Friends of the Community Path
Meeting Notes 13 January 2003
Place: 112 Belmont Street #2 (Joel and Lynn's house)
Date: 13 January 2003
Present: Joel Bennett, Lynn Weissman, Allan Moore, Belinda Morse, Bryce Nesbitt, Mike Flanagan, Karen Molloy, Sam Nejame. Kathleen Houghton from the Somerville Recreation Dept. sat in for part of the meeting. (The Dept. organizes walking groups that use the current Path and Linear Park.)
Scribe: Karen Molloy
Discussions
- Environmental Testing: Allan reported on environmental investigation report that shows the Cedar to Central Sts. area had diesel fuel spills; there had been testing done before the Charter school moved in near Cedar, to allay fears of unknown environmental contamination, but unclear how much testing had been done.
- MBTA Lease: MBTA has offered to lease the Cedar to Central portion of the Path. The lease contains a "don't test, don't tell" clause that forbids the City form testing the soil for contaminants, to ensure that the MBTA is not liable for any environmental hazard that may exist in the soil. The MBTA has offered a similar lease to the communities - none so far has accepted.
- Path Crossing at Davis Square - Joel is working on this with OHCD, Bike Committee; Reviving an old Mass Highway plan to repair and connect the Linear Park & current Somerville Path through Davis Square. There are 2 ideas under discussion: marking the route with signage from one to the other and creating specific route for slower pace movement (bike, rollerblades etc.) though the Square.
- Grants - Bryce completed "CMAQ" grant application, a federal grant, for the Cedar to Central portion of the path. targets air quality benefit.
- RFP ($50K) for Path design issued by the City in early Jan. Deadlines for bids is in February and announcement of the design firm whose proposal was accepted would likely come in March
Action Items
- Active Living by Design Grant - Cambridge and Somerville are each submitting proposals. Active Living by Design looks at communities support the goal of citizens ability to obtain 30 minutes of exercise per day. Groundworks is writing the Somerville proposal, is seeking partners from other community groups; someone on Path group should attend.
- Community Outreach meeting in Feb (no date set yet) on Montrose St.
Votes/Decisions
- We voted to make a donation to MassBike in appreciation for thier acting as our fiscal sponsor.
- We decided to have a new front page on the Web site that serves as entry point for both the Somerville Community Path site and the Alewife Path site.