[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Rusty, this is our first one, so I apologize, but it is recording now, so.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, I just turned it on. My apologies, it just suddenly occurred to me and I just wanted to apologize for that, but get it going.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So commissioners, I don't know if you'd like to speak on this or if you'd like to, there's a couple of people with their hands raised to speak on this matter. I don't know if you'd like to go to them first and then speak or if you guys had questions for Mr. Deluca from what he stated.
[Tim McGivern]: I'm not sure if there's. I think I want to just acknowledge the receipt of the petition and the addresses on it, you know, right out of the gates. I probably share that feeling with other commissioners. And, you know, I guess I should just say also that this was reviewed and sort of. This particular issue, obviously, has been ruled on multiple times in multiple sections by this body, so just wanted to make sure that people know that in regards to the changes in the regulatory nature of the Winthrop Street Corridor, as everybody knows, as part of the Eversource project. So just wanted to make sure that my fellow commissioners and the public know that.
[Todd Blake]: And, Jordan, if I may, I just wanted to make a clarification for everyone. It looks like there's two items that are similar on the agenda. One, the current one that we're speaking of appears to be from the Winchester line to approximately Wildwood, and then there may be another agenda item of a similar topic for an area that's closer to Exeter to Lawrence. So maybe whomever from the public speaks can specify which one they're on, but I'd like to hear more from the public.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, we have 2023-37 similar. It's from Deborah and James Dobbins for 49 Winthrop Street to remove no parking signs from front of their home on the Winthrop Street area. Would we like to It seems like the same issues where we'd like to hear from them as well, or go back down or just stick to the location of Wynton to Wildwood, but it's only about another block and a half down from, it's up to the commissioners if they'd like to hear from Deborah and James on this matter as well.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, whatever the commissioners want. The answers may be similar, but whatever the commission wants.
[Bob Dickinson]: I mean, Todd, can someone, input on just how big this project was and how long it was in the making and kind of where we are now and whether any changes in fact can be made. I mean, I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts on this, but this isn't something that just happened yesterday. We've been vetting this for months and months and months, and I'd like for everybody to kind of have a better understanding of where we are.
[Todd Blake]: You know, I could answer whatever you and the commission wants. If you want me to speak now or after the comments, I'll do whichever you prefer.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'm happy to entertain comments, but again, I would like for everybody to kind of understand whether this is something that can be approved like right now or at all.
[Tim McGivern]: Okay, maybe a rough timeline, Steve, something like that. I mean, this was a huge project.
[Bob Dickinson]: We vetted for months. I mean, we had public hearing and public hearing and public hearing. And then now all of a sudden, you know, is the fallout of this is now. And so, I mean, I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts. I know it's incredibly inconvenient for many people. live in that area, friends of mine. But at the same time, I want everybody to understand that, you know, if we're in a situation where we can't do it, I'd like for everybody to understand like, you know, the ramifications of today and or the restrictions on why we can't do things.
[Alicia Hunt]: And maybe Todd before you speak just because I want to make add to Steve's question for you is that to clarify what I understand like there there's a few things some of this area has new. bike lanes that we had extensive meetings on, and I know there was a lot of outreach on, but I think the specific person who spoke in this case is talking about a long-standing bike lane that has been there for predates this commission, this group. In fact, I think I heard the petitioner say that he was told he's allowed to park in the bike lane, and that's not a Medford law, correct? Can you clarify for us that you're not allowed to park in a bike lane? That's state law. I just want to make sure that we all understand the parameters that we're working under here.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah. Yeah. First, I'll get the last question. First, it's my understanding that please correct me if I'm wrong. You're not allowed to park in the bike lane. So, so, yeah, that that I believe is Massachusetts state law. So, to give a little history. The most recent effort started kind of when the MOU between the city and Eversource was signed, which made specific reference to restoring the street to conditions, including pavement markings, including bike lanes. And that, I believe, referenced an existing bike lane. So from about the high school up to the Winchester line, the bike lanes have been there. predating, as Alicia mentioned, this current board and myself working for the city, the bike lanes were in existence around the 2016-ish. And at that time, so those existed from about the high school up to the Winchester line. So once those were in at that previous date, there was essentially no parking all the way back till then for that northern portion of Winthrop Street. I'm not, you know, not what's in whatever may have side agreement may have been done but um, but more more recently, the 2016 17 MOU between the city and ever source to restore the cities engineering department, including myself. Using the city's complete streets policy as a guide to make. roadways available to all users and not just cars equally. So those kind of were our charges. And then we developed a plan. We robocalled the court with the communications department's help. And the, I just have to check my notes because the phase one, which included from Winchester Line to Lawrence Road was actually approved by this commission um that was that was in august 16 2022 so it's been over a year ago where this phase one bike lane was approved messaging approved It didn't get implemented until more recently this past summer because Eversource was late in their improvement schedule. Then the phase 2 portion from Lawrence Road to South Street was approved, was originally heard in March of 23 and then tabled and then heard in April of 2023. The phase 1 north of Lawrence, was taken up by this commission, this current commission, in August of 16, 2022. And the southern portion from Lawrence South was taken up in March and April of 2023. So there was a longstanding history of this. And the city does have complete streets policies and their state policies to incorporate bikes into any future project. And we try to do that as mindful and objectively as we can, trying to accommodate all needs. So as part of this process, we collected parking data for this whole quarter, which I'm able to share with anyone who wants to see it. The parking data indicated that, just like some of the residents say, they don't necessarily use it on a daily basis. So the parking data suggested that the northern portion, the phase one portion, on average was only 2% occupied. So 2%, 2 out of every 100 spaces were occupied. So it was, and we collected various days of the week, times of the day. That doesn't mean that there aren't any one case where you might have visitors for a simple party and it's 10 people there. But on average, the days we collected, it showed that it wasn't as utilized. There was a question about the lower portion like south of Lawrence having parking on one side. That particular quarter had a little higher parking usage But in both cases, it's even in that case when it was higher was not enough to even Warren 50% of the street so by eliminating one side of park in that area. We were able to still accommodate parking needs and provide the bicycle infrastructure and at previous meetings we had. We had educated folks about bicycle safety and why it is that we propose bike lanes with buffers. So separated bike lanes with buffers are the most safe for cyclists with a vertical treatment. And then in terms of the scale of safety, a buffer without So I suppose this is the next preferred, and then a bike lane without any buffers, the next preferred, and so on. So we were trying to accommodate all users and trying to be mindful of all needs, but we thought we stroked the balance and the commission compromised for the southern portion that did have higher parking utilization. So that's kind of what got us to here. Hopefully I addressed everyone's questions.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes, thank you. So, we do have some multiple hands raised on this issue.
[Alicia Hunt]: Can I just state for the record that I noticed that some people are putting comments in the chat. For public record, if somebody is unable to speak out loud, they should let us know and we can read their comments out for the public record, but only out loud public comments are taken for the public record. And does this board require stating of name and address? That doesn't usually come up because usually it's the petitioner and their address is a relevant part of the conversation.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So you're asking if they need to state their name and address? Sorry.
[Alicia Hunt]: Do they have to state their name and address? I know the City Council requires it and like the Community Development Board and the Zoning Board.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'm not sure if they need to state their name. I think we've always just relied upon the fact people saying I'm a Medford resident. I don't necessarily know we've ever asked anybody for an address.
[Alicia Hunt]: Okay, I just thought I should be clear because we're going to hear public comment that I just that it needs to be stated out loud that it's the part that it's written. Usually this is on TV and it's people on TV can't read the public comment that comments in the chat.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Majority of the people that I've been speaking on I've been stating live on Winthrop Street or I live on x, y, and z.
[Alicia Hunt]: So if you go in the order that the people are on your screen, that's the order in which they raise their hands. And there's one gentleman who's trying to raise his hand in the video.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yep, Mr. DiTucci, we'll get to you. We'll get you in order. And Aaron and Jess is next, and then we will ask you to unmute, speak on this issue as well.
[SPEAKER_15]: Hi there, Aaron is my husband. He's actually, he's on border detail right now. So if you would like to unmute him too. We live at 713 Winthrop Street in Medford. We've been homeowners here since 2012. So thank you for having this public forum. We really appreciate it.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you for speaking. I can unmute him, but remember just one at a time for speaking just so that the commissioners can hear both of you guys.
[SPEAKER_15]: So just first thing, we love our neighborhood. We love Medford. We've been here since 2012. It's a great place. We have four children. We live in like a little secluded Winchester adjacent area. We're about 75 feet from the Winchester line. So we were very shocked when the no parking sign, you know, when we're all kind of blown away when it went up, because we're in this very protected and kind of secluded area. of Winthrop Street where we're very close to Winchester. It's a very nice double-wide street up here. We see only a few bikers a day and we've really never had issues. We have pretty nice driveways, but the problem is my husband is a government official, so he has to have his own car. We have a two-part two-car parking. I'm a nurse practitioner at MGH, and if I have to go to work and he's home, I have to park at Robinson Way now, which is normally fine. But if I have to go to work for 6 PM, then you have to cross Windsor Street up here, which is crazy traffic at that time because it's like a highway. That's my concern. If I could have the parking in front of my house, it would be great. And I think we all kind of feel that way because we all have young children. Aaron and I have four children, so it would be great to have at least one spot back for each one of our houses. And we really appreciate Mr. DeLuca for putting the petition in. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. So can I just speak, commissioners, for one second? It seems like the confusion is They are stating that they parked on Winthrop Street before when they had a bike lane, which they knew about, and assumed that when this was going into effect, that even though they were approving or the bike lane was approved, that they would still, even though it is not legal to park in a bike lane for state law, that they were going to be able to continue to park as that. seems like kind of what we're hearing and that may be a confusion on that end but it was seemed to be explained pretty thoroughly when we were approving this multiple meetings that there would be no parking.
[Todd Blake]: Yes, Sergeant. In addition, and that may have been the case, it may have been one of those until you saw the sign, you didn't realize it. But so at one point, I didn't make about the timeline is that in order to help the enforcement agencies like the police or the parking department, and also to inform the residents properly on the street, we took great care to look at the corridor as a overall whole entity. Again, once the markings were finally complete and the symbols were finally down, we revisited any block that may have had a lack of signage, and we corrected that, and we messaged it to the communications department through a robocall to the whole corridor saying, on this date, enforcement will begin when the markings and signs are in place. We've even heard from state representatives and state senator offices about this, about cyclists wanting enforcement, and we felt it wasn't prudent to enforce until everyone was properly notified and everything was properly signed and marked appropriately. So I think that what Sergeant Canova said is correct, probably in the sense that it was thought that they could park there, but just because there was a lack of signs and enforcement, but now we're trying to do the right thing and sign and correct this properly.
[Tim McGivern]: Just a tidbit here, I think that's relevant to what you're talking about, because you're talking about what was the case in the past. I believe there were a couple, although there weren't many, no parking signs along the stretch. Even this 1 that still shows up on street view in front of. I think it's 598, for example. Also, I was involved with the original layout of the original bike lane. I am aware that some allowances were given just because I know that there were discrepancies on what people claimed could happen and then what some areas were assigned. One of the ideas behind those bike lanes was to put that to bed back then, which was quite a long time ago at this point. that goes on the bike commission.
[4FrRjkCyMqA_SPEAKER_06]: Commissioners, if I could make a comment. Todd is correct. Mass State law says 8940, you cannot park in a bike lane, period. No exceptions. I'm also getting numerous complaints of cars parking in the bike lane. So there is another side out there that are complaining about the cars parking in the bike lane, as well as our residents complaining that they want to be able to park there. There are two sides to this. I just want you to be aware of that.
[Todd Blake]: One further clarification because I think the request, it sounded like it was either in this entire stretch or in front of certain houses. But what happens with a bike lane or even a bus lane, it's if one car parks in the way, then it makes it somewhat unusable or less bicycle friendly or safe for that user on the bike. So these are the things we're trying to balance. I would say if this, in some cases on Winter Street, like near Victory Park, the temple, there's still some on street parking. In other areas, the side streets like Playstead Road and other roads, you know, even though they're a little further than what you may used to, those are still available.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. We do have some hands raised, so I'm gonna just keep going forward with this. But Todd, thank you for explaining that. And Aaron, we're going to get to you. I know that Jess had spoke, but I'd like to give you the opportunity as well. So I'm just gonna ask you on mute. And then I do have Amanda and Mr. Tucci. I have you guys. I know you guys haven't raised your hand, but I won't get to you.
[SPEAKER_07]: I can hear me? Yes, good evening. Hey, good evening. Yeah, no, yeah, just to follow up, I guess, on my wife and then Mr. DeLuca's points. Yes, we've been there for about 10 or 11 years, and we're not aware, I guess, that we couldn't park in the bike lane there, because we never had an issue with it before. I guess now the reason is it's clearly marked, and things have progressed up that way, so now... you know, there's no excuses. But I guess just to like my wife's point, I have to have a vehicle for work. She needs a vehicle and then we have a large family. So we have three vehicles. If I could get rid of my vehicle, I would. I don't have that option. So our driveway is full. And if we do have visitors, they have to park across the street on Robinson Way and then, you know, try to make it across Winthrop without getting hit. And I know, you know, that's like our personal problem, but it was convenient, I guess, because we didn't use it all the time just to have folks park there maybe for a couple hours while they're visiting as opposed to crossing the street. But I understand. The issues, I understand what you're saying. It's just, I guess it was a convenience thing for folks in the neighborhood. And we didn't know prior to this that we couldn't park there because in the 10 or 11 years people have been parking there, I don't think anyone ever received a citation. And I know when the signs were going up, I saw the gentleman, I asked him what they're doing, they told me. And I said, oh, that's gonna be tough taking away that parking. They said, oh, didn't you go to the meetings? And I said, no. And they said, oh, they're supposed to let you know about the meeting. So I never was notified. I know I didn't, I should keep up with things like that, but I wasn't aware that there were public hearings on this issue. So that's pretty much it for me.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you and appreciate your report on that. Mister just keep going forward here with the hands raised Mr. Tucci had his hand raised and then we'll go to Amanda and then Mr. De Luca again. So I'll ask you to unmute and then.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you. Thank you so much. My name is Ray DiTucci. I live at 406 Winthrop, and I also share Aaron's sentiment. About two and a half weeks ago, we were blessed with a sign directly in front of our sidewalk, in front of the house, saying no parking. We weren't aware of any meetings or any notifications that there was going to be a bike lane in front of our house. My neighbor just to the left of me has two spots and then the bike lane weaves in front of my house where no bike lane previously existed there. So to say that the bike lane was always there, it wasn't there. This is after the high school. I live pretty much across from Whittier and across from the Dobbinses. So that's where I am. And I want to say, I'd say 95% of the times my driveway is sufficient. five cars, and they're all in the driveway. The driveway is large enough to be able to handle that. But come Christmas, come Easter, come holidays, when we have family over, it's not. And my 83-year-old mother parks in front on the sidewalk, basically half on the sidewalk, half on the street. just to get out of the way, but she won't be able to do that. And by putting a sign there, it's basically making it illegal for anyone to park there where that was never the case in the past. So I'm somewhat upset over it. Like I said, for the most part, I'm really not impacted by this except when we have overflow. And that's my problem with that. And we should be able to park some overflow in front of our houses when the need arises, and not to have to park across the street, either Whittier, which are all private roads, right? Whittier is, and I believe Woodside is the other one. So that's my point. And as far as notice in these robocalls, I never got one. Had I known that I would have had a say in this, absolutely, I would have gone to these meetings and made myself known. So that's pretty much what I want to say. And if there's a way to remedy this or to change this, I would love to have it changed. Like I said, the bike lane weaves. My next door neighbor to the left of me has two, if not three spots. And then all of a sudden, the bike lane tightens up and weaves right in front of my sidewalk. And I really don't see a need for that. I mean, they could have gone straight through and still have the same width there. Again, that's pretty much my point.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I appreciate you taking the time to speak on this. Thank you. Moving on for this issue as well, Amanda, I'm just going to ask you to unmute and then
[SPEAKER_16]: Hi, this is Amanda and my husband Simon, so I'm sure he'll interject as well, but we live next to Aaron and Jess. Similar to what people said, we weren't aware that we shouldn't have been parking there for 10 years. I also didn't get robo calls. I'm signed up for city alerts. So I did not know that we were not going to be able to park. Winchester has their bike lane completely different three houses up. So I think there was still a way to have a bike lane and allow people to park. So I'm not necessarily against the bike lanes. It's a very wide road. We're in a very tough spot because not knowing that we were gonna lose our parking, we have a construction project going on and we have to park across the street with a three-year-old. It's impossible to cross the street at most times of the day. It's super dangerous and not being able to park in front to unload groceries where like, parking there, putting our hazards on, running our stuff in the house, and then going and parking across the street, which is also a private way, I believe. I believe Robinson Road is a private way and we shouldn't even be parking there, but we have nowhere else to go unless we park up in Winchester. It's incredibly frustrating. I do think we probably would have been involved if we realized that it was gonna be no parking anywhere up and down Winthrop Street. So I think that's probably all I have to that's probably all I have to add beyond what everyone else has said, unless Simon has something.
[SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, thank you all for the opportunity here. I'd just like to add that, you know, we actually literally live on the Winchester line. So, you know, I just don't understand how the road is the same with, you know, the engineer that spec'd the road. I know we've been dealing with construction there for the better half of five and six years, having to go through these painful things with Eversource and the big you know, gas lines, and, you know, they're even ripping up the road again today, right? So we're confused on why Winchester has parking spots up and down, you know, where it's the same width road, right? And that we don't have that, because I agree there should be a bike lane there, but I believe the bike lane and the car lanes can coexist perfectly normally, you know, on our road specifically where we live at 719 Winthrop. So, you know, that's my piece. I appreciate it. Thank you.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you. Appreciate you speaking on this matter.
[Alicia Hunt]: Todd, can we just clarify when we did do the Winthrop Street project? I thought that it didn't go all the way the part that was closest to the wind the Winchester line already had bike lanes. So wasn't part of the project. And therefore, it might not have been robo called I don't actually know what if you were involved with what the limits. of the robocalling work. I do encourage everybody, I put the link to sign up for the city's alert system. If you don't get weekly phone calls from the mayor, you should sign up for it because that alerts you to what's going on in the neighborhoods. But I just wanted to clarify because the part where the bike lane already existed, it's not a change in conditions. It's just that the city is now enforcing the law that always existed.
[Todd Blake]: A couple of things for the roll call. My recollection is that we advised from the Winchester line to Lawrence Road for the phase one and Lawrence Road supposed to be phase two. In terms of the, yeah, it's basically a re-marking of the bike lanes with the current Standards in the industry with the buffer, right? So the old one in the 2015-16 version of the bike lane up there, it just had a single line with the symbol in there against the curb. And all we did was push that single line closest to the curb and add the buffer striping that's common going back to that one pager that, you know, there are many, as Sergeant Rogers pointed out, there's two sides to this issue. just as many people, if not more, say they wanted the whole corridor to be the buffer and no parking at all, because it's the safest possible scenario for cyclists. So we're trying to be reasonable and compromise wherever we can. And it is similar with, you are correct about that, we actually reached out, Medford reached out to Winchester to add a bike lane to say, hey, we're doing one, if you want to do one. So they added theirs after the fact. But using the parking data, We took that into account and saw that there was less than 2% usage on this northern portion, plus many of it already had the bike lane. And then the southern portion wasn't much more, it was only like 16%, but that's when there was a compromise made to do the bike lanes next to the one-sided parking. I can bring up Street View to show what it used to look like, but first I'll quickly show the one-pager again. So the cyclists advocates and safety advocates want this bottom scenario where there's a bike lane next to the curb, a buffer with a vertical piece separating them from a car. What we have on Winthrop Street is this situation where the bike lane is next to the curb with the painted buffer without the vertical piece, and then sometimes there's a bike lane next to a curb, and then there's a situation not shown here where we have it in the southern portion where the bike lane is next to a which a lot of folks on the bicycle side of it will argue that it's unsafe and they don't necessarily want that. So we're trying to accommodate a lot of needs, and we do have a complete streets policy. In terms of the comments about volume or people using it or not, basically it's a little bit of a, if you build it, they will come scenario where if you have like just a couple blocks of a bike lane, it may not have gotten usage, but once you have a whole corridor, we're actually seeing more and more usage. So over time, we actually got thank yous from people that, you know, travel, commute to Boston as far as Uber. Not that we're doing this for those folks. It's just an example of other people that are feeling positive. But I'll go to the street view. I'll see if I could find this. So So here's a 2017 image right up to the Winchester line. So there's a bike lane right there and right here. So it goes right along the curb. So basically, when that was approved, it was implied or included no parking. Otherwise, you would physically block that lane. As many of you, Street View, when you scroll down, sometimes he switches dates on you and those things. So now we're too far back. Let's go back to that date. So in 18, they're right there. So that line was not a parking shoulder line, it was a bike lane, and there was a bike lane end sign right there. So there's a symbol there, there's a symbol there. What may have been a little confusing was there are still street sweeping and snow emergency signs. But yeah, so they did exist. They were just not as comprehensive as they are today. It doesn't necessarily help folks on the line, but we're just trying to provide as much information as possible.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thanks, Todd. Seeing a couple more hands up here. Melissa DeLuca, we're going to ask you to speak again. We do see your hands are up, so we'll get to you. Mr. DeLuca, if you're unmuted, you can speak now. Can I speak now? Yeah, we can hear you, yes.
[SPEAKER_12]: Okay, thank you. First of all, on the Winchester line, I think we put the bike lanes first, and I believe Winchester kind of joined it, but put it to the where we have our slash marks and gave the parking to the people anyway. They did not disturb any of the parking spaces there. Also, where the guy was talking, Mr. Blake, that they did a survey and everything of the parking and said only 2% of the parking was used. Now, don't forget, people work and you got a section That's the whole length of the cemetery. No parking there, that's all right. And you get across the street where it's all plain, that's all right. But then you start coming right after, out of the road, you're starting to come to houses. And then You're taking that away. Now, you said you had about 2% of no parking. We use that parking. I think everybody else use that parking for friends, families. We have holidays. People have Christmases. People come over for Christmas. Our neighbors over here in Winter Street shares their parking spaces with other people because we don't do parties at the same time. You've taken that away from us. I'd like to know what is the percentage of the bikes that come down Winchester Street from Winchester down? Do you have that number? Is it 15%, 20%, 30%? I'll tell you one thing. You don't see two bikes in a day. And if you see more than that, you're lucky. And lately, When I come home from shopping, I just had surgery. We parked the car next to my house. We take the groceries, we put it in the house, and then we come back out and we park. And I think everybody else does the same thing. Now, you got some bikies that are very nasty. One came by, an older woman and a guy, probably never saw them before. They came by and they spit on my car. And they're lucky I had this operation because I would have got in my car and I would have chased them. Now, these bikes are starting to look OK. We just I understand you're upset about it, but we want to I think these bikes are trying to trying to give us the business here. I'm all for the bikes because my grandchildren drive bikes. But I like to know what is the percentage of bikes that come down with your seat And how many accidents have bikes got into Elmwinter Street? I look at a survey of Cambridge, Charlestown, Boston, and all those cities. They got more dots than dots. We didn't have any. Now, you want to talk about Croninger Street, you talk about Medford Square, High Street, and all that. They got traffic galore. Does bikes go down there? I just went down there. The bus couldn't go by because we had a truck going by. So we're stuck in Method Square for five minutes because somebody has to move first. That's where the traffic is, and that's where the bikers go, and there's no bike lane. So I don't know where all this, this percentage comes from when we don't have to use the parking space all the time. Like I said, people work. And if I have, I'm going to have my house painted next year. Do I have to get permission to take the bike lane, where I'm going to have two trucks there painted my house for two days. I got a landscaping person, so does other people. And people up next to Winchester, they got a construction going. You can't park on Robinson Road. Like I can't park in Notting Street, and I can't park in Franklin Street, and I can't park in Osborne Street. Now, place that you can't park up where the cemetery side is. So, and they got permits right where the park is, down on the other end. And everybody on place, they park in front of their own house. So, can somebody give me a stat of how many bikes come down Winter Street? I mean, we're taking surveys of everything. And it seems like it's all against the people who live on Winter Street, from Winchester to the gas station. Now, you got your other problems going down the other way.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, we understand. And if you're asking for the stats, I believe.
[Todd Blake]: We do not currently have traffic. Bicycle volumes, and I don't necessarily have the budget to count them. I'm trying to acquire a budget to count. But again, I'll go back to something we said earlier. There's complete streets. policy there's a lot of movement at the state level and city level a lot of the grant funding and a lot of the projects that we work with on the state level as well as the city level is supposed to incorporate all modes of transportation and basically it's been shown that if a street infrastructure doesn't support it there isn't going to be volume and then as you add infrastructure it entices and attracts. And we've seen anecdotally, we've seen more and more usage. But we hope to collect counts. Actually, MAPC, a regional organization, was going to use one of our bike lanes before and after as a study to share with the rest of the region on College Avenue. So we are mindful of that, and those are valid points. But I do believe that, again, we're trying to balance all these competing needs, and we're doing the best we can.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you, Todd. So we have a couple more hands up, commissioners. Just keep moving forward here. I think there's three or four. And then we have the next 2023-37 is also on this issue for the other end, for the Davens. So we see that you've raised your hand. We do have you on the list here. So we're going to keep moving forward here. Jess, you raised your hand again. I assume you got another question.
[SPEAKER_15]: Yeah, my big question is, if we can't get the parking back in front of the house, how can you provide our safety crossing the street? We have to put in some kind of a petition to get a crosswalk built so we don't risk injury crossing the street, especially with our children.
[Todd Blake]: HAB-Michael Leccesereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee permanent ramps, and then we were therefore able to add a crosswalk, permanent crosswalk, because it was available to all users. Any new crosswalk has to be available to all users, which means we have to build ramps. So we did do a side deal to get an extra crosswalk in that segment. I'm aware the MBTA has a proposal that to reshuffle some of the bus stops along Winthrop Street, and If and when that occurs, there is a proposal by them to add a crosswalk at Robinson Road at the northern piece, closer to Winchester line. So you'd have the one near the southern Robinson Road, you'd have an additional one in the future if that plan goes ahead.
[SPEAKER_15]: Yeah, that would be great. That would be great because it's very, you know that when I'm talking about the hill coming down from Winchester, it's just very, people drive very fast.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, and because of that hill, any prospect that goes there, we want to make sure it's safe for everyone. Just by putting paint on the ground doesn't make it safe, so we want to make sure all the sight lines are clear.
[SPEAKER_15]: Okay, thank you. I appreciate it.
[Todd Blake]: Thank you.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you, Todd. I just asked you to unmute. How's all of you, I believe it is? Hey, how are you? You are unmuted. So did that work? Yeah, we can hear you now.
[Daniel Nuzzo-Mueller]: Sorry. Yep. Nope. Just wanted to say that I am one of the cyclists that use that bike lane. I live in West Medford. Thank you. Just wanted to let it be known that there is a voice who does use it.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you for speaking. I appreciate that. Aaron, we have you as well to ask about people.
[SPEAKER_07]: Oh yeah, just a quick comment for Mr. Blake. I don't know if it'd help. I have a Zoom camera. I have a Ring camera that actually picks up pretty much all the traffic on Winthrop Street. I'd be happy to partner with the city. You could use that information maybe to get an idea of how much traffic goes up and down. That bike lane, I mean, it catches kind of everything on Winthrop Street. And I also use the bike lane. My children use it. I think the issue was we weren't aware that we're going to lose parking at the same time. So we do utilize the bike lanes. We're not against it. We just thought maybe there's a way we could kind of coexist with temporary parking in the bike lane. But I just want to put that out there. If there's anything we can do to help maybe capture the traffic on Winthrop, I have a great view from my personal camera.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I would absolutely be beneficial for Todd and as well as us. Obviously, Todd, I believe your email is listed on the city website. So if you want a specific date that you can connect with Todd offline, then absolutely.
[SPEAKER_07]: Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Is it Kaylee?
[Unidentified]: just to ask you to unmute.
[SPEAKER_14]: Yeah, so I'm at 599 Winthrop Street. I've been living here for about six years. Have never had any issues parking in front of the house until the new road got put in. We've got four cars to my house. I can only fit two in my driveway. We've always parked the other two out front, never had any issues. I understand there's a no parking sign on the pole near my house. To my understanding, the homeowner that owns my house paid for it and put it up so that the buses would stop parking and stuff. Again, never had any issues for six years until you guys decided to rechange the road. And to my knowledge, the no parking sign diagonal from my house was also purchased by that homeowner. So it was never city signs that were put up, it was signs that were purchased out of our homeowner's pocket and put up so that we could park in front of our own homes. So the fact that we can no longer, and I come out and was not ever made aware that that had changed, and I have three parking tickets sitting on my car from 540 in the morning is absolutely ridiculous.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: And you're at 599? Yeah, 599. Because I'm not sure that a sign. Tim and Todd, you can speak on this. I don't know that a homeowner can purchase a sign and put it on a public entity without approval from the DPW or the commissioner. I'm not sure what the sign stated.
[Tim McGivern]: I know the sign and I think that it was there when the bike lane went in place and the presumption always was that there was no parking there. I think whether or not the resident purchased and put it up themselves, which is illegal, doesn't make a difference.
[SPEAKER_14]: You have that blue one right there.
[Tim McGivern]: There was a handful of no parking signs on the street in this area. Yeah, that's an example of one of them.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So, Tim, you're stating that. A resident can post a no parking sign on a... No. Okay. Okay. Sorry.
[Tim McGivern]: I'm saying that you cannot do that. That is totally illegal, and you're not supposed to do that. What I'm saying is that whether it was put there by a resident or not, it reflects what the rule is because of what's there on the ground. Okay, yeah, sorry.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, in terms of, as I just showed in the 2018 street view, there was a bike lane in that stretch painted. It's just over the years, it's been faded. And then with Eversource being here for multiple years, it wasn't capable for us to paint it while they were actively digging it up. So, you know, it took this long to get the restoration of the street to now see it again from basically 17, 18 times.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, Aaron, Kaylee, and John DeLuca, I don't know if you guys still have your hand up from the previous. So I'll call on you quickly if you have something new to add. I just don't know if you guys still have your hand up.
[SPEAKER_07]: Aaron? No, sir, I'm just gonna reach out to Mr. Blake and let him know about the camera that I can assist, but that's it. Great, thank you.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: and Mr. DeLuca.
[SPEAKER_12]: Yes, we're talking about the bike lane that was put in, I don't know, seven years ago, whatever it is. And I did a petition at that time. And everybody in the block signed it again from the Winchester down to the garage. I think I forgot who the chief of police was at the time. And I did a little research because we all got $50 fines. We were never noticed about, you can't park there. So there was something like about seven people who got tickets, three across the street, two on my side and one down the street. So I did a little research and I found out that if you look at it, when they did the first bike lane, that they had the pictures like you people have, the architects putting the symbols, and they put the car symbol next to the sidewalk, and they put the bike lane that you can go around it, and then the bike lane picked up. They gave the authority for the people to park there legally. If it was unlegally, Nobody gave us a ticket after that. I got my ticket. I won my case. And they reversed the $50 fine. And I don't know if yet, because we had a meeting down the police station, and everybody showed up for it. And again, legal or not legal. Nobody enforced it. And nobody told us. But they didn't have a car. the way they did the architect like you're doing it now, the whole length of winter street and put the car next to the sidewalk and the bike goes around. So I just want to make that a statement that nobody had enforced it, law or no law. If they were supposed to, they should have gave it to us about six, seven years ago. And again, the bike lane faded. Nobody cared. You dig up the road for five years. And then all of a sudden, this is what we get. We got thrown out of the parking space on our street. After all that work we had to suffer through for five years, the pounding, the machinery in the nighttime, the projects that's going around next to the garage explosions and everything. And now That's the reward the people got from the Winchester down to the garage. And that was our thanks after putting up with five years. And I would just like to know why can't the bike lane be put with the slide side down? Is there a compromise to do that or can we do that?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So Mr. DeLuca, we explained multiple times here that whether or not The enforcement was there. It's illegal to park in a bike lane whether the enforcement was done or not for that issue. And the bike lane, as the commissioners has explained, there was robocalls and other matters at which, and I obviously apologize that you guys didn't make the multiple meetings, but there was at least three meetings that we sat in on this project. This particular area was already approved, as Mr. Blake stated, in 2016 or 17, I'm not exactly sure on the date. The other portions that were approved, this commission had tabled multiple times to try and robo-call every possible person that was either in favor or not in favor for this on at least three meetings, maybe four, that I have been sat in on. They obviously we, you know, understand that your concerns here that went up street is a busy road. But I'm not sure if they're for compromise. The crosswalk would be. As Todd has explained that there will be made crosswalk. That's that's there. I'm not sure if there's anything else, but.
[SPEAKER_10]: This was approved, so.
[Todd Blake]: And Sergeant, I was looking back through my email for the enforcement piece of it. Around the time we put up the signs and once the symbols were finally complete along the whole court, it looks like the last week of July robocall went out and then also the first week of August because we don't want to surprise anyone before enforcement began.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: And I believe that the first week was warnings. Warnings. And then the next week was money fines that may occur with vehicles being towed or not towed. So obviously we understand the frustration, but as the commissioners have stated and I am stating that The frustration shouldn't be toward, this was a commission that had voted on this multiple times and had multiple meetings, and this wasn't a decision that happened over one meeting. This was three or four different meetings along with, I think Todd had a petition that was at City Hall, that people spoke about at City Hall. And obviously, we don't know why that, the message didn't get out to that you guys, or maybe it was, and it slipped the voicemail or email or robocall, whatever it may be, but these meetings were held multiple times. And we understand your frustration, but this wasn't a decision that was made overnight. This was a decision that the commission had come up with multiple, from the original proposal that Todd Blake had put on there, they had made multiple corrections to accommodate as many people on Winthrop Street. The original proposal had, I believe, no parking, and the other proposals that they've went back from each section of this all the way up to Placestead Road, or sorry, the high school, each section of this, they went piece by piece and spoke on adding or not adding, parking spaces and even whether or not hard stanchions would be in place or not. I know I'm rambling on here, but this wasn't something that was approved overnight. That doesn't mean that we're not taking into consideration the pedestrians and you guys crossing over Winthrop Street. I think that there could be a compromise here that we can make sure that we're not just taking the consideration of the bike lane, this was already approved, but we're also here to understand that if there is an issue with pedestrians and homeowners that can't cross a busy street like Winthrop Street, we want to make a compromise as a commission, and I'll speak as a police department, it'll be somebody that we don't want to have something, you know, on Winthrop Street happen. So if there is a compromise or if there's a crosswalk or if there's something that we can come up with,
[Todd Blake]: That's why you're here, and I understand that, but... Sergeant, on that point, another crosswalk that's going to be added to cross Winthrop Street is at Lorraine Road. So once that development, where all the gravel is, is finally completed, it's on one of their conditions to complete a crosswalk crossing Winthrop Street at Lorraine Road. So that's going to be another additional crosswalk, hopefully, in the future.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: You know, okay, thanks, Todd. I mean, Todd and I, we had an issue at a crosswalk with a bicyclist and a pedestrian, and this was three years ago. I know it's on the other end, and it's near the Memorial Park, and we had six pedestrian, sorry, five pedestrian collisions and one bicycle collision at that crosswalk. I know it's at the other end, but Todd was able to work on that crosswalk and since 2018 at the first collision and pedestrian bicyclist Todd had able to add on stanchions to that and there's been zero pedestrian collisions and zero bicycle collisions. So if there's something that we can work on as a commission and a police department to make sure that your families feel safe when they're crossing Winthrop Street and your guests feel safe crossing Winthrop Street, we're all ears. And we just need to know where, you know, not saying things can happen overnight and things like that, but safety is what we're here for. I hope that helps as an answer. I know it was long and all over the place, but as stated before, this commission had multiple sessions on this, and it wasn't an easy decision either way, and there were multiple things brought up. So sorry, commissioners, if you'd like to speak. I know I spoke a little bit on that one.
[Tim McGivern]: I don't think we have any action here because I think this was voted on, like you said, a bunch, and I don't know what other commissioners think, but I don't think we have action here. We've heard a lot of information about personal pleas, but we really gotta look for the general good of the public and whether or not we're meeting things like the complete streets policy, and this was well vetted. So I would say if there's an argument to be made for changes that are based off of the good of the overall public in the public right of way, Those are things that I think this commission needs to hear and be willing to hear if we didn't vet it out thoroughly prior, any gaps in that. But besides that, it's good to hear perspectives and understand what the feelings are from residents, but I'm not sure we have much more to do.
[Alicia Hunt]: I think that I'll just add, and we don't have repeat bringing out the bike lanes is not like that is not on the table, allowing people to park in bike lanes isn't an option. I am, we are very committed to having complete streets and some of that is safety and safety and crossing. I did hear a couple of people say things like implying that neighbors wouldn't let them park in front of their houses. These are public streets. There's some question on private ways what people can and cannot control. But on the public streets, the parking spots that do exist are for everybody. And if there are spots in Winchester, you're allowed to park in them. I assume that Winchester doesn't have permit parking. I should give that caveat. But if they're public, open to the public, they're open to everybody. But I think we are interested in taking a look at what can we do with safety because it shouldn't be dangerous to cross that street and that's actually the problem we'd like to address and how can we better address that. Sometimes the narrowing of the streets by adding this additional painting can help slow streets. I realized that it hasn't worked yet on Winthrop Street, but we'd like to see it. I'm not sure if we are, have we been, Setting aside the other section yet, I would just add that my son uses the bike lanes from Lawrence Road to the high school, and he actually commented to me today about how wonderful it is and how he loves it, except for the part where the cars turn right, and then he has to get up on the sidewalk because they fill up his his bike lane all the way back past the temple. We are seeing more and more students bicycling to the high school with the advent of the bike lanes. I don't think that's truly occurring at this end of Winthrop Street because there are not children leaving Winthrop and coming to our high school. I realize that that's a different population that's using that. And I will actually reiterate for the resident who offered to share some data with us, I believe that Todd is interested in that. I do know that, yes, we have an intern who I messaged in the background who is definitely intrigued about following up on that data. So please definitely reach out to Todd so that he can connect her on that data. That I'm not sure what else there is to say on this. I was actually reflecting on the fact that I've been noticing people parking in bike lanes on some of the state roads and thinking about how we can get those forced as well, because it makes it really dangerous. It's way more dangerous to park in bike lanes than it is to not have the bike lanes. I mean, it's very bizarre. It pushes people in a bike lane into traffic unexpectedly, and that can be super scary as somebody who bicycles.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I don't know if there's anything else that you want to add to that. No. Thank you, uh, to clarify what Alicia had said, um, private ways to. Vehicles that are to be parked on private ways are residents of such private way. Um So. Parking on them. Prohibited, but. just to kind of answer that, because I know she had mentioned that. But I think that's all we have on this. There'll be no vote, as Commissioner McGiven had stated. This isn't a traffic commission issue. If there's some safety issues, like Commissioner Hunt had stated, that want to be brought up, that's more what we're looking to hear. So.
[Tim McGivern]: I'll make a motion to place a file but I also want to say that from the context that this is already an approved regulation that's already out there in effect, I think we all certainly appreciate that you're submitting a petition now and are speaking your mind now. in this test for something like this is a little bit different. It's for the general public good as opposed to your own personal convenience or inconvenience. So I would advise if you would like to change the regulatory nature of the public way is to look at it from that context if you're going to sort of appeal some sort of decision that is already standing with us. Otherwise, I'm gonna move to place this on file.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'd like to have one thing about the I think this brings up again a situation we have like a hole in our notification system and I don't know I think it would have been easy to actually leaflet some of these houses that we're gonna lose parking but here we go again where we have a situation that goes into effect and then people wake up to the fact that something is happening so not to doubt that people don't get these robo calls but I would like for us to continue to figure out why we have so many people on these more serious issues that don't get notification that things are happening until the signs go up. I don't know who we can work with. I'm happy to lead the charge on that, but trying to figure out what's going on. People need to start paying attention to what's going on in front of your house. If there's a big construction project going on, the temporary lines were in place way before we had the vote, on how to mark these roads and so I'd encourage people to start really paying attention to what's going on and not wait until they're in place and figuring out what's going on. And then one last thing is I do believe that Spencer Town is grossly deficient on crosswalks and so I would encourage any homeowner in that area to petition to put some crosswalks in that area if they're in addition to the ones that Todd mentioned. Because I think that'll be helpful just generally because we have a long road like that with no crosswalks, you know, it always leads to problems. So, my two cents.
[Tim McGivern]: to the chief on the piece about improving process, because he's working with someone on a sort of specialized team to see if we can improve some administration aspects of the traffic commission and that falls squarely in that category. So I encourage you.
[Bob Dickinson]: Absolutely. And I don't know if any of the other commissions have these situations, too, where people are just not getting these messages. But it's got to be a better way. Yeah.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, it's kind of commission by commission. Yeah, each commission has its own administration and you know we're looking at we're looking at most of it there in the room there.
[Todd Blake]: So, yes, it's Commissioner commission and this doesn't excuse it. Everything's always has room for improvement and community, including communications, including safety and things like that. I will say, prior to this current board being in place, the only notification, besides for resident parking and handicapped spaces, I believe the only notification was the PDF on the city website for the traffic commission on Friday, several days before the Tuesday. So believe it or not, the road will cause a huge improvement over the former conditions, but we could always have room for improvement, definitely.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you, and I think Commissioner McGiven had a motion to... You need a second. Sorry, Tim, did you say a motion to table?
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Receive and place on file.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Receive and place on file. We need a second motion. Second. Right. Roll call, Alba.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Bob Dickinson]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Canava?
[Bob Dickinson]: Yes.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: the same will this pertain also to 2023 37 I think in the beginning we decided to pull them together because they were similar issue well this is Dobbins is our miss Dobbins is on here I'd like her to be able to speak if the commissioners are okay with that yes state that we have already stated we under we would like to hear the feedback but if we could hear on the side of the safety That would be great, but you've waited a long time. So if the commissioner is okay with that, I'd like for her to speak.
[Todd Blake]: The one difference I want to point out is this particular section between Exeter and Lawrence Road did not already have bike lanes back in 16, 17, 18. So they are new. Thank you.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I will ask you to unmute and you are able to speak now.
[SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so thank you very much for hearing here issue. I don't wanna beat a dead horse. There's been a lot of discussion already, but I have my notes here and actually my primary concern was safety and access right in the area of 409 Winthrop Street. As Todd had stated, we did not have a bike lane, so we did have the luxury of parking, but also we had an easier way to get in and out of our driveway. So I guess and I do want to thank you all very much for all you've done. We've been at Winthrop street for 30 plus years with small children, now adults with bringing their children but it has never been an easy street to live on but we respect the traffic that goes through and you've done a lot of things with the crosswalks, with the speed bumps to slow the traffic so thank you very much. I can't believe that, first of all, that we were not aware that there were hearings. And I know you've heard it from several people, but we're very proactive when things like this occur. And I just, I really appreciate that you're going to work on the communication and try to figure out where the, gap was because we certainly would have been up front and center speaking out to maintain parking in front of our home. I guess the concern we had was having not had the bike lane, how extensive the bike lane is because now the car is actually in front of our house. So we can't even pull out of our driveway. We've had people, my husband, for example, has a truck. So we do have a fairly long driveway. We can park our cars. Our son parks on the other side street on Woodside. just to move our cars, he parks out, he puts his flashes on, I guess he could go around the block, and then I wouldn't be able to get out. But people have been very rude. They swear at us, they yell at us, they beep their horn. There's just no room to even back out of the driveway. So I guess my request would be, is there some way to modify the way the road was done. I know it's late in the game, and again, I'm sorry that we weren't able or weren't aware to participate in some of the discussions. Because in my notes, I had also said, why is there so much indiscriminate allocation of parking spaces? Like, how did you decide this? But it sounds like people did come forward, and there was discussion. So there was no parking, and now there's some parking. But.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Sorry to interrupt you. When you're stating that it's hard to back out, is it hard to back out because the cars are not allowing you to back out or is it because there's something in the roadway? Because I'm not sure if at fortnight, what's making it difficult to back out?
[SPEAKER_04]: The road became very narrow because it swerves back and forth as far as I don't know, the bike lanes, the hash lines.
[SPEAKER_17]: You narrowed the winter street at our home.
[SPEAKER_04]: Previously, we could actually back out and cars could still pass. They cannot pass now. So in fact, one morning, especially during, you know, of course, it's very busy when the kids are all driving to school, he got out and played policeman and told them to stop so I could get out because no one lets you in. I mean, they're in a rush to get to school, I guess.
[SPEAKER_17]: But it comes from the other side of the street also when you're backing out.
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah. So it is a safety concern because they, in order for us to back out, if they don't wanna be patient and let us back out, then they have to go into the other lane to continue forward where it was never an issue before, because it is a very wide street. It is a very wide street. So it's just made it very difficult, that's all.
[SPEAKER_17]: And when Deb's done, I'd like to say a few things if you don't mind. Absolutely, here.
[SPEAKER_04]: No, I'm done. But thank you for giving us the time to speak.
[SPEAKER_17]: And I want to thank the commission also. But I do have a quick question for each. Did you all have a chance to read our letter? Yes. Todd Blake, the engineer, et cetera, et cetera. I didn't write all your names down, but.
[Tim McGivern]: I did. Thank you very much for writing it. I did spend the time to read it. appreciate the feedback.
[SPEAKER_17]: Did the other commissioners read the letter?
[Alicia Hunt]: Yes, we did. I did.
[SPEAKER_17]: Yes. Okay. You know, my son said, and he's 40 years old, he goes, Dad, you got to do the bullets got to do the bullets. And I said, I know I'm appealing to him. That's all I can do. That's I'm old school. I'm also like, like, Mr. DeLuca. That's why I was raising my hand. We've been there 30 years. And I'm an avid, well, I used to be an avid biker, used to be an avid runner, but you know, you lose your knees, the backs, all of that. And it's not to digress, but I thought you dropped the ball because I'm all about the Mystic Valley Parkway. No 18 wheelers, no trucks, and that's where you ride your bikes. We have the beautiful Mystic Valley Parkway, the Fellsway, excuse me, alewife. And after you guys have been on the job for some time, you narrow the road down to two lane instead of, you know, yeah, two lane instead of four. That's how long I've been around this neighborhood. But I think we dropped the ball there. But hey, I digress. But I do want to bring up one other thing. And Todd, when you did that study about the cars parking there, you're absolutely right. You know, we're only parking there less than part time. Mr. DeLuca and Mr. DiTucci and other neighbors that could make it, they would have told you, we're using it. When are we using it? For families, for visitors. I had a VNA for a long time. And it's like a convenience. Yes, it's a convenience. And it's a necessary convenience for the general public, general good. Um, what about us? You know, and that's, that's us. Uno, numero. It's going to be that way too. You know, no matter, no matter what, what, you know, it's like general public, they drive by, you know, from, from Lexington, from Lawrence when they're cutting through. We know it's a cutthroat. They take a bike, maybe from Auburn, maybe from Winchester. They drive by. We're there 24 seven. 24-7. And if I had known about the public notice, I would have said, cutouts. We do the cutouts. You're doing A, B, C, D. You do the cutouts. Voila. Done. No complaints. Everybody's happy. There's the compromise. already done, and now we're, hey, no public notice. You guys said you did. I don't know, there's a lot of people who said we didn't, that you didn't. Robocalls, I get robocalls from the mayor all the time, I love him.
[Tim McGivern]: We're gonna look at that piece. Hopefully you heard some of my points earlier, for sure. Okay.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Well, we appreciate you I think we can talk about further or address in some manner.
[Tim McGivern]: just isolated to one driveway typically. If they're having this problem, most likely neighbors are having this problem. And that could be seen as a safety issue. Things like speed can be looked at, sight distances, things like that. So I think that's all on the table. And then I refer back to my previous comments when it comes to previous actions by this commission and what we can and can't do. Some sort of lens or context of not the full general public, but the public that uses that particular right of way. And that space is, I think everybody knows that space is in a private space, just because you have frontage on it. But the communication part from the city, we're gonna look into that.
[Todd Blake]: Thank you. I was going to share the design in front of the three W streets because even though it didn't have a bike lane in the Dobbins block it definitely didn't have parking restriction, but the other two blocks closer to Lawrence did have no parking both sides because the left turn lane at the traffic signal. So, basically, two of the three blocks already had some form of restriction on both sides of the street. It was the one block where the Dobbins are. And I will also point out that we did keep on-street parking near Victory Park, which is 300 feet away from 409, which, if you go by the walk-in speed used by the industry, is 1 1⁄4 to 1 1⁄2 minutes walk, which I realize is not as convenient as directly in Fernie House, there is an option on the same side of the street. And we did add that Exeter crosswalk to help folks get to and from across the street. So I'll just share the two areas. So this is the Lawrence Road traffic signal. And the block between Lawrence and Whittier, that was always restricted on both sides of the street because of the left turn lane. So if you look back in Street View, you'll see no parking signs on both sides of the street from this block. And then in Whittier, either a half to a full block as well. The signs have double arrows on it, but it doesn't actually go all the way to the block. So even though it's a change, I just wanted to point some of those things out. Let's see, did this change? Yeah, so in this block from Whitney to Woodside, that's the block that previously had parking, but then this existing bus stop always existed opposite Woodside, so some of that was restricted to the bus stop. But this is a new crosswalk that we had added. In terms of the back end of the driveway, I mean, it's a little bit, I definitely understand what they're saying because it pinches here, but in terms of the former condition, if it was a parking shoulder and a parked car were there, the parked car would block the view. of a driver seeing you back out, or you seeing them back out. So by having no parking there, it actually provides better sight lines. So in terms of the width, you might have less width, but you might have better sight lines if someone were to park there previously. So, I mean, that's generally for any driveway backing out into the street. So yeah, the parking that I was speaking of is right here, just beyond Lily Pond Lane. So from 409, which is this house with my cursor, you cross Woodside, passed by the bus stop, cross over Lilliput Lane, the path into the woods, and then the parking starts in front of Victory Park right there. So if people do have visitors in this area, the Victory Park seems to be an option, that parking on Winthrop Street right there, or some of these side streets, although most of them are private ways, I think they're currently unrestricted, meaning whoever has rights to them didn't necessarily restrict them yet.
[Alicia Hunt]: And I think we have 2 more items on the agenda and I actually never expected we're going to run this long I really have to leave by 7.45 to go pick up my son.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Him as a motion here for 7.20 2334 and then if we could. Here at what 2023 37 so it's on file the commissioners are OK with that.
[Tim McGivern]: Yes, I would include that motion. It was included.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Todd, anything else on that? So I appreciate it. we're going to move forward to the next item on agenda. Obviously, speaking on this, we move forward to the next item on agenda, 2023-38. Sorry, let me go back. Commissioner McGibbon has 2023-34 and 2023-37 for a motion to put on file and we need a Okay, we'll move on to 2023 38 daylight space on Medford Street from Broadway. Todd. You want to, you got to unmute yourself, Todd. Hear me now? Yeah.
[Todd Blake]: So the city of Somerville reached out to us. They have a program restricting parking in front of crosswalks to make them safer and more visible for users. So one of those was at the city line with Medford and Lagoon Square. So basically the proposal is to restrict parking for one space, roughly 25 feet. It says 20 on the agenda, but I think it's more like 25 feet prior to the crosswalk. At Broadway Somerville that free right turn. So, otherwise there's a traffic signal at that location so that you get a red light or a walk don't walk, but for that free right you do not get a walk don't walk so this would help with the visibility of that. I could bring up on street food really quickly. So, they proposed to put a no parking here to crosswalk on this existing no truck sign here. So, from this signpost to this crosswalk. And then I have a... Is that sign is 20 feet or 25 feet? I believe it's... I can get the exact measurement if you want to refer it that way, but I believe it's 25 to 27 feet. That's the sign to the crosswalk. Yes. So here's a little graphic. If we had the resource and time, we could paint this as well. But basically, that's what it would be like. The parking would continue to happen up to that sign. Realistically, practically, I don't think people park beyond that sign anyway. So it's just a formality. But it would help with visibility of this unsignalized portion of this intersection.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Thank you.
[Alicia Hunt]: commissioners. My instinct is to take Todd's recommendation on this. I don't see why we wouldn't. I certainly don't want people doing things that are unsafe.
[Todd Blake]: So it wouldn't impact any of this parking that you see in the screen here. Yeah, you can see nobody's really doing it anyway.
[Bob Dickinson]: So Todd, just to clarify, from that sign post right there to the corner, that's what we're looking at?
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, that no truck sign post, correct. OK, all the way around the corner. So you can see pretty much everyone parks off to that pole anyways. Right.
[Bob Dickinson]: I'd support that motion for it to be approved. I don't necessarily see it. It seems more like a safety issue than anything.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon?
[Tim McGivern]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Canaba?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes. Four nothing, this passes. Moving forward to the last item, 2023-39, parking changes. Todd, once again, First Salem Street and Fulton Street.
[Todd Blake]: Yeah, sorry, bear with me. Grabbing the documents. So there's actually a pedestrian incident at this crosswalk with an injury. We've gotten numerous complaints about the visibility of this crosswalk.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: So... While Todd's looking this up, I can speak. I was at the pedestrian collision. That happened here, it was a serious bodily injury collision. Sightline is not well, especially as you can see from this van, that's a good parking spot. Usually they're right up on this crosswalk, inches away from each side, even when you get on Fulton Street. They pull in quick because they're running into the market. I think it's Sunnyside Market, is that it? Right there at the top? And they pull in so fast, the sight line for the vehicles, for the pedestrians as well, is just almost inching out into the street. And that's what happened to this pedestrian. They stated that they were walking through. The driver said they never saw them. We had two parked vehicles that were probably within an inch that were cited for, you know, the collision that they were cited there to park too closely to intersection. So this is becoming the new standard.
[Todd Blake]: It's good. Yeah, so so in this direction is already a fire hydrant. So nobody should be parked there anyways. But unfortunately, people do park there in the sign. If we could clarify that with a single hour, but we've we've three marks and hatching. near this hydrant. We've added some cones. We've added DPW. Thanks to DPW, we've added some standard warning signs, actually flashing LED blinking signs. And we also hatch where it currently is restricted up to, and then where we're proposing tonight a little further, and then reallocated the parking to make sure, in our opinion, there's no parking loss with this change. So it's just trying to So basically, the intent is to hatch the area where the hydrant is, hatch this side approaching the crosswalk. Currently, that parking sign goes up to about here. So we're just asking to extend the restriction further so that we wouldn't take away a space. I would say we'd shift spaces down. I remeasured everything all the way to the next driveway. We believe we can maintain the five part. This only shows four, but there's actually five there. Across the street, there's one here, one here, and then over here with the hydrant and the no parking at a quarter, there's actually two. So there's four on this side and five on this side that would stay in the vicinity. So we're really only impacting like half a space, so it's not even a full space on Salem Street. to accomplish.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I think with the markings for this, I think the guidance for them to park in these spots, I think would be the most beneficial. Another complaint. The commission that we've received on this, Salem Street's been tough. As you guys know, for pedestrian collisions, we've had four in four years, less than four years, but the lighting is what everybody states is the issue we had one at Salem and Cherry, we had one at Salem and not since the obviously new Haines Square addition, but two at Salem and Cherry, one at Salem at Spring, and this one had a Salem at Fulton, but just to kind of bring it to light that that's kind of there.
[Todd Blake]: So this is what we've done so far, Sarge, is we hatched this, and by physically putting cones there, we're preventing people that scoff a lot from parking in front of the hydrant. And then Let me go back to the other quote. So this is basically what we're asking here. So right now, attached to that signpole, we want to go up to the front of that silver car with the restriction to get a longer distance, one full space prior to the crosswalk. That's what we're asking for today. So it's actually 37 feet from the corner or 22 feet to the crosswalk we're asking. Right now, it's about 10 to 15 feet from the crosswalk. So that will be the improvement of sight from there.
[Alicia Hunt]: Sorry, Todd, the way you did that, those images, they're not coming up big on our screen. We're just being a vile viewer.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I'm sorry, I'll try to fix that. Alicia, you're the one that needs to leave at 745.
[Alicia Hunt]: I know, but. Move approval. Yeah, I move approval, too.
[Bob Dickinson]: Yeah, I agree. You see safety issues, I think as long as they're vetted, I'm all for it. It's an incredibly dangerous street that I walk down all the time.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Motion for 10 for approval and seconded by Alicia.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, I'm now biking up that street.
[Tim McGivern]: We'll take a vote, but we should see if these people are here for something before we adjourn.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Well, yeah, we can take a vote and then go back to the other. We need a vote. Yep. Yes. Roll call vote.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGibbon?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski? Yes. Sergeant Canava? Yes.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Four nothing, it passes, and I believe we have one Original one before we roll call, just want to make sure that Sydney Goldberg, if you are here, either raise your hand or type in the chat notes. That was the only one that we had on. And if not, I don't believe she's here. We can table that if she's OK with that. OK. Yeah, we get a vote to table it, I think.
[Bob Dickinson]: I don't want to just add to the table.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: the October meeting that this gets off there, if not, we'll pull it off the table.
[Bob Dickinson]: Yeah, I'd support a motion to table it just October, and if she doesn't come, then we get rid of it.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I think Tim had already voted for that, but we'll add to the notes that we're tabling on that. Very good, thank you.
[Tim McGivern]: To be certain and removed if it doesn't show up.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, thank you. Motion to adjourn the meeting.
[Bob Dickinson]: Do we need to vote on that? Yeah, I think we need to vote on the movement.
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, the table for date certain and strike from the agenda if it's a no-show.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Okay, so we'll start with a vote. If somebody would like. They want to re-vote on that. It's a strike from no-show. Do you want to leave that? You already voted on it.
[Bob Dickinson]: Oh, we did?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: I don't think so. I think we voted to move it to the back. We didn't vote on it with... approval that if it strikes. So if you guys like to revote on that with approval that it would be on the next business agenda for October for the traffic meeting and then if it's not there, the table business will be removed.
[Bob Dickinson]: For purpose of clarity, can we just formally motion to date certain October meeting? Steve, you're making the motion and then Tim, you're seconding it?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Second. Great. Roll call. Who seconded? Seconded by Commissioner McGinnis. Steve initiated.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Commissioner McGiven? Yes. Commissioner Hunt? Yes. Commissioner Brzezinski?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Yes.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Canava?
[Todd Blake]: Yes. Motion to adjourn the meeting. Hold on, before we adjourn, I think- Did Sharon W. attend for a reason? I just wanted to clarify. Yeah, I just want to make sure that someone didn't miss something here.
[Tim McGivern]: Or if they did- I'll ask her to unmute and What did he say? Sharon, before we adjourn, did we forget something? Did we forget somebody?
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: We don't have anything else on the business, but Sharon, if you want to unmute and speak.
[Todd Blake]: In the chat, she said she received a letter today about this meeting.
[Tim McGivern]: OK. Well, unless she has something to say, then I think we should adjourn. Do we adjourn in a moment?
[SPEAKER_17]: Second.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Sharon, you're unmuted, so if not, we'll adjourn the meeting. Okay, Tim, you motion to adjourn and seconded by Commissioner Brzezinski?
[Tim McGivern]: I'll reverse.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Right. I'll reverse. Yeah, switch that. Seconded by Commissioner McGiven and set first by Commissioner Brzezinski. Those records are correct.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Okay, sorry motion by Steve second by commission. Okay, Commissioner given.
[Todd Blake]: So she's trying to speak. She read an email to the traffic to Alva, they got to this or something.
[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Okay, business key.
[Bob Dickinson]: Are we going to let her speak or no.
[Todd Blake]: Oh, she's been waiting three hours. She looks, I don't think she's there anymore. I can't hear you. I can't hear me. Right at 744. We can't hear her.
[Alicia Hunt]: She messaged some questions about the private ways up at Winford and Robertson and what if they were both restricted. So I don't know if you can see in the chat that I had sent her the link to the private ways. and that we don't regulate that at all, and that we can't do parking permits on it. So I was answering her in the chat, because it wasn't relevant to any of our motions. It was just information for her. She's one of the Winthrop Street residents.
[MCM00001829_SPEAKER_08]: Great. We are ready to adjourn. Sorry. Did we already vote? Yeah. Yes, yes was my vote.
[Alicia Hunt]: Yes, we all voted yes to adjourn.