“Be careful what you wish for.”

That’s the warning an East Arlington group has for those calling for
four travel lanes and extra-wide parking lanes for the Mass. Ave.
redesign, charging that those demands exceed the width of the street
and would cost 100 parking spaces.

A study released this week by the East Arlington Livable Streets
(EALS) Coalition finds that changes proposed by the opposition group
East Arlington Concerned Citizens Committee (CCC) exceed the existing
curb-to-curb width of the street by at least 8 feet.

“The only way to meet those demands would be to remove curbside
parking from one side of the street,” the study concludes–an outcome
it criticizes.

The Town of Arlington is seeking state and federal funds to restore
Mass. Ave. in East Arlington, despite opposition by the CCC. The study
authors say the opponents’ concerns are groundless.

“The CCC has not thought things through,” said Chad Gibson, an author
of the study and a co-chair of EALS. “They want four extra-wide travel
lanes with extra-wide parking. They piled on extras that exceed the
width of the street.”

The Town has proposed three standard-width 11-foot travel lanes, turn
lanes, bike lanes, and parking lanes on both sides of the street.

Mass. Ave. is 66 feet wide, curb-to-curb, for most of its length, but
the EALS study, “Be Careful What You Wish For: How a Four-Lane Mass.
Ave. Would Eliminate Parking and Harm Businesses in East Arlington,”
finds demands by the CCC totaling at least 37 feet on each side of the
avenue or 74 feet of total curb-to-curb width.

The study quotes CCC Spokesperson Eric Berger and others demanding:

*      Parking lanes of at least 11 feet

*     Travel lanes of at least 12 feet

*      Shared travel lanes in place of proposed bicycle lanes. MassDOT
requires such shared lanes to be at least 14-15 feet wide.

Combined, these exceed the curb-to-curb width by 8 feet, the study finds.

“That kills parking on one side of the street,” according to Adam
Auster, a co-author of the study. “Losing that parking would radically
change Mass. Ave for the worse, for businesses and residents both.”

About 100 parking spots are at stake, the study finds. Gibson calls
the elimination of so much parking “unthinkable.”

Gibson and Auster decline to accuse the CCC of deliberately plotting
against curbside parking on Mass. Ave. “Maybe it’s just a mistake,”
Auster said. “But you can’t fit 74 feet into 66. Something’s got to
give.”

The study sheds light on the many tradeoffs involved in planning for
Mass. Ave.’s reconstruction, which the authors say are complex. “There
are some tough choices,” Gibson said, “but the Town’s priorities,
which are pro-parking, pro-safety, and pro-community, are much better
for East Arlington than the CCC’s.”

The study also:

*      cites multiple traffic studies since 2001 that conclude a
three-lane design “could easily accommodate traffic volumes now and in
the future”

*      asserts that the “ loss of more than 100 legal parking spaces
[the opposition group’s plan] would clearly harm the Capitol Square
business district”

*      finds that State design guidelines have changed so much in the
last 30 years that the current layout for Mass. Ave “would not pass
muster today”

*      asks whether opponents are “willing to sacrifice curb-side
parking for an additional traffic lane that all studies have
determined is unnecessary”

The East Arlington Livable Streets Coalition is a community group
active in transportation and quality-of-life issues in East Arlington.
The group has more than 200 supporters and over 400 Facebook fans and
meets monthly at the Fox Library.

The study is available for download at the group’s web page, here.

This came today from the City of Boston

Dear Friends,

City of Boston is conducting a brief 2010 year-end survey of people who bicycle in Boston. If you ride a bike in Boston–rarely, occasionally or perhaps every single day–please take a moment to complete this important survey. We will ask questions about your riding habits and ask for your feedback on our events. To take the survey go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BostonBikes.

 Please forward this to anyone else you know who bikes in Boston. Thank you very much for your input and have a safe and happy holiday season!

 Sincerely,

The Boston Bikes Team

 Please consider donating your old bike to Roll it Forward: collecting, repairing, and distributing up to 1,000 bikes to deserving Boston families. Your bike can serve as a family’s first step in adopting cycling as an ongoing activity for health and convenience. Learn more at: www.rollitforward.org.

December 1, 2010

John F. Bean, Director

Arlington DPW

51 Grove Street

Arlington, MA 02476

CC: Brian Sullivan, Laura Wiener, Carol Kowalski, Jack Hurd, Donna Janis

Re: Non-working Street Light on Mass Ave in East Arlington

John:

The East Arlington Livable Streets (EALS) Coalition has identified six streetlights in East Arlington that are not working. Four of these are at pedestrian crossings, which are consequently not illuminated after dark.  Many of these lights have been inoperable since last winter when this issue was previously brought up in the Advocate by a local resident.  We are concerned about the negative impact that these inoperable lights have on pedestrian safety.

The area surveyed is Mass. Ave. from Route 16 to Grafton St.–Orvis Rd and the streetlights are described in the table below.

Unfortunately, none of the poles that bear these lights are identified with a tag showing the number of the pole, although there is one pole with old-style metal letters that may be complete and may correspond to today’s numbering scheme.  Nonetheless the table describes the location of each pole in sufficient detail to be easily identified.

For the sake of pedestrian safety along a street that has experienced vehicle-pedestrian collisions and fatalities in the past, the EALS Coalition recommends restoring these streetlights to full service, especially those at crosswalks. This would occur ideally in the next few weeks as walkers and bus commuters are returning home for the evening and crossing Mass Ave in darkness. We look forward to hearing your response to this important safety issue.

Sincerely,

EALS Board Members

State Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly

State House

Room 416-A     

Boston, MA  02133

Re: Please support Bill H4728 for lower speed limits in urbanized areas

Dear Senator Donnelly,

The East Arlington Livable Streets (EALS) Coalition is a neighborhood-based advocacy organization founded in 2008. EALS has over 170 supporters on our e-mail list and over 400 fans on our Facebook page.  We are quickly becoming the neighborhood’s voice on transportation and livability-related issues. We are writing to let you know that we support lower speed limits in urbanized areas for improved pedestrian safety in East Arlington and across Massachusetts. We ask that you support H4728 and ask Speaker DeLeo to move H4728 forward.

As you may know, H4728 would reduce the prevailing speed limit in urbanized areas from 30 mph to 25 mph, improving pedestrian safety. Fatalities from pedestrian-automobile crashes are directly related to speed: When struck by a vehicle going 40 mph, 90% of pedestrians die, as compared to only 5% when the vehicle is going 20 mph.

Massachusetts’ prevailing speed limit of 30 mph is too fast for local roads in densely developed areas, and 25 mph is the safer standard, which has been adopted by many other states across the country. Massachusetts should join these states in protecting the safety of all our residents and visitors.

Sincerely,

Phil Goff, Co-chair      

Cc:
Representative Sean Garballey, State House of Representatives
Representative Will Brownsberger, State House of Representative

July 13, 2010

Secretary Ian Bowles
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
MEPA Office
Attn: Holly Johnson, MEPA Analyst
EEA #13886
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Fax: 617-626-1181
Email: Holly.S.Johnson@state.ma.us

Re: Extension of the MBTA Green Line

Dear Secretary Bowles:

The East Arlington Livable Streets (EALS) Coalition is a neighborhood-based advocacy organization founded in 2008. EALS has over 170 supporters on our e-mail list, over 400 fans on our Facebook page and we aspire to become the neighborhood’s voice on transportation and livability-related issues. Residents throughout East Arlington have been strong supporters of the Green Line Extension (GLX) project through Somerville.

I am writing to express our group’s concerns that the project, as currently designed, does not meet the transportation needs of the hundreds of residents of East Arlington that rely on transit or those who wish to incorporate bicycle transportation into their lives. EALS urges the Commonwealth to make the following changes to the project as currently proposed:

• Design AND build the Community Path concurrently with the GLX
  • Currently connecting Alewife Station to Davis Square, the multi-use path’s extension through Somerville to Lechmere and beyond to downtown Boston will likely be used by thousands of cyclists instead of driving.
  • Combined with enhanced bike parking at GLX stations, the Community Path will increase ridership without necessitating expensive park-and-ride lots and garages
  • Without the concurrent construction, it may be ten or twenty years until the Community Path design is implemented, an intolerable delay for such an important transportation and recreational project.
• Build the Rt. 16 terminus as part of Phase I
  • Because the proposed Phase II terminus at Rt. 16 lies only a few hundred feet from the town line, dozens or East Arlington residents would be able to walk to transit and hundreds more could bike; the College Avenue station is “out of sight, out of mind” for Arlingtonians and will be underutilized
  • DCR’s Alewife Brook trail, currently under construction, provides the perfect multi-modal connection to the GLX station at Rt. 16 while no such off-street connection exists for the College Avenue station
  • While the extension to Rt. 16 is proposed for Phase II, EALS is concerned that this final section will never be built because of the higher cost of later-phase construction and loss of political momentum after the Phase I construction

Many of us have followed the Green Line Extension planning process from day one. We feel excited that the day has finally come for the rail transit to be developed in Somerville after many years of delay. However, the GLX has the potential to be a significant enhancement for the thousands of East Arlington residents who would like to take a one seat transit ride into East Cambridge or downtown Boston or bicycle to these same destinations along an off-street path.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Chad Gibson, Co-chair
Cc:
Jeffrey Mullan, Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Senator Ken Donnelley, Massachusetts State Senator
Representative Sean Garballey, State House of Representatives
Representative Will Brownsberger, State House of Representatives
Ed Starr, Transportation Advisory Committee Chair
Brian Sullivan, Arlington Town Manager
Carole Kowalski, Director of Community Planning

Help to pass House Bill 4728 to reduce the prevailing speed limit in Massachusetts urban areas from 30mph to 25mph. Safety advocates have long supported efforts to decrease the speed limit, and this is the closest it has ever been to passing! This bill, originally sponsored by Representative Denise Provost (Somerville), would significantly increase pedestrian safety in neighborhood settings by slowing vehicle traffic to speeds safer for walkers and cyclists. It is currently in the House Committee on Bills in Third Reading, and when it reaches the Senate, it will be on the fast track, so please take action to support this bill by calling or emailing TODAY.

Note that East Arlington Representatives Sean Garballey  seangarballey@hotmail.com and Will Brownsberger willbrownsberger@gmail.com  are among the co-sponsors of the bill.  Email them to thank them for co-sponsoring the bill and ask them to push it forward. 

Two new bike racks were installed to support the growing number of students and faculty that are using sustainable transportation to get to school.  The racks will play a key roll in supporting the fledgling Safe Routes to School volunteer led program that will enter its third year this fall.  Let’s bike safe and fill them up this fall!

Hardy Bike Rack

Bike Memo to Mass Ave Committee 

June 15, 2010

The Hardy Elementary School celebrated the culmination of Human Power month on Monday, June 7, with a mountain of prizes for participants who turned in their Green Human Power May/June Calendar. The calendar marked days kids either walked or biked to school and added up their mileage. Here are the stats for 2010.

HUMAN POWER MONTH FINAL STATS 2010

Total # of kids that participated: 85

Total # of miles: 1,090


Total # of miles walked: 951.5


Total # of miles biked: 138.5


Farthest Total distance: 33.6 miles


Average distance walked/biked: .56 miles

Average Kid Distance for month: 12.82 miles

We wish to thank, first of all, the kids for their effort and enthusiasm in this important awareness-building activity. Huge thanks also go to Lauren Hefferon who is dedicated to bike awareness and the Safe Routes to School program all year around, not just in May and June. Did you know Safe Routes to School has its own website? Please check it out at http://sites.google.com/site/hardyschoolsaferoutes/Home, and find out the safest routes for walking and biking to school. You are sure to make friends along the way! Let’s also show some appreciation for the new bike rack Hardy will be installing by filling it up with bikes! More volunteers are needed to help create awareness around this program in 2010-11. If you are interested, please get in touch with Lauren Hefferon at Lauren@ciclismoclassico.com. This year’s volunteers also included Chad Gibson and Nawwaf Kaba of East Arlington Liveable Streets Coalition, Suma Greenwald, Ray Jones and Stephanie Marlin-Curiel.

Finally, we wish to thank our donors for the cornucopia of prizes we were able to offer the kids. By virtue of their generosity, we were able to read every name and award a prize to each child who participated and turned in a calendar. Donors included: Ciclismo Classico, Lauren Hefferon, Leader Bank, Cambridge Savings Bank, Maxima Gift Shop, Francesca’s Kitchen, and Artbeat. Business donors are true partners in our community and remember, shopping local is another way of going green. Please remember Maxima’s Shop for Our School program. When you sign up, they donate 5% of proceeds to Hardy School!

Sustainable Arlington and the East Arlington Livable Streets (EALS) Coalition support the placement of bus shelters in Arlington to encourage the use of public transportation and reduce the Town’s overall carbon footprint.  It is our groups’ understanding that the Town has secured funding from the State, as part of the Mass. Ave redesign, to provide up to seven bus shelters along Mass. Ave. in East Arlington and we wish to weigh in on this issue that is important to our membership. According to the MBTA, Arlington is served by 11 MBTA routes with over 7,100 people boarding T buses here each day.  There are 163 bus stops in Town but only five (3%) currently have shelters. In East Arlington, dozens of people wait every weekday for each of the morning rush-hour buses but there is not a single place to remain dry or sit down along Broadway or Mass Avenue. More shelters would provide an important public service.

Providing a place to sit with a roof overhead is a simple amenity that bus riders in Arlington deserve, especially the elderly, those with disabilities, and families with young children.  Shelters should be well lit as well. In Boston and elsewhere, shelters funded by the MBTA have solar panels to power their lights.  We see this as a free and visible opportunity to educate the public about the viability of solar power as a source of renewable energy. The shelters are cleaned with 100% organic products which is another plus.

Our groups support the installation of bus shelters without a change in the law that prohibits free-standing advertising.  Among other things, it would mean quicker installation and probably less contention from the community. However, if a change in this policy turns out to be necessary, we request that the Planning Department recommend to the Arlington Redevelopment Board a change in the Zoning Bylaw to permit freestanding advertising exclusively on bus shelters.  Unlike billboards which serve only to advertise, bus shelters provide the public with an important service and should be considered differently.  In addition, as indicated, use of solar panels on the shelters would be educational.

We understand that there are bus shelters in the budget for the redesign of Mass. Ave. in East Arlington, but these would be paid for and maintained by the Town at an added expense.  Use of a private vendor would save the Town both installation and maintenance costs, allowing the funds to be used for other worthy projects. Boston, Cambridge and Watertown, among others, have shelters installed, paid for, and maintained by a company called Cemusa. Jeff Rosenblum of Cambridge’s Community Development Department reports that they are very pleased with Cemusa’s shelters which are well-maintained, clean and well lit by solar-powered lighting.  Cemusa would return some percent of the price of its advertising to the Town, adding much needed revenue. If engaged in a contract, Cemusa would be able to install bus shelters much sooner than if we wait until the Town is able to put its plan into effect. (Please note that neither group has investments or other ties to this company. Therefore we have no conflict of interest.)

Thank you for your consideration.  We hope that it will be possible to find an efficient way to provide some of Arlington’s bus routes with shelters.