Meeting Summary - Thursday, June 8, 2006
Intermodal Terminal

silvia and lady at board 

Date:

 Thursday, June 8, 2006 news persons in crowd 
  Location:  Ketelsen Elementary  
people looking at board  Address:  600 Quitman

 kids

  Time: 

5:30 p.m. 

  

city official 

 Attendance:  120 signed in

 man and lady


(Click on any one of the photos to view a larger image)

OVERVIEW

A very dynamic exchange of ideas took place when METRO's Director of Architecture and Urban Design, Jim Gast, presented a slide show with details about this project.  METRO's Community Outreach Coordinator Sylvia Medina conducted the welcome and introductions in English and Spanish.  Council Member Adrián García was among the attendees, as well as staff members representing Council Member Peter Brown, Commissioner Sylvia García, and Senator Mario Gallegos.  METRO was represented by Executive Vice President John Sedlak; Vice President of Planning, Engineering and Construction Bryan Pennington; Vice President of Real Estate Todd Mason; Vice President of External Affairs George Smalley; and Senior Project Director of METRO Solutions Rick Brown.  After the 20-minute presentation, questions were addressed at five stations, staffed by project technical staff, with specialized information boards.  Flip charts and comment cards were available.  A stenographer was also available for those who cared to have their oral comments recorded.

PURPOSE 

METRO, on behalf of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is now undertaking an Environmental Assessment (EA) to provide a fair and objective examination of all potential environmental impacts of this proposed project. Part of that study requires meeting with the public to provide updates for the community.

METRO is currently preparing conceptual designs for the Intermodal Terminal.  We were very pleased to give the public an opportunity to see the work we have done while design work is still at a very early stage, and give us comments that may be incorporated as design work advances.

COMMENTS/QUESTIONS FROM DISCUSSION PERIOD

  • Attendees expressed concerns about METRO's property acquisition needs for this project.
  • Questions were asked about pedestrian and vehicular access to the proposed Intermodal Terminal.
  • Questions were asked about impact mitigation during construction.

A transcript of the presentation is available here.