January 1999 General Meeting Minutes

In President Chuck Mott’s absence, the meeting was chaired by Vice President-West Dennis Fait.

Approval of the December meeting minutes was tabled as they had not been distributed.

Tentative sites and dates for the rest of the 1999 meeting were discussed and approved.

• February 13, Olympia-Lacey Centennial station
• March 13, no meeting due to WashARP, AORTA, NARP Region 8 meeting on March 20 in Portland
• April 10, University Plaza, Seattle
• May 8, Yakima, location TBD; theme: establishment of eastern Washington passenger rail service
• June 12, University Plaza, Seattle
• July 10, University Plaza, Seattle
• August 14, annual picnic at Jim Hamre’s home in Puyallup
• September 11, University Plaza, Seattle
• October 9, Mt. Vernon, location TBD; theme: Mt. Vernon-Burlington intermodal station and Skagit County tourist development using Amtrak Cascades service
• November 13, University Plaza, Seattle
• December 4, University Plaza, Seattle (note this is the 1^st Saturday)

Hans Mueller presented the Treasurer’s Report.

Mike Skehan gave the transit report. The next Commuter Rail Section meeting is January 21, 6:30 p.m. at Andy’s Diner. Seattle-Everett Sounder service will be delayed 6-12 months due to environmental issues in areas along Puget Sound where double tracking is needed. Mike feels the Seattle-Tacoma service is also behind schedule. Station construction should have started in Kent and Auburn in December and it didn’t. He also discussed the LINK light rail routing issues in Tukwila. Sound Transit’s preferred alternative in the draft EIS is along SR 99. The city and most of the citizens favor a more easterly alignment that would service the Longacres Sounder/Amtrak station and South Center Mall.

Noel Hancock gave a report on the latest Amtrak Customer Advisory Committee meeting held in Chicago. Amtrak told the committee that a big new marketing plan is due out soon, but Amtrak is keeping it under wraps for now. There will big changes in the way Amtrak does marketing. He says many members keep pushing Amtrak to realize there is life west of Appalachian Mountains. Amtrak has been very slow to implement any of the numerous customer improvement suggestions that ACAC has made.

It was noted that Amtrak Cascades service between Seattle, Portland and Eugene would start on January 11. Seattle-Vancouver service won’t start until at least January 18.

Rich DeGarmo introduced Doras Briggs from the Bay Area. Doras is a director of both NARP and the Train Riders Assoc. of California. She urged us to send letters to our senators asking them to urge the president to nominate Art Lloyd, a long-time and now-retired Amtrak employee, for the Amtrak board. Currently, no one from the West serves on the board. (For many years Art was the only Amtrak management representative west of Chicago.)

Doras talked about North Carolina’s on-board train host program. She was to see the next day how our station volunteer program works at Centennial Station. She is working on a proposal to allow volunteers at stations that have Amtrak staff already. Martinez used to have people who watched trains at the station and helped passengers with luggage and information. However, one stepped over the line and went behind the ticket counter. An Amtrak manager caught the person and banned these people from helping the passengers in any way. Martinez has 22 trains a day and no more than two agents on duty so the volunteers really helped out.

Doras said Amtrak has many problems and its time to start looking at them with a new perspective. She is still working hard on getting the American Assoc. of Retired Persons to support intercity rail passenger service.

Executive Director Lloyd Flem gave his report. See attached outline for the points in his discussion.

Lloyd noted the WashARP member Phil Meany has been appointed president of Destination Centralia. This group works to promote Centralia as a shopping destination for their outlet stores and antique shops. It is responsible for the program that has brought thousands of shoppers to Centralia by train in recent years.

Hal Cooper plans to write a proposal for better rail interconnectivity in the Olympia-Lakewood-Tacoma corridor supporting use of the BNSF Prairie line versus the Pt. Defiance line.

A. Rail Service Update

"Friends of Amtrak" Feature Article for 8 January 1999

1. New Trains January 11 Monday. The delay? WashARP help!

2. RidershipNumbers Continue Up

3. On cooperation with Oregon (Trans-Comm, Legis, ODOT, AORTA etc.)

B. 1999 Legislature and Congress

I. U.S. Congress, National Prospects. Stronger role for PNW Delegation. Amtrak Board and Reform

Council. Al Swift--WashARP role.

C. WashARP's Policy Making-1999

I. Chuck Mott- Governor's Blue Ribbon Committee

2. L.H.F.- WSTC's Transportation Stakeholder's Advisory Council

3. Jim Neal Coordinator of E. WA Feasibility Study Effort

4. WashARP Information, Views, Strategy Sought!

D. Cascadia Conference December 15-16

1. Progress in B. C.?

2. Broader Support for Rail

3. Establishment understanding of Transportation Issues

E. Local Issues

F. Alliances

G. Book Reviews