Draft Memorandum for the Record

Regional Transportation Advisory Council Meeting

July 12, 2023, Meeting Minutes

2:30–3:45 PM, Zoom

Lenard Diggins, Chair, representing the MBTA Ridership Oversight Committee (ROC)

Meeting Agenda

1.    Introductions

L. Diggins called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM. Members and guests attending the meeting introduced themselves. (For attendance list, see page 3.)

2.    Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) 3C Committee Discussion—Lenard Diggins, Chair

Discussion

Franny Osman, Acton resident, asked how staff balanced the needs of municipalities in the outer portion of the Boston region, regional transit authorities, and the MBTA in the LRTP. Betsy Harvey, MPO Staff, stated that staff collected information regardless of the commenter’s origin location and that the Needs Assessment will contain further information on the needs and how they might conflict with one another. Bradley Putnam, MPO Staff, stated that one objective of the plan is to synthesize the needs of the region, so the plan encompasses the needs of the variety of communities in the region.

John McQueen, WalkMassachusetts, spoke of the need to provide resources to the programs and program areas to meet the goals and objectives of the LRTP and the need to properly fund transit and work towards the more ambitious mode share vision of the region’s transportation and transit system intended to be realized by 2050. He shared his dissatisfaction with the allocation of funding in the draft LRTP, particularly regarding the MPO’s equity and resilience goal areas, and the need for greater emphasis on the dramatic mode shifts across the region’s transportation system that are necessary to achieve those goals. He stated that there is redundancy across the LRTP’s investment programs, such as Complete Streets and Intersection Improvements, and that the funding allocated across these programs does not adequately address and support the region’s transit needs and the LRTP’s vision and goals.

Dan Jaffe, Charlestown resident, spoke of the challenges that residents in the Charlestown neighborhood face traveling both locally and long distance due to its geographic constraints.

L. Diggins stated that it would be beneficial to discuss the interpretations of the Disparate Impact/Disproportionate Burden (DI/DB) analysis. L. Diggins asked if the DI/DB analysis methodology is affected by the 20-year horizon that projections are made for. B. Harvey stated that the DI/DB policy was developed to be sensitive to potential disparate impacts, so the sensitivity acts as a cautionary measure as programming is allocated to projects.

L. Diggins asked for clarification on the meaning of the “Expected Difference” column in Table H-1 in the LRTP. B. Harvey stated that the “Expected Difference” column allows for comparisons between minority and nonminority impacts and low-income and non-low-income impacts, so in Table H-1a, there is a loss of jobs for both minority and nonminority populations, but the magnitude of this loss is lower for minority populations, indicating that there is not a DI/DB for this metric.

AnaCristina Fragoso, Boston Society of Civil Engineers (BSCES), asked if the LRTP Comment Letter will include discussion about adding additional weighting to projects that account for operational and maintenance expenses. L. Diggins confirmed that the comment will be added.

L. Diggins shared a goal for the Needs Assessment: to have engagement from every municipality in the region or an actionable plan towards the goal. Stella Jordan, MPO Staff, stated that Appendix C contains a summary of engagement activities that were used to develop the LRTP and Needs Assessment and meetings are held annually with the subregions representing all of the region’s municipalities through the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

J. McQueen spoke of the factors skewing findings from public engagement, including conflicting interests and goals and encouraged implementing strategies to integrate the voices of groups such as healthcare and food service employees.

D. Jaffe spoke of the differing transportation needs and socioeconomic backgrounds of each community within the Boston region.

L. Diggins expressed interest in understanding how the MPO evaluates its engagement activities.

Vote

A motion to approve the LRTP Comment Letter with minor editorial revisions was made by the BSCES (A.C. Fragoso) and seconded by the Town of Needham (David Montgomery). The motion carried.

3.    Advisory Council Elections/Nominating Committee—Lenard Diggins, Chair

L. Diggins stated that elections for the Advisory Council chair and vice-chair will be held in October; a Nominating Committee must be convened to bring forward nominations at the September meeting. L. Diggins requested three people to participate in the committee.

Discussion

A.C. Fragoso volunteered to participate on the committee.

F. Osman stated that she is interested in running for vice-chair.

D. Montgomery stated that he will step back from the Advisory Council in the coming months.

L. Diggins stated that he will follow up with members after the meeting.

4.    Chair’s Report—Lenard Diggins, Chair

L. Diggins stated that the Advisory Council submitted its letter for the Unified Planning Work Program.

5.     August Meeting—Lenard Diggins, Chair

L. Diggins stated that historically, field trips would occur in August and asked if members had any location ideas. The next regularly scheduled meeting will occur in September.

Discussion

A.C. Fragoso expressed interest in visiting the Massachusetts Port Authority.

6.    Approval of Meeting Minutes

There were none.

7.    Old Business, New Business, and Member Announcements

There were none.

8.    Adjourn 

A motion to adjourn was made by the BSCES (A.C. Fragoso) and seconded by WalkMassachusetts (J. McQueen). The motion carried.

Attendees

Member Municipalities	Representatives and Alternates
Needham	David Montgomery

 

Citizen Advocacy Groups	Attendees
Boston Society of Civil Engineers (BSCES)	AnaCristina Fragoso
MBTA Ridership Oversight Committee (ROC)	Lenard Diggins
MoveMassachusetts	Jon Seward
WalkMassachusetts	John McQueen
Resident (Acton)	Franny Osman

 

Agencies (Non-Voting)	Attendees
MBTA Advisory Board	Amira Patterson
MetroWest Regional Transit Authority	Tyler Terrasi

 

Other Attendees	Affiliation
Dan Jaffe	Charlestown Resident

 

MPO Staff/Central Transportation Planning Staff
Betsy Harvey
Stella Jordan
Ethan Lapointe
Erin Maguire
Bradley Putnam
Tegin Teich
Sam Taylor