Last night, by a 4-1 vote, Newton’s Traffic Council made permanent their earlier trial ban on parking on Walnut Street between Beacon Street (near Whole Foods) and Forest Street (near the fountain). [UPDATE: The Presentation is here. ]While the ban was originally requested by neighbors concerned about safety (parked cars block site lines for crossing on foot or pulling out from side streets), removing parking frees up enough of the right-of-way to allow for bike lanes in both directions. At an earlier meeting, Traffic Council had removed parking on Walnut between Homer (by the library) and Beacon. This means that the stub of bike lane from Comm. Ave. to Homer will now be extended into a meaningful link between the Highlands and City Hall, through Four Corners, a stretch identified by bike advocates (and the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee) as a key corridor. At its next meeting, Traffic Council will take up parking on Walnut between Comm. Ave. and Newton North, which could extend the bike lanes even farther.
Some highlights from the meeting after the jump.
The large majority of residents along the affected portion were pleased by the results of the ban and were in favor of making it permanent.
Former alderman, one-time mayoral candidate, and abutter Ken Parker made an impassioned plea for parking as a traffic calming measure, claiming that the parking ban had significantly increased speeds. When presented with data that median and 85% speeds were the same or lower, he narrowed his claim that it was the real speeders (the top 5%) that were the problem. This is the same Ken Parker who, as a mayoral candidate, waxed eloquent about a future in which he could sit on his front step with his son and watch bicyclist ride by. (Data are pretty clear that bike lanes calm traffic.)
Bike use on Walnut Street is up over 300% over the last few years.
Alderman Jay Ciccone, the lone no vote, made a fiery speech suggesting that, if the city were to remove on-street parking on Walnut Street, it ought to remove on-street parking on every street in the city. He made the argument that, and I’m paraphrasing, the homeowners paid hundreds-of-thousands for their homes and were being denied a property right. I’ll post the audio as soon as it’s available. Jay’s is an position that is not uncommon and merits its own discussion.
Old friend and father of a high-school student Matt Brand said that his son had “poked” him to attend the meeting and described how Walnut Street and the Comm. Ave. carriage lanes were key corridors for NNHS students who want/need to get around without cars.
@Sean (or anyone else who was at the meeting): Was any data (or even theories) presented at the meeting that might explain where all the cars that used to park there went to? Are they parking on side streets? All converted to bike riding? Now driving to Boston? Quit their jobs and filed for employment?
It’s very difficult to get a full picture of what the loss of these spaces has meant to the Highlands because they were removed after Bakers Best closed, which has lead to lighter parking demand overall (from employees and visitors) in the Village.
And was there any discussion about the possibility that the loss of those spaces might make finding a new tenant at the Bakers Best site harder?
Greg:
There is a certain elastic quality to parking demand. I’d bet people just walked a bit farther. Plenty of spaces if you are willing to do that.
@Fig: That’s what I’m asking: Did the traffic council have any idea where these specific cars are now parking when it made this decision?
In other words was it a data-driven decision or a just a decision?
@Greg, the council’s discussion was very much data driven, but the data was about safety. I wasn’t able to attend the entire meeting, but in the time I was there I saw speed studies that showed no negative impact as well as data that showed a dramatic increase in bicycle use on Walnut Street. Striping bike lanes should improve these numbers, by further narrowing vehicle travel lanes. Improved sight lines were also a major factor, for both motorists and pedestrians. The area we’re talking about is some distance from the village center. Whether Newton should provide parking for commuters and how to balance that with safety and resident parking has always been a subject of debate.
There was comment within the council that parking restrictions could be revised on side streets, as needed.
Thanks Adam. Very helpful.
Was any data presented as to where the cars may have gone as well?
Sean, you said that at the meeting it was stated that ” Bike use on Walnut street is up over 300% over the last few years.”
Was the break-down of that data shared at the meeting? Could you share it here? I’m curious about how many bicyclists we’re talking about.