Wednesday Sept 14, 6PM: Memorial Drive Online Meeting
As a reminder, the state’s Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) is holding meetings to discuss whether or not they should continue to close Memorial Drive to motor vehicles on Saturdays, so it can be used as a park. However, the in-person session scheduled for Sept 13, has been canceled due to forecasted thunderstorms.
Instead, please attend the online community meeting on Wednesday, September 14, 6-7:30 PM, and tell DCR you want Saturday and Sunday access for walking, biking, rolling, and other park activities to continue. Learn more and join the meeting here. The meeting will start with a short presentation and then go on to public comment.
You can also email your support for the Saturday park conversion to Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Communications Manager Elise Harmon-Freeman at eharmonfreeman@cambridgema.gov, who will pass it on to DCR and the Cambridge City Council.
Note: “closed”, “closure”, “open”, “access”, and similar words may be ambiguous, since they can refer to both pedestrians and motor vehicles. Make sure you’re clear in your public comment that you want Memorial Drive to continue as a park on the whole weekend, both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday Sept 17, 10AM: Rally for safe streets in Somerville
On August 12, Somerville lost another community member to traffic violence, when Stephen Conley, age 72, died after being doored while biking.
On Saturday, September 17 at 10am, our friends at Somerville Bicycle Safety and other organizations are holding a rally at Seven Hills Park to demand action now. They are calling on the Mayor and City Council to pass a Safe Streets Ordinance immediately.
Looking ahead to next week…
Tuesday Sept 20, 6PM: Garden St., virtual meeting
The city will be holding an online meeting to discuss their final Garden St. protected bike lane project design. Based on community feedback, they have chosen to turn Garden St. into a one-way street on the project stretch (option 3 from the previous meeting), which both allows more consistent bike infrastructure, and keeps more parking. More details about the meeting here.
Thursday Sept 22, 5PM: Garden St., in-person meeting, Garden and Concord Ave.
This will cover the same material as the online meeting, but allows in-person interactions with city staff. More details here.
Brattle St. moves forward: Last week the Historical Commission gave a 3-year approval to the first part of the Brattle St. bike lane project, from Mason St. to Sparks St.. The city will start implementation at some point in the fall.