Salem Bike Path Committee
Minutes of Meeting
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A regular meeting of the Salem Bike Path Committee was held on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in Meeting Room 313 at City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street.
Members Present: Chairman Stan Franzeen, Nancy Sachetti, Dan Shuman, Rachel Hunt, David Pelletier, Jerry Judge, and Christine Michelini
Members Absent: Vice Chair Jeff Bellin
Public in Attendance: none
At 7:07 p.m., Chairman Franzeen called the meeting to order.
1. Approval of Minutes
Chairman Franzeen pointed out one clarification on page on of the meeting minutes. D. Shuman made a motion to approve the January 9, 2008 minutes as amended, seconded by J. Judge. The motion passed unanimously.
2. Public Comment
Chairman Franzeen acknowledged that no one from the public was in attendance that night, and as such, no public comments were heard.
3. Bike Safety Day Event
Chairman Franzeen opened the item and F. Taormina updated the Committee that the Mayor would be able to attend the event on June 8, 2008 between 12 - 3pm.
D. Pelletier mentioned that he can provide a sound system, microphone, and music for the event.
Chairman Franzeen updated the committee on potential sponsorships.
D. Pelletier asked if the City could contribute tents or canopies for the event, he believes that we would need four or five of them, one for each station. D. Shuman stated that he ahs plenty of tents/canopies and he would provide them for the event.
N. Sachetti asked if the committee agreed on what the four or five stations were. D. Pelletier stated that was Rules of the Road, Bike Equipment Station (helmets, reflective gears, etc), Bike Maintenance Station (bike tune-ups), Informational Station were we could promote the Bike Path Committee, talk about the proposed Green Line Bikeway, newly installed bike racks in downtown Salem, the Salem Bike Path, etc, and Competition Station (bike tire changing competition, drag races, etc).
N. Sachetti asked about potential sponsors and or food/drink vendors. Conversation regarding potential sponsors and vendors ensued.
D. Pelletier mentioned that in term or promotions he would contact the Salem News and see if they can do a promotional piece on the event. Chairman Franzeen added that we should also include the Salem Gazette.
C. Michelini agreed that the Salem Gazette is well read by Salem Residents and that the committee should use contact them as well.
In terms of Sponsors, D. Pelletier mentioned that we could put together a description of the event and request that all interested vendors, sponsors, and volunteers could contact the City. He added that we could send this info to Rinus at the Chamber of Commerce and he could send out an e-mail blast to the business community.
F. Taormina stated that each of the stations should be run by one/two committee members. He stated that clearly Jeff Bellin would run the Rules of the Road Station and Dan Shuman would likely run the Bike Maintenance and/or Bike Equipment Stations, but asked if the other members wanted to discuss who would man the other stations.
R. Hunt mentioned that that won’t take long to determine and stated that the committee should focus their discussion on more pressing items such as sponsorship, giveaways, advertisement, vendors, etc. Discussion regarding these items ensued.
Chairman Franzeen mentioned that reflective leg bands could be a good and cheap giveaway for participants. He then brought up the Bike Helmet program which the City could apply for. F. Taormina mentioned that he spoke with Ellen Talkowski, City DPW, and she is looking into potential donations for bike helmets.
D. Pelletier asked what time the event should be. F. Taormina mentioned that the Mayor is available from 12:00 to 3:00pm. D. Pelletier made a motion that the event be from 12:00pm (noon) to 3:00pm on Sunday, June 8, 2008. Seconded by J. Judge and approved unanimously by the Committee.
R. Hunt asked that moving forward, who is responsible for looking into what? F. Taormina agreed to look into the Sponsors and Vendor items. D. Pelletier agreed to look into the Advertising items with the Salem News and the Salem Gazette. The other committee members agreed to continue to look into the giveaways.
Chairman Franzeen offered to video tape the Bike Safety Day Event and then forward it to SATV.
D. Pelletier offered to draft a Press Release and forward it to the committee members via e-mail for review/approval and then forward to the newspaper outlets.
D. Shuman made a motion to continue discussion regarding the event till the next meeting on March 12, 2008 so that we could discuss the remaining items on the agenda. Seconded by C. Michelini and approved unanimously by the Committee.
4. Old/New Business
MBTA Letter regarding Phase II of Salem Bike Path
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the letter that the City sent to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) regarding its interest in two abandoned Right-of-
Ways (ROW). Frank stated that Robert LaVita, an MBTA Official, responded to the letter and he set up a meeting/site visit with him for Friday, February 29, 2008. Frank mentioned that he would update the Committee at the next meeting to fill them in on what transpired.
Survey and Maintenance of Unimproved Portion of Bike Path Right-of-Way
F. Taormina updated the Committee on the recent hiring of a Land Surveyor to survey the bounds of the City Bike Path Right-of-Way (ROW) off of Canal Street behind Gardner Mattress and Broadway Street. He mentioned that City Councilor Jean Pelletier has asked that the ROW be cleared so that a City outfall pipe can be accessed and maintained by the City DPW. Frank mentioned that the ROW is heavily overgrown and encroached upon by abutting properties. The first step he said was to survey the property and determine where our ownership is. Once the ROW has been staked out he mentioned that he would work closely with Councilor Pelletier to deal with the encroachment and vegetation overgrowth issue. All of these activates will allow the Town of Marblehead Light Commission the ability to access and
maintain their overhead utility lines. Additionally, it will allow the City and the Bike Path Committee the ability to start planning the extension of the bike path through this ROW toward downtown Salem.
Green Line Bikeway
D. Pelletier and F. Taormina updated the Committee on the proposed bikeway. Discussion regarding the bikeway ensued.
D. Pelletier made a motion that the Committee invite both the City Engineer Dave Knowlton and DWP Director Dick Rennard to the next meeting on March 12, 2008 to discuss the details of the Green Line Bikeway. Seconded by D. Shuman and approved unanimously by the Committee.
F. Taormina mentioned that he would send out the invite on behalf of the Committee to the City Engineer and the DPW Director and bring them up to speed on the proposed bikeway. Frank also mentioned that if they can attend the next meeting, that this item would be heard first on the agenda to better accommodate their schedules.
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 8:28 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Frank Taormina,
Planner/Harbor Coordinator
BPC 02-27-08
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