First off, massive THANK YOU to everyone who supported the petition. It’s been breathtaking seeing so many of you mobilize in support of the River Meadow Brook Greenway, rallying together at the City Council meeting. Though I wasn’t able to attend the council session, thanks to all that did and especially for your patience for waiting until the council meeting ended to network with other supporters and discuss the trail effort. Secondly, while last night’s council vote wasn’t exactly ideal, the prospects of a River Meadow Brook Trail are looking brighter than ever. Firstly, the amount of support shown by all of you moved the city manager to redouble his negotiation efforts to make the trail happen and the city council seems very committed as well – now we need to hold them accountable. Additionally, the president of the abutting business, AVCarb, seems quite receptive to the idea of granting an easement on their property for the trail’s passage. That said, final approval for granting this easement is pending approval by AVCarb’s board of directors. Also, while I appreciate Gervais Auto’s cooperation, I feel it’s important they do right by the community by minimizing their impact and footprint along the brook. As such, I urge supporters to attend future Parks Board and Conservation Commission meetings. Meeting dates will be announced once Gervais submits their plans so I’ll keep you posted. Furthermore, the massive support generated was enough to get the attention of potential donors. Which leads me to my next point: if we’re serious about seeing this trail project come to fruition, it’s crucial that we hold a roundtable to discuss fundraising for concept, design and construction. Please let me know if you’re interested so I can keep you in loop on meeting dates. The Lowell Planning and Conservation Trust has been the caring force for the trail project so if you’d like to join their announcements mailing list, write in “Bruce Freeman Extension” in the comments on their webpage at http://www.lowelllandtrust.org/content/contact-lpct. I’ll keep you posted on the latest developments but thank you for being friggin’ rockstars on this!