Dear Billy T and Somerville Speakup Line,
This is the response to Erica Jones Article on Broadway’s New Bus-only Lanes
On this statement;
Ward 5 Councilor Mark Niedergang, chair of the Traffic and Parking Commission, acknowledged Moore as the lead opposition voice and gave him five minutes, instead of the regular two every other witness had. As of Dec. 17, Moore’s petition has collected 2,138 signatures.
“Just so people understand, we are not against people on bikes,” he said during his statement at the hearing. “It’s the red lanes that are giving us a hard time.”
“They have to worry about the handicap and the mobility of people,” he continued. “We just can’t go to a lot of places with that dedicated bike lane.”
(Moore did not offer any proof that Broadway businesses have been impacted.)
Business owners were at the meeting and spoke. Before I had to leave one that spoke up was from the new building that lost all of its parking and he talked about his customers not be able to go there. I did not hear the other person who was there to speak up. I have spoken to the business owners directly. No one else is doing this. Anyone can go and talk to them, they will be happy to tell you about their plight and losses. There is nothing in this for me. They are the ones waking up to a smaller paycheck. Not the city officials who did this to them. I am very easy to find and the business owners are if anyone is even interested in them. There is nothing in this for me, when I wake up my SS check will be the same.
As for Brad Rawson(I do not hate him personally) I will say this as a non expert. How can you collect data on something that is not there? Four bridges out and four more to be out next year? Seriously? We need to get the city back to normal to work out data and a plan. This is only common sense. As far as most of us are concerned his data is useless and at the very least flawed. This plan can be rolled back until such time as the city has reopened its roads. This is not the time. And as for safety the first few weeks gave 8 collisions and 13 traffic incidents. Air quality? Cars not moving pollute.
I have personally stood out on Broadway and watched the traffic for many hours varying my times so as to get an accurate idea on what is going on. I would suggest the city do the same instead of relying on computer data and see firsthand the situation. It does not agree with their data. There is much more to this problem than just this. It was done wrong and the city has admitted this and should take responsibility for their actions.
Arthur Moore
restorebroadway@gmail.com