Attending: Ana Maria Gomez, Susan Voloshin, Lucy Del Muto, Vinny Ieni, Mary Ellen Welsh, Nancei Radicchi, Gail Miller, Stanley Buonagurio, John Barbero, Tony Gambale, Karyl Stoia (Friends of Belle Isle), Stephanie Marrow (Police Department), Nick Rosenberg (Watershed Institute) Susan Loucks (CCAG project coordinator) Matt Henzy, Stacey Chacker (NOAH)

Meeting Minutes: Minutes from 2/21 were read and approved.

Updates:

Recent Events: CCAG co-sponsored an energetic community meeting about Environmental Justice with Executive Office of Environmental Affairs in East Boston on 3/19. Approximately 70 people attended. The following day there was a press conference on the recent runway 14/32 news, with many local politicians and residents present. Mary Ellen has drafted sample letters to send to senators and urges us to contact our politicians about the proposed runway.

Upcoming Events: The Boston Harbor Association, an organization made up primarily of industrial users on the creek, is sponsoring a meeting about Chelsea Creek for their members on 5/31 during the day. It would be nice to have a representative from the community there, if one was available. ACE (an environmental organization in Roxbury) is sponsoring their annual "Environmental Justice in the ‘hood" conference on April 28. On 3/31 the STRIVE job training program will be holding an Environmental literacy training in Chelsea, at the Williams School. CCAG members are welcome to attend, call 437-1441 to register. Roca, Inc. and Chelsea Green Space & Recreation committee are putting on an Earth Day celebration in Chelsea on Saturday, April 21 in the parking lot near Beth Israel. There will be entertainment and activities, including a historical walking tour.

CCAG Summer Schedule: CCAG has a few events planned for this summer, including historical walking tours on both sides of the creek boat ride/concert events on both sides,. Many CCAG members volunteered to tell share personal stories about the Chelsea River in order to create the East Boston tour.

Channel Fish:

Through the Watershed Institute, we have connections to the legal firm that represents Channel Fish. As a result, there may be an opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with the city, Channel Fish, and representatives from CCAG. The meeting might be a good way to continue the conversation, congratulate Channel Fish on progress, and set milestones for improvement on the outstanding issues. If this is possible, Vinnie and Susan V. are interested in participating. Nancei suggested looking at the list of people who were at the last Channel Fish meeting and sending people from that group, for consistency.

Group Structure

CCAG members discussed whether it would be helpful to have roles in the group, either traditional (chair, vice-chair, and clerk, for example) or structured in some different way. Susan L. passed out a paper to sign if you were interested in participating more intensely in a particular activity between meetings, such as research and meeting facilitation. Members decided to create an executive committee to make decisions between meetings (as needed) and review and sign correspondence. Lucy Del Muto, Vinnie Ieni, Ana Maria Gomez and Nancei Raddichi agreed to serve (though Nancei will not be able to attend EB-CCAG meetings in the fall).

Chelsea Creek Master Planning Process:

Progress on the Master Planning Process has been mixed. We did not receive funding from the East Boston Foundation. However, Stacey has had conversations with people who are in positions to inform and move our process forward, and is creating a committee that can help. Additionally, CCAG will be participating in a charette process on April 27-29^th run by the Civic Initiative for a Livable New England. This is a weekend-long exercise that will potentially find us interested consultants and professionals who could also help us along. Anyone who wants to come is welcome. Stacey, Susan and Gail will attend from E. Boston.

Cashman’s:

During the last month, Cashman’s has been seeking a permit for storage of items they have on site. Arthur Cardoza recognized the inadequate notice regarding this permit and alerted members about attending the hearing. Joe Mason attended, objections were registered, and the final permitting process has been delayed. Nick (our legal intern) has done some research and discovered that the application is for existing permits to be consolidated, which probably will pass easily. However, this may be a great opportunity to start conversations with Cashman, and let him know we’re watching his business. Gail, Nancei, Vinnie, and Susan V. would be interested in meeting with Cashman and/or going to the next permit hearing. Vinnie suggested that we work down the creek, visiting all businesses, establishing contact with them, and making it public which are friends of the creek and which are enemies. Nick agreed to work on a protocol for that sort of information gathering.

Hess Site:

The Hess Site planning process is gearing up for meetings in April and May. At the last meeting, members agreed that two meetings would be appropriate – one to learn about the background, and one to do the planning. It seems helpful to have a third one as well, in order to do look more closely at the zoning and marketplace restrictions and "nip and tuck" the final plan. The meetings should not conflict with any airport hearings. The meeting schedule is set for Wednesday April 18 (instead of the regular CCAG meeting), Saturday May 5 (10-2, lunch included) and Wednesday, May 23 (again, instead of the regular CCAG meeting.) The Hess site has always been a big part of the CCAG agenda and all members are strongly urged to come out and participate in this process.