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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
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. Boston officials say they’ve gotten state and federal approvals to install bike lanes on Massachusetts Avenue, a key downtown artery, from Boston Medical Center to Symphony Hall. The lanes will be added as part of an $18 million reconstruction of the avenue, the mayor’s office said The project will be 80 percent federally-funded and 20 percent state-funded. Plans call for it to be completed by fall 2011. “This is a big win for Boston’s biking community,” Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a statement. “Massachusetts Avenue is one of the busiest and most heavily traveled streets in our city and this project provides an opportunity to accommodate all modes of transportation without compromising safety.” Menino announced the new bike lanes at the Boston Bike Festival, the final event of the first statewide bike week. People today joined convoys of bikers in Boston and various close-in suburbs and were guided in convoys into the downtown, where they were treated to the festival on City Hall Plaza, which included a free breakfast and various other freebies. I got the chance to visit Portland Oregon last week for business and was really excited to spend an afternoon seeing for myself the city that many people hold up as a model for sustainable transportation. I’ve wanted to visit for many years and my expectations on what I would see included something like this: great sidewalks, street life, bikes everywhere, sleek efficient public transit, a vibrant community. Pretty tall order, I thought I shouldn’t get my hopes up too much. It is Oregon not Europe. Well, in the end I was extremely impressed. I spent most of the afternoon downtown. The streets were beautiful, extremely clean, wide sidewalks, lots of outdoor seating. The bus shelters on the street were sleek and modern, well kept, and even had flat panel real time bus arrival information! The trams (think larger, quieter, cleaner versions of the MBTA green line) criss-crossed the downtown area, seemingly on almost every other street. I rode on one in the city center which was free in that zone and was impressed on how well kept and well used they were. Walking around the city was extremely easy, I never felt threatened by an automobile, and noticed that the system was set up so well, there was a lot less jay walking than here in Boston. Bikes, yes there were a lot of bikes. There were some areas that had taken out a couple of parking spots to put on street racks, which were full with upwards of 20 bikes. Tons of dispersed bike racks throughout the city. I don’t remember seeing illegally locked bikes and noticed that almost all bike riders were respecting the rules of the road, as if their accommodation had prompted them to not have to circumvent the law for their own safety or convenience. I think the thing that was most interesting and different which I didn’t expect was the quietness, the utter harmony of all these transportation options. I never heard a car honk, a pedestrian yell, a transit official upset. It was kind of wierd, maybe it was the nice weather? It was so pleasant being downtown, there weren’t long lines of cars waiting to get through lights, tail pipe fumes at every corner, the start-stop-start-stop of being a pedestrian in most large cities (Portland is about half the size of metro Boston). I left thinking that Portland had figured something out and is now 50-75 years ahead of most of the rest of us. It was really cool and inspiring. I didn’t take my camera so here are some images I found on the web that brings home the livable streets. Cheers, Chad
If you plan to bicycle during Bay State Bike Week, May 17-21, 2010, http://www.masscommuterchallenge.org/register/ Arlington is currently the town with the fifth most miles pledged, The Challenge is a friendly competition amongst employers, cities and If you have not made a plan to bicycle, we encourage you to give it a Most people who cycle regularly find it convenient, swift, fun, and an We’ll recognize the Challenge winners at the Bike Bash on Wednesday, Other Events of Note: 1. Please join the Charles River Transportation Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee will attend, and will have some (Still hungry and cycling into town? Visit us at University Park near 2. Also of note is the Minuteman Bikeway Commuter Convoy to the a. Lexington Minuteman Trail Entrance- Mass Ave and Hancock St (7:00am) More about City of Boston events: http://www.bostonbikes.org/the-events/bike-week/ 3. For a full calendar of events across the Commonwealth during Bay http://www.masscommute.org/calendar/ 4. Ciclismo Classico of Arlington is sponsoring a Bicycle Film http://www.zvents.com/arlington-ma/events/show/118459785-ciclismo-classicos-first-annual-bicycle-film-festival Great interview with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on NPR’s All Things Considered. On Tuesday, April 13, the Town held a public meeting to present a draft report by Larry Koff and Associates on proposed strategies to attract business and commercial area development. The draft reports are available on the town’s website for public viewing. http://www.arlingtonma.gov/Public_Documents/ArlingtonMA_PLanning/commercialdev/index
Attending this presentation were about 25-30 Arlington residents and a few business members, including Steve Kurland from Za who has been a positive member of the East Arlington business community.
The bulk of the presentation and discussion afterward focused around the Arlington Center area as it is the business district most in need of improvment. East Arlington faired better, in their opinion, because the neighborhood has been more successful in re-tenanting, regulatory reform, and organization. They touted the Capitol Square website as a great organizational tool: http://thecapitolsquare.com/. The report identifies East Arlington as the “center for arts and crafts, cinema, boutiques and eateries, and local convenience shopping.” The noted deficiencies have to do mostly with the physical condition of the area, such as signs, facades, roadway, and the parking shortage, which the Mass. Ave. Corridor project would do a great deal to improve the physical condition. Also mentioned was that a phased program of parking reforms is being considered by the Board of Selectmen, the Traffic Adviisory Committee, and East Arlington residents and businesses.
In the Arlington Center area, the report proposes the idea of moving the fire station onto Mystic St. in the Russell Common parking lot and creating an adjacent parking garage. The rationale for this was not explained well and therefore received a lot of criticism in the discussion portion of the meeting. Other major ideas in the Center included renovating Broadway Plaza, rerouting people off the bike path to be in front of the businesses, and hiring an Economic Development Coordinator in order to implement some of the ideas and ongoing strategies. There was mostly praise for the idea of renovating Broadway Plaza. Many were concerned that routing bike traffic through the center would bring too much traffic and distractions through a congested area, although one resident asked if there was a plan to incorporate bike lanes in the center. Carol Kowalski, Director of Planning, indicated there is a separate study looking into bikes through the center and the bike path.
With the exception of the fire station issue, most ideas were well received, however, there was not much discussion on the Capitol Square business district.
This letter was sent to Hardy Principal Deb D’Amico,Superintendent Kathleen Bodie and the School Committee. The East Arlington Livable Streets (EALS) Coalition would like to thank you for your continuing support of the Hardy Safe Routes to School Program. EALS Coalition is an East Arlington neighborhood group of over 150 members and over 350 people on Facebook that believes our community is strengthened when sustainable transportation is promoted. Many of our members have, will have, or have had children at the Hardy school and we believe it is important to continue encouraging families to walk or bike safely to school. We are pleased that soon bike racks will be installed at the Hardy school in support of this year’s efforts and hopeful that the dismount zone around the school will keep everyone safe. Improving the ability and safety of Hardy families to walk and bike to school are the best ways to decrease traffic congestion around the school while promoting active kids. In late April, EALS will be reaching out to local East Arlington Businesses asking them to get involved in the success of the program. They can do this by providing raffle prizes and other incentives for participating students. We hope this will create a stronger bond between our neighborhood, local school, and businesses that will be mutually beneficial to all. The staff of the Hardy school will be crucial to this year’s success as well. It is critical that the staff not only get the kids excited about walking and biking to school, but be involved as well. It would be great to see them walking or biking with some of their students on the big event days. Building off the success of last year’s Hardy pilot program we are hopeful with our increased volunteer efforts matched by the efforts of the business community, the Hardy Staff, and PTO will make this year even more successful. Starting with the Walkathon on May 7th until the final playground celebration on June 7th, let’s make this year’s event the best ever. Thanks to your vision, the Hardy School can be a model of a sustainable, green neighborhood school for all of Arlington to emulate. |
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