Chair Nominee

David P. Montgomery, Esq.

Following youth on Cape Cod and education and work in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Washington DC, Taiwan and China, I came to the Boston area in the mid-90’s to join a downtown law firm.  From 1999 to 2011, I was part of a firm in Wellesley and for the past two years I have been in solo private practice, advising small and medium size businesses in varied business law matters.  My office is located in East Cambridge to which I commute on the venerable old Green Line.  My wife, also a lawyer, works in Boston and advises non-profit anti-poverty agencies throughout the country.  Upon moving to the area, we lived first in Newton before moving to Needham 15 years ago.  We have two children in the Needham schools. 

I have been a town meeting representative for over two years and three elections.  Eager to participate further in civic affairs, I volunteered to serve as Needham’s representative to the Advisory Council in June, 2012.  Over the past year plus, I have participated in several Advisory Council committee efforts (bylaw revisions, TIP/UPWP comment letter and election) and have attended several meetings of the full MPO as an observer.  I am a member of Needham’s Transportation Committee and a regular observer at the MAPC Inner Core sub-region meetings (while one of our Selectmen regularly attends the TRIC on Needham’s behalf).  These various exposures have deepened my understanding of the transportation planning process and aided me in working with town staff and elected officials on transportation matters of particular importance to Needham.  Highest on Needham’s list at present is the long sought for rehabilitation of the Highland Avenue/Needham Street corridor sited in both Needham and neighboring Newton.  (This project is close to the 25% design completion phase and presently ranks number 1 on the as-yet-unfunded TIP list).   

I appreciate the emphasis placed on regional cooperation in the transportation planning and funding processes – even while acknowledging the frequent and inherent challenges in forging common ground among important constituencies both within and across community lines.  I am a firm believer in an open process with active participation by all interested parties.  I look forward to working with the Advisory Council’s membership, committees, Vice Chair and staff in developing and distilling common transportation planning priorities and in communicating those priorities regularly and effectively back up to the Boston MPO.

Vice Chair Nominee

Mike Gowing

I was raised in the city of Boston (from Roxbury to Readville) and grew up going to school on public transportation. My father was a motorman on the Orange line until he passed. After a stint in the Marines, I got my degree, a job, a wife, and moved to the suburbs. I moved to Acton 10 years ago and was elected to local government as a selectman in 2009 (and subsequently reelected in 2011).  RTAC was assigned to me as a liaison position.

Living in the suburbs for the last 38 years has taught me that there’s very little transportation available in the suburbs. After a Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) training session in 2009, I was hooked on transportation. In the last four years, we have developed a Transportation Management Association (TMA) that provides transportation for eight communities and five businesses in our region utilizing a combination of COA vans and other rolling stock. We also negotiated successfully with the MBTA to improve the station located in South Acton (second busiest stop on the Fitchburg line) to include security cameras and elevators for access as part of their federally funded double tracking effort. We currently have two rail trails (the Bruce Freeman and the Assabet River rail trail) being developed in our town. The ARRT terminates at the train station making it truly multimodal.

I look forward to the opportunity to advance the cause of RTAC in the upcoming years.