2008-06-11 Cities for Climate Protection Minutes

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June 11, 2008 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for June 11, 2008 (Next Meeting - June 25th at Town Hall) Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Gina Snyder, Michele Benson, Ray Porter, Ron D'Addario, Joan Boegel, Tracy Sopchak, Dave Williams, Bing Xia, Sophie Gellot and Stephanie Anderberg. Meeting opening - Chair Michele Benson opened the meeting. New associate members Dave Williams and Bing Xia introduced themselves, and committee members also did brief introductions. Minutes - A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes from the 5/28 meeting. The motion passed unanimously. MPO Grant -Tracy provided a brief summary of the shuttle plans, to the new associate members. The current status is that the MPO subcommittee has recommended the project for approval to the full MPO committee, to be discussed at their June 19 meeting. Tracy plans to attend that meeting. If the full committee approves the project funding, our committee will need to move quickly to refine implementation plans. We'll also need to help develop the advisory committee. We need to meet with Peter after the grant project is formally approved, and we need to form a subcommittee of ACCCP members. Addison Wesley Site - an Environmental Notification Filing on the proposed development has been filed, and it is rather weak on some things. The committee discussed whether to comment on the filing, and it was decided that Stephanie will begin a draft letter and work with Gina to refine it, to be sent on behalf of the committee. A suggestion that the ENF should include a specific commitment to funding the new shuttle should be included in the comment letter. Friends & Family Day - the exhibits portion of the event will run from.11 to 4 on the 21St (Entertainment will run until 9pm). Tote bags should be shipped on 6/16. Michele gave a brief summary on the plans, for the new members. Ron attended the planning meeting and worked to secure us a good exhibit space. So far there were no final decisions on exact booth locations, but the event planners will put our booth next to RMLD. DPW hasn't yet requested a booth. Subcommittee meeting with Peter - A subcommittee met with Peter H on Firday regarding MassRIDES and whether their representative (Eliot) could do a presentation on the possibility of a carpool program in the Birch Meadow/RMHS area of town. Peter suggested that Eliot present at the next department heads meeting on the 12t', and Michele will plan to attend that. Gina has named the campaign "Focus on the Footprint" with a coordinated kickoff of related concepts/programs at the same time as the MassRIDES program. Other programs to be included are GoLoco, new shuttle bus, no-idle campaign, suggested routes to school, climate change education, and school recycling. The idea is to get attention for a number of related items (linked to our Action Plan) while we have an opportunity. RCAP Subcommittee updates - Tracy looked into producing RCTV programs similar to the Green Sense articles, but on tv. The programs would highlight green work that is being done around Reading to bring awareness, mention important issues, and provide suggestions on things people can do. We could also invite speakers to present on a climate-related topic, such as geothermal heating systems installation. We would like to do outdoor filming and other things to prevent it being a stiff setting. Tracy has talked with John Surrette on how to get started and he is interested in helping us in the next several months. We are looking at possible names for the program, and lean toward names that connect it with the Green Sense columns. We could combine efforts with the recycling committee and other possible first topics are the Town energy committee, introducing CCP folks, etc. Other Business - committee members should look at their online bios for any needed updates New folks should submit bio text to Tracy.