July 31, 2005
Dear Friends
& Members:
I wanted to
pass some good news on to all of our supporters. After a delay of almost two
months, on Tuesday, August 9th, Delaware County
Council will be voting to approve a contract with SEPTA. This contract will
allow the County to acquire the lease rights to the Chester Creek Branch for the purpose of building a trail. County Council's vote was originally delayed to make minor contractual changes
that will have a significant positive impact on Friends over the next two
years. SEPTA has already approved this contract.
What
this all means is that Friends should have the rights to the Chester Creek
Branch in the very near future. After acquiring the rights, we will be meeting with Aston
and
We still
have a fair amount of work in front of us, but acquiring the rights has been a
very difficult process. It has taken years of negotiations. I'd
personally like to thank Councilman Reilly who invested many,
many hours into this process - we wouldn't have been able to succeed
without his help. Also, it is quite generous of SEPTA
to provide these rights - they had nothing to gain from these negotiations, but
did participate. Finally - thanks to all of you - without your support, none of
this would be possible.
I will keep
you apprised as this process moves forward.
Mike Fusco
PS - For our
current members, the 2004 Annual Report is being mailed
this week. We will be holding our annual Meeting on August 29 at
Also, if you
haven't already - check out our new website - still under construction, but
improving every week - www.chestercreektrail.org