Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood Association

June 16, 2005 - Meeting Minutes

Jul 21, 2005

TOONERVILLE TROLLEY NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
MEETING MINUTES?—JUNE 16, 2005
ST. PHILIP?’S CHAPEL

As agreed at the May 2005 meeting, a reception to thank Nancy Woodcock for Chairing the Neighborhood Cleanup and Beautification for the last 2 years was held from 6:45 to 7:25 PM The President called the meeting to order at approximately 7:28 PM.

Distribution & Approval of minutes from May?—The minutes for the May meeting were not ready for approval.

Standing Committee reports, including the Treasurer?’s report, were made available to the members; most were not discussed during the meeting.

Trashcans?—Jennifer told us that the new trashcans are made and are being powder coated. Due to the slightly higher cost of these cans, 14 were ordered instead of the original 17. The locations sites were modified slightly to reflect this. Ken Herndon showed the new map locations to those who were interested. The cans should be installed in a few weeks.

Truck traffic?—The Kessler?’s have started monitoring the vibrations caused by street traffic, especially trucks, on Brook Street. Bob has set up seismograph inside their home. The Chism?’s?—across the street from the Kessler?’s--and Irene Spicer?—at the SW corner of the 1300 Block of Brook--also have agreed to have the seismograph to record vibrations in their homes. This data will be provided to the PIC committee to be used in their efforts to stop or reduce Truck thru traffic on the streets of Old Louisville.

Block Watch?—Jo Ann provided the status of the upcoming the Annual Neighborhood Watch National Night Party. Jo Ann completed the Permit application packet and mailed it to IPL June 8, 2005. Thanks to Jonathon Lowe, Tyler Fairleigh, Legal Aid Society, will bring handouts and speak at the Block Party. The LMPD 4th Division has agreed to provide the barricades needed to block the 200 block of East Ormsby.
Block heads?—Members were asked once again to consider being a Block head. Several of the blocks within TTNA boundaries do not have Blockheads. Wanda, Hugh, and Jo Ann modeled their ?“Block Head?” T-shirts that Wanda had commissioned.

Carrie Butler?—TARC Operations Manager?—came to answer questions that TTNA members had. She did not make a formal presentation. Some of her key points were:

ADMINISTRATIVE--TARC operating budget is about $50 million/year. Revenues are about $12 million/year. TARC ridership is about 50,000 people per day. Some routes have extraordinarily low ridership (9 people) but are retained because TARC is the only transportation those people have.

Jackie Brown said that in Louisville there is a ?“stigma?” associated with riding TARC. Helga complimented TARC?’s commercial on MetroTV. TARC employees are not required to take the bus, but they can ride for free. UofL Students and Faculty ride for free through a funding agreement with UofL.

COMPLAINTS?—It is TARCS policy to respond to all complaints within 30 days. Complaints can be called in--585-1234?—or reported via the TARC Website?—

DOWNTOWN TROLLEY--There are no plans to extend the route of the downtown Trolley, which now comes up to 3rd and Breckinridge travels west on Breckinridge and then goes south on 4th. Jo Ann suggested that since Old Louisville is trying to promote tourism to our Historic District that it would be nice if the trolley route were extended to 3rd and Oak, west on Oak, and then south on 4th on weekends. There are no plans to do that.

LIGHT RAIL--Engineering work for the ?“light rail?” is on hold, but they are still doing planning work. Nothing can really be done until a source of funding for the project is identified.

STOPS--TARC attempts to balance a variety of needs when locating stops. There are over 7,000 bus stops--most without shelters. TARC is working to add shelters as funding permits. They are trying to post schedules at all shelters. Posting them on poles adjacent to stops would be nice.

There is no formal periodic review of the stops or routes to make sure that they still make sense. There is no formal process for moving a bus stop. Apparently, it is whoever screams the loudest. TARC may decide to ?“freeze?” bus stops in Old Louisville.

BUS STOP at 1st and Ormsby?—At Ken Herndon?’s request, TARC moved the bus stop from the NW corner of 1st and Ormsby to the SW corner, by the church. The minister of the church wrote a letter to TARC complaining about the change and TARC moved it back. Apparently, the riders also called to complain about the change, so TARC moved it back to NW corner. Carrie did not have the exact numbers, but she thought that probably fewer than 20 people per day actually use this stop. Bill Walsh suggested common sense might be used to solve the problem. During early morning and late night hours, ask the riders if they would mind getting off on the SW corner. This would take care of the noise problem on the residential side of the block and not cause the church any parking problems.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM.

Submitted by: Jo Ann Macy