 Hi, hello. So this is the attack meeting for March 7, 2024. And we have, we actually have an attendee, Chris, Chris Lindstrom is attending we let her in go for. She probably can't find her panelists invite. Thank you. Okay. Do you want to say a little spiel or I can say it. Yes, I can pursue into Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 order suspending certain provisions and open meeting law. This meeting of the tack. Amherst. Tack is being conducted via remote participation. So you can take it away. Okay. Um, Well, so I'd send out the email today. Um, I wasn't even sure that we were going to have a meeting this week, but I thought it made sense to have a meeting because we did not meet it all in. February and our last meeting was January 11th. And there will be things coming before possibly coming to tack. Either later this month or early next month. So it seemed like a good opportunity to just at least check in, say, hi, and get a few updates because I have been getting emails and. Have, you know, have other updates. Um, so. I mean, the 1st thing, as I said in my email, the sort of the main item that I had on the agenda, in addition to these informational items was. That, that old request from TSO for the tack input. About the North pleasant street improvements from pine street to Eastman lane. So we had never written it up because what happened was the TSO chair at the time George Ryan, who was standing in as a temporary chair. He said, okay, now tack, you know, we're going to be, you need to get our input. To TSO by like early October. And then we're going to have a public hearing. I'm sorry, a public forum. On these improvements in November, but then 1, there wasn't any funding for the projects and then. They just had other priorities. This was like the last few months of that council, the 20. I guess the 2020 21 council. And so they, it just got pushed off and it got pushed off. And we did our 2 site visits. You know, I thought that they were very informative, but we never wrote up anything formally and we never really had any opportunity to present it. And then in the fall of 2023. You know, there were some items that were coming 1, there were those sidewalk improvements that were made on the west side. Of North pleasant street, right just south of pine street. That's, you know, some of the neighbors were concerned about, and then there was also possibly an item coming to TSO about. A bus stop and moving a bus stop there. Or adding a bus stop. I'm not even sure the details. And so I thought, even though, you know, it's now sort of dated, you know, our evaluation, I don't think that the conditions there have changed that much. And that I still just wanted to kind of close this get it. You know, have our formal reply. And so as these requests come up, you know, before the council and TSO that they would at least have that like in their records. And in particular, there was 1. So last week, there was a meeting of the community development block grant. Advisory committee, which decides. They're the towns community development block funds get spent. And allocated to and they, they give money to social service projects, but they also can give money. To town projects that will support lower income, moderate income households and low and moderate income parts of Amherst and they. So. There had been a proposal. From Dave Zomack to fund. Extending the sidewalk work that was done in the fall extending work south. In terms of upgrading the sidewalk and adding a crosswalk. And rectangular rapid flashing beacon and some other details. I don't know. Guilford, do you want to tell us a little bit about that proposal? I mean, we're was like Jason and are you involved with putting it together? Yeah, so it's just basically the same thing you saw before. Okay. It's just sidewalks. We added a couple of crosswalks, but then. If you look at the way the council's policy on public way. It's it falls under a certain section that they have to approve it. So that's why it's going towards the council. Or we'll be going to the council to approve the crosswalk and. I guess widening the sidewalk. I don't really consider that, but they seem to. Yeah, that'll be coming. Right. So. So I think so. One of the things is that Kathy Shane. Was she spoke. Are you okay, Chris? Can you hear me? We can hear you a little. I'm sorry. I just want to be very. Where are the black grant? I didn't, which part of this section are we talking about where those improvements would occur? It starts. It pretty much starts where we left off last time. On North Pleasant Street right there by Mary's all his house, which is also. At the north end of puffed in and goes to the all the way past puffed in. So it's just that one, one side. This time it's both sides. Okay. Part of the part of the. East side is recently improved, right? Because there was a bus stop that was put in there. That was, we did this. We did the section from Pine Street to Mary's all his house. And that's where we pushed off the. We move the new bus stop. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, that was, that's great. Okay. So, so I wrote it up. I was just trying to summarize it. So, you know, because we did that two and a half years ago, we actually have had a bunch of turnover. Um, tack. So we only have three members on tack who were members then at that time, we only had five members. So, um, Kim and Marcus and I were on tack at that time. And, um, I mean, so I can pull up the memo that I had drafted. And, um, And if people, you know, if people feel like they didn't have time to look at it and they'd like to, um, You know, review it after the meeting or something, but I figured we could just send it forward to TSO. Oh yeah. So the thing about the community development block grant funding is that Kathy Shane. She came to the community development block grant hearing about the proposals and she was very opposed to this project. Why? She said that they're, she said that it's too much money that the view mass should pay for it. She also said that the sidewalks aren't that bad and that. In her mind that it's more important to fix. Um, the sidewalks that are north of pine street and meadow street. Like going up toward like the access to the North Amherst library. And the business Plaza there. And things then to fix this particular section. But we don't have a plan on how the road is actually going to be around the library. And those businesses there. So I don't think there's any point in putting any money into that yet. Well, and additionally, as the chair of the CDBG advisory committee commented. That the CDBG committee can only respond. And review like proposals that they have received, like they are not coming up on their own with potential future projects. So. I mean, it's got to go through that review process. So, um, So if somebody wants to do a project. Go ahead. It also has to be in a, in an authorized area. Right. Yeah, it came a target area, a target area. Yes. The area miss. The mayor, the area of counselor Shane wants to do is actually outside. There's no target area anywhere in that area. Yeah. I mean, we've, I mean, this has been our, our top priority for the last three years. So, I mean, Or more, it's been one of our priorities, I think for before you even joined the tack, like people have talked about it a long time. Yes, but I mean, starting with all those site visits. I mean that. Yeah, for sure. Our priority because the conditions there are atrocious and people are getting, you know, so many people are using it. That's the main point, right? So many people are using that area and they're atrocious. So, I mean, when I joined the tack, like the two priorities were East Pleasant Street and North Pleasant. This section of North Pleasant Street and this section of North Pleasant Street. I mean, you have so many, so much, so many pedestrian, like you have all those apartment complexes, not only in North Pleasant Street, but then also. And now we have the mill district, like there's so many people living there. There are a lot of students that are walking there in all hours of days and night. And some, as we know from our site visits at the sidewalks, some of them are terrible. And there's also not enough crosswalks where people are just crossing things like that. So, but I guess, particularly because, you know, because she had made the comment too. So I thought that this would be a good time at least to like just get our early review on record. Yeah, not commenting on the specific projects. But just to say, we did our review earlier. And she's saying that because she's received a whole bunch of negative press about it from some people that live on the section that we've done. And so it's her district or whatever close enough to it. So she feels the need to, you know, try to walk everything around it. So, yeah. And I think she's also wearing her finance committee member hat where she's like, well, the money could be spent in better ways. Yeah, I mean, that's the secondary thing. That's just trying to make it not just. Yeah. And which is not, we did not like, we're not. That's not tax roll at all, right? To think about that piece of it. We're thinking about the safety accessibility and so on. Yeah, we have no. We don't, we don't worry about money and we just. So that's okay. I understand if you don't want to. I'm sorry, what's that? Chris. I'm sorry, you're having such a hard time. You hear me now. Yeah, okay. I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was curious about the block grant. And where that money comes from and what it can be tapped for versus locations where it can't. And I just was hoping for a quick explanation there. Well, as Gilford is saying, it can be used. So it's federal money. Probably, I believe it gets channeled through the state. It is used for organizations like direct aid, direct support for organizations that assist low and moderate income individuals. And they can award up to, I don't know if this is a state rule or a local rule or whatever they're allowed to choose up to 5. Organizations to award those funds to each year. So like this year, they gave money to the survival center and center for new Americans and so on. They are providing direct services to low and moderate income people. And then you can also use funds for other projects that will also benefit. The, the target areas as Gilford said, the economic target areas. So, so we've used, I believe we've used community development block grant funds before, like for example, the improvements on Mill Lane to go to graph park. Gilford wasn't some of that CDBG. It was. Or maybe the ones along like East Hadley Road, because those might be target area. It was more East Hadley road. Okay. Yeah. We could use it on graph, graph. We did it on Mill Lane because it connected the target area to the, to the asset is what they call it or to the area that. Do you want to see what the target areas are? Yeah. Sure. Okay. I'm going to stop sharing then. So this is the town. Whoops. Each one of these old numbered areas is actually a. A census track. From the federal government. So the ones that are highlighted in this little color here, kind of the light green, those are designated areas that you spend community development block grant money in. And then there's three areas that the town actually. Outline there in this. Magenta, there's this orange. And there's this red color here. Those are target areas, which are a little different than. Designated areas because they may include some, they mostly include people in the target areas, but they may include some places out. So these are the, so there's three target areas. Which are. The city village, the town center and the east village target area and then the income eligible ones are these light green ones here, which you can do any project wants are there. So that's what, what it is. Thank you. So, so, I mean, one thing that the CWG advisory committee said is that they only received one municipal request. And that the only request was this request. So, and they supported the request. So they made a preliminary recommendation to support the request. And then they had a public hearing. And counselor Shane spoke there. As did most of the organizations that they were funding. And then at the end of that meeting, the. The committee like reiterated that they still supported their original recommendations. I believe that they go next to the town manager. And that then would also, I believe, go to the town council because it would involve the money, monetary. Allocation. No, okay. No, once the town manager makes the decision, he just reports what he made. There's no allocation. All right. So there we go. Anyway, so I can pull up my, I can pull up that memo again. I mean, did anybody have a chance? I know I didn't send it very long. I did not. Yeah. So, so, I mean, I'll just, I'll just pull it up on the screen. And if people want to look at it after the meeting and, you know, let me know if you have any edits. I mean, I was basically trying to summarize the situation. And, you know, it felt a little funny that it's like from 2021. But basically what happened is like, it never came back up again. And there wasn't any funding. Like, I think there was also the hope that UMass would could fund it. And, but that wasn't going to be the priority ask of UMass. And so until the fall, you know, in the initial sidewalk project and then this additional projects, you know, it hasn't really been too much on TSO or the council's radar. So, I mean, I was just like documenting all of that. And then, so I, you know, I just saying we just wanted to, you know, get it submitted and we said that this has been a priority. You know, that this improving the safety and pedestrian and bicycle accessibility along this court has been among tax priority recommended town projects for at least the last 5 to 10 years. It's also a priority route for bike and pedestrians in the bicycle pedestrian network plan. Right. And, and then there's a town, the memo from the town manager. From the town manager and DPW. But as Gilbert said, it hasn't really changed much. So, I mean, overall, you know, that we, I remember from our site visit. You know, I had notes on all of this, but, you know, overall, it seemed like we liked the projects. And it is among our priorities. There were some TAC members at the time. And I remember express concern about the. The multi use path like switching sides of the street. Though I do also understand of that's because. Just because of the right away and wetlands issues and so on like that. Well, it was a cost reduction as well, right? We were being cost conscious then. So we didn't have to buy some extra land. Right, right. And I mean, do you remember like the whole section of the Eastern side of the street? Like the right away is really small. Yeah, it is. Sidewalk there is almost like a little like single track trail. Like there's almost no. And then also I remember. I mean that we talked about the lighting because, you know, we walked it in the late afternoon and on the East side of the street. Even when it's still daylight, the path is very dark. Yeah. And I think that some of that could be related to the, um, a lot of the trees. Yeah. And the trees are also in that little, um, The band between the road and the sidewalk. Like along some of that section and not. You know, off to the side on the other side of the sidewalk, which so that creates a canopy issue too. And I didn't know go further. This was still current, but the streetlight inventory that I had, which I know is probably at least 10 years old, but it said that there are currently streetlights at each of those intersections with the smaller streets. Does that sound right to you? There is. Okay, so, but I think, I mean, maybe it's mainly a vegetation issue too. And I mean, I remember the time I had been to, um, I've been to a webinar all about like different type of streetscaping lighting and, and I was wanted to reach out to the people who presented about like, what are the options if you, if you want to have lower lighting, that would be basically below the tree line so that it would be illuminated there because it is really dark. Right. And then the sidewalks very lumpy in parts too, right? And in addition to being kind of narrow, so. Well, and then, you know, we remember we saw particularly on the East side that there's all those like encroachment by bushes and trees and all those things. And we're like taking up half the sidewalk. So, I mean, that could be something that could be an enforcement issue. And, uh, and then, you know, the idea of adding the additional sidewalks, I mean, just no crosswalks, which I fully support. So I remember on the site visit that we saw the bus stop and people get off the bus and basically people just streamed across the street. And it's at least, I think it's about at least half a mile between the two crosswalks that are there currently. Um, which is just way too far. And it's just not safe. And we also know right that, um, that grad student who was killed, like he was killed. I believe he was getting off a bus, but he was like near a crosswalk. Um, And, you know, supporting crosswalks at the bus stops, which I think is sort of a new brainer. I mean, statewide that the, um, There's a lot of, um, injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists and the vicinity of bus stops. Um, in part because sometimes drivers aren't seeing them. So one of the things with the crosswalk, if you're looking at them, where the bus stop is for the northbound bus. That the crosswalk is actually behind the bus, not in front of the bus, which I think contributes to the risks. Because people are expecting that people may cross in the front of the bus similar to like a school bus. But if the, if it's behind the bus, then the oncoming traffic doesn't see them at all. Um, And, and we also liked, and I mean, I know that the work was done on the sidewalk, but I remember we also liked the idea of having a crosswalk from like the house of teriyaki corner to the other corner directly. Because currently there is no crosswalk on that side of the intersection on pine street and Meadow street. You have to go, you have to basically do like the three sides of the rectangle to cross legitimately if you're a pedestrian, instead of just going across like the one side, which I understand that that is like a left turn lane and things like that, but, but pedestrians are still going to try to take this shortest path. And it would be good if there was crosswalks there. And Guilford, the plans that we reviewed, they did show a crosswalk there. Is that something that the town is still looking at? Not in this project, but yes. Okay. And, um, and so in those plans and in the town manager's memo, it does talk about having the RFBs and a bunch of the. Crosswalks, which sounds good. And, um, And I guess, I mean, just based on my personal experiences that I do think that the RFBs can be a huge help. You know, in the research shows they can be a huge help, but I know that even for me personally, even sometimes when I've been in the middle of a crosswalk with flashing lights, like people haven't stopped. So it's, it seems that like other measures that can be taken, like some sections of this roadway are 35 miles an hour speed limits. So other measures that can be taken to, um, make the roadway, make cars go slower, whether the roadway is more narrow, whether there's any raised crosswalks or like other types of things. Um, I don't know. Guilford, you didn't have any raised crosswalks in the plans. Did you? There's no raised crosswalks on this. No. So. And, um, and the way the town manager presented it is that there was an option to add the roundabout at the crest view, um, intersection with North village, which sounds good. And then just the idea of having other, um, other traffic calming. I mean, I would hope that if some of these measures are implemented, then the town could reduce the speed limits. Along this corridor from the 35 miles an hour. Right. I mean, when we did the site visit, Guilford, I remember you talking about how that road was designed to really like move cars through. But were all those apartment complexes there then? Because well, not all of them, obviously, like Camille district and things like that, but. I mean, it seems incompatible. With having a lot of pedestrian traffic there. I mean, that was the only road between Amherst and Sunderland. So. So, and then when the 60s came, they put in 116, the four lanes section. And that's also when they started building all the apartments. I mean, is that something where the speed limit could be changed? Like reduced even without, I mean, there is some new guidance now about not using the 85th percentile speed. But it seems that Masio T is still sort of leaning that way, but. And I don't believe in like artificially reducing the speed limit, but at the same time, I mean, the two intersections have the reduced speed of 25 miles an hour. And it just seems like it would be really appropriate corridor to just say that the speed limit is 25 all the way along. No. You can do it. I mean, it's not in this project to do it. No, I understand. No. And then I just said, you know, I just, so this is basically the whole memo. And then I just, you know, I put in numbers about who is here and who thought it was good and things. So there you go. Does anybody have any comments, questions about it? I mean, what do you do? Do people want to look at what I wrote and like send me any feedback and then I can like forward it to the TS, TSO and like, like the council president over the weekend. Yeah, I'm ready to accept it as it is. I feel like we've done it. We have labored over this thing. Yeah, I'm good. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I guess there's just like a huge amount of safety recommendations, which it doesn't seem like we, we would want every single one implemented. Like if the roundabout gets implemented, then do we need raised sidewalks or. Oh, sure. So that type of thing, but I don't know how to. I'm not sure that a recommendation from TAC needs to go into that. That kind of scenario or I don't know where that type of thing would get vetted. I guess that's just within DPW and the. Engineers. I mean, we could add a sentence. I could add a sentence so that affects, you know. Yeah. So that's the only thing that struck me is just like. Not necessarily saying that every single one of these things. No, right. But, but that was. That's been for the road. I mean, that's what they're asking about. They're, I mean, it seems like. You know, we. I mean, I guess for us, I mean, also, honestly, I think there's a strength in it being from 2021 because it's something we've been. Obviously. Interested in and thinking about actively and taking action on for a while. So, you know, and, and like conditions haven't changed there. If anything, they've gotten, you know, there are more people there now. So, and maybe that's the preface. To the. Because, because even right. I think while we were. Walking through wasn't even the. The grad student apartments were not. Active. Right. That's right. I remember. Those are active now. And so is the, the, the new development. As well. So if nothing else, it's gotten even. You know, more popular. You know, so if nothing else, it's gotten even, you know, more populated. So, right, we can mention that. So is Guilford, do you know if that. The North village replacement is now like fully occupied. It's fully open, whether it's an. No, right. Right. But it is fully open now. So, so, you know, and that's more, that's children too. You know, lots of kids. Right. Right. Right. Right. All the young adults that are there. Yeah, we could mention that too. Okay. Do you. Do you mean. Young adults or. No, I mean, I mean. North, north village, right? It was traditionally family. No, I know. That's what I mean. It's relative. Yes. I mean, I have a, I have an 18 year old. I don't know if he's an adult, if he's never ever had a real job. So. Well, I'm just saying, I mean, at least when my kids were in school, there was a school bus that went specific, you know, an elementary school bus that just picked up from there. So there are a lot of kids, young kids there. And north village. Yeah. I think that the number of units may be reduced, I'm not sure I'd have to look at that again, but. From when north village was open, but we could mention, you know, at the time that we did our evaluation and then. And also the. I don't think it's, I don't think it's. Yeah, I don't think it's worth it. I'm totally good. Just don't know what we have. Sure. Send it along. Sounds good to me. All right. Cool. Yeah. Okay. Let's just take a roll call and also because I didn't take attendance at the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. I'm out loud. So Amber doesn't have that information. Kim trembling. Kim. I. So Tracy, Dave, you and I. Kim trembling. I. Okay. Marcus Smith. I. Chris Lindstrom. I. Stefan Chich. I. All right. Thank you guys. Good. I'll send that on then. Excellent. Yay. Okay. You know, ever since 2021, I was like, we have to write this up. We have to write this up. But we didn't. Okay. Let me get back to the agenda here. But I mean, they never. You know, it's sort of just, it was disappointing how it just. Never came up again. And it just got ignored. So, okay. So the next thing on the agenda was safe reach to school updates and the walk bike rule to school day on May 1st. So I have. Just gotten back out to the parent teams. And I have. I know that the middle school has enrolled for the day. Fort River is in the is there's a parent who said they would enroll and Wildwood has enrolled. So we'll still be waiting for the still waiting for Crocker. To get Crocker up. One parent at Crocker. Ethan seems excited to do like lead a group from. Like the mission. And then we have the. The city's parking lot. In other words, from the rotary there. Down just to kind of celebrate the rotary and that new stretch of sidewalk. So that seems cool. And. And then, yeah, that's it at this point is just trying to kind of reinvigorate the. The troops, but it's working so far. So we're just trying to make sure that we have the opportunity to get our students to come in and the district to start. Pushing it out in the district. Superintendent emails that come out every. Friday. As another way to help push attendance. And so we found that very helpful in the fall. So we'll start doing that. I'll find out when she's going to be starting. That. And that is it at this point. Well, thanks for doing that. Reach out. That's exciting. And maybe the Guilford wants to participate. We can get some counselors out there this year, this time. We should, we definitely have the parent. I think. Parents have a little bit more experience this time. Be able to like. Be welcoming and accommodating to a counselor. I don't think that that we could have guaranteed that last. Fall. So, you know. We definitely Guilford would love to have you. I think it's a ski day for me. So. Come on. Come on May, May 1st. You know what? I'm going to ask. So my, I know a bunch of kids who are on the environmental. Like committee at like. Save the environment at the high school. I might see if some of them might want to. Participate like help shop around or something like that, which I think would be. Yeah, that'd be awesome. I'm going to just mention that to them. Yeah. Kim, there's an entire project within safe routes. Targeted towards the high school around that. This is sort of ambassadorship where kids would show up. And do walking school buses, you know, a couple of days a week in certain neighborhoods. So taking the high school kids and putting them in these. Um, leadership roles to lead bikes and walks from neighborhoods. So if that's something that kids are interested in, there's definitely money and other types of things to help. Build that out a little bit more at the high school, if that's something that. I'll let them know because they're always looking for projects. And the other great thing about that, I'm just thinking is, you know, it's also fun for the high school to use the word school and help. You know, you know, I mean, the way that school starts earlier, it's totally doable, at least the morning. You know, Maybe we can get those high school kids to drive for a day or something. Oh, for God's sake. Yeah. Well, there is like a draw, you know, a car free day or something the environmental group. Come on. What kind of timeline we would be on to be applying for those grants and, you know, relative to the intersections and I guess I would just love an intersection update from you generally intersection at the new site of the elementary school. And then just where the safe routes infrastructure grant fits into that. Unless you went skiing, go for it. No, only on Wednesdays. So, um, there's not much of an update on what we're proposing. Not at all, there's not much, but it will the work will begin at the school. The next couple of weeks and April. April 8. April 8 is the day they're going to switch the circulation pattern, which means they're going to close one entrance and only use the other entrance. So. Yeah, all the cool stuff will happen shortly and everybody will get frustrated and everyone will see what a really bad choice of the school site that was, but we'll be stuck. All right, go for it. You got it. You can't keep fighting that battle. I just don't want people to think that we said it was a great place. I know it is not. So that said, did the engineers report come out to cover suggestions for those intersections and the traffic patterns around that. Okay. So we're still waiting. Yes. Okay. Have we got the engineer report back about Cushman yet. We did, but I sent it back for some clarifying information and I haven't got that back. So that was a while ago. So is it on the first iteration or a second iteration? Go for it. It's on his first. Okay. Do you have a timeframe for when they'd be. On the back. Man, I don't know. They're waiting for some, I promise them something and I don't think I've sent it to him yet is why it hasn't shown up yet. Yeah. I don't know if you're even, if this is like too deep from where you're dealing, but do you know, I wonder what kind of support or what kind of education the principal is doing at Fort River just to prep the families. For the circulation pattern change. So I guess they do a, like the superintendent does a newsletter. Yes. Fridays come down on Friday. So I, I've been, there's going to be lots of superintendent letters and stuff coming out Friday on Fridays and information and stuff. Got it. Well, hopefully the principal, like school administration is reaching out as well because not everybody opens those superintendent updates. So, they have lots of, I mean, they're trying to get out in lots of ways. Yeah. Yeah, sure they are. And then how about getting out the word beyond the school. You'll be, you'll be seeing some message boards going up before they close it. And then it'll say, don't come to Amherst. What about a lot of that there was for a while there's been on that bridge. I don't, I don't know what is, is it route nine? There's been, it's been closed for a stretch because like by the enterprise by the, by the car rental places. Oh, college street. Is that done because that's, No, it starts again probably in a few weeks. Oh my gosh. So that will coincide with the school. That's going to be a mass. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think the more, you know, PR they can just does the town have their PR person again or something, but you need to get that out. You know, someone who does that and looking for a job, there's it just went out. Well, if there's any kind of like press release or whatever, I mean, all the local news media will cover it. So, you know, there should be because of that like issue. It's going to be a, you know, the reminder, the bullet in the Indie all that stuff. There's any announcement. Yeah, because it seems really important to let all the other drivers now to just clear the section of college street between Amherst college and the substation all the way down to subway. Oh, I mean, wait, where is the electrical substation. Oh, wow. So that's going to be completely closed two way. No, it'll be it'll be closed off and on and we'll see how if it's two way or just one way or. Okay. A lot of times you end up having to go on some way, you know, like there are all these divergence that are happening. You know, tell us, you're going to make boltwood one way at the same time. Please. Yes, we're we start we start with wood and we actually start working on the South Common this summer to early. Can you leave the street alone for a while and then part later. We have that the North Common has to be done by June 30 and then the South Common has to be done by June 30 because we just take we just take grants and we don't schedule things. So, we have another project we have two more projects which are done by Fort River School, which are supposed to start as well and they will probably one of them will probably be put off or pushed off if we can. Wow. So go for do you anticipate applying for a safe roots grant infrastructure. I imagine we will sometime I don't really. I imagine at some point. So the those applications are in the fall now, though, both both the signs and lines grant, which is such a tiny little grant. And he's also set up for it's like a reimbursement, not just like giving the money. And then there's also the larger infrastructure grants. But the last year they had them both on like a November submit date. Yeah, I mean, we don't know what we're doing so. All right, we got to get the reports and work from there. But yeah, okay. Thank you. I just realized we're missing Joe today. I just want to see a roundabout everywhere. Yeah, me too. I think a roundabout at Cresty would be huge. Because the next, the next roundabout we're pushing is amity. Yeah, but you've already that's already designed so that's great too. You know, we're seeing amity now that we develop. Yeah. But you designed it. You designed it before right and then you said that it like the town applied for a grant for pomeroy instead or something. We had a rough design 1015 years ago and then you masked has a final design now. That's right. Yeah. And then we're talking about some mini roundabouts on deep woods. Some neighborhoods would love mini roundabouts. That's not right. How there's woods. Wait, what's the, what's the street where the neighbors are always asking. Just about every street in Amherst. I could, I could tell that at the JCPC meeting. So. But some mini roundabouts would be great. I mean, it's really hard to like retrofit the subdivisions where the wider. Roads are so wide. Actually, no, those are easier. No, but if you put in little roundabouts there, I'm saying because it's easier to do them there. Oh, for sure. Yeah. But I meant it's hard to what I'm saying is it's hard, except for the, there's not much else you can do because those streets are so wide. And most people park on the driveways. So it does seem like it encourages like higher speeds. Unless you do those kind of measures and stuff. No. Okay. All right. So, let's see. So the next item. We kind of got a potential there. The next item was about citizens for a Palmer rail stop. So I received an email from the citizens for a Palmer rail stop group. And they. They included information like links they had from when both the town council and the town manager sent letters of support for having a Palmer rail stop. For the West East rail as it's now called and they really wanted to meet with tack and. And then also, you know, build, build coalition about like trying to. To encourage a Palmer rail rail shop and Palmer for the West East rail. But one of my feelings about it was that. That as an advisory committee, right? And we're not even sure what's happening with tack exactly. That just like the town manager and the council weighed in before. And they said we really, we think that this is a great idea. Or if you reach out to UMass and say that this is really important for UMass and other. There's people much more powerful than tack who their endorsement would have much more power than tax. So I haven't met with them yet, but I have talked to some people who are really interested in this. And I guess so my question on the gender assist, if anybody attacks. Or if we know anybody else, you'd like to like volunteer and get like more involved. As the West East rail proceeds. Yeah, I mean, I like the idea of the West East rail. I just don't know where, where, you know, a stop at Palmer fits into our scope. You know, that's right. No, I mean, I mean, they seem to be very insistent. Like we must meet with tack and I was like, well, and well, we do care about it, but we don't have that much power. And I mean, if they can, if they can promise us to stop on Amherst, then I'm all game. But then also right, I mean, to get like the endorsement from like the U mass chancellor and things just have like a lot more meeting, meaning. But they were trying to start meeting and I talked to somebody from UMass who's very interested in this and he said, hey, hey, Tracy, you're going to volunteer to like be part of this. And I'm like, not really so much so. But yeah, no, I wish they would get on and get it done. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean, for us. I mean, Stefan, are you involved on real stuff much for your job? Or more transit. I'm trying to find the unmute button. I'm involved entirely in the transit unit. I work alongside people in real. I mean, not on projects. I mean, I went to the office. And, you know, I've been catch up with the new, the new director that hired for you. So Andy. So I see him in the office and we talk about what's going on. I mean, he's barely starting that position. Obviously, they're still trying to, you know, get things rolling with that. So it's just scratching the surface if that, but yeah, I mean, yeah, what was the question about it? No, I mean, I think that they were just like looking for like, you know, if tech wants to volunteer or be more involved or things like that. I mean, the problem for us is like Springfield and Palmer are pretty much the, you know, same amount of time, right? Actually, it might even take longer to get to Palmer than Springfield. Yeah. I mean, it's still, it's still talking 30 minutes to get to Palmer. Right. It's true. Maybe a bit longer, which is about the same as it takes to get down to Springfield. So, you know, we're asking for a new stop versus an existing stop. What are we really trying to push? You know, I mean, I do see the benefit of the Palmer station, but for us as the town of Amherst, what does it really bring? But the Palmer stop would be headed to Worcester or Boston. I mean, I feel like the stop in Springfield, I mean, that only goes south, right? There's no East West trains. Not for passenger rail. Yeah, there is. You have to go down to like... No, Chicago Limited. You go to Neven. You have to go down to Neven. No, you don't. No, you don't. Yeah. Yeah, the Lakeshore Limited by M-Track runs through there twice a day. Oh, I did not know that. That's not really worked only twice a day. That doesn't really work for many teams. Yeah, but it's the same corridor. They're using the same track bed for the East West. So anything... And if the stop is in Palmer, I mean, just as somebody who used to drive to Boston regularly, right, that most people who drive to Boston, they drive from here. They drive through Palmer because it's like shorter. So you're more East, and then the rest of your commute is shorter. Right. I'm just saying, from a access to the railway perspective, going to Palmer or going to Springfield, there really isn't much in it. True. In terms of distance and time and everything. Right. So for us to say, hey, let's put in... As a town of Amos, let's put in a new stop. It doesn't make a lot of sense. As just a general person thinking about access to rail, it makes perfect sense. So, I mean, it's 6-1-1-1-1. And there was a Palmer stop before, right? So, wasn't there? I mean, the train... I thought the trains had to change in Palmer and things, like if you do North-South rail. Let me see. I would like to hear from the group. Okay. I think that... And largely just because, I mean, transportation advisory... Yeah, I get what Marcus is saying. You know, we are geographically bound to Amos, but I'm just, you know, it's like... I just thought of three people who work in Boston that I know, actually four now that I'm thinking about it, who work in Boston, you know, in hybrid roles. And, you know, obviously I can't volunteer them, but I think there are quite a few people who work in Boston. Well, right. I mean, when I used to commute to Boston, I... When I took the train, which I tried to do most of the time, is I would take one of the commuter rails. So I would drive, like, halfway in. And then I would take, like, the Worcester line. Or there's a Fitchburg line or something. You have to go, like, halfway. My neighbor down the street takes a Bob-Og connector or something into... That's a bus. That's actually pretty amazing. Bus into Worcester. Worcester, right. Yeah. And wait, she doesn't... Your neighbor doesn't take the train after that, do they? Because that's a really long day, but... She's on faculty at Northeastern. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. And he lives there. So why don't we... I mean, do people agree that we would invite them to invite the citizens for a Palmer Real Estate to come? Yes. Okay. I wonder if it makes sense to also try to get somebody from TSO. Or maybe if we could combine like a briefing. Sure. I mean, it's not just us. Right. Together, just to get a sense of some of these and raise some of these issues, like, you know, honestly, for us, I guess I'm with Marcus. Going East feels natural when I'm driving, but if I'm just going to take the train into Boston, I could easily go to Springfield. So it just seems like vetting some of those things would be helpful and interesting and worthwhile for all of us. Sure. Well, so we did have somebody come, like, I don't know, a year or a year and a half ago on East West Rail. So that's fine. That sounds good. Yeah. Yeah, I'll reach out to them then. And I mean, also, so when I got the email originally from the group, I did reach out to the town manager. And at that time, and I said, well, the, I mean, the, on their website, they have like the letter that the town manager sent before and the letter of support from the town council. And I just said that, you know, you and the count, like to the town manager that him and the council waning like has more weight than tack waning. And is the count, is this something that the council would take up again? Right. And he said, hey, well, he said, well, one of the former town managers was really into this. And Tracy, do you want to get involved? So I don't know, but I don't think it's like directly tied to tech, except for provide looking at alternative modes. And there is also on a Devlin got there is also one of her roles on the council is connecting. On like state issues and, you know, legislative issues and things like that. So. I could also reach out to her just to see. Maybe she wants to in that role. She wants to lead something, you know, on the council. And then I do have to go in 3 minutes. No, that's fine. And so we can. I think we're good. So why don't we. I mean, you really didn't have too many other updates. The JCPC did hear 2 resident capital requests today 1 from. Janet McGowan about a speed radar sign near her house and 1 from Jeremy Anderson. For speed radar signs near all the schools and school. Zone signs. We don't have a liaison yet. Hopefully the council will assign 1 later this month. And that's it. We don't really have too much else. And I'm happy to end the meeting early because I have to drive to Albany. Because once you leave Chris, we want to have a quorum. So. Yeah, I don't think anybody will be sad if we leave a little early. No, I think we're good. And our main item was that memo, right? So that was great. What do we think about when we could, I mean, some, I think it may make sense to wait. You know, for next meeting until we have some stuff from TSO. TSO's next meeting is a 14th. The council's next meeting is the 18th. And then they're going to meet again on the 1st. I mean, do we want to try to meet? Do we think we should meet again in March or just wait until the beginning of April? I agree with waiting. Yeah. And go for it. Do you have items that you're bringing? So the items will probably go to the council, their 1st council meeting, which is, which is at the 18th. Uh-huh. And then they'll be sent the TSO. So TSO probably wants to ask for your input until. Well, right. So TSO, they're scheduled to meet on the 14th and then they're scheduled to meet on the 28th. So they won't get it until the 28th if the council doesn't get it until the. Right. 18th. Uh-huh. Okay. Because council, council could theoretically just say, yes, we should do this and not send it anywhere. Which would be like a great thing. Wouldn't it? Yes, we agree. Do it. But how many layers of bureaucracy do we want? Is that what you're saying? One would be nice. Yeah, I understand. Well, I guess if TSO gets things, why don't we tentatively say that we could meet on the 4th? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then, I mean, if we don't get anything, and I'll check in with TSO too. And I think at least by the 4th, we should have a liaison. And we'll know a little bit more about the JCPC stuff. So, okay. And I will check into Joe and see what happened to him. So, I mean, he did graduate from Amherst College, but he is seen in the area. Yeah, I just saw him, him and his daughter this weekend and at his house. So. Oh, okay. Coming out of his house. So he said, Joe. Yeah. And actually the, um, relatedly is a. The town manager just sent out an email about. Asking for like members of committees. So, I mean, tack does have 1 vacancy. So we can incur it. If you know anybody who's interested, we can encourage them to apply. And the town manager does 1 of the transportation commission stuff. I've met with him a few times. He wants to bring it back to tack for feedback before he takes it to the council. Great. So he was planning if they had had their regular meetings, the council meetings he was planning to do that for today. But I'll check in with him and I'll see if we can hopefully he can get something to us on April 4th. Right. Okay. Thank you all. Thanks. All right. Thanks everyone. Thanks still for a drive. Thanks Amber. Okay. Bye bye.