Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A regular meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in Meeting Room 313 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Stan Franzeen, Vice Chair Jeff Bellin, Nancy Sachetti, Dan Shuman, Rachel Hunt, and David Pelletier
Members Absent: Jerry Judge and Christine Michelini
Public in Attendance: William Peck (Resident, 27 Broad Street)
Invited Guests: Rinus Oosthoek (Executive Director, Salem Chamber of Commerce), Ben Bouchard (Assistant Director, Salem Chamber of Commerce), Ellen Talkowsky (Special Projects Coordinator, Salem DPS), and Doug Bollen (Director, Salem Park & Recreation).
At 7:03 p.m., Chairman Franzeen called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes
D. Shuman made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 5, 2007 meeting, seconded by N. Sachetti. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Public Comment
Rinus Oosthoek asked if the Committee is considering placing any bike racks at the Salem Ferry property. The Committee mentioned that they would look into that this year.
D. Pelletier asked R. Oosthoek if the Salem Chamber of Commerce has received any feed back on the bike racks that were installed downtown. R. Oosthoek replied that he hadn’t.
F. Taormina mentioned that he was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire recently and noticed that the City of Portsmouth had installed a number of bike racks downtown that are the same as the vintage style racks that were installed in Salem.
On an unrelated subject, D. Shuman told the Committee that he heard the Salem Police Department could fine people up to $30 for riding a bicycle through the pedestrian mall portion of Essex Street, discussion about the issue briefly followed. The committee agreed that the item should be added to a future agenda to discuss further.
3. Bike Safety Seminar
Vice Chair Bellin opened the item and gave a brief overview of the planned seminar to the invited guests. He mentioned that the seminar date conflicts with the Youth Soccer Program and would need to be moved to Sunday, May 4th.
Vice Chair Bellin reviewed the proposed structure of the seminar with the Committee, invited guests, and public.
D. Pelletier added that there should be visual aids like poster boards that explain bike safety items instead of lecturing people.
Chairman Franzeen added that there could also be a question and answer session, or stations.
R. Hunt asked how the seminar could be organized into stations. D. Pelletier answered by saying there could be tents or booths. One with helmet and equipment displays, one with bike repairs, one with rules of the road, etc.
Vice Chair Bellin mentioned that he prefer the event to be a seminar.
R. Hunt asked if they could do both.
D. Shuman agreed with R. Hunt about booths and added that if folks visited each booth they could get a stamp on a card and if they make their way through all the booths and fill the card with stamps then they get a t-shirt or some sort of prize.
D. Pelletier mentioned that you need time for folks to gather first, if you hold the seminar based on an time based agenda people may miss things. The booths or stations allow more flexibility. D. Pelletier also mentioned that you have to inform people a head of time, if children under a certain age need to comes with helmets, etc.
Chairman Franzeen opened the floor to invited guests and asked if they could offer any advice regarding the event.
Doug Bollen stated that the Committee should try to keep it simple. He asked how many people you are planning to have at the event. J. Bellin answered roughly 300 people. D. Bollen mentioned that you would need volunteers with a crowd that large.
R. Oosthoek mentioned that parents will go with their kids on a bike ride and not split up into an adult group and kids group. He suggested that the Committee rethink that detail.
N. Sachetti mentioned that she agrees with Doug Bollen in that we have to keep the event simple. She agreed that there are a lot of good ideas regarding the event but we may be biting off more than we can chew. This is the first year of the event and if we do it again next year maybe we can take on more then. She added that there are still a lot of uncertainties: Green Line Bikeway hasn’t been approved by the City yet, have no sponsors, no volunteers yet, etc.
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the status of the Green Line Bikeway and added that he sent each of the members a map of the proposed bikeway on a map for them to review.
Chairman Franzeen updated the Committee on his conversation with the Highway Department and Statewide Bicycle Helmet Distribution Program. He mentioned that the applications will be available in mid January. He stated that the distribution of bike helmets is based on Salem’s population we could receive up to 50 free helmets.
D. Pelletier stated that there are still a lot of details to work out and he proposed that the seminar be moved to sometime in June 2008.
Chairman Franzeen agreed and added that if it were pushed to June we could parlay the seminar with the “Bike to Work Week” event which is the 3rd or 4th week in May.
F. Taormina interjected and asked the Committee to discuss/vote on changing the date of the seminar toward the end of the meeting and shift the attention of the meeting toward the invited guests. Committee agreed and the floor was turned over to the invited guests.
D. Pelletier mentioned that having Bentley School open during the event is important so that there are bathrooms and water available. He also mentioned that in addition to the parking lot we should obtain permission to use the field as well.
D. Bollen stated that he likes the idea of braking in stations and perhaps spreading it out between the field, parking lot, and potentially the school gym.
D. Pelletier agreed with D. Bollen that they have stations, which will make it more interesting and keep the interest of both kids and adults.
William Peck asked about the timing of the helmet grant and, if the city were awarded the free helmets, if they would arrive in time for the event.
Chairman Franzeen explained the timetable and if the meeting were moved to June it would work out fine.
R. Oosthoek mentioned that the Committee should consider removing the word “seminar” from the title people it sounds like a lecture which might turn people off. He emphasized that if the Mayor is coming to the event the Committee should let people know when she expects to be there and when she expects to speak.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that a lot of the Committee’s questions have been about the followings items: program, give-a-ways, publicity, and vendors. The Chairman asked if folks could assist in any of those items or could offer any advice.
D. Pelletier offered to contact the Salem News to get the word out and maybe do a press release.
R. Oosthoek offered to assist in the publicity with the Salem Chambers resources but cannot assist in helping out in the actual event.
D. Bollen agreed to also assist in publicity by adding the event to the City Park and Recreation Calendar Brochure, which is mailed to a significant number of Salem residents, but he would need a solid description of the event by early February.
D. Pelletier asked about the Mayor’s availability in June if they move the bike safety event. D. Pelletier made a motion that F. Taormina check the Mayor’s schedule and see if she is available to make it to the event on June 8th. Seconded by D. Shuman and approved unanimously.
Ellen Talkowsky commented on the vendor. She told the Committee that they may be able to avoid the Licensing Board but will likely not be able to avoid having to get a permit from the Board of Health. If by chance they would be required to obtain both Licensing Board and Board of Health permits it might be hard to get vendors to come to the event which will likely only be 3 - 4 hours max.
E. Talkowsky commented that the event and the group bike ride afterward and stated may require a police detail and the Committee should look into it. Opening the school may also require a school worker/janitor to be present to open and close the facility which may require paying them overtime.
N. Sachetti mentioned that the Committee will need to come up with money or sponsors.
R. Hunt mentioned that there is grant program through the School for non-profits and a portion of the funding could come from that.
D. Pelletier mentioned that he may be able to secure a donation of a couple thousand dollars toward the event.
Discussion of a sub-committee to continue working out the details developed and the committee discussed who should be a part of it. D. Pelletier, D. Shuman, and Vice Chair Bellin agreed to be on the sub-committee. William Peck (resident) gave the Committee his contact information and offered to assist the Committee and the sub-committee with the bike safety event in any way possible.
4. Old/New Business
Green Line Bikeway
F. Taormina briefly updated the Committee on the bikeway map and that it will soon be routed to City Officials along with a summary of the bikeway for their comments. F. Taormina agreed to share the comments with the Committee as soon as they are available.
The newly appointed sub-committee members agreed to meet with D. Bollen at Palmer Cover Park to discuss the ‘missing link’ of the proposed Bikeway on Friday, January 11, 2008 at 10am.
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 8:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 01-09-08
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