Taking a Ding for the Team

My first ticket. I parked for more than two hours on the east side of Green Street. T'was a fair call.

And you know what, I paid the fine and now park legally on Prince Place. I'm now motivated to keep the streets clear for short-term parkers.

Keep the Connector

I'm a bit late with this, but I suspect the City Council will be discussing the proposal to connect Moseley Woods and Maudslay at Monday's meeting.

Some background. At the last council meeting, the body approved a request from the city's planning department to use $45,000 in CPA funds to analyze and possibly design a trail connecting our two cherished woods.

The trail would run under the new Route 95 bridge and presumably would be connected somehow to the walkway/bikeway running above over the Merrimack River.

I thought this was a fantastic idea the moment I read it in the Daily News a few weeks back.

As it turned out, my wife and I hiked under the bridge a month or so ago during a walk in Moseley. We had designs on climbing the other side when we realized we wouldn’t be able to get back over easily, so we abandoned the effort and stayed on the eastern side of the highway.

So I can see how the project would make sense. A riverfront trail connecting the two parks would be a fantastic addition to our city’s trails, and the connection to Route 95 would be truly unique (once the new Whittier Bridge was built.) This would be yet another feature to enable our community to stand out.

I was surprised to see the idea met with some opposition in the city council. Councilors Tom Jones and Brian Derrivan raised the principal concerns. (They would ultimately be joined by Steve Hutcheson and Tom O’Brien in voting against the grant.)

Jones’ opened up questioning whether the money might be better spent building out the South End rail trail, and it was a good point. But the city’s planning head Andrew Port said the South End trail is important, but its pieces are largely in place, enabling the city to act on its own timeline.

The opportunity to consider building a trail connecting Moseley and Maudslay is tied to the plans to replace the Whittier Bridge. If the city wants to do it, it’s got to decide now or else a chance might be lost.

Point. Counterpoint.

Then the arguments against began centering on public safety. In short, councilors are concerned that creating a public space so far removed from … well .. everything will invite less than virtuous people to gather and do less than virtuous things.

It was actually an interesting discussion, one worth watching. Go over to Ed Cameron’s blog. He sets the whole thing up nicely.

So where are we? The council approved the request, but now it may reconsider the vote as two councilors who voted yes – Kathleen O’Connor Ives and Bob Cronin - asked that the item be brought back for another vote. During the meeting. Ives at least twice asked why the proposal couldn’t be referred to committee when questions came up about what abutting entities (the Moseley trustees and the water department) were consulted about the idea. I’m not sure what Cronin’s concerns are but I’d guess they’re in line with Jones and Derrivan’s.

Ed Cameron is openly soliciting feedback from voters, so here’s mine.

We’ve got an opportunity to add a truly unique walking and biking experience to our very walkable city (as the Masked Preservationist has noted in recent spot-on posts.) A trail connecting two parks with a bridge spanning the Merrimack would be a great addition, even greater if it ultimately connected with more trails on the other side of the river.

Is public safety a concern? Sure, a little bit. But it’s a concern everywhere and at all time. If we let such matters dictate what we do and don’t do we’d never try anything. We’d never have a rail trail. Hell, we’d never even have the MBTA station. (I recall critics wondering if the extension of the commuter rail would bring Big City crime to Newburyport.)

These concerns aren’t as far-fetched (although I thought Jones was reaching by invoking the scary – yet very singular – axe attack in Salisbury) but they’re not big enough to derail a worthwhile project like this one.

I'll be interested in hearing what the abutting parties have to say, but if no legitimate roadblocks are erected I hope the council acts on this out of hope and opportunity, not fear.

Will the School Project Be An Issue?

I'm still ramping up our campaign coverage here at the blog, but I did want to toss one quick question out there.  A few folks have identified the school building project as a huge issue in this fall's election, but I disagree.

Is there ANY candidate - and I'm referring to the only race in town, Councilor-at-Large - who is running a promise to vote AGAINST this project? I haven't head any yet, but it's still early in the season. I'd be surprised if anyone took that stance.

I agree this will be a tough campaign in the spring. I'm optimistic, and I think most people will be receptive to the idea, assuming nothing outlandish happens. But I know strange things happen once the curtain on the voting booth closes.

We should remember that the last debt exclusion question in 2008 nearly passed, and that was with very little campaigning by the proponents except for then Mayor John Moak. At the time, Moak blamed the state election laws for limiting the scope of the campaign.

I fault the state incredibly," Moak said, saying his hands were tied by campaign guidelines that prohibited him from sending out a mailer or letter to households explaining the question and detailing the proposal.
The city was also prohibited from including a summary with the question on the ballot, breaking down what a "yes" or "no" vote would mean.
"I can tell you that 60 people didn't know what this was about," Moak said last night, standing in the City Hall foyer. "Do you know how many people would have wanted a summary?"

I still don't understand what the issue was but I'm hopeful that if the school folks apply themselves they can get this done.

We need a new school.