Excellent summation Roger. 

Also, our efforts to sit down with the Chappy Path Committee to discuss a list of ways to address any safety issues, are consistently rejected by them. It saddens me that they will not seriously consider the many safety-improving suggestions made by their neighbors, beyond a response of 'good idea'. 

The CPC (Dick Knight, Bob Colvin, Tom Tilghman) have repeatedly stated that they have one goal - a two-way, road-side bike path. Each step they take is designed to bring a bike path plan to the Edgartown voters, as they stated in the recent Selectman's meeting, regardless of the disturbance to, or wishes of their neighbors on Chappy.

We feel that the additional round of 'polling' they suggest is loaded with the potential for misrepresentation and lack of transparency, as was their first. We have several experienced pollers in our community who can attest to this. 

We appreciate that many Chappy residents have taken time from their busy lives to express their opinions in detail in the form of letter-writing, which can all be read on www.ChappyBikePath.com Every opinion is welcome and encouraged. 

My New Year wish is for the Chappy Path Committee to read the letters and talk with those neighbors - and come to understand why so many of us see too many negative impacts on our small, unique community resulting from their wish for a bike path.

Best regards, N.

Norma Costain Kontje
41 Degrees North Construction, Inc
249 Chappaquiddick Rd
Edgartown MA 02539 
508-627-8519
508-560-9909

EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD
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Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 06:20:51 -0800
From: rgbecker@yahoo.com
Subject: Fw: Note from Ann Floyd.
To: chappylady@aol.com

Good Morning Ann, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. 
I guess Bob is refering to a meeting Dick and Will Geresy had with Edo and Geoff where they announced they were going to the Selectmen with their plan to get the engineering school at Northeastern University to do a study/plan of a bike path on Chappy. They also said they were intending to do another survey/poll of Chappy people to see if they want a bike path or not. Supposedly Will and Tom Tilghmann were working on that survey. 
Please ask Edo and Geoff about the meeting if you need exact details of that. 
The Sharing Chappy Roads Committee has formed to fight the CPC's proposal for a two way, side bike path along the Chappaquiddick Rd. If you were at the Chappy Bike Path, Pros and Con meeting in August, you heard our concerns. We have always indicated that we were interested in talking with the Path committee using a mediator in order to remove the rancor that has developed in the comunity over this path plan that has been pushed by the committee with little or no public input. 
The Sharing Chappy Roads Committee has suggested many alternatives to the path plan including a real study of the various issues the path committee has put out as requiring a bike path as the only solution. A large picture of Gay Colvin, on a bike being passed on the curve in front of the Kontje's house is not a study of the safety record of Chappaquiddick's single paved road. Nor does a large picture of vacationers strolling along the road to the beach club indicate the need to spend millions paving more of Chappy. 
Will Colvin's University study include a study of present safety and traffic conditions on Chappy? Or is the study simply a rehash of the topographical issues involved in placing a wide side path along the Chappy road? Given the time frame of the study, done by April, I can only assume they are not planning to evaluate the safety or traffic issues on Chappy, and if they do, and rely simply on a February visit, I can't imagine they will conclude the island needs a bike path of any kind. 
As to another survey/poll of Chappy residents: The Sharing Chappy Roads Committee has discussed this long and hard and has decided the website CHAPPYBIKEPATH.com is the best means to evaluate the pulse of the community on this issue. Rather than restricting the respondents to a true/false, multiple choice format, residents can express their opinions in depth. Furthermore, as all posts have to include a name, and the list of proponents and opponents is by name, there is no hidden data that is only released to some, and not others. Will the next CPC opinion poll be via email? Will respondents be giving their names and email to the CPC but not to those reading the results of the survey as was done in the CPC survey done August, 2008? Most importantly, if there remains a hundred Chappy families, including direct abuters along the road, against the path along the road, will the proponents still pursue their plans? I, personally, would hope that if a project of this magnatude were proposed, it would only be pursued if it had overwelming support by the community. The CPC should encourage their neighbors who are convinced that a path is desirable for Chappaquiddick to let me know, and I'll be happy to add them to the "in favor" list. The truth is, once their plan was laid out on the table, many switched to opposed, including members of their own Path Committee. Dick, Will and Colvin and the rest of the CPC are not listening to their neighbors and it breaks my heart. 
Will the University students come up with a bike path plan that addresses the concerns of those listed as against the path as presently proposed? That I guess is still to be determined. 
Sharing Chappy Roads Members: Do you have anything to add to tell Ann? Was there any other contact with Bob's committee that I haven't heard about? 
Yours, Roger. 

--- On Thu, 12/24/09, chappylady@aol.com <chappylady@aol.com> wrote:

From: chappylady@aol.com <chappylady@aol.com>
Subject: Re: Update from the Chappy Path Committee
To: RGBecker@Yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, December 24, 2009, 7:40 AM

Roger, 
Good morning! 
No need to respond before Christmas, but I am wondering your perspective on what Bob reports. 
Ann Floyd 
-----Original Message-----
From: Colvin, Robert B., M.D. [mailto:COLVIN@HELIX.MGH.HARVARD.EDU] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 3:38 PM
To: rent@sandcastlemv.com
Cc: knightjr@capecod.net; chappybikepath
Subject: RE: Update from the Chappy Path Committee

Ann, Thanks for responding. We certainly understand your point of view and have made some efforts to reach out to the opposition, unfortunately with not much to show for it. We inititated a face to face meeting with representatives of the "other side" a couple of weeks ago. That is the good news. The bad news is that they were opposed to a path in any shape or form, not auspicious for our goal of finding a common ground. They have declined to work with us to get a survey of Chappy residents to get a broader measure of opinions, which we think is essential to reach a democratic decision. We believe the majority on Chappy would welcome a path, provided it is esthetically pleasing, environmentally sound, and safer than biking or walking on the highway. So, that is why we want to engage experts to tell us what the design alternative are. We do hope you will be able to meet with the engineering group when they come to Chappy later in the Spring to engage the community in a discussion. Glad our power came back-- we were loosing temperature fairly quickly! 
Happy New Year-- 
Bob 

From: Sandcastle Realty, Inc. [mailto:rent@sandcastlemv.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 1:22 PM
To: Colvin, Robert B., M.D.
Subject: RE: Update from the Chappy Path Committee

Good afternoon from a snowy Island! 
What is the status of your relationship with those that oppose, or seriously question the need for, the Bike Path? Have you met with them as requested by the Selectmen? Until I have some indication that communication is taking place I do not feel comfortable funding anything to do with it. 
Thanks Bob. 
Ann Floyd 
chappylady@aol.com 

From: COLVIN@HELIX.MGH.HARVARD.EDU
To: chappybikepath@aol.com
Sent: 12/18/2009 11:22:25 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Update from the Chappy Path Committee
Dear Chappy Friends and Neighbors, 
We have some exciting news to report and also need your support. 
This winter Northeastern University senior engineering students will do a real life exercise in design and planning to address the issues of safety for bikes, walkers, and cars on Chappaquiddick. They will use existing survey information including field gathered data, and input from the Chappy community to specifically answer questions about how best to address the problems of mixing multi-use traffic on a narrow island road. A public forum in Late February will allow the students to present their findings and several possible scenarios, and determine community preference. In April, they will return to present their completed work--more details in the enclosed Update. 
While this exercise will be completed without cost to the town, there will be expenses for student travel and accommodations this winter. The budget is $2,500, and we need your help in raising this money. 
Please send your tax deductible donation ($25-50, or more if you wish) directly to Northeastern via their web site: 
(https://prod-web.neu.edu/webapp6/cashnetdotcom/anonymous/onlinegiving/initial.do). You may also send a check payable to Northeastern University to Development Information Systems, 461 Columbus Place, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115. Indicate in either case that your donation is for the College of Engineering – Chappy Project. Please also send an email message to Chappybikepath@aol.com to let us know the amount of your donation. We will send out a notice when we have reached our fundraising goal. 
Thank you in advance for your support. 
We wish you and your families the best in 2010 and peace to all! 
Chappy Path Steering Committee 
Bob Colvin, Chair, Melissa Kagan, Co-Chair, Will Geresy, Dick Knight, Joe Sullivan, Tom Tilghman, Peter Wells 
<<Update 6 CPC Dec 2009.pdf>>