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Home My WebLink About2004-01-26-TAC-min.pdf Meeting Minutes Meeting: Transportation Advisory Committee Author Eric Eid-Reiner Date: Monday,January 26,2004 Location: Town Offices,Room 105,7:00 p.m. Attendees: Sally Castleman,Gail Wagner,Don Graham,Francine Stieglitz,Richard Canale,Eric Eid-Reiner,Leo McSweeney(first 20 minutes),Elaine Thatch, Sara Arnold Next Meeting Date: Monday February 9 2004 Location: I Town Hall,Room 105,7:00 p.m. Items Follow-up Assimed to Page 1 of 4 -Thanks,Diane -- - For this once-in-a-lifetime experience for me in writing the Minutes of today's meeting,I have adapted Diane s format. Thanks, Diane! Discussion with Mr Leo McSweeney,Chairman of the Board of Selectmen all— We informed him what the current Lexpress `situation' is,as well as explaining that whether or not Met State has public Think about or transportation could have an effect on funding sources for it. invite Mr. - Richard told Mr.McSweeney that it is important for the Selectmen to be supportive of Lexpress(even if minimal system). McSweeney to a Mr.McSweeney said that right now the first stage of the budget process is `coming together. future meeting,if We explained why raising parking rates would be reasonable:most retailers in the center don't oppose raising these rates. it has desired. :and been at least 10 years or more since the rates were last raised. .parking rates should follow the increases in most other town possibly brainstorm rates/fees. other questions that Mr.McSweeney seemed pretty supportive of raising parking lot and meter rates. may be useful for us to ask him - TAC agreed that it was good having Mr.McSweeney and we may choose to invite him to our next(or an upcoming meeting). Minutes from the January 12,2004 TAC Meeting Sara- - The suggestion was made to add the list of attendee s to the last meeting's Minutes. Sara will make this revision. Make revisions to The ammended Minutes were voted on and approved. last week's UpdateMeeting Minutes. from Gail Patriot's Day Parade Gail— TAC decided that it's important to have Lexpress in the Patriot's Day Parade—good publicity and Keep us posted `competition' with Liberty Ride. about the Patriot's As usual at the Patriot's Day Parade,we will pay$150 for lunch(sandwiches)for some seniors who will be riding the Day Parade Lexpress bus in the Patriot's Day Parade,for them to eat while they wait for an hour or so for the parade to start. Though we will pay for their lunches,M&L Transit usually gives us free bus service that day Gail will talk with Rick Gail— B.at M&L about this. Keep us posted Lahey[Lexington] Clinic Stops about the situation The MBTA schedule shows Lexpress going into Lahey Clinic each hour;however,the Lexpress schedule states that with MBTA vs. Lexpress schedules the Lexpress bus goes into Lahey Lexington only certain hours,which is correct. for Lahey Clinic TAC decided to keep Lexpress running into Lahey only during selected hours,as in the Lexpress schedule. Gail has received one complaint about this problem. She will keep us posted. MBTA Grant/Funds The META is paying Lexpress the yearly$80,000 grant(money comes in each month until$80,000 is paid). dsa 1 Page 2 of 4 "Sara's Next Steps Jeanne Kreiger is the most supportive(of the Selectmen candidates)of Lexpress. Elaine said that she would like to call Patrick Mehr(a candidate for Selectmen who is somewhat supportive of Lexpress)to give Elaine— him more information about Lexpress. Call Patrick Mehr - TAC wants to get the school busses as Lexpress busses idea out of people's heads for now as school busses aren't handicap- accessible,Lexpress would not get the META grant,and we don't think that the idea is something we want to persue(at least not - right now). It was suggested that we send out information about Lexpress to Selectmen candidates. Additionally we will be sending this Sara,Elaine— information to the School Committee candidates. This Lexpress `background information' will be sent by either postal mail, email,or maybe both. Sara and Elaine volunteered to work on this. The idea of writinga Guest Editorial for the Lexington Minuteman about LexpressSara— gt was discussed. Sara will put her letter/speech Write draft of to the Selectmen into an article format,and TAC will look at it,and decide if we want to submit it. A letter in `Brickbats and Bouquets' in the Lexington Minuteman about Lexpress was also mentioned as a possibility Guest Editorial - We agreed that Francine's idea to go to the Selectmen candidate coffees was a good one. It was useful to find out about if each one supports Lexpress or not,their opinions on parking meter funds,their opinions on parking stickers on Worthem Road near the All high school,etc. TAC will try to have TAC people or Lexpcess supporters(such as Miriam Landau,Liz Andrews,those who signed up at back-to-school nights,etc.)at upcoming Selectmen candidate forums/coffees(the ones with all the candidates— probably not the individual ones). We should keep our eyes peeled for 'Meet the Candidates' type events in Lexington. Sara is working on fmalizing the draft of the email letter to Lexpress supporters,asking for responses if people would like to do Sara small,easy tasks to help Lexpress./ TDM Activities—Don All— Don read off the lengthy list of various upcoming Planning Board Hearings scheduled that are significant to TAC: Decide who,if anyone,will go to Parking—February 25,2004 the meetings of Open Planning Board Meeting with AvalonBay presenting—February 28,2004 these that we select Brookhaven—March 3,2004 out of these to be Patriot Partners—March 10,2004 important to go to. Met State Development—March 17 2004 - Richard pointed out that on February 26,2004,there is a meeting of the South Lexington Association/Counsel. Richard - TAC looked at the draft of the letter to the Planning Board concerning AvalongBay TDM,as well as the letter to the Planning Board concerning Patriot Partners TDM. Richard will make the necessary corrections/edits. - We are hoping to work on getting some yearly donations from various places. Richard Richard will work on the rationale for why Patriot Partners should pay$80,000 each year to Lexpress. Brookhaven is adding new units. They donated last summer to help Lexpress. Maybe there will be a TDM component to their building of these new units,that would require them to pay a certain amount each year to Lexpress. TDM Activities—Don Don read off the lengthy Page 3 of 4 mexington Center Parking Rates - ail - Gail will talk to Mary Jo Bohart(Chamber of Commerce)about getting a consensus of how Lexington Center retailers feel about the possibility of raising parking meter rates in Lexington center. Possible Future Partnerships All— People that TAC may want to try to invite to meetings or coordinate things with in the near or distant future: To think about John Ott,President of the Chamber of Commerce COA(Counsil on Aging) Enablement Committee South Lexington Association/Counsel Bike Committee Rotary Club Democratic National Convention Elaine- - No new news about the Democratic National Convention(to be held in Boston this spring). Keep us posted on - Elaine will be attending a meeting about the Democratic National Convention this Thursday what's happening Rotary Club The Rotary Club would like to donate a van to the COA - This could be considered a problem because: Even if a van were donated,there still would be driver,dispatcher,insurance,gas,etc.costs needing to be covered. Much is unclear about this plan—van size,who would be in charge of the van,etc. TAC feels that there is sufficient transportation without a separate COA van: Lexpress(which is wheelchair/handicap-accessible) META Ride(wheelchair/handicap-accessible) FISH(volunteers drive seniors/disabled rides)isn't running out of rides,or having to refuse rides to anyone. Maybe the Rotary Club would like to donate to Lexpress. Next Meeting All - The next meeting is on Monday February 9 2004,in Town Hall Room 105,at 7:00 p.m. Come to next meeting Page 4 of 4