record. any vibration. I know they're going to do it. trying to use this guarantee. They do it in Alb check. >> Good. Seven.
>> Check check check check. >> Thank you guys. >> I think this could have been held at the library. You know, I don't think >> maybe at the library. So much smaller, more quaint. It's so nerd.
That is a mirror, right? I think they might have muted it. network that's available again RPS town if you need Wi-Fi later >> I think you should tell it during your presentation >> your petition
People are coming in now. >> Not a lot of lines. >> No. Yeah, they can go in and out. >> Three pages so far. People sign up. >> Um I think >> that's a pretty >> 20 25. >> What we'll do is we'll I'll mention it
once again >> in the beginning and we'll grab it while >> you presented. >> Okay. If you do two minutes and you have 30 people, that's an hour. >> I made them.
We'll see how Thank you everybody. I will call the uh the first item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, thank you everybody for coming out tonight. Uh just going to give you an overview of the meeting real quick. Uh 7:05 we'll have a presentation from the Reading Turnback Track
Committee. Uh 7:35 we may or may not have a presentation from the MBTA, but there are some people in attendance here. 805 will have public comment on the proposed MBTA turnback track and then 9:35 discuss and vote by the select
board um to oppose or support the MBTA turnback track location. Um, do any other boards or committees have to call to order? I think climate was the only one. >> All good. Okay. All right. So, real
quick on the public comment thing, uh, around seven. So, there's a signup sheet in the back for public comment. I'm going to be calling names off that um to start. Uh so, if you want to sign in, please make sure you do uh in the back right over there. Um and then I'm going to gauge the public comment portion
based off how many um people have signed up. I think there's about 60, which the math doesn't work out quite too well, so we'll play it by ear when it comes up. Um, and without further ado, I will turn it over to Lucas in the presentation
from the Reading Turnback Track Committee. Thank you, Chris. Good evening and thank you um all very much for attending and thank you to the select board and town officials for hosting this meeting. It is beyond appreciated. And I also wanted to extend
a thank you. Uh I see that Ryan Coholan, CEO of the MBTA is here. Thank you very much for making the effort to come. I really appreciate it. Um my name is Lucas Praau and I'm a reading resident. Imp more importantly, I'm a husband and father to three daughters who all call
Reading home. I'm also part of the Reading Turnback Committee, RTC, a group of neighbors that consists of parents, grandparents, and MBTA riders who came together because we love this community and want to make sure that progress doesn't come at the cost of the people
who live in Reading. The things that we were going to cover tonight is who we are, the reading turnback track committee, um proposed turnback track plan and scope, community impacts, conclusion, and how you as the public Thank you. I just can't thank you
enough for coming tonight. It's amazing. I really do. It shows how I moved here about 16 years ago. I'm ad liibing right now, but I moved here 16 years ago, and I think almost every other person I talk to is a reading. someone who did not want to leave Reading and I can see why
they didn't leave Reading. Um, so just moving on after that. Um, let me be clear, the RTC supports better, more reliable rail service. We want to see the MBTA succeed, but what we do not
want is a project that puts all Reading families, not just us a Butters, all reading families health and safety at risk. We do not want that to happen and that's exactly um what this proposed term backtrack location would do. And
location is key. Once again, we are for the service, but the location is the problem with this project. Under the MBTA's non um non-essential project, trains will drop passengers at the Reading station, then depart the station
14 additional times a day headed towards Willow Street, slowly passing right by homes, the Tannerville Elderly Independent Living Center and local schools. And then it idle uh for up to 20 minutes at a time between the Thalen
Bird Sanctuary and brand new Mallet Sums and Morgan Conservation Land. All while riders wait for 20 to 30 minutes in severe weather. Then the train heads back to the station to pick up the waiting uh riders. This will add at minimum 7 hours of noise, vibration, and
diesel fumes right in the middle of residential neighborhoods and the conservation wetlands. It's not just an inconvenience, it's a quality of life issue. It's residents who can't open their windows. It's first responders uh delayed by more frequent road closures.
It's the peace and safety of families who thought they were choosing a quiet place to live. And the hardest part, it didn't have to be this way. The RTC has worked in good faith for more than 10 months to offer practical alternatives,
real options that would increase service while minimizing the impact on reading community on the reading community. We've sent proposals, attended meetings, and asked questions. But time and again, our concerns have been brushed aside and met with incomplete information. For
RTC, this isn't about politics or data points. It's about trust. It's about whether we believe public projects should be done with the communities or railroaded through them, pun intended. As Governor Healey said, um, our job is
to protect and strengthen the things we love. Reading officials to ensure that rail modernization efforts are built on transparency, accountability, and genuine collaboration with the reading residents because progress should bring
people together, not divide them. And now Aaron. Thanks, Lucas. Hi everyone. My name is Aaron Perry. Uh I'm a husband, a father of two young girls, a lifelong Reading resident, and a fellow member of the RTC.
So let's start with what's actually being proposed to accommodate the MBTA's rail modernization goals. Based on the MBTA's notice of intent, their NOI, which was submitted to the Town of Reading Conservation Commission, the MBTA plans to install
4500 ft of new track. That's just short of a mile. This turnback track will run right through a stretch of reading that includes conservation land, vernal pools, Parker Middle School, an environmental justice community, and
residential backyards. And to be clear, this isn't a repair or an update to an existing track. It's a major expansion that's designed to double daily train movements by adding 28 new train trips
per day. These additional train movements will start at 5:30 a.m. and will continue until 7:30 p.m. That's 14 hours every weekday. So from an operational standpoint, this
means that gates at Ash and Main Street, Washington Street, and Wuburn Street will now close every 15 minutes to accommodate this increased schedule, adding to an already congested um adding to already congested road
crossings. So once the train makes its way from the depot to where it'll idle, the train will sit there for 30 minutes at a time. And with that additional those additional idling trains per day over
that 14-hour period, that adds up to 7 hours of diesel engines running adjacent to a brand new conservation land again every weekday. What this also means is that in order for the trains to move between that
idling location and the depot, they'll need to slowly traverse that turnback track. And again, these movements equate to 28 slowmoving train trips extending pollution, noise and vi.
There's no parking solutions. There's no noise or emissions barriers, and there's no environmental review. So, why does this all matter? a protected aquifer, those zone 2 and zone C sensitive areas
along with Tannerville, right? Sensitive neighboring communities. Again, if this isn't bad enough, it's right next the the train is going to be right next to the brand new uh Malay SS and Morgans's conservation property, a $5 million conservation project that was
completed just one year ago. We'll cover that project in a little bit more depth a little bit later. And then finally, there's going to be a large propane tank that's going to be used as a heating uh source uh to make sure that the switch is able to operate correctly in the
winter months. So, what all this means is that the MBTA's turnback track, it's not just a small redevelopment project. It's a new rail expansion running through protected lands and residential neighborhoods,
doubling train traffic and adding major environmental and quality of life risks. Up next, Mark is going to talk about some safety and traffic issues. Good evening. My name is Mark Agamy. I'm a lifelong Reading resident and for the
last 26 years have lived on Lee Street. In that time, I've learned that the best argument against a really bad idea is to res recite it back very clearly. To help do that, we've animated the proposed
turnback, compressing one hour into one minute. Each hour is the same. That's called clock face service. So, we can simply replay it over and over again. If we replayed it 14 times, that would simulate 14 hours, which is one day of
trains. Uh, before I hit play, one more point. The clock in the middle indicates minutes past the hour. The 12:00 train enters uh inbound from Boston, makes its stop, discharges all its passengers, and makes its way to the
turnback track where it idles. It waits for the inbound train coming from Haveril to do its 12:15 stop at the Reading station. It'll trigger all the gates and then head into Boston. uh going inbound. That idling train will
stay there until the train coming from Boston going outbound uh relieves it from the uh idle track. The 12:30 train stops at the station and goes outbound. The train has to get out of there out of the turnback track because it's been
more than 30 minutes now. It will idle again for another 5 minutes at Reading Station for a total of 37 minutes idling. It will then go into Boston uh achieving its 12:45 stop.
As the animation shows, the train on the turnback track must wait for two other trains to pass at 15minute intervals. The first one inbound and then the second one outbound before it re-enters the main line. In that animation, the
turnback train idles for 32 minutes on the new track, then idles for another five minutes at the station for a total of 37 minutes each hour. The maximum limit on a diesel locomotive idling in
one spot in per state law is 30 minutes. The animation shows the turnback train is stationary more than 60% of the time. The train is moving for only 23 minutes per hour. And as a reminder, moving is
the whole point of the train. The MBTA advertised 14 turnbacks, each lasting 30 minutes for a total of 7 hours of idling each day, almost triple what is done today. Last Monday, there was a delay of 10
minutes on the 818 inbound going through Reading. Today, there were four separate trains on the Haver line delayed by 5 to 20 minutes. Any delay, especially on the outbound train, forces the idling train to wait
longer on the turnback track, challenging the 30 minute limit even further. The number of gate closures, according to the MBTA, will increase to 62 crossings per day at three of the four crossings in Reading. Gates will close
every 15 minutes across Maine and Ash Street, Washington Street, and Wuburn Street. The increase at Wuburn Street will be more than two and a half times what it is now from 24 to 62 per day. Incredibly, almost half of gate closures
across Wuburn Street, 28 per day, will be intentionally empty trains carrying zero passengers on purpose. Willow Street will have a crossing every 30 minutes. All this will lead to significant impacts to traffic and
safety. Plotting the proposed schedule over the course of a weekday, you see that the already frequent crossings will be virtually continuous street closings. In this chart, the first pair of points is Main Street, the circles, current and
proposed. The second pair of points, the squares, is Washington Street, current and proposed. The third pair, the diamonds, is Wuburn Street. A huge impact. Keep in mind that almost half of those red diamonds are intentionally empty trains.
The fourth pair, the triangles, is Willow Street, which shows impacts to drop offs at Austin Prep and Barrows Elementary School. If you think that's a big impact, we have been told by the MBTA that they want to get to 15minute headways, which
would mean that gates close every seven and a half minutes, which is a good segue to Ally, who will be covering the next few slides. Good evening and thank you for being here. My name is Ally Hetler. I am a
wife, not a husband. Um, I am the mother of two small children, one and three. Um, and I moved to Reading just about a year ago. So, as you can imagine, this has been an very interesting way to meet my new neighbors.
Um, up behind me is a trivia question. We're going to have a little bit of fun tonight. So, what is one thing in this town that every resident, regardless of your age, your socioeconomic status, your race, your gender, depends on? The answer is not water. We We know we need
water. It's an ambulance. You saw the packet. So, why is that important? We have one ambulance in the town of Reading and is located on the north side of town at the
Main Street Firehouse. If those gates on Main Street are closing every 15 minutes, where the lane goes from 2 to one, you might remember the road diet from 2020, right outside
Bagel World, the emergencies on the west side and the south side of town are going to put at risk. Your toddler's choking on a grape and they're starting to turn blue. Your father's having chest pains and you realize he's having a heart attack.
You might live alone. You've slipped and you've hit your head and you can't stop bleeding. That ambulance is sitting at Main Street. Can your emergency wait for a train to pass by? 911 response times will go up.
um and to listen for yourself. Chris Haley, who at the time was a select board member, as you know, is now our chair, um had a little bit of back and forth with Alistister Sawyers, who's the director of rail transformation back in February
of 2025. >> Um so, one of the first questions that they have is suspended from a substant potentially 60 closings. level train from the west station increase. So frequency is an operation. It isn't
but that is not what happens. I guess I guess that I said it's going to increase obviously the cross throughout the whole increase traffic especially with police and fire. It's now the trend is
is passing like a minute or two. Go to the other side. This is going to increase by 33%. I think it's 30 to 45 minutes to 30% increase. So I think that should we typically work with
police. This is not So, you heard it out of the horse's mouth. Um, if you couldn't read it or if you couldn't hear it, I will just read it back to you. No, there has not. It's an operational issue. So, we typically
work with police and fire and safety if there are any issues with delays caused by response times. And there are various mitigation measures, but this is not part of the plan. This is not part of the plan.
Does that sound to you like they care about this town? >> Thank you. And I would like to bring Mark back up. I I'll be covering the next two slides on air pollution related to emissions. Before we get to the slide with charts
and numbers, uh you'll hear the term NOx, which is a group of gases made of nitrogen and oxygen, uh either nitric oxide, which is spelled no uh subliminal message maybe, uh and nitrogen dioxide, which is NO2.
Collectively, the group is labeled as N O with an X at the end, and we call that NOx. You've probably heard of CO2, carbon dioxide, as a greenhouse gas. But NOx is not only a greenhouse gas. It is a nasty
pollutant that attacks your lungs. There have been numerous studies that establish correlations to asthma and allergies, and NOx has been linked to lung cancer. I won't read the first two quotes from the National Institute of Health, but the third bullet, uh, I don't know if
Adam is here tonight. Uh, he said, "I'm a kid from East Boston. I grew up next to Logan Airport, so I know what it's like to grow up next to something that gives off fumes. We have the highest asthma rates in the country growing up in East Boston. So, I understand the concerns and why you're here for your
children today." That was from the MBTA in February during a select board meeting. uh at town hall in response to our questions. So here's the chart with the numbers the MBTA presented last month which they
summarized is hey look the emissions are going down across the board except for quote a slight increase in ox which they dismissed. So your question of course is how the pollution can go down running 50% more trains and idling for triple the time.
Well, the project creates so much pollution, the MBTA added a variable of the fuel type, comparing apples and oranges to mask the impact. In their analysis, the existing condition uses conventional diesel, and the proposal assumes a renewable fuel
that just started a pilot program on the Newbury port line just a few months ago. This pilot program started six months after the initial notice of intent submitted last year. Now, first generation biodiesels reduce
particullet but do not reduce NOx emissions. Sometimes they even increase it. That is a problem. Technically, the new fuel being proposed is not biodiesel. It's called hydrotreated vegetable oil,
HVO, which is basically used cooking oil that has been processed. HVO may reduce NOx emissions. Some claim up to 18% compared to diesel. Although independent studies show mixed results
in some papers 10%, others 3% some papers show no reduction at all. Some papers showing slight increase under high loads. Based on how NOx emissions in the chart increase by a factor of exactly 2.1
compared to the increase in idling time of 2.8, 8. It looks like the MBTA assumed a 25% reduction in NOx emissions gallon for gallon. Regardless, even going by the optimistic numbers, using this new fuel, just from
this single early action project within the overall rail modernization initiative, the MBTA projects an additional 24.1 tons of NOx emissions over the town of Reading. Conveniently, the law that triggers
additional review defines a significant net increase as 25 tons per year. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. So, how much pollution is that in practical terms?
Someone at an earlier public hearing said, "Well, we breathe exhaust from lawnmowers. What's the big deal?" I I did find one good use of AI. Uh, it told me this project is equivalent to 45 lawnmowers running simultaneously in
your front yard continuously all day, every day for the entire year. The idling of a diesel locomotive for 30 minutes every hour is equivalent to the NOX emission of 3,760
cars. Although the whole town will be affected, much of this will be over Parker Middle School and our elderly or disabled neighbors in Tannerville. There's a state law that prohibits you from idling your car on school property for more than one minute unless you're
in a moving drop off or pickup line. But here we are dumping 24 more tons of NOx emissions on a school and assisted living housing. We have a moral obligation to protect those who are most vulnerable.
And for those who dream of new shiny trains with magical fuel, you should know that the MBTA plans to use end of life trains from Newbury Port to fulfill the increased service. If so all those to reiterate the location. So since our
small butter meeting uh with the MBTA on the first one was the red line that I placed up there. Now shows the sound study scope did not include sound devices behind Hunt Street, Vine Street, Hancock Street homes, Washington and High Street homes,
Tannerville, and Parker Middle School. You can see the sound study scope did not include approximately 23 of the full length of this project um within the more densely populated area. These two charts behind me now show the
24-hour study data from sound device N2 and N3. Keep in mind N1 and N2 look identical. N3 is the only different one. You can clearly see there are differences between these two charts.
The MBTA did not include 13 of the 14 idling trains in the data set behind me. They did not include data of for 28 slowm moving trains to and from the residents or sorry to and from the
station behind residents homes. They and Tannerville um as well. They did not include data for inbound and outbound haveral trains passing that idling train. And just to if you could see on the left
hand side around 100 p.m. that's their one idling test. They did not include that 13 more times in the data set. The MBTA did not apply the Federal Transit Administ uh administration 10
p.m. to 7:00 a.m. 10 decel level penalty on two of the sound devices in the 24-hour study. They only applied it to the sound study data from N the N3 device. To add some perspective to the
MBTA's lack of understanding of their own sound studies that they had contracted out, the MBTA has repeatedly claimed this jump in data in the N3 U chart behind me is due to frogs.
Exactly. You cannot tell me that frogs start at 10 p.m. and end at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. I'm not a biology teacher. If there's one in the house, please speak at public comment. And oh by the way, the trains also mysteriously got
louder at night with the frogs. Most recently, the MBTA did not record the idling diesel locomotive model and its GPS location for the idling test, calling into question if the idling test
was even performed in the current in the correct location. To reiterate, the MBTA lost this information. What do all these missing scope and data items do to the final analysis?
They keep the 24-hour sound study decel level average lower than it actually is. In the MBTA's own flawed data, sound device N2 was only 4 dB away from the stated threshold. We are confident if
all the missing sound data that I spoke to just recently are added back in or actually added in I should say the MBTA will exceed the th the sound threshold. The MBTA has repeatedly shared these sound study results to our reading
delegation, to us, to the broader community, and as in these results appear incomplete, misleading, and downplay the adverse impacts to the entire reading community.
Lastly, the Reading Board of Health listed um sorry, the Board of Health listened to our concerns and on 109 issued a letter to the Conservation Commission and the MBTA requesting they postpone this project uh pro a project's
approval until the board of health is able to in to have independent air quality, noise, and vibration studies performed. that are in their 90s and their lungs are not as strong as someone in their 20s. The air pollution put out by the
trains will gravely impact them. The noise pollution is also impact the residents at Tanville. We enjoy sitting outside during nice weather and have to wait for a train to
pass by before continuing our conversations. This is our time to enjoy our lives and have peace and quiet. But this turnback project will greatly impact our lifestyle.
We have people here at Tannerville that have illnesses that need peace and quiet to recover. I myself go to dialysis for 4 and a half hours three times a week and need at
least 3 to four hours of sleep recovery to recover. The noise pollution created by these trains will greatly impact my recovery. We will not be able to open our windows and breathe fresh air and enjoy the
quiet. Being elderly, the the need for the ambulance is often needed. And with the increased gate closings, we would greatly and would greatly impede the response time
and impede the uh and lead to dire consequences. Should only should our only ambulance be on another call, a surrounding town will
usually respond the increased gate refund. The increased great clo gate closings would impede their response time. And to those of the MBTA executive board, if you had parents or loved ones
who lived at Tannerville, would you would you want them to live there? Thank you. All right, we're getting there. I was going to make this section interactive, um, but we'll kind of keep things moving here. So, um, when you read the MBTA's
notice of intent, um, you see a pattern. You see a pattern of assumptions of cutting corners to avoid triggering broader comprehensive reviews. The NOI skips key environmental safeguards and classifies the project as redevelopment
avoiding storm water, wildlife, habitat, and groundwater protections. Again, one of those main assumptions in the NOI is that it classifies this as a redevelopment project. and they do that by using um a rationale because the project is going to be constructed on a
historic railed. However, when you look at the definition of redevelopment, this project doesn't fit. And it doesn't fit because the proposed turnback tract will run through vegetated buffer zones, wetland areas where vegetation has reestablished and
pvious railway access roads. And based on this, this is actually a new development project which is subject to stricter standards and more thorough reviews. So in addition to the redevelopment claim like we've mentioned, there's no
wildlife impact analysis. There's no analysis to understand the impact idling diesel locomotives will have on our zone 2 and zone C groundwater protection areas. And there's no compliance with mass D storm water standards which are all simply marked as not applicable in
the NOI. The water or the hydraology study that was conducted it happened only in the wintertime skip excuse me skipping spring water high times and vernal pool activity. The exact season when habitat
impact is most measurable. Now the MBTA notes that fuel and oil drips will be collected using a track pan system. This is something that they have included in the the new NOI that was submitted. But that's only for the locomotive itself, right? Not the entire
length of the train, not the entire length of the track. So in reality, what are track pans? Track pans are are shallow trays that are designed to catch leaks directly beneath a stationary engine. Track pans are commonly used at layover locations
and can hold around 30 to 70 gallons of oil between the pan and the absorbent material. What they don't do is protect the surrounding ballast and soil from runoff or storm water or contaminants along the
entire length of the 4500 ft turnback track. So, while it sounds like a safety measure, it's really a minimal containment solution that's designed for maintenance yards, not for use within wetland buffer and groundwater
protection zones. So, when you add all of this together, these slow idling trains, the frequent idling, you've created a recipe that becomes a dead zone for habitat and wildlife. Now, we're going to make this
interactive. Who's familiar with the Malay Psalms and and Morgan Conservation Pro? Amazing. Amazing. Keep your hand up if you know why it was created. Do you know the actual reason, but awesome.
This project was built to do what good conservation projects are supposed to do. It solved the need. It stopped neighborhood flooding by creatively capturing storm water. It restored wetlands. It protected the Ipsswitch River for future generations.
And this was exciting. Like this picture is amazing. Look how happy everybody is smiling up there, right? Um it's a very proud accomplishment. It's a it's a unique solution, right? And it's
something that the town and the conservation commission should be extremely proud of. I really think it's critical to remember how impactful and how important this ribbon cutting was just one year ago. But honestly, all of this is at stake.
The MBTA's proposal undermines the project's $5 million investment to properly handle that storm water, to restore wetlands, to improve the water quality, and to create educational and natural resources for residents and
schools. So again, just to reiterate, the goals of this project were clear, right? Reduce neighborhood flooding, restore biodiversity, improve water quality, and bolster habitat. Building a diesel turnback track
directly adjacent to that site with noise, fumes, and runoff, it directly undermines every dollar of that investment along with every goal of that project. The bottom image here, you can see a
train in the background. That's a rough idea of where that train is going to idle for 7 hours a day. Fortunately, the MBTA has agreed to plant arborites as part of their new NOI submission,
but only where the locomotive is situated, not the entire length of the train. So, we can cover one one engine, but we can't cover the other six to to seven cars that it's pulling. I think what's most frustrating about this is that it isn't just about
aesthetics. It's really about undoing years of environmental restoration that we as taxpayers have already paid for. Okay, you've made it. We're at the end. So to close this out, I would be remiss not to recognize and thank the entire
RTC group that expands just beyond the five of us. If you've been part of the RTC and the conversation over the last year, can you please raise your hand? And Miss Pat, who's working the door, she was the trailblazer with Jim, who's not here tonight, but he's watching. Hi,
Jim. For almost an entire year, we've been trying to make our voices heard. We've shown the data. We've outlined the safety concerns. We've walked you through the environmental threat, the noise, the
diesel emissions, and the traffic impacts that would ripple across this town. We've talked about what's at stake, not just the wetlands and the crossings, but our quality of life, our health, and our safety.
The Mallet Psalms and Morgan conservation project showed what a good planning can look like. A project that restored the wetlands, managed the storm water, and protected the Ipsswitch River wershed. This project, the Turnback Track, is the
opposite of that. It doesn't protect, it disrupts. It doesn't restore, it damages. And it doesn't serve the residents of Reading. It burdens us.
For 335 days, we've waited for this moment to be heard, not in two-minute fragments at public comment, but as a united community. We're not against the progress. We're for accountability.
We're for safety, for clean air, for the kind of thoughtful development that respects the people who live here in our green community. Based on everything we've discussed, the environmental risk,
the traffic impact, the noise, our health and safety, this project cannot continue and must be rejected. Thank you. Still
don't have another for a reason, right? Thanks, Ally. Um, and now I'd like to provide some opportunity for the MBTA. If anyone would like to speak, feel free. No, you can come up here. Definitely.
and please behave. Thank >> Thank you for coming. We appreciate >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Ryan Cohol and I'm the chief operating officer for the MBTA. Um, so first off, I want to acknowledge in uh our appreciation uh for having a
community that will come together uh whether it's good for us, bad for us, or in between. There was an image up on the screen a few moments ago that showed a scale and it signifies balance and the MBTA always believes whatever community
we serve we can strike a balance and I'm here tonight really just to listen to listen to your concerns to watch your presentation uh and to reaffirm that no decision has been made tonight was a factf finding
mission I felt it was very important that I'm here uh I'm joined by executive director of commuter rail, Michael Mueller. And we wanted to hear firsthand and I will tell you sincerely when I see a community as interested in what we the
MBTA delivers and again it's not always good. It's not always bad. Sometimes it's in the middle. But community ownership speaks volumes. And again tonight we're here to listen. Again, as mentioned last Thursday at our board of
directors meeting, no final decision has been made. And so that gives us the opportunity to take all this information back to do what's right for all involved parties. We're going to explore every alternative and we'll be back. Uh I will acknowledge
you have some amazing uh spokespeople who have taken it their own time to come see us in Boston. Uh Lucas, thank you so much. Thank you for coming. And in closing, uh, I'll just say that the MBTA is always here to be a
stakeholder with you with every community we serve. We're not always going to agree, but you have our commitment that we'll work with you to find the balance. So, thank you very much. All right. So, for the public comment
portion, we have about 40 people signed up, which uh obviously isn't going to work for 3 minutes each. So, um, and I assume some people on these list, uh, accidentally signed in as well. Um, so probably we'll go with Oh,
there's Well, now there's more. Um, yeah, 45 46 47. Um, not 67. Um, so I'll open it up to 2 minutes a person. We'll see how it goes. Um, just remember
that um, there's going to be people with differing opinions and that's okay. That's that's the point of having this meeting here that everybody has an equal opportunity to voice their support or displeasure with the project. So, just try to please keep um, things civil so
we can just keep everything moving along. Um, and I will start off with I mean I'm horrible at reading names. Uh, I think it's Alicia Gallagher, 36 Augustus Court. So, two minutes, name and address, and Jane is gonna keep time
down here at the end. >> Thanks. >> Uh, I I'll do that. Uh, so after her is going to be Patron. >> Good evening. My name is Alicia Gallagher. I reside at 36 Augustus
Court. Select board chairman, Mr. Haley. board members and all neighbors interested in the proposed change of the MBTA schedule. My particular interest is the safe and expeditious travel of the emergency vehicles in town. I am a
professional nurse with 32 years experience working in emergency departments. My career started when true emergency care was in its infancy. The old Cadillac ambulance offered a fast ride to an emergency department which may or
may not have even had a doctor on duty. Speed on the road to the hospital was the main tool for the patients recovery. The sicker or more badly injured the patient was, the faster they drove. In the mid60s due to new life exper
saving equipment, new medications, CPR on scene, radio communication with the emergency department and an enthusiastic culture in the people who embrace these tools, we were ready to do better, and
we did. So today, we have highly educated, well-trained experts in safe, high-speed vehicles. This provides the patient with the very best care way, way beyond first aid. The paramedics are initiating advanced care
to patients during the rapid transfer. And it is working. Our police and fire professionals are well trained to travel at a speed that is commensurate with the emergency situation and the surrounding conditions.
Losing their ability to navigate the streets quickly will have a negative impact on the care given to the patients and probably their outcome. The already overcrowded main streets are caused for traffic jams occurring on a
very regular basis compounded every time the gates are deployed for the passage of a train. With this in mind, in consideration of the emergency response vehicles, I firmly believe that it would not be prudent to add any further obstruction of street traffic. Thank you.
>> I respectfully plead protect our superb followed by Denise 21 Woodward. All right. So, nothing from Denise. Uh, David, your husband, I assume. Okay. After >> two minutes address.
>> Good evening. Excuse me. My name is Pat Kryley. I live at 71 Vine Street. I would like to speak on how to monitor the e the diesel engine. Mass law does
not allow idling 100 ft from a school to protect students from dangerous fumes. The federal law allows diesel engines to idle up to 30 minutes, giving off dangerous fumes within 100 ft of
elderly, disabled children and families. I assume the federal law did not envision diesel engines idling in residential communities, especially the environmental justice community for 14
hours. I asked the select ward and the reading officials, how will you monitor the 30 minutes? We already know day one they're going to be in violation.
If they are in violation, how will it be reported? How will the fines be collected? And how will they be used? Thank you. >> And after David is uh Kaden 27 Woodward.
>> Thank Thank you for having me. My name is David Kumido. I live at 21 Woodward. have and I've lived there for 48 years. Um, one of the more awkward moments of the presentation tonight had to do with the issue of operational uh, management.
I'm concerned about in that respect operational costs. I've looked at, so as not to give too many details, the MTA's uh, data that show how many people board the train in Reading to go into Boston on a Wednesday for the entire day. I've
looked at the MTA's uh hoped for increases in ridership based on the turnback project. If you take that data and you multiply it by three because you have people in uh Wakefield and Melrose also getting on
the train uh hopefully supposedly increased ridership and you take full retail uh cost of a foot a $14 round trip. Uh the revenue that the MTA is going to be receiving from this is um
easily wiped out by the cost of labor for extraconductors and engineers. It's also easily wiped out by the cost of additional diesel fuel. It probably is even uh greatly mitigated by the cost of
maintenance uh self- insurance of overtime etc. So the operational cost of this I believe is way out of line in terms of costbenefit ratio. That says nothing about the capital cost of $1
million. I don't believe that that $11 million will ever be paid back. Uh it's impossible to pay it back with negative revenue. So I'd like to see more about that, but it's just something that's stuck in my mind for a long time. Thank
you. So after Kaden, it's uh Stuart and Fred. >> Hi, my name is Kate Marcowski. I live at 27 Woodward A. I'm 11 years old and I attend the Parker Middle School here in Reading. I live very close to the train tracks and conservation area and I love
spending time biking and exploring nature. People mainly go down to the conservation land to enjoy peace and quiet and that would be disturbed if trains are polluting the area. I love being outside and want to avoid headaches from bad air. Also, last year
the fifth graders from Baris Elementary went on a field trip to the conservation land and are planning to do that again. But if trains are polluting the air, that could change. We hope to keep our conversation land conservation land nice for everyone. Thank you.
after Stuart and Fred is Linda Russo. >> Good evening. My name is Stuart May. I live on Summer Avenue, obviously in Reading. Um, so I'm here to sort of make a couple of points here, but first of all, I want to thank you all for being part of this process. the RTC have done
a great job in bringing us all together to hear what's going on and I appreciate the select board coming as well and supporting um hearing from what we have to say. Um very recently I saw a a train idling at
the station and if you actually be actually there in person with an idling engine it's kind of shocking the amount of noise and vibration an engine generates. you stand there and watch it and the fumes coming out the top of this. So to me, um, where I live, we
live near the conservation area. The concept of actually having an engine that's doing that in the station, just doing it in a conservation area just is just absurd. It just makes absolutely no sense. And we're trying to become more
of a green community. And I know the MBTA has plans a long way out to look at electrifying trains having, you know, much cleaner um alternatives. And I know that's a long way out and it's very very expensive. But a lot of countries have done that already. So there must be a
way to start to bring some of that technology that already exists sooner and not bring these older trains back onto these tracks that are going to be sitting in these areas. My my last point here is um the the the
crossings uh Wuben Street itself uh going up from 24 to 62 crossings a day is such a massive increase in the number but it also stop the crossing also goes down on the train coming out on the northbound line. So when it stops
at the station it also goes down one more time as well. So that just the volume of closings that we are all going to experience in the downtown area, it's going to impact everybody. Uh parking, getting to schools, safety, the whole
thing. Thank you. >> Uh so after Fred, it's Linda Russo and then Debbie Harris. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Fred Hart, 72 Fairview Avenue. First, I want to start by expressing my profound
admiration to the RTC. Uh, I did not have any idea of the extent of your fervor, your involvement, and the immense amount of work that you've put into this. I realize I'm going to be a bit of a voice in the wilderness here, but maybe I can provide a little
counterbalance in the sense of seeing real well probably real benefits to the residents and the businesses in reading if we can somehow achieve 30 minute service into and back from Boston. Many
of you probably already know that the Fairmont line and the line to Beverly are already at 30 minute daytime uh weekday service. And I hope that working together with the MBTA, we can achieve that. And I know that they have
attempted in their many meetings to point out the disadvantages or the impracticalities of some of the alternatives. and I would be disappointed if we have to wait five, six or seven years for this level of
service here in Reading. Thank you. >> So after Linda, it's Debbie and then Phil Pacino. >> Linda Russo, 55 Hancock Street. My family has lived adjacent to the tracks the majority of my life and we have never had a complaint about our
location. But this project will force us to be living next to a railroad yard with up to seven hours of idling trains per day. This will be a drastic change to the quality of life to entire neighborhoods. From what I can see of
the sound study, these idling trains bring us just about four points below the allowable decibel limit. What will that decel level reach when a passing train to and from Haveril passes by that
other already idling train? That test was never done. As it is now, as Bob said, when a paint a train passes by, we pause our conversations. It's just what we do. It's not a big
deal, but it'll just be ridiculous if it there's also a train idling. If this happens 28 times a day, does that mean there will be 28 sound violations in a day? And if so, who will police the
sound level and impose any and all violations? To anyone that thinks this is not this is a not in my backyard complaint, you have now heard and seen how this will affect the entire town. It's not just in
my backyard. And if you think that this project will make your life easier, I ask you to please reconsider and think what it would be like if a project was going to dump 25 additional tons of poison per year on your loved ones. If
that were to happen to you, I would surely help you fight against it. So after Debbie and Philip Casino is Carara Harry. Yes. Um Debbie Harris, 90 Wuburn Street. I wasn't really planning to speak, but I am four houses up
towards the center of town, diagonally across from um Church of Good Shepard from the train tracks. I was in my yard today for an hour and a half raking leaves. I think five trains came through to idolling. I can smell the diesel. I
feel for all the people this is going to affect. I also do not understand why these empty trains have to sit every half hour, every hour. And one time last summer, I was sitting on my front porch trying to read and the traffic was
building up in both directions towards St. Magnus towards the center of town because the train the gates were down for a good 20 minutes. So finally I went up to a car. I said, "Do you want me to call the police?" And I did. And the police said, "We didn't even know there
was a problem." Apparently the train was sort of stuck. And no one from the MBTA even contacted the town of Reading to tell them this. I did. So I really hope this does not go through. Thank you.
So after Phil and Car Perry is Thomas Laughlin. Okay. My name is Phil Pacino. I live at four five Washington Street unit D6. Five Washington Street is on the as you go toward the the Wuben Street toward
the tracks. Washington Street is on the left. Bob up there is used to live and when live at five washes the street so he's well known basically from where I sit and I'm on the other the other side of Parker Street I can hear those trains
when they idle in the depot right now everything that's been presented tonight I can attest to you verify because I've heard it all I've heard the noise I've smelled the things the only good thing is the train goes by it's maybe 3 4
minutes big deal. Sometimes they sit in the the depot for 10 minutes, 15 minutes or so, you hear them. You really can't have a a conversation unless you close the windows and the slider um and a train goes by, it drowns out my TV. The
other thing that I want to mention is the bells. Every time the the dates go down, the bells ring. Now, we're going to increase the number of bells starting early in the morning. That goes on all the time. My I don't know how my other neighbors
that are on Washington Street on my end of Washington Street feels. I see Karen over here, you know, but those bells are going to go more so than now. Right now, it's maybe 2 or 3 hours. Coming here tonight, I came down Ruben Street. It
took me 10 minutes to get over the railroad tracks because the train was stopped in there. The other thing is too is basically this is devaluing the value of my home. It's going to devalue the value of our
homes here in all truthfulness here. Now, I don't know what the effect that's going to be. God knows how long I'm going to be here in Reading. Maybe I'll sell and get millions of dollars, but maybe not at this point. The other thing that and I I hope we I
hope the MBTA hears what's been said tonight. I hope we don't get to the situation we're out in the the town of Palmer where they're actually suing the MBTA >> to stop a project. >> Thank you. >> So after Cara Perry and Thomas Laughlin
is James Gawarro. Cara Perry, 55 Hancock Street. So accountability was a theme that came up in the presentation and more specifically the RGC is asking about the MB MBTA be held accountable throughout this process. Given that the reading
turnback track, double tracking north of Wilmington, and sustained accessibility upgrades in Andover and Balladil are all described by the MBTA as steps towards achieving 30 minute birectional service on the Haver line. Can the select board
request clarification from the MBTA and Mass Deep EP as to whether these related actions constitute a singlephase project under MEPA? Specifically, has the MBTA filed or been advised to file a consolidated environmental notification
form addressing cumulative impacts for the corridor rather than individual NOIs. I ask this in the spirit of accountability and holding the MBTA accountable for following the rules put in place to protect our communities. Thank you.
>> So after Thomas and James is Sophia Olivara. My name is Jim Pra, proud father of Lucas Praau. And I want to say that I live in Ipsswitch. And you might say, what am I doing here?
Well, considering everything that was said, I just want to give you this information. The commuter train used to go all the way to Newport through Ipsswitch up until around 1976.
Then for some reason, service was stopped to Newport. So the turnaround track was now in Ipsswitch. Just south of Ywood station, there were side tracks where the engines would idle for hours at a time with fumes
dispersing in the direction of the wind. On the east side of the tracks, there were numerous homes whose residents had to put up with these toxic fumes for 22 years. I contacted a very good friend of ours,
Carol, who lives in that area. And Luke went to went to school with her son, Adam. For 22 years, she in the whole neighborhood, a huge neighborhood, smelled the stench of that
fumes. Unbelievable. And you know what she said? Some people might say, "Well, the wind's blowing away today, so I don't have to worry about it." She said, "The worst thing about these things is when there's no wind.
When there's no wind, the stench just sort of slowly uh just slowly goes around to the whole community and the stench is unbelievable." So,
oh I want to say that then around 1998 IPS which got relief because the MBTA decided to extend the track to new report. So now everything's back to normal but 22 years they had to put up with it.
Thank you. So was Thomas Laughlin here or no? All right. So James Gawaro and then after him it's Sophia. Jim Gadaro 75 Vine Street. I'd just like
to comment on the sound study that was done. My house is about 200 f feet north of the Mineral Street Bridge. And on the day in question where the sound study was done, the engine was idling behind
my house. We're probably 1,500 to 2,000 ft from where the uh the recording devices were. So I question the validity of the sound study. Thank you.
So after Sophia, it's uh Cryandra Holmes and Pat Meansen. >> Hi, my name is Sophia Oliver and I'm 12 years old and I live on 87 Hancock Street. I live near the conservation land and I am worried that the animals in the conservation land will be harmed
by the pollution that comes from the idling train. The fumes, sounds, and vibrations from the engine will make it harmful to all the animals in the conservation land like deer, coyotes, foxes, birds, and other small animals. This train will be harmful to our
conservation land and other parts of our environment. Thank you. So after Cassandra Holmes and Pat Meansen is Tony from 56 Berkeley Street.
>> Hi Cassandra Holmes. I've lived here for almost 50 years and the town sure has changed in those years. Um in addition to the the pollution that I really was not aware of how much there was and will
be if this goes through um going downtown at that the train tracks at Washington and Ash. I mean I have been down there without any additional stops and I have been
seeing the traffic going back through summer street and this isn't even at rush hour. I mean, it is just ridiculous. It's going to stop all the the the commerce in downtown Reading. We We can't get down there. I'm I'm going
to be doing back roads and going up to Wilmington to do my shopping. It It'll be ridiculous. I have a bank down that I have to go to the ATM now that TD Bank lift and I go down to Walgreens and now
that has to be I I wouldn't be able to get there. I mean, if this is going through every half hour, did they say, or is it every 15 minutes? I I it's just preposterous. It's going to ruin the whole town. And uh I don't see any
benefit. Thank you. >> So, after Pat and the 56 Berkeley person is uh Christine Park. >> Good evening. I'd like to thank the select board, thank RTC. I really am not prepared for this, but I do feel
compelled tonight, so bear with me. Um, as a lifetime resident of not only Reading, but of Hancock Street as well. I feel compelled to speak tonight. I not only live but work all
day on Hancock Street. For 37 years, I have provided child care to working parents. And in all honesty, the train is the highlight of our day. When the train goes by, you hear all aboard. We
walk up to the Mineral Street Bridge. We wave, the conductors beep their horn. It's a huge part of our day. Um, we frequently stay outside. I I truly believe that
children learn better, feel better, they're healthier. I have always for 37 years, I've had a play-based curriculum. I feel very strongly that with the fumes and the noise, we will be spending a lot
more time inside. But I also fear that I will start to lose my business of 37 years if I can't be outside with six kids, sometimes eight. Uh, so that's it. Thank you.
All right. So after 56 Berkeley person and Christine Parks and then it's David Olivara. I'm gonna pass. Thank you. Oh, perfect. >> Yep. Christine >> Christine Parks, 35 Hancock Street. I've
been on Hancock Street for about 30 years now and have never complained about the train. It's very close to our house and we stop our conversation when it goes by. So, that's not the issue. But I am concerned as was presented
tonight. And thank you for everyone for presenting. You did a fantastic job. um that the MBTA has taken a peacemail approach to avoid regulations. One of the things that came up is why not do the turnback at the station where
it would make the most sense and the response was then we'd have to be ADA compliant and we don't have the funding for that. My response is we need to rep prioritize what we're funding because this MBTA is supposed to serve everybody and if we're not ADA compliant, we're
not serving everybody. So, let's reook at how we're doing things and make our priorities more in line with where they should be. I don't see David 87 Hancock. All right. So, after him is
Stefan Hurlet and then Adam Katarino. >> Hi, my name is David Olivera, 87 Hancock Street. Um, I have a unique perspective because I also work right next to the train tracks and live right next to the train tracks. So, I live and
uh live and sleep with the train 24 hours a day. And I see more often than not two locomotives, four cars, mostly empty all the time. So, I can't even see the justification for the the absurdity of this project. If there if the trains were full of people all the time, and we
needed more trains, I could see it, but I just don't see it. Is there any evidence of the feasibility? Why do we even need trains every 30 minutes? That's all. >> So after Stephen and Adam is John Arena.
>> How you doing? I'm Adam Katarino. I live at 83 Prescott Street, 1584 ft from the train station. Every time the train stops, my house shakes. I live in historical home, so all my neighbors houses all shake. I'm going be all over the place with this. I have three kids.
I have one that goes to Barrows, one that's at the high school, one goes to Little Treasures. I have 40 minutes from from 7:50 to 8:30 to get them to school. If the train stops twice, I hit it two times of my way back. How's any parent supposed to get these kids to school? Is
the MBTA and the town going to work together to create better school schedules? You guys going to pay for buses for three for three kids? It's $1,275 a year to put kids on buses. That's ridiculous. You going to pay for new buses for this town? I have four family
members that are firefighters. Ambulances in this for brand new ambulances are between $350 to $550,000. If you're going to create more train crossings, you have to have another ambulance. It's unacceptable to have only one. Who's paying for that? Thank
you. Uh so after Stephan and John arena is Jannady. >> Hi everyone. Stefan Hurletz 19 Dustin Road. I'm relatively new to reading. Moved here last year. Loved it. Um I am personally a train commuter and I
commuting to Boston every day and for people like me this project would of course be very helpful. Now there are many concerns with it and I think uh in addition to the concerns I think we should begin thinking about what the pathway to yes would look like because uh now the concerns have included things
like noise and crossings things that would happen under any increase in service. And so we have to think about what that will look like, where that money will come from and and if if the town is against in increased
surface, if it will mean more noise and more crossings, I think we should be honest about that. Uh in addition, second point, I think we should also have a conversation as a town about why so many vulnerable communities and locations are located next to a railroad that's been there for 200 years. It's
because it's it's cheaper to build there. That's why. And I think maybe we should consider when building further vulnerable places and communities, maybe we should try doing it not next to a railroad. Thank you. >> After John Arena and Gennady is Tony 11
Appleton. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Most of the discussion tonight has been opinions about >> your address, John. Sorry. 26 Francis member of CPDC member of town meeting former board of selectman member former finance committee member
most of the conversation has been opinions about what should be done I'd like to ask two questions about what will be done and what can be done question one is what is the consequence of a negative vote should that be the outcome tonight on on the progress or
end of this of this project I'm directing that to you Yes, >> I'll be going over things at the end. John, >> I'm just asking what the impact of the town not not the not the authority but merely what right the board of selectman has.
>> Our vote tonight is merely uh formality. It's loosely held with the conservation and our vote is just to send a uh message to the MBTA one way or another. >> Thank you. At the end of the day, these are political judgments. We all have opinions. We all pay taxes. that these
eventually just come down to the raw will of the electorate. You've got a good showing here tonight, but you're also dealing with an organization that does this every day of the week and deals with 3 63 townships perhaps maximum. So, it's an asymmetric
discussion. It's an asymmetric relationship. My second question is to either the RTC or the board, this was originally classed as a redevelopment. It appears that it's been mclassed. Who classified it? What are the what's the remedy to reclassify it as as it
properly should have been? One of the speakers from RTC mentioned that this was coded as a redevelopment and in doing so it avoided many uh checks and balances. My question is who made that judgment? What recourse is there to reclass it?
>> Does the MBTA happen to have an answer for that or can we get one after? >> Was it >> okay? >> Was it this body? Anyone in this body? >> No, none of us did. All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> After Jannati and Tony is uh Ron Pal.
>> Hi folks, Gennady Pilaski 3 Herman Avenue. Um so I'm a member of the writing climate advisory committee as well as the town meeting. I'm speaking as a resident but there's some history with regards to what the climate committee has been doing. Uh we've met
with Lucas and other members of what will become RTC in January of this year. Uh we listened for about an hour, spoke for a little bit longer. Early February, we as a committee drafted and then
submitted a letter. Uh we shared it with the select board as well as the state reps. We uh advocated, it's a long letter, but the three main bulletin points is that we advocated for a study uh study that focuses on greenhouse emissions, on long-term consequences of
air quality, and lastly, the noise and vibrations. Uh so that was about 10 months ago now. The study hasn't really been done. We've seen a handful of measurements, which I guess is something. um the greenhouse emissions
as well as the long-term consequences um of the air quality has already been sort of shown in practice uh by RDC but it hasn't there has been no study done what it means for reading so we would
still advocate for that study to be done uh with regards to noise and vibrations there also has not really been done a study there's been a measurement which is something and that measurement showed that the noise is going up above 50 dBA.
It's uh seen in the charts labeled as 51 dBA. I briefly looked and um it does seem that birds in the sanctuary would end up being disturbed by those noise levels. Uh the threshold is roughly
threshold is roughly 850. I don't know what it means for humans or the neighborhood in general. sounds and vibrations. This is not my domain of expertise. I'm in the volunteer position. I don't do these studies. I would encourage the board and our state
reps to push the study forward so we would understand the impact on our neighborhood. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh so after Tony and Ron Powell is Alex Maza. >> Tony Rotois 11 Appleton Lane. probably one of the most distant uh speakers to
arise tonight in relation to the the train station. Um I can hear the trains running at night um after hours when they're shuttling them back up and down the line. I can hear it. I live over near Pearl Street. Uh it's that loud. Um second, I can speak to the question about the amphibian callings
professionally. Uh their vocalizations will peak between 1 and 3 hours after sundown on warm rainy nights in spring. Um, finally, I would like to ask the select board to consider the long-term impacts to reading and to look beyond
some of the uh the razledazzle that that that the tea is going to offer. Um, we've heard about emergency vehicles, ambulances in particular. They may offer uh an ambulance for the other side of of Reading, for the um for the west side of
Reading. Um, keep in mind that there still will be a burden to the town. The town will have to pay for crews and for staffing and training and supplies. There's a long-term cost. Also, I believe this project lies handinhand with the uh with the resoning the community MBTA act
which recently passed. Um, increased train times is going to put more development pressure on the center of town. That will increase property values which may sound attractive. Um, but for those of us who have children and are here long term, increased property values means even higher taxes than
they're already paying now. I consider that an adverse impact and a detriment to my particular quality of life. Um, also um, with increased uh, development around the center of town, which I I know some people here are in favor of,
um, there are also additional costs to the town. uh schools which are already bursting at the seams. Um fire, water, there's a whole host of infrastructure, parking. I think the town really needs to focus on issues that we have before us now. My kids can't even walk to
school on a sidewalk because the sidewalks are in such bad shape. We shouldn't be looking so far down the road uh when we have plenty of issues now that that we should be addressing. Thank you. All right. So, I have about I've gone through two pages, so we have about a
pageish left. Uh, so it's Ron Powell, Alex Maza, and then Joseph White. Ron Powell, 328 South Street. Uh, I too live far away from the tracks. I'm here just to say it's not a nimi issue. It's
not just an abutter issue. I fully support the modern rail uh modern rail modernization plan and um the MBTA's efforts to provide 30-inut service. I just don't support this particular project and I encourage the
MBTA to consider other alternatives that have been presented like the 93129 um location. I understand that there is some rightaway issues that involve the electric company, but I I you know would again encourage to go back to revisit that. I do believe that's a better
location. I also realize that a lot of these decisions are made at the transit advisory board that the META holds and I encourage the town to appoint uh a representative to attend either the either from the town or from the select
board to attend those meetings because that's where these decisions are ultimately made. Um thank you. So after Alex and Joseph White is Justin Perry. >> Hi Alex Maza 18 Hanscom. Uh thanks for
being here and hearing my thoughts everyone. I don't live very close to the tracks. I live about a half mile away but I do work in downtown Boston and I ride the train every day. I rode the train twice to today including to this meeting and about 400 times this year.
Um, I can confirm we do not have a train capacity issue. The last time somebody sat in the seat next to me on the train was when the Orange Line was closed and the commuter rail was serving uh, Oak Grove to Boston. Uh, I can also confirm we don't have a
frequency issue. Um, depending on if I'm dropping my kids off at school in the morning or if I need to make it to an early meeting, I have four different trains I can choose from to get to work within um the window that I need to um leaving between 6 about 6:00 and 9:00
a.m. Um, and then lastly, I can confirm that people really aren't coming to Reading on the train to visit our businesses. I see the same residents commuting every day. Nobody has shopping bags. Um,
so I definitely support modernization and, you know, better service, but I also take like to take a rational approach to solving these types of problems. And, you know, given the the trade-offs here, this doesn't feel like a good decision. And it feels like we're
trying to take some shortcuts, but there's not a fire burning. We don't need this train right now. We can take a longer term, better solution that's well thought out. So after Joseph White and Justin Perry is Jason Russo. >> Hi, my name is Joseph White. I live in
65 Prescott Street, three blocks from the train station. I came here 20 years ago uh to start working in Boston and have depended on the trains for for 20 years. So, I would not want to see a reduction in service to reading, which
appears to be the case um if this turnback track doesn't get um built. But I understand the concerns of u many of you in the room about sound pollution and other uh concerns, but I just don't
want to see train service reduced. So with that in mind, I would ask the T why they cannot restore train service to the level that existed prior to the pandemic. In fact, the lower line is already at
that level and they don't have problems here like we do. Secondly, if they can't or won't restore service, I would suggest maybe you drop the contract and start working towards building the second track from Wakefield all the way
to Haver because Reading is in the middle of this line. I'm sure there are plenty of people further on who would love to be able to get to Boston. Um, in any case, I would not like to see reduction in service, but restoration of
what we had prior to the pandemic. Thank you for letting me speak and thank you for your attention. >> After Justin and Jason is Margaret 1137, >> Justin Perry, 47 Whittier Road. I would like to start by thanking the MBTA for
doing something that no politician has done over the last 20 years in this town, which is bring all of us together. So, I greatly appreciate that. Sorry it's under these circumstances. The median value of a single family home in Reading, Massachusetts is $900,000.
20% of homeowners in the United States whose mortgages are $900,000 or more have both a fixed mortgage and a variable mortgage component, a heliloc or a second mortgage. We have roughly 7200 single family homes in this town, which means that at least 20% of these
homeowners, 1440 homes and families are literally banking on the value of their home increasing. There are approximately 300 homes within the thousand ft of the track that you propose to revitalize. Uh with this service, 4% of the
homeowners in this in this town are virtually guaranteed to have the values of their homes plummet. In hearing the words of the MBTA COO tonight, I actually believe and to be genuine. So, thank you. The problem is that at least to me, it's clear that the MBTA has forced has been forced to face
the firing squad here. This project makes no sense. There's no reason for it. And that's the reason why the studies are being ignored and the data is being hidden. It is it because reading citizens work in Boston? The United States is on the precipice of a commercial real estate
default crisis the likes of which no one's ever seen. So who really knows how much we even will need the MBTA in the future? There's no good reason to add service unless you consider that this is the tr to transport the influx of residents and the NBTA community's agenda has forced
down the throats of these cities and towns for years now. If these train tracks that nobody uses has so many strings attached to them, remove them. And when you do, I would ask that the MBTA make sure they do it on their dime.
I would recommend that the select board save $10.5 million of the $11 million and sue the MBTA and the state of Massachusetts to tie this up in litigation until they give up. Uh, so after Jason and Margaret is John,
also at 11:37, Jason Russo, 90 Prospect Street. I've grown up and lived next to the railroad tracks most of my life. Um, now I'm a few blocks away, but I want to talk about why I'm here. I'm here as a business owner, a business owner in
Boston. Uh, and we're talking about before COVID levels. I've operated multiple businesses, uh, large offices in town where we used to provide MBTA and rail cards to our employees as a benefit because that was an attractive
way to get people to work for us. Um, that's been about 8 years since I've had anyone request one of those from me. Um, we were in Charles Town for many years, uh, 50 or so people, and, uh, once the
pandemic hit, we moved into a new office by the garden, and we were all excited to, to head there. And I can say to you right now that there are maybe two people that go to the office four times a year.
So, as a business owner in Boston for decades, me. Um, it's just not Do we have um Margot from 11:37 Maine? >> She left. >> She left. Did John go with her?
I'm going to go with yes. see that the sound study completed again with the data turned over to the town so that we can also confirm the results. We aren't even sure that the sound study complete was completed accurately and captured the noise where the locomotive is supposed to be. I'm very concerned
about uh what saying no to this project means. MBTA has said that they will do this project in Wakefield. Some of you, the upcoming trash contract. We need to have a reporting system in place to make sure that the NBTA is holding up their
end of the deal. Thank you. So after Chris Calibrizzy is Stefan 38 Minet Street and Joseph Flurry. >> All right. Thank you. Uh Chris Calib 17 Deborra Drive. So it's Calibrize, not
Calibri. That's my uh I guess my grandfather trying to stay away from the mafia actually. So >> so be careful. >> Um I just wanted to say I guess listening to it. Um I'll just uh I came here I know that the uh committee up
here said that they were for the right more service. Um I guess what I would have liked to seen uh I appreciate all the the work that you've done. Um I don't see anything on the other side. Everything says, even if the emissions weren't an issue, everything seems to
say that no on train service, no on train service, no on train service, even though the the mission is that you do support train service. I did go down to Wuburn Street and I know the traffic is something that the town likes to talk about a lot. They also like to talk about adding parking, which increases
traffic, but um I timed the the light down there. 28 minutes it would be red crossing um on Wuburn Street across the track uh every hour. And so we need to be I think realistic about how much of the traffic is coming from and it is pretty much all the traffic. I saw cars
backed up without a train, right? Realistic about the traffic is coming from. It's all of us in our cars. Um, and so while there may be a pieces of that that are attributed to the train,
um, most of the traffic is from our cross streets, half of the time a road has to be blocked by a red light because there's a cross street. It's just right. There's no other way to do it. You can't crash cars into each other. Um, so we just need to be realistic about that. And I think just want to echo what
somebody else said about what is the what is the guess for this? If we want 30 minute service, not everything can be right against that. If it's really the pollution, then we should attack the pollution. Um, and we should look at those things. And the other thing I just wanted to came up on the the um the type
of development that we had here I think needed the mitigation for that conservation area because of the destruction that type of development here led to. Chris. >> Yes. >> Just super quick to be clear. We had a
great conversation at one of the select board meetings and I appreciate >> microphone locus. >> Oh, sorry. So again, just to be clear, thank you for our conversation after the select board meeting. I really do. But just to be clear, this meeting was offered to
someone like yourself to present that advocated for the service, but the location and also the MBTA to present alongside us. It wasn't just us. >> And you'll be responsible. >> So after Stephen and Joseph Flurry is
Kyle Torton Toro, thank you. Hi, my name is Stefan Wenish. Uh 38 Minot Street. Um I'm live close enough to the uh station that when the train goes by, I can feel
the windows shake. So I'm a little familiar with the way things are around there. About 15 years ago, I moved there uh to help with my commute with uh Boston because, you know, I mean, you can't drive into Boston. You got to take the train. Um, a couple of times I've
gotten stuck, you know, waiting for a train and I'm actually glad to see that this is actually something that might help with that. Getting increased service a half hour at a time. That's one bonus, but there's also another bonus, and that's something that's
happening around the entire globe. You may have heard of it. Maybe you think it's no big deal. Maybe it's far away. But let me ask you, when was the last drought that we had here in Reading? When was the last time we had a wildfire in Stonewall? And when was the last time
that Lake Quanau in Wakefield froze over? There's a theme here. And that theme is here. You, me, and everyone else in this town pour millions of dollars into this very building, teaching our young men and
women to consider their future. And now when the adults show up, we're supposed to throw that out the window. I think it's time that we should take some of our own advice that we give to our own young people and think about our future.
For the representatives of the MBTA, if you were to electrify this uh rail line, we wouldn't even be here. I think that's something that you've got it in Oak Grove, just bring it up. I mean, they do it everywhere else. I I don't understand the problem. Yes, it's expensive, but
you know, you can look around here. There's a lot of people who would be happy if it were done that way. Thank you. >> After Joseph and Kyle is Jen Allen. >> Thanks, Joseph Flurry, 20 Willow Street. I submit this comment as a resident of
Reading, not as an associate member of the Conservation Commission. My family moved to Reading in 2018 because of it because of its balance between great schools and public services, natural open spaces, and excellent transportation access. We rely daily on our personal vehicle, our bikes, and the
MBTA commuter rail. And we value that Reading offers the rare ability to reach anywhere in the state, whether by train, bus, bike, or highway, without sacrificing the daily quality of life improvements that comes from protected conservation land and interacting with open spaces. What's needed now is
structure and coordination. so reading can manage future transit growth responsibly and to ensure we do not further lose regional rail service from levels we had before 2020 and which we haven't returned to. To that end, I ask the select board to consider three
direct actions from within your purview. One, form a public transit working group. Establish a subcommittee or MBTA transit advisory board delegate to coordinate and inform across the select board town manager planning and conservation commissions and reading state delegation. This group or
appointee should represent res residenc's transit priorities monitor MBTA and mass dot modernization efforts and ensure reading representatives are not excluded from future planning advocacy and negotiations which has unfortunately occurred with the MBTA's current rail modernization initiative.
Two, please integrate transit planning into your town's master plan update. Direct town staff to incorporate future MBTA rail and bus service improvements into the next master plan update, identifying how expanded regional rail service could affect access, parking, and commercial growth around Reading Depot while still safeguarding our open
spaces. And three, address the Ash, Bolan, and Main Street single track bottleneck. Please partner with the reading delegation, Mass and MBTA to resolve this single track constraint, whether through Eastern Gateway infrastructure planning or a related initiative to allow for double tracking
through Reading Depot. Again, please ensure that res residents, public transit riders, and its natural environment, which doesn't have a voice of its own, has a real seat at the table as decisions are being made about the future of our local transportation systems. but also know that these local decisions will have a direct impact on
current and future riders, residents, and businesses along the entire Averil Commuter Rail Line. >> Thank you, Joseph. >> So, after Kyle and Jen Allen is Michael Kemdoro, 60 bankrupt. >> Hello, I'm Kyle Toro of 43 Vine Street.
So, I'm a local resident to where the track will be sitting itself. As an architect, I'm also aware that you want to put your money in the best shape to plan for your future. And that is to put the train station in the station itself and that the MBTA should not be hiding
behind or using the excuse that we have to be fully ADA MBA compliant. that a portion of the track can serve all the community with a high low platform which has been installed in other stations and that this can be done here if the
requirement is to have this additional service in our station. I think that the select board should work with the resources we have in the community to bring the planning board and other committee members that we have to address this as a whole community. planning borders right now meeting and
talking about the easting gateway which is just on the other side of Main Street and is part of the overall future and master planning of reading itself and that these committees should be addressing this problem which currently they have not. I would request that the
planning board be implemented to address how we deal with the parking, how we deal with a high low platform being placed in our station as it exists today and not extending this as a larger train
station all the way down the tracks. Thank you. So after Jen and Michael is Alicia Williams. >> Hi uh Jen Allen, Hemlock Road, lifelong resident here in Reading. Um my primary concern, it's great to hear about you
know the impact on the animals and other things but the people um both the short and long-term health and safety impact. So short-term safety impact, as many have mentioned, one ambulance just not acceptable, especially on the west side.
I live over off Walnut Street in the Redgate area, and I have two small children, one that has um pretty significant asthma and usually gets hospitalized about eight times a year for that, and another with severe um nut allergies. So, unfortunately, we've had
ambulance rides with both kids um over the past five years. And again, I'd be really um very anxious in terms of how we would get them to a hospital in time if there were delays. The other concern is the long-term impact. 50 I believe it was 50 tons more of carcinogenic
emissions. Um we're seeing all over the place increases in rates of cancer. We're hearing about lung cancer and other things. I just for me it's really unacceptable and it's disappointing and I was shocked to hear that the project had even extended to this point with the
concept of not even having a discussion on agreement on air quality testing who will be responsible for setting it up who's going to be monitoring it who's going to be imposing fines when air quality testing is not acceptable I think it was brought up in another
meeting if it's not acceptable who's going to put a stop to it. Is there a way to end the project if the results and the facts are showing that we are having increases in people in the area getting sick? Um, one thing I'd like to mention too, I've also been a um train
uh participant working in Boston for about 20 years and my husband, it's 2/3 full. We have never gone back to the same schedule we had before 2020. You go from 5:00 p.m. and you have to wait at North Station to 6:00 p.m. What happened
to the 5:15 train? the 535. I don't think we necessarily need more tracks. We just need to bring the schedule back to what it was before. So, I guess I'd ask that to the MBTA why we can't return back to business as usual back in 2019
before you started changing it where you had to wait an hour to get a train. Thank you. >> Thanks, >> Michael. 60 Braftoft. What? Passing. All right. Alicia Williams. And then after that, it's the last
person on the list anyway, is Bryce Chain. >> Alicia Williams, 40 Mara Lane and 45 High Street at Reading Depot. I have a business. Uh, also a town meeting member, precinct 8. Thank you to RTC for the presentation. Great job. You should
all run for town meeting andor select board. Thank you. The MBTA is attempting to address its issues by adding more trains, fixing their problems, and creating new problems for us. They could use this funding to enhance ridership without contributing to air pollution or
compromising emergency surf services and our safety. As I've said before, if you build it, they still won't come. There's no data showing that more trains lead to more passengers. The MBTA is disconnected from its market. simply
they don't know their customer, who they are, and why and when they are riding. My background is marketing and communications. And with that, I'll give the MBTA free marketing. The real market for trains includes Celtics fans, Bruins fans, uh, garden concert goers along
with young people who want to enjoy Boston nightife. But the commuter rail doesn't cater to those needs, especially since trains stop running before the last song of a concert, leaving the passengers stranded. The MBTA has explained that the train must be inspected and if they leave after a
certain time, they won't pass inspection and it triggers another day inspection. Conductors have told me that they don't want to hold trains. They want to go home. As a business on High Street, I've experienced firsthand how loud and disruptive the trains can be. The constant noise, the rattling of my
windows, and interrupts conversations, the literal fumes coming in. This project seems poorly planned and doesn't consider the impact on the community. I implore the MBTA to go back to Mora Healey and find a new place to put this money. Maybe start with ADA compliance.
Thank you. >> So, last on the list is Bryce. >> Thank you. Sorry for holding everyone up here. Um I I've attended a lot of the select board meetings. I've listened to uh a lot of the the comments that folks have had. I first want to thank the RTC
for putting on such a compelling presentation. Um I also appreciate the MBTA MBTA folks for being here tonight. I'm hoping that giving the compelling argument that they've made here today that maybe the MBTA
>> You want to just pause Jane? >> Sorry, just name and address. Sorry. >> Rice Cheney, 1500 Street. So I live right next to the conservation land. I would be having these in my backyard. And personally, like I'm I I don't want to see this in my backyard. I am I'm worried about the environmental concerns for for me, for my family, for my
neighbors. Um I'm hoping given the compelling argument that they made here today that the MBA folks would be willing to publicly address each and every one of the concerns that they brought here today. um and do that so that the rest of the reading community will be able to see that too because
we've seen it in such a peace meal uh select board meeting 2 minutes here five minutes there last time we're there was at 9:45 after we listened to a number of different reading issues so I'm hoping that they would address each and every one of the compelling concerns that we had because I think we deserve that as a
reading community especially given the fact that it's been a year and it hasn't been a compelling concern about why we need this I know a lot of the other folks have mentioned this before. At no point have we heard them say if you build this turnback this will result in x amount of new passengers or percentage
or whatever it might be because clearly the trains are empty as it is and we do not need this. I'm also concerned because if we do the turnback track clearly we're not going to then do a new um new downtown writing station anytime soon because we've already invested that
12 millm. I think we really need that there. We need it for potentially for the businesses there. Um, but really we do not need this in our backyard and I encourage you to address all the concern they had publicly so the rest of the renting communities understand your
position given their needs. Thank you. I'll open it up to anyone else in the room. I guess Vanessa is going to speak, but if there's anybody else, if you just want to come up and stage in front of the mics just so I can see how many more we have. Um because we are ahead of
schedule for the first time in years. So that's my fault. Uh so two minutes name and address. Um and go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. You actually answered my first question. Um so first of all, thank you to the RTC for all the work that you've done. Um it has been
tremendous. Oh, sorry. Uh, Mount Vernon Street. Um, so my question, my comment is actually to the MBTA representatives who are here. Um, I wanted to love this plan. The idea of 30 minute trains would be absolutely life-changing for our family.
I actually drive to Oak Grove because the tea schedule is so unreliable and infrequent for our needs. My husband is frequently late coming home due to the number of cancellations and delays. 30 minutes would be amazing.
That said, given all of the presentations that we have seen, everything from the RTC, the comments and inconsistencies presented by the tea itself has made me opposed to service
that would actually help my family. So that should tell you something about the audience that you are speaking to here. You have turned off people who wanted to support you. Um, the one thing I will note is that T
representatives have threatened to decrease the number of trains less than what we already have if this proposal does not go through. So, what that communicates to me is that my family and the thousands of local residents who
rely on the tea are going to be in worse condition if we do not bow to this present. It's just not worth the health and the cost that you're putting on the backs of the residents. Property values. You've got schools as everyone's spoken about
traffic effects. None of that compares to the health of our citizens. Marian >> Maryann Downing 13 Heather Drive member of the finance committee in town meeting but I'm speaking as an individual and I'm not going to go over all the particular concerns about this product
project. I think they've been well addressed. I want to speak to the deja vu I'm seeing in this room from something that happened 23 years ago. Some of you who who've been here as long as me might remember another time when a state agency was going to try to impose
something on our community and that was back when Mass Highway wanted to put in the flyovers and we as a community rose up with our representatives. We even had local news coverage and they went back to the drawing board and there was no
shame in it. They never ended up building something. They found other adjustments like some of the lane widening and that project at that time was going to take a 100 homes by eminent domain in Wuburn, Stonum and Reading. Most of them in Reading and
the residents told Mass Highway they just like you guys they came up with lots of scientific reasons and traffic adjustment reasons, but there was no shame in going back to the drawing board and taking another look. And they had federal money on the line. They had a
whole plan and it stopped and I think we have the power here. Thank you >> on the right hand side. >> Hi Amy Miranda. I live in 98 Wuburn Street. It's three houses down from the reading deep from the Wuburn Street
depot. And um I just want to speak a little bit about the biodiesel feasibility to put diesel as opposed to biodiesel. As Mark was saying that it was a proposal from the train. I used to work for the department of energy and the office of energy efficiency and
renewable energy for eight years and one of our projects was to promote the consumption of biodiesel that comes from lard grease anything like that. And I can attest to how in from 2000 to 2008
there were big projects and big money given from the federal government to universities to schools to um big corporations to make this happen. And in 2008 200 2000 to 2008 we said that in
2025 about 20% or 30% of our um um diesel trucks will be running on biodeiesel and that is not feasible. I do not see how biodeiesel is a good proposal for any trains. People can't even tell when you use diesel as opposed to biodiesel. They're going to put
diesel and they're going to tell you they're using biodeiesel. That is not a viable and a feasible option in my point of view being a chemical engineer and professional in this field. Hi, my name is Erin Olivera, uh 87 Hancock Street, and I am Jim Riley's daughter. Um I'm just speaking on behalf
of him because he is enjoying Ireland at this time. Um lucky him. Um but I am here to stand up on his behalf and say we do not want this in our backyards. Reading is not a railard. Um, this diesel train will idle directly behind
my home, um, upwards to 12 to 15 hours a day. Um, I'm more concerned about the diesel fumes and the leakage from the diesel engines into the conser conservation land that directly abuts our home. Um, we have no issues with
ride the train or the MBTA. Um, but this is just not a feasible project for this town. We have zero increase in ridership. So increasing trains back and forth every 30 minutes is a waste of the MBTA's time and every single resident in
this town's time. We are not a railard. Please do not park your diesel engines behind our homes. Go ahead. Uh good evening. Scott Tezac, 123 Wurn Street. I kind of live at the parking lot for the train station. Um, so I'm
very familiar with this. I've lived there 20 years. I don't understand the need based on the writership, especially the disappointment of not getting back to the prepand pandemic levels. We bought our house to commute into Boston. You know, we should get back to that
level. Don't hear concessions from the T on what they're going to do. You've got very different engines. We occasionally hear the quiet ones. We know they're very quiet. Why don't those come up in a in a reading if you want it that bad? But I haven't heard the case on why this
needs to take place and I don't think a number of other people need to be in a butter like I am with the extension of this program. Thank you. >> Anybody else be? Okay, one more. Two more. One more. Two minutes name and address.
>> Thank you. Joy Bolio, precinct 7, town meeting member, 73 Grand Street. I also own a business right across the street from the train station. I'm a little unclear as to what tonight's vote will accomplish. Could you explain that to me?
>> It's basically just a formality, like I mentioned to Mr. arena earlier that it's the um whether or not the select board is going to um either support this or not, but it's merely a formality and to send a message to the MBTA and uh the
people that elected us to um add your voices to uh the equation. So, that's all it is. And it's loosely tied to the conservation committee approving a permit, but they're kind hands are kind of tied where they uh have to actually
say yes to it. As long as it checks all the boxes that they have and it's not long- winded with all the other things that we've put up there, uh that they can ignore all of it. So, >> so my question then is can the select
board have any impact at all tonight on what the MBTA is doing? >> I think the largest crowd I've seen in this building beyond uh the RMHS drama clubs and other shows uh I think sends
its own message more than I'm going to. So the MBTA, we we are telling them that we don't like it, but we don't really have a leg to stand on. Am I understanding that? >> There's been other stuff happening in the background. I'm going to briefly bring it up uh during my remarks, but um
if the MBTA wants to do this, the MBTA can do this and there's nothing that we can do about it. >> We could Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Anybody else? Before I open up to the board.
Um, all right. So, before I uh uh open up to the board members, I just want to uh bring up that uh I spoke with Representative Rich Hagerty. He couldn't be here tonight. um him and Brad Jones both sent a letter
to the MBTA um objecting to the turnback track location. Um and they both wish they could have been here tonight, but you know, unfortunately scheduling things happen. Um so I just wanted to put on the record that they also opposed it. The MBTA's got their letter and they
um have been also advocating behind the scenes for this. Um and then I will open it up to the board. Now I guess I can start with you Karen on the end. >> Other Karen
>> I'm going in order. >> Do we have to get up? >> You can get up or I can give you the mic. Whatever you want. >> Uh thank you. Thank you all for your hard work. A lot of this goes over my head. I'm not an engineer. I don't know anything, but um thank you for coming
tonight. I appreciate it. I know it's hard and um everyone's been pretty respectful tonight. So, thank you for coming. I guess my first comment is that I moved here over 30 years ago because of the train. I drew a circle on the map. 128 was the line and the Mass Pike
was the cutoff and that's where we ended. It had nothing to do with schools. I knew nothing about reading and I got incredibly lucky with our choice. Um, I was a huge train commuter. I still do commute into Boston and this is a very difficult decision. Um, from
my point of view because I would love 30-minute trains. Um, I think the town first I want to clear something up and I think that the firemen can we have more than one ambulance. Every fire
truck is is an ambulance. Correct. So, I want to take that fear away from everybody because we've got plenty of very qualified people that can help your families. Um, that being said, I now can't remember where I was. >> 30 years ago.
>> 30 years ago moving. Um, >> great choice. >> Wait, let me look at my notes. >> You said this is really difficult. >> Oh, this is incredibly difficult because I would love 30-minute trains. Um I don't think it's an issue of whether we
build it they'll come because I myself would take the train more often if it was every 30 minutes. Sometimes now it can take me two hours to commute based on the schedule. It could be delayed all this other stuff. So I think that that really shouldn't be a deciding factor in this is whether or not they'll show up
if the trains run. Um people will use trains. There's a lot of people a lot of different schedules, my daughter being one of them where she starts her job midday and comes home late at night. So, I think that it should be it's important to consider the people that you may not see getting on and off the train, but they do use the train. Um, I think that
also, um, my office in Boston, it's optional for people to come in, but a lot of people do come in, and I know there's a lot of companies that are asking people to come in more. So, I think that eventually, who knows what the future will hold in that aspect, but I do think it's important to consider
that people still do commute into Boston and they still commute in to go out at night or late afternoon doctor's appointments. So, people are commuting into Boston. Um, I think it's also important to remember that our town is situated right along 93 and
right along 128 and we have more air pollution than anybody even realizes. I live near the train and I live near 129 and the traffic on 129 in Salem Street is horrific several times a day where people are just stalled for hours. So I
think that there's traffic everywhere in our town and I think it would be great if we decided that as a as a world that we could be get in our cars less and trains are the solution to that. I'm not necessarily saying I support this project, but I do support conserving
less cars in the road. Um, and the only way to do that is is offer alternate means of of transportation. Um, >> uh, I think that's all I have to say. >> All right. Thanks, Karen. >> Carlo, I got to stand.
>> All right. Carlo Bachi, Main Street, member of the select board. I want to thank the outstanding work of RTC and everyone else that's been involved behind the scenes. I know it's been a lot of work. I want to commend the T for
being here in a very, you know, negative but not hostile environment. That takes a lot of guts to come to these meetings and they've come to conservation to come to our meetings. So, I applaud them for being here. As as the previous speaker said, I thought the COO was very genuine
and and is going to take this back. uh given all that you know I have been a small business owner since 1989 and this is out of all the issues and the great speakers great comments great data it's supply and demand for me at the end of
the day the pollution is important the safety is important the neighborhood the environment mlette all that's important but it's supply and demand and I forget the gentleman who brought up the cost and cost benefit that's the way I look at things we look five years 10 years 15
years down the road. So, I'm hoping that T was listening tonight to all these concerns and I know they are and I and I think there's a resolution to this. I again I applaud this neighborhood and all the people and and I wanted to say something earlier. There was about 350
people in this room. I counted. Okay, a lot left. But I was going to take a poll on how many saw this presentation for the first time and my guess it would have been a good 20 30 40% that have seen this presentation for the first time and I think that's why a lot of
people came. So um as I agree with my colleague as far as the service aspect but I am totally against this project. I live in downtown. I can hear the train. I'm few hundred yards from the depot. Uh it it's just I wish we had a vote. I
wish we had a vote because I would have voted no. Thank you. >> Hi everyone. Sorry. Hi everyone. Melissa Murphy, select board member uh Van Nenro. I cannot thank the RCT enough for all the work they have done for this
community and I think they really need a round of applause because they have put so much time and effort. When this first came in front of our board, I did not like it from the get-go. I did not like how it was presented to the
town. Actually, I take that back. wasn't presented to the town. It was kind of they tried to like sneak it in and bring it in front of conservation without contacting our town manager, without uh notifying the abutters. So, from the get-go, it's put a really bad taste in
all of our mouths and that's very unfortunate. I am not against train service. I used to commute into Boston every single day and it was one of the reasons we actually moved to Reading. But this project is not appropriate for our town. There is no data that supports
30 minute service from reading. I believe someone mentioned the Beverly line is but I believe only the Ashmont line does 30 minutes current day and Ashmore I'm sorry Fairmont I apologize. Um that train goes through the city of
Boston. It starts at Salt Station area and it goes to Roslandale only through the city of Boston. So that makes sense to me, but this does not make sense to me. And especially with all of the negative effects to our residents, the
diesel concerns, the Mallette SAMS project, that's $4 million of federal and state money that went into that project. The fact the MBTA didn't reach out to the MVP project
here in Massachusetts on that was shocking to me. That's state money. I mean, it's just baffling to me. I do not support this project. I appreciate the MBTA coming here tonight. I appreciate all the residents that came here
tonight. And I'm hoping the MBTA is listening to the residents of this town and our concerns because the health concerns and the concerns over traffic are real. And if they're going to push
forward, I feel like we as a town need to push back harder. And I'm not sure what that looks like, but it will be something. But thank you everyone. Good evening. Karen Herrick, member of the select board, um, town meeting member, precinct 8, past member of the
finance committee. And, um, so I I also wanted to add my thanks to the many, many residents who came here and invested the time to to share with the board and with the MBTA and and with our staff their concerns about this project. I would echo Karen's comments earlier
that this is this is difficult. Um, there are real valid concerns with this project and and from from the way we found out about it to the the impact and and lack of studies that have been done thus far and how we will deal with the
impact to the the gentleman from Ipsswitch who talked about it going on for 22 years. Um, so this is really difficult because I do support better service. I it was good to hear from so many residents
talking about we as a first step we need to restore the service that we lost and I hear from my own daughter who commutes by commuter rail every day that the service isn't available it's incredibly unreliable so she goes to Wubber every day so I've said you know it's a great
product over there it's a shorter trip there's plenty of parking it's more reliable than this line so so that is why this is difficult for me But as elected officials, um although we have no official say um as was noted, it's
it's important that we um listen and respond to the concerns of the residents. So that's why this is a difficult decision because we need to modernize the tea. We need to see those electric trains. Um we need to see better service for a lot of reasons, not just for our community, for the
communities north of us. And um so so our what how no matter how we vote tonight um I think what we need to do is move forward with the MBTA in a more collaborative process. We did have one resident who has um brought up a number
of times in conversations that we could have a an MBTA advisory committee here on our side an official one. And we also I know we have uh delegates to your board of directors and I'm not sure how involved we've been and and that's a mistake that's a mistake on our part but
something I think we could correct. So thank you. So, thank you to all my fellow board members uh for for showing up here on such a uh important project, an off meeting kind of thing. That seems to be
the norm lately, but there's lots of important issues going on in our town. Um, and obviously, thank you to the RTC for putting this together. Um, I've learned a lot more from this about trains and the environment and I have asthma too and I had no idea about
nitrous oxide and all this other bad stuff. Um, so I I sympathize with them uh in this scenario and I I do regret that it is a mere formality our vote in a couple minutes here. But like
I said, I I think the showing in this room was um you know the best thing that could have happened. Nobody would have known how many people were coming here, 10, 20, 100. It could have been five people and then just us up here and the
T would have walked away and counted that as a win cuz I would have. Um but not with the amount of people that were in here. Hopefully they do take this seriously and just see that, you know, uh, our vote tonight is more on the location as opposed to the project
overall. Um, I'm compromising because I I if it was up to me, I would oppose the thing entirely because the diesel is still going to exist whether or not it's behind their house or mine or anywhere else. Um, so I think more has to be done
with that aspect. It's not within our purview. Um, but you know, it is what it is, unfortunately. Um, but seeing all the new faces tonight here in the audience, I think there's just hope for reading in general. Um, hearing the the youth
speak, Kaden and, uh, Sophia, it's just good to mispronounce half the people's names here instead of the same old ones that I see all the time. Um, and and that's what this is about. So hopefully the MBTA realizes this. This is not the regular crowd. I have no idea who half
these people are and I won't after I leave this room. Hopefully I do in the future. As someone else mentioned, run for select board, take my spot someday. It'll be fantastic. You'll love it. It's It's all good things up here. Um, but
I'm in the unique position. My office is at two Haven Street. It overlooks the train depot. I don't know if anyone else here is that close, uh, other than me. Um, not that it's a good thing, but I have the unique advantage of hearing the
trains 247 over there because, you know, I'm at work all day. And after a while of being there, the only time I hear them is when they're doing the changeovers at like 12:38 or whatever when they're idling there for a half hour. And it is beyond obnoxious because
I actually pay attention to that. And you know, I've been there for a couple years and that's the only time I hear these trains is during those changeovers when they're idling there forever. And these people are going to hear it the entire day. I don't even know how you
can operate like that. I saw a comment on Facebook that it's just white noise. This ain't white noise. I I don't know what to tell you. We heard the audio here. It's even worse in person. But once again, I'm compromising. And if I could put it at the train depot and we had all the magic wands, uh I put it
right behind uh where it's supposed to be at a train depot. And I bought a condo overlooking a train depot. Whatever you guys do with trains goes at the train depot. Like I have no argument there. Uh so I've just been against this uh
from the beginning. Back in February, I think there was a petition started. it it didn't get brought up, but that has I think 1675 signatures when I looked earlier just to see. I'm sure there's other people that were watching this uh
on RCTV also from home. Um so I I really think that the MPTA has to go to back to the drawing board on this. It's it's not for right for our town. It's not right for this specific location. And I'm sure
you can sharpen your pencils and find somewhere else to put this. Like I think Ron Paul mentioned the whole 93129 thing up near Causeway Road in the uh overpass that's over there. There's some legalities with uh the light company or
something with land, but you would not be here. There'd be no push back if you just did whatever because you're doing it to us. Just do it to them, too. Like what stops you from doing it? So, um I think I've gone on long enough. So, unless any other board members had
anything, um I think we should just go right to the vote on this which so the >> we all needed that. There you go. So, I know the motion the motion does not include the word location. So, if you could include the word location
>> at the end of each sentence. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if you want to do the bottom one first. >> Move that the board oppose the MBTA turnback track project location. >> Second. >> Seconded by Melissa. Any discussion?
>> I will take a roll call vote. Uh Karen Eric, >> yes. >> Karen Rose Gillis, >> yes. Carlo Botri, >> yes. >> Melissa Murphy, >> yes. >> And Chris Haley is an enthusiastic. Yes. So, we have one more motion left to adjourn. Um, and just try to keep it
peaceful after the fact. Maybe they can leave first. I don't know. Um, Karen. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Seconded by Melissa. All those in favor? 5. Thank you everybody for coming out.