April Update: Showers?

Silver linings
Room for Walking
Fight for Transit
Announcements
Office Hours

Silver Linings As we start to see the end of this painful pandemic year-plus, I have been taking time to assess what we learned; and what we may want to retain in the months and years ahead.
Below is my short list--I would love to know yours (here’s another):

• For some things, remote is positive
  • Our City Council meetings have expanded participation. Parents of small children and those without transportation could watch and weigh in. We need to keep doing this post-pandemic.
  • It's great to be able to see a nurse, attend a lecture, watch a show, participate in a meeting--vote!--without having to travel or change clothes. 
  • Virtual reunions of family and friends were bigger--more coasts, more continents. Connections cemented.
• It wasn’t easy, but we got stuff done:
  • Streets around schools got safety modifications--so more kids can walk & bike. More Newton children learned to travel indepently. They grew & their parents got a break from chauffeuring.
  • Our community pulled together for the neediest. I am heartened by the food banks, Newton Neighbors Helping Neighbors and the “freedge,” among other efforts. 
  • We got outdoors more. Saw the moon rise during outdoor cocktails. Noticed birds. Discovered the many parks and beaches of the Commonwealth. 

Silver linings aside, this was a 'terrible, horrible, very bad' year for many of us, unequally and on many fronts. Acknowledging that--be kind to yourselves, too. We have been through a lot!

More safe walking roomThis is the Commonwealth Avenue Carriageway at Bristol Street in West Newton.
The barriers are part of a pilot to open this section for walking and biking only. 
Eventually, neighbors hope to reclaim some of the asphalt, plant trees in the median--create a “Bristol Park.”
I was happy to usher this through the process so that a little more of this popular walking route is even safer.

• The Christina Street Bridge is a missing link from the Upper Falls Greenway to the Needham-side DCR parks. After many discussions, my Ward 5 colleagues Deb Crossley, Bill Humphrey and I interested the Planning Department in applying for a grant to study how it could safely re-open. That grant in hand, the planners are asking for input from the community. Watch a video on the project here. Take the survey here.
• Related Greenway links the Friends of Upper Falls Greenway are building off the city’s plans to add box stairs from the Upper Falls Greenway “sunset deck” end to the conservation land along the river. Details here. Send them some funds here. (Be sure to put Upper Falls Greenway stairs in the comment line so that the donation will be designated for this project)
• Derby Street, connecting to the Franklin School has narrow and discontinuous sidewalks, and parents are rightly concerned about safe walking. The Transportation Division has pledged to try several methods, including striping, to make the street safer this spring.

Fighting for Transit

• To support our state delegation’s efforts to reverse MBTA cuts, I have sponsored a Council resolution asking for full restoration (we lost the #52 and #505 buses—although limited service on the #52 is pledged for this summer) and the single-seat ride on several other express buses as well as convenient train service). I invited other communities to join us, and at least 8 of them have passed or are debating similar resolutions. The MBTA Fiscal board heard us, but the funding for years 3-5 and beyond is still in doubt, so my amended resolution for expanded T funding will move to a full Council vote shortly.
• Meanwhile Newton is in line for a grant to pilot demand-based shuttles to connect the Wells Avenue/JCC area to the Highlands and other D-line stops starting this summer. Also, those stops are either under construction or on the T’s radar for needed accessibility improvements.
• Blue Bikes are expanding to a total of 16 stations, making for a network extending south to the Highlands T and Needham Street. Look for, and try out the new stations starting in early June. This expansion, according to Transportation Planning Director Nicole Freedman, should increase usage (usually one-way trips), which will be key to Newton’s keeping a bikeshare system in the future.