BIKEWAY PROCLAMATION
for Alan McClennen, Jr.

The proclamation below honors Arlington's longtime planning director Alan McClennen, Jr., for his role in making the Minuteman Bikeway a reality. The proclamation was read on June 28, 2003, by Arlington's acting town manager Nancy Galkowski in Arlington Center, at the Jefferson Cutter House during a bikeway tour for Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. < Alan McClennen, Jr., and Nancy Galkowski at Alan's retirement reception in Arlington Center on July 1, 2003. (Arlington Online photo, by Bob Sprague.)

June 28, 2003

PROCLAMATION:

Whereas: Twenty-eight years ago, Arlington's Director of Planning and Community Development Alan McClennen, Jr., and its Town Manager Donald Marquis devised the concept of a bikeway on the old B & M Rail Line, which ran through Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford; and

Whereas: When the State determined that the MBTA Red Line would end at Alewife, the town of Arlington sought to eliminate the eyesore of the abandoned railroad tracks by further developing the concept of the bikepath; and

Whereas: Alan McClennen and Donald Marquis contacted the Towns of Bedford and Lexington to solicit their participation and support on this project; and

Whereas: The three communities worked diligently with the MBTA, the B & M Corporation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the Executive Office of Transportation and Construction, and the Massachusetts Highway Department to develop plans, abandon the tracks and commence construction, finally, in 1992: and

Whereas: The Minuteman Trail is the 500th Rail-Trail to be created and has become celebrated as THE MOST USED rail-trail in the United States; and

Whereas: The Minuteman Trail has become a treasured asset that the townspeople enjoy for recreation, exercise and transit, used by young and old alike, and all ages (physical and mental) in between; and

Whereas: Thanks to the cajoling and nudging of the business community that Alan McClennen has done, and the supportive activities that have been elicited from community groups and volunteers to maintain this trail that connects people to communities and their heritage, the Minuteman Bikeway has been recognized as a Millennium Trail by the White House Millennium Council; and

Whereas: Without the leadership, tenacity, and diligence of Alan McClennen, the Minuteman Trail might not be the reality we see today.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Boards of Selectmen of the Towns of Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford offer their gratitude and appreciation on behalf of all their citizens, and congratulate Alan McClennen, Jr. for all the years of excellent service and accomplishment.

— Signed by the Boards of Selectmen from the Towns of Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford