HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-09-LCC-min Lexington Center Committee
Minutes for meeting of March 9, 2017
Parker Room, Town Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue
Present: Richard Brown, Frederic Johnson, Howard Levin, Pamela Lyons, Jerold Michelson,
Chair, Pamela Shadley, Michael Boudett and liaisons Joe Pato (BOS), Wendy Manz (CEC) and
Melisa Tintocalis (EDD )
Update• Department of Public Works Marc Valenti
DPW will be seeking the annual approval for the Mass Ave Parklett from the BOS in advance
of Bike/Walk/Bus week. Low hanging holiday lights in from of Starbucks and light in front of
CVS with tape on it were noted. DPW urged to keep lights on for events at Cary Hall.
Administrative• Review of minutes for meeting of January 12, 2017 Ellen Basch has resigned
so we have a vacancy Suggestion that it would be helpful to have someone from the
restaurant/food sector.
Melisa gave a slide presentation and Jerry discussed the results of the traffic trial. The right
hand turn from Mass Ave to Waltham Street worked out with trucks turning properly with
proposed design. Proposed modifications to Harrington Road did not work out.
Committee voted 7-0 to recommend to the Board of Selectmen to approve proposed changes
to width of Mass Ave and from Town Offices and extention of sidewalk to Edison Way And,
if it is warranted, that addition of parking in front of Edison Building be considered.
Committee voted 6-0-1 to recommend to the BOS that they support elimination of right hand
turning lane in order to enjoy benefits of increased space for pedestrians and reduced Mass
Ave crossing distance
Committee voted 7-0 to approve minutes of January 12th, 2017 meeting with amendment to
EDD update• replace "remove" with "Greater Boston visitors."
EDD and Tourism Update• Melisa discussed various preparations for the upcoming tourist
season including a new annual orientation for tourism and tourism related employees
introducing best practices for training Www tourlexington.us is still a work in progress and
is not fully redesigned yet, but it is now up to date The website will increase its visibility on
Google as site is updated. The Liberty Ride offers online ticketing and the new website
supports mobile devices. The emphasis is now on filling in and populating the redesigned
website Spectacle Management has sold over 27,000 tickets at Cary Hall.About 1/ of the
buyers are from out of town.
Visitors Center• A citizen's article is going before Town Meeting seeking funds for design of
Visitors Center. (Note• article was amended at TM and $31,000 was voted for this purpose )
Fred noted that the Visitors Center is the one government building that actually generates
revenue Howard urged us to widen our focus on "making Lexington a place where people
will want to live for a long time and pay taxes tourism may be a 'low' priority but it is
actually very important." Fred noted that there has been a 10-15% drop in international
tourists.