‘Cause there can’t be too much about the Cypress/Centre intersection, there’s this from the TAB article*:
Ward 6 Alderman-at-large Gregory Schwartz, a doctor, appreciated the reference to the Hippocratic oath and carried the medical analogy a little further calling the new, constricted configuration a “stenosis,” which is the medical term for a blockage.
“We need to open this stenosis and get this plaque pushed back,” said Schwartz. “We need to get this blockage opened.”
Blood is good. It carries vital nourishment, oxygen, and other goodies to the far-flung outposts of the corporeal realm. Increasing blood circulation is healthy.
Traffic is not blood. Traffic is not good. Some quantity of traffic may be a necessary evil, but vehicular traffic is more like a poison in our municipal realm. Increasing traffic circulation is not healthy, it just leads to more traffic volume.
I’m not sure what medical metaphor is correct, but stenosis is not. It’s the stuff that’s flowing that’s bad, not the stuff that’s blocking the flow.
If the good Alderdoctor Schwartz wants to use a medical metaphor to illuminate the discourse, might I suggest vaccination? Every parent who drives a child to school out of concern for the child’s safety is like a parent who refuses to vaccinate out of fear of the risks of vaccination. Those parents may be protecting their own children, but they do it at the risk of other children. Cars that carry children are a risk to others in a way that children on sidewalks are not.
*Note to Emily Costello: Village 14 is probably way over its fair-use quota from a single article. How ’bout I make it up to you with an op-ed? No charge.
Sean – why do you assume that these parents are driving their kids to school out of concern for the kids’ safety? I think a large proportion of the driving is likely due to bus fees combined with realistic safety concerns for some of the schools where many kids lack safe walking routes.
I think it’s time for Newton to do a survey of parents to find out why they are driving their kids to school. People make a lot of assumptions about it, but I have yet to see data.
mgwa, I’m all for more data! It’s hard to write a good survey, even harder to get a statistically-significant number of parents to answer. We did such a survey at Bowen many years ago as part of the Safe Routes program, and I think it was lost during one of the website reorgs. My guess is it’s a combination of all these things and more: safety fears (founded and unfounded), bus fees, convenience, car culture (we’ve had trouble just getting people to pull up in the blue zone — they have to drop their kids off as close to the front door as possible)
I share mgwa’s concern and curiosity. The inexcusable lack of crossing guards and bus fee relief in our Newton Corner neighborhood has “driven” parents to ferry their kids by car across the “circle of death” rather than let them walk it. I walked with my son through 8th grade, much to his chagrin during the later years, but frankly those particular intersections aren’t even the safest for adults.
I would like to see what the city-wide and school-district attitudes are on this.
(and my district is Underwood/Bigelow, btw)
I agree that good surveys are hard to do. In this case, it might be worthwhile to start with a quick Survey Monkey survey that offers several possible reasons for driving (and allow people to choose multiple answers), and asks for school and distance from home, plus provide a space for comments. Even with a low response rate, this could provide a starting point for doing a better survey that would provide a good basis for planning.
Nuride.com could help.
We drove our kids to/from NSHS almost every day. We enjoyed the time in the car bonding with our kids. People like to drive. Others like to bike and walk. Some like all of the above. Make all of it as safe as possible. I’m pretty certain nobody enjoys being preached to about what they should be doing more of.
Charlie – yes, some people like the drive. OTOH, I know plenty of parents who do their bonding at other times and would like to have their kids get to school more independently. Some of them end up driving because they can’t afford the bus and there isn’t a safe walking route for their kids. It’s important to make it practical for those who don’t want to drive their kids (or want to sometimes but not always) to have practical alternatives. My guess is that if bus fees were eliminated and walking routes were made safer, the traffic problems associated with school drop-off/pick-up would be lessened (though not eliminated).