Brookline town officials are considering a temporary expansion of public sidewalks and public ways to meet the requirement to maintain social and physical distance and the increase in pedestrians and cyclists.
Read more here.
How about it Newton?
Brookline To Open Its Streets – Will Newton Be Next?
by Amy Sangiolo | Apr 9, 2020 | Newton | 47 comments
keep your eyes out for a docket item coming soon to close off some streets in Newton for pedestrians and bikes! Several of us are working on this right now.
I would suggest Lake Ave around Crystal Lake. Last week end it was swamped with walkers and bikers
Thank you Councilor Kelley for your work on this. In Auburndale we’ve already had to walk in the street on Woodland Rd. to maintain distance from pedestrians on both sidewalks. Fortunately there were no cars at the time.
To avoid a block-party atmosphere that encourages crowding in one or few centralized locations, Newton should simultaneously launch open streets in multiple villages and encourage residents to keep moving with good physical distancing. Denver’s open streets recently show this can work well.
Resident & delivery vehicles should be allowed, at reduced speeds, and of course emergency vehicles.
Docketed yesterday with Councilors Albright, Auchincloss, Bowman, Kelley, Krintzman and Leary.
Send us suggestions of which streets to include!
It seems like a bad idea to me. Why would the City Council want to do something that brings more people to the same street[s]? I’ve been walking nearly every day for the past 3+ weeks. Sometimes I walk into the street to maintain social distancing. But that hasn’t been an issue even on the busiest streets since vehicular traffic is way down. It’s other walkers and bikers that pose the bigger health threat right now, not cars. If you want to give people more space to walk then reopen the parks.
Sounds like a great idea to me. If a street is officially closed to all traffic than the entire width of the roadway effectively becomes a sidewalk- able to safely handle far more walkers with far more spacing between them.
The reason Lake Street makes sense is that there has been a renaissance of family fishing on Crystal Lake, which is fabulous. But with the lower paths filled with fisherpeople, we need room for people to spread out and avoid the fishing lines and hooks>
What a cool problem to have
A solution looking for a problem.
Why create magnet streets for crowds?
Cautiously spreading out is not an issue on most streets, they are very QUIET.
This just encourages social gathering. Nice idea but wrong headed.
How about one-way around Crystal Lake?
Make Waban Ave one way also around the aqueduct, or even close it?
Close more streets please. Thank you Councillors!
Someone has to step up and start a new dialogue, so here I go:
It seems that with 24/7 news each politician is seeking to see what the next shutdown and closure should be, what we actually need to see now are plans to get the business of everyday life back up and running!!!
The science and medical world have been able to accumulate a lot of unprecedented data over the past 2 months and its time to use this data and move back to a more normal daily life. The annual flu claims many lives and disrupts families, and unfortunately over the years we’ve accepted this annual event without batting an eye.
Common sense actions that we’ve been lax on are: washing hands, don’t go out in public while sick, avoid the elderly if colds and flues are going around, in large groups avoid those who do appear ill. This new found awareness will enable society to manage without shutting everyone down.
The destruction of jobs, and then families will ultimately prove to be the biggest victim of the corona virus.
Interestingly, there have been no government layoffs, so governmental leaders don’t feel the pain, that they are inflicting on society. Moving dates don’t work, you cannot plan on them, and you cannot lead with this uncertainty. Doomsday models aren’t panning out and places like Washington, the state, are demobilizing.
Lets see a docket item that appoints a City Wide committee to reopen parks, establish construction guidelines, puts office workers back in the office.
Leadership leads!!!
Jim, some good ideas but while we are still in the midst of trying to flatten the curve to slow down this epidemic and don’t even know when we will reach the peak, planning “to get the business of everyday life back up and running!!!” now would be an exercise in futility.
The medical world and research scientists are studying just about every facet of this new virus but none of them have received enough data at this point to predict an end point or even a peak with any certainty. Less than 1% of the population has been tested so it’s impossible to know who is and is not infected and we are still short on medical supplies, including test kits. Until a much larger percent has been tested, there is no way to make predictions.
Research Scientists at Stanford and other facilities are studying the genome of the virus and while they have found that mostly it’s still the same makeup, they have discovered some mutations which just complicates devising a vaccine or any antiviral treatment. In addition new cases are popping up in places that thought it had been eradicated.
The CVS rapid test site set up in Salem, restricted in use, is a help but uses a type of test that isn’t conclusive because it doesn’t use genetics.
This virus is nothing like any strain of the flu except for some testing positive having overlapping symptoms and since it is a new disease no one, except those who have survived, has any immunity. (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19 is a new condition, and scientists are learning more every day about what it can do to your lungs. They believe that the effects on your body are similar to those of two other coronavirus diseases, SARS and MERS.
The Coronavirus latches its spiky surface proteins to receptors on healthy cells, especially those in your lungs.
Specifically, the viral proteins bust into cells through ACE2 receptors. Once inside, the coronavirus hijacks healthy cells and takes command. Eventually, it kills some of the healthy cells. It damages both the wall and lining cells of the alveolus as well as the capillaries. The debris that accumulates because of all of that damage lines the wall of the alveoli, the tiny air sacs in the lungs that allow for the rapid gaseous exchange. The damage to capillaries also causes them to leak plasma proteins that add to the wall’s thickness. Eventually, the wall of the alveolus gets thicker than it should be. The thicker this wall gets, the harder it is to transfer oxygen.
@James Côté, thanks for having the courage to start this bold new dialogue. I happen to agree. There are a lot of impatient individuals such as myself who are raring to get back to the office, but we’re extremely nervous and uncertain about the safety of doing so. And so what we need are leaders like you, who would be willing to start congregating/socializing/working/playing in large groups, in order to provide us with a more reliable “real-world community spread” dataset of mortality rates. You might not be able to get away with such a social experiment in this politically-correct neck of the woods, but maybe it could be done with other like-minded individuals somewhere up in New Hampshire? It’s time for the fearless toughies of the world to lead by example so the rest of us can get back to generating capital.
Michael, sure people are “raring to get back” to everyday life but it’s not just in this “politically correct neck of the woods,” that people would intentionally put others in danger to gather data. That’s just nuts.
I don’t see any connection between being politically correct, whatever that means to you, and the social experiment you suggest. It’s interesting that you don’t include yourself in the large gatherings to garner more real world data – you want others do that for you.
@Michael: You started off well, and then went into a bunker mentality, but you are funny. Sooner or later we do have to move forward and that is the dialogue we must start. Given this logic car accidents are down at the moment, so lets continue to ban autos and we won’t have accidents.
P.S. In the early years of my Marine Corps career the only test we had for poison gas in our area of operations was to have someone take off their mask. Fortunately, we’ve come a long way since then, and we can use data and safe practices to move on.
Jim – I agree. I wish we were more like Sweden. Time will tell if we’re right or just insensitive blockheads.
Mass DCR is opening 3 street segments this weekend: William Day Blvd in South Boston next to the waterfront; Francis Parkman Drive next to Jamaica Pond; and Greenough Blvd next to the Charles River. These were smart choices. The open streets will function more as expanded mobility corridors than places that encourage congregating.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-state-parks-covid-19-update
Could those three streets be any whiter?
Sure, the MDC was designed to cater to the transportation, recreation, and security needs of whites, and the DCR’s assets reflect that. But it would still be nice if just once, the boneheaded Baker-Polito administration were to at least pretend to care about the well-being of Blacks and Hispanics.
About ‘raring to get back’: yesterday, Indians living 100kms away saw the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years.
Are we going to have polluting plants open back as usual and go back to polluting? Is n’t this a time to modify plants? People used to say: you cannot radically stop all pollution; cannot be done. Well, it is being done. let’s take advantage of this industrial halt and plan for a less polluted future.
(maybe this should be a new thread? although related to the absence of cars).
@Marti Bowen:
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/816a3987-86a5-4543-8e77-4e4f32830fa3
Michael, got it. Thanks.
I share Jim’s urgent concern about the need to return to a functional vibrant economy. But we should do it in a safe way that pivots from this pandemic to a cleaner, healthier, more resilient economy than the one that just exposed us as social sitting ducks.
So, instead of rushing to bring styrofoam back (unless the city did a needs assessment before deciding?) the city and state should partner with local bike shops like Harris Cyclery on discounted group purchases of e-bikes, e-trikes and other clean low speed mobility options for residents.
Instead of the immediate lifting of parking restrictions for a supposed glut of new cars coming into Newton, unrestricted street parking spots should be designated for disabled drivers while empty school parking lots should be repurposed for the imagined glut of new cars.
Our local decisions either help support or defy incredibly retrograde decisions like using our federal taxpayer dollars to refill the strategic oil reserve as oil demand plummets. Let’s move forward as we emerge from this crisis rather than double down on business-as-usual and the status quo.
Nathan, I agree with Bugek’s reply to your suggestion. While theoretically I see the end of this epidemic as an opportunity to move forward to a less polluted tomorrow, practically I don’t think your many of your ideas are feasible as many folks struggle to find work and try to get back on their feet – including small business owners.
Right now the future is uncertain, health wise, economically, globally, politically and socially so there’s a possibility that “as we emerge from this crisis” we may never get back to “business as usual and the status quo,” but instead some new kind of normal.
Just to pick on one part of your comment, many folks who are not legally disabled cannot walk far or ride one of the modes of transportation you mention and teachers who come from all over to work here need places to park.
Those of us who can work from home (office work, education, etc) may find it difficult to relate to retail business owners stuggles.
Now is not the time kick them while they are down by introducing any extra costs or burdens. Ie reducing the number of customers who can drive to their store, forcing them to buy more expensive and earth friendly products..
Do all of this 12 months from now when they have found their feet…
Any store owners who have gone bankrupt when the lockdown is lifted need all the “help” they need to get up and running. Adding restrictions is not “help”..
Remember, put yourself in their shoes. They never had the luxury to work from home and get still get paid
I seem to have lost track of what I thought was the initial “goal” of this proposal, i.e. to open a small number of roadways to pedestrian traffic for the duration of the Corona Virus shutdown here. And I thought the initial “objective” of this proposal was to allow a goodly number of pedestrians to walk on these roadways and sidewalks with sufficient width to keep at least 6 feet from each other. I supported it because foot traffic is now so heavy on almost all the state and municipal nature trails in this area that I’ve come perilously close to having people bump into me who weren’t looking where they were going. The same is increasingly true on many sidewalks as people start looking for constructive ways to get out of their houses. Walking and hiking are two of the very few out of the house options we still have, but there are still quite a few residents who seem oblivious to the fact that they are sharing these walking areas with others. So moves to expand pedestrian access to some roadways for the duration of this pandemic seems to make imminent sense because there are so few vehicles on the road. If have no idea what should happen after things return to “normal” and the cars come back, but I do know that today and for many days to follow adding more access for pedestrians and hikers seems to be a ten strike. One day at a time. Yesterday’s history; tomorrow’s a mystery.
Bob, yes this post has deviated from its original purpose which is usually not business as usual but since the reactions to opening some streets to only bikers and walkers is ongoing, the subject of how and what it means to get back to business as usual – or not – has become an interesting speculative topic. Even though as you say for today we need to continue to get through this epidemic and continue following guidelines, “one day at a time. Yesterday’s history; tomorrow’s a mystery.”
Yikes! I usually agree with Nathan. But it sounds like he’s interested in transforming economic structure rather than simply reopening the economy for business at the appropriate time. I think that would be a huge mistake and put tremendous undue burdens on small businesses fighting for survival.
As I mentioned above, I’m also opposed to creating walkways that will attract more people to certain streets. At this time we should be focused on diffusing pedestrian traffic, not bringing walkers and bikers in even closer proximity to one another. I understand the pursuit of silver linings. But let’s not inadvertently stumble into making today’s situation even worse than it already is.
I was walking on Lake Ave today and see the benefit of providing more space for physical distancing but not sure closing the streets will accomplish the desired outcome, rather creating new parks. Most people seem to honor distance, with some oblivious to approaching walkers. Closing streets may concentrate the folks that have little regard for others making a larger problem.
The situation here seems different from Brookline–where there are more dense commercial areas and where the population density is also greater because of many more apartment buildings. (I could see why Harvard Avenue around Coolidge Corner could be a problem, for instance.) In Newton, even in our village centers, I don’t see that people have a problem avoiding one another as they walk on the sidewalks. And outside of the village centers, people easily step into the (now almost traffic free) streets.
Marti, I know not everyone can walk, ride a bike, an e-bike, trike, pod car, or use a scooter. But some who can & would like to have those choices (like kids under the driving age), open up space for those who have difficulty. Moreover, safe mobility lanes also serve handicapped motorized wheelchair users in some cases better than sidewalks, as I have observed on the separated mobility lane on Mass Ave near Boylston St.
And of course the oft-used “not everyone can” applies to owning and driving cars too. Let’s all work together toward better mobility choices for all.
Nathan, my reply was disagreeing with the part of your earlier comment that called for “unrestricted street parking spots should [being] designated for disabled drivers while empty school parking lots should be repurposed for the imagined glut of new cars.”
Instead of taking my comment at face value, you extrapolated what I said into a general statement against mobility lanes and used it as an example of saying “not everyone can” as reason not to have other modes of transportation. Please don’t don’t do that.
Michael – you clearly haven’t been to Carson Beach / the Sugar Bowl / Castle Island in a long time – if ever.
I am happy to say it it one of the most diverse places in the state.
You swung and missed on Jamaica Pond too.
@Peter Kay – Impressive heat; you’re a genuine Nolan Ryan. Why not chalk up the K with a third spitball about Greenough Blvd.?
Alas I think you might need an arrow in your cap pointing to homeplate, because Carson Beach is over a mile away from Farragut Rd., which is the western end of the Day Blvd. closure.
But please enlighten my ignorant self, and the Census Bureau too, with your insights into the east side of South Boston (and apparently the JP/Brookline border, too) being one of the most diverse places in the state! Especially during these days of lockdown.
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/City-Point-Boston-MA.html
PS Peter, please also check out the diversity of the people standing in line at that famous Boston multicultural institution, Sully’s.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2017/02/23/with-sully-opening-zoo-castle-island-today/rK2jENP0kFtivwpfsQz1gM/story.html
https://www.bostonherald.com/2017/02/24/flynn-hot-dog-castle-island-fave-is-back/
Good Morning Michael.
If you think that only people from the Point go to Castle Island then you truly know nothing about the place. That hasn’t been true since the ’80s.
The integration of Old Colony, Mary Ellen McCormack and D St. has Southie a better place.
Thinking that the census will tell you who enjoys a public space is, in fact, ignorant. By your logic it must be all white people at places like Piers Park, Dowtown Crossing and the Galleria.
And no whites must play golf at William Devine.
You will see more women wearing the hijab during a walk around Fort Independence than you will see in an entire year in Newton.
And I go to Jamaica Pond during my lunch break at least twice a week – and I am happy to tell you that even during this time of clockwise circulation, there is a multiracial panoply of people.
The sad part is that we are probably aligned on the issue of race in the state and the world.
Thanks Peter, you’re right that we’re probably on the same page but we obviously have radically different perceptions about the success of racial and socioeconomic integration in Massachusetts.
Most weeks I walk an average of 40-50 miles, much of it in the city, and given my observations I’m certainly not as sanguine as you about visible minorities being comfortably welcomed in Boston’s neighborhoods and public spaces. For 20 summers from high school onward, after work and on the weekends I sold coca-cola and hot dogs in the stands of Fenway Park*and the Red Sox’ continued inability to provide any semblance of a comfortable environment to visible minorities is a pretty solid indicator of how mired this city is in its backward, racist past and how little progress we’ve ever really made – see also the Globe’s excellent Spotlight series: https://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/boston-racism-image-reality/series/sports/
All this to get back to my original point that as usual, the shameless corporate hacks who populate the Baker-Polito administration have done just about zilch to address the racial disparity of this (or any) crisis. Mr. “Data-driven” and his reformed-bigot lieutenant from Lake Quinsigamond don’t even know how many Blacks and Hispanics have died from COVID-19. How is that in any way excusable? https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/08/nation/state-releases-sparse-coronavirus-race-ethnicity-data-making-viruss-impact-hard-assess/
Unverifiable anecdotes notwithstanding, Jamaica Pond, Castle Island, or Greenough Blvd. are simply not recreational destinations for the residents of Roxbury, Mattapan, East Boston, or Chelsea, so it would be nice to see the state pay just a smidgen more attention to the physical, economic, and mental well-being of those neighborhoods, in addition to their noble goal of expanding pedestrian bandwidth for the reliable Baker-Polito demographic of speedwalkers and dogwalkers arriving in SUVs.
* Big shout out to V14’er @Paul Levy, whom I always greeted in the BIDMC box, although I admittedly wasn’t up-to-speed the first time I recognized him and asked, “Aren’t you the head of the MWRA?”
Thanks, Michael. I think the BIDMC board figured that if I could clean up the Harbor, I could help save an almost bankrupt academic medical center! Seriously, what a privilege to work in both places: Such well intentioned, committed people–as we’re all witnessing again today.
And I hope you noticed that once we became the official hospital of the Red Sox, they won the World Series. First known case of a hospital curing a curse!
Michael, your original “point” was that Day Boulevard and Jamaica Pond were overwhelmingly utilized by white folks. That is patently false.
It only erodes your credibility to keep insisting otherwise.
And it most certainly IS verifiable.
@Peter Kay, I’m not sure why I’m bothering to engage you, since you’re obviously one of those people who think they’ve won the Internet debate by always being the last to post a comment, but:
I’ve provided a link to concrete data depicting City Point as one of the absolute whitest neighborhoods in all of Boston, ninety-five percent white and zero point-two percent African-American. The only direct public transit connectivity to the neighborhood is bus service to downtown and the Back Bay, and it would take a full hour for someone to travel from Dudley Square to Castle Island via the T.
Yet you’re telling me that based exclusively on your observations and nothing else, the recreational area that this whitest of neighborhoods surrounds nevertheless manages to consistently transform itself into “one of the most diverse places in the state,” even during lockdown. That statement beggars belief, but it may have something to do with your confusion over the area’s geography (which you’ve lumped together with Carson Beach, more than a mile away from the actual road closure).
I presume you don’t have a subscription to the Globe or the Herald so you’re not able to scroll through the links to a dozen or so pictures of opening day at Sullivan’s on Castle Island, but the TL;DR is that it’s a sea of hundreds of white people with nary a visible minority anywhere to be seen.
Meanwhile, aside from repeating “you’re wrong, you’re wrong” the only “evidence” you offer is your anecdote that you once saw some hijabs at Castle Island and you supposedly encounter a “multiracial panoply of people” during your lunchtime walks around Jamaica Pond.
I’m not sure what you’re point is – evidently you believe that Boston has successfully achieved racial and socioeconomic integration and everything’s swell, but for the record, yes, my original point was:
Anyway, ain’t I the sucker for writing this, and I look forward to yet another one of your stimulating “I’m right and you’re wrong” replies.
Michael, re: your point that “the MDC was designed to cater to the transportation, recreation, and security needs of whites.” Spending for MDC public facilities like swimming pools, skating rinks, and the like has always been determined by the Legislature and reflects the constituencies of those in leadership positions. If you look at most existing facilities, i.e., the ones built after WWII, you can see where those folks were from. As you note, they were not from many of the inner city, minority areas.
BTW, that same political leadership refused to fund construction and maintenance of the MDCs water and sewer services, leading to their gradual deterioration. When I joined the MDC’s successor agency, the MWRA, in 1987, the AVERAGE age of our large water and sewer pipes was over 80 years; the Deer Island treatment plant regularly caught fire from oil being expelled from pumps through their exhausts onto the roof of the plant, and there was a six- to eight-foot deep layer of black, mayonnaise-like sludge at the bottom of Harbor.
Oh Michael, you sound like a sad person. Instead of taking my word for it, which you clearly don’t, why not see for yourself? Stop googling bus schedules and census tracts and start experiencing reality. Don’t worry – Jimmy B. and his goons aren’t there anymore.
For a guy who walks 40-50 miles each week, much of it “in the city,” it shouldn’t be too hard for you to do the beach. Go out to the McCorkle fishing pier where Vietnamese men and women fish – every single day – rain or shine. Reach up and try to touch the landing jets. See which harbor islands you can identify. Enjoy the panoply.
I have been there 100+ of times Michael; not just one time as you bitterly wrote.
And I don’t want or expect an apology. It will be enough for me to know that I helped you open your eyes a bit.
@Peter Kay and @Michael – Please just stop
I don’t think it is necessary to close the streets around Crystal Lake or elsewhere in Newton as we are not as dense as Brookline. Walking around the Lake it has been pretty easy to switch sides of the road when encountering others. I noticed driving through there this morning the people walking in the streets are typically adults walking witch their friends where one person is on the sidewalk and their friend is in the st.
The weather has started to warm, and my main objective in planning for a possible summer of pandemic by looking at ways to help people get outside without getting exposed or getting hit by a car remains.
If we don’t plan for the future we want, we will get up an unplanned future, or the opposite of we want—That is, all parks and streets closed to all non-essential movement.
@Andrea– It’s fine to “plan,” but far more important to plan well. At this time it is very difficult to imagine a proposal that would attract more walkers to a designated location as either good or smart. Did the Health Department sign-off on the proposal?
Epidemiologist and infectious disease expert Prof. Marc Lipsitch says “Keep parks open. The benefits of fresh air outweigh the risks of infection.” The same is true for open streets, if done thoughtfully.
https://twitter.com/mlipsitch/status/1249794738586300421?s=20
There is nothing in Prof. Lipsitch’s piece about streets. On what basis can one extrapolate from the article which focusses on spaces that are open in all directions to streets which are decidedly, geometrically anisotropic? Mr. Phillips may not be wrong, but his unsubstantiated assertion that streets-follow-from-parks does a disservice to (a) those who are legitimately concerned that this is not the case and (b) those who can more rigorously show that this is.
OK, I’ll admit my ignorance. I had to look up anisotropic: “(of an object or substance) having a physical property that has a different value when measured in different directions. A simple example is wood, which is stronger along the grain than across it.”