School’s out and the weather is getting warmer (for New England, anyway), which leads to more pedestrians and bicyclists on our city streets.

Yesterday in Attleboro, police ran a crosswalk sting and stopped 47 cars in four hours — around one violator every five minutes, according to today’s article in The Sun Chronicle.

Police cited 16 of those drivers for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk, a $200 fine. The same state law and fine apply here in Newton.

In May 2010, Newton police nabbed 48 drivers in crosswalk stings around the Garden City over a similar amount of time — about one violator every five minutes. (If people had as much luck fishing, we’d all be eating cod.)

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While ongoing political and citizen efforts to make Newton pedestrians safer this winter chart an uncertain course, as reported in the Newton Tab, we share good news.

In response to the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) formed by Mayor Setti Warren this summer, the mayor last month issued his response to the committee’s final recommendations.

Better yet, small groups of TAC volunteers continue working on solutions to parking, traffic, and pedestrian safety and connectivity. One group is discussing “urban fabric,” the physical form of the city which shapes how we occupy and move around in the city.
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Herrick Road entrance from Beacon Street, looking southeast. (Newton Streets and Sidewalks)

The City of Newton deserves credit for much of the good work its staff has done and is doing — news that never makes the newspaper.

Case in point: the pedestrian improvements to the intersection of Beacon Street and Herrick Road. (Note, many folks think this stretch of Herrick is Union Street.)

This news is not new. We have to thank Sean Roche for blogging about these pedestrian improvements, and others nearby, on the blog Newton Streets and Sidewalks last year. But construction takes time and these plans are coming to fruition. [Read more →]

Detail from the MIT report

Imagine a day — OK, years from now — when you could stroll down Needham Street among three- or four-story buildings filled with condos, offices, restaurants, and small retail shops. You might even bicycle along recreational pathways.

These are just a few of the changes envisioned by graduate urban planning students at MIT who presented the findings of their semester-long study of the Needham Street corridor.

Engaged by the city’s Planning and Development department, the students’ goal was not only to envision redevelopment but to recommend implementation strategies to make the plan a reality. [Read more →]

The city’s planning department invites merchants and residents to a community conversation about envisioning the future of Needham Street.

A group of MIT graduate students in the school’s planning program have been working this fall on recommendations about how Needham Street may be improved through future redevelopment.

The group presented its preliminary findings at a well-attended public meeting on Oct. 28. See details from our earlier post.

Open to the public, the final presentation will be given on Thursday, December 2, in the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall. Stop by Room 209 at 6:30pm to see poster displays (and enjoy some refreshments).

The students’ ideas and recommendations — and feedback from merchants and residents — provide valuable direction for the future of the Needham Street corridor. A final report of this project will be published later in December.

All are welcome to join the conversation! If you have questions, contact Amanda Stout in the Department of Planning and Development, 617-796-1127, astout@newtonma.gov.

In meetings on Monday and Wednesday earlier this week, Newton aldermen and staff from several city departments grappled with updating snow removal ordinance, as reported in the
Newton Tab and Newton Patch.

Their study of the issue has been methodical and the conversation inclusive. The process, if sometimes tedious, has illuminated the city’s desire for greater pedestrian mobility and safety in winter months and has raised specific questions about how the ordinance would be implemented, especially with regard to Newton’s senior citizens.

Kudos to city staff and aldermen wrestling with the details – and to the more than 50 residents attending Wednesday night’s public hearing to offer their opinions. The work continues.
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