Dear MARP Members,

Please plan to attend the regular monthly meeting of the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers. This month we are meeting in the historic Standish Depot on Saturday, April 19, beginning at 10 a.m. The Standish Depot is located at the intersection of M-61 and US-23, in Standish MI, north of Bay City.

We have invited the Honorable Jim Barcia, representing District 31 (Arenac, Bay, Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola) in the Michigan legislature. Senator Barcia sits on the Appropriations Committee and is the Minority Vice-Chair of the Transportation subcommittee. He formerly served in the U.S. Congress, where he was a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. In the current session of the Michigan legislature, he introduced SB 385 to require utilities to provide a percentage of the power they produce from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Click here for an agenda.

The meeting is informal and will cover a variety of topics of interest to those of us advocating for passenger train and intercity bus service in Michigan. Following the business portion of the meeting, we will adjourn to a nearby restaurant for a chance to converse and socialize.

If you would like to carpool with another member from your area, please send an email to marprail@yahoo.com

I look forward to seeing you in Standish,

John DeLora
Chair, MARP

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ABOUT THE STANDISH DEPOT:
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Standish Depot was constructed in 1889 after farmers from the surrounding area provided stones for the exterior of the building. The Standish Depot served for many decades as a transportation hub and community gathering space. Using federal transportation enhancement dollars, the station was rehabilitated and dedicated on July 24, 2007 as the Standish Historic Depot Welcome Center for the Arenac County Heritage Route.

Photographs and history of the depot can be found at the website:
http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9620_11154_40513-172258–,00.html

The next meeting will be the NARP Region 6 Annual Meeting (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio) in Toledo, Ohio at 10am, Saturday, March 15, 2008. You must register for the meeting. Instructions are included below.

Each year, MARP combines its spring meeting with the NARP Region 6 meeting. This year, it is the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers’ turn to sponsor the meeting. It will be held at Toledo’s attractive and multi-functional Amtrak station.  There will be a number of presenters, including NARP Executive Director Ross Capon, and an election of Region 6 Directors. These meetings usually offer a wealth of information and are a good way to meet new people from around the region.

Follow the instructions below to register and get more information about the meeting. I hope to see many of you in Toledo.

Michael Whims 

Executive Director

Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers

marprail@yahoo.com

Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers

MARP Members:
Please join us at the next MARP member meeting at Durand Union Station, 10am, Saturday February 23, 2008. We will meet in the “board room” on the second floor, where there is always a good view of passing trains.

This is a great time to get more involved with passenger rail’s resurgence. I especially invite our younger members to attend and participate in the future that will be yours to inherit.

Our member meetings are always casual dress. We typically follow the meetings with an informal trip to a local restaurant for lunch for those interested (Dutch treat). When in Durand, we usually eat a couple blocks over in town.

The agenda for the meeting will be posted at the MARP website, www.marp.org before the meeting. We have some new additions and continuous updates to the website, so visit often.

Michael Whims
Executive Director
Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers
marprail@yahoo.com

MARP Members:
I would like to welcome MARP members to the kick-off of 2008 activities by attending the first member meeting of the New Year. The meeting will be in Lansing at 10am, Saturday, January 12, at the Lansing Public Library, corner of Capital and Kalamazoo Streets downtown. Parking on the street is free on Saturday.

This year is already shaping up to be a good one for public transportation. The President just signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, which provides an all-time record high amount of funding for transit. Amtrak’s funding is secure for another year while efforts continue in Congress to get a multi-year Amtrak funding package approved. Congress has also released a national passenger rail expansion plan recently that indicates, at long last, that our elected leaders understand the need for efficient and effective passenger rail service as a national priority. Here in Michigan, our leaders are supporting MARP in our vision to expand service beginning with a second Pere Marquette train.

This is a great time to get more involved with passenger rail’s resurgence. I especially invite our younger members to attend and participate in the future that will be yours to inherit.

Our member meetings are always casual dress. We typically follow the meetings with an informal trip to a local restaurant for lunch for those interested (Dutch treat). When in Lansing, we usually eat at Clara’s in the old passenger coach.

The agenda is posted on the MARP website, click here. We have some new additions and continuous updates to the website, so visit often.

Michael Whims
Executive Director
Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers
marprail@yahoo.com