HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-16-TAC-min
Transporta?on Advisory Commi?ee
Town of Lexington
Minutes for the mee?ng begun at 7:06 pm and concluding at 7:24 pm on Tuesday,
th
January 16, 2024, via Zoom.
Members present: Vinita Verma (Chair), Sally Castleman, Mark Andersen, Pamela
Lyons, Nishanth Veeragandham, Kunal Botla
The sole topic was whether to support the Transporta?on Advisory Commi?ee’s
warrant ar?cle for the 2024 Town Mee?ng concerning MBTA service to Lexington.
Vinita Verma noted that our liaison, Jill Hai, indicated that we could simply write a
le?er to the Select Board, urging the MBTA to improve service and we did not
have to go to the larger effort of ge?ng a warrant ar?cle through Town Mee?ng –
the result might not be different in a meaningful way. Kunal Botla urged support
of the ar?cle as yet another ac?on, among a variety of ac?ons, that people could
take. This is a statewide issue and it’s helpful to call a?en?on to the issue in a
broad based way. This ar?cle will not take too much ?me at TM and will likely not
be controversial. Sally Castleman urged the need to be strategic – lots of issues
coming to TM, and there is only a certain amount of bandwidth. She liked the idea
but suggested that we save TAC’s voice for other issues. Mark Andersen noted
that Arlington and other communi?es have passed a similar ar?cle so it’s helpful
that we do too. Kunal noted that the Town passed warrant ar?cles suppor?ng
(and complying with) the MBTA Communi?es Act and more broadly speaking,
mass transit based housing, but we need be?er service to go with it.
The Transporta?on Advisory Commi?ee voted five in favor and one against to
support Kunal Botla’s warrant ar?cle regarding MBTA service to Lexington,
which was inserted by the Select Board at the request of the Transporta?on
Advisory Commi?ee.