East Boston - Chelsea
Creek Action Group Attending: Chris Blackler, Leigh Hall, John Markley, Vinny Ieni, Susan Voloshian, Nancei Radicchi, Robertson Ward, Pat Fidler, Mary Ellen Welch, Sal Matti, Neda Movaghar (intern), Julie Horowitz (Mystic River Watershed Assn), Charlie Tracy (National Park Service), Juan Toro, Andres Builes, Cindy Hernandez, Rachel Pierre-Antoine, Shaundra Miles Carlos Pemberthy, and Matthew Como, (E3C – Environmental Chelsea Creek Crew), Meghan McGrath and Stacey Chacker (NOAH). Meeting facilitated by: Matthew and Nancei Introductions – Stacey reported that Ana Maria Gomez is taking classes on Wednesdays for the next couple of months and Lucy Del Muto is on vacation. January meeting minutes accepted. Updates/News/Misc: E3C update: Meg reported that NOAH hired three more youth for the Environmental Chelsea Creek Crew – Andres, Cindy, and Rachel. This brings the crew up to 7 members.Chelsea Creek Revel: Leigh and Meg reported that this is the official name for the cross-creek festival that is designed to celebrate the Creek. The goal is to hold this event on Saturday, June 5th and to get the Meridian Street Bridge shut down for the festival – which needs to be approved by many parties. Meg spoke to the Coast Guard who says is seems possible, she needs to follow up with them and the Office of Neighborhood Services (Boston). Ideas for the event include a triathlon (biking, running, and canoeing or kayaking), music, food, and other activities. The next planning meeting is 2/12 at 6:30 at NOAH. Anyone is welcome to join the planning committee. We will need lots of volunteers for the day of the event. Elections for Executive Committee: Nancei reported that in the past we have appointed the Executive Committee (currently Ana Maria, Lucy, Vinny and Nancei). We plan to hold elections at the March meeting. Anyone interested in being on or nominating someone for the Executive Committee should contact Stacey. Pipes on railroad right away between Chelsea St and McGrath Hwy: John reported that he learned since our last meeting that these pipes are temporary sewage pipes that run from Porter St to the MWRA pumping station on Chelsea Creek. Vinny and Sal added that it is a two-year project. Bronx River – Chelsea Creek Restoration Partnership Exchange: Stacey reported that on March 3rd and 4th a group of four staff members from different organizations associated with the Bronx River Project will be coming to Boston to meet with the Chelsea Creek Restoration Partnership (CCRP). CCRP staff has been interested in doing this for a while – to learn from their experiences, and asked the Merck Family Fund to fund this exchange. The Bronx group will be arriving for lunch on the 3rd – will have lunch with staff – and then go for a tour of the Creek. From 4-6 P.M. on March 3rd and 8:30 to 11:30 on March 4th – all residents and partnering organizations are invited to join the discussion. We will most probably be meeting at the Beth Israel in Chelsea. We hope to learn from them about their large coalition (the Bronx River is a 23 mile river), how they leveraged federal funding, programs, etc, as well as to share with them our experiences. Mary and Nancei plan to come on March 3rd.Snowshoeing and other winter fun at the Condor Street Urban Wild: Saturday, February 21st - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Meg reported that this event will go on even with no snow. Susan and/or Metro, Ana Maria (if she’s not working), and Pat volunteered to help on the day, and E3C will be working. The following volunteered to distribute flyers: Nancei, Susan, Leigh (at 80 Border Street) and Pat. Meg will get the flyers done and distributed to volunteers. E3C will also flyer. Boudreau: Stacey reported that Zoning Board of Appeals approved Boudreau’s request for permit to use as a contractor’s yard (based on argument that they were grand fathered in and have used the site uninterrupted for this purpose since before zoning was adopted by the City of Boston). CCAG could appeal the decision (we would have 20 days from 1/28/04) to the City. However, according to Aaron, we would need to have firm proof that they had stopped using the site for this purpose. All agreed it would be very difficult to obtain that proof, and thus we should not appeal. Boudreau did, however, write language into their agreement that they would work with EB-CCAG to develop a landscaping plan for the border of the site, though they did not make a firm commitment to what it will be. They’ve requested a general plan of what EB-CCAG would like to see. It was agreed that EB-CCAG Executive Committee discuss how to approach this issue and make a recommendation to the whole committee. The Environmental Advocacy and Organizing Program at Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, NH is sponsoring two free weekend seminars - 3/6-7 on Leadership Skills and 4/3-4 on Fundraising, Marketing and Financial Management. If you are interested, contact Steve Chase at Antioch New England, 603/357-3122, steven_chase@antiochne.edu.NOAH’s office is moving in April to 143 Border Street. All agreed that if available, we should meet there instead of the Harborside. Gail Miller opened an antique and household store (Eastie Gail’s) at 58 Bennington St. Chelsea Creek Action Group Logo: Leigh explained that Neda was hired as an intern for CCAG via the Environmental Careers Organization to provide graphic art services. As reported at past meetings, she has been working with a committee (Leigh, Jesse Kahn, Aaron, Roseann and Stacey) to develop a CCRP brochure and a new logo. Neda presented seven logos, and participants voted on the one that had a leaf on top, and water below (Neda explained that this indicated the connection between the greening efforts and the River). There was a request that the K (of Creek) not be big on the end – and a suggestion to put the logo before the name, as opposed to centered on top of it. There was also a discussion about whether this logo should be for CCRP, and CCAG should keep the current bridge logo. It was stated that CCRP – as it is a partnership of organizations – probably does not need a logo, and thus this should be used for CCAG (though there was misgivings about giving up the bridge). It was agreed that Stacey should share this information with Chelsea Green Space who is scheduled to vote on the logo in March, and then based on their decision, a final decision will be made based on the input (between Stacey and Roseann – as the National Park Service is waiting for this logo to complete the rail trail map they are making for us). Chelsea Creek Rail Trail - "Arts and Community Landscapes" Project: Map of proposed Rail Trail: NPS has developed a map showing where this rail trail would go for marketing purposes. Meeting with Revere Mayor Ambrosino: Charlie reported that Stacey, Aaron and he met with Mayor to discuss the rail trail. The Mayor was supportive and gave ideas of who to contact to move forward. He will write CCRP a letter of support for the trail. Meeting with MBTA on 2/18 at 1 P.M. Charlie reported that he, Stacey, and Aaron will meet with T officials to discuss a possible lease of the rail corridor. No CCAG member is available to attend. Meeting with Coastal Zone Management (CZM) on 2/27 at 12 P.M. CZM says they’d like to be a partner on the rail trail, but also have concerns about the Designated Port Area line. Charlie, Stacey, Aaron, Nancei and maybe Susan will meet with them (please note: this meeting was postponed).Reconsider name for Chelsea Creek Rail Trail: Charlie asked that we reconsider the name for marketing purposes (and specifically to attract federal funding). Charlie stated that: a) The name should be short, memorable, descriptive and distinctive. "Rail Trails" are very common - there are hundreds across the country - doesn't seem to do justice to this stretch of Chelsea Creek which is quite unique - and more of a destination than a trail. Think Esplanade!; and b) Using the word "Creek" as opposed to "River" may undersell the quality and scale of the Chelsea Creek (he believes that most people in the U.S. outside of Boston will not think "big river". Said we may be going for $1 - $1 ˝ million and believes agencies will be more willing to put big $ into a River than Creek.Stacey brought the following list of suggested names that people e-mailed to her. One idea was to have a name that worked in Spanish and English.
Charlie has proposed that we work with the consultant that worked with NPS on such a plan for the Boston Harbor Islands – June Creelman, Apropos Planning. Phase I will cost approximately $2600 (NOAH and Chelsea Greenspace will pay $600 and NPS $2000. This process is different than what CCAG is accustomed to – as it is not designed to be an open community meeting. Instead, Charlie explained, it is better to have a smaller group – 15-20 people with representatives from CCAG, NOAH, Chelsea Green Space, and "experts" (e.g. people from the Boston Harbor Islands, someone from Boston Parks, an ecologist, historian, etc). The group would meet once for the Phase One meeting, called a day-long "Themes Workshop" to establish the mission statement (for the interpretative plan), key objectives and primary themes for the project. There is a possibility that the group would also discuss sub-themes, approaches/locations for interpretation. This process is not meant to direct CCAG – but instead to provide a framework. After the workshop, NPS will bring the results back for further comments from CCAG. If CCAG does not want to use the results that are generated, there is no obligation.Next steps: It was agreed that at our March meeting, we would spend 15 minutes discussing what CCAG believes are the important stories that need to be told, and that Leigh and Vinny would attend on behalf of EB-CCAG, and Stacey on behalf of NOAH. If there is more funding available in the future and find helpful, we will consider doing additional phases of this planning process. Hess Site There was a rumor that the Hess site had been sold. It seems that they have a marketing plan or proposal, but no sale. We are still working to see if they will sell TPL/NOAH an option. Clean-up: Hess is continuing their clean-up and just sent NOAH their "Phase IV Remedial Implementation Plan Modification - Soil Excavation and Disposal" – which as the name indicates – involves excavating and removing soil from the site. They plan to begin this in the spring. All agreed that we should ask Hess to come to our March meeting (and if they are unable – April). EB-CCAG 2004 meeting schedule If the Harborside is closed due to snow, the meeting will be postponed until the following Wednesday. March 10th
Minutes submitted by Stacey Chacker. Call 617-569-0059 ext. 13 with corrections or additions.
Source of meeting minutes: Stacey.Chacker@noahcdc.org Contact her for more information. |
