Putting on my bike advocacy hat as a member of the steering committee for Bike Newton, and not having heard any major objections from the V14 blogger braintrust, I here announce, to our knowledge, Newton’s first ever virtual Aldermanic candidate’s forum, on Transportation Sustainability in Newton, to commence later today and run right up to election day.
This idea came to the Bike Newton Steering Committee when it proved almost impossible to herd all 15 aldermanic candidate cats into an available venue on a single date and time. Thus was hatched plan B described here, to be executed in a follow-on blog post. For now, the background:
First, we’ll provide some context for this forum in terms of transportation issues facing Newton. Next we’ll lay out the ground rules for this forum and how we’ve communicated them to aldermanic candidates in contested races. Finally, in a follow-up we’ll post the questions and an invitation for candidates to respond.
Context: Newton has the dubious distinction of being the top-ranked city in the Commonwealth, with a population greater than 50,000, of automobile ownership (Taunton is a close 2nd). Newton leads the Commonwealth with 1.7 motor vehicles per household and six tenths of a car per person. Newton has more cars per square mile than Los Angeles, by far (2,982 cars/mi^2 vs 2,161 cars/mi^2 in LA). 1.9 million miles a day are driven in Newton. The transportation sector in the Commonwealth is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and makes up nearly a third of Newton’s estimated emissions. For brevity, I won’t go into the costs of lost time due to congestion and the respiratory health issues.
Newton doesn’t have the luxury to punt on transportation sustainability issues, with ongoing and planned intersection reconstructions and projects like Austin Street pending. Choices have to be made, and these choices either encourage more traffic volume, or choices of transportation alternatives.
How do we move the dial on transportation sustainability in Newton? What role does non-motorized transportation play, and what are Newton’s challenges and opportunities to grow a more sustainable transportation system? These are the key questions to which we want to hear responses from our Aldermanic candidates in contested races.
To prepare candidates in contested Aldermanic races, we attempted to email or otherwise reach all 15 candidates in the various contested wards. We were able to arrange face-to-face meetings or have phone calls with seven. Some of the other candidates did not respond, or responded quickly and repeatedly, but were unable to meet with us, in some cases because of our schedules, not theirs. This has to made clear from the start because candidates who respond to our questions will do so having varying degrees of mental preparation which may not reflect their level of interest or engagement. They are of course free to make that clear.
Ground Rules: The blog post you are reading now is open for comments by anyone. However, in a follow-up blog post, three questions will be put specifically and only to candidates in contested races for Alderman. These questions originated with and were vetted by the Bike Newton Steering Committee. None of the candidates have been given the questions yet, although we have emphasized a theme of Complete Streets to those with whom we talked. We ask that only aldermanic candidates in contested races respond to the questions. After election day, we’ll open the blog post up for reflections/reactions/responses by the community at large.
Some candidates felt comfortable responding directly to the V14 blog; some didn’t. Some felt that they simply have run out of time to respond and asked if they could simply share general perspectives over the phone. We’ve tried to accommodate the variety of comfort levels and schedules by offering to post responses on behalf of candidates if they prefer that approach over blogging directly. I plan to post perspectives of two candidates based on their perspectives shared from our phone conversations. They may follow up with blog clarifications/expansions, or not. Other candidates are free to take me up on the offer to talk and have me write up and post responses over the weekend and through Monday, by emailing me at [email protected].
Unlike this blog post, we encourage brevity, and a response to even one or two of the three questions is infinitely better than no response. Thank you to all the candidates for the considerable time and effort they are spending to improve Newton and its transportation sustainability!
This is a great idea and a great topic. We should continue to think about how best to become a walkable and bikeable city. And those motor vehicle statistics are eyepopping!
Game on.
A special note: the only transportation issue we’re expecting Alderman Yates to be considering is his expeditious route back home on his way to a full recovery. He gets a full pass on this forum and our best wishes.
Wow, some of the “facts” on the follow up thread [for candidates only] seem incredibly misleading…
“1.9 million vehicle miles are driven each day in Newton…” What percentage is through-traffic on Routes 90 and 95?
“Newton has more cars per square mile than Los Angeles…” Most two-car driveways have more cars per square mile than Los Angeles, if you project out the math.
Hey, anyone is free to ask candidates any questions they want. But these misleading statements don’t help the cause, as they are purely driven [pun intended] by an anti automobile agenda.
In my view, it is too close to the election to expect, or get, much response to these questions. And it’s such a narrow topic that I’d be worried folks would make decisions on this one issue.
We don’t need one issue candidates. The aldermanic job is so much broader.
Dan. The point of this is to hear the candidates speak on sustainable transportation as it is not a topic we have heard them speak on in other forums.
Mike yes I do believe that part of those 1.9 million miles driven in newton are through traffic. But it doesn’t mean Newton can’t be part of the solution of reducing miles driven in our city by people passing through. Supporting more public transportation, connecting bike paths carpooling and providing more housing so people can live nearer where they are going. Add that to efforts we should be making to reduce driving over all. How many trips are people making that are under a mile that could be walked? How many that are a few miles that could be biked? we could get more people walking and biking these small distances with some relatively inexpensive investments in sidewalks and paths and safer crossings. NYC has seen these types of improvements not only increase walking and biking, but improve vehicle trip time and increase retail sales in neighborhoods where improvements have been made.
There is a move afoot to be building capacity for parking in village centers. A new parking garage in Newton Center. A good idea? One one with perhaps some unintended consequences. What’s to prevent folks from outside Newton ( Needham for example ) , from driving into the city crowding our roadways even more than they might be, to park in that garage and jumping on the train to work every day ? These “parking solutions” could be the genesis of even greater traffic and parking dilemmas.
Herein is nothing more than campaign hype for the Austin Street project, manufactured under the guise of so called smart transportation gurus. Complete Streets falls short of recognizing just that, and seriously overlooks minority efficient transportation such as motorcycles, motor scooters, and mopeds. In that regard, Newton culture ignores these minorities, pretending they don’t exist in an effort to protect especially the youth from ever exploring environmentally space-saving efficient alternative transportation. Welcome to Newton, put on your helmet, fasten your seat belt, shovel someone else’s sidewalk, stay within the marked roadway lanes of invincibility, and always trust that government knows what’s best for you..
Posting this on behalf of Alex Blumenstiel (moving it here from the virtual forum posting, which is reserve for aldermanic candidate comments):
A crew of landscapers with three or four leaf blowers blasted leaves and dirt into the street and at me as I was riding my bike on Waban Ave. this afternoon. Their dump truck and trailer were parked facing the wrong way across the street from the property they were on, blocking the lane, so there was no way to safely avoid them, other than to turn around and take another route. Obviously, this hardly encourages bicycling in Newton.
Posting this on behalf of BlueprintBill (moving it from the virtual forum posting which is reserved for aldermanic candidates):
Surprise surprise I find myself in almost complete agreement with Alderman Lipof. As a diehard cyclist myself I feel compelled to add my 2cents worth here. I ride on Newtons streets as little as possible. The traffic in the city is not conducive to safe riding and is getting worse almost daily due to the increasing density we are being subjected to. People on cell phones , drivers distracted by kids in cars, texting, etc etc add even further dangers.
Holland and Denmark have become the epitome for ideal cycling primarily because of their dead flat geography. Given that advantage, there is has been great public incentive accommodate cyclists allowing people to pedal to work or almost any place else. Because of the great numbers of participants on two wheels, separate bike lanes divided physically with curbing from vehicular traffic have been created and rules of the road insuring cyclist traffic have been instituted to insure cyclist safety. You very rarely see helmets being worn it is so safe riding. This will never happen in MA . The only thing paralleling this is our ability to ride on our sidewalks which I do as much as possible given the handy curbcuts at every intersection. Arrest me ! But I’ll not engage with auto traffic in this environment.
Not to get bogged down in the details, but in Ward 2, an interesting example of complete streets has come up. Ald. Albright has it right, and I hope Ald. Johnson follows her lead. We should work to make all routes safe for bicycles. In Newtonville, bicycle riders will want to (and are entitled to) use Walnut Street to access the village center. Engineering changes have already made it safer, and much can be done to make the village center both bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly if that wasted space in the middle of the road is eliminated. This all makes for a safer, more vibrant village. A bicycle detour around Lowell was not the answer, and a bicycle route over the new pedestrian bumpout would have created conflict for both peds and cyclists.
I agree that all streets (including Lowell) should be made safe for bikes, pedestrians and cars. As someone who has biked both Walnut and Lowell frequently (Lowell less so before repaving), I don’t have a problem with the bumpouts. It is safer to make the cyclist be in the road in that sort of situation if it means the pedestrian is more visible. That’s my experience riding, at least.
If doing this means going one block or neighborhood or project at a time, so be it. But the more cyclists (or walkers) there are, the safer they are in numbers. And the more awareness there is of where people are allowed to ride or walk, and the rules all parties need to follow, the safer everyone will be.
And please don’t ride on sidewalks (unless completely necessary for safety). That’s really dangerous.