City staff summarizes COTA projects: rainbow crosswalk, camping enforcement, oral-history archive

Chris Rohde, special programs manager with the City of Flagstaff’s communications and public engagement division and staff liaison to the Commission on Diversity Awareness (COTA), briefed the Indigenous Commission on Aug. 7 on several ongoing and planned COTA initiatives. He told commissioners the city has been working with community partners on a rainbow crosswalk, updating approaches to enforcement of the city’s anti-camping ordinance following recent court developments, continuing an oral-history project now housed by the Arizona Memory Project, and supporting inclusive wayfinding and cultural exhibitions. The rainbow crosswalk effort, Rohde said, began under a previous administration and returned to active work about a year ago with local groups including Flag Pride and the Northern Arizona Queer Coalition participating in a working group. "We do not currently have one anywhere," Rohde said, describing the team’s search for a suitable non-vehicular site such as a plaza or park because, he said, city engineering and legal staff have concerns about…