Board of Directors Meeting

This was primarily a working meeting, but the following business transpired:

1.         Minutes of the previous meeting (8 June 2005) were approved.

2.         Saugus Branch Preservation and Rail Transit on the North Shore, Focusing on Saugus.

Richard Cucchiara:       We propose a connection between the blue and orange lines outside Boston:  Send the Blue Line to an intersection with the Saugus Branch.  There could be a split, with one line going to the Northgate Cinema complex and the other to Lynn.

Fred Moore:  There has been a movement for a ‘Bikeway to the Sea’ in Lynn along the Saugus Branch, but we at APT want to maintain the rail corridor.

Walter DiNardo:  We would like the train to Saugus.  This is scenic, and also can provide access to historic communities along the way.

Richard:  Or you can get from Saugus to other points easily, not just go to Boston.

Fred:  I am trying to keep the rail from being lifted, as was about 100 feet, by whose authority I don’t know.  To do this, we have to keep the line active.

Walter:  I am starting a [large-scale] bakery in the area on a rail line, so that is important to me [for freight service].

Fred:  We [at APT] have a vested interest in keeping freight rail networks intact.

Walter:  We would like to send passengers Saugus to Lynn to Ipswich.

Fred:  This would be readily available using diesel multiple-unit (DMU) cars.

Romin:  This would require the CTPS [Central Transportation Planning Staff] to change some of their assumptions.  The tourist potential should be emphasized.

Fred:  The Lynn EDIC [Economic Development Information Center] would be interested in this, especially if people are going to be employed [in your bakery].

Romin:  You have a national historic site [i.e. the first steel works in the U.S.] and a Lynn heritage park, also the LaSalette site in Ipswich.  There are several attractive sites [in the area].

3.         Officers’ Reports:  Romin Koebel.

Romin attended the RTAC [Regional Transportation Advisory Council] meeting last week, along with Herb Pence.  They spoke about the North-South Streetcar proposal.  They asked why it was not included in the UPWP [Unified Planning Work Program].  They gave a number of reasons.  Does one draw the inference that the project is dead?  Not necessarily.  Mary Ellen Sullivan provided him the list of RTAC members.

They came up with $200,000 for studies of the #39 bus route, Arborway to downtown.  This is an example of projects added in.  The point is that studies can be done by the CTPS that have not been looked at previously.  There are some projects that might be substituted.

4.         The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.