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Home My WebLink Aboutagenda.council.worksession.20221101 (2)AGENDA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION November 1, 2022 4:00 PM, City Council Chambers 427 Rio Grande Place, Aspen I.Work Session I.A Parking Permit Policy Review I.B Galena Cooper Living Lab Zoom Meeting Instructions Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device: Please click this URL to join: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84726385758? pwd=V1pRdUtRVFFkd2JGWnJ3QzFwRDR6dz09 Passcode: 81611 Or join by phone: Dial: US: +1 346 248 7799 Webinar ID: 847 2638 5758 Passcode: 81611 International numbers available: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcOrmTRGE8 2022.11.01_Parking Special Permit Worksession_Final.pdf 2022.10.24_Galena_Cooper_Living_Lab_Worksession_Final.pdf 1 MEMORANDUM TO: City of Aspen Mayor and Council FROM: Debbi Zell – Parking Programs Manager Blake Fitch – Parking Operations Manager PJ Murray, EIT – Project Manager THROUGH: Pete Rice, PE – Deputy City Engineer/Director of Parking Trish Aragon, PE – City Engineer MEMO DATE: October 24, 2022 MEETING DATE: November 1, 2022 RE: Parking Special Permit Review REQUEST OF COUNCIL: Staff is requesting direction from Council regarding Parking Special Permit Review on two special permits offered by the City’s Parking Department. The Special Permits staff is seeking direction on are: • Business parking permits • Lodge parking permits SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: The City of Aspen’s Parking Department’s mission is to provide safe, efficient, and convenient parking options to residents, commuters, and visitors. The Parking Department monitors and enforces on-street parking programs through courteous and responsive customer service and through the years, has developed a list of special permits that apply to a range of community members to assist in meeting the department’s mission. The list of special parking permits is below, descriptions of each permit is included as Attachment A. • Business parking permits • Electric vehicle parking permits • Doctor parking permits • Aspen Fire Department parking permits • Lodge parking permits o Short Term Rentals • Mountain Rescue parking permits • Neighborhood electric vehicle permits • Residential parking permits • Service Vehicles 2 In 1995, City Council enacted a comprehensive Transportation and Parking Plan in Aspen which included paid parking for the first time. Aspen was the first community to implement a “Pay and Display” parking system in North America. Paid parking can be used as a management mechanism to reduce vehicle traffic and congestion which improves vehicle circulation and air quality and is crucial to maintaining the character of Aspen. The Transportation and Parking Plan was developed with this goal in mind and intended to align with the Aspen Area Community Plan (AACP) and values of this community. Trends show that if parking is provided or loosely regulated, it encourages drivers to drive, likely alone, contribute to traffic and congestion issues and park their vehicle rather than take advantage of the many transit options available in the valley and in Aspen. This does not align with the community’s values of preserving the character of Aspen as a small mountain town, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and maintaining 1993 traffic levels across the Castle Creek Bridge. In the early 1990’s, before paid parking was put into effect, a committee was assembled of citizens, business owners, residents, etc. and tasked with providing feedback to assist staff and Council develop the comprehensive Transportation and Parking Plan. Specific feedback from this committee related to ensuring parking for residents, business owners and employees, emergency responders, etc. was addressed through creating special permits for these groups. The special permits created at this time were for vehicles driven by emergency responders, lodge/hotel guests, business owners/employees, and electric vehicle owners. Special parking permits were last reviewed in 2002 by Council, at some point since then the fees were modified. DISCUSSION: Staff has identified that the user experience could be improved via clarifications to the special permits policies for parking in Aspen. These clarifications and modifications would allow the policies to be updated for current parking trends and applied more equitably and consistently throughout town. Two special permits have been selected to improve the clarity around special permits, 1) Business parking permits 2) Lodge permits. The purpose of the work session is to identify pieces of two special permits (business parking permits and lodge permits) provided by the Parking Department to assure they meet Council’s expectations and community goals. These two permits will be evaluated independently to allow Council direction to staff to improve a parking policy that aligns with Council goals. Staff will present the current process for these two special permits, the parking impacts associated with them and potential improvements that could be made. Staff will update a clear Parking Policy for the community based on the feedback gained from Council. Business Parking Permits Business permits were established approximately 25 years ago to provide a means to load and unload at their business within the downtown business core. Guidelines were 3 established in Ordinance Sec. 24.16.100 stating business delivery vehicles are allowed to park in the Residential Permit Zones and justify a business permit for delivery use and not to be used for commuting. Businesses are also required to use the designated loading zones in the commercial core or otherwise pay the hourly fee for parking. Currently, the permit fee is $125 a year per permit. Every permit has an average of 2 license plates that can utilize the permit. On a daily basis, it is estimated that 300 to 400 vehicles park in the residential zones near the downtown core utilizing this special permit. The low fee may create an incentive for people to utilize a single occupancy vehicle rather than utilizing other mobility options with minimal impacts on congestion. Over the past few years, the city has released new programs to assist with loading and unloading in the core such as, affordable smart loading zones and providing the first 15 minutes free in core parking spaces. Because there are now alternatives for businesses that align with the original intent of the business vehicle permit, the continuation of this permit could be replaced with the new systems within the city. This allows an affordable delivery system that doesn’t require a specialized permit. For all day parking, business owners can utilize the paid parking in the residential zones for $8 a day or utilize the garage for $6 a day with the pass. Alternatively, The City can raise the fee for the permit to be more equitable with the commuting community. A permit fee of $2000 would be recommended for a yearly business special permit. With this direction, Staff would recommend the following modifications to the Municipal Code that would be presented through an ordinance modification with two readings: 24.16.100. - Business vehicle permit. To avoid placing an onerous burden upon businesses located within the commercial core that require a vehicle for deliveries, business vehicle permits shall be made available upon payment of the prescribed fee, to allow business delivery vehicles to park in the Residential Permit Zones. Businesses shall be required to justify a business vehicle permit for business delivery use (other than simply commuting) and adhere to strict qualifications. Businesses shall also be required to use the designated loading zones in the commercial core or to otherwise pay the hourly fee for parking. In the case that Council chooses a yearly permit option, Staff will propose the qualification structure requirements for a business at a later date and Council will have the opportunity to review the structure. Lodge Guest Permits The Lodge guest permit intent was to provide relief to parking for the hotel guests after the city introduced the paid parking program in 1995. This permit has not been updated in approximately 25 years. Ordinance Section 24.16.070 indicates the permit is to be utilized for guests only for the stay or seven days from the date of the issue to a guest. Lodge guest permits may also be issued to individuals with unusual or special needs at 4 the discretion of the Transportation Director. The permit is only allowed to be used in the residential zones. The permit cost is $3 for the week. The number of permits a lodge can buy is not limited and because of pricing and availability of these permits and difficulty in oversight, this permit may be distributed to more than guests. In 2022, 3,226 permits have been issued. A subset of the lodge permits are short term rental (STR) parking permits. The ordinance does not explicitly state this permit’s applicability for short term rentals however over time and with increased popularity, they have been considered a lodge permit. Currently, property managers, brokers, etc. send license plate numbers via email to the Parking Department staff daily in associated with STRs. There is currently no fee for these parking permits associated with each property. Direction from Council on the lodging special permit would need to include short term rental permits within the same purview. Because there are now alternatives that align with the original intent lodge guest permit program, such as utilizing our current residential permit program at $8/day, the lodging guest permit could be removed from the special permits program. Alternatively, Council could maintain the Lodge guest permit program and increase the cost of the permit to $40 a week which is equivalent to the current residential parking day passes for 5 days. With this direction, Staff recommends the following revisions to the municipal code: Sec. 24.16.070. - Lodge guest permit. Lodge guests permits shall be issued, upon payment of the prescribed fee, to lodges within an RPZ for the exclusive use of lodge guests during their period of stay at the lodge. Lodge employees shall fill out the lodge guest permit completely, using permanent ink and instruct their guests in the proper display and use of the lodge guest permit. The lodge guest permit shall be valid either: (a) only during the guest's stay at the lodge or (b) for seven (7) days from the date of issue to the guest, whichever is less. Lodge guest permits may also be issued to individuals with unusual or special needs at the discretion of the Transportation Director. The Transportation Director shall annually report to the City Manager in an inventory of all lodge guest permits so issued. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: The parking special permit program is an opportunity to encourage behavior changes that align the AACP and are more equitable for the community. The recommended changes will have financial implications to the City however the benefit comes from an equitable application of parking regulations and behavior changes that support the AACP goals. Based on Council’s decision, staff will present the anticipated financial impacts expected in the parking special permit program. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: The proposed changes to the parking special permits program realigns the use of these permits with the values of the community identified in the AACP. These modifications aid the parking program to be a mechanism to reduce 5 vehicle traffic, congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining 1993 traffic levels across Castle Creek Bridge, all which inherently improves air quality. It encourages drivers to utilize the many transit options available in Aspen and valley wide. ALTERNATIVES: Alternatively, no modifications or clarifications could be proposed to the special parking permit program. The permits can continue to operate as they are currently administered. RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends modifications and clarifications be implemented to the parking special permit program so that the Parking Department staff may enforce based on current parking trends and so that the permits are applied more equitably and consistently through town. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Appendix A – Parking Special Permit Descriptions Appendix B – Lodge Parking Space Availability 6 Appendix A – Parking Special Permit Descriptions Business Parking Permits Business permits were established approximately 25 years ago to provide a means to load and unload at their business within the downtown business core. Guidelines were established in Ordinance Sec. 24.16.100 stating business delivery vehicles are allowed to park in the Residential Permit Zones and justify a business permit for delivery use and not to be used for commuting. Businesses are also required to use the designated loading zones in the commercial core or otherwise pay the hourly fee for parking. Electric Vehicle Parking Permits Approximately 10 years ago, the city started a promotion to increase the use of electric and hybrid vehicles. Currently, all-electric vehicles may park for free in the residential zones. Doctor Permits Aspen Valley Hospital requested parking permits for on-call staff. The permit has gone virtual and there approximately 45 permits issued yearly. The fee for the yearly permit is $100 and allows parking in any legal space. Aspen Fire District Permits Per ordinance Sec 24.04.120, the permit is to provide volunteer and fire first responders with free parking in any legal parking spot as “Active Fire Personnel.” Lodge Permits The Lodge guest permit intent was to provide relief to parking for the hotel guests after the city introduced the paid parking program we have today. Ordinance Section 24.16.070 indicates the permit is to be utilized for guests only for the stay or seven days from the date of the issue to a guest. The permit is only allowed to be used in the residential zones. Mountain Rescue Permit All full members of mountain rescue can obtain a free permit for parking in the residential area for on-call personnel. Neighborhood Electric Vehicles Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) permit is intended to promote small in-town vehicles that do not utilize gas. The vehicles currently get to park in both residential and the core at no cost. Residential Parking Permits 7 Appendix A – Parking Special Permit Descriptions A residential parking permit is free. A resident can obtain three permits and an additional guest permit upon request. A resident is required to present a motor vehicle registration or an operator’s license and proof of residency with the application. The Residential Zone map is set through Section 24.16.010 and 24.16.030 ordinances. Residential permit details can be found in Section 24.16.050 and 24.16.060. Service Vehicles Service vehicles including plumbers or electricians may utilize the virtual Pay by Phone business account to manage their fleet vehicles. The cost for service vehicle parking is half the price of the current parking rate. 8 Appendix B – Lodge Parking Space Availability St Regis – Aspen Mountain Subdivision 159 hotel rooms 98 timeshare lodges One residential unit 359 Parking Spaces Limelight 125 Lodge Units 15 free market units 50 Parking Spaces for lodge units 30 Parking Spaces for free market units Jerome Aspen Times Building – 8 rooms Main hotel – 94 rooms Parking Spaces – 47 Gant 143 Units 100 parking spaces Aspen Alps Total Units: 76 Total Parking Spaces: 135 Aspen Square Units: 104 Parking Spaces: 118 9 Appendix B – Lodge Parking Space Availability Lodge Permit Use in 2015: Lodge Quantity Cost Limelight 1,994 $5,980 Molly Gibson 1,800 $5,400 Hotel Aspen 1,600 $4,800 Frias Property Management 533 $1,600 The Gant 495 $1,485 Innsbruck Inn 246 $738 Mountain Chalet 205 $615 Independence Square 200 $600 North of Nell 45 $135 Chateau Dumont 20 $60 Total 7,138 $21,413 10 MEMORANDUM TO: City of Aspen Mayor and Council FROM: PJ Murray, EIT – Project Manager Mike Horvath, PE – Senior Project Manager Pete Rice, PE – Deputy City Engineer THROUGH: Trish Aragon, PE – City Engineer MEMO DATE: October 24, 2022 MEETING DATE: November 1, 2022 RE: Galena Cooper Living Lab (GCLL) – Safety in the Core REQUEST OF COUNCIL: City staff is updating Council on the Galena Cooper Living Lab (GCLL) installation from the Summer 2022 season. Staff will present the data, trends, and the engagement report. Staff is requesting direction from Council on the continuation of safety improvements in the Galena/Cooper corridor and which pieces of the lab does Council want staff to focus on. Additionally, Staff is requesting direction on the turning motions at the Galena St and Hyman Ave intersection – to maintain on-way on Hyman or return to pre-lab conditions. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: The “Safety and Mobility in the Downtown Core” project is a vision for a safe and connected downtown core. The project is based largely in the understanding that the City of Aspen right-of-way, which contains streets, sidewalks, utility corridors, and more, is a public space with potential to serve the work force, tourists, and the community more fully. The “Safety and Mobility in the Downtown Core” project team is exploring how space could be allocated differently in the ROW with three goals in mind: 1. Increase safety, ease and intuitiveness for all users, including pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles. 2. Improve mobility and connectivity in the downtown core for pedestrians and bicyclists. 3. Balance the roadway by providing equitable right-of-way (ROW) space for transit and/or shared mobility options, alternative modes of transportation and the use and storage of single occupancy vehicles. 11 Council requested staff to develop a safety pilot program or living lab that incorporated physical modifications to the roadway and programmatic modifications to test how these elements can work together to improve safety in Aspen’s core and to gather community feedback on these modifications. The preferred concept for the living lab was presented during the August 23rd, 2021, Council Work Session. The living lab proposed at this meeting was the first incremental step to improving safety and mobility. A single corridor was chosen, Galena Corridor for testing temporary improvements which included physical modifications to the corridor and programmatic mitigation techniques for parking and transit options. Table 1 below outlines the physical modifications to the Galena Corridor and Table 2 outlines the programmatic mitigation techniques for the transit and parking programs associated with the Galena Cooper Living Lab (GCLL) Table 1. 2022 Proposed Living Lab SAFETY MEASURE LIVING LAB COMPONENT – PHYSICAL MODIFICATIONS Improved sight lines  Curb extensions at intersections  Convert head-in parking to parallel parking  Install 4-way stop sign at the intersection of Hopkins Ave and Galena St Increased mobility and connectivity  Protected counter-flow bikeway  Shortened crosswalk width for pedestrians Safe, dedicated space + infrastructure for all users to balance space allocation in the ROW  Protected counter-flow bikeway  Formalize shared roadway for cyclists + vehicles  Maintain vehicle access with existing one-way road  Curb extensions at intersections Minimize potential for unpredictable interactions  Protected counter-flow bikeway  Remove left turn from Galena St to Hyman Ave (figure 4 below) 12 Table 2. Programmatic Mitigation Techniques PROGRAM GOAL MITIGATION TECHNIQUE Parking mitigation – to maintain similar parking availability levels to previous years (2019 and 2021)  Parking space reclassification of spaces on the commercial core boundary  Increase 4-hour maximum parking citation fee for violators  Limit construction parking in the core via during on-season.  Stripe parking spaces on blocks where parking space weren’t striped before. Transit mitigation – enhance existing transit options to assist the community, tourists and workforce navigate through the core so the parking impacts can be offset.  Install the Galena WE-Cycle station in the living lab area  Cycling education efforts, partnership with Transportation and Parks Departments  Increase Downtowner hours during peak service times. DISCUSSION: The Galena Cooper Living Lab was installed from early July 2022 through September 2022, about 12 full weeks. Throughout this time staff collected data on metrics during the living lab such as onsite observations, accident data, hosted three pop-up events in the lab area, attended four focus group meetings with ACRA and CCLC, conducted a community wide questionnaire, interviewed businesses pre-install and during the lab, and maintained a call and email log. The results of these efforts are summarized in the paragraphs below. A detailed engagement report is included as Appendix A and provides in depth information regarding the community input collected throughout the lab. To summarize the living lab, a discussion on lab successes and lessons learned is also included at the end of this section. Physical Modifications Data: The goal of the physical modifications was to increase the safety for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. Data was collected by staff to analyze the interactions between users while the Galena Cooper Living Lab was installed. Below is a discussion of these data observations. Daily field observations were collected between mid-June and mid-September at four locations in the living lab area. These observations included positive/negative interactions between users at intersections and along the roadway to analyze if the physical modifications aided safer interactions. Figure 1 below shows a significant decrease in the number of negative interactions between users while the living lab was installed. Figure 1 includes the interactions between all user groups, vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. 13 Figure 1. Daily Total Negative Interactions – all user groups Figure 2 specifically shows the decrease in negative interactions between motorists and pedestrians. With the physical modifications to the lab area, roughly a 70% decrease in negative interactions was observed. A similar trend is seen in both Figure 1 and Figure 2 which signifies that cyclists are not responsible for the majority of negative interactions in the core. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Number of InteractionDate Daily Total Negative Interactions <- Heavy Install Day Castle Creek Bridge construction started -> 14 Figure 2. Negative Interactions between Motorists and Pedestrians The Engineering Department has collected and managed accident data since 2014 in partnership with the Aspen Police Department (APD). This data only includes accidents where a report was filed with APD. Below, Figure 3 shows the number of accidents 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 6/226/276/307/57/77/117/137/157/197/217/278/28/48/238/268/309/69/89/13Number of InteractionsDate Total Negative Interactions between Motorists & Pedestrians <-Heavy Install Day Install Castle Creek Bridge construction started -> 15 reported between the months of July and September have decreased this in 2022 compared to past years. Figure 3. Accident Data July-September Based on field observations and accident report data, it can be concluded that the living lab successfully improved safety between users with a 70% decrease in negative interactions between users and fewer accidents reported. Specifically, it provided safer interactions between pedestrians and vehicles, which are critical interactions and have a significant risk of serious injury. The lab was less intuitive between cyclists and pedestrians due to the counterflow bike lane. Measures can be taken to improve the interactions between cyclists and pedestrians by placing barriers to separate, clear delineation for pedestrians or by creating additional pedestrian space by widening sidewalks. Cyclist use in the living lab area was measured with a tube counter placed in the counterflow bike lane for the duration of the living lab. This tube counter only counted cyclists utilizing this space. Figure 3 below shows total number of cyclists each day using the counter flow. August 13th was the highest cycle use with 301 cyclists counted with a daily average of 150 cyclists per day. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022QuantityYear Accident Data Veh vs Ped Veh vs Veh Veh vs Bike Ped vs Bike Veh vs Parked Single Veh No Report Filed 16 Figure 4. Galena Counterflow Tube Counter The Galena St and Hyman Ave intersection was modified to remove the left turn option from Galena to Hyman. This required Hyman Ave from Hunter St to Galena St to become a one-way headed west – towards Ki Davis Fountain. It took the drivers roughly 3 weeks to adjust to this turning motion change, but it removes a conflict point between vehicles and pedestrians and inherently removes potential for severe injury and makes the intersection safer. There are two options for this turning motion moving forward:  Option 1 minimizes the potential for severe injury at this location and includes installing a new stop sing on Galena and returning Hyman Ave to two-direction traffic.  Option 2 eliminates the potential for severe injury by maintaining no left turn onto Hyman Ave from Galena. Hyman would remain one-way with this option. Programmatic Mitigation Data: The goal of the program mitigation techniques was to provide programmatic changes to offset the parking impacts due to the living lab through the parking program and transit program. Data was collected and analyzed to determine the parking impacts of the living lab. Parking Mitigation – The Galena Cooper Living Lab layout redistributed 44 parking spaces in the Galena St Corridor to surrounding blocks within the commercial core boundary. However, through mitigation techniques, the parking availability in the core was not negatively impacted. Staff monitored parking availability in the core throughout the living lab installation to ensure the target parking occupancy of 85% was maintained similarly to past years. Data 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Cyclists per DayDate Galena Counterflow Tube Counter 17 that was collected over the summer included parking occupancy data, 4-hour maximum parking violations, and construction parking mitigation. Daily Occupancy – Below is a graph that shows 2019, 2021 and 2022 maximum daily parking occupancy data as a 5-day rolling average. The core experienced 44 days where parking exceeded the 85% target threshold in 2019, 20 days in 2021 and zero days in 2022. Based on the parking availability data, more parking spaces were available in the downtown core compared to past years. Community feedback provided insight on the parking conditions in the core as well, how the parking availability appeared to our locals and visitors. The community felt at large that convenient parking was still difficult to find along Galena Avenue and Cooper Street, within the lab area. As behavior started to change during the lab, Hunter and Spring Streets started to see high occupancy, but continued to provide availability. Figure 5. Parking Occupancy through September 2022 4-Hour Maximum Parking Citation – The living lab was a catalyst for updating the Parking Department’s fee schedule related to parking citations permanently. The citation that was updated and expected to have the largest impact on the living lab was the core overtime fine, also known as the 4-hour maximum parking limit. This fine increased from $30 per violation to a progressive fee structure: $50 >> $100 >> $200 >> Municipal court date for 0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100% 1/1 3/2 5/1 6/30 8/29 10/28 12/27Percent Peak OccupancyDate Daily Parking Occupancy in the Core 85% Threshold 2019 Occupancy 2021 Occupancy 2022 Occupancy **2020 parking occupancy data was excluded from the analysis due to the impacts of COVID-19. 18 subsequent violations. Below, Table 1 compares the number of citations written and the fines collected in association with the core overtime violation. Table 3. Core Overtime Year Comparison Year Count Fines 2019 237 $7,1100.00 2021 268 $8,040.00 2022 310 $14,560.00 The number of citations issued has increased over time. Due to the focus on the lab during the summer, it is anticipated that staff prioritized this corridor differently than in 2019 and 2021.Staff will continue to monitor this citation to determine how to better notify the community of parking options, so the 4-hour maximum time limit is not violated. Staff did not issue a municipal court date for repeated violations this year. Construction Parking Mitigation – During the initial rounds of community feedback in 2021, a common theme was that construction parking in the core was heavily impacting the ability for locals and visitors to park. Based on this feedback, staff revised the Construction Mitigation Plan manual with specific criteria that needed to be met in order to obtain a construction parking permit and decreased the number of spaces permitted per job. Staff compiled the number of construction parking permits issued during the summer months for 2019 – 2022, shown below in Figure 6. In late 2019, the Parking Department transferred from manual construction permit tracking to the Sales Force permit tracking system which explains the low number tracked in this year. Between 2021, which was a heavy construction year in the core, and this year, the number of construction parking permits issued in the core decreased by 43%. This is in part due to a major construction project on hold and the new construction parking program. 19 Figure 6. Construction Parking Permit July - September Transit Mitigation Techniques – The Galena St corridor plays an important role in connecting existing transit methods. Staff recommended that existing transit options be enhanced to assist the community, tourists and workforce navigate through the core during the living lab. WE-Cycle Station – The City partnered with WE-Cycle to install a new station within the living lab boundary. Past feedback from WE-Cycle users showed the need for a station closer to the mall and this project allowed for space to accomplish this request. The Galena station replaced the Armory station on Hopkins Ave. WE-Cycle data, from July – September, showed significant increase in users for the Galena station (2022 data) compared to the Armory location (2018-2021 data), as seen below in Figure 5. A 42% increase in use at the Galena station was seen in 2022 compared to the Armory station in 2018. And a 68% station increase was seen at the Galena location over the Armory between 2019 and 2022. 9 22 192 108 0 50 100 150 200 250 2019 2020 2021 2022QuantityYear Construction Parking Permits July -September 20 Figure 7. WE-Cycle Ridership Numbers July - September Micro Transit (Downtowner) Data – To enhance existing transit options in the core, micro transit options were increased utilizing the vendor Downtowner. The city received the TDM Innovation Grant from CDOT to assist with these enhancements. The grant covered increased number of vehicles operating during peak times, generally 1pm-8pm daily. The vendor, Downtowner, provided data showing a decrease in wait times during these peak hours and a ridership increase compared to the same period last year for these hours supported by the grant. Figure 8 below shows a 23% increase in ridership to and from Galena Ave and Cooper St, the living lab area. 3,333 2,828 1,115 2,936 4,759 05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,000 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022RidersYear WE-Cycle Summer Ridership Totals 21 Figure 8. July - September Rides to/from Living Lab Area Figure 9 below shows the decrease in wait times during peak hours funded by the grant. Roughly a 4% shorter wait time was provided to riders this year over last year. Figure 9. Micro Transit Wait Times Below, Figure 6 shows the GCLL area with a blue line. Also pictured are the hotspots for micro transit in this area. The corner of Galena and Cooper, near Paradise Bakery is a top hot spot in the lab as well as Kemosabe along Galena St. Additionally, Clarks Oyster Bar and Ute Mountaineer are hotspots along Hyman Ave where physical modifications were also made as part of the living lab. 3,362 1,965 2,624 3,223 05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,000 2019 2020 2021 2022Rider QuantityYear July -September Rides to/from Living Lab Area 22 Figure 10. Micro Transit Hotspots Summer 2022 In conclusion, the programmatic data shows behavioral shifts in the community. Parking availability did not exceed the 85% threshold, construction parking was less impactful to the core, and locals and visitors utilized the WE-Cycle and micro transit (Downtowner) more frequently compared to past years. Community Outreach Results: Community outreach efforts were continued through the installation of the GCLL, feedback was collected from June 1 – September 30, 2022, in a variety of avenues. Appendix A contains an engagement report compiled by PR Studio, LLC (PRS), complete with comments, suggestions and ideas collected during the project. During the duration of the GCLL, the project team and elected officials received significant feedback, including: 198 direct comments via phone or email to the project hotline, 262 participants in the Aspen Community Voice (ACV) questionnaire, 1,400 visitors of the project ACV page, 7 personal interviews, and comments via pop up events, farmers market booths, and focus groups. 23 As an example, some main themes heard from the community feedback phone and email log and personal interviews are listed below. A complete list can be found in Appendix A, the engagement report.  Lack of convenient parking – difficult for older adults and people with disabilities to navigate limited parking availability in the core.  Strong dislike for the counterflow bike lane.  Lab appeared to prioritize cyclists over pedestrians and motorists – did not achieve goals of balanced priority.  More advanced notice of projects requested – Downtown businesses prefer one- on-one communication.  Vehicles continually circled the block during the lab.  The counter-flow bike lane is not needed. A few main takeaways from the community wide questionnaire on ACV are below. A complete summary of the questionnaire results can be found in Appendix A, the engagement report.  Largest demographic to participate in the questionnaire were visiting the core to shop and eat.  The most supported physical safety elements installed by the living lab were the curb extensions and eliminating the left turn from Galena to Hyman.  Most respondents, regarding their experiences as a motorist, a pedestrian and as a cyclist all chose that the lab had negative impacts on safety and mobility.  Many respondents felt that parking was more difficult with the lab.  The last question of the questionnaire was open ended. Most comments were negative and not in support of the lab as a whole. While the living lab configuration was not preferred by the community, it highlighted the need for additional safety and mobility planning in this area. The lab sparked many conversations about what it means to have safe access to sidewalks, parking, and biking in the core. Overall, there is a desire from the downtown business community and the community at large to continue to observe user behavior in this area, refine the street configuration and continue to identify effective elements that will increase safety for all users. Successes and Lessons Learned: While the GCLL physical configuration was not preferred by the community staff compiled a list of successes and lessons learned regarding the lab. Successes:  Increased pedestrian area is largely needed in the core. Where the counterflow bike lane was installed, it was frequently used as pedestrian space.  Decreased the number of critical and severe interactions in the living lab area (i.e. between pedestrians and vehicles).  WE-Cycle and micro transit (Downtowner) both saw an increase in riders this year.  Parking occupancy did not exceed the 85% threshold. 24  The community is engaged regarding safety in the core, significant feedback was received and overall, there is a desire for the core to be safer for all users. Lessons Learned:  The counterflow bike lane was not intuitive in this location.  Business community prefers one-on-one communication regarding changes in the commercial core.  Installing temporary physical modifications to a roadway takes time and the timing of the install is crucial to the success of the project. In the future, these projects should always be installed during off season. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: Budget is allocated for 2023 in anticipation of pedestrian improvements for the Galena corridor from Hopkins to Hyman (i.e. the Armory intersection – Ki Davis Fountain intersection). This work includes survey and design options of permanent improvements for this area. Staff will update Council with a project estimate after staff receives direction during this work session. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: Implementing improvements for pedestrians and cyclists will not only improve the safety and mobility aspects of the core for all users, but it is anticipated that a more balanced approach to corridors will reduce the carbon footprint of the city as biking and walking within the core become more safe, convenient, and equitable. Everyone who lives, visits, works, or enjoys Aspen is a pedestrian at one point in their time here, not everyone is a vehicle driver or a cycler. Improving the experience and safety of our most vulnerable user should be a top priority. ALTERNATIVES: Alternatively, staff can propose a different corridor in the core to explore safety improvements in. RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff recommends Council approve exploring safety improvements for the Galena/Cooper corridor. Staff will return with design alternatives for permanent improvements that enhance pedestrian areas and intersection predictability. Staff also recommends that the one-way on Hyman remains permanently. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: 25 GALENA COOPER LIVING LAB ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY REPORT SUMMER 2022 LAB — JUNE 1 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 26 2 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Engagement Summary Overview 3 Approach and Goals Stakeholders and Focus Groups Comment Log and Phone Field Observations 5 Overview Report Distribution Channels 6 Print and Media Direct Mail Social Media Aspen Community Voice Page 8 Visitor Summary Questionnaire Report Ideas and Comments Focus Groups 9 Summaries Themes and Recommendations 15 Mobility and Safety in the Downtown Core Communication and Connection Parking int he downtown core Outreach methods CONTENTS 27 3 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Field observations were collected at each intersection for 12 weeks; Interviews with business owners and residents in the area; some door-to-door outreach; Development of project materials and media strategies; general letter mailed to the project area, live and recorded phone line, email, webpage, digital and social media; Small event outreach at pop- ups and focus group feedback ; Recorded feedback from an online survey, comments, and ideas; Approach and Goals The Galena Cooper Living Lab Outreach and Engagement initiative program continued previous public involvement work through the Safety and Mobility in the Downtown Core project. The outreach program was led by the City of Aspen Engineering, Transportation and Parking Department with assistance from our outreach consultant firm Project Resource Studio, LLC. Five main strategies were created for collecting feedback throughout the Living Lab experience: Feedback was collected from June 1 – September 30, 2022; this report is a culmination of all the comments, suggestions, and ideas collected during this time. Alongside the Galena Cooper Living Lab outreach initiative, two city programs focused on implementing increased safety measures and mobility in the downtown core were implemented, influenced by the outreach that took place previously: Street Smart and the Parking Department enhancement program helped support the commitment to encourage other transportation modes for ease of getting around town. Use of the Downtowner increased during the Lab, and enforcement of the current parking rules, including revisiting construction parking regulations. The Galena Cooper Living Lab installed on South Galena Street from Hopkins Avenue to Cooper Avenue and Cooper Avenue to Hunter Street will allow the project to be tested temporarily so modifications can be made prior to any permanent safety and design improvements. The city research looked at how the right-of-way could be used to increase safety in the downtown core and balance the needs of all users, encouraging more compliance with the current rules. High Profile Project Area: OUTREACH HISTORY In early 2021, City engineering staff presented Council with the specific corridors in Aspen’s downtown core where safety could be improved based on recommendations from previous masterplans and studies. Council directed staff to develop a holistic plan that incrementally improves safety in the core. Engagement activities have included communicating foundational information, conducting a needs assessment questionnaire on Aspen Community Voice, and business outreach with ACRA and downtown core businesses. The location of the Lab is in the most visited area of the downtown core. There are several local businesses and residents in the area that expressed concerns about the timing of the implementation of the Lab as well as the concern for lack of advanced notice. ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY OVERIVEW 28 4 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Stakeholders, Interviews and Focus Groups The outreach team organized feedback from stakeholders in these main categories; downtown businesses and residents, focus groups from ACRA and CCLC (Commercial Core Lodging Commission); direct field observations from cyclists and motorists, and the general public. The Galena Cooper Living Lab received a high level of attention and engagement based on the location, the type of changes to the roadway, and the reclassification of 44 parking spaces in this area. All stakeholders were provided with multiple channels of communication to provide feedback: Interviews Seven personal interviews were conducted ahead of the Lab to gauge preferences, ideas, and knowledge of the changes. These interviews were effective; more interviews would have helped to create a better understanding of the goals for the Lab. Appendix A – Pre-Lab Interviews Comment Log and Direct Phone Line Themes • Strong preference to remove the Lab elements and bring back the parking • Lack of convenient parking • Difficult for older adults to navigate limited parking availability while accessing commercial businesses • Strong dislike for the counterflow bike lane • Passionate comments regarding bicycling in the downtown core and perceived preference for bikes over cars • Comments observing a lack of safety improvements from the Lab • Criticism around not enough advanced warning ahead of the Lab Appendix B – Comment Log and Phone Log 198 direct comments were logged via phone or email Participants ranged from downtown business owners to local and second homeowners All comments were logged and recorded on a spreadsheet The phone line was an effective way to collect feedback from people who wanted to remain anonymous. 29 5 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Overview Daily and weekly field observations were a key component of the Galena Cooper Living Lab summer program. A representative from the Engineering office conducted field observations twice a week for 12 weeks concluding on the last week of the Lab. The observer noted interactions between pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists. Data points are presented in this report under three main categories: Appendix C – Field Observations Living Lab Analysis and Graphs • Daily observation notes Peak Parking Occupancy in the Core 2022 • Parking availability Galena Street Tube Counter Data • Use of the counterflow bike lane FIELD OBSERVATIONS 30 6 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Aspen Times September 3 September 5 September 9 September 13 September 17 September 19 Aspen Daily News September 2 September 6 September 10 September 12 September 15 September 21 Digital Ads Digital Ads ran for the month of August and September in the Aspen Times Mailer June 10, 2022 – Overview letter mailed to 700 downtown addresses Press Release • June 14, 2022: City Launching Summer Living Lab on Galena and Cooper Corridor • September 22, 2022: Next Steps for the Galena Cooper Living Lab Experiment City of Aspen Website • Homepage Newsflash • News Page • Aspen Community Voice: Project Page Media Coverage • AT, June 19, 2022: Move over, cars: Bikes getting their own lane in downtown Aspen | AspenTimes.com • ADN, June 25, 2022: Local news in brief, June 25 | News | aspendailynews.com • AT, June 26, 2022: Aspen to increase parking fines for the first time in 20 years | AspenTimes.com • ADN, June 30, 2022: Downtown businesses speak out against Living Lab parking changes | News | aspendailynews.com • AT, July 10, 2022 Aspenites fired up over traffic experiment in downtown core | AspenTimes.com • AT, July 12, 2022 Business owners spew frustration at Aspen’s electeds over bike lane experiment | AspenTimes.com • AT, July 27, 2022 Aspen electeds consider changes to downtown parking experiment | AspenTimes.com • AND, August 2, 2022 Local news in brief, August 2. | News | aspendailynews.com • AND, August 24, 2022 Aspen City Council supports winter changes to Living Lab | News | aspendailynews.com • AT, August 24, 2022 Galena-Cooper living lab will end September 26 with some features to remain in October | AspenTimes.com Print Ads Print ads were focused on “Experimenting the Lab and a drive to take the survey.” Print and Media DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS 31 7 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 kinsAve NMonarchStFrancisWhitakerPark Paepcke Park EDurant Ave EHymanAve ECooperAve SAspenStAve SummitSt JuanSt GilbertSt Grand HyattAspen LimelightLodge Wagner Park Lumberark WilloughbyPark SGalena S tEBleekerSt Hotel Jerome ObermeyerPlace FraternialOrderoftheEaglesAspenPoliceandPitkinSheriff Rio GrandeBuilding SOriginalStDeanSt AspenMountainGondolaPlaza Aspen AlpsPark Glory HolePark Gibs NNewbury Park Herron Park EDurantAve Ne a leAveEHopkins SWestEndStDeanSt Q W 0 0.07 0.150.04 mi E Hyman A v e E Durant A v e E Hyman A v e E Hopkin s A v e E Main St E Main St S Original StN Monarch StS Hunter StS Mill StSilver Circle Ice Rink MountainChalet St Regis Rubey ParkTransit Center Aspen ArtMuseum Wheeler OperaHouse E Cooper A v eS Galena St3 12 STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE GALENA COOPER LIVING LAB SUMMER 2022 PROJECT GOALS Develop a holistic plan that incrementally improves safety and mobility in Aspen’s downtown core by balancing priorities for all users. • Improve the convenience, safety, and quality of experience for bicyclists and pedestrians on streets and trails. • Balance user priorities by providing dedicated spaces for each transportation mode • Develop a strategic parking plan that manages the supply of parking and reduces the adverse impacts of the automobile. • Encourage alternative forms of transportation to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. WHEN Summer 2022 Lab installation will occur at the end of June. Official data collection and outreach will continue until the end of September. WHAT A Galena Cooper Living Lab will test temporary safety modifications in Aspen’s downtown core by making enhancements to sidewalks, roads, and parking. WHERE • South Galena Street from Main Street to Cooper Avenue • Cooper Avenue at Galena Avenue to Hunter Street HOW 1. Formalize shared roadway for cyclists and vehicles 2. Dedicated counter-flow bikeways with protected rubber curbs 3. Parallel parking 4. Curb extensions at intersections 5. Widened pedestrian areas 6. No left turn onto Hyman from Galena STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE GALENA COOPERLIVING LAB Now Entering This Living Lab is testing temporary modifications to INCREASE SAFETY AND MOBILITY for pedestrians, cyclists & drivers. Bike it. Walk it. Drive it. And let us know about your experience at: Aspen.gov/LivingLab Summer 2022 Summer 2022 Summer 2022 Summer 2022 Let us know about your experience at: Aspen.gov/LivingLab Let us know about your experience at: Aspen.gov/LivingLab Let us know about your experience at: Aspen.gov/LivingLab Let us know about your experience at: Aspen.gov/LivingLab 970.340.4334 GalenaCooperLivingLab@aspen.gov 970.340.4334 GalenaCooperLivingLab@aspen.gov 970.340.4334 GalenaCooperLivingLab@aspen.gov 970.340.4334 GalenaCooperLivingLab@aspen.gov STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE Bike it. Walk it. Drive it.Share your Experience. SURVEYOpen thru 9/23/22 Bike it. Walk it. Drive it.Share your Experience. SURVEYOpen thru 9/23/22 Bike it. Walk it. Drive it.Share your Experience. SURVEYOpen thru 9/23/22 Bike it. Walk it. Drive it.Share your Experience. SURVEYOpen thru 9/23/22 GALENA COOPER GALENA COOPER GALENA COOPER GALENA COOPER LIVING LAB LIVING LAB LIVING LAB LIVING LAB SUMMER 2022 Bike it. Walk it. Drive it. EXPERIENCE THE GALENA COOPER LIVING LAB And then take the survey STREET SMART • SAFETY IN THE CORE THE GALENA COOPER LIVING LAB Summer 2022 A living lab installed on Galena & Cooper will test temporary modifications to sidewalks, roads and parking in an effort to INCREASE SAFETY & MOBILITY for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. One-way shared road with cyclists and drivers. Dedicated counter-flow bikeway with protective curbs. Parallel parking on both sides of Galena and one block of Cooper. Improved sightlines between cyclists and parked vehicles. Experience the Living Lab this summer. Bike it, Walk it, Drive it and please share your input at AspenCommunityVoice.com 4 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 »»»» »»»» Fact Sheet Mailer Print Ads Farmer’s Market A-Frame Survey Handout 32 8 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Appendix D - Data report for questions, comments, the questionnaire and the ideas page Page visitors and participants to the Galena Cooper Living Lab webpage on Aspen Community Voice were provided several opportunities to submit a comment or engage in the survey. ASPEN COMMUNITY VOICE Visitor Summary From June 1 through October 4, 2022, the page saw 1,400 total visitors. 310 participated in the survey or contributed ideas 593 performed multiple actions (downloaded documents, visited key dates, etc.) 946 visited at least one page 262 participated in the survey 56 contributed to ideas 16 asked questions Questionnaire Report 262 individuals participated in the survey. Demographic: The largest demographic, 208 chose I shop and eat in the downtown core. 85 work in the downtown core. 32 own a business in the downtown core, and 61 live in the downtown core. Survey Results: The majority of participants, when rating each of the Lab’s design elements, were greatly diminished, diminished, or neither improved nor diminished. The design elements that received the highest ratings for Improved and greatly improved are Curb extensions at the intersection and eliminating the left turn from Galena onto Hyman. A majority of the respondents (75.6%) regarding their experience as a motorist chose: negative impacts on safety and mobility, followed by 10.7% choosing neutral, 8% Positive improvements to safety and mobility, 3.4% not sure yet, and 2.3% choosing not applicable. A majority of the respondents (67.6%) regarding their experience as a pedestrian chose: negative impacts on safety and mobility, 16% chose neutral, 9.5% positive improvements to safety and mobility, 4.2% not sure yet, and 2.7% choosing not applicable. When asked to share their experience as a cyclist: 56.5% chose: negative impacts on safety and mobility, 9.2% chose neutral, 9.9% positive improvements to safety and mobility, 3.1% not sure yet, and 21.4% choosing not applicable. Regarding what, if any, changes were noticed because of the Living Lab, allowing participants to choose all that applied: 214 - parking is more difficult, 199 - circulation has not improved, 171 - more conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists, 166 - site lines and visibility have not been improved, 131 - more conflicts between motorists, 29 - parking is more difficult, 21 - better circulation, 15 - fewer conflicts between motorists, 14 - fewer conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists, 4 - easier to park. The final open-ended question had 228 responses, the majority being negative, not in support of the Lab as a whole. 33 9 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Participant and Session Overview Throughout the Living Lab the project team attended and presented to several small groups as well as hosted pop-up outreach events in the area. The following is a summary of each of the meetings. Notes were taken at the meeting and provided to the facilitators and organizers after the meeting. FOCUS GROUPS — ACRA Board Meeting Presentation Feedback Summary | June 28, 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab team presented to the ACRA board a summary of parking changes and the implementation elements including outreach and collection methods. Members of the ACRA board provided the following feedback and input: • Board members would like to see how the effectiveness of the Lab and parking changes will be observed and would like the team to return to present findings and feedback • One recommendation for the city to observe and quantify whether there is increased traffic circulation in the core as a result of the change to Galena • Safety is a concern and should be measured • Request for the City to rescind the rule that allows bikers to bike through stop signs in the core. [Answered.] • Concerned about the effectiveness of 4-hour parking limitations in the core and discussion regarding the 4-hour time limit in the core as one that might be punitive to businesses and employees in the core • Concerns about the convenience and access for employees to park closer to work • One board member would like to see better compliance to current safety rules • Comments concerning that input from listening sessions and outreach was not reflected in the changes • Suggestion for better enforcement of pedestrians using the crosswalks • General comment regarding people in the downtown core are unpredictable and are not paying attention while driving, walking or biking • Comment regarding the bike lane direction to counterflow of traffic • Torre supported the efforts as a policy direction of city council • More outreach is needed to understand the direct correlation between business and the changes taking place this summer with the Lab • ACRA will help the team to connect with businesses in this area 34 10 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team attended the CCLC meeting. The following summary is a combination of direct comments and feedback. We are following up with the CCLC in August. • Question regarding how did the City make this decision? »The Lab is more for bikers in the core; biking anarchy. • We need more enforcement on bike culture and rules. • The Lab is hurting commercial activity by not parking in the core. • We need to get bikes out of the core. • There are many conflicts with bikes and pedestrians. • CCLC expressed discontent with the initial outreach and it seemed like the Lab timeline was not noticed in advance. • More follow up and outreach is needed. • Prefer door to door outreach and in person. — Commercial Core Lodging Commission Feedback Summary | July 6, 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team was at the Aspen Saturday Market on July 16, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. to collect feedback. Approximately 38 people stopped by to discuss the Lab. • The ratio of people against the Lab vs. people for it was more than 2:1 • Many people indicated they would like to see the area become closed-off for pedestrians only, like the other malls in town • People were very upset to have fewer parking spaces • People did not widely understand how/where the bikes are supposed to go • Many people expressed feeling unsafe as a pedestrian, cyclist, and driver — Aspen Saturday Market Feedback Summary | July 16, 2022 Sample comments: “Parking spaces are more important” “Bike lane experiment is a failure; creates a higher likelihood of accidents “Bikes in Aspen are used for recreation, not transportation” “People aren’t paying attention to double parkers” “So many pedestrians in the bike lane” “I like the idea that cars/bikes/pedestrians are separated” “Bravo City Council! Thumbs up to the Lab. Would like to see it landscaped.” “Many people indicated they would like to see the area become closed-off for pedestrians only, like the other malls in town” “Parallel parking seems tight” “I really like the lab” “No good for merchants or drivers” “People are parking in the bike lane” “No one can parallel park” “No one is following the rules” “I’m terrified to cross the street” 35 11 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team hosting a pop-up event in the early evening from 6:00 -7:00 pm. Approximately 12 people stopped by to discuss the Lab and individual interviews were conducted, direct comments reflected below: • People do not parallel park • Aspen needs more parking • Looking for parking is frustrating • It is great for bikes and bad for cars. • No one likes change – the Lab configuration is safer. • Likes the bike lane and thinks its good. • This is an interesting experiment; the Lab is not popular and this is not going to work • Not an ideal situation for Aspen • The parallel parking feels like it sticks out. • Parking is floating in the middle of the street • Feels misguided to get rid of parking • It is ridiculous to takeaway parking, the businesses are very unhappy • We have the most expensive rent in the country and people need to park close stores and restaurants. • We need better signage for the Lab. The lack of signage creates an unsafe environment. • We need education and signage. — Pop-up event at Harper and Hudson | Tuesday Cruiseday- Feedback Summary | July 19, 2022 36 12 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team set up a pop-up event next to the ACRA kiosk on Galena and Cooper on Thursday, August 4, from 11 a.m – 2 p.m. to collect feedback. Approximately 50 people stopped to discuss the Lab. • The ratio of people against the Lab vs. people for it was about evenly split • Many people indicated they would like to see the area become closed-off for pedestrians only, like the other malls in town • Several people indicated they would like one side of the street to be head-in parking and the other side to have no parking and a wider bike lane • People were mildly upset about fewer parking spaces • Many people thing visitors to Aspen aren’t here long enough to learn how to properly use the Lab • People were split as to which is safer: parallel parking vs. head-in • One person thought the area looks better than before • Many people did not see the purpose of the Lab • Several people commented that it seemed unsafe to have the bike lane between the sidewalk and row of parked cars • Several people commented that there are too many pedestrians in the counterflow bike lane • Many people love the idea of making the core more pedestrian friendly • A few people commented that this is the wrong way to discourage people not to drive into town — Aspen Pop-Up Summary | August 4, 2022 37 13 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team set up a pop-up event next to the ACRA kiosk on Galena and Cooper on Monday, August 15, from 1:45 – 3:15 p.m. to collect feedback. Approximately 26 people stopped to discuss the Lab. • The people opposed to the Lab slightly edged out the people in support of the Lab • Many people pointed to e-bikes at high speeds as problematic. • There were comments that Aspen visitors don’t understand how to drive around town, and the Lab, with its differences, makes it even more difficult to navigate • The one consistent complaint was taking away parking spaces. Reclassifying the spaces elsewhere is not seen as a positive to the people who work downtown and know that they now have fewer options for parking during their day. • People said the Lab makes no sense. • People think Council is fixing something that is not broken. • One business owner expressed concern that the feedback will not be made public or taken into consideration. — Aspen Pop-Up Summary | August 15, 2022 Sample comments: “I don’t like losing parking spots “I’m all for the bike lanes; we live in Denver, where the bike lanes are saviors.” “Aspen is leagues above even major cities with its transportation systems.” “Does nothing to make it easier to get up and down the street.” “It looks terrible visually.” “Removing the left turn onto Hyman makes it difficult to access businesses on Hyman.” “Bravo City Council! Thumbs up to the Lab. Would like to see it landscaped.” “Nobody uses the bike lane.” “People spending $500/head at restaurants shouldn’t have to walk long distances.” 38 14 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 The Galena Cooper Lab (GCLL) team participated in a focus group with ACRA board members and representatives. This follow up meeting was conducted mid-lab to collect feedback. The following is a summary of the comments: • Request for further discussion and buy-in from the commercial core business community regarding parking strategies, mobility, and transit. There is a desire to the make the downtown core safer. • In general, participants questioned if people really did feel safer; many comments suggested that they did not feel safer. • Cycling was a topic of discussion; comments regarding that the Lab was not safe for cyclists. • Paradise corner feels very congested and needs more attention to the design of the Lab in this area. • There was a question regarding enforcement and crosswalk enforcement. • Several ideas were discussed for possible alternative parking times shorter than 4 hours to accommodate people getting picked up and dropped off: more short-term convenient parking times. • Elements of the Lab did not seem intuitive. • Users of the core commercial are not bikers; suggesting that too much consideration was given to bikers – another view voiced interest in supporting alternative methods of transportation. • Desire for the City to be more proactive and spend more time on collaboration – commercial core businesses would like to be in the experiment together. • The metrics for measuring the success is failed. • Cars are circling and it is confusing directionally. • Businesses rely on the convenient parking for commercial activity. • The Lab seemed like a stressful experience in an already stressful environment. — ACRA board members and representative Focus Group | August 16, 2022 39 15 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 Mobility and Safety in the Downtown Core The Galena Cooper Living Lab project area is a congested area of the downtown core and one of the most visited areas in Aspen. There is a mix of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists all in the same area. The Lab highlighted the need for safety and mobility planning in this area. While the Lab configuration was not preferred, the Lab itself sparked many conversations about what it means to have safe access to sidewalks, parking, and biking in the downtown core. There is a desire from the downtown business community and the community at large to continue to observe user behavior in this area, refine the street configuration and continue to identify safety elements that will increase safety for all users. THEMES AND RECOMMENDATIONS Communication and Connection with downtown core businesses Throughout the Lab, the downtown business community played a key role in providing feedback and recommendations on the user experience in this area. There is a desire from the City and the business community to create better lines of communication, creating a mutual relationship to address issues, not just parking, traffic, and mobility but the challenges facing small businesses today. Aspen is a small mountain town with the same urban issues faced by metropolitan cites. Maintaining a personal connection to local businesses will allow for the creation of shared goals and outcomes. The businesses in the downtown core have expressed the need for more frequent communication and touch points ahead of any new traffic or parking changes. The preferred method of communication is one-on-one communication. Parking in the downtown core Throughout the Lab engagement window, several comments and concerns focused on the lack of “convenient” parking in the downtown core. Participants expressed concerns about the lack of parking and the direct correlation between parking and the level of business. The Lab removed 44 parking spaces in the project area and redistributed them within the downtown core boundary. More work is needed to provide education and an overview of Aspen’s long- term parking program and the availability of parking spaces just beyond Galena Street. As the need for alternative transportation increases, there is concern that the availability of parking in the downtown core area is limited. The Lab demonstrated a need for short-term pickup and drop-off parking. Outreach methods Focus groups were very effective as they provided the personal connection participants requested as well as an opportunity for dialogue. The Lab provided an opportunity to test a variety of methods for outreach; some were more effective than others. Direct mail did not seem very effective, as we heard from very few people who received a letter ahead of the start of the Lab. Allowing participants to call a dedicated phone line was very effective, and many people utilized this tool to provide feedback. 40 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 APPENDIX A 41 Galena and Cooper Living Lab Interviews Pre Lab – Notes from Interviews 1 Interview 1 Thrift Ship - June 13, 2022 1) Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - No did not know - Yes does think something should happen 2) What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - Very limited parking - Already shoppers that buy furniture is hard (drive to drop off) - Not a car concerned 3) What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - Not great observers 4) Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? 5) Anything else you would like to share? - No, nothing at this time Interview 2 Paradise Bakery Aspen - June 13, 2022 o Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - Knows the owners have attended meetings. o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - Driving and cycling is treacherous - People are walking in different directions - Really dangerous now - Having something more structured is great - Bikes riders will benefit o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - It will take time for people to get use to. - Most of our customers will get use to where to park o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? - We are a destination; people will reach us regardless o Anything else you would like to share? 42 Galena and Cooper Living Lab Interviews Pre Lab – Notes from Interviews 2 - Curious if we will have bike rack? - Hopefully, it will improve mobility. Interview 3 Ute - June 14, 2022 o Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - Did not know o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - The pedestrian movement seems fine - Biking in the core is scary, with people backing up - Driving into the area – nightmare - People are waiting to park – the weekend is terrible - One way is fine o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - Concerns about business traffic - Being on the street is better for us - See a lot of people waiting to park in the area - Knows that illegal parking fines are increasing – if you are wealthy, you won’t care - Not sure if it will increase circulation - Construction parking – the whole block is taken up by construction trucks - They can park elsewhere and walk – drop off tools o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? - Can’t answer that at that time o Anything else you would like to share? - A good thing to try Interview 4 Aspen Fire Department – June 20, 2022 o Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - Yes o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - Pretty hectic – I feel like that for the majority of the area - Lots of people are moving through the area – surprised we don’t o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? 43 Galena and Cooper Living Lab Interviews Pre Lab – Notes from Interviews 3 - Not really; if it were to expand – this would be hard to operate - Nose-in helps with Department to respond to calls quickly o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? - N/A o Anything else you would like to share? - Not really – glad the City is looking at this. - Do rely on parking in front of the station to be the way it will be Interview 5 Mi Chola – June 20, 2022 o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - People leave their brains at home - People are distracted - Everything in the core should be a downtown stop o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - Seems like you are deleting parking spaces - Only a bike lane between the sidewalk and the parking - Protective bike lane on each side of the parking o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? - Deleting parking spaces are never good - Underground parking is needed - The downtowner is great with underground parking - Shut down all of downtown o Anything else you would like to share? - Living Lab is a terrible idea - Less parking is no good - City is not creating more parking and is pushing the problem out - What is your twenty-year plan? One street at a time doesn’t make sense - Build a garage and then change the streets - A little piece at time - What is your end goal? - Pushing this issue out - What issues will it create? 44 Galena and Cooper Living Lab Interviews Pre Lab – Notes from Interviews 4 - You know parking is an issue. - Wants customers here all day 11 am – 9 pm – we shouldn’t have people want to move cars - Not a creative solution to parking to have people move around - Hard to find two-hour parking - Employees like a routine – fill parking garage for workers - Park in the same spot every time Interview 6 PE101 - June 21, 2022 o Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - No o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - The one-way and adding bikers will be a nightmare - So many accidents - People won’t stop driving through this area - Nothing leading to the bike lane - Confusion will be bad - Not great bikers and e-bikers o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - Have you seen how many people don’t know how to park o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your business with these improvements? - Do not support people living and working in this town - Not supporting locals and businesses at all o Anything else you would like to share? - So many customers pull up and shop - Money people - Everyone thinks this is awful - To do this to the busiest part of town is awful - People don’t use crosswalks - These things happen and no one has contacted me about this – the City does not take into account businesses - Lots of accidents on the street and commotion already - The un-safety of this is huge - Not great 45 Galena and Cooper Living Lab Interviews Pre Lab – Notes from Interviews 5 Interview 7 Pitkin County Dry Goods - June 30, 2022 o Do you know about the Galena and Cooper Living Lab? - Read in paper - Knew about the changes in June - Was not part of the outreach in the Fall - I was aware – Kenny Smooth told him - He knew there was talk about the downtown core parking in June - No one contacted him directly o What are your current observations about the ease of pedestrian movements, parking, and cyclists in the area? - The one-way and adding bikers will be a nightmare - So many accidents - People won’t stop driving through this area - Nothing leading to the bike lane - Confusion will be bad - Not great bikers and e-bikers o What are your concerns about the Living Lab and the changes to parking? - $3-$4 million in merchandise will be at risk for not selling because of the parking disruptions [ pays the highest rent in town to have adequate parking for retail] - AAA location requires good access to parking - Disruption in parking is a major concern - Very upset about the GCLL and it will hurt business - Has been in business for 52 years - The City is ramming this down our throat - My employees are also affected by this o Do you think your customers will have a better experience accessing your busines s with these improvements? N/A o Anything else you would like to share? - The City is looking at urban solutions that don’t work here - Very short notice - This is a big disruption in July and August - Feels like we have no control over things that affect our business - Very update about the communication - Doesn’t trust the online survey - Need to ask locals and employees what they think 46 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 APPENDIX B 47 COMMENT LOG 6/9/22 - 9/19/22 DATE CALLER |PHONE | EMAIL COMMENT ACTION 6/9/22 Kenny Smith Meridian Jewelers via Email Thanks for reaching out. I (and many other business leaders) were under the impression that this idea was still under discussion, and that we would have the opportunity to voice our concerns publicly about our opposition to this concept. At the last meeting, we were able to listen to a proposal, but were, specifically, not given the opportunity to speak. It appears that you are teeing this up as a forgone conclusion. This is not following the path of “public outreach” as had been described by Pete, PJ, and others. May I ask when we, business owners along the affected route, will actually have the opportunity to speak our minds on this? Please provide such an opportunity, or we will create one of our own. I’m sorry to be so direct here, but I feel we have been deceived through this process so far. Pete set up an individual meeting. 48 6/9/22 Teige PE101 via Email After further review, this is more concerning than I thought. Not only are you illuminating parking for customers and locals in a already busy area, but you are adding more confusion, bike traffic and relying on people to parallel park on one of the busiest street. If there is anything we can do to review and change this let us know. I am sure I could get every business and store owner on this block to agree. Kathleen met with her in person. She thinks the parking change will affect her business. 6/29/22 Bike Shop Owner PJ led an outreach conversation 6/29/22 Restaurant Owner PJ led an outreach conversation 6/29/22 Dawn Frank Woods office Called and is concerned about lack of parking. Said she never received the letter. Returned call and offered to connect with tenants. 6/29/22 Naomi Gleason Concerned about the removal of parking in the downtown core. Feels like you don’t want anyone here or any employees to park in downtown. Returned call 6/29/22 Barb Pitchford Who’s idea is it to do one lane w/ bike lanes in the core? While also decreasing parking?! From a longtime local who also, by the way, usually bikes in town rather than drives, this ‘new reconfigured experiment’ is a bad idea. 6/29/22 Caller Question regarding carpooling.Returned call 6/29/22 David Fleischer Very upset about the lack of parking.Kathleen called and conducted a 30- minute interview. [Please refer to interview notes.] 6/29/22 970-948-2710 Lived in town for 35 years Doesn’t like that head-in parking was taken away Doesn’t like any parking spots going away 49 6/30/22 Shannon Andrews Comment regarding – taking away parking spots around Paradise Bakery. Having people circle around doesn’t help the environment. Never had a problem biking around. Older parents and can’t walk to Paradise. They need to be able to park close to get to businesses. The cost of living is gotten higher, and Silver Peak Grill now has no parking spots to get to the only local dining spot. Now we have a local business that is going to go out of business because they can’t park. This is a terrible idea and we need to take care of local businesses.Kathleen called back, there was no voicemail. 7/1/22 Meg 9 Alice Lane 970-379-3034 This is outrageous, this town does not need to make every street available to bicycles – this is a step too far. This is not fine. Take away parking is overbearing. People who are older need to park. This is the worst choice. Please bring this to the intention of the council. Wish we could have left the short term drop off. Kathleen called back. 7/1/22 Ann Long Not in favor want it taken away – more problems for cars than bikes. We live in a car society, can’t always ride bike. Making it impossible for Paradise – I’m local. 7/1/22 Harold – Frias Properties 970-920-2313 Manage property in the Independence Need a space for guests to check-in The check in space and taxi space is gone 7/1/22 Snow Sam 970-379-9897 Can the parking go back the way it was. Kathleen called back 7/1/22 Caller New lab is a disaster and does not work and a disaster at the holiday.Caller did not leave a name. 50 7/1/22 Michael Tulio 525 Cooper Business in the core – Riding bike in middle of street Cars looking for spots to park Does not read paper – not aware at all Gets information from clients Was not contacted before this started 7/1/22 Ricky Parking is awful This is less safe Stacking Loss of parking Poorly throughout No benefit to this Made this worse People are frustrated Parking is backing up when people are parking Bad deal Parking is paramount to success Getting worse 7/1/22 Jim Farrey Real Estate Gone off the rails Temporary insanity Feels like a forced agenda The bike lane could be on one side only Bike lane on one I feel that they are eliminating parking for local businesses Very short sided 51 7/1/22 Christopher Martin 525 E. Cooper Parking was impossible in season No one will know that Clients don’t want to walk No public discourse Customers are upset that there is no parking close to his store Don – the eye doctor – older clients can’t find parking Was involved in the outreach Crazy thing is nothing is enforced now for safety – taking away parking spaces A lot of biking opportunities and not parking opportunities This town was built for parking Needs parking to unload and now that will be more difficult Timing is really bad – test in being done when windows of making money, now I need to deal with experiment 7/1/22 541-206-3083 "I'm just calling to voice my opinion that I'm unhappy with the elimination of 44 parking spaces in the Town Core.” 7/1/22 Elizabeth Milias 415-305-1000 "The parking experiment living lab is the stupidest and most incompetent City Council has done in the past 24 hours.” 7/2/22 Jennifer Sharp 520-440-1977 "I am a local and I live in Snowmass. I just wanted to put my voice to the fact that this new parking arrangement in Aspen is horrible, not that I go downtown anymore because it's such a mess.” 7/2/22 Richard Edwards 970-920-9797 "I own the Brand Building which is on the corner of Galena and Hopkins and I'm calling about the new parking thing. It is in Santa Fe. We have seen so many people almost getting run down by cyclists. The new parking spaces are blocking the big trucks which go into the unloading zone by the used mounts. It is almost impossible for these large trucks to get in. It is just causing chaos. You are making such a mess outside our building and you'll make it very difficult for businesses to have deliveries.” 7/2/22 Christopher Martin 970-417-1834 "It's trying to see what you guys are doing to the parking out here. I think that City Council is out of control.” 7/3/22 970-710-0991 "I'm a full time resident here and I just wanna know if the new parking and town is a bad April fools joke. “Aspen has become such a cluster that it's no longer enjoyable for the residents full time and we hear that from so many people." 52 7/3/22 Judy Altman "I don't understand this; I've been here for 18 years. I am 73 years old. I drive into town. I live on Brush Creek Road. There's no way I would drive to the intercept lot then take the bus; more carbon footprint for what you're worried about.” 7/4/22 Joy Myers 970-948-2284 “I am the buyer at Carls. We have been facing an employee shortage and they say I can't pay $1800 to live in Carbondale and come up to work at Aspen plus I just heard about the parking in town and I would also like to talk to you about the housing in town that you're taking away.” 7/5/22 Heather Isberian Isberian Rug Company 970-927-8541 Very concerned and feels a connection to Aspen; seems the controls are out of hand. Feel very bad for local businesses, very difficult. 7/5/22 970-618-5493 via voicemail Local resident, lives downtown and recently noticed this “strange new edition of parking in the middle of the street and I was curious what prompted this because I think this is the biggest liability in this town I've seen so many people go the opposite direction in the bike lanes car and I'm currently having a petition out with thousands of signatures and was curious what it would take to get the change back.” 7/5/22 Aspen Emporium Shea Singer Shaesinger4579@gmail 970-948-7423 What’s with the parallel parking and eliminating MORE spaces? Creating more chaos and making it harder for businesses to get people into their businesses Bike education doesn’t appear to be happening at rental shops At any given second there are bikes on sidewalks, streets, bike lanes and not bike lanes. (to say nothing of the scooters E bikes, dogs, strollers and pedestrians) This is very dangerous Kathleen called back and feedback has been recorded. - Bikes on sidewalk - Enforcement for bikes - Take away parking places is not good - Bike lanes not connected - Galena and Cooper affects downtown - Short sided, no enforcement - Wants an email notification and alerts 53 7/5/22 Melissa Stailey nmmysticwynter@yahoo.com Everyone is in an uproar over this poor decision to remove parking in the core. Please bring the parking spaces back Watching motorists circling around and around waiting for a spot to open up causes more pollution. Sales have been down from last year. It’s a disaster and you are ignoring the community and its needs. 7/6/22 Lori Gentleman I live in Starwood and I am really upset about the parking situation in town. I can't ride my bike to town if I go shopping, and I can't bring my packages back or whatever. It's just really ridiculous and it's very upsetting and I hope they go back to the other parking because it's really a nightmare Kathleen called back on 7/6 7/6/22 Phillip Supino pdsupino@gmail.com 970-343-2463 I am writing as a resident commenting on the Galena bikeway changes this summer. These comments are not reflective of my role with the City or City policy. I am grateful for any changes to the use of right-of-way in our community which improve cyclist and pedestrian safety. The Galena changes are a great improvement! My wife, kid, and I ride everywhere we go every day. Downtown can be very unsafe to anyone not in a Suburban. Using the right-of-way to keep peds and bikes safe is one of the primary responsibilities of government. Our community takes environmental matters seriously, and using the right-of-way to reinforce those values is the best education we can give to our visitors and residents. Thank you for doing the hard work to keep people safe and encourage more cycling. Please do more to expand these improvements in the future. Or just close the core to cars entirely and help everyone see how lame cars are. 7/6/22 Ashley Shiff Does not want Lab. Want parking to go back the way it was. Very confusing. 54 7/6/22 248-408-5995 Business owner in Aspen I hear my customers complaining continually when they come into the store. People would like to walk around town for an hour and spend money and shop and some women are dressed up and wearing heels and can't find a parking spot. It's a huge inconvenience. I really hope that you are paying attention to our needs because Aspen has no charm left. You've also made it very confusing as to what is the bike path, where pedestrians are supposed to go 7/6/22 Bernadette Regan 7/7/22 Golda Freidstein 970-379-0190 Resident of 43 years Get rid of parallel parking Aspen doesn’t need more bikers People are buying things to put in their cars We need our angle parking. We support our businesses, people on bikes really stop at our stores and buy anything. We definitely do not need fewer parking spaces Kathleen called back 7/7/22 Beth Fischer 772-485-3567 Aspen resident The most absurd thing I have ever seen. We still have bikes right in the middle of the road. We still have people going backwards for people trying to parallel park in the middle of the road. Somebody is going to get very hurt because of this lab that you wanted to try out the living lab. It is absolutely awful. Aspen resident The most absurd thing I have ever seen. We still have bikes right in the middle of the road. We still have people going backwards for people trying to parallel park in the middle of the road. Somebody is going to get very hurt because of this lab that you wanted to try out the living lab. It is absolutely awful. 55 7/8/22 Stacy Martin Co-owner of the Christopher Martin Gallery on Cooper Street. Safe biking is important but this is just really putting us business owners under so much pressure to reduce the number of parking spaces. We have $32,000 a month rent and people like to typically drive up and get out and go to the gallery. It just makes life more difficult on top of difficult after all the COVID restrictions we just experienced. Two months in the fall and two months in the spring are really the brief window to make our living and I just don't know why business owners aren't more highly evaluated as the crucial stake holders vs. people who bike through our town while on vacation. 7/9/22 Martin Levine 917-533-1800 Aspen resident four months out of the year Has thought on the Lab he’d like to discuss Kathleen called back 7/10/22 Shane Morgan I've been in town forever and loved the bike lanes and I hear you adding more I would love to see the whole two square blocks of the core(?) be just for bikes and pedestrians. I was biking today with WeCycle and almost got hit by a bus and a car and it's just quite busy for that much traffic. I love the WeCycle program. I love riding bikes around town. 7/10/22 Peri A. store owner 970-925-1692 Anyone biking to town is not biking around and having to worry about parking or riding a bike in town. Most people who bike in Aspen go on trails. I think taking away parking spaces when there's already enough of a problem is not recommended 56 7/10/22 David Wesson dw@dswesson.com Does not like the lab Lives in Woody Creek and already avoids Aspen due to parking problems and these changes only make the matters much worse. The bike lanes are so poorly designed, it's unclear where vehicles are to safely avoid bicycles. Parallel parking is slower and further disrupts traffic in an already busy area. We are business owners and other business owners are also very unhappy 7/11/22 Wendy Hendrickson 970-618-8442 Calling to voice discontent for this new lack of parking Seriously affecting our local businesses. 7/11/22 Paris Tanner 970-319-9770 Aspen resident and also work(ed?) at one of the downtown businesses affected by the living lab. There was zero communication People don't know how to park and they don't know how to walk and they don't know how to drive they don't know how to ride their bikes. If we're going to make this town focus on using bikes instead of cars, we need to educate bikers on how to properly use the road so many times bikers don't stop at stop side they are riding their bikes down the walking malls which are supposed to be right for walking. There's nobody issuing citations giving information about how to safely bike in the downtown core. 7/11/22 John 917-690-8823 Thinks the Living Lab is a horrible idea and has experience with it since he splits his time between New York City and Aspen and they've done it in New York and it's a terrible experiment. It doesn't protect the bikers either because if you're not taking into account the fact the people open their doors and they're not aware the bikers are coming there's a very good chance the bikers are gonna get slammed by opening cars. 7/11/22 Doug Nehasil 970-379-1148 He very much dislikes the Living Lab 57 7/11/22 Marianne Stockton COA homeowner and restaurant owner Even though I was on the calls about the lab last year, this is completely ridiculous. The focus on not having as many cars downtown should be just the opposite and we should be focusing on putting those bicycle somewhere else Bicycles are a problem downtown 7/11/22 Corey Burger BB’s Kitchen Bike lane going backwards is unsafe. Bad for business owners because you took away business. Too far of a walk for the older folks running errands Circling is awful for the environment. Bad for locals that want to run an errand. Lots of ways around town. Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Allison Ratajczak Witnessed third near-crash between a ped and bike in lane. Live in Aspen and often bike, never had a problem biking in the streets. Thinks bike lanes are dangerous and hurting local businesses by not allowing them to park in front of them. People are just parking in residential areas now. 7/11/22 Steve Falander As a pedestrian, I do not like the bike lane going the wrong direction. Too much interaction between people and bikes. Very dangerous. Don’t understand the two yellow lines. Bikes going opposite is not a good design. Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Wendy Weaver Last two days – I needed to go to the jewelers and could not find a spot. Can’t go to run an errand. Not happy about the limited parking spaces. Local person – never had a problem until now. Spoke to Wendy personally 58 7/11/22 Janet Hodges If you spend a lot of money and go out to dinner, you don’t want to ride bike Older parents don’t ride bikes. Not happy about the parking – dumbest move the City has ever made. Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Paul Aschkenasy Opposed to the lab Limited parking is problematic. Lives in the West End and there are times when older people need to park in town. Many people cannot walk to town. Doesn’t think less parking reduces traffic. Lab is not keeping people from driving into town. Bike lane on the inside is confusing. It is already safe to bike.Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Lisa 713-560-2000 The parking situation is the most absurd thing I have ever seen. Against the Lab.Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Richard Baldwin Own the Brand Building Bike lane in the one area where people can load and unload. Taking away loading and unloading zone. Does the City not want business to succeed here? People are not using bike lane. This is so confusing, and people think they can leave their cars. No one is using the bike lane. This is so anti-business.Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Kristi Gilliam Very confusing Horrible that parking spots were taken away People are not going to wear a dress and take a bike. I do not think this is a good idea. Very confusing Horrible that parking spots were taken away People are not going to wear a dress and take a bike. I do not think this is a good idea. Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/11/22 Libby 303-918-8485 69 years old and regularly shops in town Uses a walker Very distressed by what the city has done, thinks it's prejudicial against old people 59 7/11/22 Seth 970-309-4267 Living lab is poorly executed 7/11/22 John Kennedy 970-948-9944 Thinks the lab is terrible Bad for business Aspen doesn’t have/need so many bikes 7/11/22 Karl Friedman Karl.m.friedman@gmail.com As a pedestrian and biker (and driver), I consider it highly dangerous to be downtown due to the proliferation of cars and drivers disrespectful of the pedestrian nature of Aspen. Eliminating angled parking not only eliminates the solid close-in visual wall that they create but eliminates the highly dangerous process of backing out with limited visibility of bikes and other cars. The vibrancy of the town is based on the mobility of pedestrians and bikers. E- bike and scooters of all types now provide access to those who would not otherwise have access. For the most part, close-in parking is a luxury for those choosing not to enjoy the outdoors and instead shop at the ubiquitous unaffordable “fashion” boutiques that minimizes my visits to the core of Aspen two blocks away from my residence on the top of South Galena. I believe your latest traffic management changes are excellent and follow other inspirational municipalities that add to their vibrancy by encouraging outdoor access unimpeded by unnecessary car traffic in pedestrian dominated locations. 7/11/22 Terri Caine 970-618-2219 terricainetravel@gmail.com Stupidest thing I have seen in a long time Downtown parking was already severely limited. Now you have eliminated 44 spots in the exact area where more parking is needed. Bikers do not use the lanes that were created when you eliminated the crucial parking spaces for cars. People on bikes are still in car lanes. Pedestrians are NEWLY walking in the street instead of on the sidewalks intended for pedestrians. 7/11/22 Dan King emaildanhere@yahoo.com I do not support this project Please return to angled parking 60 7/11/22 Matthew Apfel mattapfel@yahoo.com Our family of 5 lives about 1 mile outside of town. We typically decide our mode of transportation based on the weather: We bike/walk into town on nice days, and we drive into town on lousy ones. So we have a lot of experience with both transportation methods. Why on earth did the City decide to install these bike lanes? Seriously, was there an actual problem that had been clearly identified? Were people getting run over in the streets? Were they up in arms demanding these changes? Was there actual data showing that bikers and pedestrians did not have enough room and safety? As a biker and a pedestrian, I have never once felt there wasn’t enough space, or safety, to get around town. It’s really easy, even in the Core. Sure, there’s minor congestion at times, and occasionally a tourist misses a stop sign or makes a wrong turn. But all of this is manageable. No one was out there screaming or even mildly complaining about this. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And if it IS broke, then I suggest the City do a much better job of explaining WHY and HOW it’s broken, with actual data not well- intentioned hunches. 7/11/22 Aspenmikey via Aspen Community Voice It is worse than before, and less safe 7/11/22 Pdhoffman via Aspen Community Voice Approves of eliminating the turn on Hyman from Galena However, safety issues with the counterflow bike lane offsets the benefit of eliminating the turn onto Hyman Too many people double parking because the street is too wide Bike lanes need to be protected on both sides 7/11/22 Karl Friedman via Aspen Community Voice As a pedestrian and driver I think it’s highly dangerous downtown because of so many cars and drivers disrespectful of pedestrians Eliminating angled parking also eliminates limited visibility when cars are backing out Close-in parking is a luxury for those choosing not to enjoy the outdoors but rather shop instead Thinks the lab is excellent 61 7/11/22 tweeter01 via Aspen Community Voice One of the dumbest things Aspen has initiated recently Pedestrians are walking in bike lanes, cyclists are riding in the street, and it’s close to impossible to parallel park here Most residents and visitors don’t want to ride bikes into town at night Cylists are not following protocol The whole lab is very confusing and more dangerous than it was before 7/11/22 Sunier6 via Aspen Community Voice Retired full time in Aspen seven years ago and walk or ride my bike to town nearly daily Supports providing pedestrian zones and safe areas for cyclists but we also need to be fair to the shops and tourists The lab does not make me feel safer when walking or biking Lots of angry motorists being aggressive The garage is too far for people carrying bags from Gucci or Christian Dio Maybe the garage can have a valet and stores can validate parking for special customers Very disappointed by the reduction in bike racks around town 7/11/22 Jason Suazo via Aspen Community Voice My car is too tall for the parking garage so I just keep driving around until I find a parking spot. Please find another solution. 7/12/22 Linda Whag 970-923-6388 The worst ideas the City has ever come up with. Very hard for shop owners. 7/12/22 Martin Levine 1-917-533-1800 Important for the City to remember that commercial property is high. Killing the goose that laid the gold egg. Health of commercial tenants needs parking. Forcing more traffic onto a busy intersection. Needs traffic and police enforcement during high times to manage the flow of traffic in the mornings and the evenings.Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/12/22 Scott Ferral Aspen is the only town that does not have a parking lot. There is no where to park and people are leaving town. 7/12/22 Greg 970-989-4848 Would like to comment on the GCLL and know more about the program Spoke to on the phone directly. 62 7/12/22 Tony Sherman Tony.sherman@terrapinhospitality.co m I live in Aspen and everyone I know is outraged that the city has decided to further punish local store owners and those not fortunate enough to live in a 15 m house that is within biking distance to town. Most of us have to drive and park to buy things. Take a look around; like it or not, there are many more cars in town than bikes. So please stop the social engineering and let people park their cars, and not get a $50 ticket. 7/12/22 SinCloud55 via Aspen Community Voice GCLL bike lanes are awful No bikes are using the lanes, only pedestrians Taking away parking from people looking to shop and eat is stupid 7/13/22 Anonymous Agree with changing to parallel Tuesday Cruiseday – lively and robust People everywhere; make it a ped Mall Yellow looks like wasted space Come up with a modified version 7/13/22 Joanie Lee 970-379-7299 Worried about fires and clogging up the street with bikers and cars Doesn’t like parallel parking in the lab corridor Doesn’t like the lab A lot of incompetence and this is short sited Aspen is a big city We need to go to appointments and can’t wait for a bus Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/13/22 Barry Bromka 970-379-5262 Building Manager at Aspen Elks We request the solar charging station be moved south.Spoke to on the phone directly. 63 7/13/22 Anonymous Lives in downtown Aspen and works on Hyman and Cooper. Put in a stop sign at Hyman and Galena More people are turning the wrong way onto Hyman than before Concerned for pedestrians Lived here over 20 years, never felt as unsafe as I do now; too dangerous because of the new configuration Parking creates an unsafe condition Not able to control and the confusion of the bikers and drivers and pedestrians Pedestrians are crossing in the middle of the street Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/13/22 Judy Nespeca judynespeca@me.com Took 15 minutes to find a 2-hour spot at noon Dodging bikes in the middle of the road through the Lab Tourists and hotels need an education and locals need to change their habits It is just as dangerous now for pedestrians and drivers as it has been in the past. Parking is the issue - dig under Wagner park for a three level garage and close the core to all vehicles 7/13/22 Peter Grannis pgimaging@icloud.com This experiment doesn't work Bikes don’t use it and continue to ride all over the streets downtown Enforcement is the solution Most visitors on ebikes don’t know biking rules of the road Pedestrians don’t use the lab and why would they instead of sidewalks Parking loss impacts businesses, older folks, and families with small children. Some auto traffic is necessary for local business access and has been restricted excessively already. Length of Lab is too long! A month max would have shown the problems this doesn’t help with. Please acknowledge failure and move on 64 7/13/22 Andrew Scott andrewcorinscott@gmail.com People who don’t live in Aspen mostly keep Aspen alive, from the trucks who deliver our food, to the gas that is delivered to keep you warm in the winter, to a whole lot of City and County employees who live “out there” beyond the roundabout. Most of the workers in town drive-in, maids, construction workers, people who come every day, sometimes commuting for hours, with cars full of cleaning supplies, tools, construction equipment, to keep the town running! You expect them to park at the intercept lot, after they’ve driven an hour already, and what, try to pack all that equipment and supplies onto the bus-seat next to them? 7/13/22 Lara Whitley relarajada@gmail.com Aspen resident and cyclist I regularly ride downtown but I don’t use the new bike lane in the Living Lab and actually avoid it because I find it to be confusing and hence unsafe. Bike safety comes from a shared understanding of rules. Multiple users — drivers, bikers and walkers — know what to expect and keep each other safe by abiding by that understanding. The Living Lab feels like the Wild West of mobility. Do you ride there? Walk there? What direction? Do drivers know where to park and not enter that space? I’m not willing to find out by placing my bike and body on the line, literally. Part of being innovative is recognizing when things aren’t working and being willing to respond. It’s time to pull the plug on this experiment. 7/13/22 ASD via Aspen Community Voice The lab is a slap in the face of downtown businesses, especially after the pandemic and now a recession Business need people to drive This is dangerous – people walk in the bike path now and not the sidewalk A car can take out a bicycle by opening their door on either side of the car and people have to walk across the bike path to get into their car Trying to parallel park is an accident waiting to happen 7/13/22 Dancerjessie aia Aspen Community Voice Make the Galena corridor 2-way again. Parking was parallel and there was no confusion between bikers and pedestrians. 65 7/14/22 Ruth Harrison Bottom line; people who moved here from Texas don’t care about the fines. The parking fines are not going to do anything – because rich people will just pay it. The only solution is towing and making the penalty an inconvenience. The Galena Cooper Living Lab is pathetic and a joke. Spring and Cooper intersection was a waste of money. Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/14/22 Patricia Crawford 970-618-3048 80 years old and needs to drive sometimes Does NOT want to see the lab become permanent Some people simply need a car 80 years old and we need our cards. 35-year resident; this is awful and the worst debacle, no one gives a damn Spoke to on the phone directly. 7/14/22 Beth Gable Bethanne669@aol.com The new parking layout is not cohesive with the current influx of visitors to the city. There are not that many bicyclists in the city center that I feel warrants the change in parking spaces lost. The merchants I have spoken to say that the bicyclists are not the ones frequenting their storefronts. 7/14/22 Euroskin via Aspen Community Voice Ridiculous idea Hurting local businesses Elderly clients feel as if they’re being pushed out of town 7/15/22 Nancy Thornton Center 970-925-7205 Does not like the Lab Aspen already doesn’t have enough parking Has a business in town and clients are complaining that there’s nowhere to park 7/15/22 Mel Veronica 415-730-5544 Lab is not good for business or bikers business is not good for bikers I hope to see the engineering department seriously considering revising this courtesy plan immediately. 66 7/16/22 Jen Liddington via Aspen Community Voice I am enjoying less traffic in the downtown core. Wish all of downtown was “malled” and cars had to park at Brush Creek and bus in Would love to see even more improvements to the lab We should be forward thinking in our approach to the environment and the livelihood of our local community while also maintaining a welcoming environment for our visitors 7/17/22 303-246-4794 There's a whole bunch of cars parked in between the street and sidewalk where people pop out. It's just horrible I can't believe it's intentional but I think you should seriously think about getting that out of the way 7/18/22 Megan Lisa 970-930-2012 My family is very concerned with what is happening in this very small little town in which we have a vital interest There are already plenty of bike paths. There is already plenty of nature. What we need are parking places in town where businesses and restaurants and people are running errands and need to accomplish things that they can't always accomplish on a bike. We need a lot of parking places. 7/18/22 970-710-9065 970-920-4166 Lab needs to be removed It was a poor choice of time and money that you spent. Please remove it. 7/18/22 Cindy 970-618-7968 I work at the information booth on Cooper and Galena and I just wanted to give you guys an update as to what I witnessed all weekend long here. There’s so many things wrong with this living lab. One is that people are starting to argue and yell at each because nobody really seems to know how to use this curve here. People are stopping and dropping off people and just now a bike almost ran right into a big SUV who stopped to drop people off literally on the west side of Galena and Cooper People are going around and round in circles looking for parking spaces and that's not cutting back on any kind of pollution. 67 7/18/22 Andrew Scott andrewcorinscott@gmail.com Until there is an alternative to cars (like a built and completed light-rail) we should avoid removing parking spaces from downtown as we may end up making traffic worse not better 7/18/22 Robert Goldstein rgoldstein970@gmail.com 970-618-6618 As a bike rider I appreciate the living lab experiment in the core Pedestrians are using the bike lane as an extra walking lane, which forces to me to go back to the streets Mopeds are parking in the bike lane Can the APD walk the area or even bike riding to help educate the public? This may also cut down on bikers riding on the mall 7/18/22 Alex Brough Taking away 44 parking spaces in the downtown core shows absolute disrespect and an utter disdain for locals and local businesses The city needs to stop trying to make this a bike only city. People generally only bike around half the year and the other half we are buried in snow and it's dangerous. So far I have rarely seen bikers using this new lane. This is a problem that is being created by the city and does not need a solution. If the goal was to reduce car emissions, now there are more people circling town for longer and driving their cars more The Aspen parking garage seems to be full all of the time because the city workers use all the spaces to support their new massive City Hall building 7/18/22 Anonymous Ever since the City has changed parking - sales numbers are down. Local shop in town. Spoke to on the phone. 7/18/22 970-920-6530 Aspen resident for 50 years Disappointed the lab was put in at the busiest time of the year Even locals are confused Very dangerous situation This is the wrong approach to protect cyclists 7/19/22 Anonymous No spots in the core or the parking garage at 10a (on July 7) Cars double parking are a hazard Drivers don’t know where to look for bikers in the bike lane 68 7/20/22 Jeff Oddo joddo@gocitywide.com 913-207-5333 Very unhappy with downtown parking situation Harming businesses I will stop shopping downtown and will change my dentist and doctor and where I eat because I am getting older and cannot walk as far as I used to Bad for the environment to circle looking for parking spots 7/20/22 (John?) Glen Lerner 520 W Hallam 713-899-0043 Lived in the RFV since 1989 Stunned by the parking chaos created by the lab Lab is creating more pollution by cars looking for parking Spoke to on the phone. 7/20/22 Jeff Oddo 973-207-5333 joddo@gocitywide.com Via email To whom it may concern, please accept this in the manner in which it is intended which is to inform those individuals who make the laws the opinion of not only myself but many people I have talked to. You are in charge, you can do whatever you want, just know that many of us are very unhappy with the downtown parking situation. We disagree with the proposed change and ask you to go back to the way it was. Why? Because it harms the business owners of downtown Aspen. How? Because people like me will stop going there. I am not a prisoner, I have options, I will change my dentist, my doctor and where I eat and shop because of this new law because I am getting older and cannot walk as far as I used to, nor do I want to drive around doing laps, looking for parking which is even worse for the environment than just parking. We are not Vail. We are not a walking city, it is too big and we don’t have enough parking garages to make up for the change, even if we did, I don’t want to park in a parking garage and be more like Vail, I want to be able to drive into our city, park, do my business and leave and my fear is that this proposed change will further erode the business viability of the owners who already pay exorbitant fees in real estate, are just now recovering from Covid and now you want to hit them with less parking, sending people like me down valley. Thank you for your consideration, I pray you make a decision that does not hurt the town of Aspen. 69 7/21/22 Elyse Resnick 318-455-9864 Said the lab was installed without prior warning to the public or merchants Thinks it’s an insane arrangement that appears to put bikes and people entering/exiting cars in even more danger We desperately need the parking spaces that were taken away It would be nice to have fewer cars in town but we need more parking for the crowds we have We need to take care of the people we have here now and not do stuff like this during prime visitor time 7/21/22 Mike 847-997-8604 GCLL is the most dangerous thing she’s ever seen in Aspen She mostly takes the bus but even when she’s walking she notices that bikers are not using the bike lanes It’s hard for cars to parallel park without hitting a bike 7/21/22 Catherine Raven 713-417-2777 770 Castle Creek Drive GCLL is the most dangerous thing she’s ever seen in Aspen She mostly takes the bus but even when she’s walking she notices that bikers are not using the bike lanes It’s hard for cars to parallel park without hitting a bike 7/21/22 Randy Woods 970-379-5356 Submitted a public comment via email – saved in PRS/GCLL tracking folder Sent detailed thoughts/comments on how/why the lab has him “upset about many issues” 7/21/22 Josh Zeeb jpzeeb@gmail.com via email Aspen resident Support the lab and excited to see the results when it is complete Two things I'm most interested in are traffic accident numbers before and after the living lab and if available, the sales tax revenue before and after the living lab. 7/22/22 Phyllis 404-371-5778 Unhappy about all of the lost parking spaces downtown Happy to walk but sometimes they need to drive because they are shopping and have packages, which she can’t carry on a bike Please put the parking spaces back to parallel 70 7/24/22 John Seybold via Aspen Community Voice Participated in focus group sessions and half the members wanted a pedestrian- only solution. But “instead we got the living lab exactly as it was originally designed, as if the comments from all the focus groups were totally ignored” “The original survey was deeply flawed because it only asked about car-centric solutions” “There were no questions for those who would prefer closing the street to cars entirely" “If we really want safety for cyclists or pedestrians, fewer emissions, and a more livable and walkable city, close the street to cars completely.” 7/25/22 Jeff Marquez 917-678-0932 Property owner and resident Wants to talk about the new parking configuration Terrible idea I didn’t understand why we would eliminate 44 spaces and disadvantage merchants of the town so a few bikers can ride through town Aspen has a great bike trail system already Retails and restaurants are life blood of town – employees are hard to find, and so is parking Doesn’t make sense One positive: if you are in a small car and backing up next to a large vehicle and it’s head-in parking then it’s unsafe. The parallel parking makes it a bit safer. Spoke to directly 7/25/22 Martin Levine COA should take away parking in front of Hick House during afternoon rush hour - that corner chokes up traffic Hyman is now a busier choke point with no left turn from Galena - lab forces more people into Paradise Bakery intersection, where there are two crosswalks and it is arguably much, much busier You put more cars in an already busy intersection Made the safety issue worse Spoke to directly on the phone 71 7/25/22 Mike Maple (via email)Submitted a public comment via email – saved in PRS/GCLL tracking folder In short, he “cannot support the Living Lab parking/bike lane, etc. re- configuration as I believe it provides little improvement in pedestrian or cyclist “safety” with substantial negative implications for the vitality of our community and the success of Aspen’s retail & restaurant businesses.” 7/25/22 Petrina via Aspen Community Voice Frustrated and anxious driving down Galena on Saturday morning because of so many cars, bikes, people on phones, etc. Need more education and someone to direct and control what is happening Build a parking garage underground Put up more attractive barriers at the end of the malls instead of the “metal tipped over signs put up doing Food & Wine” E-bikes go too fast and dogs are off leash, causing mayhem 7/26/22 David 970-618-3312 Has a business on Main Street and lost parking; when will the no parking go away? 7/30/22 Cindy 970-948-4195 Works at the ACRA information kiosk Sees people passing left or right and says many motorists are treating the Cooper Avenue corner as a dropoff/pickup spot Seems very dangerous all the way around 8/1/22 Cindy ACRA information kiosk 970-948-4195 “Everybody's wondering what the purpose of the black and white and green things are. We heard a car ran over them. Looks like you take another couple three spaces away from the public. It just looks terrible. It’s really an obstacle course up here now. It’s really just looking worse and worse and worse and we're just not happy about any of this. So that's my opinion of the week. Horrible looking thing and do they harm people because it looks like that's what they're kinda meant(?) to do.” What we really need up here to make this thing work is enforcement and explanation. Police are never around. 72 8/3/22 Rebecca Borgess via Aspen Community Voice This new parking model has eliminated a huge number of parking spaces which will take a great toll on the small businesses attempting to thrive here. The computer generated depiction above is not indicative of the space that truly exists here. The proportions are off and depict a much larger area than what is available here. The bike lanes are creating such a tight space for RFTA buses and other vehicles to move down the roads safely. It was not a good choice and the previous parking model was much more conducive to a great city environment. 8/5/22 Scott 970-274-8115 I think it's ridiculous that we lost 40 or however many spaces Green and white blocks are all over the place now I refuse to ride my bicycle in in town now People are riding bikes the wrong way on the street It is unbelievably dangerous, especially at night because you can't see the rubber curbs on your bicycle. 8/9/22 Beth Weissman beth@bweissman.com via email I don't think the experiment is successful. Bike lines like that are confusing to drivers, who don't expect bikes to be where they are. San Francisco put in similar types of bike lanes and it caused a lot of car to bike accidents. The parking situation seems a waste of space as it is now. All in all, I'm not a fan. 8/11/22 Scott 970-309-0100 My concern with the changes around the city is we keep taking more and more parking places and availability for locals to actually live here and do work and come into town and park. We don't wanna turn this place i to Disneyland You're never gonna get workers to work if they can't live here, get to the pharmacy, get to the grocery store, get to their doctor's appointment because there's no parking. Please put it back the way it is. Please do not make this a bicycle-only community. 8/18/22 Debbie Kelly mtngardner55@gmail.com via email It empowers bicyclists of all kinds to go fast and ignore pedestrians. We need to make pedestrians have the right of way and slow the bikes down. 73 8/18/22 Dana Presutti dana@luganodiamonds.com via email I think it is the worst idea we have ever had in Aspen. No one really uses the bike lanes and it takes away all of the parking spaces and just makes no sense in my opinion. I do not know anyone that lives here or visits here or works here that thinks it is a good idea and I highly recommend that we get rid of it and go back to angled parking as we had before. Not to mention it is also not attractive. 8/18/22 Michael Buysse aserealty@comcast.net via email “Against all” 8/18/22 Karen Lord via Aspen Community Voice changes that were made this summer. The reasons why are too many to list here. 8/18/22 Anonymous via Aspen Community Voice Anonymous It is unsafe to travel against traffic on a bicycle, and stop signs on a bike way are inefficient and borderline ridiculous. Please revert! 8/18/22 Anonymous via Aspen Community Voice I was thrilled to watch Aspen installing a protected bike lane. Now let's see that the network allows cyclists to safely get all the way across town. 8/18/22 Heather Kroeger via Aspen Community Voice Aspen city council continues to destroy our town. This looks like totat crap with McDonalds type signage and cheap plastic markers that are confusing and visually annoying. How at the same time are the city leaders pretending to be environmentalist when they go around making up problems that don't exist and then making the place look like a Las Vegas strip with ridiculous and insult my intelligence type neon signage and cheap looking obstacles. It feels less safe than it was before. Tourists are not following any of these rules you try to put in place no matter how you cut it. What amount was spent on the additional bike lane over the bridge and every day I still see about half of people still ride on the narrower south side of the bridge. Same idea here. So stupid. 74 8/18/22 Tim Mooney via Aspen Community Voice keep up the good work managing the growth impacts of the resort on the community. What's good for the community is good for the resort. - Stop the commercialization of our historic ski town in a beautiful mountain valley for Greed instead of Need.Stop the expansion of the airport.Create sustainable balanced growth where the commercial growth is required to mitigate their employee housing by buying Lumber yard units from the city. 8/18/22 Bob Freimuth bobfreimuth@comcast.net via email I believe that the parking is more important to more people than the confusing way the street is set up now. There are plenty of places in Aspen to ride bicycles other than in the commercial core. Few people on bicycles are there to shop. They are out site seeing. the commercial core is for shopping. 8/18/22 Lecie Resneck lecie.resneck@gmail.com via email Have there ever been more visitors to our community? Why on earth would the powers that be opt to test parking options, less parking: parallel parking space removals, bike lane options, new 4 way stops, all the sticks and green and white ‘boxes’, In the middle of this busy time of year. Have you seen pedestrians tripping on the large green and white boxes? I have. We have people (visitors and or locals) running stop signs and red lights, u- turning on main street, etc., biking down the middle of the street, vehicles ignoring bikers and walkers, etc. yes, there must be better ways to get in and out of our community, to provide parking, to control pedestrian, vehicular and bike traffic, to not remove parking for merchants and restaurants. This “living lab experiment” is not the answer. And august is not the time to experiment. I appreciate the people who serve our community. But, I do not think this “living lab” is an answer to our problems. And, I do think the timing of this “living lab” is insane. 8/18/22 Anonymous via Aspen Community Voice I was thrilled to watch Aspen installing a protected bike lane. Now let's see that the network allows cyclists to safely get all the way across town. 75 8/18/22 Karla Elges karlaelges@gmail.com via email cyclists are in between peds and cars in the strata of vehicles, therefore they should be in roadway, to the inside of cars, unless they need to turn left. This is done in every other city in the world. Why would anyone put them between parked cars, who need to exit said cars and get to the sidewalk and the sidewalk? And on one side and not the other. This is my tax dollar at work. 8/18/22 lreede via Aspen Community Voice The streets need to be painted with directional signage if you want to have a two-way system. This is how other cities do it. I am a cyclist with over 10,000 miles on my bike, and the way you have it set up currently with bollards is too confusing/doesn't offer enough signage for bicyclists, cars, or pedestrians to know who's coming from what direction. Additionally, I also think the stall parking needs to be removed (where people back out of parking spaces), and just have parallel parking instead; yes this will eliminate some spaces, but it's too dangerous otherwise and it's a good compromise. Lastly, the communication and rollout of this was abysmal. Nobody knew what was going on until it just happened. Please communicate better with your constituents. 8/18/22 Karla Kelly via Aspen Community Voice Has anyone ever ridden a bike in any city ever? Who came up with this "novel" idea? Aspen City Council sits around coming up with the worst ideas I have ever seen. Please, someone with business acumen, run for council!! I love tennis pros, but I want a former CEO to run a $100 million budget town. 8/18/22 John Fray fraydo1@gmail.com via email This is such a joke! What a waste of time and money! Time to focus on affordable housing! 8/18/22 John Galambos via Aspen Community Voice I finally had the chance to ride my bike in the lab area and i found it confusing and not intuitive. i think it's overall not a good idea. 76 8/18/22 Heather Kroeger Via Aspen Community Voice Aspen city council continues to destroy our town. This looks like total crap with McDonalds type signage and cheap plastic markers that are confusing and visually annoying. How at the same time are the city leaders pretending to be environmentalists when they go around making up problems that don't exist and then making the place look like a Las Vegas strip with ridiculous and insulting my intelligence type neon signage and cheap looking obstacles. It feels less safe than it was before. Tourists are not following any of these rules you try to put in place no matter how you cut it. What amount was spent on the additional bike lane over the bridge and every day I still see about half of people still ride on the narrower south side of the bridge. Same idea here. So stupid. 8/19/22 Anonymous via Aspen Community Voice I'd rather bike with cars than risk my safety in the lab Thank you for always trying to reduce car traffic and increase pedestrian and bike opportunities, which improves carbon pollution and community health. However, this experiment, touted to improve safety, misses the mark by a mile. As a cyclist, I choose not use this lane because I don't feel safe: too narrow, going against traffic, poor signage (if any), and traveling with bikers who may or may not have any clue about bike etiquette (see Maroon Creek Road + e-bikes for more on this phenomenon). I'm not willing to put my body on the line to test out this well-intended but misguided theory. Please go back to the drawing board for a more intuitive and common sense solution. 8/19/22 Gloria Christal gloriachristal@mac.com via email I actually like the new parking, but… I’m not a fan of the bike paths going the wrong direction. 8/19/22 Anonymous via Aspen Community Voice I do not feel safe riding a bike in this lane, it's narrow, can't see, feel trapped. I see no one riding in the lane, we want freedom! 8/19/22 Eboham via Aspen Community Voice It's time to build a huge parking garage at the Intercept Lot and have everyone park out there and shuttle into Aspen. Only allow RFTA/Downtowner/lodge shuttles to move folks around. This solves your parking issue. THEN you can start creating bike paths on the roads. I see so many near misses when visitors disregard the yield signs for people trying to cross Main Street. Get rid of the cars in town. It's time. 77 8/19/22 Jennydupree1 via Aspen Community Voice This “lab” looks ridiculous, is confusing and took away many needed parking spots. It looks like a kindergarten carpool lane. 8/19/22 Terri Caine terricainetravel@gmail.com The entire “living lab” is a total joke and failure. Pedestrians now walk in the street instead of using the sidewalks. Bicycles are still in car lanes and don’t use the bike lanes. We now have 44 less parking spaces, when downtown parking was previously in short supply. The entire mess was stupid from the start and should be immediately eliminated. I had out of town friends visit recently and they couldn’t believe what they saw downtown. They were flabbergasted at the stupidity of the “experiment.” Please restore the 44 parking spaces and let bicycles follow the same rules as cars — as they should. Pedestrians should walk on sidewalks — not in streets. 8/19/22 Kai via Aspen Community Voice These bike lanes have added absolutely nothing to the town and instead have taken away far more. Not everyone is able to ride their bikes to work and this takes the ability to drive into town almost out of the picture. While I think it is good to create a town that has a smaller carbon footprint this is not the best way of doing so. These lanes have taken so many parking spaces they will create such a loss for certain businesses they will inevitably have to shut their doors. And to take away a whole street that used to be able to be used just for the “safety” of a biker is wild. Please fix your mistakes and help this town in ways that will actually help. These bike lanes are awful and for way to many reasons than able to put here. 8/19/22 Jasmine Tygre jtygre@yahoo.com via email I appreciate the concept of alleviating congestion downtown and making this popular section safer for all users. The counterflow bikeway should be removed; bikes should travel with the flow of traffic and follow the rules of the road for all vehicles. Then there would be ample room for angle parking on at least one side of Galena. It is better to accommodate more efficient parking design than to just remove spaces. 78 8/19/22 Bob Mineo rjmineo@mineofhb.com via email “How about reducing development” 8/19/22 Rednewt via Aspen Community Voice Turn Aspen into a cycle/pedestrian only town Add employee housing and solar panels over the parking. Great idea. This is too confusing. Keep cars and bikes separate. It can be done with thought and planning. Diagonal Parking (maximized) on 1 side divided from both bike lanes by a concrete barrier 8/19/22 Bret Hirsh bret.hirsh@gmail.com via email I appreciate the thought and desire to continue to make our city safer for bikers and pedestrians. I don’t think the new parking arrangement on Cooper is the solution. I also think it will have a negative impact on businesses. I encourage you to rethink this and repaint the parking places back to how it was before 7/1. 8/19/22 Cori Berger 917-257-9522 cberger@bbrealty.com Via email 1 - Unsafe for pedestrians who step off the sidewalk and don’t think to look for the biker coming in the opposite direction of what makes intuitive sense 2 - Decrease in spots is bad for business owners and infuriating for people coming to town to run errands 3 - Bad for the environment bc people will have their spouses run them into town and circle the block while they run their errands 4 - Anyone capable of riding a bike is capable of jumping off it and walking it through streets that feel hard to navigate whereas an elderly person (like my father in law) will have a hard time walking from the newly metered spots outside the core of town 8/19/22 Roger Moyer Via Aspen Community Voice Remove it!! 8/19/22 Rwittlin Via Aspen Community Voice This was the worst idea ever, and not at all safe.The loss of 44 spots has hurt retailers/restaurants. So much for supporting the community. 79 8/19/22 kek Via Aspen Community Voice The decreased parking is terrible. The City Parking Garage often has "Full" at 1:00 pm and parking is being subtracted. The lanes are awkward. There are bolted down bumps to stumble and get injured from. Businesses are losing potential customers. Senior citizens do not ride bikes downtown, especially at night and in snow and rain, and these impediments are there 24/7. There needs to be a recall election for elected officials for implemented this proposal without these considerations. 8/19/22 RichardE Via Aspen CommunityVoice It is yet another anti - business move by the City. Parking is more difficult. Unloading deliveries is much more problematic. Just stupid! 8/19/22 81611 Person Via Aspen Community Voice Worst Idea Ever! Please revert back Parking has historically been difficult for tourists and sadly many locals as well. This new ridiculous system just takes it to another level of disaster. I have personally tried the new bike "lane" and it is horrible. Too narrow and makes no sense. Taking away much needed parking from people who need it for so many reasons and adding more loading and unloading areas that are only used for a few hours out of each day (MAX) is asinine. Please revert back to our old parking system and add back 44 spots, if not more. Cars that are actually parked nicely would allow for bikers to move about easier as well 8/19/22 bac88 via Aspen Community Voice I watched bikes, walkers & cars (also Parked wrong). I believe it is a failure. People walk where bikes should be & vice versa! Wasted space 8/20/22 kevinram Via Aspen Community Voice Completely idiotic. My parents are from a third world country and this feels just like that! Incredibly unsafe and unclear. I’ve seen more accidents since this has been implemented. Remove it! 8/20/22 StanClauson Via Aspen Community Voice Return diagonal parking on one side of street, widen sidewalks, provide curb protected bike lane on other side. Current program was nice try. 80 8/20/22 Zalere Via Aspen Community Voice Return the parking to the way it was-the bicycle lane is a waste and a bad idea! We need more parking spaces! The lab is a failure that increases traffic - it has just more cars circling for parking, more confusion and narrow streets. I rarely see any cyclists using the bike lane on Cooper, it's used by pedestrians and dog walkers. It only goes one way anyway and the bikes still zip in and out of traffic going both ways! The attempt to increase safety has created more opportunities for accidents. And people still ride their bikes on the mall and sidewalks! 8/21/22 Catcruz Via Aspen Community Voice It is confusing, used incorrectly and illogical. Please remove it and return to original parking format. Really stupid idea. 8/22/22 Concerned Via Aspen Community Voice Leave well enough alone. The cost of this project is a waste of taxpayer money. Absurd traffic green and white dividers, cheapen us. 8/22/22 Concerned Via Aspen Community Voice Please go back to how it was. Constantly trying to improve which was working... And gave more parking... Is not in the best interest Go back to original layout... 8/22/22 Richard Felder Via Aspen Community Voice Reject this awful project and stop trying to make it impossible to walk or drive downtown. This is confusing and counter-productive for all. 81 8/22/22 Susan Redstone 917-816-7474 Via voicemail Lives in Aspen full time. Parking in downtown is such a chaos. It's such a mess I don't I don't have any questions it's just so obviously counterproductive and not working. A normal day for someone living just outside the core but within the COA, subject to all city taxes, it’s not easy to live and conduct life. One needs one’s car. We need cars with dogs, children, backpacks, products, services, etc. I use my bike when it’s possible, it’s not workable what is currently in place for an enormous amount of people who live just outside of reach of the downtown core. We’re functioning people and need our cars. We use mass transit when possible but to conduct normal life, a car is needed to patronize town. COA residents in the core or exterior - need a sticker or identification for access for their vehicles. Please put parking back to head-in on both sides. Local bike riders cannot travel through bike lanes in direction indicated by the city – bikers want to use more straightforward route. Spoke to her on 8/24/2022 8/23/22 M Katryniok Via Aspen Community Voice Remove it please, Living Lab is unsafe. It should be called Galena Cooper Living Hell. 8/23/22 Voices of the People Via Aspen Community Voice This is a bad experiment solving a problem that does not exist by creating confusion, circumstances that are opposed to logic and convention 8/23/22 Coates Via Aspen Community Voice The LL is a failure. Parallel parking on the left in the middle of the road is ridiculous and a hazard. Bicycles are all confused. Bad idea! And bike lanes in the middle of the road? Makes no sense 8/24/22 Bjs Via Aspen Community Voice Allow restaurants to have outdoor space like they did during Covid. Maybe we would not lose so many restaurants to downvalley. I applaud your efforts to protect bicyclists in Aspen, unfortunately I have not seen the lanes being used. We are losing so many businesses & restaurants I would like to see something done to help keep them in town 82 8/24/22 Michael Stolper mstolper@gmail.com Via email The lab would suggest this is an experiment. THE EXPERIMENT FAILED! The idea is ill conceived and places the desires of bikers over the needs of most of the community,i.e., locals shopping, tourists, delivery vehicles, merchants, etc. It is ill conceived and is a monument to the current council’s apparent belief that any action is better than no action. It needs to be reversed rather than extended. 8/25/22 Barbara Cole Lee Via Aspen Community Voice The idea is to go back to the way it was...angle parking, a cute town that is easily accessible to all, including walkers, cars, bikers. The town has become unsightly! Get rid of those green markers!!!! 8/25/22 Melissa Stailey nmmysticwynter@yahoo.com The article in the Aspen Times said only part of the parking will return to what is was pre- living lab? Even after backlash from business? This is a disgusting misuse of power. Put the streets back to what they were. Businesses and patrons hate the living lab. I hear it every day as people complain about the lack of parking. To keep ignoring the public is so disrespectful and disturbing. Truly disgusted. 8/31/22 Jcarlheck Via Aspen Community Voice Remove the dangerous black/green bumpers This was the worst idea ever, and not at all safe. The loss of 44 spots has hurt retailers/restaurants. So much for supporting the community 8/31/22 Karenann Via Aspen Community Voice Please put it back to what it used to be. Bring back the angle parking on both sides of the street 83 8/31/22 Mike Tracey Sergeant, Aspen Police Department mike.tracey@aspen.gov Via email We started directed patrols in the Living Lab on 08/10/22 and have conducted these patrols everyday/evening since then. I took out most of the citizen/business owner comments that we received as they were all negative or unsupportive of the project and you already know about them. The following are observations from officers during those patrols: Need another stop sign at Hyman and Galena for traffic turning left onto Galena. The current stop sign is too high and right for people to see from a vehicle. Suggest placing one in the middle of the road on the back of the ‘no left turn’ sign. Paradise owner shared that he has observed people tripping over the green blocks when exiting vehicles. We also saw this. Sports shop employee stated that ‘nothing about system is intuitive’. Added that he appreciates effort to improve situation but wonders ‘why once identified as a clear failure should community continue to be subjected to failed set up’. Our observation from today is that very few pedestrians and cyclists know what they are supposed to do. No left turn onto Hyman is hazardous. As is the left turn from Hyman onto Galena. Needs a stop sign on Galena for southbound traffic. City needs a pedestrian crossing counter at Hyman/Galena as there are TONS of pedestrians crossing all the time. Sightline approaching Galena/Hyman intersection can be dangerous. If there are vehicles parked on the left side of Galena (by the Ute Mountaineer), vehicles travelling southbound only see pedestrians at the last second. City just needs to shut it all down and making it a walking mall. Conditions are incredibly unsafe. 84 8/31/22 Mike Tracey Sergeant, Aspen Police Department mike.tracey@aspen.gov Via email continued Observations revealed wrong way bikes, peds walking between narrow yellow lines causing bikes (going wrong way) to slow. No left turn onto Hyman Ave is difficult for vehicles to comprehend. Multiple instances of aborted attempts to turn left there. Signage confusing to everyone, bikes not adhering to signage, and a ton of pedestrians doing their own thing. Longtime unidentified local made a comment that ‘the living lab has caused more near misses for them than they have ever had living here for 20 + years’. Less pedestrian foot traffic due to weather/day of the week. Still confusion with vehicle/pedestrian interactions and right of way designations. Still a visibility issue for pedestrians not knowing which signs to prioritize. Bikers not following the rules. Pedestrians operating as if they’re invincible. There’s a possible line of sight issue for cars turning from Hyman onto Galena. Issues were less apparent today due to weather. Pedestrians and bikes are the least compliant when following signage. Received compliments for presence and support for the living lab from various pedestrians. 85 8/31/22 Mike Tracey Sergeant, Aspen Police Department mike.tracey@aspen.gov Via email continued Pedestrians and bikes still least complaint when following signage. Had a vehicle turn the wrong way onto Hyman. Rain kept most traffic at bay. Both locals and visitors have described it as “Busy” “Ugly” “Confusing” “sign noise” “too much” “annoying”. In several weeks of watching I have only seen three bikes use the dedicated wrong-way bike path. Seen lots of pedestrian traffic in said bike path. I have seen numerous people tripping over the green and white curb blocks or whatever they are called. I was on scene (and I called an ambulance) for a woman that broke her wrist in front of the old Boogies (visible deformity) on the uneven bike rack area. Not sure if connected to Living Lab, but nonetheless. Observing Sat/Sun for approx. 4 hrs. I did not see (1) bike in marked bikeway. Lots of bikes in roadway (both directions). Continued confused chaos amongst all stakeholders believed to be a product of the over signage. Noticed that the parallel parking obscures pedestrian vision creating additional hazards for pedestrians. Too much going on for all stakeholders (bikes, pedestrians, vehicles). Drivers struggling to parallel park on left side of Galena. Not used to that type/direction of parallel parking as they park on the right side just fine. Cyclists ride all over the place, mostly going the wrong way in the street on Galena. Very few using the dedicated contra-flow bike lane. 8/31/22 Carl Heck carlheck@icloud.com Via email carlheck@icloud.com Via email I was in favor of the lab but later realized those Horrible green bumpers block the majority of motorcycle parking down town. I volunteer at the Thrift store sometimes & it’s Dangerous trying to park my motorcycle now! I ride to avoid bringing my car to town & taking up another parking space. 9/2/22 Charles/Chip Patterson 970-948-9566 Via voicemail I'd like to know how the lab cost. I think it's an absolute waste. I would like to find out what the cost of all that was with the labor and with those little blocks and as a taxpayer, I believe I have that right to know that information 86 9/3/22 John A. Carbona john@carbonacapital.com Via email Thank you for your dedication and desire to make our community of Aspen as great as possible. If any of the contents of this email offends you or your work as an official in Aspen, I opologize in advance. This email is unfortunately a vote of dissent on the councils recommended traffic, pedestrian, and bike lanes in the center core, "Galena Lab". I am a resident and business owner at 428 E Hyman Ave. , The Kobey Building. My garage is in the alley behind Hyman Ave. Background: Since the city changed the traffic flow on S. Mill to a one way, a few years ago, I've been adversly affected and re-routed on my trip home, to access my car garage. I've lived with this change, and endure the extra time, gas money and traffic on Hopkins to Monarch to Hyman to the alley to get to the Kobey daily for the greater good of the community. But I must say something now about the Galena Lab. The goals of the Galena Lab stipulated were: 1. Improve the convenience, safety, and quality of experience for bicyclists and pedestrians on streets and tr+C187+C183+C183:C185+C187+C183+C183:C187+C183:C186+C183:C187+C183 :C185+C183:C187 87 9/3/22 John A. Carbona john@carbonacapital.com Via email continued We did not meet this objective. Nor did we include businesses and homeowners in your objective, so it was flawed from the start. It is not at all convenient or safe for humans using the Hyman alley daily. Who uses the alley? Trash trucks, 2 times per day, (recycle and trash), deliveries to commercial locations, FedEx Ups, furniture delivery for the gallery, food service trucks for the restaurants, workers, construction crews, families living on Hyman, etc. It's a busy Alley. Previously we all would exit the one way Hyman alley, and turn right on Galena and then left on Hyman to leave the core area ASAP. I, and everyone using the Hyman alley are now required to drive all the way into the core along with additional traffic to be routed in the wrong direction to exit town. This uses, more time, more fuel, electric and fossil, and increases chance for safety issues, because we are driving into a more dense area of pedestrians. 9/3/22 John A. Carbona john@carbonacapital.com Via email continued 2. Develop a strategic parking plan that manages the supply of parking and reduces the adverse impacts of the automobile. Your parallel parking plan, reduced core parking by 1/2, I don't think this is managing, it is reducing parking. Commercial enterprises need more parking not less. And parallel parking and bike riders are an accident waiting to happen. When a car door is opened into the bike path, that bike rider, not paying attention is going ass over tea kettle. 3. Encourage alternative forms of transportation to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. I don't think it's the councils responsibly to take a stand on reduction of fossil fuel use, until it establishes an infrastructure for alternatives, like charging stations that are convenient and plentiful. In addition, reducing fossil fuel use will require people to purchase electric cars or ride or walk. The council should not interfere with these household economic decisions. 88 9/3/22 John A. Carbona john@carbonacapital.com Via email continued 4. Increase safety by providing safe, balanced, and dedicated spaces for all users. Let's start looking through a wider lense when making changes. This Lab is not balanced for me or other like me. It didn't look at businesses or residential units in the core. The folks working and living on Hyman Ave walking mall feel the proposed changes Do Not hit the mark established, negatively impact our commerce, safety, and life experience in Aspen. The council should identify areas of great need without expense to the tax payers and solve those problems first before looking for things to fix that aren't broken and stop spending money unwisely 89 9/3/22 John A. Carbona john@carbonacapital.com Via email continued For example, the Hyman Ave. Alley is the most disgusting Alley in town, looking more like an alley in a third world country, rather than what it can be. I've worked tirelessly with the Police, City Hall, engineering, local businesses and pedestrians using the alley to improve the experience, but it's an uphill battle and I could use some help. We need a complete review of the trash and recycling bins to take place. The 8 yards of recycle containers is 1/2 of what's needed, evidenced by daily overflowing of recycle trash. The alley is home to businesses on Hyman and Hopkins Galena and Mill. Finally: I live in an historic jurisdiction, I can not make any renovations unless I bring my plans to the Historic Preservation Committee. How can the traffic flow or parking changes be exempt from the same oversight. In my opinion your proposed changes have a greater or equal impact to the History of our town than a window or door color change. I think these and other changes within the core, should go through the same hoops the residents do. With humility and grace and extreme interest in the future of Aspen John A. Carbona 90 9/4/22 Margaret Kaufman megkauf@yahoo.com Via email The living lab is a complete mess. There is no reason for the bicyclist to have two dedicated directions on a one-way street. To give up all the parking spaces that were given up is indefensible from a pedestrian’s point of view from a driver’s point of you and from a merchant’s point of view. It needs to go back to the way it was! I also want to protest the fact that bicyclists now believe that they do not have to stop at stop signs!! I have seen so many near accidents it’s crazy! Bikes should have to follow the same rules of the road as cars just like before. The E bikes have only compounded this problem. Adults and children alike have no sense of responsibility for the rules of the road that I have witnessed and they even go in the middle of the road the wrong way on the road. When did bicyclists get priority over everybody else? It is above and beyond reasonable! 9/6/22 Streck2 Via Aspen Community Voice Love it!! Thank you for putting it in. I loved that while biking I am more protected. It reminds me of biking in Berlin, Germany, where the cars were there to protect you. 9/6/22 Chefjeff Via Aspen Community Voice Revert back to previous parking allotment. The short sighted parking idea of the Living Lab shows you how desperate the city is to accomplish something of significance to improve our traffic gridlock. Has any of the council negotiated the Lab on their bikes. Come on! It's suicide . 9/7/22 Mo Via Aspen Community Voice It’s a stupid idea. Waste of space. Stop wasting our money on your idiotic meetings to make these kind of changes. It’s a stupid idea. Waste of space. Stop wasting our money on your idiotic meetings to make these kind of changes. 91 9/13/22 Edward Sullivan I refuse to register for yet another account, so these are my comments: #1 - Let cars and bikes turn left onto Hyman Avenue from Galena Street, or else they will circle around several blocks to get to a final destination, adding to the traffic in the one-way section of Galena Street. #2 - At least now all of the bikes which used to ride illegally against traffic can go north on Galena Street safely. #3 - How much did each of those big blocks cost, particularly the ones with the “bear on bike” artwork? Over $100 each, I’m guessing, for something which may well be only temporary. And the total cost of those blocks? 92 9/19/22 Hillary Simon Hello City of Aspen, This gentleman walking to his car tripped over the bike lane bumper. Twice. (Pictures attached) He was looking left to right for traffic not bumpers on the ground. He was not happy and had a very sore knee. His wife was ticked off! "Who puts giant legos on the street?" Curious, do you want pedestrians parked along the Lego path to walk across bikes and Lego's to get to their car, or, on the street? If residents are confused how do you think the tourists are coping with this new addition? I watched with my own eyes ONE cyclist actually using the bike lane veer with his front tire into a bumper then bonk into sidewalk curb and go down. It was like a pinball machine. Embarrassing for all. In an effort to promote green initiatives by encouraging biking in town there are dangerous and unintended consequences. Also, doesn't removing parking spots encourage idling, driving around looking for the now more rare parking spot? Both of which waste fuel. A solution: Bike racks with signage "Please, park your ebike here and walk the lovely City of Aspen". (Parks are a great location for bike racks.. we have multiple to choose from)Encouraging parking bikes and walking: Increases foot traffic which helps restaurants and retailers. Increases safety for car and bike "drivers" and pedestrians. I realize that this is an experiment. I have not witnessed success with this just two falls and a lot of complaining from eye sore to dangerous. It is great to experiment and it's ok if the experiment does not work. 93 9/19/22 Hillary Simon Hey, at least we tried. :) Thank you for all that you do! Best, Hillary Simon Woody Creek 714-330-3856 Steve 850-368-3979 “I'm 85 years old and … parking in downtown is inconvenient and difficult.” 94 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 APPENDIX C 95 Living Lab Data Analysis and Graphs September 29th, 2022 *Only data collected by Maya Overview/Main Points: -There is a need for more pedestrian space. - The number of negative interactions between motorists and pedestrians has decreased significantly with the installation of the lab. -There is no correlation between number of bikes and the total number of negative interactions, even though there was an in increase in bikers. The majority of negative interactions are between motorists and pedestrians, and the number of negative interactions caused by cyclists does not significantly affect the total. -The data shows that the safety of the intersections has been improved with the infrastructure of the lab in place. -The intersections with infrastructure have improved cyclist behavior, and therefore the Living Lab improved bike behavior compared to the control site of Monarch & Hopkins. -There have been fewer traffic accident reports for the Living Lab blocks in 2022 than in 2021 or 2020 (during summer months). 96 General Statistics -Total Average counterflow bikers: 9.57 (bikers per 30 min) -Average counterflow bikers @ Galena/Hopkins: 11.11 (bikers per 30 min) -Average counterflow bikers @ Galena/Hyman: 12.73 (bikers per 30 min) -Average counterflow bikers @ Galena/Cooper: 7.89 (bikers per 30 min) -Average counterflow bikers @ Cooper/Hunter: 6.53 (bikers per 30 min) -Highest count of counterflow bikers in one 30-minute period: 26 (@ Galena/Hyman) -Still get on average 1.93 cars (every 30 mins) turning left at the Galena/Hyman intersection and going the wrong way down Hyman ➔ This graph is a sum of all negative interactions across all four intersections each day for a 2 hour period. Field Observation: As people have been learning how the new street design works, there have generally been fewer negative interactions. The next four graphs show the number of counterflow bikers at each intersection for each day. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 6/226/246/276/286/307/17/57/67/77/87/117/127/137/147/157/187/197/207/217/257/277/288/28/38/48/228/238/248/268/298/308/319/69/79/89/99/13Number of InteractionsDate Total Negative Interactions between Motorists & Pedestrians <-Heavy Install Day Install Castle Creek Bridge construction started -> 97 0 5 10 15 20 25 Counterflow Cyclists (in 30 min)Date Counterflow Cyclists at Galena & Hopkins Intersection 1st Install Day 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Counterflow Cyclists (in 30 min)Date Counterflow Cyclists at Galena & Hyman Intersection 1st Install Day 0 5 10 15 20 Counterflow Cyclists (in 30 min)Date Counterflow Cyclists at Galena & Cooper Intersection 1st Install Day 98 Parking Turnover Count: On 7/1, a count of parked cars and turnover was conducted. At 11:00am all parked cars on the Galena Cooper Lab were chalked (one small stripe on the rear driver’s tire). At 1:00pm, the remaining chalked cars were counted as well as non-chalked parked cars. ➔ After the 2 hour period, 28 chalked cars remained parked (44%) and 36 non-chalked cars had parked (56%). Total of 64 cars were counted. 0 5 10 15 20 Counterflow Cyclists (in 30 min)Date Counterflow Cyclists at Cooper & Hunter Intersection 1st Install Day 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Cyclists per DayDate Total Daily Cyclist Counts in Counterflow Lane N/A 99 Peak Parking Occupancy in the Core 2022 September 26th, 2022 For the summer of 2022, there were no days where the parking occupancy in the core surpassed the 85% occupancy threshold. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 12/30 1/29 2/28 3/30 4/29 5/29 6/28 7/28 8/27 9/26Parking Spot Occupancy Date Peak Parking Occupancy in the Core 2022 85% Threshold 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 1/1 3/2 5/1 6/30 8/29 10/28 12/27Percent Peak OccupancyDate Daily Parking Occupancy in the Core 2019-2022 85% Threshold 2019 Occupancy 2021 Occupancy 2022 Occupancy 100 Galena Street Tube Counter Data September 29th, 2022 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Cyclists per DayDate Daily Cyclist Counts in Counterflow Lane 101 Graphs from Brian Long 102 APPENDIX A: Tube counter raw data, Daily counterflow bike counts Date Galena Street Bike Lane Counts Date Galena Street Bike Lane Counts Date Galena Street Bike Lane Counts 7/1/2022 143 8/1/2022 129 9/1/2022 112 7/2/2022 219 8/2/2022 173 9/2/2022 144 7/3/2022 206 8/3/2022 193 9/3/2022 220 7/4/2022 185 8/4/2022 177 9/4/2022 158 7/5/2022 106 8/5/2022 166 9/5/2022 164 7/6/2022 106 8/6/2022 245 9/6/2022 116 7/7/2022 152 8/7/2022 148 9/7/2022 122 7/8/2022 177 8/8/2022 189 9/8/2022 147 7/9/2022 206 8/9/2022 166 9/9/2022 143 7/10/2022 107 8/10/2022 165 9/10/2022 160 7/11/2022 175 8/11/2022 165 9/11/2022 127 7/12/2022 155 8/12/2022 166 9/12/2022 83 7/13/2022 167 8/13/2022 301 9/13/2022 106 7/14/2022 177 8/14/2022 174 9/14/2022 65 7/15/2022 137 8/15/2022 99 9/15/2022 74 7/16/2022 260 8/16/2022 70 9/16/2022 113 7/17/2022 182 8/17/2022 140 9/17/2022 135 7/18/2022 183 8/18/2022 154 9/18/2022 98 7/19/2022 181 8/19/2022 98 9/19/2022 112 7/20/2022 158 8/20/2022 115 9/20/2022 86 7/21/2022 199 8/21/2022 110 9/21/2022 72 7/22/2022 207 8/22/2022 86 9/22/2022 62 7/23/2022 249 8/23/2022 128 9/23/2022 127 7/24/2022 151 8/24/2022 133 9/24/2022 151 7/25/2022 203 8/25/2022 107 9/25/2022 104 7/26/2022 170 8/26/2022 75 9/26/2022 91 7/27/2022 214 8/27/2022 141 9/27/2022 116 7/28/2022 148 8/28/2022 96 7/29/2022 203 8/29/2022 145 7/30/2022 148 8/30/2022 117 7/31/2022 101 8/31/2022 130 103 Galena Cooper Living Lab 2022 APPENDIX D 104 Project Report 14 June 2016 - 09 October 2022 Aspen Community Voice Galena Cooper Living Lab Highlights TOTAL VISITS 1.4 k MAX VISITORS PER DAY 293 NEW REGISTRATI ONS 67 ENGAGED VISITORS 310 INFORMED VISITORS 594 AWARE VISITORS 947 Aware Participants 947 Aware Actions Performed Participants Visited a Project or Tool Page 947 Informed Participants 594 Informed Actions Performed Participants Viewed a video 0 Viewed a photo 0 Downloaded a document 30 Visited the Key Dates page 7 Visited an FAQ list Page 0 Visited Instagram Page 0 Visited Multiple Project Pages 270 Contributed to a tool (engaged)310 Engaged Participants 310 Engaged Actions Performed Registered Unverified Anonymous Contributed on Forums 0 0 0 Participated in Surveys 262 0 0 Contributed to Newsfeeds 0 0 0 Participated in Quick Polls 0 0 0 Posted on Guestbooks 0 0 0 Contributed to Stories 0 0 0 Asked Questions 16 0 0 Placed Pins on Places 0 0 0 Contributed to Ideas 56 0 0 Visitors Summary Pageviews Visitors 1 Jul '22 1 Sep '22 500 1000 1500 105 Tool Type Engagement Tool Name Tool Status Visitors Registered Unverified Anonymous Contributors Qanda Have a question about the living lab?Published 167 16 0 0 Survey Tool Experiencing the GCLL Draft 458 262 0 0 Ideas Comments Published 154 55 0 0 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 ENGAGEMENT TOOLS SUMMARY 0 FORUM TOPICS 1 SURVEYS 0 NEWS FEEDS 0 QUICK POLLS 0 GUEST BOOKS 0 STORIES 1 Q&A S 0 PLACES 1 IDEAS Page 2 of 32 106 Widget Type Engagement Tool Name Visitors Views/Downloads Document Galena Cooper Living Lab fact sheet_English_web.pdf 29 33 Document Galena Cooper Living Lab Update - September 22 2 2 Document City Council Work Session February 2022 Lab Logistics and Budget 2 3 Document Galena Cooper Living Lab fact sheet_Spanish_web.pdf 2 3 Document Galena Cooper Living Lab Phone and Email Log 0 0 Key Dates Key Date 7 7 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 INFORMATION WIDGET SUMMARY 5 DOCUMENTS 0 PHOTOS 0 VIDEOS 0 FAQS 0 KEY DATES Page 3 of 32 107 Visitors 167 Contributors 16 CONTRIBUTIONS 17 Q Aspenmikey It is actually worse than before…and to me it’s less safe A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q Aspenmikey It is actually worse than before…and to me it’s less safe A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 11 July 22 Page 4 of 32 108 Q pdhoffmann Hello - Not sure where to submit feedback, but I have several comments below on the Galena / Cooper reorganization: First of call, I think turning Hyman in front of Clark's, etc. into one-way is great and improves safety on the busy corner of Hyman / Galena. However, the reorg'd parking and bike lane on Galena and Cooper seem to - am ong other things - more than offset that safety gain. The counter flow bike lane is just dangerous - drivers, pedestrians, etc. are expecting traffic from the right on a one-way street and it creates a real blind spot for people com ing the opposite direction in the bike lane. This is how accidents happen. Not to mention cyclists themselves expect t o go with the flow of traffic and ride the incorrect way in the bike lane causing bike on bike accidents. Not to mention people in cars parking along the bike lane opening doors or just crossing the bike lane without looking. No amount of signage is going to change this thinking - in fact more signage will just confuse people. Further, the parallel parking is really unfortunate. The street was wide even with the angle parking - now with parallel parking its almost two full lanes wide. I now see people double parking (because they can't find spots) - especially trucks or people dropping off. The l ast spot on the corner in front of paradise is especially bad - trucks are parked off the back there regularly. If you must keep the bike lane and parallel parking on the left side of the street, you still have more than enough room to return th e right side to angle parking on Cooper. The extra wide street only increases the danger here. I really appreciate what you are trying to do here - I am a long-time cyclist and often a pedestrian in town and a full-time resident. However, I c ame from a big city with lots of bike lanes. They introduce TONS of issues unless they are extremely protected. They are valuable on larger, fast traffic roads and again ONLY work when they are extremely protected on both sides. At th e end of the day, it is MUCH safer for bikes to go with the direction of traffic and in the street. These aren't highways, i ts a slow downtown street. Bikes need to be 1. very visible, and 2. where cars and pedestrians expect them to be (in f ront of them, going with traffic). Please focus your attention on more critical areas for bikes / cars. How about eliminati ng the West-End sneak or enforcing the one-block limit on the pedways? I was riding through there with my friend and their 6-year old and its like a parking lot at 5pm. Cars blatantly ignore the one-block limit and drive wildly. Just block p owerplant road for 2 hours at rush hour. Creating a counter flow bike lane for two blocks does absolutely nothing for c yclist safety - in fact I'd argue it makes it much worse. Return Galena and Cooper to how they were and focus on area s with real problems. How about building more four-way stops in the core? Overall, really disappointed with this projec t. Lot of time and effort seems to have gone into a two block project with what seems like little to no thought or input fr om actual pedestrians or cyclists. I am passionate about this because I'd like to enjoy going into town safely and have had many friends hurt or killed in bike / car accidents. The answer is to make it as easy as possible for all modes of tr affic - cars, bikes, people - to navigate. There are tons of distractions already (for everyone, including cyclists). Make t hings as easy and intuitive as possible. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 Page 5 of 32 109 Q pdhoffmann Hello - Not sure where to submit feedback, but I have several comments below on the Galena / Cooper reorganization: First of call, I think turning Hyman in front of Clark's, etc. into one-way is great and improves safety on the busy corner of Hyman / Galena. However, the reorg'd parking and bike lane on Galena and Cooper seem to - am ong other things - more than offset that safety gain. The counter flow bike lane is just dangerous - drivers, pedestrians, etc. are expecting traffic from the right on a one-way street and it creates a real blind spot for people com ing the opposite direction in the bike lane. This is how accidents happen. Not to mention cyclists themselves expect t o go with the flow of traffic and ride the incorrect way in the bike lane causing bike on bike accidents. Not to mention people in cars parking along the bike lane opening doors or just crossing the bike lane without looking. No amount of signage is going to change this thinking - in fact more signage will just confuse people. Further, the parallel parking is really unfortunate. The street was wide even with the angle parking - now with parallel parking its almost two full lanes wide. I now see people double parking (because they can't find spots) - especially trucks or people dropping off. The l ast spot on the corner in front of paradise is especially bad - trucks are parked off the back there regularly. If you must keep the bike lane and parallel parking on the left side of the street, you still have more than enough room to return th e right side to angle parking on Cooper. The extra wide street only increases the danger here. I really appreciate what you are trying to do here - I am a long-time cyclist and often a pedestrian in town and a full-time resident. However, I c ame from a big city with lots of bike lanes. They introduce TONS of issues unless they are extremely protected. They are valuable on larger, fast traffic roads and again ONLY work when they are extremely protected on both sides. At th e end of the day, it is MUCH safer for bikes to go with the direction of traffic and in the street. These aren't highways, i ts a slow downtown street. Bikes need to be 1. very visible, and 2. where cars and pedestrians expect them to be (in f ront of them, going with traffic). Please focus your attention on more critical areas for bikes / cars. How about eliminati ng the West-End sneak or enforcing the one-block limit on the pedways? I was riding through there with my friend and their 6-year old and its like a parking lot at 5pm. Cars blatantly ignore the one-block limit and drive wildly. Just block p owerplant road for 2 hours at rush hour. Creating a counter flow bike lane for two blocks does absolutely nothing for c yclist safety - in fact I'd argue it makes it much worse. Return Galena and Cooper to how they were and focus on area s with real problems. How about building more four-way stops in the core? Overall, really disappointed with this projec t. Lot of time and effort seems to have gone into a two block project with what seems like little to no thought or input fr om actual pedestrians or cyclists. I am passionate about this because I'd like to enjoy going into town safely and have had many friends hurt or killed in bike / car accidents. The answer is to make it as easy as possible for all modes of tr affic - cars, bikes, people - to navigate. There are tons of distractions already (for everyone, including cyclists). Make t hings as easy and intuitive as possible. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 Page 6 of 32 110 Q repertoire As a pedestrian and biker (and driver), I consider it highly dangerousness to be downtown due to the proliferation of c ars and drivers disrespectful of the pedestrian nature of Aspen. Eliminating angled parking not only eliminates the soli d close in visual wall that they create, but eliminates the highly dangerous process of backing out with limited visibility of bikes and other cars. The vibrancy of the town is based on the mobility of pedestrians and bikers. E-bike and scoot ers of all types now provide access to those who would not otherwise have access. For the most part, close-in parking is a luxury for those choosing not to enjoy the outdoors and instead shop at the ubiquitous unaffordable “fashi on” boutiques that minimizes my visits to the core of Aspen two blocks away from my residence on the top of South G alena. I believe your latest traffic management changes are excellent and follow other inspirational municipalities that add to their vibrancy by encouraging outdoor access unimpeded by unnecessary car traffic in pedestrian dominated lo cations. Karl Friedman A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q repertoire As a pedestrian and biker (and driver), I consider it highly dangerousness to be downtown due to the proliferation of c ars and drivers disrespectful of the pedestrian nature of Aspen. Eliminating angled parking not only eliminates the soli d close in visual wall that they create, but eliminates the highly dangerous process of backing out with limited visibility of bikes and other cars. The vibrancy of the town is based on the mobility of pedestrians and bikers. E-bike and scoot ers of all types now provide access to those who would not otherwise have access. For the most part, close-in parking is a luxury for those choosing not to enjoy the outdoors and instead shop at the ubiquitous unaffordable “fashi on” boutiques that minimizes my visits to the core of Aspen two blocks away from my residence on the top of South G alena. I believe your latest traffic management changes are excellent and follow other inspirational municipalities that add to their vibrancy by encouraging outdoor access unimpeded by unnecessary car traffic in pedestrian dominated lo cations. Karl Friedman A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 11 July 22 Page 7 of 32 111 Q tweeter01 Having observed the Galena Cooper Living Lab, I feel it is one of the "dumbest" things Aspen has initiated recently. Fi rst of all, pedestrians are walking in the bike lanes when there are sidewalks available, cyclists are riding in the street and trying to parallel park a car in a lane that is basically in the middle of the street would be close to impossible. At ni ghts most residents and visitors would not be riding a bike to dinner anyway. Plus cyclists do not follow protocol, don't stop at stop at stop signs and still ride 2-3 abreast. The entire set up is very confusing and probably more dangerous t han the previous arrangement. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q tweeter01 Having observed the Galena Cooper Living Lab, I feel it is one of the "dumbest" things Aspen has initiated recently. Fi rst of all, pedestrians are walking in the bike lanes when there are sidewalks available, cyclists are riding in the street and trying to parallel park a car in a lane that is basically in the middle of the street would be close to impossible. At ni ghts most residents and visitors would not be riding a bike to dinner anyway. Plus cyclists do not follow protocol, don't stop at stop at stop signs and still ride 2-3 abreast. The entire set up is very confusing and probably more dangerous t han the previous arrangement. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 11 July 22 Page 8 of 32 112 Q Sunier6 I walk or ride my bike to town nearly daily and have done so for the 7 years since we retired full time here in Aspen. I am in full support of providing pedestrian zones and safe areas for cyclists BUT I also feel we need to be fair to our S hops and to the tourists who come here and want to purchase goods within our thriving community. The current set u p does not make me as a pedestrian or cyclist feel safer at all - in fact I would argue that the reduction in parking mak es me feel less safe as we now have angry motorists circling about the blocks looking for parking - and - well - there i sn’t much more intimidating than an angry Aspen tourist. Most of the people who come visit us here or who have 2nd homes here and visit us are accustomed to paying for garage or valet parking. Our garage is a tad far for people carry ing bags full of goodies and - honestly - if you are dropping thousands on Gucci or Christian Dior - you won’t mind pay ing a little extra to have your car valet parked for you and brought back to you. Whether this is something that can vali dated for reduced rates by the shops if you purchase goods from them or is simply a money maker for our community to provide extra money - well thats something that can be debated - what shouldn’t be in question is whether or not w e need to provide parking so our restaurants and stores can stay thriving. On a separate note - I am really disappointe d by the reduction in bike racks for those of us who use our bikes to ride to town. Yes its all great that you have put in “bikes for hire” but where are those of us who want to ride to town for our errands to now park? A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 Page 9 of 32 113 Q Sunier6 I walk or ride my bike to town nearly daily and have done so for the 7 years since we retired full time here in Aspen. I am in full support of providing pedestrian zones and safe areas for cyclists BUT I also feel we need to be fair to our S hops and to the tourists who come here and want to purchase goods within our thriving community. The current set u p does not make me as a pedestrian or cyclist feel safer at all - in fact I would argue that the reduction in parking mak es me feel less safe as we now have angry motorists circling about the blocks looking for parking - and - well - there i sn’t much more intimidating than an angry Aspen tourist. Most of the people who come visit us here or who have 2nd homes here and visit us are accustomed to paying for garage or valet parking. Our garage is a tad far for people carry ing bags full of goodies and - honestly - if you are dropping thousands on Gucci or Christian Dior - you won’t mind pay ing a little extra to have your car valet parked for you and brought back to you. Whether this is something that can vali dated for reduced rates by the shops if you purchase goods from them or is simply a money maker for our community to provide extra money - well thats something that can be debated - what shouldn’t be in question is whether or not w e need to provide parking so our restaurants and stores can stay thriving. On a separate note - I am really disappointe d by the reduction in bike racks for those of us who use our bikes to ride to town. Yes its all great that you have put in “bikes for hire” but where are those of us who want to ride to town for our errands to now park? A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q Jason Suazo I hate this. My vehicle is too tall for parking garage so I will just keep driving around until I find a parking space. Please do something else but parking is an issue. Town is getting busier and busier each year. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 11 July 22 Page 10 of 32 114 Q Jason Suazo I hate this. My vehicle is too tall for parking garage so I will just keep driving around until I find a parking space. Please do something else but parking is an issue. Town is getting busier and busier each year. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q SinCloud55 The new bike lanes on Galena and Cooper are awful. The three times I have been in town, No bikes were using the bi ke lanes. There were a few people walking on the bike lanes. Taking away parking spots from people who want to eat and shop in town was stupid. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q SinCloud55 The new bike lanes on Galena and Cooper are awful. The three times I have been in town, No bikes were using the bi ke lanes. There were a few people walking on the bike lanes. Taking away parking spots from people who want to eat and shop in town was stupid. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 11 July 22 12 July 22 12 July 22 Page 11 of 32 115 Q ASD This cannot be permanent. It is a slap in the face to the business that are downtown. They just endured years of the Pandemic and now you throw this at them. We are in a recession as we speak. Is very quiet in town. We realize that i s what you want to try to stop cars but that is not what business needs. It is dangerous. People walk in the bike path n ow and not on the sidewalk. A car can actually take out a bicycle by opening their door on either side of the car. And p eople have to walk across the bike path to get into their car. Also trying to parallel in that space is an accident waiting to happen. Put it back like it was. Tory said they want to hear what we think. We don't really believe that as they do w hat they want anyway. But this is the worst idea of a lot bad ideas by this council in years. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q ASD This cannot be permanent. It is a slap in the face to the business that are downtown. They just endured years of the Pandemic and now you throw this at them. We are in a recession as we speak. Is very quiet in town. We realize that i s what you want to try to stop cars but that is not what business needs. It is dangerous. People walk in the bike path n ow and not on the sidewalk. A car can actually take out a bicycle by opening their door on either side of the car. And p eople have to walk across the bike path to get into their car. Also trying to parallel in that space is an accident waiting to happen. Put it back like it was. Tory said they want to hear what we think. We don't really believe that as they do w hat they want anyway. But this is the worst idea of a lot bad ideas by this council in years. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 13 July 22 13 July 22 Page 12 of 32 116 Q dancerjessie Why not make the streets two ways again? The parking was parallel then and there was no confusion between bikers and pedestrians. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Q dancerjessie Why not make the streets two ways again? The parking was parallel then and there was no confusion between bikers and pedestrians. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q Euroskin This is maybe the most rediculous idea and execution I’ve ever seen. It is hurting local businesses. We have to have parking in town or provide more garage space. I am hearing from my elderly clients that they are very unhappy and fe el pushed out of town. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 13 July 22 13 July 22 14 July 22 Page 13 of 32 117 Q Euroskin This is maybe the most rediculous idea and execution I’ve ever seen. It is hurting local businesses. We have to have parking in town or provide more garage space. I am hearing from my elderly clients that they are very unhappy and fe el pushed out of town. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q Jenlid I am enjoying less traffic in the downtown core, As a long time local, I have said for YEARS, why isn't all of the downt own core, "malled". We should be forward thinking in our approach to the environment and the livelihood of our local community, while also maintaining a welcoming environment for our visitors. I have vistited Many other small Colorad o towns and our downtown is by far the most amazingly organized, and pedestrian/biker friendly. Can't we make it ev en more so? My vote would be to mall the whole downtown area, make cars park at brush creek and bus in, but since that is not on the table YET, and just this small change has caused some of the super wealthy to have a hissy fit, I wo uld love to see this living lab improved upon and made even better. I am sure there is a way to make stores accessibl e to all and allow for our kids, pedestrians, bikers, families to be safe as the wonder around. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. We invite you to subscri be for project updates by adding your email and submitting it through the "Stay Informed" box on the project page. We will be adding a baseline survey later this week and hope you will also consider taking that. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 14 July 22 16 July 22 Page 14 of 32 118 Q Jenlid I am enjoying less traffic in the downtown core, As a long time local, I have said for YEARS, why isn't all of the downt own core, "malled". We should be forward thinking in our approach to the environment and the livelihood of our local community, while also maintaining a welcoming environment for our visitors. I have vistited Many other small Colorad o towns and our downtown is by far the most amazingly organized, and pedestrian/biker friendly. Can't we make it ev en more so? My vote would be to mall the whole downtown area, make cars park at brush creek and bus in, but since that is not on the table YET, and just this small change has caused some of the super wealthy to have a hissy fit, I wo uld love to see this living lab improved upon and made even better. I am sure there is a way to make stores accessibl e to all and allow for our kids, pedestrians, bikers, families to be safe as the wonder around. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q johnseybold I participated in the focus group sessions, and I would say half of the members in my group wanted a pedestrian only solution. Instead we got the living lab exactly as it was originally designed, as if the comments from all the focus group s (I can't imagine mine was unique) were totally ignored. The original survey was deeply flawed, because it only aske d about car-centric solutions (e.g. "Would you prefer angled or parallel parking?"). There were no questions for those who would prefer closing the street to cars entirely. So, yeah, maybe the new layout is a little better, or maybe not. W ho cares? If we really want safety for cyclists and pedestrians, fewer emissions, and a more livable and walkable city, close the street to cars completely. A Publicly Answered Thank you for this feedback and for participating in one of the focus groups as part of the Safety and Mobility in the D owntown Core project. Feedback from the focus groups, along with input received from other engagement efforts, wa s incorporated into the Living Lab's design. In addition to the focus groups, a diverse representation of community tho ughts was collected through two communitywide questionnaires and other stakeholder meetings. Those interested ca n find a summary of all the previous engagement feedback here. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 16 July 22 24 July 22 Page 15 of 32 119 Q Petrina Have any of you ventured down Galena in a car on Saturday mornings? I tried this week and was frustrated and anxio us. There were cars, bikes, people on phones, We-Cycle stations, white pilons, and SIGNS all over the place. If this is the way forward there needs to be more education and someone to direct and control. No one knows where to go or h ow to get there. You want to get rid of cars in town then you should mall Galena from Hyman all the way around to E. Hunter and figure out a way to access the alleys for trash. Build a parking garage under ground. Come up with attractive barriers at the end of the malls instead of the metal tipped over signs that are put up during Food and Wine. STOP people from riding their bikes on the mall, it's dangerous. Motorized bikes go down quite fast and then add in dogs off leash and you have mayhem. As an aside, the signs in town are out of control, why do we need small blue te mporary "No Parking" signs lining Main Street going out of town when there are already PERMANENT "No Parking" si gns?? There were actually 2 signs on the same corner coming into town on Main Street: One said "End Construction" the other said "Construction Ahead". Get out and look around town, it's not pretty. Other communities like Laguna and Hermosa Beach in California have figured it out, why can't we? A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Q Ebohman Kudos to you for creating this experiment. "Living Lab".....you need the public to experience this to see if it works. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 25 July 22 19 August 22 Page 16 of 32 120 Q Ebohman To be honest, Aspen needs to be turned into a no car zone period. Build a mega big parking garage out at the Brush Creek (Intercept Lot) lot and visitors must park out there and be shuttled in. Then increase RFTA/Downtowner shuttle s to move folks around. You would still need to allow lodges to shuttle their guests around. It doesn't matter what you do to improve the safety for folks walking and bikes. Visitors don't pay attention to the yield signs on main street so wh y would they follow these rules? Get the cars out of town. Solves your parking problem and the risk of someone gettin g hurt on their bike or walking. Personally, I don't ride my bike in town. I walk out of town on with my bike before I mou nt and peddle home. Good luck and thank you for trying to make this town safer for bike riders and pedestrians. A Publicly Answered Thank you for your feedback. We will add your input to our outreach and engagement report. Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 QANDA Have a question about the living lab? 19 August 22 Page 17 of 32 121 Visitors 458 Contributors 262 CONTRIBUTIONS 262 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 ENGAGEMENT TOOL: SURVEY TOOL Experiencing the GCLL Tell us about yourself (please choose all that apply): I live in the downtown core.I own a business in the downtown core.I work in the downtown core. I shop and eat in the downtown core. Question options 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 61 32 85 208 Page 18 of 32 Mandatory Question (262 response(s)) Question type: Checkbox Question 122 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 As a user and participant of the Galena Cooper Living Lab, please rate how each of the lab’s following design elements impacted your experience when/if interacting with them: Greatly diminished Diminished Neither improved nor diminished Improved Greatly improved Question options 50 100 150 200 250 300 Counter-flow bike lane Parallel parking Curb extensions at intersection Formalized shared roadway for cyclists and ve... Eliminating the left turn from Galena onto Hy... 14 11 22 12 14 12 14 37 23 29 43 28 69 49 62 59 53 36 58 58 132 153 94 118 94 Page 19 of 32 Optional question (261 response(s), 1 skipped) Question type: Likert Question 123 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 Tell us about your Galena Cooper Living Lab experience as a motorist: 21 (8.0%) 21 (8.0%) 28 (10.7%) 28 (10.7%) 198 (75.6%) 198 (75.6%) 9 (3.4%) 9 (3.4%)6 (2.3%) 6 (2.3%) Not applicable Not sure yet Negative impacts on safety and mobility Neutral Positive improvements to safety and mobility Question options Page 20 of 32 Mandatory Question (262 response(s)) Question type: Radio Button Question 124 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 Tell us about your Galena Cooper Living Lab experience as a pedestrian: 25 (9.5%) 25 (9.5%) 42 (16.0%) 42 (16.0%) 177 (67.6%) 177 (67.6%) 11 (4.2%) 11 (4.2%)7 (2.7%) 7 (2.7%) Not applicable Not sure yet Negative impacts on safety and mobility Neutral Positive improvements to safety and mobility Question options Page 21 of 32 Mandatory Question (262 response(s)) Question type: Radio Button Question 125 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 Tell us about your Galena Cooper Living Lab experience as a cyclist: 26 (9.9%) 26 (9.9%) 24 (9.2%) 24 (9.2%) 148 (56.5%) 148 (56.5%) 8 (3.1%) 8 (3.1%) 56 (21.4%) 56 (21.4%) Not applicable Not sure yet Negative impacts on safety and mobility Neutral Positive improvements to safety and mobility Question options Page 22 of 32 Mandatory Question (262 response(s)) Question type: Radio Button Question 126 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 What, if any, changes have you noticed because of the Galena Cooper Living Lab (please choose all that apply): More conflicts between motorists More conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists Circulation has not improved Parking is more difficult Site lines and visibility have not been improved Fewer conflicts between motorists Fewer conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists Easier to park Better circulation Better site lines and visibility Question options 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 29 21 4 14 15 166 214 199 171 131 Page 23 of 32 Mandatory Question (262 response(s)) Question type: Checkbox Question 127 Visitors 154 Contributors 56 CONTRIBUTIONS 292 26 July 22 Kathleen Wanatowicz VOTES 0 03 August 22 rebeccaborgess VOTES 11 18 August 22 john galambos VOTES 10 18 August 22 karlakelly VOTES 9 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments Hello, please add comments, suggestions, concerns and ideas here. Return to the previous parking model This new parking model has eliminated a huge number of parking spaces which will ta ke a great toll on the small businesses attempting to thrive here. The computer generat ed depiction above is not indicative of the space that truly exists here. The proportions are off and depict a much larger area than what is available here. The bike lanes are cr eating such a tight space for RFTA buses and other vehicles to move down the roads s afely. It was not a good choice and the previous parking model was much more condu cive to a great city environment. I finally had the chance to ride my bike in the lab are a and i found it confusing and not intuitive. i think it's overall not a good idea. Why is one way different from the other? Has anyone ever ridden a bike in any city ever? Who came up with this "novel" idea? Aspen City Council sits around coming up with the worst ideas I have ever seen. Pleas e, someone with business acumen, run for council!! I love tennis pros, but I want a for mer CEO to run a $100 million budget town. Page 24 of 32 128 18 August 22 tim mooney VOTES 2 18 August 22 lreede VOTES 2 18 August 22 ECE VOTES 1 18 August 22 Up2zmtns VOTES 12 18 August 22 karenlord VOTES 10 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments keep up the good work managing the growth impact s of the resort on the community. What's good for th e community is good for the resort. Stop the commercialization of our historic ski town in a beautiful mountain valley for Gr eed instead of Need.Stop the expansion of the airport.Create sustainable balanced gro wth where the commercial growth is required to mitigate their employee housing by bu ying Lumber yard units from the city. Better directional signage, aka the way it's done in o ther cities The streets need to be painted with directional signage if you want to have a two-way s ystem. This is how other cities do it. I am a cyclist with over 10,000 miles on my bike, a nd the way you have it set up currently with bollards is too confusing/doesn't offer enou gh signage for bicyclists, cars, or pedestrians to know who's coming from what directio n. Additionally, I also think the stall parking needs to be removed (where people back o ut of parking spaces), and just have parallel parking instead; yes this will eliminate so me spaces, but it's too dangerous otherwise and it's a good compromise. Lastly, the co mmunication and rollout of this was abysmal. Nobody knew what was going on until it j ust happened. Please communicate better with your constituents. Grow the protected bike network. I was thrilled to watch Aspen installing a protected bike lane. Now let's see that the net work allows cyclists to safely get all the way across town. It is unsafe to travel against traffic on a bicycle, and stop signs on a bike way are inefficient and borderli ne ridiculous. Please revert! President Aspen Cycling Club Revert back to the way the parking was prior to the changes that were made this summer. The reasons why are too many to list here. Page 25 of 32 129 19 August 22 Kai VOTES 11 19 August 22 Jennydupree1 VOTES 13 19 August 22 Ebohman VOTES 1 19 August 22 xyz123XYZ VOTES 11 19 August 22 81611 VOTES 9 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments Please get rid of this! These bike lanes have added absolutely nothing to the town and instead have taken a way far more. Not everyone is able to ride their bikes to work and this takes the ability t o drive into town almost out of the picture. While I think it is good to create a town that has a smaller carbon footprint this is not the best way of doing so. These lanes have ta ken so many parking spaces they will create such a loss for certain businesses they wil l inevitably have to shut their doors. And to take away a whole street that used to be abl e to be used just for the “safety” of a biker is wild. Please fix your mistakes and help thi s town in ways that will actually help. This “lab” looks ridiculous, is confusing and took aw ay many needed parking spots. It looks like a kinder garten carpool lane. Turn Aspen into a cycle/pedestrian only town It's time to build a huge parking garage at the Intercept Lot and have everyone park out there and shuttle into Aspen. Only allow RFTA/Downtowner/lodge shuttles to move folk s around. This solves your parking issue. THEN you can start creating bike paths on th e roads. I see so many near misses when visitors disregard the yield signs for people tr ying to cross Main Street. Get rid of the cars in town. It's time. I do not feel safe riding a bike in this lane, it's narro w, can't see, feel trapped. I see no one riding in the l ane, we want freedom! unsafe I'd rather bike with cars than risk my safety in the la b Thank you for always trying to reduce car traffic and increase pedestrian and bike oppo rtunities, which improves carbon pollution and community health. However, this experi ment, touted to improve safety, misses the mark by a mile. As a cyclist, I choose not u se this lane because I don't feel safe: too narrow, going against traffic, poor signage (if any), and traveling with bikers who may or may not have any clue about bike etiquette ( see Maroon Creek Road + e-bikes for more on this phenomenon). I'm not willing to put my body on the line to test out this well-intended but misguided theory. Please go back to the drawing board for a more intuitive and common sense solution. Page 26 of 32 130 19 August 22 Rednewt VOTES 3 19 August 22 Roger I Moyer VOTES 9 19 August 22 Rwittlin VOTES 9 19 August 22 kek VOTES 8 19 August 22 RichardE VOTES 7 19 August 22 81611 Person VOTES 10 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments This is too confusing. Keep cars and bikes separate. It can be done with thought and planning. Diagonal Parking (maximized) on 1 side divided from both bike lanes by a concrete bar rier. Remove it!! Seal Beach, CA has one and it is a nightmare for all including those hit by car door or o ther bikers going in opposite direction. This was the worst idea ever, and not at all safe. Th e loss of 44 spots has hurt retailers/restaurants. So much for supporting the community This is a terrible 24/7 intrusion that disregards senio r citizens, businesses, tourists and parking with false premises. The decreased parking is terrible. The City Parking Garage often has "Full" at 1:00 pm and parking is being subtracted. The lanes are awkward. There are bolted down bump s to stumble and get injured from. Businesses are losing potential customers. Senior cit izens do not ride bikes downtown, especially at night and in snow and rain, and these i mpediments are there 24/7. There needs to be a recall election for elected officials for i mplemented this proposal without these considerations. It is yet another anti - business move by the City. Pa rking is more difficult. Unloading deliveries is much more problematic. Just stupid! Worst Idea Ever! Please revert back Parking has historically been difficult for tourists and sadly many locals as well. This ne w ridiculous system just takes it to another level of disaster. I have personally tried the new bike "lane" and it is horrible. Too narrow and makes no sense. Taking away much needed parking from people who need it for so many reasons and adding more loadin g and unloading areas that are only used for a few hours out of each day (MAX) is asini ne. Please revert back to our old parking system and add back 44 spots, if not more. C ars that are actually parked nicely would allow for bikers to move about easier as well. Page 27 of 32 131 19 August 22 bac88 VOTES 9 20 August 22 kevinram VOTES 5 20 August 22 StanClauson VOTES 3 20 August 22 Zalere VOTES 7 21 August 22 Catcruz VOTES 7 22 August 22 Concerned VOTES 8 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments I watched bikes, walkers & cars (also Parked wrong) . I believe it is a failure. People walk where bikes sh ould be & vice versa! Wasted space Completely idiotic My parents are from a third world country and this feels just like that! Incredibly unsafe and unclear. I've seen more accidents since this has been implemented. Remove it! Return diagonal parking on one side of street, widen sidewalks, provide curb protected bike lane on other side. Current program was nice try Return the parking to the way it was-the bicycle lane is a waste and a bad idea! We need more parking spaces! The lab is a failure that increases traffic - it has just mo re cars circling for parking, more confusion and narrow streets. I rarely see any cyclists using the bike lane on Cooper, it's used by pedestrians and dog walkers. It only goes o ne way anyway and the bikes still zip in and out of traffic going both ways! The attempt to increase safety has created more opportunities for accidents. And people still ride th eir bikes on the mall and sidewalks! It is confusing, used incorrectly and illogical. Please remove it and return to original parking format. Really stupid idea. Leave well enough alone... The cost of this project is a waste of taxpayer money... Absurd traffic green an d white dividers, cheapen us Page 28 of 32 132 22 August 22 Concerned VOTES 7 22 August 22 RichardFelder VOTES 7 23 August 22 M Katryniok VOTES 5 23 August 22 VoicesofthePeople VOTES 4 23 August 22 Coates VOTES 4 24 August 22 Bjs VOTES 2 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments Please ho back to how it was. Constantly trying to i mprove which was working... And gave more parkin g... Is not in the best interest Go back to original layout... Reject this awful project and stop trying to make it i mpossible to walk or drive downtown. This is confusi ng and counter-productive for all. Remove it please, Living Lab is unsafe It should be called Galena Cooper Living Hell This is a bad experiment solving a problem that doe s not exist by creating confusion, circumstances that are opposed to logic and convention The LL is a failure. Parallel parking on the left in the middle of the road is ridiculous and a hazard. Bicycl es are all confused. Bad idea! And bike lanes in the middle of the road? Makes no sense Allow restaurants to have outdoor space like they di d during Covid. Maybe we would not lose so many r estaurants to down valley. I applaud your efforts to protect bicyclists in Aspen, unfortunately I have not seen the l anes being used. We are losing so many businesses & restaurants I would like to see something done to help keep them in town Page 29 of 32 133 25 August 22 barbaracolelee VOTES 3 31 August 22 Jcarlheck VOTES 3 31 August 22 Karenann VOTES 3 06 September 22 streck2 VOTES 0 06 September 22 Chefjeff VOTES 2 07 September 22 Mo VOTES 2 08 September 22 bwildinaspen VOTES 2 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments The idea is togo back to the way it was...angle parki ng, a cute town that is easily accessible to all, includ ing walkers, cars, bikers. The town has become unsightly! Get rid of those green markers!!!! Remove the dangerous black/green bumpers Please put it back to what it used to be. Bring back t he angle parking on both sides of the street Love it!! Thank you for putting it in. I loved that while biking I am more protected. It reminds me of biking in Berlin German where the cars were there to protect you. Revert back to previous parking allotment. The short sighted parking idea of the Living Lab shows you how desperate the city is to accomplish something of significance to improve our traffic gridlock. Has any of the cou ncil negotiated the Lab on their bikes . Come on ! It's suicide . Stupid It’s a stupid idea. Waste of space. Stop wasting our money on your idiotic meetings to make these kind of changes. Not a fan for so many reasons As a biker around town, I appreciate the bike lane. However this lab has been an exerci se of overthinking the issues, making more of a mess of DT and access. From locals to out of town visitors I have heard what a chaotic mess we have. Please remove and let' s get to rethinking this. Page 30 of 32 134 09 September 22 Progress VOTES 1 15 September 22 Aspenmom VOTES 1 19 September 22 rbone VOTES 2 22 September 22 Asher Popeil VOTES 1 22 September 22 Melissa Stailey VOTES 0 22 September 22 Jcarlheck VOTES 0 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments Remove living lab I’m curious to know how many accidents involving pedestrians and bikes have occurre d since implementing this. I’ve personally seen two! Pedestrians waking in front of bike rs. It’s unsightly and dangerous! So Frustrating!!! Ugh! I live on the east side of town and bike often to run errands etc. On more than one occa sion, I have had near collisions with pedestrians in the bike lane. It is confusing and ine ffective. I would rather go safely with the flow of traffic in the street. Also, I have an elde rly father who visited a few weeks ago and the lack of parking was extremely frustratin g. We drove around for approximately 30 minutes trying to find a place to park in order to have a farewell lunch. This experiment is negatively effecting our locals, visitors and business alike. Leave well enough alone and go back to the previous traffic pattern and more parking. Please make it go away - thank you. While I appreciate the City's efforts to keep making Aspen a better place - in my opinio n, this one didn't work. It's confusing for drivers and bikers - not safer. Plus it is really a n eyesore. Cones and signs and posts and people parking in the middle of the street. B ikes, including me, are in increased conflict with cars, pedestrians and other bikes - wit h less visibility than riding in the street. I don't feel unsafe or unwelcome when I ride m y bike in town. The new lanes and parking make me feel less safe. Please go back to a ngle in parking on both sides and let me ride in the street. Get rid of this! This is the most ridiculous project I have ever seen in the down town, revert back to the old way! If you ask me it’s more unsafe than ever before. I haven’t seen one person us e the bike lakes next to those silly green marker and it’s become even more of a hassle to get into town. Please restore angle parking on Galena and Cooper . Customers and locals and shop owners are livid ov er the current situation. restore angle parking- remove bicycle lanes This disaster with the green/black bumpers are dan gerous & horrible looking. Plus you have Ruined mo torcycle parking at the corners! Page 31 of 32 135 23 September 22 AK VOTES 0 23 September 22 tracymurtagh VOTES 0 Aspen Community Voice : Summary Report for 14 June 2016 to 09 October 2022 IDEAS Comments The most unpopular, ugly, counterintuitive, dangero us, unwanted poorly designed waste of tax payers d ollars. Stop hurting local businesses. Restore the core to its original aesthetic Make bike lane the same as one one Mill St. one wa y section! Better signs to keep out peds from bike la ne! Consistency matters. Page 32 of 32 136