Yakima City Council To Talk about Downtown Scooter Program

Are you ready to rent a scooter to cruise around downtown Yakima? That's an item the Yakima City Council will discuss during a regular meeting on Tuesday on Zoom because Yakima City Hall remains closed. According city officials Bird Scooter company wants to operate a business in downtown Yakima.
In order to consider this request, the City of Yakima would need to grant an exception to a current prohibition of motorized scooters in the Central Business District.
A representative from the company will be available at the City Council  meeting.  City officials say if the Council desires to proceed with a pilot project agreement, an agreement will be drafted and reviewed by Legal and other  City staff, prior to a future City Council meeting for approval.

Other agenda items for the February 16th regular meeting include:

Authorizing an agreement with Yakima County Development Association for $266,406 of Community Development Block Grant funding for a micro-enterprise grant program to address the consequences of COVID-19. The program is set to start Friday, February 19.

The council will also discuss and direct staff to create a program to paint crosswalks, using Seattle’s Community Crosswalks program. The program allows special painted crosswalks as a way to represent specific neighborhoods. Program officials say the crosswalks can be seen as showcases of a community culture or history or just as a way to brighten up a spot in the community.

The following precautions are in place for the February 16th regular meeting due to COVID-19:

The meeting will be conducted via Zoom.
Since Yakima City Hall is closed to public access, no community members can attend in person.
Live public comment on agenda items via Zoom is available. Click Public Comment | City Council (yakimawa.gov) for instructions and a Public Comment Request Form.

The February 16th Yakima City Council regular meeting will air live at 5:30 pm on Y-PAC, Charter Spectrum Channel 194, and be streamed live at https://www.yakimawa.gov/council/live-stream/

Another option is to call in and listen to the meeting:

Dial 1-253-215-8782 or 1-971-247-1195
When prompted for the meeting ID enter 951 5244 9361 #
When prompted for the participant ID enter #
When prompted for the meeting password enter 330719 #