Vol. 3, No. 10
September 22, 2003
Contents
1) ELECTION NEWS
A) NO PRELIMINARY FOR ME, BUT HELP NEEDED
Since there are eight candidates for alderman at large, there will be no preliminary election to narrow the field in that race. My re-election campaign has deliberately kept a low public profile up to now in order to avoid confusing voters on this score. At this point we are gearing up for far more visibility - and we could sure use your help!
Re-election is never a foregone conclusion. In 1999, when there was another "open" at large seat, and another crowded field, a challenger tied with an incumbent, then won by a single vote and court appeal of disputed ballots. The very fact that up to four votes can be cast in the at-large race tends to produce close contests.
I need your help to keep at the front of this race. Put up a sign, send some "dear friend" cards, e.mail or call your friends and remind them to vote - you can make a big difference without investing more time than you have to spend. Please contact me if you are willing to do anything at all - I do appreciate your support.
B) WHAT ABOUT THE MAYOR'S RACE?
In answer to everyone who has asked, I am making no endorsements in Tuesday's mayoral preliminary. I do encourage all to vote. My advice is borrowed directly from the Dalai Lama's direction for all action: Listen, deliberate, and meditate on what you are doing.
2) TRANSPORTATION/DEVELOPMENT NEWS
A) RUTHERFORD OVERPASS COMING DOWN!
The Situation
Back in July, I got last-minute notice of a public meeting in Charlestown regarding the state's ultimatum that the City of Boston remove the Rutherford Avenue overpass before the end of 2003. The emergency closure of the overpass on June 2, 2002, has jammed up already heavy traffic on Broadway and Washington Street. The demolition will cause further traffic disruption, among other woes.
At that meeting, Boston also displayed a 'conceptual' design for the reconstruction of Sullivan Square. As might be expected, the design is heavy on vehicular traffic throughput and surface parking, and low on pedestrian accommodation or other amenities. It is my impression that its impacts on Somerville have not yet been fully thought through.
The Meeting
On Tuesday, September 30, 2003, there will be a community meeting on the actual overpass demolition - now anticipated to start in mid-October - at 7:00 p.m. at the Teamsters Local 25 Building, opposite the Schrafts Building in Sullivan Square, Charlestown. The meeting will address such topics as scheduling the demolition, traffic management, noise abatement, and dust control (the overpass, for instance, contains lead paint). All who will be affected by this project are encouraged to attend.
While it will probably receive scant attention in the midst of the demolition discussion, I would expect that the 'conceptual' design for the post-overpass Sullivan Square will be displayed for public comment as well.
B) SULLIVAN SQUARE OPPORTUNITY
The removal of the overpass and the necessity to reconfigure and reconstruct parts of Sullivan Square provides an unanticipated opportunity to improve Boston's neglected border, and Somerville's eastern portal. Sullivan Square is heavily used not only by private motor vehicles, but also by users of the Orange Line and the many buses that connect with it. Although blighted by elevated I-93, the area is dazzlingly close to Boston, and surrounded by many underutilized parcels of land.
Sullivan Square provides an opportunity for the Commonwealth, the MBTA, Boston, and Somerville to lead a collaborative effort to plan for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the urban core. Touted by Commonwealth Development Chief Doug Foy at the September 16, 2003 Talk Transit meeting, Transit Oriented Development - higher density, mixed-use development near mass transit stations - has been put forth as the model Smart Growth technique for Metropolitan Boston. In Sullivan Square, where the MBTA itself owns so much potentially available land, as well as air rights, TOD could also be the kind of engine of revenue generation that the MBTA's Mike Mulhern was pleading for at the same Talk Transit meeting.
Assembly Square redevelopment seems momentarily stuck. The Orange Line stop is already built at Sullivan Square; let's start there. Make no mistake about it: What happens in Sullivan Square now can hurt Somerville, or can help Somerville.
C) PERSPECTIVE ON ASSEMBLY SQUARE
Many of us were optimistic when the well-regarded Consensus Building Institute (CBI) undertook earlier this year to evaluate whether the controversy over Assembly Square could fruitfully be brought to mediation. The Conflict Assessment Report prepared by CBI was a thorough and painstaking analysis of the thinking of a broad spectrum of Assembly Square stakeholders. Unfortunately, the matter did not proceed to mediation; as reported in the August 2003 edition of The Somerville News, "it was Taurus Development who stepped away from the table, leading to the end of current efforts."
Since CBI's Conflict Assessment Report is now a public document, I have posted on my website, so that anyone interested in the Assembly Square controversy can read it. As taxpayers, we've paid for both the report and the refusal of a major landowner to proceed to mediation. Assembly Square is a dauntingly complex subject, but the Conflict Assessment provides some illuminating perspectives not easily gleaned from what has been written on the subject in the press.
copyright 2003 Denise Provost
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