The City of Somerville is assessing a bike lane scheme for Powderhouse Blvd involving an option to completely remove parking on one side of the street. This change would severely negatively affect Doherty Funeral Service, the adjacent field happenings ,the Presbyterian Church, the West Somerville Neighborhood School, and many residents.
Data collectors have reportedly been counting open street spaces and determined that many empty spaces equals no need for parking. Let’s show up in force to oppose this thoughtless plan. The data doesn’t show our needs because we’ve been completely excluded from the planning and revisioning process.
Please show up and say no,we won’t “just drop grandma at the front door”, as callously stated by a supporter of parking removal with regard to no need for funeral services street parking .
Please join us! Public comments can mean the world.
6pm this Wednesday, 5/22 , West Somerville Neighborhood School, 177 Powderhouse Blvd.
Big money special interests pay organized syndicated vermin mobs to cycle illegally through our city!
– The Somerville “News” Weekly
Use the lanes properly and you won’t need added safety. Follow the same rules and regulations cars do and you should be safe. But when ya weaving in and out of traffic . Use the lanes properly that are there now and then maybe we can continue this conversation. I walk my kids to school on PH blvd. The FEW bikes I ever see ride like jerks. Go through the red light at north street when kids are crossing with no regard to them. You follow the rules then you should be able to get more.
I find it interesting that the city is crying about people ‘cutting through’ Somerville. Please tell me how many city residents would bike along Powderhouse Boulevard, which will bring them to Route 16? I wouid be willing to bet that all of these (now invisible) bicyclists are not Somerville residents. As for data, I have found it is rarely to be trusted. Because no one is parked there today at 10 am doesn’t mean it won’t be full today at 3 pm or 8 pm. Or when there is a funeral, or an event at Tufts, or youth soccer at the field, or a school day at the preschool further up the road. I am tired of the city giving a voice to bicycle terrorists while ignoring the people who live and work here. Most of us will respect them when they follow the rules of the road and ride year-round. I sit on streets every day that are full of cars and look at a (mostly empty) bike lane. There is simply not enough need for it to disrupt vehicular traffic for everyone. Residents need and have paid for the road more than people who are just passing through when the weather is nice.
Whoa! Reading the back & forth between you two boneheads is giving me whiplash. “Motorists”, when you rant on about syndicated mobs bicyclists and monied liberals and generational crap you’re pretty clearly establishing that you’re just a nutty crackpot. Not much more to say there.
“Anonymous”, as someone who’s biked and driven the city for decades I can say this stretch of road does not merit anything beyond the (now) ubiquitous painted green stripes. There’s room to get around on that street, and the costs to the neighborhood re lost parking (funeral home, families using triangle field, etc) outweigh the benefits, if any, to bikers on that particular stretch of road. Substituting a bike lane for parking will not cause anyone to start biking, and frankly the data isn’t there to show a compelling safety need.
As for the usual rant about “private vehicles” and “market rate” and taxing private cars for wear and tear I think you’re missing the main point: we are all car drivers, if not now then in the past & future. At some point you’ll rely on a car to lug around kids, aging relatives, stuff, no-longer-ambulatory you, your caregivers, your workers, etc. That’s why we maintain roads and treat their use (including parking) as a public need. Happen to be able to bike to your urban job / school? Good on you – enjoy the exercise, and you’ll probably get there faster. I know I do. But spare me the sanctimonious crap.
Doherty’s Funeral Home provides a valuable service to many residents who need a place to mourn the loss of loved ones.
The cyclists are an organized syndicated mob of haters hell bent on getting their own way.
Your plans will one day backfire on you. In some cases they already have. The state has already rejected the plan to add bike lanes on Route 16, while decreasing 4-lane motorist traffic to 2-lanes.
The best part of this story is watching this get to residents in Cambridge and monied liberals in Route 2– Sudbury, Weston, Wayland. Their commute is already 90 monitors or more from Cambridge and Boston. You believe they will allow their state representatives to force a project that will stop traffic for hours in order to build a useless bike lane for hate spewing vermin who need to have it their way on everything in life? Whether it be detrimental to thousands of working commuters? You people need to see your shrinks more often. Get a grip and go away. You’re an embarrassment to your parents and your generation.
Who has room for a 90-monitor commute? Maybe 90 Minotaurs, or 90 mini-tours, but 90 monitors‽ No way!
it’s funny because the reason bike lanes are going in, and why the state reps support them, is because of how much they’re used and how they pay for themselves so quickly. All those people with 90 minute commutes now have 20 minute commutes, year-round, that are much more pleasant.
I’d say you’re the one who needs to goto the shrink, but an easier form of therapy might be to walk/bike to work in the fresh air instead!
Why does the occasional need of a private business (funeral home) outweigh the hourly need of hundreds of other road users? And the more bicycles that come through, the fewer cars, thus reducing traffic congestion overall.
Or it is just another option to ride a wide road. Sorry but just ride a different way. We can’t reduce the pool of potential renters to appease the few. It’s very disturbing that the homeowners are being demonized for wanting to offer street parking .
I don’t know why or how you feel excluded from the many many public meetings for the redesign of this road, not to mention lots of private meetings between the city and the stakeholders that you mentioned (ie: the funeral home, etc). Just because the author of this nonsense hasn’t been paying attention doesn’t mean the community has been “completely excluded from the planning and revisioning process”.
“The data doesn’t show our needs”…It’s data…that’s the point.
It’s time the city puts safety first and stop worrying if private vehicles will be inconvenienced. We should also charge market rates for street parking and increase taxes on private cars so they cover the cost of wear and tear on our roads instead of the money coming from the general tax funds.
Maybe you don’t drive an I say good for you. But for those of use that need a car to get to work an go shopping a bike is not the answer. Also to take parking away on powderhouse is not right for the people who live on the street. People have worked hard an invested their money to buy an maintain their houses on powderhouse. So for you to tell me you don’t care about me or the people that rent from shows you only care about yourself. I feel a bike lane is ok as long as you donot take parking away.. The owners of houses on the street need to rent this apartments an can says to a tenant you can live here as long as you do not Owen a car.
The meeting on May 22 was a joke. The city does not want to hear from people that Owen house on powderhouse. They will not even let you talk just saying nothing has been decided yet. When you talk to them they say rent to people that do not have a car. Well not everyone works in Boston an those people need a car to get to work an what about older people that need a car to food shop or want to go outside the city to eat an shop again not in Boston. Then one idea was to limited the number of permits on powderhouse well how do we rent our apartment. Why do the people that do not live on the street care only about themselves. Also I like to add that the city is talking about limiting the number of permits or stopping them if you live near the green line. So you will not be able to rent to anyone with a car. That is just crazy. So people that do not live here will get to drive across the city but if you live here tough lucky. I feel the mayor and the board have to wake . They say they want to drive down the price of housing an rent. Well what about people that paid well over a million dollars for their house they would be under water. Also how do they think owners will pay for increasing taxes water bills insurance an repaires. They keep coming up with ways to spend money. Then want to say keep rents affordable an your house looking good. I like to tell them you can’t have it both ways. If they keep this up they will destroy the city an it will become know as slumville again.
That’s because this was just a meeting to show the options. It wasn’t a letter to come up with a decision. The description of the meeting said so.
Excise Tax is suppose to pay for that & no one is completely against painted bike lanes. But the bike lanes are not properly used. So if a biker does not stay in their lane can they get a ticket? When it’s a red light and they go through. No turn on red etc. maybe if the rules were followed you wouldn’t need protected lanes. Also PH blvd studies will be bull. Maybe we should tax people who park their bikes on the sidewalks.