Traffic and Parking Committee

Thank you.

Hello, everyone. Apologies, I have some computer issues. Anyhow, my name is Naima Sait. I use she her pronouns. I'm the World 5 Councilor and your traffic and parking chair. I would like to call to order today's Traffic and Parking Committee meeting of the Somerville City Council. First, I will read the legal notice that allows us to have this meeting on Zoom Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2023, this meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio-video recording, transcript or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Clerk. Could you please call the roll to establish a quorum?

Yes, I can. And Chair Sait, this is Delaney clerking tonight. All right. This is roll call. Councilor Wheeler.

Here.

Councillor Mbah.

Present.

Chair Saead. All right, with that we have all members present so we do have quorum.

Okay great and I will begin with the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting On the minutes, any discussion? Seeing none, clerk could you call a roll for approval of the minutes?

Yep, this is for ID number 26-1148, approval of the minutes of the T&P committee meeting of June 22nd, 2026. On approval of The Minutes, Councilor Wheeler Yes Councilor Mbah Yes Kara Sait.

Yes.

All right, with that, that is all votes in the affirmative.

Okay, great. So we have here Director Rawson and unfortunately Director... Rinfret will not be able to join us today, so we'll keep all the items related to... Yeah, item three, we'll give that in committee. So if we skip the items related to parking, we will skip them and just take them up next month. So we'll follow the order of the agenda. We'll start with item four. So again, we'll skip two and three. Submitting... Yes. Clerk, could you please read item 4?

Yes I can. Item 4 ID number 26-1183 Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee submitting comments regarding the bus network redesign

Thank you, Clerk. Clerk, could you please promote Director Postoway to his in the waiting room?

He should be all set. I just promoted him to a panelist a minute ago.

Awesome, thank you. All right, we'll show the item attachment on the screen. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Director Rawson?

Good evening chair, good evening committee. Brad Rawson I serve as director of mobility and happy to speak on item four which is MBTA bus network redesign specifically the official comments submitted by the city's pedestrian and transit advisory committee. Chair, I'm happy to defer to you in terms of how you want to handle this. I actually do not have confirmation on whether any committee members are here to speak But as you know, our staff serve as formal liaison to pedestrian and transit advisory committee and have supported the agenda setting, minute taking, and troubleshooting of this discussion. So we can certainly give credit where it's due. Our volunteer committee members have done a lot of great work in advocacy and digging into the details on the long history of bus network redesign.

and most recently discussed at their June meeting, NVTA's current proposal which just for kind of level setting chair will propose to eliminate what we know of as the Route 80, which serves the Ball Square to Magoon Square to Gilman Square to East Somerville to Lechmere, Link. The MBTA's official approved Route 80 proposal would rather retain the west side from Arlington Center to Tufts College Avenue. and then reroute that bus down College Avenue to provide a red line connection at Davis Square. The logic of MBTA's proposal is rooted in a couple of different things, but the city has consistently expressed concerns about some of the trade-offs associated with that strategy.

So we just really want to thank our volunteer committee members who did the deeper work and wrote a terrific letter that they filed with the city council as well as with MBTA's Better Bus team. Chair, why don't I pause and then ask for direction from you in terms of how we can be most helpful in this discussion?

Yeah. Thank you, Director. So yeah, so we get to the letter So am I hearing that the decision has been made and the MBTA is not open to changing that?

Well, Chair, through you, that's an interesting question and we've been trying to understand it as well as staff and as advocates and residents. It is true that the MBTA Board of Directors took a formal vote endorsing the overall system-wide network redesign several years ago. And that vote included what I just described of transforming the Route 80 bus service However, MBTA has shown a real willingness to accept new information and work with local communities, and with the region as a whole to actually fine tune that broad strategy of bus network redesign. So we have seen numerous examples around the region as well as in Somerville where things are implemented not exactly how they were proposed back in 2022.

It is our sincere hope that willingness to accept new information, to seek and act on community feedback, accept input from partners like municipal governments will continue. Our staff have communicated some of these same exact concerns to MBTA staff, and it will surprise none of the committee members to know that Mayor Wilson has communicated that very clearly to Secretary Eng as well. So my crystal ball chair suggests that although the Route 80 changes are formally approved, We still have opportunities to discuss the fine details, not only with the MBTA but with our neighbors in the city of Medford and in the town of Arlington. MBTA just completed a community feedback round, which is what they've been doing now for the last few years when they implement annual service changes.

And again, it's not going to be any surprise to any of you. Hundreds of Somerville residents as well as Medford residents, Cambridge residents and Arlington residents submitted comments, questions and concerns about a number of changes including the Route 80 MBTA has indicated already in the month of September that they are going to take all that feedback and review it, then update the public about any potential changes that come out of it. Chair, to wind down this comment I want to make sure i'm setting as accurate and appropriate expectations as possible While we hope that we will be able to achieve the continuation of bus service in the greater Winterhill-Gilman Square neighborhood, right now MBTA is operating with an approved plan to change it okay so although we will continue working and partnering and collaborating

I just want to level set expectations that right now if they were to act, they would probably act to change things the way that they've already approved it.

Thank you, Director. This is very helpful. I will speak as one counselor when hearing from this The AD bus goes through a couple squares in my ward and all I heard is concerns. And I want to take a moment to thank all the constituents who have reached out to the MBTA, reached out counselors for the administration and my colleagues advocating for the same exact things that we see in this letter. So, yeah, it's helpful to know where things are at My next question is when, and maybe you don't have the answer to it director but I would like to know when should we expect an update from the MBTA? I think it's will be helpful as we're organizing around this to know when do we can update on this.

Thank you, Chair. Winter is the terminology that our partners at MBTA have used and again this is not just a Somerville question they've communicated the same to Medford, Arlington, Cambridge As well as other municipalities who are affected by this particular service package. So I would say after the new year, we should have additional information. about timing, impacts, substitutions, alternatives. Chair I know that part of your concerns as well as all of ours are that Some new land use considerations have really come to light these last couple of years. Those are reflected in the PTAC letter very well, most obviously the 115 Sycamore School project. was not part of the 2021 and 2022 due diligence that MBTA was performing.

And so again, we have communicated in good faith our sincere concerns about making sure that high quality, reliable, useful public transit bus transit can support that school project over time. We strongly agree with the PTAC position that Route 80 bus service is not duplicative of Greenline Service. There's just too much fine grain topography Street Grid, different abilities and access points for different residents and users and riders to think that everybody who today rides 80 should be over on the green line instead. We just reject that logic.

Yeah, thank you director and thank you for your advocacy on this. At first yeah I would like to ask my colleagues if they have any questions Directors, my colleagues are asking the question. It's just like what else can we do? Personally, where I'm at, what else we can do, especially the point about 115 Second Work For a few years, the decision was not made about where we're building this school in its current location or different location. But we know this is the direction we're going as a city. So this is just, this is a huge loss. So yeah, again that's like one counselor that's kind of where now it's just like what else? Because this is in the hands of the MBTA.

and everyone here is on the same page administration you know the council and all these communities Being served by the 80 bus. So anything that comes to mind, director, please share it with us. Yeah, we'll turn to my colleagues if they have any questions. Consumba.

Thank you, Chair to say never miss a A good moment to ask a good question from a good director. Director Rawson, thank you for your work Shout out to your amazing articles. Happy birthday and all whatnot. So I guess this is just for the city. Like, I'm just curious, like... So what is the city, actually this is not an MBTA. What is the City doing to ensure that these changes improve connections to the MBTA with schools you know like just you know and other key destination without reducing accessibility you know for like the current rider as it stands you know like because this is your domain so I just wanted to get your take on that

Chair, through you. Thanks, Councilor. I appreciate your advocacy and your compliments. The first thing that I will call attention to is that city staff from multiple departments Continue to do everything that we can to make sure that our streets, sidewalks and neighborhoods provide the best operating environment possible for our partners at the MBTA. Today we have enhanced bus stops under construction as part of our Western Pearl Street Construction Project, Councilor. And I think it's a really interesting kind of question for all of us to grapple with when we know that there is a possibility of a bus service change. How does that influence the city's decision making on how to design and build our streets to promote safety, accessibility, and transit prioritization?

As we were reaching critical design milestones on that Western Pearl Street project a couple of years ago, the best information we had at the time was there was no schedule to eliminate Route 80 bus service. therefore community members participating in that process and we as staff determined that we would design and build with the assumption that a bus would be continuing to serve Western Pearl Street between McGrath and Gilman Work that we've been doing in Magoon Square will follow a similar trajectory where we have to make sure that these intersections and streets are bussable. that strengthens our ability to continue partnering with MBTA. The way that we operate our traffic signals, the way that space our bus stops, the ways that we design our bus stop influences efficiency and safety for their operators and riders.

So this is the first thing I'll call attention to. Keep doing what you're doing Use a complete streets attitude to fulfill the commitments in the City's Safe Streets Ordinance that many of you worked on, which call for us to deliver transit priority solutions where existing bus service runs. So the second piece of the puzzle, I think is continuing to work with our advocacy partners locally and regionally. Work with our elected officials locally, regionally, and at the state level as well as our neighboring cities and towns. We are constantly on the phone with Medford, with Arlington or Cambridge to try to coordinate all of these types of issues because we are stronger together and we approached that regional dialogue counselor with a degree of humility. I want to be clear that MBTA is forced to reallocate scarce resources From one route to another as part of its network redesign. They only have so many buses, they only have

and their goal is to ensure that as many buses as possible are coming every 10 minutes like we've been able to achieve in our Union Square neighborhood with the Route 109. But in the absence of net new vehicles or net new operators, of course, the MBTA is going to have to deprioritize service on some routes in order to strengthen it elsewhere. Somerville has been really good over these last five years about seeing the forest for the trees and working with the MBTA and our neighboring cities and towns given those scarce resources. So I think we'll just continue to show up, Councilor, to ask the hard questions, to offer up partnership opportunities, to use our own resources, to improve street design on our streets. and continue to rely on our elected officials, our advocacy partners to spotlight these issues and ask for predictability in terms of having really excellent transit services in neighborhoods like Thank you, Director.

Russell Wheeler Thank you, Chair.

And thank you, Director Ross. I appreciate the scrolling because I was going to bring up Route 85 as well. I appreciate all of PTAC's hard work really looking at this system holistically and making fine-grained observations about what would matter for improving service for Somerville residents. One of their points that I'd like to highlight is this point about the sort of early cutoff and limited weekend service for the 85. And You know that as they say further down in their discussion of the sort of self-fulfilling effects of higher frequency of bus service. if you learn that you can rely on there being a certain bus and you don't need to check the schedule it unlocks a certain level of kind of

Organic and ad hoc travel without having to sit down and think like If I want to go to this place, am I going to have to call a cab? Am I gonna have to wait for someone to give me a ride? Will there be a bus at that hour or will there not? And yeah, I'm just hoping and also I am assuming Director Rawson that in our city staff's discussions with the MBTA that Frequency, consistency and a lack of arbitrary cutoff times for bus service is something that matters immensely across the board.

Chair, through you. Great points, Councilor. Yes, absolutely. Frequency matters a lot and today Route 80 is not a frequent route. and as a result it is hard for riders and members of the public to know that if they miss one bus, they can still get where they're going within a reasonable amount of time. And again you compare that to some of our higher frequency corridors I think it's worth noting that, again part of the ability to achieve higher frequencies does depend on street design. But Councilor you also noted the relationship between frequency and ridership I didn't mention it a moment ago, but Route 80 has struggled to regain its pre-pandemic ridership levels. This is common across the MBTA system, but many Somerville bus routes are currently run in between 50 and 70% in terms of average daily ridership. Boudidi's running at about 30%.

And so I think you're correct to point out this relationship between frequency and ridership. And we do want to try to solve for both of them simultaneously. As a community, we can discuss other locations. Can higher frequency service on Broadway in Winter Hill serve the 115 Sycamore site for example? and we developed the partnerships to deliver north-south bus service using wider rangeway streets like perhaps portions of School Street over time. Our pedestrian and transit advisory committee, our staff have grappled with these issues over time. None of us have perfect answers yet but it is a complex puzzle and we're working as well as we can to try to support MBTA in solving it

Thank you, Director.

Yeah, thank you, director for your insight and yeah so with The expectation that a decision will be made sometime this winter. Are we... like the administration your department going to double the efforts in the next few months because yeah like that's the window we have um And yeah, so just this one last question.

Yes, Chair, we will. And I realize we've discussed this item now and so I'll try to keep my answer short. Yes. Staff have regular touch points, regular standing meetings with MBTA service planning staff. We have great historic partnerships with them. MBTA has a task force of community-based organizations, municipalities and elected officials who serve as a sounding board for for the Better Bus Network redesign. We participate in that space as well, and so we have a few different ways to continue to get technical information, share our advocacy both behind the scenes as well as in public, and we'll keep working on it.

Okay, thank you director. Well this is a note to all of us elected officials to do the same and please director reach out to us if there's anything else we can do Okay, as you said we're stronger together so that's what we'll do. Are there any other questions from colleagues regarding this item? um yeah and uh I'm thinking of keeping this item in committee just because in a few months If there's, yeah, we can discuss this with you Director Rawson if there is any update. Yes, Director Rawston.

Chair, if I may respectfully make a suggestion. I believe this agenda item is listed as public communication rather than a resolution or council order and I think it really reflects the great work of our volunteer pedestrian and transit advisory committee based on a point in time, which is the public information that MBTA was sharing this summer. We all will clearly continue to work on this and we will keep the council informed. But as we approach the end of the calendar here, again respectfully I just want to offer up a possibility which would be to close this particular item and then ensure that as the new council is seated in the new year to reopen, make sure that we can then integrate new information at that time. But totally your discretion. Forgive me if I'm over-speaking.

Yeah, thank you director for this suggestion. Yeah, I will write a note to myself to submit an order in January so we can keep track of this and get... Regular updates. All right, we'll mark this item as complete

Item 5, Madam Clerk. Item number five, ID number 26-1425 that the Director of Mobility install a no turn on red sign at the intersection of Broadway and Cedar Street.

This is my item and yeah, so we all know this intersection right now. It's allowed to make a turn, right turn on red. I am very familiar with this intersection. They have lived my house right at this intersection and I watched this intersection from my kitchen for years It is extremely unsafe. It is next to the field, Trump Field over the summer During baseball season, we have many teenagers crossing that intersection to get to 7-11. To get snacks and drinks So this is why I'm saying I know this intersection really well And there were so many times where

Cars just literally stop right at the beginning of the crosswalk, not, you know, just suddenly these teams are crossing really quickly. It's not just that, it's in general very unsafe. and this is really busy street we're all familiar with Cedar Street it is the emergency route North, South. So and also another thing is that we have DPW there so we have many trucks All day long making this turn. And I think... I have discussed with you, I did not put an order in the past on this but it's time that we really do something about this. So would love to hear from you Director Ross and What would be the approach here and what to expect?

Jerry, thanks for the order and thanks for your advocacy. As councillors may recall a couple of years ago Somerville staff from several departments including mobility engineering and parking worked to assess all signalized intersections in Somerville that are under our jurisdiction and examine not just the intersection as a whole, but each individual approach to the intersection. and there was a bit of an audit that we were able to complete and say where do we have signs that make it very, very clear that no turn on red is permitted. and Sheriff Memory Serves, I think we found something like 97% of eligible turning movements had regulations on the books that prohibited turn on red. and then there was a smaller percentage of those locations that did not have proper signage

So staff from primarily engineering and parking have actually been doing the hard work of going through intersection by intersection, turn by turn, and installing signage where signage had previously been missing. Chair, we're going to need to speak with some of those staff to get you the latest information. I'm sorry, I wasn't able to do that today. My memory is that this was one of those odd intersections where because of a through lane headed eastbound on Broadway... and a dedicated right to turn onto southbound cedar that this was one of those locations where there were no regulations on our books that explicitly prohibited no turn on red. and that's why there's no sign. So in all likelihood, what we would need to do is just have a bit of an assessment looking at the signal timing, the signal phases Bring a recommendation to the city's traffic commission that you represent the council on and then secure a vote and then be able to hang the sign.

So I'll be happy to work with Brian's team in engineering and Suzanne's team parking to get you updated information. I'm sorry, I don't have that at my fingertips here. But I will also note for you and for other residents who are concerned about this safety challenge, we know that signs don't always adequately discourage the behaviors that were worried about. Aboff, And so we heard about this during our community engagement process. We have prepared concept designs and are now working with a consultant to advance the designs from concept into something approaching final design. Our project schedule anticipates bidding that construction this coming winter and potentially initiating that construction as soon as next summer.

So, we will pursue the short-term remedies as you noted, but we will also keep our eye on the prize for a more comprehensive reconstruction of this problematic intersection. I hope that's helpful information.

Thank you, director. I like that word. You're approaching this short term. What can we do short term? What can And now that you're also talking about a long-term plan, I'm remembering that this is the answer I think they received is that eventually this... Power of Broadway will be redesigned and it would include this intersection. um but yeah so it's it's good to hear that because yeah Broadway very excited about the project that's gonna you know start soon um I really appreciate your willingness to look into this so that we can address this before the redesign happens.

As we know, that takes a few years. Thank you. Any questions from colleagues? Councilor Wheeler

Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Director Rawson. Am I right in understanding that 97% number that you were citing, Director? That at city-owned traffic signals 97% of them have no turn on red signs up already or rules on the books to that effect. So it... I sort of feel like if we're at 97% and we're spending staff time on traffic studies for individual intersections, Maybe it makes more sense to just do what Cambridge did in 2022. Go to 100% of city-owned traffic signals saying no red on red and skipping the traffic studies of every last little... Intersection. Now, I guess there's not that many left so maybe that's not a bigger problem but does that Understanding makes sense to you.

I know you have not been faced with a proposal to go to 100%, but just in terms of the use of staff time, the use individual intersections. Is that something that makes sense to you?

Chair, through you, thanks for the question and suggestion, Councilor. What you're describing is a Thank you so much for joining us. I don't think that there's a major staff time investment needed. I apologize if I suggested that there was going to be a six-month expensive consultant study to make a determination here. I think it's more like a couple of emails to a couple key internal staff members and hallway conversations tomorrow to make sure that i can update you all on the level of effort required To go that last step at this particular location. So I think we can have our cake and eat it too here, work on short term changes. And if...

Technical staff who know more about those fine details than I do say, oh wow there are real liability questions here and therefore we would recommend a big scope of data collection or consultant study or signal retiming. then I will update this committee and perhaps we want to pursue a different model if that's acceptable.

Thank you very much, director. And just also on the subject, I just wanted to mention A couple years ago, I did some brief research into the question of Do we really need all these no red on red signs? Because as a driver, I love being able to turn right on red. And it doesn't seem to me like it really should be that big of problem. The statistics, you know my interpretation of the statistics was jaw-dropping What a large percentage of vehicle-pedestrian collisions, which can be disastrous or fatal for pedestrians. What a huge percentage of those involve right turns on red and pedestrians in the crosswalk. I never would have imagined such a high percentage of such accidents.

I was completely convinced that I was wrong in my initial assumption, and now I feel fully on board with... Making sure that both with signage and with street design that we are strongly, strongly discouraging cars from turning right when people could be crossing the street. Thank you, that's all.

You know, as Councilor Wheeler just mentioned, can we just say turn around anywhere, any intersection in our city and start implementing that? And my recollection is that the state requires that we go through a process. For that, like not any intersection. We can't do that in all intersections because the intersection is different, the number of lanes and all that. I might not... and correct me if I'm wrong it's just that i just remember this um in one of the meetings but i hope i'm wrong

Chair, and again I think one of the outcomes from this discussion is for us at the staff level to bring you back a little bit more of the fact pattern and the discussions that were had a few years back, the assessments that were underway. Any regulations or guidance from state or other entities that could either compel us in one direction or another? If it's okay with you, I'll be happy to get back to the committee and writing as soon as possible.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah, I think a detailed report on that would be very helpful for this conversation. Should we put in an order? on that or should you keep this item in committee because this item is specific to one intersection um

Chair, I think the easiest thing to help the committee is for us at the staff level to do some quick due diligence. In fact, finding to send an email over to the committee and the clerk for the record And then perhaps that could allow you all, if you're satisfied to acknowledge and discharge this item at a future meeting.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay, so we will keep this item in committee. This is item number five. And next item... yeah so we'll take yeah next item madam clerk because after this item we're gonna take up um some items together is there all related to um one topic um item number six madam clerk

Item number six, ID number 26-1426, that the Director of Mobility take the steps necessary to make the intersection of Vernon Street and Partridge Avenue safer.

This is another item that is submitted. Yeah, director, this was brought to my attention by neighbors of others to this intersection. So if you can tell us our next steps.

Yes, Chair. Thanks to you and to neighbors who have organized and advocated for safety improvements on Vernon Street as well as the surrounding intersecting streets including Partridge. This committee discussed an order related to potential speed hump treatments on Vernon at a recent meeting, I think at your June meeting. So staff have taken this advocacy seriously. We have collected data, which is a typical entry point for streets to be considered as part of our traffic calming program. As councilors know, there is much more demand than there are resources in terms of our traffic calming program and our ability to construct speed humps every year. So we start with data assessment, making sure we've got speeds and volumes that we understand how a street fits together in the one-way network adjacency to parks schools senior housing

All of those other influencing factors. And then we are forced to make hard decisions, Chair, every year about relative prioritization and it's always frustrating for our staff to tell residents hey thanks you're right on the cusp we believe you we observe the same things that you're observing you're there every day but we're not necessarily but Thank you for watching. and as a result your street might get programmed out two years in advance rather than as part of next year's class. We have not yet completed the assessment of all of those candidate streets that Vernon is a part of But please know the staff are actively working on these issues and we hope to communicate and update our online traffic calming map this fall.

In the meantime, Chair, other safety improvements can be considered. If sight lines are an issue, this Council, our staff have... We had a lot of success with our Clear Corners program in recent years, but again I think it's important to level set expectations. Highland Avenue, for example, was the 2026 priority. I want to give a shout out to the staff on Brian Postlewaite's team in engineering as well as Suzanne's team and parking department who have worked to successfully complete the Highland But if fire lanes are needed, the fire department is constantly evaluating turning radii and that is something we can look at in terms of where Partridge and other similar streets Meet Vernon. Is turning radius and therefore sight line adequate?

So a couple of different ways to continue working on safety in this neighborhood. So although we do not have any concrete next steps at this exact time, I just wanted to make sure committee members and constituents knew that staff are taking this seriously, just like we do with all traffic calming requests, whether they reach us through 311, through council orders at our pop-up and tabling events for outreach or for emails it to transportation at somervillema.gov

Yeah, thank you director for looking into this and yeah we look forward to receiving the fall update Yeah, and I hope Verna Street makes it to the list but I also understand the process and you know just we... We have to look at all the unsafe streets. Any questions from my colleagues on this item? All right, we'll mark this item as complete. And then, yeah, item number seven, Madam Clerk.

Item number seven, ID number 26-1112, calling for traffic calming measures in the Prospect Hill neighborhood.

Director?

So, Chair, this will be kind of a similar response as the last one. But first I just want to shout out and thank counselors who sponsored this order Mbah, Councilor Link, Councilors Ewen-Campen of course. And I want to note that that council order is consistent with a whole bunch of resident inquiry and resident advocacy from several streets in the Prospect Hill neighborhood this calendar year. I want to thank all of the resident organizers, folks who have collected signatures, who have talked to their neighbors, who about issues, whether they're on Monroe or Greenville or Hamlet or Prospect Hill Avenue or Walnut Street. All of those streets have been in contact with us and are acknowledged in this council order. So mobility staff have been in touch with the residents and the organizers. Again, same message chair. We begin these processes looking at traffic data.

Trying to make sure that we are understanding speeds, volumes, relationship with vulnerable road users who might be visiting Prospect Hill Park for example. The prioritization system, I should note is available on the city's traffic calming homepage. Did not mention that a minute ago We're really proud that we've been able to just kind of put all that information online for folks so they can understand the inputs to the prioritization process. Chair, the Prospect Hill streets that we've listed tonight are in our fall 2026 data collection. So, city staff have scoped and authorized our data collection company to go out and collect the data. That data collection will occur in mid-October. There's usually a couple of weeks before we start to receive any preliminary data back.

and then for fair expectation setting it does take us a couple of months to process all the data at the staff level um and again update our overall city-wide prioritization Tables and databases. So we will continue to speak and coordinate with residents and counselors just as recently as last week, mobility staff were in touch with some of the organizers in this neighborhood. So we want to thank everybody for their patience. In terms of, I guess the last thing I'll say chair is in terms of potential implementation schedules Once we get through all the prioritization work, there is a really important round of interdepartmental review that occurs. That includes many of our operations partners that you would expect like DPW and FIRE. That includes parking and engineering to make sure that we're not missing any upcoming utility work, for example, that could influence constructability or trench settling, things of that nature.

But again, having gotten through all that due diligence, that will allow us to forecast out a couple of years in advance and say, you know, are these streets part of the class of 2027-2028? or the class of 2028-2029. That's kind of how we project our traffic calming work, these two year batches consistent with our overall construction contracts. So why don't I pause happy to answer any questions that you may have at this time?

Any questions from colleagues? Okay, we'll mark this... Since there will be data collection in the fall, I think we'll just mark this as work complete for now and we can resubmit in the new year. Once we receive that data. Okay, so now I would like us to take up item eight. and item 10 together. Madam Clerk, could you read those items for us?

Items 8 and 10 taken up together. Item number eight, ID number 26-0138. The Director of Mobility add additional signage helping users of the Community Path get through Maxwell's Green to the Community and add clear signage directing users to the ramp and stairs on Lowell Street. As well as item number 10, ID number 26-0136, where the Director of Mobility discussed with this council strategies for improving the safety of users of the community path, including improved signage, enforcement of the motorized vehicle ban on the path Coordination with community partners to encourage cooperative use and regulation of e-bikes including the imposition of speed limits.

Director, yes, community path related items. We have discussed this few times before and he kept this in committee until the end of the year so we can receive regular updates on this. Your department has been prioritizing this and working on it so we'd love to hear an update on what you all have been working on the findings and next steps

Kerry, thanks very much to you and the committee. And thanks for all your patience. I know that you've discussed this a couple of times this calendar year, as you noted. And our staff have worked to keep the committee up-to-date on our outreach and engagement, our finding. I'm pleased to report, Chair, that as of last week our staff were able to publish a series of short-term measures focused on improving safety for all users of the community path. So hopefully you all as committee members and hopefully our constituents receive our monthly newsletter that mobility issues every month. that pointed folks to this 20-page kind of short presentation on the data that we heard from our 1,200 person survey. and how we connected that to a series of short-term safety recommendations many of which are intended for implementation this fall

So, Chair, the one that I will call the committee's attention to most specifically is actually underway already, which is... Thermoplastic speed humps for faster moving wheeled vehicles on the community path. We heard a lot of feedback from constituents, we all observe it in our day to day The path has so much traffic, it is so well loved by so many diverse users that often one of the biggest pain points and challenges is faster moving users making enough speed to share that space with slower moving users. and communities around North America, including in Metro Boston are all working on design strategies to try to slow down higher speed e-bikes as well as, you know

E-Motos, and gas powered scooters which are obviously not intended for use on the community path but we know occasionally do use it so just a few nights ago staff from engineering and mobility and parking were out on the path overnight with a payment markings contractor testing some new treatments. So if folks have experienced that, we are open to public feedback and user feedback. But our intent based on our preliminary tests is that this is a good treatment and a good experiment that is low cost. And we will be scaling it up at a number of locations up and down the path. Over the next few weeks, weather permitting contractor availability permitting. So that is really tangible and specific next steps that we're delighted to report. Additional signage changes are also in the works this fall, Chair. This committee has discussed some of the perhaps less than fair signage.

that was used as part of the MBTA Green Line Extension and Community Path Extension process in particular. So Suzanne's team in parking is working with us to swap out some signage to be a little clearer, use more graphics instead of words to try to communicate what types of vehicles are acceptable on the path and what ones are not. So that is specific progress that we are making. Additionally, share the path types of messages will be installed in terms of signage and that is all anticipated for this fall as well. Just reminding everybody, but particularly the faster moving people on bikes and scooters that the onus is on them. to yield to slower moving people walking, people wheeling, people walking dogs, kiddos on strider bikes. Those are the most vulnerable users of the path

We want to communicate very, very clearly through signage as well as pavement markings that we expect people biking to slow down and be courteous and be safe. So that's kind of a quick high level summary and share all these materials are online on our summer voice page. Happy to answer any additional questions that you may have on that short term strategy.

Yeah, thank you, Director. And Madam Clerk will send a link to the Community Path Safety Improvement Report that was just released. So we can add as an attachment to this item and yeah, so very pleased to hear we're finally making some progress on this um the signage the um and um yeah a As we are making progress on this, I brought up this in the past. Obviously better signage helps but Making sure we have like a community path culture. We're working with the community, with advocates

Yeah, I think, yeah, I put it in order back in the spring probably and we've discussed that at some point we will start that process. Engaging the community on this. Yes, signage helps but also just like the culture right? Enforcement helps as well. We don't have SPD here so we're not going to discuss the enforcement part of this and yeah so yeah just want to say that because I met with Somerville Alliance for Safe Streets just this past Saturday and they shared with me that They would like to see more enforcement.

So we just want to say in this recorded meeting that this will be discussed next month, not just the community path but just in general. Yeah, but yes. So we'll discuss what's in this presentation I was hoping we'd have it up on the screen so people know what we're referring to. Madam Clerk, I'm sharing it by email right now so we can have it In the meantime, did they cancel Wheeler? Actually, Director Ross said first and then canceled Wheeler.

Sure, if it's quicker I'm happy to bring up screen share right now again please let me know what's most convenient

Yeah, that would be great. Madam Clerk, could you give permission to Director Austin to share his screen so the public understands what we're referring to?

I just changed the settings so you should be able to share.

Okay, great. Yes, so director as you're answering if there's a slide in the presentation

Chair, I apologize. Are you seeing the path? Proper presentation? Okay. So again, this is all online. The easiest way to find it is to search Summer Voice Community Path Safety. There are a series of slides that describe problem statement, the community engagement work that Mobility led. General hierarchy of issues that we've heard about from our participants. Again, continuing the specific survey responses. Potential treatments based on what we've learned from other peer cities and regions around North America.

Public feedback on those potential treatments and again we really appreciate everybody who took the time to stop at our pop-ups fill out these surveys send us notes online and then of course chair all of this helps us hone in on our recommendations for the short term These are the thermoplastic rumble strips or speed humps that we were describing a moment ago. Our test site can be found at the intersection of Central Street between Central and Sycamore.

In the coming weeks, we intend to replicate that in many other locations approaching street crossings. Pavement markings reminding users, particularly folks biking and scooting to really be respectful of other users and to slow down approaching conflict points. Flexposts to help, again, reinforce that speed control imperative approaching street crossings. And then lastly, Sharon, I'll stop here in a moment. Some examples of the type of user signage that we think will be helpful clarifying expectations. For example, we all know that this is the community path, not the bike path. The outdated limited signs that say bike route are very unhelpful in reminding all of us that pedestrians come first.

I mentioned a minute ago, text signs are often less effective than graphical signs. Director Renford and the parking department have been using this type of philosophy with great success on a lot of different signage types around Somerville on our streets. So we thought it was an important opportunity to use that approach on the community path as well, to try to communicate what vehicles are discouraged, inappropriate or illegal on the path. I didn't mention it a minute ago, but continuing to strengthen the traffic calming measures at path crossings is another part of the strategy recommendation for this fall. and then to wrap up there's additional measures that we are continuing to develop and plan for next year and beyond so that's kind of the whirlwind summary chair why don't I pause thanks for your patience

Thank you, Director. Director, could you please go back to the slide that has the timeline phases? Yes. Yes, so... Yeah, if you could just go over that quickly.

Again, thanks chair. So we are currently mobilized to implement pavement markings and sign changes in the fall of 2026 Next year and beyond, potential treatments like larger scale curve extensions or street murals. will be considered, but we're not ready to commit to them in terms of specific designs or specific timelines quite yet.

Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you, director. Really pleased to see that the new signage will have visuals for the visual learners among us. and also for something to keep in mind is that we also have a lot of You know, folks who are learning how to ride bikes. Younger folks, also folks who're learning as adults so this is really important to for them you know to for this to be you know just these are just the rules on the community path and I think this will definitely help future bikers and this will align with what we're doing already as a city, with all our programs.

where folks can sign up to learn how to bike and um yeah like they're not about how to So will this impact the use of the community path at all as we are, especially for the markings? Because not so much the signage. That's my first question.

Jerry, that's a great question. Although I have some photos from when Viola from Mobility and Isabella from Engineering were out on site last week, I don't have them handy. We do anticipate essentially a construction detour type of impact for path users. However, I will note that pavement markings work happens overnight so we hope that the impacts will be limited and localized. Thermoplastic tends to dry pretty quickly particularly when you're talking about people walking and wheeling over top of it as opposed to people driving. So we think that any of those impacts related to implementing these payment markings will be quite limited, pretty short duration and overnight.

Okay, great. Yeah, any questions from colleagues? Councilor Wheeler. Yep.

Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Director. I really appreciated this report and I really appreciate the approach of exploring different possibilities in a really exhaustive and wide-ranging way and then not waiting for the perfect, but trying some of these things on a small scale. And just the other day I noticed those thermoplastic strips on this section near Central Street and I thought oh like i can't believe they're already trying these out after you know Just releasing this report. So it was exciting to see. I noted that the report discusses signage on the path of and Thermoplastic Strips, especially in the context of the road crossings which is great.

I'm curious if you and your team are also looking at ways to encourage bikes and e-bikes and e scooters to slow down and look for pedestrians on some of those Downhill stretches where you can really pick up speed and the one that I always think about is going west just under the overpass at Lowell Street. A number of times I've been walking or sometimes biking in one direction or the other, and I have seen some really, really fast... Bike or e-bike riding and heard people exclaim in surprise. So anecdotally, which is not data, it seems like there could be a value and attention at those locations as well.

Chair, through you, Councilor, thanks so much. Great points and I'm taking note and I will speak with Phil Augustine who serves as our amazing project manager for mobility staff to ask the question that you just asked. I can see in my mind's eye other locations that have similar characteristics that she was describing to me just today. But the one that you're referencing is not one of those that I'm remembering specifically. The prioritization that we are trying to pursue is what we call conflict points. So the street crossings are obviously one important conflict point, but they're not the only one. One example from earlier today that sticks in my mind is where the access ramp from Cross Street meets the main line of the path in between McGrath and Cross Street. and Councils remember that's a connection way to fight hard save during the value engineering of the green line back in 2016.

and yet you can also pick up a lot of speed there. And then you also have higher speed through movements for bike riders who are coming down from Walnut Street headed eastbound So we agree with you that it's not just about street crossings, but I think that one of our next steps will be to actually have a plan kind of drawing so folks can see the totality of the path. where these treatments will come as part of this first phase and where we might follow up as part

um yeah thank you counselor and uh yeah so The next item is actually related also to the community path. Since we're talking about crossings, I think this is a good transition to... School Street and Low Street crossings. These will be heavily used by community path users. So next item, Madam Clerk.

Just to clarify, did you want to take these all up together? Yeah.

I think there will be some back and forth since we'll be mentioning the community path in this conversation so can we read that Item 9.

Perfect, okay and then I guess we'll figure out what to do with all of them after we discuss this one. Item 9, ID 26-0137, that the Director of Engineering provide an update on the construction of the Lowell Street and School Street crosswalks facing the Green Line stations.

Director Rawson and Director Close to Wait, thank you for waiting patiently. Yeah, so this is another item that I submitted maybe a year ago. One that I kept so we can receive regular updates on this. This is related also to the community path, as you mentioned. as these two crossings are used by Community Path users. What is the update on this? Last time we received designs, director passed away for folks who haven't necessarily watched that meeting. If you can briefly mention... The update summary of the last time's update before we get to today's update.

Thank you, Chair. And for the record, I'm Brian Pulsthwaite, Director of the Engineering Division For the city and it is my team that has been working on this project with the support of Mobility, DPW, Fire Department, and other departments in the city. If I may, I think it would be easiest to give a quick recap. I believe that's what you were looking for and then provide the update of where we are based on that. I can be most quick if i share my screen and share the drawings and designs that we provided to the Committee last November. I think I can do that. I just want to let you know I was going to do that before I went. All right.

So, you should see a design drawing at the corner of Lowell Street and Maxwell's Green. Is that correct? Fantastic. Okay, so I'm going to start on Low Street because Low Street's the quickest. We were looking to create a... Pedestrian crossing across Lowell Street near Maxwell's Green and the Magoon station in BTA Stop. The crossing immediately at the station at the Maxwell's Green intersection was our preferred alignment and came out as an alignment that worked well with that MassDOT would be comfortable using. But after further review and work with the fire department,

Due to the size of the buildings at Maxwell's Green and the need to have appropriate access to it, and since they don't have good access from the backside off of Clyde... It became clear that having a crossing that was this narrow was going to be difficult for the fire department to operate. And we decided that In the end, it would not have improved the conditions enough to put in a crossing here that still met all of the fire department's goals. So we looked at the second option that we had shared and this one is at Vernon Street. And this one doesn't impact does not impact the MassDOT bridge. So we showed MassDot this, but we all agreed that MassDots didn't have any

I didn't have any review jurisdiction over this particular location. And the idea here is taking the Vernon and Lowell Street intersection in creating a raised crossing, providing Better and safer pedestrian crossings for both Vernon, but predominantly for the Lowell Street crossing. A large number of the people approaching the MBTA station are coming down Vernon Street. There is a crosswalk on the other side of the bridge from the MBTA station, so people coming from the V&A or Hudson Street, etc. There are crosswalks that get them to the correct side of Lowell Street but really it was Vernon Street that was struggling most with having a safe route to the Green Line so

This meets almost all of the goals of a crossing to get to the MBTA station. It's just not right in front of the station and after working with The fire department, we concluded that this was actually going to be better operations for them. This is a really tough intersection for them as it is. and this doesn't make it any worse so on balance to find something that works really well for the fire department and still improves pedestrian crossing and provides a certain amount of additional traffic calming that really lined us up to selecting this one. And we are currently moving this scheme into full design and our plan is to incorporate it in with the Broadway Magoon project.

So that brings us to School Street. So again, staying on the same set of drawings from last November.

In discussing this one, can we discuss?

Absolutely. I just got ahead of myself.

Yeah. No, I just heard a really exciting update so I just can't focus anymore. So this is really great and just Some questions here to make sure I understand. When you say we're moving with this design, does it mean... So you said at the beginning that this is not really, this is before the bridge. So does it mean that we don't need MassDOT's approval and all of that? And we can just follow our own processes here?

Correct. Yeah, you can see there's a line here and here. The bridge actually starts back here where it says Bridge Joint. So we are... Far enough outside of the jurisdiction of MassDOT where MassDot was like, that's your intersection. You don't need our approval to do this. which is what allows us to go quickly into design and into construction next year potentially. When we get to School Street, we still have a lot of work to do with MassDOT. But since this can be moved forward more quickly, basically we're severing the projects so that... that School Street isn't slowing Vernon Street down.

yeah okay well this is great um and uh as a user of this area because now we live on partridge I'll say a lot of people crossing, are crossing on this side not the other so they confirm that. So folks sometimes cross right on the bridge right facing the MBTA entrance and I hope that behavior will change once we have this And I think there will always be some people who will do that. But at least it's on the bridge and the cars as they go on, like they're slowing down because they're going uphill. So anyhow, I think, yeah, I'm very supportive of this.

And I'm really glad to see that Vernon Street is also part of this because another really big concern is that crosswalk, the Vernon Street crosswalk to go from one side to the other. That's right now. So this being addressed is just amazing as part of this and I know this was, you know... intentional uh and you tried everything to make sure this is also included um so um yeah i'm really glad to see it thank you director and um If you could just tell us here, since we have members of the public here, where is the process from here? Since this is now our project as a city, traffic commission and all that can be...

If you could just tell us, where do we go from here now that we have a chosen design?

Yeah. So this part of the process is... from my perspective like the easiest part because it is very clear what are the next steps so the immediate next step is to go with our Design Engineer, who also is doing the design engineering for Broadway Magoon and work with them to develop full construction documents and incorporate them into the next annual streets contract. Our next annual street's contract is the FY27 contract which we anticipate putting out to bid in the December to February range. That's the project that is planned to include the Broadway Magoon streetscape section and the proximity of these, I mean this is coincidence that just is really happy.

These two components are relatively close to each other it makes it easier For us to put out to bid when elements of a larger project are proximate to each other, keeping the contractor roughly in the same area saves them time which saves us money. And so this is going to be a pretty easy process for us moving into design, bid and construction.

Okay, this is really great. This is great news. It only took a decade. I was discussing this with Mark Niedergank two concerts ago in World 5. and I will deliver this news to him. I'm sure he will be thrilled. It took a lot of advocacy, a lot work from you all so I'm really glad we're here now And Lowell Street will have a crosswalk soon. yeah sharing that the contractor from Magoon uh Broadway Magoon is the same than this one uh yeah this is this is great um and um Yeah, I have no further questions. Councilor Wheeler?

yeah any questions on this on the design or not on Vernon and Lowell thank you so much I'm also excited okay okay great uh Now, School Street, Crosswalk. Okay. Yeah.

All right. The quick reprise for School Street is there is, and I'm using this the concept number one we had because it ends up being the closest to what we When I get to the update closest to what we concluded is going to be the best concept moving forward. As many of you know, the bike path here Director Rawson, I'm going to take your advice and recognize that it is a community path. The community path at this location has a jog in it where the crosswalk is over here. So basically one line of the path is here and the other line of path is over there, offset by about 10 to 15 feet on center.

And so there ends up being This really challenging right left or left right turn to remain on the community path and cross the crosswalk. It has made many conflicts and close calls that just I've been part of. So it is a tight area that requires people, both pedestrians, cyclists, bladers, etc., to be really slow and really cautious. But it goes beyond traffic calming and it is delved into the area where we really should fix this. And so we have been working over the past year and a half to come up with solutions to fix this.

Real difficulty here is that this crossing is right on the bridge. It actually crosses from a section that is on the So this leg of the community path is on the bridge, and this leg at the Community Path is off the bridge. So any crosswalk between the two of them also has to cross the edge of the bridge which for most people driving and rolling don't even notice it but from a structural standpoint that becomes very complicated to design construct and make it work well And the bridge is owned by MassDOT. They're very protective of their bridges. So just as we are, I mean, I'm very protective our streets so I understand where they're coming from.

So finding a compromise here that works for all the users to an acceptable degree is... is very critical and it takes a lot of coordination, communication, and time. So I'm pleased to let you all know we have good progress We are making movement. So the first thing that I wanted to share is in working with MassDOT, One of the versions that we had was just creating a raised crossing across the entire street at this location, allowing for more or less Ability to go diagonal across a very wide crosswalk is probably the best way to think of it.

where the joint on the bridge ends up being in the crosswalk, in the raised portion of didn't entirely dislike this idea. I'm gonna put it that way because the concerns that they had were motorists coming up the hill and hitting that raised crossing. And every time a vehicle hits it, it creates in a jolt Now that jolt on a speed hump is what we're using to help slow motorists down, but that jolts on a bridge is what over time will damage the structure of the bridge. So they were like, no we can't have a raised crossing. But as we look through some of the other options that we had

None of us liked the options that had no crossings either. And a lot of them to accomplish similar goals had really... All of these complicated bump outs that went in on either side and hit the bridge in different ways that they weren't really keen about either. We worked with them and we came up basically a hybrid plan where the side with the bike path had a raised crossing. Because cyclists just aren't that heavy and they don't put a lot of force into the bridge. So, they were fine with cyclists having a raised crossing. and then having a smaller, narrower at-grade crossing for motorists.

And then building a small little island in the middle to transition pedestrians and cyclists from the higher raised crossing to the lower at-grade crossing. So we're right now in the process of going through a couple different Design iterations with the fire department. We worked out something that preliminarily works with MassDOT, but getting something that works with the proving to be another important exercise in making sure our system is safe for both users and for emergency response. And, in particular the challenge is We need to have access to both the high school entrance and exit Driveways, as well as to Montrose Street.

So we're working on a design that gives the fire department access to both left and right turns from School Street. and it's just a little more complicated than was apparent in going into it but the fire department has been really good partners on this. They've asked really challenging questions and I'm just really thankful for our project managers and internal team and consultants like helping us work through it. We don't have a final design today but we have been working on it Over the past six to eight months, and we are getting really close to a design that we feel confident in. Thank you for watching!

all agree that we should be moving forward with design documents and then construction documents for those also.

Thank you, Director. Yeah, this is still good news because we're making progress right on this. This is a very challenging crosswalk and I'm really glad trying to remember the conversation we had on this last time. We got to see that the race crosswalk will be on the bike lane side. Because I remember there was one thing we discussed and... Yeah, I understand the conversations are still happening internally making sure you know the fire department can use this safely. As we know, this has been taking a long time and because this involves mass duty it's really hard to Give us a timeline.

But director, if you were to guess from your conversation... When are we gonna get to an approval for, you know... Thank you, Chair. I feel a little more comfortable now than I did 10 months ago when we talked about it last.

I feel like we're getting to a good place where we can move forward and we probably will be talking to MassDOT again sometime before the end of the year. So that would put us on a trajectory of going into design and full design isn't gonna be easy because it's gonna require a lot of structural engineering for the bridge. That structural engineering is going to have to be reviewed by professionals at MassDOT. I don't think that's gonna be a short process But I think we should have a set of construction documents for this particular crossing sometime either mid-next summer or in the fall. which would put us on schedule for incorporating that work into the what would be the FY28 annual streets contract.

So we'll be about a year behind the Vernon Lowell Street with this particular one.

Yeah, and again members of the public this involves mass duty so I'm just glad to hear that we're close to a design they can you know get behind right. I remember this was the challenge you presented to us. Yeah, just the weight on the bridge and... Wheeler, I'm sure you have questions on this.

Thank you, Chair. And thank you, Director Postlewaite as well as Director Rawson. Yes, this... As you've all said, this has been a long time coming and it will still be a long are the workings of a plan here and something that it sounds like is taking into account the concerns of MassDOT, the concerns Part of what's been hard for me to understand from the beginning on this question is... If suddenly a chunk of concrete was missing from that crossing that's at the top, the western side where... you know if you were coming along the community path and you just went straight, you'd just go right off the curb. If there was we're just a ramp down there

There'd be no structural implications for the bridge and no one would talk about this, right? It's been a bit... Flabbergasting that something so small and, you know, I'm not saying there's not big implications of... Bridgework and I understand the concerns there but um I don't think anybody's saying that Thank you for watching! Why, from MassDOT's perspective, there has been such tremendous resistance here? I do totally understand the repeated vehicle impacts point.

and the complications around there being a seam so I really appreciate this plan makes a lot of sense to me uh and I really look forward to to this being done with the understanding that It may evolve some still. I did want to say about the flex posts and the fire vehicle turning radius. Recently, I had the chance to discuss with Director Rawson and some folks from your office's staff how effective I feel like I have seen Some of the larger bump objects that separate some bike lanes from car lanes. both the zebra striped ones in Boston and some larger ones that are elsewhere. I know you have a large, long menu of different options that you consider

And I just wanted to mention those as something that could conceivably be useful here for maybe being more navigable for a large turning truck.

Thank you, Councilor. We are looking at a number of different options to improve their turning movement at that location.

Thank you. And I saw the scrolling up to this option, which has an arrow that says prop curb ramp. So I'm not sure if that is a Tremaine.

No, I pulled this one up because I just wanted to... share with you like we had looked into addressing that concrete curve that you're referring to and it's It's substantively more complicated than what you're suggesting, both from a structural Thank you so much for joining us. It's just really complicated. And that's part of the reason why we have these conversations and we bring professionals whose expertise

exceeds both mine and Director Rawson's to discuss and come up with a good solution that MassDOT and bridge professionals in the state are going to accept.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Councilor Wheeler Okay, I think for these items we're not going to discuss them again before the end of the year. So... I'm sorry this specific item will be marked as work complete so it's item number nine and they would like to keep in committee item number eight and item number 10. Actually... The reason is I would like that we discuss enforcement at the next meeting and we can certainly include in our conversation the community path.

So if we can, let me just think. I think we'll keep item number 10. So we'll mark item number eight as work complete and we'll keeping committee number 10 Just so we can discuss on Forsmith because that item... doesn't mention enforcement but again members of the public tonight we are not discussing the enforcement part of this um yeah We're not discussing enforcement. We'll have SPD as we will have a broader conversation regarding enforcement next month Again, very exciting having worked with you all on this and thank you all for

Providing regular updates for prioritizing this, for using staff time to work on these community paths, these crossings. Yeah, I think many people would be very, very excited to hear that we are close to the finish line regarding The Low Street. Crosswalk, and soon the School Street one as well.

Okay so just to clarify so item 10 will keep in committee and then items 8 and 9 have been referred to this committee for recommendation so Thank you for watching!

If we could call a roll on approving items 8 and 9 and adjournment all in one.

Perfect, okay. That I can do. Let me see where you put my pen.

I'm so sorry chair just quick point of order We skipped over items two and three. And was that with the intention of taking them up at a later meeting?

Yes, so those we kept in committee.

Okay, sorry. Thank you for reminding me.

So those we keep in committee. We take them up next month.

Okay, thanks.

And yeah, before you call the roll, Madam Clerk, could you add Director Postoway's presentation? Update on the crosswalks to item number nine. And also add Director Rawson's presentation to item 8 as an attachment.

Yes, I have flagged Director Rawson's for the clerk's team and then Director Possilwhite, have you shared or will you share that attachment please so we can add that in?

Clerk, that is I used an attachment from a previous meeting rather than submitting something new for the record. It is from the 17th of November 2025 meeting

November 17th, 2025. Correct. Okay cool I will flag that for the clerk's team as well and we'll get that added.

Thank you Madam Clerk and approval If you could call the roll on approval and adjournment.

All right, so on recommending approval of items number eight and nine in adjournement. Councilor Wheeler?

Yes.

Councillor Mbah? I believe may have logged off. Chair C? Yes. All right with that, that is two votes in the affirmative and we are adjourned at 7 48 p.m.

Thanks all.

Have a good evening.