With all of the election posts, and with the school opening issues in a stagnant (but still unsatisfactory) place, I thought I’d post something a bit different as a change of pace.

As most readers of V14 probably know, the City has used the past year to make many changes to traffic flow and road designs all over, but especially in West Newton and Newtonville.  In Newtonville some of this has been a part of the planning for new developments now complete or close, Trio and the new apartments at 28 Austin St.

Some observations:

  • It will be interesting to see how the new CVS does now that it’s in the Trio development and not located in Newtonville proper (Walnut St. below the turnpike). It’s a longer walk for High Schoolers and HS staff.  Open campus is a business opportunity!  Also, the empty storefront of the old CVS location on Walnut Street adds to the depression-like feel in Newtonville.  How many empty store fronts are there?  At least 7….
  • Has anyone actually tried walking to Trio/CVS/The Barn crossing Washington at Walnut St. or Lowell Ave. near the post office? There are long waits for a walk light, the actual walk light timing is pretty fast…I’m a speedy walker, but I get warned about time being close to up when I’m only half way across a fairly wide Washington St.  Finally, with the placement of the crossing lights and crosswalks people turning right on red can easily miss a pedestrian about to cross…this happened to me. The driver was aggressive but behind me and 10-20 feet to my left.  I got the walk light, but here comes the car barreling right at me….and this was a Sunday, not when kids are walking to/from NNHS or other nearby schools.
  • Traffic calming measures – When you turn right from Walnut onto Austin at the supermarket there’s a right turn lane. There’s even an arrow painted onto the street as an indicator.  Yet, just as you get to Austin and the faded crosswalk, there’s a newly added jut into the roadway effectively taking ½ the lane away…and forcing a car to veer left into the other lane before turning right.  Was this intended?  Eventually this has to cause an accident.
  • Finally, Newtonville is a disaster for pedestrians trying to cross Walnut St. Even where there are crosswalks the paint is badly faded.  Sure, the construction isn’t done, the new lanes and crosswalks aren’t final, but can’t we just put down some white paint, or, some barrels that indicate a crossing?  I’ve even written to the City email box for citizen comments about the Newtonville improvement project, but never received a reply.

Maybe I’m just whining, but it just seems that we could and should do better.  I wonder if our City officials are managing by walking around?  They could learn a lot!  I think this is highly relevant for our City Councilor elections, our non-race for Mayor, the police, and any senior City administrators.  It’s really about Newton’s quality of life, what we claim, and the sometimes different reality.