Hello folks.

Hello Josh.

Hello everybody.

Thank you so much for being here.

Really appreciate you all attending on this wonderful event

where we celebrate the connection of the MBTA station

and the Constituit Rail Trail.

To provide the kind of connectivity that benefits everybody.

We are gonna just make a few

adjustments to their speaking order.

First, I'm Josh Ostroff.

I volunteer in Natick with the Friends of Natick Trails,

Tommy, any member and many other things

because he has another engagement.

I'm gonna ask Dave Linsky to come and kick us off.

Then Oliver, free remarks,

then the select board chair will talk.

Dave, thanks for being here.

Thanks Josh, and thanks for, thanks for everybody

for being here on this absolutely beautiful day.

This is special. It really is.

This is completing a project

and a mission that has been years and years

and years in the making in so many ways.

And it's so nice that it comes down this far.

I'll just say this and it's beneficial in

so many different ways because it's obviously good

for bike riders, it's good for commuters, it's good

for walkers, it's good for kids.

It gets people off of a really difficult stretch

of Route 27 if you're trying to walk or a bike on 27

and then going up to the mechanic street, entrance

to the rail trail and hopefully

it gets people outta some cars

because that's a big deal too.

So a lot of people worked on this, friends of Natick trails,

Josh obviously the Select board, all

of the businesses and the people

that made private donations, they all need to be recognized.

But this is part of what Natick is all about. Quite frankly.

It is making Natick more accessible.

It's making Natick more friendly.

It's making Natick, maybe get some exercise,

which is good for everybody.

And I just want to just say thank you for anybody who had a,

any involvement at this at all town officials,

state officials, local officials, donors, everybody.

So thank you. I've got a personal commitment I gotta run to.

I'm going to hand it back over to Josh

and then we're gonna hear from our select board chair I know

and some other people who had a lot more to do

with this than I did, but, so thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you so much David. And do not sell yourself short.

This would not have happened without the amazing support

and leadership from our legislative delegation.

So I've got a, a couple of things I wanna say

and then I'm gonna turn it over to Chair Kauflin

with a select board first.

Thank you Bruno. Gilles, local musician for drumming us in.

We'll hear a little bit more from him later.

Want to just mention that later today,

five o'clock on

and around the town Common,

the cultural district is hosting the first Natick nights

of 2026.

These are three Thursday events with Culture, food,

music Bureau Garden, tons

of booths from local organizations.

So please make a point to, to head on over there.

Want to let folks know, please be mindful

that folks are actually using the rail

trail all day, all night.

So let's just make sure we make room for them.

And if you would like a seat,

we can move chairs under the tent

or obviously make yourself comfortable here for, you know,

premium seating, same price as standing room.

So I want to just take a moment to acknowledge

and welcome a few town

and state leaders who are with us today.

We heard from state Repinski Town Administrator Jerry,

Jamie Erickson has been

with these projects since very early on.

Former planning director for the town

and vital support and leadership.

And I really appreciate Jamie's partnership for all the,

all that's happened here.

Want to acknowledge select board members, chair Coughlin,

who will speak a little bit later on.

Cody Jacobs, I'm not sure if there's

other select board members here.

Thank you for being here.

Terry Evans with the planning board.

I see Martin Kessel with the Open Space Advisory Committee,

amazing leader over many years.

And so Pete Sutton with Masto Bicycle

and pedestrian coordinator will offer

remarks a little bit later.

Joel Barrera originated mass trails

when will be sometimes modest about this,

but without Joel's leadership

and coordination when he was working for Governor Baker.

And in the years since involvement with mass trails,

we would not have the amazing statewide trail network

that is every day forming more and more.

And Pete will talk a little bit about

what's happening around the state.

I want to acknowledge someone

who else has been an incredible partner

for Natick over the years, has retired from Mass DOT,

but Arthur Frost in the project initiation

division at Masts District three.

Arthur has made so many great things happen in Natick and

and around district three, which I, if I'm not mistaken,

it's really the best district

for mast is a is is a, is that correct?

I know is the best district Pete

and other, you know, statewide people can't say that,

but yeah.

Okay. So thank you for making time to be here.

And Steve Levinsky with Chair of NA Center Associates,

we'll talk a little bit later on, is Jennifer Franco here

with Metro West Transit Authority.

She may be coming soon,

so I just wanna acknowledge her as well.

So just really short history of of something

that's really taken many decades.

Local residents of Framingham

and Natick we're advocating for the rail trail in the 1990s,

which was even before freight service ended here.

And, and after it had stopped in, in,

in Framingham by the mid two thousands when the last CSX

train rolled down these tracks.

Local governments and partnership with state

and regional leaders

and federal legislators helped to formalize these projects.

Sp speaking of the, the rail trail in particular,

'cause Framingham and Natick were developed separately.

Planning, designed funding, local

approvals seemed to take forever.

But they resulted in the almost four mile long trail

that we now enjoy today, the substantially complete

for this train station in Natick Center.

The town kickstarted the process in 2012

after the state sold, purchased the right

of way from the freight rail CSX.

We did a feasibility study

and a concept delivered that to the MBTA in 2014.

And just a couple of years later, which is like lightning,

the m BT had approved starting a design phase

construction followed soon

after the town requested

that the station be named from Natick

to Natick Center consistent

with the branding of the district.

And that happened in 2016.

Then of course the station took several years.

COVID got in the way as a former META employee, I can say

however long things seem to take, they actually take longer.

So that's sometimes how it is in, in the public sector.

But the timing of when the train station began meant

that we had to leave this last quarter mile section

for the contractor to have access for construction.

That might get a little bit into the weeds,

but it's, it's why we're here today

and not five years ago celebrating this connection.

So yeah, so they needed for construction access,

but then the MBTA

and its contractors completed this, what we have now

with the bike racks and the lighted station platform.

Basically everything tying the two projects together.

So the, this connection was always envisioned,

but it's only recently been realized

and it's a wonderful achievement.

So one of the milestone

before I turned the mic over, back in 2021,

the regional planning agency,

metropolitan Area Planning Council, loaned us this counter,

this little discreet gray box, which I'll show you,

but might have to, you know,

punish you if you laugh about where it is.

But it counts people going back and forth.

And I go out occasionally and get numbers

and as of this morning it was 999,809.

Seems very specific, which I believe

is a conservative estimate.

'cause if you walk side by

side, it'll only count one person.

So, but that means that a million folks will, at a minimum,

will have enjoyed using the rail trail

or a million visits just in the last five years.

And that's quite an accomplishment.

It shows you, It, it shows you

how much the community values and benefits from, you know,

a safe, healthy access to the outdoors

and as a means of recreation, transportation,

whether it's getting to and from school or shopping or work

or the state park or the mall.

There's so many connect destinations that are connected

by the trail now with our public transit agency.

So that's a big change and a big benefit to the region.

So I'm super excited about that.

So that's what I wanted to share with you now

is by way of intro, I'll have a few things

to say when we wrap up.

For now, I'm going to be the mc

and ask our wonderful select board chair Catherine Coughlin,

come up and offer a few remarks

before Catherine starts, I want to just say that

a train is likely to come soon, soon as I start.

Well we, we've may probably in two minutes.

So if you don't mind pausing,

we're going hand out a little memento

to everybody when we do that.

We'll have volunteers doing that.

So as soon as you hear the train, that'll be your cue.

And then if I could just acknowledge two other folks.

So Leora Mallick is a Framingham City counselor

and also on the board of the Friends of Framingham Trails.

Thank you for representing our big city neighbor

and also with the MAPC who I just mentioned,

David Lazen Heiser cycles all over the place.

And super glad to have you here today,

unsurprisingly unto wheels.

Alright, Catherine, thanks for

the first part of your remarks. Thank you.

Okay, I will not take two minutes.

So I wanna thank everyone for coming out today.

It's a gorgeous day. It's a real pleasure

to stand with all of you today.

To mark two milestones at once, the opening

of the connection between the Kaki rail Trail

and the M-B-T-M-B-T-A station here

and the 1000000th almost visit to the trail.

That number de des that number deserves a moment

to just sit and think about.

It's a million people.

35 years ago, 25 years ago when this was conceived,

I heard the same things that we hear today.

No one will use it. It's a waste of money.

It can never happen. It's too hard.

I'm here today to mark this occasion

where we prove all of those things wrong.

This connection matters because it closes a gap.

A rail trail's great on its own,

but a rail trail that connects directly

to transit is something much more.

It's economic independence.

It's taking cars off the, off the road potentially.

It means a person can leave home on foot or on a bike

and reach the commuter rail without a car traveling

to Boston or out to Worcester, not needing

to look for a parking space.

It stitches our trail into a much larger network

and it makes the car free choice a practical one rather than

an aspirational one.

None of this happened by accident.

For those of you who have witnessed changes in Natick over

the last 20, 30, 40 years,

you know, nothing happens by accident.

Nothing this big happens by accident.

It happens because of a lot

of really good, hardworking people.

Volunteers, almost exclusively

in writ large elected officials,

professional staff coming together

and saying, we see a goal 20 years from now,

30 years from now.

This is where we want to be

and this is what we're going to do to make it happen.

So today we cut a ribbon, we open a door,

whatever it is we're doing to easier commutes,

healthier days, stronger connections.

And an NAIC center that's a little more walkable,

a little more connected, and a lot more all of ours.

Thanks.

Thank you for your, your kind words and your,

and your leadership chair, Carlton.

All right, so the next speaker who is more likely

to be interrupted by a train is, is Pete Sutton, bicycle

and pedestrian coordinator with Mass Department

of Transportation, and a wonderful partner for Natick and

and other towns and cities.

Pete, thanks for being here.

And your warning, we may have to pause you. Thank you.

Duly noted. Hey, good afternoon everybody.

So great to be here out of the office in the great

open space here along the Coit Rail Trail.

I can only remember the last time we

were here for a ribbon cutting.

It was in 2021 for the entire naic stretch.

Remember how it rained that day?

I biked, I took the train and biked along the trail to there

and a downpour.

I showed up soaking wet from head to toe,

like a drowned rat.

And I'm, I'm just happy that I'm high.

I'm dry right, right here, right now. It's beautiful.

The weather's great. Such a great turnout for this.

I will go a little bit into a description.

Like Josh said, I'm the statewide bicycle

and pedestrian coordinator for Mass DOT,

but I'm also a member of the Mass Trails team

alongside Lupe from DCR who's here with us today,

and Scott from district three

and Emeritus Arthur Frost, who was already introduced.

So glad that my colleagues could be here

for the ribbon cutting for this great project.

We had an amazing Mass Trails team event yesterday.

Some of you were in attendance, some of you may have heard

or saw the press release.

We ended up awarding almost $8 million in

seed money for over 30 different projects

happening all around the state.

And I'm happy to report that all the way back in 2020,

this very project here was the direct beneficiary

of a mass trails grant.

This project connecting the MBTA commuter rail station

with the completed constituent rail trail.

So, fast forward five years later and here we are.

Like I said, the mass trails grants are, are

phenomenal in the fa in the catalystic effect

that they operate as seed money.

We offer as much as $500,000 for anything,

whether it's design, engineering, feasibility,

construction, maintenance, even purchasing right of way.

We've awarded grants for

and you know, we couldn't be more proud of, of our record

and the amount of projects that we're spurning

and carrying on.

A lot of those projects go into the mast pipeline

and they become projects like the MAs Central Rail Trail,

the ABET River Rail Trail, the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail,

all these trails that are here in the metro West area

that are all in various stages

of eventually being connected.

I'm happy to report that all of those other communities

that applied for mass trails grants along those trail routes

are all beneficiaries of Mass trails grants.

And they all have projects in the Masto pipeline,

either funded for construction,

are actually under construction right now to the east

of us on the Mass Central Rail Trail.

We have sud, we have Sudbury

and Wayland to the west

of us in Hudson on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

We have the city of Framingham, which is about

to add some mileage to theirs.

And on the as batt River Rail Trail, we have the town

of Stowe, which is also in the MAs dot project pipeline.

And we're looking to extend

that project within the next couple years.

So you guys should all be very, very excited

to live in this metro West region

because whether you know it

or not, within the next five years, this is going

to be a trail hub of this entire region.

And it's a great thing for everyone involved,

as people have said before, me reducing car travel,

getting out, getting exercise,

and just pride of ownership in such a great resource.

So with that, I, I would just like to say, you know, happy

to be here, happy to be representing

and especially in the, in the city of Natick, you know,

we have at least a half dozen trails related projects

that are ongoing right now

or in the pipeline just to the left of us or of me.

Spring Street Bridge is being rebuilt a little bit further

down Boden Lane, also gonna have a bike and ped component.

We have the big Route nine

and Route 27 kind of mega project that's happening up there

that is gonna have connector trails to the Lake Cot path,

which we're hoping to advertise next summer.

And that already, when that's completed, is gonna connect

with this, the Constituit Rail Trail.

Am I missing any? I think that's it. Well, we

Can give you more.

Anyway, there is a lot and,

and we, we can't wait to get started on them all

and you know, just again, very happy to be here

and talking about all the connectivity

that is happening in this town and throughout this region

and hopefully more to come.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Pete.

So I would ask Steve Lebinski, who's chair of the,

of Natick Center Associates, which is the parent

of the Natick Center cultural district to come

and Steve told me he's gonna talk for like 45 minutes,

seconds, something like that. Thank

You.

C Josh. Hi. Good E or good evening. Good afternoon.

It's not evening yet. Just a, a very brief

but, but heartfelt.

Thank you and congratulations. This is fantastic.

When you walk down Natick Center now it's vibrant.

You see people coming off the trail, going up,

going into businesses, eating at restaurants.

It's great. So thank you.

And the other briefer Mark I want

to make is a, a thank you to Josh.

Josh doesn't receive Yes, he,

he doesn't take thank yous very well.

So when I say thank you Josh, he says, oh, it's nothing,

it's, you know, it takes a team, well it does take a team,

but it takes a great captain

and team leader and band leader.

And this guy day in, day out, year in, year out

and I think decade in decade out has made this happen.

So please let us thank you Josh.

You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Okay. He said you're welcome. So mission accomplished.

Anyway, congratulations and thanks so much.

I will tell my mom

thank you so much.

Natick is one of 177, no give

or take communities that are represented

of the MBTA advisory board, which is the organization

that represents municipalities in governance of the MBTA.

Hannah Sakowski is a deputy deputy director

and also on the Sharon Select board and a friend.

And thank you so much for being here. Glad to have you.

So It is, so I retired from the MBTA

about six or seven months ago.

And I will say I'm not speaking on behalf of the,

of the MBTA when we sometimes have challenges.

I will always use we,

because I feel like we all are stakeholders

and owners of, of public agencies,

even if we just pay fares.

And so I was a little disappointed when the one

of the elevators was out of service.

'cause people rely on that to get down

to the platform to get to the rail trail.

There's a ramp further down,

but no one would be more disappointed

than an amazing woman named Laura Brelsford

who would be here today speaking.

She is head of system-wide accessibility for the MBTA

and has really transformed that team's

work in the agency in the region over the years.

Unfortunately there, there was a death in the family member

of her team, so she couldn't be here.

But she did draft a statement that I'd like

to take a couple minutes to read to you

because I, she could not be here

for the stations ribbon cutting back in August.

But she's been an incredible partner

for municipalities trying to get accessible,

equitable transportation for people of all abilities.

So I felt it was important to reach out and invite her

and when she couldn't come, she read this statement.

But here comes that train that I mentioned.

So we're going to just pause for a second

and I'm gonna ask the volunteers to hand out a little bit

of swag now then where was I?

Alright, so this is a statement from Laura Brosford,

congratulations to the town of Natick

and to all who enjoyed this fully

accessible commuter rail station.

Now complete with the direct connection

to the constituent rail trail.

I'm Laura Braford, assistant general manager

for system-wide accessibility at the MBTA.

I wish that my team and I could be with you today

to celebrate this milestone Natick Center station

with this brand new connection

was redesigned for two reasons.

It was the busiest station in the entire commuter rail

network that was fully inaccessible.

And because of the tenacity of the tenacious advocacy

by the town of Natick and your legislative delegation,

it took a long time to get here.

But we're very proud of the results.

We build stations, trains, buses,

and paved rail trails to serve everyone of all abilities.

The MBTA mission statement is clear to serve the public

by providing safe, reliable, and accessible transportation.

With such an old system like the MBTA, it takes a long time

and a lot of money to achieve full accessibility.

We're proud of our achievements which have accelerated under

the leadership of General Man Manager Ang

and Governor Healy, but we know we still have a ways to go

as a measure of our success.

The MBTA recently achieved substantial compliance

with a historic settlement agreement

that was signed in 2006, an agreement

that's widely recognized as one

of the most ambitious agreements related

to accessible public transportation over the last 20 years.

The MBTA has made important changes as to

how we prioritize access.

And we have since made our bus fleet

and most of our bus stops

and ations accessible we're well on our way

to achieving a fully accessible system.

I invite you to visit mbta.com/accessibility

to learn about all our plans

to make the T accessible to everyone.

One of the most recent accessibility innovations

that the MBTA can be seen, just one stop away.

Where Wellesley Square is one

of several commuter rail stations

with new freestanding mini high platforms.

Its stations that were previously not accessible at all.

This is the result of collaboration with the MBTA,

mass DOT keolis, HDR Engineering

and Accessibility advocates.

While freestanding, many high platforms don't provide all

the benefits of a full redesign like Natick

and they certainly would not work in Natick.

Where the station is well below street level,

they do provide the access to the MBTA where none existed

before and at a fraction of the cost.

With our state and federal partners,

we'll figure out a funding strategy

for more wholesale upgrades

that matters when funding is so tight.

I look forward to coming back to Natick

to experience this connection

and taking a role on your beautiful rail trail.

Congratulations to you all.

I'm really honored to, to read Laura's words. So one

Yes,

A a a great leader.

One last person I'd like to invite up

to offer a few remarks is Arthur Frost, who I mentioned

before coming outta retirement.

We signing a one day contract

and then when Arthur concludes, we're going to gather,

we're going to organize the ribbon cutting

and I'd love to have you be a part of that.

And then, and then we've got some treats.

Wonderful. Well, I'm Arthur f oh, sorry. I'm Arthur Frost.

I'm the retired project development engineer from Mass DOT

District three office in Worcester.

We covered 77 cities and towns in central Massachusetts.

Natick stands out, you should be very proud of

all of your local volunteers, your legislative delegation,

your town manager, everybody who's participated.

It really makes a difference.

There's a reason you have all these projects and that's

because your participation and it's been very strong.

So I I can just say that dealing with

so many different communities,

Natick is a special community.

The Lake Kaa path, that one I'm excited for

because it'll connect the Walnut Street neighborhood

to the KAA Rail Trail in Speed Street neighborhood.

You know what a great connection, it's a challenging one.

It's, it's not out yet,

but that will be, it'll give a whole new neighborhood access

to the constituent rail trail.

So, and that takes a lot of cooperation.

It's a hits DCR property, which may take legislation

and there's lots of challenges with these projects.

So anyway, I just wanna say that

without a village, nothing happens.

And you have one heck of a village here.

Thank you Arthur. The project he mentioned Lake Path,

that's gonna go from the rail trail

where crosses Route nine out to Speen and Hartford Street.

As, as Arthur mentioned, it does, cha has some challenges

'cause it crosses DCR land

and there's something called Article 97,

which usually gives people a headache, but,

but it is something we need to, the state will need to sort

that out before that begins, hopefully next summer

that will provide amazing connectivity through West Natick

and, and every place else.

So let's pause

and get ready to get over.

I would love to have a few folks gather

behind the ribbon with scissors.

I've already designated the chair, the select board

to get the giant ceremonial scissors.

And then we have special cookies for the event.

And then we are going to have a

little sparkling cider toast. Three.

Everyone got your scissors ready? Yeah. 1, 2, 3.

Yay.

Cheers.