetus and a real um push to do more
walkable city. And I think that is seen
as a positive, but we're working through
it very carefully, step by step. And
then last question, and
um just out of curiosity, this does not
indicate my my feelings on the
resolution, but I've been asked this, so
I'll I'll ask it
publicly. What is the contingency if
there is no Bexley stop? If if the city
of Beexley decides down the road,
because this resolution is obviously
non-binding, down the road, if we decide
not to have a stop, what does that do? I
guess how do you adapt to that with your
main street line?
I believe and I'm gonna ask um tell me
fill in if I don't answer this correctly
that would be a gap in our system and it
would be you know missing out on the
writership. I'll just add to that too
that I I think there's a benefit to the
local businesses here to have a stop
here. So um I imagine a lot of the small
businesses that are along main street
people are coming in to those jobs not
living in Beexley. So, accessibility for
the workforce, accessibility for
students who want to get downtown, I
think it'd be a detriment to the
community, but it's a good question. I
would also like to add um you know, I
think council member um Silverman
mentioned it earlier, Beexley
overwhelmingly supported um the Lucas
initiative um with the stop at Drexel,
which I think, and I don't mean to speak
out of lane, I think might be more
contentious um the way that Drexel is
kind of seen as the heart of um
Beexley's downtown. And so if there was
overwhelming support for that, um, a
vote against this would be a vote
against the majority of Beexley voters.
Um, I have one thing to your question,
council memberurley, about the other
communities. Um, there's a governance
structure that is being finalized right
now that involves Morpsy, um, city of
Columbus, Kota, others. Um, and there
will be a project workshop specific to
the east main corridor that will include
all the other communities on there. and
uh to council member Moscalano that will
also include a communications engagement
committee that'll talk specifically
about the things that you are talking
about as far as moving people off the
line to to the BRT. So more to come on
how the structure of this is all to work
out. My point being that there is
representation from many on the city's
team um in different areas of what we're
building with with East Main Street and
I think that engagement must continue to
make sure that we build this the right
way. Last question just the the slide
that had the the circles I know
councilor Marcelina talked about that.
Are there any I mean if we weren't to
have a stop would that be the biggest
gap or are there other areas I can
notice as you go further out from the
urban core out to like Reynoldsburg it
does look like the stops become more
spaced out is that a fair assessment
seems like you don't always maintain the
the 10minute walk sort of preference
correct as you go further and obviously
because it's less dense as you you know
go to Rensburg and stuff I get that
thank you for your question where what
may seem like a gap further out is
there's not much density there
But there's the pop potential of what
may be in the future that stops
modeling. We we model it in a very
sophisticated software system that tells
us where you're going to get the most
writers. Yes. I'm sorry, Kim. Is it true
that um as redevelopment occurs, more
stops could be added to fill in those
gaps to capture that density? Yeah. Yes.
Phase two, phase three. But if but if
I'm hearing if
if Beexley because you know the the
resolution as I understand it is
basically council saying if Beex is
going to have a stop this is the
preferred location and I generally agree
with that. The people much smarter than
me have done the work on this. I guess
I'm I'm my question just to restate it
would be if Beexley doesn't have a stop
you wouldn't say explore a stop at like
Gould or something just outside of
Beexley to try to bolster that. It would
basically just be Nelson Road stop and
the James Road stop would be the only
stops that would be servicing Beexsley.
Is that Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. All
right. Thank you, Mr. Hurley. Mr.
Silverman. Thank you. Um I first have a
comment and then I have a few questions.
Can we go to the slide that um Mr.
Hurley was referencing with the the
bubbles? Sorry. So when I first when I
first heard about a bus stop in Baxley,
you start to think about those those
options. So, you know, does Beexley need
a bus stop for this BRT? And without it,
what would it do? And I think you would
see a glaring mile missing. Um, so I'm
in support of having a bus stop in
Beexley. Um, and then I referenced the
location review and the initial concept
of Drexel. One block south is Pleasant
Ridge. And I think based off of all the
data that we have, that seems to be the
best stop location for Beexley. Um, so I
do believe that it's a necessity for us
to have one for our residents, for the
employees that come here. We always talk
about work, play,
live. BRT is happening. It is, it is
being built in a growing city. And I
appreciate all the work that Kota is
doing to bring rapid transit. It's one
of the glaring missing factors of a
bustling emerging city. So, um I think
that a BRT bus stop in Beexley is vital
and Pleasant Ridge seems to be well
thought out. Um a few questions I have.
You mentioned the number two. You
mentioned the traffic, the signals they
have to control the lights for the BRT.
What communication will we have to
ensure in this really narrow pathway in
Beexley that we don't have too many
buses running at the same time? I know
that there's overlap, but I think one of
the concerns is you have the BRT
stopping that's going to hold up traffic
if there's high parking on either side
and then you have a number two running.
So, what are things that we're starting
to think about for this mile that would
help alleviate that? I can address Thank
you, council member, for that question.
It's a good one. I think I can address
the analysis and then Patrick can
address the communication. Um, we look
at all of First of all, we look at all
of our stops every year in detail. how
many people are getting on, getting off.
And we can adjust frequency of certain
lines if aren't there aren't a lot of
people using them. Do you remember when
the express lines went down to one or
two from each of the locations? That's
because like 15 people a day were using
them. But there was a time when there
was like 300 people a day using those.
So there was like two or three every
morning. So we adjust based upon
writership. So we will watch that line
too. It'll be analyzed multiple times a
year and we can reduce it. It maybe it's
not five years. Maybe it's more like
three years. It depends on that
adjustment to the BRT system. So that's
the analysis that we'll look at. Now you
asked a question about TSP. Do you So
no, I just I didn't know if the number
two was going to communicate with the
BRT. So if there if there's alignment
issues, are they communicating? Yes. And
then additionally, now that I thought
about it, there was mention at the
previous council session that if there's
a delay in the route, they have to stop
at a terminal. Would that be restricted
in Beexley because of it being one lane?
or could there be a scenario where a BRT
bus has to wait to catch up to the the
timing? That's that's a good one I can
answer. Um, these will run every 15
minutes and there that this one's more
about what we call headway. I know it's
a really geeky term. So, it's about the
15 minutes. It won't be so much about
657 710, you know, 6 732. It's going to
be about every 15 minutes one is going
to be coming by. And they do have these
computer systems right inside of the
buses that actually tell them whether
they're running fast or slow and by the
second if they're running fast or slow.
And they really do gauge along the way
and keep
themselves in that timing and the and
the buses can talk to each other. And
there's a radio room that knows where
every single bus is at every single
minute. Um, and they do talk to each
other. Not not to go too too far in the
weeds, but is there a situation where a
bus at the Pleasant Ridge if there was a
terminal there would have to stop and
hold up traffic waiting to catch up to
the for the timing? Would that a
scenario something that could happen?
That would not be a typical place to sit
and wait. A typical place would be on
the side of, you know, one of the side
stations. Um, and as Megan mentioned,
the average stop time is about 16
seconds. This is not a typical location
to catch up on time. Thank you. Let me
just add to that too is we are very
responsive to incidents. I think the
chance of what you're talking about
happening is very slim. However, if that
was to happen, that's a conversation we
need to have to fix that. So again, when
I say keep asking questions, let's have
this dialogue. Our goal is to make the
system work perfectly. Um I don't know
if we have the answer to this, Kim, but
something we should present is how long
a BRT vehicle actually would be in the
city of Beexley. It's running every 15
minutes. Does it get through town in in
uh you know 1 to two minutes, two to
three minutes? That's something we can
as we continue to plan get better
answers to. When it comes to line two
tsp, we eventually like to have all of
our vehicles have traffic signal
prioritization. Of course, that's a
community community decision. Um but the
technology keeps expanding. Can mention
that. Um we also have the ability to
know where every single one of our
vehicles are. We have people spotting
that. We have TSS who are on the road,
TSS who are in our command center who
are looking at those. So we try to
ensure that those dwell times, that's a
transit nerd term there, but those times
when we're running ahead or running
behind that we have to sit and wait for
a minute, try to alleviate that as much
as possible. The scheduling software
that we use now will make sure that that
even happens less and less and less.
Any other questions from council?
Um, I know the mayor has a couple things
he'd like to address. Right before he
does, I just wanted to um say thank you
so much, Kim. We I have had the
privilege of being in a few more
meetings than my fellow colleagues um
being on the subcommittee and a lot of
the questions that we've asked along the
way you address tonight and you continue
to do that. So, I appreciate you and
your team um to continue to listen to us
of what we're bringing in front of you
with our constituents and doing a great
job working alongside with Megan
Um just a quick I'm gonna I'm gonna have
a question for Ben. So thank you very
much. So quick question because every
time we talk I learn something new which
is great. So um the number two bus if
I'm correct right now it's it's a
frequent service bus along the main
street section which is every 15 minutes
the number two.
And you're saying that the BRT will be
every 15 minutes, but the number two
would move down to like once an hour,
once every 60, 30 minutes, every 60
minutes based upon ridership, and it'll
be weaned off over time. Gotcha. So,
what we're looking at is going from four
slower buses, I'll call them slower
buses, there's a technical term, per
hour
to five or six total. So from four to
five or six, but from four of the slower
current to four fast and maybe one or
two slower. So we're talking about one
or two extra buses. And you had told me
in an email, I think you said the
average dwell time, and I think you said
it again here was 16.8 seconds, correct,
sir? So we're slicing like an extra
national average, but you guys are going
to be even faster because you're so
efficient. Try to be above, right? I
guess in this case below. So when we
talk about congestion, because bus
congestion has come up as a question,
we're talking about an extra 16.8
seconds per hour or maybe 37.6. I did
the math probably wrong in my head. Uh
per hour. That's sort of the
differential roughly. We're just talking
about one or two extra buses per hour.
Yes. Okay. Thank you. Just clarify.
Thank you. All right. Um with that being
said, Auditor Mi, do we have some
speaker slips to attend to? We do have
two speaker lips. Wonderful.
Um before our speakers come up, I just
want to remind you to state your name
and address and that we uh Mr. Fishell
to my right here will be recording our
five minutes. We uh are looking forward
to hearing from you. Okay. Uh first
speaker, first person is Miss Shore.
Thank you. My name is Kathy Schroer. I
am with Christ Lutheran Church. I'm the
council president. Um 2314 East Main
Street in Beexley. Um and I specifically
want to address the Pleasant Ridge
station. I don't have any issues with
the rapid transit, just the Pleasant
Ridge, the position of the Pleasant
Ridge station. Um we have a very
successful children's center um for
children aed two and a half to five. Uh
the center's open from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00
pm Monday through Friday and we
currently have 103 children enrolled in
that uh thing. The majority of those
student come from Beexley Beexley
residents.
Uh the proposed station would sit
directly in front of our playground and
our open lawn and we feel this would
present security issues and potentially
impact our ability to serve the children
and the community of
Beexley. Um we understand that the
Remington location was not considered um
because of the proximity to Montrose and
we fully support that decision. Um, but
we believe the same consideration should
be given to the Pleasant Ridge location
because of the location of our uh
playground. We do not have another place
to move the playground on the property.
It's it's going to stay on Main
Street. Um, another concern we have is
the limited parking availability near
Maine and Pleasant Ridge. Um, we have a
small lot east of the church and we're
cons concerned that that will be treated
as a park and
ride, not officially, but unofficially
as a park and ride. Um, that lot is used
by both the children's center and the
church on every day uh weekends and
weekdays.
Um, adding a station at Pleasant Ridge
would also cause additional traffic
congestion in an already congested area.
We're concerned about
accidents as well as the ability for um,
emergency services to access the
area. U, we have concerns about the
maintenance of the system and the
surrounding area. Uh Beexley has a very
neighborhood feel and we believe this
station will negatively impact that
atmosphere. We are also questioning how
this station will affect our property
value and our insurance
rates. Thank you for listening. Thank
you. We appreciate you.
Our second speaker, Mr. my week.
Uh, Miss Sabenza,
get an A+ for getting that
correctly. My name is Beverly Sapienza
and I reside at 2729 Bride and Road.
First, I want to let you know I am not
opposed to the BRT, but I am very
opposed to its location at Pleasant
Ridge. Most of the reasons for which
Kathy already has presented. I currently
have a grandson attending Price Lutheran
Children's Center, as did his three
older siblings through the years. He'll
be there for the next two years, which
evidently that will not impact him, but
um I had assumed that it would. The
placement of the BRT bus station on main
on Main Street west of Pleasant Ridge
puts a vast number of strangers
clustered in an area directly across
from the playground and side entrance to
the church's children's center. Maybe
your own children may have attended
there one time or a similar preschool.
Just as it was determined that placement
of the station in the area of Montrose
was a poor choice, it is likewise a
horrific choice to place it near a
preschool with equally and more
vulnerable young students. Whereas
Montro's playground is in the rear of
the school, it wouldn't affect their
students that much. But with the
playground and the side entrance to the
children's center being on Main Street,
it's a direct influence.
Will that placement cause families to
opt for a different preschool choice
even though typically there are waiting
lists for placement in the cent's
classes? We don't know that yet. As a
member of the church, I also am
concerned about the already limited
street parking utilized by the church
being compromised for some religious
rights such as funerals and weddings.
Being told that we should place towing
warnings in our lot that abuts Main
Street to discourage park and ride users
makes it seem that the city has no
consideration for the church which has
occupied its location for almost 150
years. Since then, we have been
contacted for meetings. So, we
appreciate that. Not only is the
playground vulnerable to strangers in
that area, but the green space at the
front of the church is also used in good
weather for special activities. Again,
children would be more vulnerable. Just
a few years ago, church leaders met with
city representatives about the
feasibility of partnering with the city
if funds were available for a pavilion
in the green space. Nothing was
mentioned about the bus project at that
time. And yet, we recently learned um in
a chat with um Sam that it's been known
for seven years as was revealed tonight.
It's questionable that any of the
current facilities or businesses along
Main Street have been notified of the
impending plan prior to its presentation
in the Beexley blast. Please refrain
from pushing forward with allowing the
magnitude of traffic congestion without
the necessary hard and true statistics
which would indicate the numbers of bus
riders from Beexley, although that has
been shared tonight. Um, who would
benefit? It seems if our greater number
would be compromised and
aggravated. Please consider what you
would want for your own children if they
were playing and thriving so near the
fluctuation of strangers on a daily
basis. Thank
you. Thank
you. Are those all of our speaker slips?
M no more speaker slips. Okay. Thank
you.
All right. We're moving on
to president's report. No, public
comments not on the public comments. Oh,
I'm sorry. Public comments. Uh Mr.
McPeek. Uh any speaker slips for um item
number six on the agenda that are public
comments regarding items not on the
agenda? No speaker slips. No speaker
slips. Now we're moving on to
president's report. Thank you, Mr.
Fishell. Um, I have one, um,
announcement from President Lampy that
she'd like me to mention tonight. She
says, "Join me and Council Member
Marcelino at the Beexsley Minority
Parent Association Circle of Excellence
Scholarship event this Sunday, 4 to 6:00
p.m. at the Beexley High School
Shottenstein
Theater." And with that, we're going to
move on to our city attorney report. No
report this evening. No reports. Um,
Auditor McPeek, your reports. Um, I was
just going to, um, thank Carrie, our
finance director, for, um, passing our
Oprah's audit with flying colors. Um, so
they visited us just doing some of their
normal due diligence and got glowing uh,
remarks from them, which is always uh,
greatly appreciated and showing the good
job that you're doing. So, appreciate
that. Um, also just wanted to note that
we've received our first invoice for the
fire um, service agreement which
includes north of slightly north of $
1.5 million of credits for the year. So,
um, appreciate everybody's help in
getting that document signed and
executed. and um Carrie and I and the
mayor will look at that invoice and
double triple check and make sure that
everything is as expected. So, sounds
like a good plan. Um so, yeah. So,
nonetheless, just a few quick updates.
Thanks. Thank you, Mr. McPeek. I wanted
to thank those who um joined us here
tonight to um speak on resolution 2-25.
It was a great turnout and wanted to
just say thank you to those. and you're
more than welcome to stay for the rest
of the meeting if you would like. Um,
moving right along, we are going to let
the mayor handle the administrative
updates. Thank you, Madame
Insurim
Prom. I really got this nailed.
Um, we're going to go into our updates
real quickly. There was something I you
know sometimes it's hard when when
somebody brings up a comment and you're
like I I want to set the record straight
factually and I want to do that real
quickly about the links process in no
uncertain terms. Um and Megan can
clarify if there's something I'm
missing. I know I'm not missing this. In
no uncertain terms the Remington
intersection was never rejected because
of the closess to Montros. So that was I
heard that tonight. I think I read that
somewhere on Facebook. That is not true.
So, in fact, much to the contrary, uh
when hearing concerns about kids and
safety, I reached out to the
superintendent and I just for the first
time and said, "Hey, uh have you ever
had any issues with the bus stop? I'm
just, you know, there's a school right
there and they have a bus stop right on
their lawn. So, obviously the thought of
Remington wouldn't be a problem." And he
said, "No, they've never experienced
anything." When he talked to Harley as
well, who's been there for many, many
years, and said thing that they have
never had any issues. So, I just want to
factually clarify that. I'm sorry. Can I
chime in on one other thing that I think
is probably worth clarifying and correct
me if I'm wrong. So, the there was a
comment that we've known about this for
seven years and again obviously the link
us project we've known about it but
there hasn't nobody knew about the idea
of Pleasant Ridge was not something and
again just trying to correct that fact.
Yeah, that that meeting that occurred
was many years ago. this the even
talking about even the certainty that
there would be a a main street line
wasn't on the cards at that time and
we'd never got into a station location
until the past year or two I think.
Appreciate that clarification. Mr.
Marcelino has a comment on that. Yeah,
two things because I was tied to it. I
would say I assume it meant several
because when I was referring to it I
believe I was talking about 2022 when
this process was initiated. So I
probably said several as I do it just to
clarify. I wasn't No, I didn't think
that you had said I just want to clarify
that when Yeah. My name was tied to it.
When we had that meeting, it was uh uh
and I am um so appreciative of Christ
Lutheran. I'm an alumni alumnest of uh
the Christ Lutheran preschool. Used to
plan that playground, I guess. Don't
remember it super clearly, but uh that
was prior to the Main Street uh moving
forward the way it is today. So, with
that,
um some quick things to highlight here,
and I know we're going to try to move
here quickly. Um, it's not in my written
report, but it has been in the blast.
And if you go to
beexley.orgregation, we have an update
on where we are. Um, I've had a couple
questions today about that. Some email
must have gone out. I'm not maybe I
haven't read it.
We have a letter going out to every
household. This should be hitting any
day now. Um, that clarifies all of this.
So, but
beex.orggregation has the latest. So if
you get questions from
constituents, you can or or exactly
point them point them right to that
website. Point them to blast and you'll
you'll get that piece of mail in your
mailbox if you haven't already. Um so
you know the communication challenge is
trying to get this all out at the right
time and lots of different ways to
communicate. So um can I just give a
shout out to that website? is there I I
noticed on the Beexley
um buzz a few days ago somebody had
posted about dinner and all this and a
very helpful citizen actually not me but
just responded with the link and said
all the information is here and then
then everyone was like oh my gosh thank
you this is helpful so good job having
you know it's this is what I was worried
about we were going through that whole
process is the confusion I think we've
done about as good a job as we can
do getting information out to the point
where you know people are getting the
link to that site on the, you know, the
blast or the buzz rather all the places.
Good on Megan Meer and team on the great
work for keeping our citizens informed.
So, thank you for that. Today is Earth
Day. Uh, and Friday is Arbor Day. So, on
Arbor Day, we will be doing a tree
planting and it's dedication of our
Arbor Walk or sorry, a birchwalk at
Schneider Park. Uh, poet Maggie Smith
will be reading the Birches poem by
Robert Frost. There will be a signature
cocktail at the Lion featuring Beexley's
maple syrup and you can purchase your
maple syrup for sale at the Urban
Emporium.
We might have taste tested it. Whatever
we taste tested was good. That's that's
the
Okay, there you go.
So, that's happening. And there's plenty
of other information uh in writing here
on the report. Um and I'm happy to
answer any questions.
Mayor Kesler, could you also speak to
the yellow ribbons that are going up on
our white oak trees?
Oh, yes. So, man, is that was like a
trick question. Uh, the yellow ribbons
being tied around our white oak trees. I
believe those are our our heritage
trees. Is that right? Our landmark trees
that have been identified in October.
There will be a golf cart tour of those
landmark trees. But in celebration of
Barber Day, there are yellow ribbons. So
if you have yellow ribbon tied around
your white oak tree, you have been
selected. You have and the the Latin
name for white oak tree is Cirus Ella
and it has been named by many experts
including the Ohio Environmental Council
um as the most significant
uh organism in Ohio, the white oak tree.
It holds it provides nourishment and
shelter to over 400 species of birds and
insects and all sorts of amazing
benefits. And three new circus alba
trees were planted at Jeffrey Park last
week
by the cutest preschoolers right there
from Jeffrey Mansion Preschool. Pretty
cute. So also on the update lovely that
up for me. Right. Congratulations for
those of you who are receiving yellow
ribbons on your white oak trees. I don't
think Mr. Min gets nearly the credit he
deserves for starting this whole
landmark heritage tree thing.
I'm giving it to him. It is your legacy.
And and by the way, I move even though I
can't that we only use the the phrase
circus. What was it? Circus Alba. Yeah.
Well, we're working on a hybrid oak
called Corkus. The Cirus Markham. Um in
honor of those uh those trees. All
right.
All right. Thank you. We're gonna move
now to uh Ms. Martin
from finance department. Right. I cannot
speak about trees but I can speak about
income tax and we are significantly
up. Yes.
Um last year we were I'm sorry. Money
grows on trees. Yes, you are correct.
Um it's out Yeah, it's out back here.
I've got I've got us covered. Um last
year at the end of the year we were down
um this year. Um so what we received in
April was actually March collections. So
what we receive in May will be April
collections. And you know April's our
favorite time of tax year. So anyway, so
it'll be interesting to see how it um
continues throughout the remainder of
the year. But so
far I don't want to get our hips up, but
it's looking super good. And then the
other thing I wanted to mention is that
we finally have um Tony Mason started as
our new part-time um payroll coordinator
last Monday. So um we are in the process
of getting her trained so you guys will
no longer receive paychecks from me. So
I'm looking forward to that. Um but that
is it. If anybody has any questions, any
questions from
council? Carrie, keep up the great work.
Yeah, good job collecting those taxes.
Yeah, I know. I'm like the numbers look
good. Super job collecting those taxes.
Um, next up, Megan Meyer with the
Development Administration update. Thank
you, Mayor. Um, top of the update, just
want to make sure everybody here knows
that I can now be found at Cohatch. I
got kicked out of city hall. Um, and
that's okay. Um, but this is to make way
for the small renovation project that we
have coming. We're going to be
addressing um some of our lack of office
space and making some new offices out of
the back part of the building. And so in
the meantime, you can find me at
Cohatch. Thank you to um Council Member
Fible for coming to see me for a meeting
there. Happy to host. Um I joke that I
get lonely. It's not entirely true. Um
but I'd love to see some friendly faces.
Um I do I know we already talked about
Earth and Arbor Month, but I just want
to make sure um that the people involved
in the planning get a nice shout out.
Um, I look at the, um, schedule of
events and I get a little anxious
because I'm like, oh my goodness, that's
a lot. But I think what it really is
showing is truly Beexley's love and
passion for all things green. And so
just want to make sure that Green
Beexley, the Tree and Public Gardens
Commission, um, Love Your Ally, and of
course our own sustainability programs
coordinator, Elizabeth Elman, are
recognized, um, for all of their efforts
this month and beyond. It really is a
great team effort. So, thank you to
them. Um, beyond that, I know we
mentioned it, um, we've talked about
links a not a lot, but we are having our
next meet your street all about links.
That's May 7th. The mayor and I will be
joined by the chamber and some
representatives from Kota for that as
well. Um, beyond that, um, kind of
normal updates for me, been really busy
in the planning processes for the
current walkability audit that's
underway, the commercial design
guideline update coming, um, and then
trying to finish up the land use
strategy. And so, all of that coming
soon. that I'll take any questions.
All right, Mr. Beayshore, service
department, what you got? Uh, busy part
busy time of the year for the service
crews. Um, they really been cranking.
Um, I really don't have anything to add
to my report tonight, but happy to
answer any questions.
I do want to give you a shout out if you
guys have seen it. We've been kind of
maybe I said this last council meeting,
we haven't been making a big deal about
it because it's part of our community
foundation thank you that's happening.
So they have their annual event May
April 30th. I don't know why I'm talking
softly to YouTube. Um but the uh some of
those aderondex seating areas have been
installed along Main Street. So you
could if you walk along the Capitol
front lawn, you'll see some sort of
inset semi circles with the brassfield
vines which will soon be host to blue
aderondex chairs. um which will be
placed on April 30th, the day of the
community foundation event. We'll also
have the aderonics at Commonwealth put
out there. All of these are funded
through the Beexi Community Foundation
years of the parks grant. Love it. Great
work. Fire pits at Schneider Park, which
you can preview during our uh our birch
celebration on
Friday. All right. Anything for further
for
Andy? All right. Thank you. All right.
Thank you, Mayor Kesler, and um our
administration.
Some bad news. There's no third or first
readings, but we can go to consent
agenda. Sorry, I didn't Let's do Let's
do it, Mr. Official. Consent agenda
meeting minutes from April 8th, 2025.
Council, any uh questions or comments on
the consent agenda?
Any comments from the public?
Mr. McPeek, will you please call the
role?
Mr. Hurley, yes. Mr. Markham, yes. Mr.
Marcelino. Mr. Silverman, yes. Miss
Fable,
yes. And Missad, yes. Consent agenda
passes. Thank you, Mr. McPeek.
All right, we skipped third readings as
I mentioned. to a second reading though
of ordinance 11-25 amend amending the
designated outdoor refreshment area in a
specific specified portion of the main
street district and enacting regulations
and declaring an emergency introduced by
Ms. Lamb Key, somebody's calling. Miss
Bible, Miss Lauren, even remember the
last time that I got to cover Lauren? I
can't. I honestly can't. But I get to
just talk this one. I'm excited. Just
like we talked about it last week. Um,
our city, like lots of other cities, um,
after COVID, adopted a designated
outdoor refreshment area. Matt Clingler
was the explorer for our DORA in 2021
and he used the tools provided by the
Ohio River Code to create the map. You
guys aren't yet getting this, are you?
For the DORA and we did it. Yes, we did
it. Um, by passing ordinance 1021,
Beexley's community has welcomed the
Dora. Um, welcomed the door and a new
business which is outside of but
adjacent to the Dora would like us to
update the map and swipe them into it.
Swipe or not swipe. That's right.
So, so anyway, so prior to voting on
this ordinance, uh we have to give
public notice of the change for two
consecutive weeks. Word has it we did
that yesterday in the dispatch. We're
doing it again next Monday. Um it's also
on our website and within 45 days of the
application, we have to have a public
hearing which is going to be May 13th.
While the boundaries will change,
signage, hours of operation, a public
safety plan, sanitation plan, and
requirement for participating vendors to
serve in a comp combust com I can't say
it compostable cup uh will remain. Um so
city will um review our DORA next year.
Um I think I covered it all. Anything
else I'm missing? Anyone?
I do have one quick update, okay? Which
is to say that your city staff have been
so hard at work, welcoming planners to
the city, doing lots of hard work that
the publication in the newspaper did not
occur last week as we had planned. I
think that doesn't necessarily change
our May 13th timing, but I need to check
up with Mark because I looked at the
statute. It seems like we're able. We
just need to do it two weeks in a row
and then have it within a certain period
of time. So, as long as we are okay
still, we will do that. If for some
reason we're not, then I would I think
we need to push it to the 27th of May
for the hearing just as by way of an
update. So, you're thinking the So, the
the expectation is the publication will
be the 5th, the 4th, and the 11th or it
could be like this Friday, a month
after. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right.
Okay. I'll look at it. I think Yeah. So,
if you could just double check that and
I think I think we're okay. But
um the timing slipped a little bit on
the dispatch. Okay. And we're um having
that before council.
Is that Did we say a separate meeting
before council or part of council? I
think it' just be part of council
meeting. Okay. Yeah. Whatever works for
you guys. Okay.
All right. Um any questions for Miss
Fable on ordinance 11-25? Mr. Silverman,
I just didn't know this is to Mark. Were
you able to look at anything um
involving distance to schools? Is there
any issues? I forgot. I will look at it.
I don't think it's an issue, but I will
I I apologize. I forgot. Okay. I just
want I want to ensure there's no issue
there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, absolutely.
Thank you, Mr. Silverman. Any other
questions from council,
Mr. McPeak? Do we have any action on
speaker slips?
We have no speaker slips. No action on
speaker slips. Thank you, Mr. McPeek.
All
right, moving right along. You are
That's There's no first readings. Do we
have any action on tabled ordinances?
This is me speaking to myself here. Um
resolution 1-25, there is no action. Um
we will leave that on the table.
We're going to move on to agenda item
number 16, public public speaker slips
to be turned in um on comments that are
not on the agenda. Do we have any action
on that, Mr. McPeek? We have no speaker
slips. No speaker slips. All right,
we're going to move along to committee
reports. Mr. Markham, can you start us
off with your safety committee? I would
love to start us off. Uh I want to say
happy Earth to everybody from the city
of Beexley where we don't have plastic
bags flying around and we have uh one of
the most progressive programs in the
country that I can't talk about enough
which is our food waste recycling
program. There was the cover story. I
don't know if you call it cover story
anymore. It's online. Uh I think slate
maybe today. It was it's an excellent
one and I thought I would I didn't print
it up but I wanted to and read from it
because there was so much uh it it
really talked about like that is one of
the under analyzed underutilized forms
of of first of all uh food waste in
terms of just pure cost to Americans
when we talk about the price of
groceries going up uh the statistics are
I believe that about onethird of the
food that's purchased just goes into the
trash can. It's not not eaten at all. Um
the other statistic that I'm remembering
is that if food waste
uh were a country, it would be the third
largest contributor to greenhouse gases
in the world. So, uh I just want to uh
say again what I think a really uh
amazing program that is and
I every year hope that more and more uh
cities will follow our lead and and
adopt that as well. Mr. Markham, that is
a great report and I wanted to let you
know that I actually had the experience
over the weekend in a hockey city that I
had visited and the amount of food waste
that was happening um made me
appreciative of what we're doing here in
Columbus, Ohio. So great report. Moving
right along um to Alex Silverman and
Service and Environmental Committee.
Thank you. I want to also wish everyone
a happy Earth Day. Um upcoming on the
slate of events is one of my favorite
for the year, the Green Beexley Cleanup
and DEA Takeback Day. If you haven't
seen this event or been to it, put it on
your calendar. You can donate back
books, bikes, electronics, paper
shredding, DEA drug takeback. you can
get rid of all your human or animal
pills and patches, vaping devices, um
batteries, needles. Um it's just a
really great event. Goodwill will be
there as well. Um it's up at the Delmare
area. It's drivable. You can actually
drive through it. So, there'll be
volunteers helping you get items out of
your vehicle. Um but it's just a great
thing we offer and it's one of the
highlights for the Green Beexley Month
events. And I appreciate as well, I'm
going to add on to what Megan stated,
the the committee does so much amazing
work throughout the year, but they
really focus on this month uh the slate
of events. This is just great for the
community. So, very appreciative.
Please, please, please acknowledge the
hard work of the Green Beexley team.
Thank you, Mr. Silverman. What was the
date and time of that event again? It is
Saturday, April 26th. Um the time is it
8 to
two? I want to make sure I get that
correct.
11 but till two is 8 to 11 and then the
DEA take back till 2 o'clock. All right.
Thank you. All right. Moving on to Mr.
Hurley strategic and health committee.
Hi. Um so the board of health met uh for
our quarterly meeting last Tuesday,
April 15th. Uh we had a really good uh
discussion around some future public
health and injury prevention
initiatives. Some items that I hope to
be to you on the near future. One was we
discussed um some different outreach
strategies around um May's might as a
bike helmet helmet safety awareness
month. Obviously we passed an update to
our helmet ordinance last year. And so
in collaboration with the mayor and and
the chief of police uh just doing some
outreach and really getting folks, you
know, I've I've seen a lot of kids out.
I've unfortunately seen some kids out
without their helmets. I know Beexley PD
is already driving around with those
Johnson's coupons. So, if you are a
parent of a kid in Beexley, please
please bribe them and say if you're
caught with your helmet on, you might
get some free Johnson's out of it. Uh we
also had uh a conversation, I think you
all probably seen the recent uh series
of articles in the Dispatch on dog
attacks. And so, just some conversations
around that. That's something I've I've
personally had a lot of people reach out
to me about. And then lastly, um an
initiative that I'm I need to explore a
little more and chat with the mayor
about is um I think you all know my
professional world. I work with the
another clients of the Ohio chapter, the
American Academy of Pediatrics. They
have a basically a firearm safe storage
initiative called store it safe. It's
something they developed many years ago
with input from the uh the prosecond
amendment community. So, it's by no
means an anti-gun kind of initiative,
but they've launched kind of a new
portion of this that that allows cities
to be designated as a safe storage city
or store it safe is the name of the
program, city, um, you know, would would
really just focus on making sure we have
lock boxes available for people to pick
up at Beexley PD and and some other
messaging things like that. So, I'd like
to explore the feasibility of that. Uh,
currently one Ohio community, Beachwood,
um, has received this designation and I
know several central Ohio communities
are beginning to look at it as well. So,
I just love it when we can lead the way
on issues like this. And end of report,
thank you, Danny. Um, recreation and
parks committee, Miss Fible.
Just want to give a big shout out to um
Beexley Recreation and Parks and their
fabulous Egg Dash this last week. It was
um a lot of fun. I loved um Peter Rabbit
that was walking around. May have been
related to Michael
Price. Yes, did a really great job.
Anyway, end of report.
Love that. Um moving on to zoning and
development committee. Mr. Marcelino.
Yeah, just to touch on something not to
be uh bringing up something we've
already discussed, but I would like to
state in regards to the Montro stop just
because it was like in no uncertain
terms was that I still think the school
played a consideration when we were
discussing just in general the location
of a stop to a school. It might not been
it wasn't the only one. There are other
issues to consider there, but I think I
would state that it was at least a
consideration of some of the group. I
believe I I think that um
if my recollection is certainly correct,
it it wasn't the fact that it was in
front of a school institution. That had
actually nothing to do with us not
supporting that station location. Um so
that comparison isn't quite correct. It
had more to do with the way that drop
off and pickup is circulated and the use
of that lane primarily for that. And
that I mean that is a concern. we know
it's a concern they're trying to work on
otherwise um related to that um
situation around Montros. And so I think
that along with the um the the lanes
that would likely need to change and the
turn patterns and the blocking of
parking that didn't um those
disadvantages not outweigh the
advantages of Pleasant Ridge. I think
the turn patterns and the fact that you
couldn't turn into the school onto into
um Cass, sorry, Remington to the school
if you're going southbound or you
couldn't turn northbound onto Remington
going towards Central Beexley was what I
recall. Yeah. Sure. And I think that's
it just was but for a school then that
doesn't but either way. So I just kind
of well explicitly the safety issue. So
I think what was being said was like we
rejected mantros for the concern of
safety of the kids and that is that's
not true. That that is patently not
correct. So
um in regards to uh BMPA sat Sunday at
four o'clock uh more than ever with the
attacks um frankly on our school systems
I think it's important to support these
scholars uh and and show how proud we
are of them. Uh it'll be a great event.
It always is. And so if you have an hour
or two to stop down on Sunday at four
o'clock at the high school auditorium
that would be great and I know everybody
would appreciate it. So, I hope to see
some of you there. Thanks. Thank you,
Mr. Marcelino. Um, finance committee
report I'm going to give real quick.
Wanted to remind um our leaders that are
sitting here in the room tonight that it
is time to book your mammogram. We have
um for the first time the city of
Beexley has our Ohio State mobile
mammogram unit coming to Beexley Public
Library. This is happening on Saturday,
May 10th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
It's as easy as calling the number 1
1614-2934455
6142934455 and booking your
mammogram. If your insurance doesn't
currently cover it, um we have secured a
grant from the Beexley Community
Foundation under their wellness fund.
So, thank you Beexley Community
Foundation. This is an equitable um
empowering
um mobile unit that we're having come to
our um neighborhood here in Beexley. And
with the success of this year, we can
see this in years to come. So, I'm going
to ask that council help me spread the
word um on social media. The library,
the Beexley Public Library put out a
very nice um social media post today
about booking your mammogram. If
everyone here sitting with us could
share that, like it um and get it out
there. I think the word of mouth is what
we need at this point. We're three weeks
away from the the event and I'm looking
forward to that mobile mammogram being
booked. End of
report. Our next city council meeting
takes place on Tuesday, May 13th at 6
PM. At this time, I would like to move
to adjourn. Can I get a second? Second.
Thank you, Mr. Marcelino. All those in
favor?