Repaired trails at Cold Spring Park
It is all too easy to fall into a funk in the era of Covid 19. Massachusetts has not yet peaked in the level of infection. We all spend many hours a day sequestered at home all alone or with immediate family. Even when out and about under blue skies, we worry about our safety as we watch a family group approaching on a narrow sidewalk. Paranoia strikes even deeper as we navigate our way through Whole Foods and Walgreens and the post office. Every other customer is a potential vector whose breath may eventually land us in a hospital on a ventilator.
Fortunately, good things are also happening in the Garden City, thanks to the efforts of spirited residents and their representatives. City councilors Alicia Bowman, Andrea Kelley, and Andreae Downs are working with their colleagues to formulate a Safe Streets Initiative to expand public space for pedestrians and cyclists by limiting automobile traffic on certain streets to residents and deliveries. Imagine, for example, Lake Avenue, the glorious road that skirts Crystal Lake from the Highlands to Beacon Street. On a sunny spring day throngs of people on foot or on bike arrive to enjoy vistas of the sparkling lake and emerging spring foliage. Sadly, it sometimes gets too crowded for proper social distancing. At least for the duration of the pandemic, why not curtail the through traffic and turn such streets into malls? That’s what the city councilors will consider doing in the coming days. Creating safe streets might also ease the congestion at popular destinations like the Commonwealth Avenue carriage road and trails through Cold Spring and other parks around town. Here’s hoping that the mayor and the citizens get behind this initiative.
Speaking of Cold Spring Park, here is more good news. Thanks to a partnership between city government and the Friends of Cold Spring Park, work has begun on repairing the park’s badly eroded trails. Although the project will proceed in several stages, already certain stretches of the trail are far safer and less muddy than before. The funding sources were both public and private, a model for future efforts to improve our green spaces and athletic facilities. Local taxes alone will not cover the costs of maintaining our shared assets adequately. Cold Spring Park serves many constituencies, from birders and strollers to dog walkers and soccer players. Its trails get heavy use, especially in the fall when both North and South’s cross country teams hold their home meets there. Keeping those trails safe and well-drained will remain an ongoing challenge. For now, though, things are looking up.
The pedestrian buttons at some of the crosswalks in Brookline are covered with signs that say:
“DON’T PUSH THE BUTTON!
PEDESTRIAN CROSSWALK NOW AUTOMATED
Wait for walk signal before crossing”
…which makes a lot of sense. I wish Newton and Needham would follow Brookline’s example on this.
Also, FWIW Francis Parkman Drive in JP, which DCR has limited to pedestrian traffic only, hasn’t had anybody walking on it the last couple of times I’ve walked past Jamaica Pond (including this afternoon at about 4:30 pm) – there aren’t many people willing to trade a shoreline walk on the path for an asphalt walk on the other side of the trees. The closure of Lake Ave. would likely be more successful though.
Michael, when I was on Francis Parkman Drive last weekend I saw a family playing catch in the street, with ample open space available between them and a handful of pedestrians and a couple of bike riders. But like your experience, most people kept to the trail, in numbers that allowed easy social distancing. So while not a lot different from your experience, this at least gives an indication that people aren’t treating open streets as block parties.
What are the private funding sources for Cold Spring Park?
As I mentioned on another thread, I think this “Safe Streets” initiative is foolish, and will result in attracting more pedestrian traffic to designated areas. I’d love to have one of the City Councilors who have sponsored the initiative explain why this concept is preferable to just reopening our city parks to walkers.
@Mike Striar, Which parks are currently closed to pedestrians? I walked 18 miles yesterday, including through a bunch of parks, and I didn’t encounter pedestrian closures anywhere (although in Cutler Park I did have to jump off the boardwalk into the swamp so a family could pass).
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/parks/default.asp
@Michael– 18 miles? That’s awesome. I’ve always preferred a treadmill, but with the gyms being closed I’ve been doing 4-5 miles a day on the street. I haven’t had a single instance when social distancing was a problem. Maintaining that distance has become almost instinctive. I try to be particularly deferential to seniors. Sometimes I’ll hop into the bike lane to create more space. Other times I cross the road so that the person approaching feels more comfortable. With vehicular traffic at record lows it’s very easy and safe to make those adjustments. From what I have seen, it would be much harder to maintain social distance with more people walking on a designated pedestrian only road. I appreciate you correcting me on the parks now being open to walkers.
@Mike Striar, in the pre-Covid era, my walks were always one-way commuting walks into or out of the city and I mostly stuck to the straight main streets with good sidewalks (Beacon Street through Newton and Brookline, or Washington Street through JP and Roxbury). But these days, as you say the vehicular traffic is extremely light, which opens up some great loop walks on previously stressful or dangerous (for pedestrians) streets.
Yesterday I started in Needham and then walked through Cutler Park, across the (unadvertised but quite safe) railroad bridge over the Charles to Millennium Park, up VFW Parkway (which has great sidewalks), through the Arboretum, around Jamaica Pond, and then along some beautiful but previously quite stressful streets in South Brookline (e.g. Cottage and Warren), back through Newton to Needham.
Like you I’ve never had encountered any problem with social distancing while walking. Particularly, I should say, along streets in the high-rent districts around Robert Kraft’s house, where before I could even react, I had older folks bolt across to the other side of the street literally a split-second after laying eyes on me coming in the opposite direction…although my wife says that was probably because the neighborhood billionaires were a tad uncomfortable seeing some 6’3″ guy striding toward them in an Alexandria ¡Ocasio! Cortez sweatshirt and unironed shorts.
@Mike Striar is correct it is unnecessary to close Lake Ave and doing so will likely achieve the opposite of what the Councilors are trying to achieve. It is easy to walk along the Lake and apply social distancing measures either by crossing the st or walking slightly into the st. There is a minimal amount of cars on the road there now. The speed limit is 15mph in some sections so in normal times generally it is not an area of high traffic or speed but it is even less so now. Closing it off will just attract more walkers to one area rather than spreading them out among many neighborhoods.
I have long felt it is better to have a plan and not use it than not have a plan and be in reactive mode.
This applies to our now-easy-to-speed-on streets, where many of us go to get our half-hour or so of outdoor exercise, since not all of us have a home gym.
The mayor’s main message, which bears repeating here, is “Stay Home.”
But as the weather warms up, homes get uncomfortably hot, and more people want and need to physically distance not just from strangers but from the inside of their homes, we will need a plan to prevent drivers from running down kids and elders who are in the street to maintain distance.
Maybe we will never get there. That would be great. But if we don’t want to be confined to our homes 24/7, and have all streets closed to walking, biking, running, etc., we will need a plan.
What are the private funding sources for the work at Cold Spring Park?
I would like to expand on what Andreae said by looking in the optimistic direction as well. We’ve done pretty well. We’ve reduced our interactions and we’ve eased the potential burden on our hospital system. While we aren’t out of danger yet, we can see some light where before there was only the threat and fear of darkness.
We can start to imagine what happens next and plan for it.
It will be gradual. Restrictions will ease. But life won’t be the same. We’ll be wary of big groups. Many still won’t have jobs. Kids will be at home (whether because school is closed or because of restrictions or fears related to camps, or because of financial pressures at home). We’ll feel jittery about the public inside. Air travel will be considered too risky by many for a while. Face masks will become a fashion item.
All of these things are going to hit sometime fairly soon. We’re about to have a mass staycation in a beautiful New England summer (or fall), with fears abated somewhat but risks remaining or perceived.
Whenever it happens, how can we make that as enjoyable and safe as possible for everyone?
Let’s celebrate our city outdoors; it will remain the safest place. Let’s shut down and slow down streets for safety and enjoyment. Let’s open our parks wide (but probably not our playgrounds right away). Let’s walk and bike and explore our neighborhood and our neighborhoods. Let’s make art, lots of art, for people to enjoy in their passing by (and support our hard-hit artist community).
At some point, this will be a phase of our new reality. Let’s not just tolerate it. Let’s embrace it when we face it. (Funny how words like “embrace” seem strange in a world that’s been socially distanced.)
Let’s remember why we love this place and each other.
@Newtoner – According to the Facebook Group “Friends of Cold Spring Park”, They donated $12,368 to the City for the renovation, to complement $9,000 from Parks & Rec and $20,000 from the location fee from Defending Jacob (which premiers Apr. 24)
@Newtoner – According to the Friends of Cold Spring Parch Facebook Page, they donated $12,368 to the City for the renovation, to complement $9,000 from Parks & Rec and $20,000 from the location fee from Defending Jacob (which premiers Apr. 24)