 Okay. Great. Thanks, Stephanie and Guzikaya. So hi everyone. My name is Lauren. I use she her pronouns. And I just wanted to take a quick sec to introduce myself because you all haven't heard so much from me so far in the groups. I've been focused on taking all those notes that we. After the meetings to capture all of the great discussion and ideas that are coming up. But today we decided to switch things up a little and Jim is graciously taking notes. And I'll be your co facilitator along with Guzikaya. I just wanted to say, though I am currently living in Portland, Maine. I did live in the valley for a couple of years while I was in grad school and went to UMass Amherst and really valued my time there. And I'm just extremely grateful to be part of this process and working with this community and this group of people. So thanks for having me. And just going to share my screen with a few slides to kind of kick off the discussion. So bear with me one moment here. All right. Can everyone see the slides that I'm sharing? Thumbs up. Yeah. Great. Thanks. So. To start off the conversation today, we wanted to kind of reflect on the idea of climate resilience. So as we've been talking about climate change with this group and with all of our task group members, what keeps coming up is that people's lives are very unstable right now in lots of different ways in terms of things like housing, food, transportation, job security. And all of these things are affected by climate change. And we've also been talking about quality of life. And how difficult it is for some members of the community to live in Amherst and how wonderful it is for others. And how those things are also connected to local governance. So. We've been having these conversations around. Climate mitigation around reducing our emissions and taking care of our environment. And then we've also been talking about the ways in which transportation can impact our quality of life and our access to things like food and housing and jobs. So. These ideas reflect those two priorities of the plan, which are climate mitigation and climate resilience. And we want to keep both of these things on the table as we're moving forward in, in crafting this plan. So we wanted to just start off with a quick minute of reflection around what. What climate resilience means to you. And how you might define it if you were. Trying to define climate resilience for yourself. So I'm just going to give folks a minute to sit and think with that. And then open it up for folks to share. If anyone is feeling inspired. I think that's a great question. I should have gotten the jeopardy music to play in the background. Lauren, could you rephrase the question? Sure. So when you hear the words climate resilience. What comes to mind? What. What might that look like for you? And how would, maybe how would you know. Climate resilience is becoming more resilient. What would that mean for you? Okay. A way to think about it. Climate resilience is our ability to get through some sort of. Disaster or negative impact from climate change. Right. Yeah, I was. Yeah, I was holding off on providing a definition. First, because I want folks to sort of be able to. Be able to think about it from their own experience, but. But yeah. But thank you for adding to that. And that is sort of the, the basic just. So does anyone have. With kind of a basic example. And I think that when we look at just increased quantity and severity of storms that are happening, then it becomes. It's like, you know, it's like winter weather in New England, but now as we're looking at that further changing, it's like what is who then does now having a generator become like a primary necessity of, you know, having power or what are the systems that are in place with that? Or as we look at the impacts of climate on farming, like who are the farmers who have the capacity to have the resources and the resources that are needed to adapt to the changes with that. So it's just as we're experiencing the changes in these climates and then the, some of, we have all of the things that have made our community not necessarily fully resilient or people don't necessarily have access to the resources that they need. Even without climate change. And then the add upon that this layer of a whole new set of challenges and how do we as a community and the members of respond to that? Yeah thanks love. I really want to highlight what you said there about this idea of adapting and and having the capacity to adapt to the changes that are underway and that are coming. That's definitely something that I'll touch on on the next slide. But I'd love to give someone else the chance to jump in if anyone is feeling inspired. I know we have a few folks that their video is off but Penny or Tessa if you are feeling inspired please feel free to share your thoughts. Okay I will. I'm new to the climate change. I really I'm not sure how I mean I know how it works but I like to hear what other people have to say before I kind of like chime in. So of course thank you. Yeah thanks for sharing. And hi Tracy welcome. We're just talking about resilience and what that means to us and how we understand it in our lives. So maybe this is a good point to move on to the next slide. So one common definition of climate resilience that we encounter is a community's ability to bounce back from shocks and stressors like floods like droughts like power failures and even pandemics. But what we've heard over the course of our meetings together is that bouncing back to the way things have been is not really enough. That's not enough to aspire to and it's not enough for this plan. We've been acknowledging as a group that bouncing back to the way things have been only makes sense if you're starting off from a stable place and much of our community is living without that stability. We've been recognizing that that also means that much of our community is not prepared to fully engage with climate change and that's a problem because we know we need to have everyone engaged to solve this crisis. So instead of bouncing back I wanted to offer a different definition or a different way to think about resilience as bouncing forward moving towards stability toward better outcomes and especially for our renters our low-income communities our communities of color and this means sharing risks and opportunities more equitably within town. So when it comes to something like transportation or waste or communication which is a piece of this group's work as well one example could be creating formal systems that build community connections to improve the communication between the town and groups like renters like low income community members and communities of color communities of diverse language backgrounds people of different abilities lots of the groups that we've been talking about have historically not necessarily been part of these types of processes. So I just wanted to offer that as an example of how we might think about bouncing forward in the context of climate resilience and I know and I'm sure that this group has lots of other great ideas about what that could look like. So that's part of what we'll get into today but for now I'm going to turn it over to our co-chairs Darcy and Laura to review some of the major actions and big ideas that have come out of our discussions so far and tee up our main conversation for the rest of our session today. So Laura and Darcy take it away and I will share my slide with you. Darcy you're muted. Laura do you want to take it away? I was gonna say the same thing to you Darcy. Yeah I these are I guess four things that came out of the last two seconds. Two of which are transportation related and two of them are waste related. Maybe it would be helpful just to read through them and answer any questions folks may have clarify anything that comes up. So the first of the transportation well do you want to do transportation Laura? Sure so the first two are related to transportation number one being commit to advocating for increased public transit to essential services like voting, doctors offices, in food deserts, areas of low car ownership and areas of low transit access. The second idea that came out of our discussions related to transportation is to install a formal safe path to connect the East Hadley road apartment complexes to the multi-use path. And I just flag here that you know these are two of many actions that will come out of this process related to transportation and so you know don't feel stressed if something we've talked about is not listed here or something you think we need to do is not listed here yet. And in fact I would just say that that'll be part of our discussion to follow is talking about what's missing and what needs to be added. I see that Tracy has her hand raised and I just wanted to open it up to. Oh so I had I mean procedurally did you want to talk about the transportation once first or do you want to go through all of them and then have us give comments? Yeah how do you how do you guys want to structure? Yeah I think we're gonna go through them all quickly just so that everyone has a comprehensive picture and then we'll launch into the discussion. Thanks for asking. So the other two are waste related and number three is implement a townwide curbside composting program that's inclusive of large and small apartment complexes and four is ban the commercial use of environmentally harmful materials like single-use plastics in town. So and again that this is just you know a couple of the possible waste related actions. So before we get into the discussion are there questions about these actions or anything that folks would like clarified? I see Samantha has raised her hand. I can't see everyone right now so but Samantha if you have a question feel free to unmute yourself. Okay that's losing bombers so let's kick that person out. So I saw Brenda you had a hand up and I'm about to chase you. So my question again is a bit procedural also in terms of like what is our goal today and what what will we be doing with these four goals here and then the second part is I see that three of them that the last three are very concrete the first one is just committing to advocating so I don't see that as how that would be measurable to see I'm not seeing any specific strategies around increasing public transit so is that something that we might be looking at today to create specifics around that so that's those are my questions. Those are great questions Brenda thank you and yes that's exactly the idea for for the conversation so I think for right now I want to stick to clarifying questions about the actions themselves but then we're going to launch into exactly the discussion that you just described looking at where are these actions where do they need further clarification or we need to build on them or we need to fill in gaps what are the things that are missing what are the things that we want to elevate all of that so you're you're headed in exactly the right direction with your thinking so thank you. Tracy and then love you're muted Tracy. I mean so I had mainly I had sort of split them up in my own mind between the the transportation lines and the infrastructure ones but one of the things I had a question about the first one is and and I guess it's a little to me it's a little hard just to comment on them without also thinking about what what I would like to add so in terms of like am I just clarifying or am I just you know I mean they all kind of build on each other but my question I had I mean I was thinking about other essential services to like work and so on and in the work that I that the TAC has been doing the Transportation Advisory Committee you know one of the things we focus a lot on is connecting like where people live so where people need to go and those connection points I mean I sort of had a big quick picture question about about serving all the areas of low transit access I'm not sure I mean again focusing on the nodes about where people live and where people need to go I'm not sure it's desirable to have transit everywhere because it does seem like that can actually contribute to sprawl and it's also very expensive you know mile by you know cost per mile and so on so that was one of the things on my mind with that one and on the second one about the multi-use path I wasn't sure what the multi-use path is referring to because along the Tadley Road there has been construction lately on multi-use path and they're actually extending it I think to the Hadley line including sidewalks on both sides so part of me was thinking that it was referring to the rail trail you know and in terms of accessing them all which that's a huge issue and that also ties back to the first item about that one of the really critical needs on East Hadley Road is having better public transit to get to them all and so on it's not just about being able to walk so yeah thank you and also just said there are there are other dense housing developments including affordable housing projects like throughout Amherst so I'm not sure and some of those do not have good I mean East Hadley Road actually with the new construction they actually have much better pedestrian access than other areas you know like Village Park that has to go along East Pleasant and so on and so I don't know we just want to single out East Hadley Road yeah these are great comments I am I think one important thing to say about that strategy in particular is that it's a very specific instantiation of a more general principle that we were hearing around exactly what you were saying connecting folks to the things that they need and doing so in a safe way in an accessible way so what so I guess sorry so what is the multi-use path referring to is it referring to the mail it is referring to the real tail I think maybe there's just some confusion around terminology there so my apologies so love do you have something to ask my question yeah I think this is a good segue from what Tracy was just sharing thinking about public transportation I will acknowledge I have more context for the conversations around public transportation actually in more rural areas than Amherst but I think that kind of building off of what Tracy was saying about the reality of the truly cost-prohibitive nature of having over like a broad geographic area the amount that makes it really convenient I think there's also something that needs to be considered that is absolutely happening in some of the more rural areas of the Commonwealth around this like alternate transportation possibilities so are there more active just vans or sort of heavily subsidized taxi Uber lift kind of services and those kinds of things and I recognize there's a that doesn't have the same climate benefits as many people riding the bus but wanting to think consciously about when school is in session on the bus routes we have quite impressive public transportation for an area of this population density and yet we still know from folks that it's really problematic for getting to and from work and grocery shopping and those kinds of things so I am super far from a transportation expert but I guess wanting to dig into that to make sure we're actually like advocating for the thing that helps and then the other part of that that's related to using public transportation for for essential services is that the PBTA continues to have a limit that is around the number of bags that you are allowed to have on the bus which makes it work very well for students and not that well for folks who are using it for grocery shopping or have strollers with them etc and it gets enforced kind of by the driver and so sometimes yes and sometimes no but that's not not being able to predict whether the driver is gonna let you on with your groceries is not not a mechanism that you can like hoping for that or fingers crossed for that makes it very hard to then take the bus to grocery store to a food pantry etc so that's kind of an advocacy point around utilization of the public transportation that we currently have and who it's designed to work for that's awesome thank you so that's sort of about reframing that first item to be more reflective of targeted advocacy that we know is addressing specific problems that are getting in people's way yeah and to be clear I don't it may be advocating for more buses I'm not saying that that isn't the right solution I just know that in more rural areas there's been lots of conversation about what the right way is to connect people to those you know services and then there could also be some advocacy around the routes and schedules and around continuation of the public transportation that we already have that's great yeah thinking in a more multimodal way about what's the most sort of effective way to meet those needs and at the same time think about how that intersects with climate change so I love this and I love that folks are already sort of launching into the court discussion so I think let's just kick it off our original sort of thinking for the format is to ask folks to go around and give everyone three minutes to share their thoughts that way we make sure that we hear from everyone and then if we have extra time we'll open it up for further discussion so the the question to frame this this section of our discussion is really considering this list what would be the most meaningful outcomes of the plan for you and why and is there a key action that you feel is missing from this list are there things that you would change about how this list is is written is framed and what surprises you about this list or make sense to you about this list in the context of our conversation so far so I'm gonna maybe ask one of our participants who is not spoken yet to kick us off if looks feel comfortable so Penny or Tessa I believe we have not heard much from you would one of you two be willing to kick us off just to clarify the question you're asking me like what we think about the overall yeah I guess what would your top priority on this list be or is your priority not there and it needs to be added and what would that be if it's not on the list probably for me if I was to choose one most important it would be number four only because I feel like that's a direct like I feel like environment like harmful materials are really big and I know they can cause a lot of especially with littering them we can also make our community seem like seem dirtier I guess so getting rid of that and heating up the streets and making it seem a lot nicer could also help to motivate people if they see it in their community being cleaner it might make them feel more environmentally friendly if they notice that these harmful materials are being taken out of daily life thanks Tessa well I guess number two seems like a pretty good thing to start doing installing you know the composting and and apartments and you know leading that off so people can be more prepared to get rid of their trash instead of throwing all their plastics and all their whatever all together and it kind of brings the it kind of brings you into a community because you will have to be communicating with everybody and how to to start this project all thanks Penny yeah that's a really great point to to think about how how these things are going to be happening in community and how they can actually have benefits for community building as well as for the environment thanks thanks for sharing who would like to go next I'll share it's Brenda I would love to see the the list of the other things that aren't here so let's see in in number three I'd want to make sure that restaurants businesses are included in the curbside composting mentions I never one is although that wasn't the area that I worked on is really important and which is the increased public transit would love to see all all levels of that and encouraging more biking with bike lanes and small shuttles to be able to serve locales that the buses can't get to do to over overpasses so yeah I guess they're all important and I also asked what is the time frame is there a of which these goals would be would be proposed to be met yeah great question so the framework for the plan is that there will be priorities that are set for the next three to five years and then some longer-term potentials benchmarks targets that we're thinking of trying to meet along the way towards the goal of achieving carbon neutrality and and sort of some of the structural changes that we've been talking about that we might use to gauge our progress moving forward in the longer term but the the goal is for the plan to really focus in on actions that can be implemented or at least initiated started in the next three to five years thanks and Jeff I see you turned your video on great to see you thanks for being here does that mean that you wanted to jump in sure I'll I'd be happy to jump in these are the great list I was really surprised I guess to see number four with the environmentally harmful materials I would thought we've gotten rid of those already but the so that one surprised me on the first one I thought there's a lot been some really interesting discussion about transit and I'm thinking about our population and as a demographic changes and and and we see an older population that resiliency component to our population something that I think is is really going to be tightly woven in with this as we try to find ways of making sure that people that can no longer drive have some way of getting to those important destinations so I just know how the group sees this playing out and in the future yeah can you say a bit more about that Jeff or folks who maybe haven't thought as much about this issue well you know we're seeing I was thinking personally in my neighbors are all and I'm getting older and I know last year when the snows came down you know people that used to be able to shovel their driveway couldn't and so we had to figure out ways to helping out or making sure that someone had some help and or knew an answer to that and I think when it comes to transportation you know we're gonna need those same types of solutions maybe not a one-size-fits-all it's all but something that address someone someone's needs on a personal level something they're comfortable with not everyone is you know comfortable with a handout or an offer for assistance but sometimes they're happy if you can provide them with some you know a venue of solutions and and some of those were already mentioned like Uber type of ridership options and then Tracy's point about whether or not providing transit access is is seen as a land use control I thought that was interesting and I had mixed feelings about that you know is is that is it the tool that of choice and and so I'd be interested in knowing if that was perceived as a possible solution for you know urban sprawl subspeak interesting so sort of thinking about transportation planning as a way to avoid urban sprawl and and keep transit systems more accessible I also want to pick up on one thing you said around sort of the coordination that went on with trying to figure out how folks figure out how they could get their driveways plowed or how they could be mobile when they're facing a situation like that and it really comes back to what Penny was saying earlier around community and and being able to collaborate with folks in your community to solve those localized problems in a way that meets those individual needs and that's sort of a theme I know Jeff you haven't been with us for all of the meetings but that that has been a theme that has come up repeatedly is sort of the idea of the importance of community and and building community connections in order to create the foundation for resilience so yeah thank you for that Laura yeah thanks Lauren um yeah I just wanted to maybe add something to number one and to broaden it out a little bit I think one of the things we talked about in the first meeting that Lev brought up was you know the connection between access to transportation access to jobs and so I think I'd want to expand that to be not just essential to make sure that jobs is and employment and quality employment is part of an essential service and then that sort of got me down thinking about communication and this group is is meant to cover non-building infrastructure of which communication is a piece and we haven't spent much time on that but I think if we think about communication in terms of access to internet as well as in terms of you know having a stronger communication network across town from a resiliency standpoint and I think access to internet supports communication and also supports employment potentially that could be done remotely it supports more equitable access to to schooling right now and so I just want to throw that out there as another action that this that that will be part of this group's output. Thanks Laura. Yeah Lev you're called out there do you want to add anything to Laura's comment? Nope I think she yeah sounds good just wanted to offer. Appreciate that bringing back around well sure I guess the one thing that I'll add is that I think that that really speaks to the need for as we're thinking about transit but it can't be a town specific approach it has to be looked at on a regional level and that folks are working in all different places and in all different schedules etc so but I really I appreciate centering back to that in terms of the reality if someone can actually live without a car what that means. Stephanie, next by your hand. Yeah I just wanted to sort of follow up on what Laura said about communication too that I in creating the network it seems like we also have to really address the language barriers that exist in the community and that that needs to be part of any kind of network that's developed and not just you know not just in sort of cultural language barriers but also for those who have disabilities that may affect them you know either vision or hearing that somehow we need to address that in a in a really substantial way too. Tracy, what did you have any I know you've already spoken but we we have some extra time so I'm gonna open it up for folks to yeah Tracy please go ahead. So when Jeff was talking I mean one of the things I was thinking about is just well there are a few different points one and to me some of it comes back to the multi-use path is that you know how important it is to have connect late to have year-round access to sidewalks and so on you know including you know when I mean we're gonna have daylight savings time soon and then it's gonna be dark a lot more and when people are trying to travel I mean personally because I live near the Amherst Hadley line I think a lot about that sidewalk that was built along route 9 that goes from the Amherst line to the Hadley Mall and how little support there has been in the last few years to keep it shoveled and accessible in the winter which means that all the people who used to walk in the street are like back walking in the street so that's something I've spoken to Joe Comerford's office about a number of times but it's sort of an impasse but just so with the multi-use path if you're thinking about the rail trail that's actually not plowed in the winter there's actually some people who want it to be used for recreational purposes so just you know defining where you draw a line between the recreational and the transportation aspects and also the lighting piece like lighting and sidewalks are just so essential to not just there but like throughout town and having them be safe for older people I mean one thing in terms of trying to use for people who don't drive and who perhaps have disabilities that that they're eligible for van service I mean it really does if somebody is dependent on van service to get to essential appointments or to work or whatever it can it takes a really disproportionate amount of their day to do that is that it's not I mean I think to Lev's point is looking at alternative models and alternative services that can be offered because typically on both ends the person is waiting a lot of time and so like a one hour or you know a lot of doctors will we see you first say 30 minutes but it could end up being like three or four hours out of your day because the van will come when the van can come and then you go and then you wait and then the I just it's a lot of effort and a lot of time so I keep thinking about just in terms of and I do think about transportation all the time but just in terms of like safe streets and complete streets and just making sure that our transportation infrastructure is serving everybody to the extent that it can I agree with Lev's point about having the year-round transportation because there is such a gap when the five colleges aren't in session and they cut back the services that are paid for predominantly by students and also just in terms of the infrastructure part of our transportation infrastructure group and one thing I was thinking about too is just some of the bigger picture stuff related to zoning and related to like sewer and water expansion I mean is that part of our infrastructure is that under our heading as well but just in terms of the choices that are made about you know where you extend sewer to or water and so on I know for example like Harkness Road in some of those areas but that again will affect that some of the bigger picture issues about where people settle yeah that's a great point and yeah sort of along the lines of the communication piece it's not a topic that we've covered in depth so far but certainly something that is within the purview of this group to look at and to think about so definitely would love to hear more from you on that and I also was hoping because you used a term that I think is a little bit of a technical term that perhaps not all folks on the call are familiar with so I was hoping you could speak a little bit to the idea of complete streets and what that means okay well Jeff probably can speak to complete streets better than I but so Amherst actually has a complete streets plan and part of it is just envisioning the street network as like serving does not cars like serving bikes and serving other users as well and trying to do them in a way you know where it is friendly and accessible to like all users so I see it so it's not just about moving cars as fast as you can but involves a lot of traffic calming and other factors that make that make them a more hospitable environment particularly for people who don't feel comfortable biking or walking in very car-centric places with lots of traffic and very unfriendly intersections. Thank you so it's sort of the idea of shifting the emphasis away from cars when we're thinking about planning streets and and more to the experience of being a pedestrian being a cyclist and trying to serve all of the the different needs that those streets support would you yeah yes awesome awesome great thank you for for explaining that further I think that was really helpful so we do have quite a bit more time so I want to open it up to folks just generally to build off of the comments of others to share other thoughts they might have about any of the issues that have come up whether it's one of these ideas or something that's missing something that's been talked about but hasn't shown up on this list and also to hear from folks we haven't heard from yet including Darcy I'm just realizing so maybe Darcy you can jump in. Yeah I think these goals are all really good I would I would change I would also change the first so that it's more stating just increased public transit as opposed to commit to advocating for even though it's you know it's going to be difficult because public transit is regional. I you know I have felt that there are a number of issues that we haven't been able to get to in this group and including really expanding access to pedestrian and bicyclists which we just did mention you know what is it something like half of the Amherst population is between the ages of 18 and 25 which is crazy but it's because of our student population obviously and so that just seems like it's got a lot of potential for really pushing bicycle use even though you know a lot of our population is also very you know much older and they tend obviously not to be the ones that are probably going to be riding bicycles but anyway so that and also I really feel like we should be including promoting EV ownership electric vehicle ownership and just general electrification of the transportation and heating sectors you know changing over our municipal fleet to electric and changing over our you know our encouraging encouraging residents to buy electric vehicles if they are vehicle owners and this has a this would have a you know at the indirect effect of reducing pollution for everyone so it's it's not that it wouldn't have any co-benefit to environmental justice communities so you know that and carpooling you know encouraging car pooling people riding together remote work someone just mentioned which I think Laura did you know encouraging that because that whatever can take fossil fuel powered cars off the road which is you know big piece of the transportation piece and I think zero waste Amherst sent a communication to this group about its its suggestions for actions for us so seems like this group should get that so that we can certainly send that out for everyone to dig into so does anyone want to build off of Darcy's comments there add to anything that was just said Stephanie sure one of the alternatives that was kind of explored fairly recently was the idea that we could maybe have an electric vehicle that was a car share program so similar to Zipcar but something that actually lived and was housed at the apartment complexes and you know it was an idea actually that sort of came from PVPC Catherine Rattay had reached out and had talked to a few of us about that and we just weren't able to sort of bring it together but it does seem like something that should be possible somehow at some point I think part of it would also take some buy-in from the complex owners to allow for that to happen but I just think if we're looking at all of the possibilities that exist that's something that would be you know shared ownership of an electric vehicle and a complex would would make sense you know there's part of the reason it didn't take flight was because there's also a lot of you know questions about you know who would ultimately own it and you know the insurance and there's no sort of established we didn't have a sort of an established program as it were but you know that may be something that maybe at some point will develop you know maybe Zipcar will you know have more of a presence of town that's that's a new one for me so very cool to hear that that's something that is being considered I feel like I missed something at the end of what you just said you were talking about a car owned by the town that could live at the housing complex and then you were also talking about Zipcar just being more prevalent and immersed can you just tie that sure so the car wasn't going to be owned by the town we were and that was part of the problem so because it wasn't something that the town would necessarily take the responsibility for in fact the idea was maybe that the complex would own the vehicle which was going to require buy-in from the complex owner so it was complicated obviously but but there are things about it that certainly have merit what I was saying is that Zipcar could potentially be you know in the absence of something like a program along those lines that maybe Zipcar could have more of a presence in the town because there's not you know right now it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of opportunity for Zipcar sharing you know for those especially in more remote locations it would be nice to see them at all of the complexes yeah so multiple potential ways of moving forward with that yeah that's great or you could do it like the bicycles that they have in town yeah Penny would you say more about that yeah you could we could try to figure out a way where instead of like putting it on the apartment complex maybe the apartment that you rent came with a Zipcar or some kind of electric vehicle where you're renting the you would be like you would be renting the apartment like you would be renting the vehicle or or instead because if you put it on the apartment complex then then they'll you're you're dealing with insurance but most people who deal with Zipcars they have private insurance so you could do it that way where there could be like maybe 20 cars to to Watts I forget the apartment complex and out of that 20 cars you would put in your time or schedule a time where you could use the car for a certain amount of hours and then if people weren't safe with the car the car would just shut down if it left like out of Hadley you know do you understand what I mean like there could be different kinds of stipulations on using the vehicles but I think that would be a really cool idea I'm just gonna jump in to follow that that because with the bike share program we actually have what's called geo fencing and it's basically just you know there are some remote controls that the the program the bicycle program won't you know owners of that the software that they use sort of allows them to to identify kind of a usable area so that's not like a far-fetched idea at all about that kind of thing that kind of technology and it sounds like Penny you're also saying that the the private insurance is a real barrier for some folks and and having that no longer be an issue would make it significantly easier in terms of yeah it would make a little bit easier because I mean I guess the town we could it could be where the town could offer some type of insurance but not to make it so the town would go broke but people would pay into it you know and it would all be through where you lived and you know doing it that way so it it doesn't hold too much of a burden on the town and too much of a burden on the apartment complex and the doing it kind of like crowdfunding in a way exactly exactly and it cool it into your rent where or your subsidy or if you had a subsidy I you know where one parent one person out of the household could drive it or try to you know figure it out and then this is the seniors could use it to where there was a senior who could be able to drive you know they would be able to drive their senior friends totally absolutely this is great creative thinking Penny thank you love I see your hand raised did you want to follow up on that yeah I think just riffing off of Penny's idea with sort of alternatives to a zip car type thing and the insurance piece of that I'm also just thinking about what are the alternative mechanisms to in some way make rides through something like Lyft more accessible and there was a brief well may still be going on we had applied for a set of them and didn't happen to get it but there was a program actually through the company Lyft that was providing free rides or basically using Lyft drivers to do things like pick up groceries and bring them people who couldn't leave their homes and those kinds of free for the consumer but the driver still got paid and so it was important you know providing employment and also doing that so I don't know if there's you know as we're thinking about sort of creative solutions there's something there that you know there are also there are people who need cars to get to work and there are some people who need work and there's a nice match up there in terms of helping to meet both of those needs in some way yeah I really appreciate that thinking about it from both of those angles not just in terms of getting people around but also as a sort of form of job creation too I'm putting those things together awesome we have a few more minutes yeah Tracy I mean there are some community-based transportation programs like I remember hearing a while back about one in Portland I mean I think it's it seems like it's something where you know working with private companies might work best or like community organizations because I do think I mean just like with some bike sharing programs they don't work so well because of like maintenance issues and things so you also have maintenance with cars and liability and the fact that you know there's such a range of like safety of drivers and so on I mean if if there's some particular apartment complexes and emers that seem open to that I mean like maybe like the co-ops or something but it does seem that some apartment owner complex owners and emers are quite risk averse and not really open so much to community engagement but in Portland one program they had it primarily I think serve senior who are no longer driving but that people could you know give their cars to the program and then they would basically have credit to rides and then they would have accessible transportation like 24-7 based on the credit I mean so one issue with like paratransit services or or bus services particularly paratransit a lot of times is that the hours are really limited the types of trips that you're able to use it for are really limited too so you really do need to look to other models like ride sharing and other things too but there's some good programs out there who have done some good car sharing and bike sharing so yeah just a few ideas yeah I think you also raised another really important point around sort of collaboration with apartment complexes and that's that's been another recurring theme throughout our various task group conversations around sort of how how much property managers and and owners have an influence over what types of initiatives are possible in apartment complexes specifically and and sort of what that means for our climate action plan which is that those folks need to be brought into the conversations around these issues so that we can move forward with these types of awesome creative ideas like the one that Penny's putting forward and in a way that's equitable that also meets the local needs and reflects things like car ownership and and sort of access to transit and all the other factors that come into play there so thank you for pointing that out so we have a couple more minutes I want to just check in with Tessa we haven't heard from her in a while see if she wants to add anything and then Darcy I saw you had a hand up as well Tessa how's this conversation landing with you what's coming up for you it's a little hard my audio has been coming in and out for a little bit of it there's a lot of that it's fine there's just a lot of people in my house on the like Wi-Fi doing other zoom call things but mostly I mean conversations definitely kept up well I like that we've been able to stay on track I guess and like kind of all keep it all about climate change and everyone's been able to have a good input I guess and I've been able to follow mostly well so it's been good to keep up with the conversation awesome thank you and also thank you for sharing that very real experience of being on Wi-Fi at the same time as lots of other folks and competing for that bandwidth because that connects directly back to our conversation about communication and access to internet and how how important that is for staying connected to things like local governance processes like this meeting that we're in right now so thank you yeah Darcy yeah I just want to build on what you said about you know making having relationships with the apartment managers and landlords because one of the things that you know if we were going to try to build the bicycle network in and Amherst and try to get the students at the apartment complexes to instead of having you know feel feel like they could conceivably commute by bicycle is just they have to have more more bike racks and they need to have storage space for bicycles because if they don't have story they don't have a place to put their bicycle then they probably won't get one so anyway it's all related and that's the kind of thing that you do if you're supporting bicycle use right that's a great point to you that it's not just about the networks and and building up the networks it's also about building up the infrastructure to support those networks like the storage like the bike racks that that help people be able to own a bike and keep it locked up and have it there for them when they need it awesome so we're gonna transition to the next part of the conversation but just wanted to check in see if anyone had any last comments on these actions on the conversation so far before we move on we're gonna kind of shift gears a little bit I just wanted to say one thing I think it's really important for us to get the apartment complex managers on board of what we're trying to do because if we don't get them on board then it's like useless and it's just really important that we get them on board in every aspect of what we're trying to do that's all I wanted to say thank you thanks Penny that's a very important point it's it's clear that the apartment complex managers have a lot of influence over how decisions got made and what and what's possible and so absolutely having them on board is going to be key to moving forward because there might be some government supplement that they could be using for themselves if they're providing all this of what we're asking you know you know keeping our environment clean and you know so there might be some incentives yeah go ahead yeah that's what I was trying to say that's I think you put it perfectly there might be things that they they can get out of it that will be beneficial to them as well exactly thank you that's a great great note to leave this conversation on so as I mentioned we're gonna shift gears a little bit I'm gonna stop sharing my screen so we can all see each other and thank you all for those great thoughts and ideas on on the actions and the additions that you're making because clearly those actions are are not everything and are are there to be built on so thank you for all that great input so the next part of the conversation we wanted to frame as sort of a reflection on the process so far we're getting toward the end of our third meeting together I know not everyone has been with us throughout but even just being here over the last hour and a half you can get a sense that this process has been a little bit different and has felt different to folks then then some of the other processes governance processes in town in the past and so we wanted to give folks the opportunity to sort of reflect on that and we wanted to hear from you about what that's meant so couple of questions and we'll do it the same way that we did this last conversation where we'll hear from everyone give everyone three minutes to sort of share their thoughts and then if we have more time left over at the end we'll continue the discussion and sort of open it up to whoever would like to comment so first of all did you think this was a worthwhile process and if yes what made it special if no what didn't work and what could be improved to make it better next time so give everyone a minute or two to to mull that over and then we can open it up and just raise your hand when you're ready to jump in I can share first good go ahead overall experience yeah what's what's been good what what could be improved and and was this a worthwhile experience for you okay um what first of all definitely a worthwhile experience um with not having much to do when corona first started it was good to like get involved and have a set routine thing like even set meetings like this were a good way to stay active and it was a great way of me getting connected with my community and also learning more about like how town government works and getting used to zooms and stuff and talking online definitely helped the connection into going back to school online much easier so just learning from and especially the huge diversity we have in these meetings and hearing all the viewpoints on climate change which is so important to me it's also very educational for myself and helped me expand all my ideas and perspectives surrounding climate change and just learning more about making actual change in our community and knowing that other people have these same interests have been huge benefits to me overall so it the whole experience is very moving thanks Tessa that's really wonderful to hear and really appreciate you sharing I don't know if you can see everyone but you're getting lots of jazz hands so yeah thank you and I just want to admit that I'm a little teary eyed raise your hand and jump in whenever you're ready I want to hear your honest thoughts too so I'll feedback welcome I'll share so it's been a range of experiences for me delighted to be part of this and there were a lot of things that were were surprises for me pleasant surprises I wasn't expecting this to be a different process then then I've experienced in other meetings and so that was and I loved the intentionality the diversity the whole range of meeting all of you representing all different parts of of life and in town and so I think that's been hugely valuable like I have learned so much about those different areas some things that have been challenging for me are it's some of the goals I've just felt a little elusive and and the process I'm very process oriented I'm discovering that for me be really helpful to have kind of laid out what each of the three weeks was going to look at where we were starting what we wanted to end up with and then what will happen from here how I have a little bit of the timeframe but how would things be implemented how it might we continue to be involved in that and and maybe hearing or seeing maybe we still can some of the goals presented from the other groups and and yes I was just also a bit surprised to see such a short list of goals come out of this group and so will the other ones be considered so just I'm left with with kind of some some questions yeah yeah but it's been a wonderful process thank you thanks Brenda yeah I appreciate so many things about what you said and I think the first one is is sort of you were speaking to the process orientation and and sort of the difficulty of wrapping your mind around a process that is less clearly articulated at the outset and I do appreciate that and I also appreciate folks for bearing with us as we've forged ahead without that structure part of that has been intentional in the sense of really wanting folks to be present with exactly what's happening in the moment and and not be so focused on outcomes as to lose sight of the people and their relationships and this sort of experiences that are being shared in the meetings so I completely appreciate that that is a challenge especially in the context of how these types of meetings usually are run and it is a comment that we got in our last meeting as well with the land use group and one of the co-chairs made a great comment that I really appreciated which was that even though these meetings have felt sort of slower and and almost like we've done less the results have still been incredibly rich and we've learned so much and what we've learned is really ground truth in and in the diversity of experiences that are in this room and that is so valuable so just really want to appreciate you for bringing that up I'll also just say that in terms of the next steps and how this group and all of the task group members can be can continue to be involved I promise I will touch on that before the end of this meeting I'm going to give an overview of the timeline moving forward and ways that we want to stay connected so that will not be lost and then I would also say that yes absolutely things that are coming out of the other groups will be shared with all the groups so we'll circle back to that towards the end of our meeting today but just want to say rest assured that that is not going to to be lost and you all will have the opportunity to see what's coming out of the other groups and to to continue to participate in the creation of the plan and shape what's coming out of the process so thank you like to go next okay so hi so I so I think I mean what I appreciated most about this process is just that it really did focus on hearing about different people's experiences and as you said there's such a wide range of experiences and really allowing opportunity for input because there's so many community planning processes where public input or even you know input of the group members is pretty limited and it's done in a often in a predetermined framework about you know that people are asked to give input on a very small topic and really aren't allowed to say but wait what about these other things so I appreciate how you you know allowed opportunity for people to raise issues that maybe like hadn't been on the radar before or whatever so that that seemed really really valuable to me and there's a lot of great things about this process and I wish that some other planning processes were more like that but a lot of a lot of friend's comments resonated with me I mean so one thing is that I you know was trained professionally as like a community planner and so I've done I've been part of planning processes both as a volunteer and professionally and I do have concerns about you know the next steps and about all the beautiful plans that have been written that sit on shelves and how you know for years and even decades sometimes like we're still in the same place like trying to ask for the same changes and improvements to make life better for all of us and so you know it's just that change can be so so incremental and just takes so long and so I mean I was a little disappointed that you know all the comments that people made like they boiled down to those four that were sent on to us because I do hope that there is room and the opportunity to incorporate more of the other ideas that were expressed because I think there were a lot of good ones and just about next steps and how things are implemented and what you know as as this part of the process ends and recommendations are delivered to the town like where does that go after that because I would hope that you know there would then be an implementation committee and process to make sure that that is happening but that doesn't always happen with Lance as beautiful and wonderful as they are so I'm a little jaded about that implementation step but thank you and I I want to even maybe open it up to our co-chairs to speak a little bit to sort of the role of the ECAC as the stewards of this plan and and sort of guiding the implementation Laura Darcy did either of you want to speak to that sure I can yeah I mean I think that's our main goal as a committee and and I would just offer up that and Darcy please correct you how I was speaking for you but I think Darcy and I are both on this sort of pathway with everyone in terms of a different way of engaging on a with our community on a plan we also are process people and so we've been having to learn a little bit about how to think about things differently and so but yes I think what what we hope to get out of this of this work is is community ownership and interest and support of a plan that's supporting our community and not only meeting in meeting climate change in a way that or acting on climate change in a way that makes us more resilient more thriving as a holistic community not just as pieces of the community Stephanie yeah I guess I just wanted to say from my perspective of working for the town as long as I have and really doing this work now for decades you know we created a plan that did sit on a shelf but a big reason for that which I've been cautioned not to say but I think it's true is that there wasn't the kind of acceptance and awareness that I think we have now we didn't I mean we have a select we had a select board but we now have a town council that adopted a goal of carbon neutrality I think we're in a very very different place than we were before I think you know and I think the awareness to me is it goes beyond you know our community I think there's sort of you know a more global imperative that people are understanding more now and because back two decades ago when we were starting this work there were certainly predictions and we're meeting some of those unfortunate predictions of accelerated change that are coming to fruition you know the worst case scenario if you will so I I really think there's a call to action that I think is being embraced by the town governance in a way that I haven't seen before so the fears about this kind of sitting on a shelf I think we have an imperative now and our directive I should say by the town council that's going to move us to having to implement a lot of the things and I think that's where you know when a plan is developed the ECAC will certainly be helping to guide it but the implementation happens you know really at the department level and at the town level and the way in which we engage with the community will be hopefully the ECAC will be driving a lot of that so there's different levels in which we'll be engaging and I think I don't know I feel hopeful and this process really was really makes me very very hopeful as well I would also build on what you said around sort of the leadership of the town council and in setting the goals and and sort of the ethos that is around us and the increased awareness of the issues related to climate change and sort of the impacts that we're seeing I think there's what we've learned through these meetings is also that there is incredible community interest in tackling climate change and a lot of great energy and ideas to bring to the table and so I think our hope with these sessions is at least a little bit to to make those connections between climate action and and our everyday lives and how interconnected those things are and so all of those things are required the leadership and governance and the sort of energy from the community and and and connecting those things so thank you so we haven't heard from Penny from Jeff from Darcy and I know we've lost love unfortunately I'm not sure she'll be able to come back but hopefully hopefully she'll be back and we'll be able to hear from her as well. Well I just think it's really important that we try to execute what we talked about and we all keep an open mind that we want to make our town better and healthier and just peaceful and we all have to work together you know it takes a village and we have lots of villages around us with different types of people ethnic I can't even say it but I think you guys know what I'm saying and it's just really important to keep the door open for to get this done and I'm I had a good time in this group and it was a learning experience I've been in Amherst since the 70s I've gone to the Amherst High School junior high middle grade school and my kids have too so it's important that I want to grow old here and I want my grandkids to be able to do that too and I just want our community to be successful and prosperous and happy so that's that's all I have to say. Thanks so much Penny I also if it's okay with you I want to ask a follow-up question there because you said that this was a big learning experience for you so I'm curious what's the what's the biggest thing you're taking away that you learned or that yeah that you're still thinking about? I'm I'm still on the the what I'm taking away is is that I've met a lot of good people and everyone has such awesome ideas that I just hope that they're executed and that we can find the funds to be able to help our community out because it's all about community and keeping us healthy and on the straight and narrow and it's been nice working with everybody and yeah that's all I can say. It's been great having you and yeah thank you for that and you also raised a really important point about funding and and aligning funding with all these great ideas that folks have been sharing. Done unless we have money to be able to fund what we're trying to do for the people who don't have any money. Exactly so much. Thank you. So Jeff, Darcy? Sure I'd be glad to add my two bits thank you I appreciate having the chance to participate even in the somewhat limited capacity but I have to say in in all my years of planning I've never experienced such an open and discord and welcoming environment for discussion is something that many of us are very passionate about and I have to credit you for the group for creating a very welcoming atmosphere. I mean many of these areas are something that I'm not an expert in but I felt very safe and secure in expressing my opinion and I think that's just a huge testament to this process so thank you. Thank you Jeff. I'm glad to hear that. I hope that's something that will carry forward throughout. Stephanie do you want to add to that? So we just heard from Lev unfortunately one of her children had a minor injury and so she had to get home and regretted that she missed a bunch of the process and really appreciated being included and hoped that her participation was helpful to the group so I just wanted to convey that to everyone on her behalf. Thank you so much. Yeah hopefully we can follow up with her and give her the opportunity to reflect on the process as well because I'm sure we'd all love to hear her thoughts on that too. Yes she did say she's happy to follow up further. Darcy I think. Oh great awesome thank you. Yeah so I was just gonna turn to Darcy I think we haven't heard from you yet on this question. Yeah I also think you know really appreciate that this was creating a really safe space for people to talk about these issues pretty broadly and that it was new a new way of doing things so obviously you know there are different process issues probably to work through that we would do differently you know the next time around or whatever. I'm also a big process person so I also related to what Brenda said about just feeling you know all along I sort of felt like I wanted more I wanted us to all have more sort of structure and more documents maybe a packet or something ahead of time so that people could really know what's what was going to happen at the meeting and have some kind of a basis for discussion and and I would have liked to have seen a you know like a full list or a comparison to what some other town had done so that the group could have looked at you know okay so what what did this town do with their climate action plan or so that we could visualize more clearly what we're doing so but I do appreciate that this was sort of cutting edge as far as being inclusive and being you know like there was a lot of stuff that I learned that I never would have learned in any other context and I really do appreciate that a lot and I'm assuming that that's going to get into our action plan yeah can you say a bit more about that about some of the things that you learned that you're um oh I learned you know a lot of the stuff about the you know trying to get the route to the to the bike path from the Hadley apartment complexes and also all of the information about you know how many bags you can take on up on the PVTA I didn't know that and that's all very you know pertinent to you know putting together a transportation plan you know that you can't necessarily go to the grocery store because you can't bring three bags of groceries so that was all new to me and very really interesting and relevant thanks for sharing those thoughts and for sticking with us in spite of the the unique framing of the process let's let's say so we have a little bit of extra time we're gonna wrap up at six possibly a few minutes early so I just wanted to open it up to folks if they had any last thoughts on how this process has been desire to respond to the comments that others have made or any sort of closing thoughts that folks want to share before we wrap up okay so as promised I wanted to just touch on next steps for the plan so after this third round of task group meetings conclude so we have two more sets of meetings we already had the land use meeting we're gonna have a meeting about renewable energy and then another one about buildings in the next couple weeks and then once those wrap up we're going to be working on developing a more fleshed out list of strategies based on all of the wonderful ideas that have come up in these conversations as well as conversations with other folks like town staff like other local stakeholders like the ECAC co-chairs and like some of the groups that you all are a part of like zero waste Amherst who as Brenda and Darcy both mentioned has sent a list of their priorities that they would like to see reflected in the plan so we encourage everyone to reach out with any thoughts that you have or ideas for actions anything that comes up in in the meantime please be in touch we want to hear from you and that when I say we want to hear from you that I'm speaking for myself for Jim and Stephanie and Gazia who had to leave and Darcy and Laura as well we all want to hear from you and want to continue to have these conversations offline or online but outside of the context of our meetings so when once we come up with that list of strategies our plan is to connect back with this group and with some others that have given input to share those strategies to connect with family and friends about these strategies to really make sure that we got we got them right that they're really reflecting the the ideas the priorities the principles that we've discussed together and that you all have shared the hope is that the dialogue is going to continue over the next several months as we develop those strategies and start prioritizing them and turning them into a plan and a draft plan is going to be presented to the community in the spring so that will be another a big meeting an opportunity to provide further input and continue to influence and craft the plan before it gets finalized and presented to the town council which will be in April so that's sort of our our timeline for developing the strategies and developing the plan and with that I just want to say thank you so much for your participation for taking the time to be here with us for sharing your ideas your thoughts so generously for really investing in this process we really hope that you'll continue to participate as we move forward with developing the plan that you'll share with your friends and family and neighbors and and folks that that could be part of this too and like I said don't hesitate to reach out to us in the meantime we will be following up with sort of the notes from this meeting a summary of all these next steps as well so you have that documented to refer back to and I will just say yeah Stephanie sorry before you you exit off this meeting I just wanted to say that we all really want to thank you the Linnaean team for for this process and really working with the ECAC and to our ECAC co-chairs for you know embracing what I know was a little unusual and and really being willing to go there and just thank you all for such a rich experience it was really wonderful and I do want to say to you that I am at town hall well usually a town hall but I'm available and if anyone ever at some point even beyond this process years down the road and hopefully I'll still be there but you know if anyone ever wants to reach out to me I'm I'm always willing and eager to hear from community members and open for any thoughts or ideas or questions so please feel free to reach out at any time. I also want to just acknowledge Guzikaya and I'll be amazing work that they've done to put this together and and to support the group's process I know that they had to leave us a little bit unexpectedly but just extremely grateful for all their work I know that they've been really key in supporting the progress that we've made so just want to give that shout out as well. Alright folks it's a few minutes before six o'clock so we'll let everyone get to dinner a little early and please be in touch and you'll hear from us soon. So thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good evening. Bye Penny. Bye everyone. Bye Tessa. Thanks Penny. Thanks Tessa. Bye Brenda. Thanks Brenda. Bye Tracy. Good working with you guys. You too Penny. I hope to see more of you going forward. Same. Take care. Bye. Bye. Yeah you too. I just stopped recording. No you haven't. Still recording. Oh