City Council Talks Scooters and Painted Crosswalks

The Yakima City Council on Tuesday talked about allowing a scooter company to operate in downtown Yakima. City officials say the council asked staff to develop a Request For Proposals. The RFP gives scooter companies a chance to make a business pitch to the city of Yakima. But Yakima city spokesman Randy Beehler says there's no immediate plan to get scooters rolling in downtown Yakima anytime soon.
"That doesn’t mean that the Council would agree to allow any company to operate the pilot program, it just gives interested companies the chance to explain the reasons why they think a pilot scooter program would be a good thing in Yakima."
Beehler says to allow a pilot program to happen in Yakima the council would have to amend the City Municipal Code to allow motorized vehicles in city streets, specifically the downtown area. The council didn't give companies a deadline to come back with proposals but Beehler says the staff is working on the
Request for Proposals.
The issue is expected to appear on a future agenda.
Also on Tuesday Yakima City council members also asked city staff to work with the Yakima Arts Commission to create a guidelines 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. City officials say if groups decide to paint a specific crosswalk they'll have to provide funding for the painting.