**Standard not exactly Davis but close enough warning**
For those of you who live along Beacon St. in Somerville, bike commute on it, or go to any of the businesses along there this is EXTREMELY important to read:Apparently the plan to create a bike track the whole way down Beacon St. includes getting rid of ALL the parking on the even side of Beacon St. As someone who commutes by bike and car equally to get around here, I don't think getting rid of half the parking on the street is the answer. Honestly, just a good repave job would make it a lot safer for both bikers and cars since it's a fairly wide street to begin with and dodging the pot holes made biking on it dangerous...not the absence of a bike track.
This is going to make an already not-that-great parking situation exponentially worse (especially come street cleaning days) and hurt the businesses along there (think Zoe's, Cafe Rustica, The Laundromat, Petsi's, Pho n' Rice, Thai Hut, RF's, etc.) Most of the side streets along the part of Beacon near Porter are tiny little private ways that will call up Pat in a heartbeat to tow you.
A lot of these businesses relied on the 2hr parking on Beacon and having it disappear does not spell good news. As a resident who keeps a car, I already find myself fighting for spaces thanks to never-ending construction and the influx of residents with cars and their visitors during the school year.
So if you're not cool with this or want to learn more about the plan, stop by a town meeting on Monday, Oct 29th 7:30 at Cafe Rustica with the alderman to go over the details. If you can't make the meeting and you're not in favor of this, you can sign a petition at the Cafe or one of the other business along Beacon.
Apparently the meeting is no longer open to the Public but to Beacon St. Businesses and residents only [most likely do to space limitations] - if you disagree with the proposal you can still stop by Rustica to sign the petition during their business hours. I believe they're closed on the 26th this week, but will be open on Saturday the 27th as usual.
Updates:View the plan for the proposed reconfiguration here: http://somervillebikes.org/documents/2011-11%20Interdepartmental%20mtg%20Nov%202011_FINAL.pdfApproximately 75 2hr and residential parking spaces along the even side of Beacon will be eliminated because of this plan.
****IMPORTANT READ: The owner of the Beacon Street Laundromat elaborates on how this will affect business in the neighborhood and how poorly the city and Bike Committee have been about communicating with businesses and residents about the plans for the cycle tracks:
http://davis-square.livejournal.com/3035976.html?thread=33457224#t33457224 ***![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
colorgarden.livejournal.com
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}