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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-10-01-WALKS-minLexington Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes Monday, October 1, 2012, 9 AM Selectmen's Meeting Room, Town Office Building Present: Judy Crocker, Bettina McGimsey, Francine Stieglitz, Jerry van Hook; Liaisons: Elaine Celi (Transportation), Hank Manz (BOS), Marc Valenti (DPW); Guests: JeanneCanale, Mary HosmerFanucci The meeting of the Sidewalk Committee (SWC) was called to order at 9:05 AM. 1. Review of the September 2012 minutes: The minutes were approved as amended. 2. Membership Recruitment: JeanneCanale has submitted her application to join the SWC. Mary HosmerFanucci attended the meeting and will put in her application to join. 3. Secretary Schedule: Bettina McGimsey will serve as Secretary, with backup from Jerry van Hook as needed. 4. Safe Routes to School: Judy Crocker reported that PTA representatives met in late September. Most of the representatives are new to the program. They discussed the work of the committee and what has been happening with the School Transportation and Safety Study Committee. On a state -wide note, the 500 school has been added to the program. A rally will be held for International Walk to School Day on Wednesday, 10/3. 5. Ad hoc School Transportation and Safety Study Committee: Ms. Crocker reported that the district is up from 33% bus ridership to 40 %, which matches 2002 levels. This equates to 415 new students, 5 new buses, and 11 new routes. All nine schools increased ridership, with a range of 26% at Fiske to 63% at Clarke. Overall, buses are at 82% capacity, 211 HS and MS students are using the flexpass, and 175 elementary students are using the after school activity bus. 370 families signed up after the registration period, mostly in August. We will work on an on -line registration process. Elaine Celi added that they might add one additional bus for Clarke. Jerry van Hook brought up the fact that,for the 2012 -2013 school year, the Town has subsidized the cost of the buses. What might be the effect of no subsidy? Mary Ellen Dunn is looking at the costs to determine how the school department might be able to sustain this. If we are able to keep the numbers of riders high, that will keep the costs down. The topic of discipline issues on the buses was raised. C &W has a system to try and document any discipline issues. People also report them to Ms. Celi. The company is also considering getting cameras to help document any issues. 6. Sidewalk projects: Marc Valenti noted that he had received a request for upgrades to the Taft Avenue sidewalks close to Mass Ave. He noted that the crosswalk at Taft and Mass Ave is being shifted to Bow and Mass Ave with upgraded ADA compliant ramps. Mr. Valenti reiterated his approach that he would like to spend upgrade dollars on those sidewalks that are well used. With that in mind, he will be checking out a request for a sidewalk improvement on Longellow to see if it makes sense to do. Mr. Valenti noted that with the rest of the FY12 funding his crew has improved panels of the sidewalk along Muzzey Street near Sovereign Bank, 19 Muzzey, and 11 Muzzey. He notedthat they also need to add ADA- compliant ramps and crosswalks. He has also received a request for sidewalk on Highland which connects Bloomfield to Winthrop. For FY13 the biggest project will be the second phase of the path from Middleby to Worthen behind Lincoln Field. The company that won the bid for the sidewalk improvments was McGiver. Hank Manz noted that delays in repaving and repainting crosswalks present very dangerous situations. This has been particularly apparent lately with all of the repaving being done in the Town Center. Mr. Manz also noted that TSAC has not made the improvements needed at Roosevelt/Wilson. Ms. Crocker will be meeting with Manny Ferro and Mary Ellen Dunn and will raise this issue. Mr. Valenti noted that he had not received any orders from TSAC to work on this intersection. Ms. Crocker noted that the gate at Clarke may be opened to help deal with the increased number of buses due to increase bus ridership. This is a short-term solution; long term a dedicated bus lane would be better. 7. Town Meeting Report: Judy Crocker presented the updated report of the Sidewalk Committees work from July 2011 -July 2012. It was approved as amended. 8. Updating the Master Sidewalk List and Website: Mr. van Hook will work with Mr. Valenti to bring the list up to date to generate a new master list. He will get a school district map from Ms. Celi to facilitate this. Ms. Celi will provide the committee with a map. Ms. McGimsey requested that everyone look at the website to see if there are any changes that they would like to see made. She will delete the request for new members. 9. The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 AM. The next meeting of the Sidewalk Committee will be November 5 at 9 AM in SMR. Respectfully submitted by, Bettina McGimsey