I spent the day on Tuesday researching grant opportunities and got a nice little list. I've got another day's work to finish this first list of places to approach.
Wednesday night I was in Bellows Falls at the public meeting about the knowledge corridor. This is the project that would save 45 minutes (or more) for the Vermonter. Charlie Moore was there as was Charlie Hunter. Charlie Moore and Charles Hunter made their case for keeping the Vermonter on the NECR. I've been engaged with this issue all week.
I've spent some time this week sprucing up parts of the website, but I'm behind on putting up the latest information. Our most popular pages are the list of railroad operating companies in Vermont and the page about volunteering, so I put energy first in those two areas, spending a good chunk of today on the volunteer pages.
Also today I did the first part of launching a speakers bureau, which is putting up information on our webpage. So far we've got Mike Coates, Charles Hunter (of NECR), Charlie Moore, Elizabeth Curtiss, Carl Fowler and myself signed up -- though I still need to get bios from some. Do you want to add yourself to the list? Let me know Next step will be to get a list of organizations to solicit and send out a letter.
Charlie Hunter has redrafted the Vermont Rail Action Network brochure and it looks really beautiful. He reports that it will cost $500 to print 5,000. Would you like to donate to this project?
If you haven't heard, VTrans has produced two really excellent TV ads promoting Amtrak. You can watch them:
Travel on Vermont’s Amtrak Trains to See the Country http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VezplLNihqA
Vermont Green Mountain Travel on Amtrak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzFKALpLXmQ
Next week:
Tuesday: Western Corridor Management Plan in Winooski
Wednesday: Transporting the Public conference in Montpelier (Sponsored by AARP and Snelling Center)
Rail Council
VRAN Board Meeting, 4:30 pm
Thursday: 2nd meeting of our Rutland advocates group, the "Friends of Rutland Rail"
Friday: New England Regional Rail Coalition Steering Committee
VRAN has tables at Gallery walk in Brattleboro
VRAN has table at farmers market in Rutland
The week after next I will fly to Charlotte NC for a transportation market research gig until June 16th. I have another project in Portland Oregon, tentatively scheduled for June 28, or July 6
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