R
rikahlberg
Guest
A couple of weeks ago at the dedication of a clock in JP Center, Mayor Menino announced that city would start a planning process to redeign Centre Street and South Street from Jackson Square to Forest Hills.
The first meeting of this effort took place last week at the Curley School in JP, and it was not so much a meeting as a workshop. There was lots of talk of "vision" for the street, but little discussion of what that vision could be. A number of people spoke up and said they'd like to see the street reclaimed for local users. And a clear theme throughout was to reprioritize the street for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit before cars.
From what I gathered, the "urban mechanic" approach will probably prevail: fix the sidewalks and dress them up with some brick edging, add curb bulbs where possible to shorten crossings, install a few of thoe "Big Belly" compacting trash cans, plant new trees at regular intervals, install acorn lamps, add some street furniture (benches, bike racks), and add some directional signage for the business districts.
Things I'd like to see that probably will never come to pass:
- a bike like or at least sharrows in the road
- parking meters
- historic markers and panels interpreting the 350-year history of Centre Street
- raised crossings at major pedestrian intersections
- removal of overhead traffic signals (put them all on the side)
- add some mid-block crossings (at Blessed Sacrament Church, at Sheridan Street
- install shelters at all of the #39 bus stops
- Add the #39 bus route to the MBTA system map and rechristen it the Arborway Line with a leafy Emerald Necklace color scheme.
It's fun to dream about improvements, but I expect we'll get fixed sidewalks and new lighting and not much else in the end.
The first meeting of this effort took place last week at the Curley School in JP, and it was not so much a meeting as a workshop. There was lots of talk of "vision" for the street, but little discussion of what that vision could be. A number of people spoke up and said they'd like to see the street reclaimed for local users. And a clear theme throughout was to reprioritize the street for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit before cars.
From what I gathered, the "urban mechanic" approach will probably prevail: fix the sidewalks and dress them up with some brick edging, add curb bulbs where possible to shorten crossings, install a few of thoe "Big Belly" compacting trash cans, plant new trees at regular intervals, install acorn lamps, add some street furniture (benches, bike racks), and add some directional signage for the business districts.
Things I'd like to see that probably will never come to pass:
- a bike like or at least sharrows in the road
- parking meters
- historic markers and panels interpreting the 350-year history of Centre Street
- raised crossings at major pedestrian intersections
- removal of overhead traffic signals (put them all on the side)
- add some mid-block crossings (at Blessed Sacrament Church, at Sheridan Street
- install shelters at all of the #39 bus stops
- Add the #39 bus route to the MBTA system map and rechristen it the Arborway Line with a leafy Emerald Necklace color scheme.
It's fun to dream about improvements, but I expect we'll get fixed sidewalks and new lighting and not much else in the end.
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