 All right, I started recording. Thank you. Okay. And. Okay. Okay. And so I call this meeting of the tax to order pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order is suspending certain provisions that open meeting law. This meeting of the tack is being conducted by a remote participation. So our first order, so this is a call to order. Um, is there a public opinion? Let's see. Do we have anybody, we have an attendee. Sure. We can let them in. Uh, secret Nelson. Okay. I'm fine with that. I promote them. She was that's, that's fine. He's from Amherst Woods. Oh. Well, if they agree to be promoted. Uh, I just did it and he's not moving. All right. Well, if they choose to not be promoted, that's. Okay. Would you like to just talk to him? Yeah, I mean, you can figure you can raise your hand if you want to speak or. Oh, there you are. Did you want to say any, I mean, we do a public comment. Do you want to say anything at public comment? Yep. Or just listen. You just need to unmute. Yeah, you have to unmute yourself. If you do. Hello. All right. Well, then I guess we will proceed. Okay. So the next order of business, if there is no public comment, is the update from. Uh, Gilbert on this year's plan. Road and sidewalk projects. Yeah. So I'll just have, I just wanted to make a quick, um, Oh, you know, explanation of that. But, um, I had asked Gilbert to come and just give us an update because. Every time I go anywhere in this town right now, it seems like there are a lot of construction projects underway. Another. DPW activity. And I know that, you know, the route nine ones are the state DOT, but the town is also really busy right now. And so I just wanted to get a sense of, you know, all the different projects that are. That have to happen this construction season or could happen this construction season. So. All right. Take it away. It's not much going on. What's hitting me. So just the other day, DPW was on my street filling in potholes. And as, as all the traffic was being diverted off route nine through my street. There just is a lot going on. I'm pretty sure. And go ahead. All right. So what's going on this year is we're finishing up the last year's sidewalk project and community development projects. So there's a crew working on Kellogg street with that. So Taylor Davis, the contractor is on that street doing. Sidewalks on Kellogg street. And then once he's done, Warner brothers will come in and pave that section. So it's just a little strip. It's not very much, but that's what's going on. The other project we have going on, which started today is they're working on paving West. Pomeroy. And what I call East Pomeroy, we're leaving the middle of Pomeroy out because the intersection work at one, one 16 and Pomeroy. So that's going on. The intersection work at Pomeroy and one 16 is we'll restart soon. So that work will begin. And those three are going on at this time. There's another bid that's going out for crack ceiling and other bid, which is going out for a second paving project this year. And then we also have. The next phase of the sidewalk project. The next phase of the sidewalk project will be on North Pleasant street and I'll go from Meadow street. I'll go back almost, almost to the. Puffton, almost a puffed in, but it won't make it, it won't make it all the way to Puffton. And then from there that we will move the sidewalk crews to another sidewalk, which just. Sorry. The North Pleasant is it both sides of the street, or is it one. The contractors going to work on one side and we'll probably do the other side, but the plan is to do both sides from. North Pleasant. And then from Meadow street up close to Puffton. Now, are they also doing that little. Spur on North Pleasant street. You know, where there's like the. The extra drop of the extra little road. Yeah, part of that. Is that part of the sidewalk projects? Yeah, the actual road goes away. Okay. So. Those are going on. We also will probably put out to bid shortly the North common project, which actually will read, we'll repave and redo the boltwood. Boltwood walk in front of town hall. And it'll also make some changes to main street and South Pleasant street. And then we also have a project going out for. Well, North Pleasant street next to Kendrick park. So that section where we're widening it and then parking is going to go out as well. So those are the big things going on. And then we have the water treatment plan. If anybody's interested. Start soon. And some work at the wastewater plant starts as well. So there's other work going on also. Are those over it? Where those are the ones down by UMass. Is that. The waste water treatment plans down by UMass. Where's the water treatment plan is on Amherst road, just past the elementary school in Pellum. Oh. And then. So I was wondering. What's happening with them. The crosswalk projects, like the ones that were part of that shared street and spaces grant from a few years ago. Like that included along like triangle street and. Garcia's and things. All the crosswalks are in. And then it's just putting up the little flashy lights that are. Right. Okay. So is that probably going to get done this season too? Yeah. Kind of fill in work right now. Okay. And you did get all the ones that you ordered, right? Then you order five or six sets. We've gotten those five are in. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think those crosswalks there are even more important. Now that there is so much. Foot traffic. On, you know, Friday and Saturday nights right near Kendrick park. It's so crazy. And it's crazy late too. I mean, there are so many, so many people walking around there. So I'm glad that at least, you know, there's one, at least one safe place for people. Well, and I think too. When I walk along like triangle at night and there's the crossing at pray street. That's one of the places where. I feel like if there aren't. If the lights aren't flashing, well, we don't have flashing lights yet. But that. Cars are unlikely to stop. And things, and it sort of feels the same along, you know, around the roundabout that when people come out of the roundabout, they're ready to go faster. Yeah. And so having those. I remember Ben breaker when he presented, but having the flashing lights near the roundabout on the south side and then also near Garcia's if that's still in the plan. And that just seems like it would really help a lot. So. Has anybody checked out the news. Streetlight. I went and looked, but it's so weird because it's much. It's as bright, but it's like, what's, how is it different? Like it's obviously different. I mean, but what is that? What are the actual differences? There's no globe around it. So yeah. There's no reflection and makes no, and there's not a ball. It's all above and shoots down. Yeah. That's what it looks, but it looks like, I mean, it looks as bright on the ground. It's just not as bright everywhere else. Yeah. You don't see the little white. Yeah, it's really cool. That day after you, you sent that email or you told us or whatever, I went out that night to check it out. And I saw which light you were talking about. It's only one of those, right? Yeah, it's just a trial. We can, I mean. I still need, we still need to buy lights for North Pleasant. I mean, North Common. So if people really like it, you should probably talk to your counselors and say, we really like that light. It should be the new downtown standard. When I was wondering too, I mean, I know the street lights policy is still under review. But when I look at the lights that are in the, well, along the stretch of North Pleasant street, you know, from the roundabout going south to say like Amity, like all those lights that have been put in, you know, the ones that we usually hang like wreaths and planters and stuff on. And then also the, the ones that the, the Amity street parking lot, like those, those are more of the globes and they don't really have anything to stop the light from just like dispersing everywhere so much. Is it possible for those to be, I mean, those are nice lights. Otherwise is it possible for them to be like retrofitted and have the light all go down because. Yeah, it's not, it's not possible to retrofit them, but it's possible when the light to go out to replace them with this fixture instead. Okay. Joe, you miss because like some of those aren't very old, you know, so. Oh, yeah. Hey, Joe, you must be at the playground a lot. Have you noticed that the lighting nearly almost every day I think about it. I'm like, oh, when she's staying up late enough, she's could certainly play here at night, which she would probably gladly do. No, but also the lighting like so Gilbert had mentioned in the last meeting that he had put in some different lights. There's one light that is different from the others. You should check it out the next if you ever go over there walk over there. It's bright enough where I could see where I'm going where I'm not tripping in any of the potholes, but it doesn't seem to disturb anything around it. So I think it's a good balance. Yeah, I do too. Yeah. Yeah. Let people know. Thank you for trying out new things. Yeah, but you guys need to be talking to people saying you like it. All right, I will. We will. Thank you. Send an email to my counselor. ASAP. All right. So thank you. Guilford and that is really great to know. And the next order of business are updates and discussion on other tech items, including safe routes to school. Yeah, so, um, I mean, this is sort of a light agenda, but I just, you know, wanted to get up to speed on some items. Um, the, so yesterday, Chris Lindstrom and I met with the new Western mass safe routes to school coordinator. She covers the four Western counties. Her name is Tori. She's very friendly and helpful. And, um, she gave us a lot of information. Um, and also, uh, offered to, um, Help us do some promotional and educational events in the fall. If families are interested. So, um, A couple of things we talked about with her as, as. She did mention to that, um, of all the Amherst, tell them schools that currently, uh, Um, Um, Um, Elementary and the middle school are not actually safe reach to school partners at this point that they are just. Potential school. So they haven't established formal. Connections and she recommended that they do that. All the rest of the schools have. And, oh, and. Yeah. So it was Pelham and on the middle school. And then, um, We talked about last year, the safe reach to school coordinator came from the middle school. Um, Um, Um, Um, I have some connections at both of these places. I'm just, um, Both those schools that are not safe reach to school members. Um, what does it entail to become. Part of that. You just need an interested. I think we just need just somebody to sort of sign up and say they're interested and they can be. An administrator. It could be an administrator problem. I mean, I think that. I mean, just, you know, long term, they could be a contact. Um, Okay. And I can forward to you. I'll forward to you the information. Okay. Thank you. Um, So one of the things. Andy has a question. Hi, Andy. Hi. Yeah. The question on safe streets to schools. Has anyone talked with the elementary school building committee. Um, regarding the safe streets and what we should be doing with the, when we do the construction. For the new school. Um, so, so I had reached out to the elementary school building committee earlier. Um, I haven't talked and I talked to Kathy then. I haven't only talked to anybody since, um, I keep hoping that the town, if we establish a safe route to school program that we could apply. And hopefully be successful for one of the larger infrastructure grants, which allows you. Which gives you up to 1.5 to $2 million for. Uh, intersection improvements within two miles of a school. Um, so. But you have to already be active in the safe route school program to be eligible for that type of funding. Um, so, um, So at this stage, we're still trying to get that going. And I've also heard some, a couple of people have contacted me about the idea of having. Connections, you know, with the, there's a. There's a walking path behind Fort River that goes over. To Pelham road, for example. Um, and using that more and then also. And they think there may be some wetlands there. So I'm not sure if it's possible, but also. If there could be a walking path out from. That for a river school site out towards route nine. Because there is going to be the new affordable housing there. And there are. So did you. Have you looked at the design, the plans for. That they had. From the last round of work prior to the. Uh, vote in May 2nd. Um, because what the design is, it's very different. The current exit. Point is going to be an entrance to the south side of the building, which is basically the bus drop off, which is going to be separate from the current exit area, which is going to be the entrance and exit for people who are driving to drop their kids off by car and going to park. And, uh, We expect a lot more traffic than previously. So there's a whole. A lot of changes and, uh, The elementary school. Building committee will be working with, uh, The architectural firm to Nisco design. And, um, some of that, uh, lay out. Of the roadways is things that. Dinesco is working on. I know that they've talked about. Moving the driveway point from where it currently is an exit. A little bit further south to get it a little bit further away from Main Street as much as they can with the land. It's home, but these are all issues where I think that. Your role as the, uh, tack. Um, needs to, to some extent. Intersect with these design issues that are currently being, um, Undertaken by the elementary school building committee. So, um, I do encourage you to, uh, Think about talking to, uh, Kathy. Definitely have her committee. And your, um, and the architect can work with you guys. And what you know about safe streets to school, both as the grant program and just generally and, uh, Make sure that, uh, You don't get left out of the discussion process. Okay. Well, thank you. I mean, that's helpful. I haven't really looked at the elementary school building project very much since, uh, almost a year ago. You know, before there was the vote and when we were doing, because we did the walk audits then, and we did the accounts of how many people were walking to school. And that was the last time I actually actively looked at those. Yeah. And of course I was looking more at how they were designing. Um, So, um, So, um, I mean, You know, I was looking at the roadways in and out and the fact that they're dividing it into. This is not unusual for schools to do that to separate. The bus drop off. Yeah. Yeah. That's what Wildwood and Crocker both do that currently. Um, so I do have a question. I do have a question though about. When I had, um, been listening in on the elementary school when I was a student, it sounded like the NESCO, they were focused. All their focus was on like within the site, you know, in the movement of vehicles within the site and not very much looking outside of the site or any of the approaches. So is that still the case? Um, that is my impression. Right. And then we need to work it together. No, of course. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, I mean, it's like that's just site specific. And then that's where you need to look for like other sources and other planning to, um, Look at those nearby intersections. Yeah, I mean, I'm concerned. About. The location in the. In the morning in particular, um, There's a lot of traffic that's coming from Belcher town in the middle of Fort River. There's a period of time when between the school, the school is currently configured. Um, and the, you know, chance just generally the driving to, to the university gets pretty make that area get pretty gummed up. When the school has more students and more buses. And potentially more kids walking to school. Yeah. I mean, I would potentially accept that you're got such a much larger area. So the kids who are currently at Wildwood are not likely to be walking. Yeah. Yeah. But still, you know, with that little cut off by the bank, like you're right, the people coming from Belcher town, you know, they turn that. I mean, you know, I don't know if you can hear me, but I think we're near the little bank that, that bypasses the. Four-way intersection. It's pretty dangerous, you know, and with increased traffic, it's going to be very hairy. So I kind of wonder if I mean, I feel like almost these kinds of emergent issues are almost passed. What the kinds of thing, you know, we think about like, like maybe with a professional because these seem like real important issues considering we're moving a lot of our elementary school students to this one location that does get very, that has poor walking access and really only driving access and that's gonna increase substantially. Yeah, I think that's a real concern. And if people are only looking onsite and not thinking about, you know, there are two intersections, two main signaled intersections on either side of the school in very close proximity, it's gonna really change the flavor of that. I'm sorry we lost Guilford, because he's probably thinking about it. But I mean, there is a project now, he's still here. Guilford, there is that project on route nine, Delta Town Road, you know, with the sidewalks and things. And is that actually, I mean, the monies for that has been rewarded already, but it's not actually like going out spit or power. There's two projects in the area, they're in design. We do have money appropriated for them, they'll probably go out, one will probably go out late this year and the other one will probably go out next year, but they have nothing to do with the intersections. But they are like improving the sidewalks along, right in the crossings. I mean, wasn't some of it access to colonial village? One is on route nine and improves the sidewalk along route nine and that's it, just the sidewalk. Okay. So did you hear what I was raising about the traffic access in that area, particularly in the morning and what it's gonna be like for the new school? It's gonna be fun. The, there is discussion that's been going on about them, about both intersections. There's been some discussions about getting rid of things in the intersections, changing the intersections, but they're like you say, the school building committee and the school designers are not focused at all and they don't own those. They plan to have a driveway connect to the public way and that's all they plan to do. So anything that's done to improve even the connections to the driveways has to be done by the town. And there's some discussion going on and, but it's probably gonna be after, it'll probably be, it probably won't happen the same time the school is being built. Son, no, I guess I'm gonna leave it because I can't say anything, I have nothing to contribute but I would think the tech should at least give some consideration to whether you have any comments even just the one that you said that there should be some sort of task force that you were otherwise. I think, I feel like this is an issue that is a very big issue and the fact that those intersections is so close by. Right, there's gonna be a huge increase of traffic on that tiny stretch of road in front of the school, right? Who knows what that's gonna be like? I feel like this is above what we could possibly anticipate at least during the school, that during the start of school which coincides with the start of people coming to work. Yeah, so maybe it's an issue we should raise with people on the school committee. Well, and also I think with the counselors and get it on the radar and I mean, Guilford, I think it, as I mentioned before while you're waiting for the quorum but that idea with that UMass or UMass had contacted the town about possibly getting money to do some analysis of different intersections or something, I mean maybe that could, maybe there could be a possibility with that intersection or something. So, I mean, I'll follow up with you and Jason and thanks, so. Yeah, they sent an email this week, we just haven't got back to them. Yeah, no, it's an email, I thought their email was a little confusing and they have like some specific ideas. So, I will follow up too. I know you guys are busy but basically UMass, I mean, there were some researchers that I worked with at UMass who were interested that there's a lot of federal funding available to do different types of safe streets projects. And so they were doing outreach to some towns including Amherst about that basically that the UMass people could help apply for grants and do the work and everything. And that the grants would have to be submitted through municipalities, through Amherst but it could be a good partnership. So, we'll see if it goes anywhere. Joe has a question. Yeah, so I'm just starting with the Fed Reserve Bank in Boston as an intern or hopefully as a hiring track for community development. So just getting started but they're always talking about a big bucket of money in the fall. So if you like, I could bring any updates for that that might be helpful. Big buckets of money sound great. You're talking not specifically transportation money or just in general? Well, it could be. You would have to intersect with other stakeholders but they're very creative. They're getting very creative for the fall. Okay, yeah. Where applications will be opening up so I'll just bring some more information. Sure. If we can do that. That sounds great. Thank you. Okay. So the next, so yeah, I think the agenda item we came up with for this includes potentially Tracy getting in touch with the school building committee and sure that they are thinking about not just ending at the end of their driveway. No, I mean, and they're aware of it and things. I just haven't been in touch with them. And as you said, I mean, we're sort of limited, but I think it's kind of bigger thing. Oh, for sure. I don't want to be in charge of that because there are little kids who are dependent on our suggestions. I think it should be a profession. This should really be evaluated professionally. That's my personal opinion because it seems like it's gonna be, it could be a problem. Well, and with the elementary school building committee before the site was chosen, there were some traffic studies in that area. Right. So I think that they may have included, I mean, they focused a lot on current conditions and they also did some projections of future conditions. But I believe there are some recommendations in that report. I'd have to go back and look at it. It's a couple hundred pages long because it included all the raw data of the traffic collection. I mean, Gilford, do you recall what that report had in it? But... There was a quick report. We are talking to another consultant to come in and do analysis. Okay, I think that's a great idea. All right. So our next item of business is the Act to Reduce Trapping Fatalities and TAC Intersection with the... Oh, yeah, sorry. Before we move on, just with the safe routes to school. So the projects that we talked about with this coordinator, Tori, in terms of trying to launch in the fall is one do an outreach event as part of the Back to School event that last year it was held at Kendrick Park. Previously it's been held on the Common and in table there and maybe do things like, for example, math bikes right now is giving away bike lights. You know, have some like giveaways and we talked about maybe doing some helmet fitting or something. Just to... Last year we had a table and we talked to people and we signed people up but if we could do some more interactive stuff and have some swag and get people excited. And we did sign a bunch of parents up. So Chris and I want to follow up with those parents. So that's one thing we want to do. And the other thing we're interested in too is that she was promoting is that they do have a curriculum that they use in the elementary schools. A lot of times they meet with second grade classes and it's just about pedestrian safety and it talks about... They actually do some kind of demonstrations about how to cross safely and things like that. It's a 20 to 30 minute demo. They, you know, they could come and they do meet typically with one class at a time but they could do like a whole school and then maybe get them to do all the elementary schools or at least, you know, most of the second grades in the three schools. And they also offer some professional development to teachers or to, you know, PE teachers or other. So this is the Safe Reach to School program. Oh, it's not. That's what she says, yeah. Yeah, so they will do it but then what they want is they, because they cover the whole state and they don't have that many staff, they do encourage people to sign up and do some of the courses they offer on how to do those demos. Oh, I see. So that they don't continually have to do it, you know, for each year. I mean, they could kick it off for us and then the idea would be to build capacity in districts so that the next second grade class, you know, could do it in-house or things like that. And again, it's just, you know, 20 to 30 minutes. So if there were volunteers who were interested or PE teachers or other teachers who were interested and they also have one that they do with bike education, they tend to do that with slightly older students. Sometimes they even do it with like middle school or high school students. So those are the two kind of pieces we were talking about. We were also talking about doing something around one of the international like car-free days or some other type of event in the fall, tying into one of those national, international days to encourage other modes. And I personally, I mean, one thing I'm interested in is like, for example, and maybe this is because I had been a Crocker Farm parent, but when I think about when the Pomoy Village intersection is finally finished and we have the roundabout there and with the RFPs and the crossings and everything is maybe you're doing some kind of walking school bus out there just to get a big group of people, a good group of parents and kids out there to just show them how the intersection works and things like that. And we could even do the same with, once we have some of the more of the RFPs at some of the mid-black crosswalks, we could think about other intersections near or mid-black crosswalks near some of the schools. Do some kind of meet and walk. Like for example, right to go to the high school or the middle school or something. That was cool. I like the idea of having second graders like, you know, have these safety lessons. I think, and I could see that, you know, I mean, that's so empowering for kids to be able to actually formally learn these kinds of things, you know, just like the, I don't know how you all, I mean, maybe not everyone has had that experience, but my kids really got a lot out of the fire safety program at school just being empowered. Your kids haven't done this yet, Joe, but it's really powerful and the kids all really like it. It's learning, you know, basic fire safety and it's somewhat, it definitely was empowering for my kids and they make a plan and they, you know, it's a regular thing and then they learn the drop and roll and, you know, I don't know, it's really powerful. And I could imagine that something like this would also, you know, that they maybe learn in PE classes, also a really powerful, you know, and they never forget this stuff, right? Because it's so important. Well, those are, I mean, they, in those cases, right, they're doing like a longer curriculum, right? They do that over a while, but like these are just one time, but... No, I could imagine for sure. They're crossing the street without their parent, maybe for the first time at, or learning without their parent for the first time ever, you know? Well, and bike rodeos can be a great event too. No, I remember... I mean, I've hosted bike rodeos. I know the police department, the Amherst police, they used to have a bike radio every year. And I don't know, Joe, if you're aware of this, but out, and I don't know if it's still open, but over in Northampton, like near Look Park, there's like a safety village. It's like a small scale kind of. Yeah, we're kids and you actually used to, I mean, it might still be open, it was run by the Northampton Rec department, but you can even sign up for camp and like go to like safety village camp and it's just like where you learn, it's sort of like an extended bike radio. She's climbing, she's walking now. I mean, she's ready. I would love to take her there. No, it's cool. So, yeah. But I mean, all of these things need volunteers, right? And so, I mean, Kim has high school students, I have high school students and we need to recruit younger people, so. But yeah. Cool, thank you. I like those ideas. And so, you know, in terms of the next item on the agenda was potential future collaborations with ECAC and so when they talked to us, right? They had talked about safety to school too. So I would love to connect them with some of these ideas. And also we're working, of course, on the bike map and ped map and even thought she might join. Oh, she did come. So, Guilford, could you elevate her too? Ryan. Okay. I did it twice and she hasn't moved yet. All right, well, she will, I guess. She has to accept, so she wasn't paying attention. No, I understand, yeah. And so I think, I mean, I was excited to hear that they were interested to work with us and... What is the... Remind me what the ECAC is. Well, so it's the energy conservation, like climate action. Oh, right. And they have the plan and... Right, right, right. And I think Stella D who came to talk with us, somebody had mentioned that she has young children too. So again, if we can build some of those connections, that would be great. With the... So I also had this update about the act to reduce traffic fatalities in the possible tack outreach. So I had read in the paper about how these bike riders in Springfield that they all put fun needles on their bikes that had the four foot, like with stickers with the four foot distance and they did a ride. And so, I don't know, when I was younger, I used to go on lots of rides like that. But even, I mean, we could do a ride or we could also maybe... I was thinking we could even table or something at, like the farmers market and just show people what it looks like. I know even among my colleagues, and I mean, at the UMass Transportation Center, including people who work with the state DOT all the time. Like I did hear from somebody and said, well, I didn't know that was the law now. So really get the word out about that when passing these slower moving road users, you are supposed to leave a four foot distance. You can cross a yellow line to do so. And then, and you can also, I mean, part of the act to reduce traffic fatalities too also includes the requirement that bicycles have rear lights. And so what MassBike has been doing is they have been distributing lights as well. So to connect some of that. And I was curious, I mean, too, if there's ways to connect with some of what UMass is doing. You know, if there's UMass activities either. Well, so right now May is bike to work month. And we used to, years ago, we had these active bike to work week event in Amherst. There were some, they used to be held on the common, but then there were also some at UMass. This year, the Pioneer Valley bike to work week seems like it's mainly based down in Hamden County, Springfield and Holyoke and things. So I did hear that the mayor of Holyoke is going on a bike ride as part of it and with some activists and things. But maybe we can have some kind of event at UMass too. Yes, Eve. So I'm planning an event at UMass that, yeah, you know about Tracy, but just FYI, it'd be great to have the tack a little bit involved. And I have no details because that has to be planned, but it'll be in September and it'll be kind of awareness about how to use and be safe with alternative modes of transportation and also driving around alternative modes of transportation. So we're hoping it's gonna be like a one to three day event with tables and stuff to sell and handing out lights and reflectors. And maybe we can get like a used bike store to sell bikes. Anyway, we haven't figured it all out yet, but the plan is to plan an event in September. Who else? I mean, who's organizing it other than you? I'm sort of the main organizer right now. Okay, okay. I thought it was with another group or something. The group is the multi-union group known as ESAM, the Environmental Social Action Movement Transportation Circle. But it's like all the different unions together with student groups working together in ESAM. And so anyone who's a union member or a student at UMass can be part of this group and we're gonna meet with one of our members is Ezra Small. So he's the sustainability coordinator. So we'll meet with him to see if we can plan the event. And that meeting is gonna be on the 31st of May to plan the event. I'm also talking with my neighbor about trying to do a bike to school event on the bike and walk to school day. So anyway, I'll see if we can move forward on that. But yeah, I heard you talking about that Tracy, but... Yeah, so before we came, I don't know if you were in the audience yet, but I was talking about because Chris Lindstrom and I had talked to the Safe Reach to School Coordinator for Western Mass yesterday, her name is Tori. And for example, she had suggested that I reach out to Jess Mass Bike about getting... We would like to table and have some activities and things at the back to school event that the Amherst schools typically have the day before school starts so that this year will be on August 29th. And I was gonna reach out to Mass Bike. I mean, I do know somebody on the board, but then there's also Jess, who I think lives in Northampton. Yeah, I've been in touch with Jess and Kristen too. Oh yeah, so Kristen. So Kristen had given me some of those bumper stickers about the four feet, but then also in terms of getting a supply of bikes and things like that. So if you've already reached out to them, that's great, but I'm happy to ask them for more. It's not reasonable, but it seems like, since sometimes people get requests from different people to just say, incidentally, I'm also coordinating with Eva on this or something like that. Eva knows about, I know you anyway. Or I can CC you or something, but just if they could... Because it sounded Tori was saying that she's been working with Jess quite a bit and it's easy to get a supply of lights and that's what MassBike has been raising funds for, so. I think it's a great idea. Yeah, that's a great idea. And do you have a day for them like back to back to whatever, walk bike to school day in the fall? It's usually in October, but no. In October, okay. The week is like the first week in October. Yeah, I can pull it up. I'll pull it up. Yeah, no, I remember. I think last year was October 4th or something, but now that's fine. Okay, so that we can continue to do that. It is fun to do events with kids. And if that's something too that the ECAC committee is interested in, that would be great to build our capacity. And also I would love to tap into like volunteers at the high school, like the environmental club or other groups you might be interested. I don't know, Kim, do you think that that would, do you think those students would be interested? I think so. I mean, you know, I have my own child who refuses to walk or like they, you know, paltry less than half mile to school. So, but nonetheless, I know our kids who are more environmentally minded at the high school, I'm gonna see, I know, I'll find out who the leaders are for that this year. And I can ask them about their interest in doing that kind of stuff. So wait, you'll have a senior next year, is that right? No, I can find out who the- I know. No, but your daughter is a senior now. No, but I thought your other daughter, is she two years younger? Okay, okay, got it. Sorry, yeah. Okay. But I'll look into that because I think it's great to get them involved. Yeah. Cool. Do you have any recommendations for bike purchase? This might be an offline conversation. For what? I don't know if there's any good bike shops in the area. My wife and I were looking. I liked the idea before of getting some bike stores to some kind of event to get more- Yeah, no, that would be great too. Yeah. Some of our bike stores have closed, but- I mean, I like Laughing Dog and a lot of people like Hampshire. Yeah, I agree with both of those. And I also, the ski and bike store is also really great. Like the guy who owns that one out by hillside, the pizza shop, I don't know. I'm route nine. He's also in Hadley. That one is really great too. You know the Valley Bikes or something? Yeah, that's a really great one. But I like, personally, I always go to Laughing Dog. That's where. And they have an upstairs with little kids stuff. Like he'll hook you up totally. Yeah, they're super helpful. Yeah, and I wonder too, I haven't heard anything about Valley Bikes. Has anybody heard anything? I feel for it. You mean the bike share? I have a long conversation with Ezra small about it. So I got three weeks out of date, but I can tell you what I heard then. Well, I mean that there's like financial issues and stuff, is it gonna, is this still gonna be here? It probably will be back in September. Okay. Well, that sucks. Yeah. And we're trying to get it up in the spring, but like if they didn't get it up in time for the students and they weren't gonna have enough money to make it. So yeah. So if they didn't get it up by now, they won't get it up till the students get here. Again. Well, one thing I really liked too is that they were offering it. Like it seemed really popular in Holyoke and other places, you know, for utilitarian biking and things. So for people who are transit dependent. So. I ran into a student at the energy transition symposium who said that they did a study of valley bikes and most people use it or using it for recreation. So it's actually not being used very much for commuting. Oh, that's interesting. Cause I see the ones down by the housing, like the big apartment places down by Graf Park, those seem to be used quite frequently like. Oh, that's cool. And I think you know, and students were using it. I mean, not just for recreation, but like around the UMass campus, one of the UMass campus is big. But then also, you know, from biking along university drive to get to like big Y and things. Yeah. So maybe we need some fine. I mean, I would be interested in that survey cause I think there are, there were a lot of utilitarian pieces. They had access to all the valley bike data. Oh, I'm just curious. No, no, no. I mean, I don't mean to say that that's bad, but it would probably be some fine tuning. You know, you could look at particular areas and yeah. So I think you could get them to do quite a bit. True. Cool. All right. So moving along. So we have revisions to the proposed street lights policy. You know, it is still being reviewed by the transfer town outreach and services committee TSO. It's been before them for a few different meetings at the last meeting, which I think Andy was not able to attend, but they did talk about the idea of dimming the lights in the village centers in downtown after 11pm or at least in the downtown area after like the last bar closes and things. I had written just with some of my personal concerns just about the pedestrian safety of that, particularly when people are leaving, say the downtown. I mean, as Kim mentioned early on in this meeting, it is really busy downtown at like, I mean, so, and I noticed too with the buses, the buses run late on Thursdays and Fridays and Saturday nights and things do not shut down anywhere near 11. It's like 12 or one or, and that also that, you know, when people, when the people who have been at all these bars downtown, which are just packed when packed, but when people leave them at night and then they have to go back to their neighborhoods and we're glad that they're walking and not driving, but that they're not necessarily walking along these in the village centers themselves. And so the delights when they would walk to their neighborhoods would be dark again. Yeah. So. So anyway, so there were, I am Shawnee Balmill at that meeting. She did suggest that the sponsors of the policy get some input from the chamber and from the bid, the business improvement district for downtown just to see how their members would feel about dimming the lights in those areas. And so I suppose that that will be on the TSO agenda in June. They were supposed to have a meeting tonight and that meeting was canceled TSO. I think their next meeting is the first. And then also last night, the sponsors of the policy, counselors to Hennecke and Devlin Gauthier also went to the planning board to talk, to present on the policy to the planning board members. The planning director had requested that they come and provide some info. And they did mention at that time that they see the street lights policy as just sort of a first step in looking at other lighting policies or potential lighting bylaws in town. I'm including, you know, moving on to ones about location but then also if there were gonna be restrictions on private lighting as well. So anyway, so that's sort of a longterm thing. And the planning director was interested in having the planning board here just because when the planning board is reviewing building development plans and site plan and so on that they look at lighting. So, okay. And then other public way related updates I don't know of any right now. I had contacted the TSO back before the act reduced traffic fatalities took effect in April. And I mean, there are number of components in there that could be interesting to the town to look at implementing, including you can ask for lower speed limits on state roads within your jurisdiction. That's one thing. So anyway, so we'll see what that happens. And then that's all from me. There's maybe a short meeting. Yeah. Do we need to talk about when we might schedule? Yeah, let's do that because the summer gets busy and so I mean, lately we've only, we don't really have that many referrals per se. So it's felt okay to meet once a month. Yeah. And Kim, I do need to follow up with you too about the maps and even I had talked about them. So, but in terms of June, what do we think? I mean, we could plan to meet on the 9th assuming that we could hold the 9th. No, June 9th is a Friday. Oh, sorry, the 8th. I meant the 8th. Does that work? Yeah, that could work for me. Does that work for other people? Joe, will that work for you? Are you going to be in Boston this summer? Are you going to be in Boston? No, so I'm going to be doing. I can't hear you. Oh, sorry. Can you hear me now? I can hear you. I couldn't hear you before. Yeah. Okay, cool. So I'll be remote with my interest. So I'm good with that. But I'll be in Finland. Oh, nice. In June. So just a different timeline, but the sun will still be up. So. Well, that's very exciting. Attack on. Yeah. Excited. Yeah. So let's plan on that for the 8th. Yeah. I don't know. So June is a month that has five Thursdays. Should we do that? Lucky us. First week in July. Or maybe not. So that's the week of the fourth. Or do we want to do. I mean, if we wanted to have a second meet, we could meet on the 29th. If we thought that there was anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So let's plan on that for the eighth and then. I don't know. So June is a month that has five Thursdays. I mean, I'm not going to. I will not be here. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm actually, I'm actually traveling on the 29th. Yeah. I guess. If, you know, if things come up and we're, our input is requested, we can meet more often. But all of these Thursdays are pretty like busy days. For me. In June. And so I guess we could plan to meet. So the first. The first Thursday in July is the six. So we just put that down as a, as a potential meeting date as well. Sure. I just wonder if people might, because Tuesday, it's the fourth is a Tuesday. If that's like. A week that people will be around. Yeah. I guess I could, I could ask that. I mean, that works for. You don't have plans because both my kids are away. That week, but. But I also think that people might just be taking off like through the fourth. Yeah. Because like the fourth is a Tuesday, so people could take off like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That. Be back. So. That's fine. So, okay. So let's. Let's tend to do that. And I'll just let people know if there's other things that. You know, our input is requested. And I do think that the street lights policy will continue to. Move ahead and. Sure. The Tory, who I met with yesterday, she did want to meet with Chris and I again in June, but I think we might try to push that back into July. And so. Okay. All right. So. It sounds like we have some great ideas for some outreach, you know, late summer and fall. Did you want to talk about that? Any tech appointments? So I put that on the agenda. Just because we do have two members appointments that are up. Effectively June. I think we might try to push that back into July. And so. I think we might try to push that back into July. Effectively June 30th. So, you know, in Amherst, most of the committees. Have, you know, rolling appointments in terms of like some people, some members appointments end every year. And. And they can take a while for new people to be appointed. And so I think the people who are. You know, it's not really expiring. But who are welcome to say, or step on and, um, And Chris Lindstrom. So, um, So step on, if you want, you. You, um, you can always just affirm that you want to continue to be on the committee and you can let the town know. And then the town manager, this is the town manager committee. So the town manager will be working on doing reappointments. And he's already started to do some of that, you know, starting for starting in July. And because there are so many committees it takes quite a while. And typically the policy has been that people can continue to serve until those appointments or reappointments take place though. People also have the right to just say I'm done and, and that's what Bernie did last year right because so we had that vacancy temporarily until we got the new appointment so but also, you know, if people know other people who are interested too. Yep. Always great. And I don't know if Tate is going to continue to stay on the committee too but I hope so. Right but isn't he moving. Well so he's actually been temporarily living, not in Amherst. Oh, because of a housing situation. That was. Unlivable. So, but he does hope to, he does hope to be back in Amherst. Got it. Okay. Is that it? I think that's it. Okay. Anything else. Guilford or Andy, do you got Andy, do you have any TSO or council news to share or feel for anything? No. No. We're all excited to have so busy doing all your projects. Yeah. So, well, thank you. Thanks to you and your crews already. So. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.