Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
A regular meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in Meeting Room 314 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Stan Franzeen, Vice Chair Jeff Bellin, Nancy Sachetti, Dan Shuman, Jerry Judge, Christine Michelini, Rachel Hunt
Members Absent: David Pelletier
Public in Attendance: Ben Bouchard, Salem Chamber of Commerce and William Peck, 27 Broad Street
At 7:04 p.m., Chairman Franzeen called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes
Vice Chair Bellin made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2007 meeting. C. Michelini seconded the motion. No discussion. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Public Comment
William Peck introduced himself and stated that he is very interested in the committee. He mentioned that he has read the past meeting minutes and would like to assist in any way he can to promote bike safety for young people. W. Peck suggested the creation of a safety brochure that could be disseminated in schools, etc.
3. Bike Safety Seminar
Vice Chair Bellin opened the item by reviewing progress on the seminar. He reported on his meeting with Mayor Kim Driscoll and stated that she is available most weekend days in April/May. The meeting place would be potentially at Bentley School or a location along the planned Green Line Bikeway. The Mayor liked the idea of this event coinciding with the opening of the planned Green Line Bikeway.
F. Taormina passed out input from D Pelletier on the Bellin Fest. The group discussed dates. R. Hunt suggested contacting Eileen Dunn at the Park and Recreation Department to determine whether Memorial Field at Bentley School was being uses for youth soccer, etc.
D. Shuman pointed out that May would likely be a better time to hold the seminar if we want to coincide with Green Line Bikeway opening.
F. Taormina gave a status update on the proposed Green Line Bikeway. He stated that he spoke w/Lynn Duncan, City Planning Director, and she recommended that he plot the proposed bikeway on GIS and route it to various City Officials for review. F. Taormina also mentioned that the Planning Director requested more information on the Safe Routes to School program and determine what the requirements of the program are before we move forward with finalizing the proposed bikeway.
D. Shuman stated that he has information on the Safe Routes to Schools Program and will be happy to forward that along to Frank.
Vice Chair Bellin referred back to his notes on the meeting with Mayor Driscoll. He mentioned that she suggested that we contact Doug Bollen, Director of Park and Recreation, and Ellen Talkowsky at Public Services. She suggested maybe making t-shirts, water bottles, or possibility have a raffle to draw folks to the seminar.
F. Taormina offered to invite Ellen and Doug to the next meeting on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008.
Chairman Franzeen asked Ben Bouchard if he would ask if Rinus Oosthoek, Executive Director of the Salem Chamber of Commerce, would be interested in coming to the next meeting as well. B. Bouchard said that he would pass along the invite and F. Taormina stated that he would bounce Rinus an e-mail invite as well. B. Bouchard said that when the time comes, he could send out an e-mail blast to the Chamber Membership to notify them of the event.
Chairman Franzeen said that we should have a work plan. D. Shuman reminded the group that J. Bellin had planned to do so. Vice Chair Bellin said that he wanted to review past events prior to drafting this.
N. Sachetti made a motion to hold the event on the weekend of May 3rd/4th, 2008 with Saturday as the date and Sunday as a rain date and if Bentley Schools is not available we can locate the event at the Willows or Shetland Park. J. Judge seconded the motion.
Discussion ensued about the date.
F. Taormina agreed that the Committee should nail down a date so that the Mayor can put that date on her calendar and confirm her attendance. The motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Franzeen suggested consulting the Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau. D. Shuman added MassBike, Bikes Belong, Safe Routes to School, The Thunderhead Alliance, The Northshore Cyclists, New England Mountain Bike Association, the Salem Police Department, the MA Brain Injury Trust, etc to the list.
The group discussed free helmets, deals on helmets, etc.
R. Hunt mentioned that at Salem Academy Charter School there is a group of students in grades 6/7 that would be interested in helping out with the project. They are doing a service-learning project on bike safety. Chairman Franzeen asked if the students would be interested in being on the Mayor’s SATV show. R. Hunt said that she would provide the e-mails of Vice Chair Bellin and D. Shuman to the teachers coordinating the project.
Chairman Franzeen asked if we should assign action items. The committee discussed the items and delegated the action items as such:
o F. Taormina will talk with Eileen Dunn regarding the field use and the Salem Public Schools regarding use of Bentley School.
o F. Taormina will invite Doug Bollen (Park & Rec), Ellen Talkowsky (Public Services), Ben Bouchard and Rinus Oosthoek (Salem Chamber of Commerce) to the next meeting.
o D. Shuman will contact some of the bike organizations including MassBike and let them know about the event, ask about setting up booths, etc. He will also contact Helmet Safety Institute about donating free bike helmets.
o Vice Chair Bellin will write up a proposal for the Bike Safety Seminar and will let Mayor Driscoll know about the date proposed date (May 3rd/4th.
o Committee will ask D. Pelletier will follow up with David Mohler at Mass Highway/Mass Department of
Transportation.
o F. Taormina will contact Salem Police Department Bike Unit.
o Chairman Franzeen will contact highway
o R. Hunt will contact student service group
4. Old/New Business
Chairman Franzeen made a motion to approve the Annual Report. Vice Chair Bellin seconded the motion. There was no discussion. The motion passed unanimously.
Vice Chair Bellin suggested a new name for the Committee such as Bike Advocacy Committee. Chairman Franzeen asked F. Taormina to discuss the idea with the Director and the Mayor.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Committee this evening Chairman Franzeen asked for a motion to adjourn.
A motion was made by R. Hunt, seconded by D. Shuman and approved unanimously. The meeting was officially adjourned at 8:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Rachel Hunt, Clerk
BPC 12-05-07
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