Attached is the letter EALS sent urging the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to fully fund the green line extension to Rte 16 and continue funding bicycle and pedestrian projects.
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Many things going on in the month of May hopefully you’ll be able enjoy some of these fun events. First some Mass Ave news:
This year the theme is Transformation through Bicycle Travel. Nicole Freedman and Richard Fries are our special guests. Nicole will share the latest news about the wonderful progress she and her team is making on bicycling in Boston and Richard will keep the evening rolling with style as our upbeat MC. In addition to refreshments and The Great Bike Jersey Give Away, the event will also be a fund-raiser for Mass Bike , the state-wide cycling advocacy group.
Dear supporters of Livable Streets,
Now is the time for action. EALS has been pushing this project forward over the last two years. We’ve done countless blog posts, press releases, have helped deny opponents a seat on the Board of Selectmen for the last two years, written letters, and attended the public meetings. Our work has been extraordinary, but it will be all for not if we don’t get plan supporters to Town Hall next Tuesday night (April 12) at 7:00 pm for the 25% Design hearing, the final opportunity to weigh in on the core components of the plan.
There are over 200 people on this email list and we need almost all of you to attend MassDOT‘s hearing (bring your friends!). IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND, PLEASE RSVP SO WE CAN KEEP A RUNNING LIST. We need to collectively make it clear to the state that the support for the plan is widespread throughout the neighborhood. Matching the number of project opponents–as we’ve done at all other public meetings–is not enough this time. They will be there will their signs, their shouts and their theatrics. We will be there with our rational, fact-based arguments why the plan will improve our community.
The Concerned Citizens Committee (CCC) and their leader Eric Berger last week filed a criminal complaint with the Public Integrity Division of Attorney General Coakley’s office. It frivuloously claims that the Town has deliberately suppressed information about the plan to project opponents and exaggerated the level of support in order to gain favor with MassDOT. It also claims that Mass Ave is a “safe” roadway and pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements are unnecessary. The bike lanes, it argues, will make bicycling “more dangerous”. The complaint implies that the Town does not need the money, Mass Ave is a wonderful and safe roadway already. Leave it alone. Thank you very much.
The criminal complaint was made eleven days before next week’s hearing. Mr. Berger and the CCC are trying to derail the public process and create such uncertainty around the project that MassDOT decides to hand the $4.5 million of federal aid to another community. Arlington taxpayers may be left holding the bag and needing to pay for roadway improvements through other means. We simply cannot let this happen. EALS Coalition members and other supporters of safety, sound engineering judgment and a healthy public process need to flood Town Hall to make clear once and for all that a large chunk of the neighborhood supports the plan.
We will not bother mentioning the reasons why the EALS Coalition supports the Mass Ave Corridor Plan. We’ve done that enough already and all the info is available at www.ealscoalition.org. Please talk to your friends and neighbors, distribute this email widely, and show up next Tuesday to either cheer on supportive comments or to testify yourself. Our core group of supporters has already started getting the word out and will continue to do so over the coming days.
Many of you have asked us over the months and years how you can help with the Mass Ave effort, this is your chance, the time is now.
Thanks!!
I wasn’t surprised to see a Mass Ave opponents flier in my mailbox yesterday, after all they seem to have infinite money to attack this project between, consulting lawyers, engineers, and ad agency. They’ve stepped it up in the media too, three weeks of half page colored adds in the Advocate, online ads on wickedlocal.com and yourarlington.com. Then top that off with a snazzy new website laughably called (savemassave.com) even though the first thing you see when you open the site is a big red stop sign, lots of exclamation marks, the same sad diatribes, very little data. So this flier I got in the mail, what is interesting about it? Well for one it has 7 exclamation marks, they’re pretty heated about this, don’t forget they just asked the AG to investigate the town for “their suppression of information” (irrespective of the seven well attended public meeting and countless others with plan opponents). What is correct about the flier: MassDOT is holding a meeting on Tuesday April 12th at 7 pm about the Mass Ave project, all those interested can attend and comment on the project. That is about it as far as correct. What is incorrect about the flier? Why are we having this meeting? First of all it has nothing to do with MassDOT hearing anyone’s proverbial cry. Seriously? The meeting is being held as a 25% design review for the project just like every project that MassDOT oversees. There will also be a 75% design review meeting. Sorry EACCC this assertion is an outright lie. Why should you attend? I not going to touch the gobbledigook written in this section. Other than “Fight for our community’s conscience!” again seems a little over the top. The real answer to this question is you should attend if you want to support, oppose, or learn more about this project. A project presentation will be done before any public comment is taken. Supporting it means the plans as can be found on the town’s website will more forward, oppose it and basically nothing will be done, at least for a long time, and likely at Arlington tax payer’s expense. Who else opposes this project? So let’s talk about this petition. The one started over 2 years ago. The one that people signed against a plan that since has been significantly changed (extra travel lane towards Cambridge). The one that was held in front my neighbor at CVS asking him to sign, even though when he asked to see the plans they didn’t have them. The one that at Town Day last year the EACCC was offering a raffle just so you would come over to their table. So 2500 people signed, about 5% of Arlington’s population, approximately 1/3 of those who voted in last weeks election. I’ve heard this 74% of businesses oppose this plan mantra for a while now. First of all I feel bad for the businesses in E Arlington being used a wedge to oppose this project. I’ve talked to businesses in E Arlington and there are a range of opinions that totally belies the 74% number. 1. Most don’t care, but are concerned about the construction disruption which is understandable. 2. Some are ardent opponents, don’t even try to talk to them. 3. Some are ardent supporters. 4. Many just don’t want to be pulled in the middle. What would happen if the lanes are removed as planned? Likely not much. I could go on ad nauseum about the 3 traffic studies done over many years, about cut through traffic fears, increased idling (are you guys now environmentalist?), about the ridiculous accusation that this project will basically kill more people since ambulances will be late. Instead I suggest you come and hear the details from the experts next Tuesday night. You could also get our group’s cliff notes to these types of adds at http://ealscoalition.org/dont-be-fooled/ After the months and months of waiting, MassDOT’s 25% hearing has finally been scheduled! Please mark your calendars for Tuesday April 12 at 7pm at Town Hall. Its imperative that supporters of the current Mass Ave Corridor plan show up in significant numbers to counteract Maria Romano, Eric Berger and the dozens of vociferous opponents that are expected. For all intents and purposes, this is the last opportunity for the community to weigh in on the plan. Assuming we get over this hurdle, it will be full speed ahead to final design and engineering and construction in 2013. We’ll send more details as we get closer to the date. Unfortunately the Town is still waiting for one of the departments at MassDOT to submit their comments on the 25% design drawings for the Mass Ave Corridor plan. While its unlikely these comments will be anything but positive, this is creating further delays in scheduling the 25% public hearing at Town Hall. Its still possible it may be scheduled in April but it may need to be held during Town Meeting (late April, May and potentially June) when there are only a few free evenings at Town Hall. As we’ve said before…please sit tight and we’ll let you know when this important hearing date is set. Speaking of important, please make sure you’ve marked your calendars for Town Election Day on Saturday April 2nd. If you are new to Town, you have until March 14th to register to vote. Registration forms can be picked up at the Town Clerk’s office at 730 Mass Ave (Town Hall, 2nd flr) or you may call them at 781-316-3070. While the office typically closes at 4pm, it will be open until 8pm this Thursday and on Monday the 14th. To us, the Mass Ave Corridor plan plays a significant role in this year’s Town election, as most of the Board of Selectmen candidates have a clear record on the subject or have stated a preference: Joe Curran (running for one-year term) – to our knowledge has not expressed an opinion on the project Annie LaCourt (running for one-year term) – one of the four Selectmen voting in favor of the current plan that EALS supports (Jack Hurd, running for Town Clerk, also voted in favor) Dan Dunn (running for three-year term) – when meeting with the EALS Board recently, expressed support for the current plan Diane Mahon (running for three-year term) – was the lone Board of Selectman vote against the current plan; also…at a recent BoS meeting, she was dismissive of community concerns about safety for walkers and bus riders not able to negotiate large snow banks and unshoveled bus stops on Mass Ave Maria Romano (running for three-year term) – founder and leader of the Concerned Citizens Committee (CCC), the neighborhood group that was fought to either stop the project entirely and/or has lobbied strongly against the elements that EALS sees as the primary safety features of the plan: a 3-lane configuration, turn lanes, wider sidewalks, bike lanes and bump outs. The CCC’s leaders have spent over $60,000 fighting the plan and have threatened on the A-list and on the Advocate web site to shut down the 25% hearing, using civil disobedience if necessary. We hope you will consider the record and statements of all of the candidates before casting your vote on April 2nd. Finally, if anyone is interested in being a Town Meeting member, there are several uncontested vacancies. Specifically, Precinct 2 has one vacancy for a 3 year term, Precinct 4 has one vacancy for a 3 year term and Precinct 6 has one vacancy for a 2 year term and 2 vacancies for a one year term. It’s too late to get on the ballot, so a write-in campaign is necessary and and can be done quite easily. Since the seats are uncontested, securing the write-in votes of 10 of your neighborhoods will nearly guarantee you victory. In the last 5-6 snowy weeks, traffic in the Cambridge-bound direction–especially in the morning–has backed up more than usual for one primary reason. There is currently a left-turn lane to Rt.16 and a SINGLE thru-lane/right-turn lane into Cambridge, rather than the typical left-turn lane and two thru-lanes. Fewer cars are able to pass through that intersection as a result, causing longer queues along Mass Ave. As far as we could tell, traffic in the west-bound direction flowed as it would normally. The recent conditions on Mass Ave are not a valid test of traffic flow on Mass Ave after its reconstructed in the next few years. The recent snow build-up on both sides of Mass Ave resulted in the narrowing of the roadway equally on both sides. This constricted Mass Ave to an approximate width of 1.5 lanes in each direction (when cars were parked curb side) and only two lanes feeding the Rt. 16 intersection, as described above. The Town’s current plan calls for two Cambridge bound lanes, one Arlington bound lane, bike lanes and a three lane approach to Rt. 16. After a series of snow storms in the future, there will still be two Cambridge-bound lanes and one Arlington-bound lane, instead of 1.5 in each direction because the actual center line of the street will be moved towards the one westbound lane leaving more room for two full inbound lanes. Bike lanes will provide the extra buffer for snow build up and help to maintain traffic flow and curb side parking on both sides of the street. If the Town can keep the three lane approach to Rt.16 clear (questionable perhaps?), back-ups would be no worse than they are throughout other times of the year. The Mass Ave corridor planning effort took an important, though not unexpected, step this week. MassDOT submitted their comments on the Town’s revised 25% plan and there appears to be no major stumbling blocks to moving the plan forward towards the 75% final design stage. The only set of comments still outstanding is from the Federal Highway Administration, which the State and the Town hope to receive soon. When those are in, the required 25% public hearing will be scheduled. For all intents and purposes, this hearing is the last opportunity for the community to weigh in on the core elements of the plan (all of which have now passed muster with numerous planners and engineers with the Town, the design consultants and with MassDOT). The “core” elements include the three lane configuration, turn lanes, bike lanes, traffic signal locations, crosswalks and wider sidewalks at 3-4 blocks in the business district. Those interested in the nitty grity can download DOT’s comments posted on the Advocate’s web site (look for the PDF at lower right): http://www.wickedlocal.com/arlington/news/x1403225299/Arlington-receives-comments-on-Mass-Ave-Corridor-Project The Maria Romano/Eric Berger-lead Concerned Citizens Committee is in a near panic over the continued advancement of the plan. Comments posted on the Advocate web site by Eric Berger within hours of the DOT comments being posted are interesting: ”I’m still confident the DOT will not force this plan with travel lanes removed down our throats. If the DOT tries to do that, then it’s aligned itself against the majority of the people and thereby put itself right in the middle of this battle, and on the wrong side. I’ll go to court, and we’ll organize civil disobedience marches and rallies.” (full comments can be read at the bottom of the Advocate link above.) Mr. Berger, by his own admission, has already spent $60,000 trying to stop the project against the wishes of a silent majority of neighborhood residents and now threatens to take the Town to court and disrupt if not shut down the public process with civil disobedience. We collectively can stop this foolishness by ensuring that our voices are heard at the public hearing and by expressing our support for the project through our letters and e-mails to DOT. For those who have yet to write to DOT’s chief engineercheck out our other blog post for all the information you’ll need. Thanks and expect to hear back from us when the 25% hearing is finally schedule (we’re hoping March before Town elections and Town Meeting) East Arlington residents – as some of you know, the extension of the Green Line T is currently in design phase and will be complete by 2016. Currently, the plan is for the trolley to extend out to Tufts in phase I and to Rt 16 in a second phase. This will place it within a short walk for many East Arlingtonians. If you are interested in the project, there is a community mtg being held on Feb 16 in Medford. See the announcement below for more details. Dear Green Line Friends, The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) is pleased to announce the kick-off of a community visioning process exploring potential land use changes and benefits and impacts associated with the possible extension of the Green Line to Mystic Valley Parkway. The first public outreach meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, February 16, 2011 from 6pm-8pm at the Brooks Elementary School in Medford. The first public forum will provide information on the scope and timeline for the process, as well as providing an opportunity for public input on community-wide concerns. Attached to this email is a public outreach flyer which provides additional details on the kick-off meeting. Please feel free to distribute this flyer to other groups or individuals who you think may be interested in attending this meeting. For more information on this meeting and the overall Green Line Extension process, please visit: |
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East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition Bad Behavior has blocked 1038 access attempts in the last 7 days. |
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