Speaker 0: One goal of green print Denver is to reduce Denver's per capita greenhouse gas emissions, and 31% of children and 53.1% of adults are overweight or obese. And. Whereas, walking has a multitude of health benefits and also contributes to a cleaner natural environment, safer streets and stronger communities, and therefore, making it easier and safer to be at pedestrians should be a consideration in all city plans and work programs. And. WHEREAS, on October 8th, 2007, the Denver City Council adopted it Proclamation 59 permanently designating the month of October as Denver pedestrian month and Denver walk to school month to be in step with the 66 Colorado General Assembly, which had designated October as Colorado pedestrian month and Colorado walk to school month in keeping with international walk to school month. And. Whereas, Proclamation 59 also permanently designated downtown Denver as a pedestrian priority zone in accordance with one of the recommendations of the 2007 Downtown Area Plan and the new 2012 Cherry Creek Area Plan recommends that Cherry Creek be designated as a pedestrian priority zone. And. WHEREAS, pedestrian priority tools include design elements such as well-marked crosswalks, curb extensions, median nose extensions, detached eight foot sidewalks and wayfinding signage. And. Whereas, Denver's form based zoning, evolving urban development patterns and commercial success necessitate a strong pedestrian system. In recognizing this, the city will invest in a city Wide Trails and Pedestrians plan in 2015. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the Council of the City and County of Denver, Section one, that the Council encourages, the Denver Department of Public Works, Community Planning and Development, Environmental, Health and Parks and Recreation to continue efforts to realize a superlative pedestrian environment permanently designates the entire pedestrian priority zone as recommended by the 2012 Cherry Creek Area Plan and developed in cooperation with Cherry Creek Area businesses in Cherry Creek neighborhoods as a pedestrian priority zone encourages Denver residents to participate in Denver pedestrian month Denver walk to school month in Denver walks Wednesdays and encourages everyone to increase awareness of the number of their daily trips that could be could be walking. And to increase awareness of pedestrian and pedestrian safety, whether they are walking or driving in Section two that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall attest in a fix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation in the copies to be transmitted to Mayor Michael Hancock, the executive directors of the Denver Departments of Public Works, Community Planning and Development, Environmental, Health and Parks and Recreation in the Cherry Creek Steering Committee.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Robb. Your motion to adopt.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. President. I move that proclamation 835 be adopted.
Speaker 3: So it's been moved. And second, it comments from members of the council. Councilwoman Robb.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. President. You know, as I read through this once again before council, I thought, I don't think I've ever done a proclamation that talks about media and knows extensions. But in all seriousness, this proclamation really does talk about a lot of things, the importance of our pedestrian environment and the health impact of walking, whether it's in Cherry Creek or in Globeville, Elyria Swans here. So this is important. I think we should sort of keep in mind every October pedestrian month in Denver that we designate another part of the city as a priority pedestrian zone. I just find it remarkable how much how important in our budget discussions, we we have been talking about sidewalks and sidewalk policy and how people are going to get around as we realized that sometimes we can walk faster, that our cars can drive. So I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this proclamation.
Speaker 3: Thank you, councilman round. Any other comments from members of Council Councilwoman Shepard.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. President. This is absolutely one of my favorite topics to talk about, if not my favorites. I really want to thank my council colleague Jeannie Robb for bringing this forward. My goal when I came into office was to make certainly my little corner of the city the most walkable and pedestrian Feria in all of this city. We still have a long way to go, but even in the last three years that I've been on this council, I believe this council in the city has made great strides in really wrapping their arms, in embracing they're embracing this idea that, you know, to be a truly vibrant, vital city, we have to have a great pedestrian amenity, not only zone, but policies and funding that helps support that. In this budget, they're in addition to the pedestrian the pedestrian master plan and trails system. There's also moneys for significant intersection improvements, which not only help motorists, but certainly help folks that are trying to cross the street. One of the top five complaints I receive in my district on a regular basis is from pedestrians of all ages who are just trying to either across a street or access a park or get to a school or a bus stop safely and comfortably. And I hear these remarks from everyone, you know, from many of our aging seniors who are driving less and becoming more and more transit dependent. I hear this from parents who want to get their children to school safely. I hear it from folks that are trying to cross streets, busy, busy streets, offices, Federal Boulevard and just want to access bus stops safely and also often from parents with strollers or those in wheelchairs who are having difficulty navigating our sidewalks and streets in a safe manner. So I know that, you know, we have so much more work to do, but I think we're making some important first steps in this process. And I see members of the pedestrian advocacy group Walk Denver in the audience, and I would like to just let folks know that I am an honorary board member of this great organization , and you should sign up to be a member of Walk Denver if you support this so that we can help influence city government from the outside, from the advocacy side as well. So once again, I'm proud to support this. And with all of us working together, Denver eventually will be the most walkable city in the United States. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilwoman Shephard, Councilman Brooks.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Robb, for for bringing this forward. You know, there probably a lot there's probably a lot of the public that's that's saying why in the world are they doing this? Why in the world are they taking in a strategic initiative on pedestrian access points and things like that? And you don't realize how important it is until you walk in, until you get out your car, until you park it and you understand the importance of pedestrian access and making sure that you're having safe streets. My kids go to downtown Denver Expeditionary Learning School. I can tell you right now that I am about this more than anything, because we want to make sure that all of those beautiful 300 kids or so, I think, that are walking to that high rise school in the middle of so much traffic, they have safe routes. And so I think it's critical that we as a city begin to focus on this. And I remember before I came on to to city council, I was really upset at the for waste for waste signal stops downtown because I was like, man, I got to get through downtown and get to the next place until you're a visitor downtown and you really appreciate those four-way stop signals. And so it's seeing things from a different perspective. And I know I've had a lot of constituents who on one side are advocates, while on other side are upset that we're taking so much or doing so much focus on our multimodal system and transportation systems. Well, I'm telling you right now, we're making that investment for a reason. And we're we're taking some pretty hard policy stances. And this is going to be one of them is not only no longer just going to be an idea or a principle, but this is going to be. About the way that we look at site plan review and things like that. And so I'm so glad that where we are investing in this, I'm glad we're doing this in Cherry Creek and I hope that we do this in a lot of other districts in Santa Fe and on Welton and Five Points and things like that . So I'm fully supportive and thank you for Councilwoman Sheppard for your comments as well.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Councilman Brooks, do we have any other comments from members of Council Teen on Madam Secretary? Roll Call.
Speaker 1: Rob Shepherd Sussman Brooks Brown I forgot I can eat lemon Lopez I Monteiro Hi, Nevitt. Hi, Ortega. Hi, Mr. President.
Speaker 3: Hi, Madam Secretary. Please close the door. And now the results. 3939 is 835 has been adopted. Councilman Robb, is there someone you'd like to invite to the podium to accept? Receives? Yes, there.
Speaker 0: Is. Our director of transportation is here, Chrissy Fang Anello and Cindy Patton. I don't know if you want to walk up and whisper in her ear, she forgets something. Which reminds me that if I can just take a second. Chrissy I didn't really make it clear for people who might be watching from home that the pedestrian zone in Cherry Creek that we just designated includes the Cherry Creek Mall area, the Cherry Creek Business Improvement District, portions of Cherry Creek east along Madison Street, where there are a number of office buildings and Chopper Sports Grille. You might know it's sort of the town center for Cherry Creek East and also the Cherry Creek Triangle just south of Alameda. So while we often think of Cherry Creek as one of our most walkable neighborhoods, there are definitely some connections there that we have yet to make.
Speaker 1: Great. Thank you, Councilman Rob and Council President Herndon and all the council members for having us here today and for voting in this proclamation on pedestrian priority for the month of October in Cherry Creek in particular. And as you probably know, the city of Denver was recently designated as as gold for a pedestrian friendly community, which was fantastic and our first attempt at getting that designation. So we were very pleased to get a gold. That said, we know there's more work to be done. Already mentioned was the city wide Denver moves pedestrian plan that's upcoming in 2015 and we look forward to working on that. I must say I'm pleased to be accepting this proclamation on behalf of Denver Public Works, but it's also important that I acknowledge all of the other departments that are included in this with the Planning Department and Parks and Recreation and Environmental Health. It is it's only together that this work gets accomplished and that we actually make progress. So there's the quote over in the Web building about we came to build a city. And I think when you think about the role of pedestrians in the realm of urban realm and the human realm, that when we think about us as human beings is when we're most successful in the work that we do, whether we're building roads or building buildings. A couple of other things to mention that are also in the 2015 draft budget is over $9 million for multi-modal improvements and for a variety of projects all throughout the world, throughout the city. So we're pleased that that's in the budget and look forward to having that finalized and working on those efforts to make additional improvements next year and in the years to come. Additionally, there's the citywide transit plan that was mentioned, and I think that is something that the more we start thinking about transportation from a bigger picture perspective in terms of how we're going to move people, the pedestrian element of that in terms of accessing transit and other land uses, whether they be schools or downtown or jobs, are clearly important for us to to keep in mind, it's a multimodal connected system that we're trying to build. We all have to walk at some point in in our daily commutes. How do we make this work so that it's easy and seamless for our community? Those are all things that we're working on. We recognize people will continue to drive for a variety of reasons, and so how do we make that system work as well as the rest of the multimodal system to complement that? It's no small task and there are a lot of people across the street and across throughout the city that are working hard to make it happen every day. So we appreciate your support and efforts, I might notice. Note to that two things. So one, a public meeting that is tomorrow night is on the enhanced bikeways plan. So slightly different topic, but I know there's often a lot of crossover and interest in terms of bicycle and pedestrian issues that will be 530 to 730 at the Aria Denver over on Platte Street. So I encourage folks to participate in that effort. We're looking forward to talking with the community about our efforts to date. And that lastly, I think I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about behavior and the culture that we have and we really are doing a lot that we whatever we can do from an engineering standpoint and an operational standpoint to improve multimodal the multimodal transportation system that we have and the modern one that we're creating every day and striving for one of the things. Is that I will echo when I heard many of the council people mention issues that folks raise in terms of people feeling safe, walking and bicycling and getting to their destinations and moving quickly. And I have three questions I like to ask folks. And since I became the director of transportation and I've probably done this at 12 or 13 for maybe two up to 20 community meetings this year. And I've asked folks if they want to make walkable community and they all say yes and have asked folks if they would like a bikeable community, and they all say yes. And then I ask folks if they drive the speed limit. And I'm sad to say that more often than not in those meetings that all of the hands go down in the room. So my team and those that work at the city would very much like to deliver a walkable, bikeable community. But we also need the help of all of us every day in the choices that we make so that we're driving safely, walking safely and biking safely. So thank you for driving the speed limit and thinking about your trans multi-modal transportation choices. And for this proclamation, I very much appreciate it and happy to share it with everyone back at the city. Thanks.
Speaker 3: Thank you. And thank you, Councilwoman Rob, for go.
Speaker 0: Right ahead and thank you, Chrissy. I've also heard her say in meetings that she's trying on whether her new position is her cosmic call. And I'm pretty sure it is. I would just like to ask, Mr. President, your indulgence in having Cherry Creek constituents who came down tonight. These are my very pedestrian bus riding constituents. So if you would stand if you came down for the proclamation and I want you to know that they represent the Cherry Creek Steering Committee, the leadership of Cherry Creek's Neighborhood Association, and that association's mobility committee, the Cherry Creek Business Alliance. And, of course, Walk Denver. Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Councilmember. And thank you all for attending. All right. We are on to the resolutions. Madam Secretary, please read the resolutions.
A proclamation recognizing October 2014 as the 8th annual Denver Pedestrian Month and designating Cherry Creek as a Pedestrian Priority Zone.
