Board of Directors Meeting

1. Call to order at 6:06 p.m.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting (8 Sept. 2004) were approved as written.

3. Officers' Reports

A. Fred R. Moore, President:

 (1) Freight Committee Meeting.

 Fred reaffirmed the APT stance that stresses the importance of retaining railroad rights-of-way.

 (2) Regional Transportation Advisory Council Meeting.

  (a) MBTA presentation on fare boxes.

  Fred asked whether the new fare boxes will know where they are. The T's Assistant General Manager for Strategic Planning, Steve Berrang, reported that yes, the fare boxes will ‘know' their geographic location. It is to be noted that this is a change from what he told us at a joint MBTA-APT meeting on 26 April 2004. Reference our notes of that meeting.

  During the transitional period, T tokens will be acceptable for purchase of fare cards.

Reaction
Ernest Loewenstein: The moment you add complexity to a system, the T won't be able to maintain it. Where are we going with this?

  Fred: We are continuing our input to the system.

  Ernest: We ought to have the Globe grill them about the project.

  (b) RTAC re the Blue Line.

  Fred: The proposed Revere Connection is not viable due to cumbersome multiple connections. Fred, using his leverage as an official Saugus representative, would like to lead a tour of the area for RTAC. His comment is that both Revere and Malden are looking for all kinds of free highway money, but they are not looking at transit development.

B. Barry D. Andelman, APT Liaison to the MBTA

 In his absence, Barry submitted a report of activities to the Board, a summary of which follows.

 (1) Car-Free® in Boston: Barry had a long conversation with Andy Rubel concerning methods of marketing the book. Both of them are disappointed with the sales figures. Andy has lost a key staff member, and is in the process of recruiting and training a replacement. Jointly, Andy and Barry are going to target the local universities. They have devised a flier to attract students' attention, prompting them to ask for Car-Free in bookstores. Key contact people are to be approached.

 (2) Silver Line. Barry has worked with the Washington St. Corridor Coalition on putting together a written reply to Gov. Dukakis' questions, asked at a personal meeting with Barry this past August. The plan is for Barry to present the information report to Mr. Dukakis. After he has had a chance to run the report by those who have been claiming that most of the Silver Line issue is being driven by imminent gridlock at Park St. (Green Line), a meeting between Mr. Dukakis and the Corridor Coalition will be arranged.

C. Barry M. Steinberg, Clerk

 Barry reported on the latest planning meetings regarding Ashmont and on Mattapan.

Mattapan is a relatively newly-active project. It is on a fast planning basis so that construction of a new station and bus platform will coincide with the year-long closing of the High Speed Line due to the reconstruction of Ashmont which is scheduled to begin with next years' construction season. Barry had suggested the T attempt to induce the owners of the historic former Mattapan railroad station, which is now a food shop, to allow the building to be relocated to a point on the passenger platform and to again have it used as a station. There are no plans to change the track layout at Mattapan.

D. Ernest V. Loewenstein, Board Member.

 One of Ernest's pet peeves with the T is bus destination signs. Even on the new, high-tech buses, the destination sign is in the form of a posted piece of paper. Question: What method should we take to get the sign people ‘motivated'?

E. Rick Arena, Board Member.

 E-communications: Question by Fred: Our APT List communications are getting lost, only to be posted as much as days later. What's doing?

 Answer: There are two problems.

 The way to solve the short-term problem is to have everyone on the listing, and simply send an e-mail to everyone. The disadvantage is that some people don't want their e-mail addresses posted.

 The long-term solution is to move to another provider. He distributed sheets containing information from PureHost and from EarthLink.

 John Hostage: Currently we have 45 people on the list serve.

 Rick: Another possibility is to send a blind copy via one of our officers. Unfortunately, this takes an automated system and makes it manual. The problem with this approach is that if someone new wants to opt in, everyone has to be apprised of it.

 To have a readily workable system would cost us $300 annually. We would be charged per throughput per month. Rick's recommendation: EarthLink at $300 per year.

 John: The problem is with the e-mail system, not the web site, both of which are provided by ‘World'.

F. Romin Koebel, Vice President.

 He attended a RTAC subcommittee meeting concerning the Regional Transportation Plan. They have the services of a pro bono lawyer. The question is of utilizing the lawyer's services: What issues could be researched?

 Romin also attended the recent Move Mass. meeting, at which [former Mass. Secretary of Transportation] Fred Salvucci was the speaker. He said that we need to generate construction jobs. To do so, go with the proposals that are far along in the pipeline, i.e. the Silver Line Phase III. Rick: What was the sense of the audience? Romin: Basically, agreement; he is very persuasive.

4. Old Business

A. The Annual Meeting.

 Fred Moore: What can we do to make it more attractive? There should be an annual meeting survey card sent out. We should have more elaborate refreshments at the annual meeting, since the meeting is at the dinner hour.

 Motion by Fred, seconded by Rick Arena that we program a budget for the Annual meeting of $2000.

 Discussion: Rick: The budget would imply what we can do at the meeting. Perhaps we could charge admission. We have to project a quality image. A venue can also attract people.

 The motion passed.

B. Framework for Advocacy.

 Everyone should work on the capital project with which they are most familiar, and write about it for the next meeting, using existing APT position papers as a resource.

5. The next Board meeting is 10 November 2004.

6. The meeting adjourned 7:55 p.m.