2009-07-11

Follow Up (Parking)

I just wanted to follow up on the parking petition I know a lot of you signed, as well as the petition that the Somerville Theatre had out in their lobby with separate wording. I just recieved a letter from the city that the Traffic Board had voted 2-0 to deny taking any action on the petitions, for reasons stated in attached letters.

Basically, out of the 55 signatures I collected, 15 weren't actually voters, so I had 40, 50 is the required amount for action to be taken. Out of the "out of towners" petition I submitted, 5 people actually were residents (I give them credit for checking) obviously, 5 is not 50. And out of the almost 100 on the petition from the Somerville Theatre..40 were valid (I'll let you do the math).

I was concerned that out of the 55 signatures, a few might not be valid, I guess the big lesson is to combine your efforts. That was 85 signatures total that would have gotten us a hearing, but they refused to combine the totals, even though they were submitted together, which is only understandable. The point was the same but the wording was different.

I'm sorry that I'm not bringing better news, and that your efforts weren't better rewarded if you did come out and sign the petition. Thank you for trying, hopefully the newly formed parking committee that includes a few local business managers and owners can do more than I could, even though even members of the committee are assuming its formation was more of a "shut up" tactic than anything.

Hollywood Express closing Davis location

Sad. Just sad. And greedy. According to an employee the rent situation is "out of control" therefore Hollywood Express is merging the Davis Sq. stock into their Porter Sq. store. The Davis location will be closed as of July 27. If you have an account and go in before the closing day, you can get a coupon for 10 free rentals to be used by (I believe) September at the Porter location only. Yet another local store pushed out.

bike parade?

About 30 minutes ago, a bunch of people on bikes came down Cedar St.

It was an interesting scene...music was playing, and there were tall bikes in the mix. The leader had some sort of disco ball.

It was fun to watch, and piqued my curiosity. Does anyone know more about this?

Edit: Thanks for all of the speedy responses. Based on the links, I agree that this was SCUL. I'll keep an eye out for the mission report!