Down Under Yoga has moved to Newtonville (from Highlands), bringing more activity — and some challenging poses — to the village center.

As part of its move, and to address city concerns about nearby parking, the studio is donating a bike rack to neighborhood.

Down Under Yoga’s new space is located at 304 Walnut Street in Newtonville. It celebrates its grand opening on Sunday, October 17 with: free “taster” classes from 9am to 4pm, and a keynote speech and panel discussion about yoga starting at 5pm.

For more information, call 617-244-9642 (YOGA) or send an email.

Interested in traffic solutions, transportation modes, and what makes an enjoyable street or square? Consider attending a presentation by Ben Hamilton-Baillie tomorrow night in Boston’s Downtown Crossing.

Architect and urban designer Hamilton-Baillie will talk about “shared streets” and how to reconcile traffic movement with good urban design.  Organizers of the event say his “work is creative, his expression is whimsical, and his practice is forward thinking.”

The event is sponsored by the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance together with MAPC’s MetroFuture initiative.

Attendance is free but space is limited. Get more information, directions, and register.

As announced in an earlier post, the City of Newton will be installing more than 80 bicycle racks in the coming months. These new racks will be placed at village centers, T stops, parks, and schools, as listed below.

Cost of the racks is being paid for with funding from the Clean Air and Mobility Program (CLAMP) and installation will be handled by the city. David Koses, City Transportation Planner, deserves a hearty thanks for making this happen. Not only did Koses secure CLAMP funding, but he involved a volunteer crew to help determine useful locations for the racks and coordinated with other city departments to ensure problems would not arise during installation of the racks and seasonal snow removal.

The list of bike rack installation sites follows: [Read more →]

The city plans to install 86 new bicycle racks in Newton parks and village centers next year — at almost no cost to Newton — providing 262 new spaces for bicycle parking.

The $20,000 cost of the racks will be reimbursed through the Regional Bike Parking Program administered by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). The program’s funding comes from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

Bikes line a handrail at the Highland T Station.

[Read more →]

Findings of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute pedestrian study illustrate that the city has room for improvement for safe walking in at least four villages.

The findings appear on the website of the League of Women Voters of Newton, in a new section addressing the group’s efforts to study pedestrian mobility.

You may download the findings for each village from the LWVN page, or download the PowerPoint presentation (large file) here: WPI presentation.

The league collaborated with the city’s planning department to sponsor this study by Worcester Polytechnic Institute students. The student group studied existing conditions and possible improvements to pedestrian crosswalks and other facilities in Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Chestnut Hill, and West Newton.

The study identified pedestrian problems in four villages, including 12 problems in Newton Corner.

[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.

[Read more →]