Single issue voter

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Hello,

Can someone tell me who caters least to families, children, and "no turn between 7-9 a.m." signs in the upcoming election?

Thanks!

Comments

Re: ;-)

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

Uh yeah, a kid got run over in front of my elementary school when the crossing guards were late. Andy Harris. He still has scars on his arms. Kids are hard to see and stupid and people are in a hurry in the mornings and often aren't looking. If it bothers you so much, move.

Re: ;-)

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

If it bothers you so much, move.

Do you run away from everything you don't like, or just encourage others to do so? Totes obnoxious.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I've nearly been run over three times, with a Walk signal all three times, in the past year. Generally it's some asshole on his cell phone ripping up Broadway. Doesn't happen often, but it happens enough.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I don't know that it'd do shit, to be honest. About half the streets around here are narrow as all hell.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Broadway is a weird one. I'm on it constantly -- it can be hard to see around trucks, honestly, and the walkways extend a foot or three past visibility lines.

Re: ;-)

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be running, because I would have done the research before I moved someplace. Somerville is a highly residential area with lots of families with kids. You complaining will not change the makeup of the town, nor will it change the attitudes of the rest of the people who live there. Nor do I think your caterwauling will have any affect on the school administrators who want to protect their student's safety. I think you're on the losing side of this battle, which is why I advised you to deal with it or find a new home.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Except, I make great time whenever I cut across side streets. I'll shave five, ten, even fifteen minutes off a commute, easy.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Lake street to route 2. Street connecting broadway and mass ave in arlington. Streets connecting broadway and powderhouse. The list goes on...

Re: ;-)

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Why would you assume I didn't conduct any research? I have great rent, a great home, and moved here specifically because of some wonderful aspects of the town. That's no reason to imply I should 'shut up' or 'just go away'.

You complaining will not change the makeup of the town

Traditionally, complaining and raising awareness are the main things that change a town.

nor will it change the attitudes of the rest of the people who live there.

I feel sort of bad that you don't believe in yourself enough to conceive being able to change someone's mind.

Nor do I think your caterwauling will have any affect on the school administrators who want to protect their student's safety.

Besides your disturbing mob mentality and passive aggressiveness, only one point remains to be made.

(http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w102/two_stabs/?action=view&current=tinyviolin.jpg)

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's really used in ways it shouldn't be.

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

What's so special about Somerville that it's worth the hassle of living here? Why not move closer to where you work and shave 30 minutes or more off of your commute?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

What really makes it worthwhile for me are the strong families and children.

Re: ;-)

[nuns.livejournal.com]

for example?

Re: ;-)

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

From the Urban Dictionary: Breeders (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%20BREEDERS)

I first learned it over 10 years ago in San Francisco, but I am using definition #4. I thought it was a fairly common and widely used term.

I am tired of having to deal with legislation favouring parents/children while those of us who choose not to reproduce end up being taxed for it.

Re: ;-)

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

From the Urban Dictionary: Breeders (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%20BREEDERS)

I first learned it over 10 years ago in San Francisco, but I am using definition #4. I thought it was a fairly common and widely used term.

By breaks I basically mean taxes; not just the tax cuts you get if you have children but also the fact that if legislation passes to fund something like an elementary school, people without children will have to pay as much of their taxes to fund it as people who have children...and you know, that just doesn't seem fair to me. People who drive pay for maintaining the roads (tolls, license fees, gas taxes), people who smoke or drink pay taxes on that; you don't see non-smokers or not-drinkers helping to pay the liquor and tobacco taxes, and yet, I have to vote for something that supports something I choose not to do.

*shrug* sorry. I'm just seeing the point of the OP and expanding upon it.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I've noticed it when they are blocked by eastbound traffic waiting at the light, and now the people trying to make the illegal left turn into the gas station are causing westbound traffic to back up into the intersection, which is why, I believe, the sign is there.

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, very clever. But seriously, it's not like Somerville is the cheapest location in the greater Boston area. It's not the cultural epicenter of Boston. So what's so special about being here that's worth spending an hour or more in your car every day?

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Then you've never seen the traffic congestion the people turning into that gas station cause, ruining commute times for everyone else.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

The worst example in the area has to be the right turn from Route 16 northbound to Whittemore Avenue, near Alewife. The Route 16/Mass Ave traffic light is a disaster, so turning onto Whittemore easily saves between 10 and 20 minutes.

Cambridge recently extended the no-right-turn hours to 3-7 pm (formerly 4-6 pm). Now things are much worse between 6 and 7 pm -- traffic backs up Route 16 onto Route 2 past the bowling alley.

When they ban the use of alternate routes, why can't they also try to fix the underlying problem on the main route?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU! That turn is the bane of my existence.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd prefer my kid to learn how to push a button and look both ways.

And then there are the drivers who don't stop for uncontrolled (no walk/don't walk lights) crosswalks, no matter how many people are in them ...

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Take the train to work?

I think a lot of drivers tend to miss the point that most of what hey see as "annoying" in terms of traffic engineering in Cambridge and Somerville is really just the city's attempts to make things easier and safer for pedestrians at the expense of drivers so as to encourage more people to walk or take public transit instead of driving in the first place. IMHO people who say that pedestrians should suck it up so that drivers can drive through the city faster are barking up the wrong tree/living in the wrong city.

Additionally, there is a definite finite number of cars per hour that all cities can "process" on their streets. Walking and public transit have no such limitation (or at least in the case of PT, it is so much higher than our current usage that it is not worthwhile to consider), so engineering more efficient roads is not really in the best interest of the politicians of cities like Somerville and Cambridge because they are essentially fighting a losing battle. Say you re-engineer things so that the roads can handle 10 percent more cars per hour, so then the driving population goes up by 10 percent, but achieving the next 10 percent increase in roadway efficiency is 10 times as expensive as the last 10 percent increase, so that approach isn't really financially sustainable.

In other words, if you don't like driving in the city, why not explore alternate modes of transportation?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

No one wants poor drivers dealt with more than myself. They ruin it for the rest of us by forcing legislators to make laws based on the very lowest common denominator.

Re: ;-)

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

more natural selection.

seriously, do kids parents really not teach them to look before crossing the street and to, uh, NOT play in traffic anymore?

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Cue comment from privileged resident with local job who doesn't understand trains don't run everywhere.