Improving walk-ability, where do we begin?
[UPDATE: March 24, 2010--This post was adapted and published by the Newton Tab.]
One of the first things we can do, as residents and merchants of Newton, to improve our village centers may begin with our feet.
At Mayor Setti Warren’s summit in December, pedestrian and bicycling improvements were identified as a city-wide goal. The summit groups on Infrastructure and on Environment and Energy both suggested improvements to mobility and access, as did the Community Life group: “Walk-ability, bike-ability, and better public transportation will help improve access for all.” Even in the summit discussion group on Public Safety, in which I participated,
Concern was expressed about the safety of our streets and sidewalks including maintaining and improving the infrastructure of existing ways, pedestrian safety at crosswalks, traffic calming measures in high risk areas, bicycle lanes, bicycle safety promotion, and evaluating vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian safety needs.
At the Newton Villages organizational meeting in January, participants echoed many of the same goals:
- Walk-ability, bike-ability, public transport, driving/parking.
- Pedestrian scale/access: walk-ability, bike-ability within the village centers should priority over autocentrism.
- Villages must be accessible by bike and foot.
During last fall’s election campaign, the voter’s guide (a large PDF) published by the League of Women Voters Newton, asked every candidate about walking and biking. As you can imagine, no one spoke out against alternative modes of transport. Truly, opposition to walking and biking would have been front-page news.
However, it takes little effort to say that we support the accommodation of many modes of transportation. One need only to stand by a crosswalk in a village center to realize that walk-ability faces no small challenge — namely, automotive through-traffic, and not just at rush hour. Too often, people in cars headed elsewhere show little interest in the needs of pedestrians. Seemingly as often, pedestrians show drivers the same lack of courtesy. And over at City Hall, it appears our political leadership lacks conviction to support pedestrians, choosing not to require residents to clear sidewalks of snow.
Still, we have reasons to be optimistic. The city is making some headway in support of walk-ability — installing signalized pedestrian crossings and putting pavement on a diet in village centers. Thanks to several departments at City Hall and to Newton Streets and Sidewalks for publicizing these improvements.
This is the direction we need to be heading in. Among other attractions — like a diverse retail mix — walkability and bikeability will encourage more people to frequent our village centers, especially when these qualities are coupled with the availability of public transportation and parking.
If you are interested in Newton becoming a more walkable city, you may be interested in attending WalkBoston’s annual meeting and celebration on Thursday, March 11 — the group’s 20th anniversary. The meeting will include a walking tour of the South End, “exploring traffic calming measures that transformed the neighborhood in the 1970s,” lead by WalkBoston co-founder Ann Hershfang. You may get more information about the annual meeting online, or call (617) 367-9255. To attend, please RSVP by March 5.
Working together with other community groups and neighborhood associations, including the Newton Bicycle/Pedestrian Task Force, we can advocate for pedestrian improvements that will benefit our village centers. Where should we start?
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“Where should we start?”
I suggest you join Safe Sidewalks (a coalition of the LWVN, Bike & Pedestrian Task Force, Safe Routes to School, the Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities) and several Aldermen who are pushing the city to adopt a residential sidewalk snow clearing ordinance.
The only reason this is being held up right now is that the Supreme Judicial Court is about to issue a decision that may impact the final wording.
In the meantime, Safe Sidewalks and Alderman Danberg are planning neighborhood-by-neighborhood (and perhaps door-to-door) outreach. We know there are other snow issues that annoy people, and Danberg, Rice, Crossley & Swiston are working with the DPW and police to address these (bad plow behavior, for instance). But until children, the elderly and the disabled can walk safely year-round, there will be little pressure to add pedestrian amenties. Folks who start out walking in May will be back in their cars come the first major snow storm.
We hope to have this wrapped up–and in the education stages–by September. Join us!
At an upcoming BIKE NEWTON meeting on March 21, being held at the Newton Cultural Center from 2 -5 PM, we will be showcasing a recently submitted application for Newton to be designated a Bicycle-Friendly Community (BFC) by the League of American Bicyclists.
The application is intended to jump start our city’s efforts to improve the safety and walkability of our villages and to promote bicycling for transportation within Newton. We are especially interested in improving the transportation options for people who do not drive, which includes all of Newton’s school children.
I hope you – and others involved with the Safe Routes program – will be available to join us on the 21st and participate in a short discussion group related to the Education component of the BFC application. We’d like you to share information about Safe Routes to School. We want to highlight the common ground between us; we know that improved bicycle accommodations and bicycling safety will enable many more parents to feel comfortable about encouraging their children to bike as well as to walk to school. And, we hope to reach parents who are currently transporting their children to school to talk about the huge health benefits of bicycling and walking at any age.
BIKE NEWTON is advocating for bicycle safety throughout Newton; we’re working to create state of the art bicycle lanes on all routes designated as preferred safe routes to all of our schools. We’re involved in the efforts of the Bicycle & Pedestrian Task Force as they work with Parent Teacher groups at south side schools to improve bicycle safety to their 2 middle schools and high school. We hope to continue the dialogue at all schools ASAP.
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