From: Adibi, Siamak A
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 11:37 AM
To: krose@edgartown-ma.us
Subject: letter to CPC

To the Members of the Community Preservation Committee: The building of bike paths on Chappaquiddick will have a colossal impact on its rural character, environment, and habitat. Therefore, before doing any planning, the Homeowners have to decide whether they want bike paths on Chappy. This can be decided only after there has been a thorough discussion of the pros and cons, because many people are not well-informed of the consequences of such a decision. The self-appointed group calling themselves "the Chappaquiddick Bike Path Committee" has bypased this process and relied instead on the e-mail survey to come to the conclusion that the majority of Chappy people are supportive of their plan. The validity of this conclusion appears unfounded because in the past few weeks many chappy residents have written letters to the President of the Chappaquiddick Island Association (CIA) and/or to the Edgartown Selectmen to express their opposition. The realization of the existence of this opposiiton prompted the President of CIA, Terry Forde, to plan a meeting for this July, the earliest time possible, to determine whether indeed the majority of homeowners would like to have bike paths on Chappy. Subsequently, I wrote the Edgartown Selectmen to request that they postpone any deccision until we have had this meeting. Unfortunately, they ignored my request and voted approval of a proposal by the Bike Path Committee to carry out an engineering study. For the following reasons, I do not think it is appropriate for the Preservation Committee to fund this proposal at this time: 1) Our decision to go or not to go for bike paths will not depend on the results of an engineering study but rather on consideration of alternative plans for safety. 2) If the majority of homeowners voted against the bike paths our tax money spent on engineering study will be wasted. This will be unfortunate because the funds could be better used for addressing more serious problems on Chappy, such as the preservation of the ferry system. 3)There is a real question whether the Preservation Community fund can legally be used for development of bike paths. 
Thank you for your consideration of my request,
 Siamak Adibi, MD, PhD