Attendance

NAME	REPRESENTING	TELEPHONE NUMBER	E-MAIL ADDRESS
John DiMura	NYS Canal Corp	436-3034	John_Dimura@canals.state.ny.us
Donald Odell	Friends of MHBHT	482-4574	dodell@nycap.rr.com
Elaine Troy	NYS Dept. of Health NOTE NEW ADDRESS: Frear Building 1 Fulton Street Troy, NY 12180	408-5308 (NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER)	eht01@health.state.ny.us
Ivan Vamos	New York Bicycling Coalition 13 Maple Lane So., Loudonville, NY 12211	459-2026	ivanvamos@hotmail.com
Patrick Clear	Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady (ECOS), PO Box 9118, Niskayuna, NY 12309	370-4125	ecos@gobal2000.net
Ralph Pascale	City of Cohoes, 97 Mohawk St., Cohoes, NY	233-2117	RPascale@ci.cohoes.ny.us
Kathy Quandt	Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACCVB), 25 Quackenbush Square, Albany, NY 12207	434-1217 x213	Kathy@albany.org
Pat Rush	ECOS & Friends of MHBHT, 1177 Oxford Pl., Schenectady, NY 12308	374-6995	c.c.rushassociates@verizon.net
John Stangle	Village of Menands, 250 Broadway, Menands, NY 12204	434-2922	johnstangle@hotmail.com

1. Regional Updates

q Patrick Clear, ECOS. The second edition of “Along the Bike Hike Trail, A Guide to the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway, Schenectady Couny Section” is at the printer. It is a 60 page guide to the flora, fauna, and history surrounding the bike trail with maps and illustrations by local artists. The ECOS annual dinner is April 29 with Frank Dean speaking on the Eire Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

q Ivan Vamos, NYBC. NYBC is working on a continuing resolution to try and keep some money for bike routes. TEA-3 is not likely to happen before next year.

q Don Odell. He apologized for missing the last meeting (put wrong date on his calendar!). He noted that the Friends of the MHBHT did not have the resources to take on Adopt-A-Trail as an identifiable project.

q John DiMura. Canalway. TEA-21 is good through 2003. Montgomery County’s eastern portion with crushed limestone should be completed by the end of this summer. The western section should be completed by the end of 2004. (There was a more general discussion comparing stone dust and asphalt at this point.)

q Ivan Vamos on Menands trails ideas. Some photo illustrations were presented showing some options for Little River “underpass”, Wards Lane connections, etc. Also discussed, the Rte. 378 bridge proposal connecting Troy with Menands. He is pursuing these options with Albany County.

q Kathy Quandt. The Albany Heritage Area has been awarded $5,000.00 in Greenway Conservancy funds to develop an interpretive program for Albany's Hudson River Way. The goal of the program is to: (1) Interpret the artwork of the Hudson River Way as it relates to the history of Albany and (2) Interpret the natural landscape of the riverfront. The grant program is administered by the Greenway Conservancy of the Hudson River Valley, Inc.

q John DiMura

CSX abandonment. CSX is abandoning a rarely used six mile segment in Pattersonville. NYS OPR is seeking to enter into agreement with CSX to achieve ownership, for which it has 180 days to accomplish. Steve Lewis, real property manager at OPRHP is the primary contact on this.
Old Champlain Canal Update. Saratoga County has sold its land to adjacent landowners.
Adopt-A-Trail Update. ADK will be doing trail clean up on National Trails Day. Also, Union College is dropping its maintenance program for Lock 23 of the old canal. There is some hope that the Town of Rotterdam will assume maintenance responsibilities.

2. Ralph Pascale presentation on 470 Study.

q Ralph gave a presentation on the CDTC/NYSDOT funded 470 study. He noted that there were three focus areas: Remson Street, 787 (seeking a more urban-friendly design), and the waterfront. One point raised in discussion was the possibility of a bike land on 787 (which is off the interstate system at this point).

6. Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled for 3:00-5:00 PM, Monday, May 19, 2003 at a ECOS Environmental Clearinghouse of Schenectady). Directions will be provided at a later date.

SUBMITTED BY:

Don Odell, recorder