The Davis Square Community

Joan Puglia http://joanforward7.org/
Katjana Ballantyne http://www.katjana.org/
Bob Trane -No Current Website- Cache of 2007 website: http://portfolio.dfresh.org/bobtrane.org/index.html

The Patch did profiles of each of them:
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/election-in-ward-7-katjana-ballantyne
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/election-in-ward-7-joan-whitney-puglia
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/election-in-ward-7-robert-trane

From:

ron_newman

Hi. I took the liberty of repeating this information in a new post, to make sure everyone sees it.

From:

The new polling place is the old polling place ;) The VNA down Alewife just after the gas stations but before Boston ave.

From:

That's a terrible location, very far from most of 7-3. I wonder why they switched it? The West Somerville Neighborhood School was much more convenient.

From:

ron_newman

Looking at the ward and precinct map, WSNS is also 'very far from most of 7-3' ... just at the opposite extreme.

From:

Yes, but it's the end where most of the people live. Very few residents are in that little tail of Somerville, so moving the polling place increases the travel distance for probably 85% of the voters.

From:

The ideal spot would be about half way down north st. but since there are no municipal or even commercial buildings there we really do only have two choices in this ward. While I don't have the voter rolls to know for sure this area has in general a lot less registered voters than one might think. Many of the houses between Curtis and North st. are occupied by out of state people that don't vote here anyway. I was told that my street has 18 registered voters several years ago and I would guess that number has shrunk since then.

From:

ron_newman

I wonder if the North Street housing project might have a public assembly or community room that could be used for this purpose. Ciampa Manor is used this way in Ward 6, as is the Mystic housing project activity center in Ward 4.

Edited Date: 2011-09-11 01:16 pm (UTC)

From:

That location is P2.

From:

ron_newman

I have occasionally heard of instances where a polling place is outside of its precinct for reasons of convenience.

From:

Maybe so but its still at an extreme end of the precinct. If the location is based on geography then as I mentioned we really don't have good central location anywhere around here. If it is based on the number of registered voters in proximity I would guess that the VNA might be best, since as I mentioned earlier the area off of Curtis has a large population of seasonal non-residents.

From:

erlala.livejournal.com

I actually called 311 a couple of weeks ago to complain when I got a postcard about the change. I live at the other end of 7-3, and google maps says it's about .7 miles (walking). That's not a huge distance, but since I don't drive, that's almost a mile-and-a-half walk roundtrip (since it's not the direction I would be going to get to or from work). Not to mention if it's raining, it would be rather unpleasant. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a bus or other public transportation along there or if it didn't require walking a long distance along 16, but alas...

The woman I spoke to at the election division told me that the alderman is the one who decides where the voting location is, so Bob Trane is to blame. The woman I spoke to agreed that it was an awful location, too. I've been meaning to contact Bob Trane directly to complain. The Powder House spot may have been on the opposite side, but my sense is that it is the more densely populated side (but I may be wrong. It would be nice, though, if they could find somewhere in the middle.

From:

Oh? Bob Trane picks the voting locations? Then this move doesn't surprise me at all. He's very good at getting is elderly supporters out to vote for him, so moving one of the precincts to a nursing home makes perfect sense, even if it means a much longer walk for others in the precinct. After all, those voters might prefer other candidates.

From:

elements.livejournal.com

Wow. I had no idea he had that kind of power. Talk about an unfair incumbent advantage!

The one good thing about this change then: it means Trane is actually scared.

From:

ron_newman

This form should tell you where your polling place is. Also, here's a list of polling places.

Edited Date: 2011-09-09 03:30 pm (UTC)

From:

Thanks for all the information--I thought it was weird to change the polling place so close to the election!

From:

antimony.livejournal.com

In general, www.wheredoivotema.com is always a good bet. I don't know if they have updated Ward 7 yet, because it's a by-address lookup and I don't have a ward 7 address to throw in, but I expect they would.

From:

ron_newman

I entered '45 Gordon St', which is not the address of anyone I know, just one I found by trial and error. It says that the polling place is Visiting Nurses' Assoc, 405 Alewife Brook Parkway, which I think is the new correct location.

Here in Somerville we've also got http://www.somervillema.gov/residents/address-lookup , which will tell you not just your polling place, but also who all of your local and state elected representatives are, as well as your trash pickup and street sweeping days.

Edited Date: 2011-09-11 12:09 pm (UTC)

From:

xuth.livejournal.com

I wish there were a better way of getting this information out. Calling someone telling them that a polling place has moved or (worse) changed to a later date is one of the oldest dirty tricks in the book for disenfranchising voters.

The problem is that I don't know a better way.

From:

Isn't that place practically, if nor technically, in Medford? It's so out of the way! I don't think there are even sidewalks on much of the Parkway up there.

From:

Truth. I just moved to the Parkway and I am astonished at how many areas there are with absolutely no accessible pedestrian or bike paths. I get honked at all the time when I bike it, but I literally have no other option half the time. I contacted the Somerville traffic people about at least putting in a sidewalk to cross the very busy traffic circle at Powder House (which is right next to the Clarendon Hill projects that are chock full of kids, and it makes me so nervous to see those kids crossing the busy parkway without sidewalks), and they just said the Parkway falls under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation and I'd have to contact them. I emailed back to say that since it would cross Powder House it should still be within Somerville, but got no response. I'm definitely taking the sidewalk issue to DCR though. There is no bus, no bike path, and no sidewalks going down half the Parkway, and I can't see a reason why.

From:

I tried to bike with the kids along 16, and sometimes sidewalks on both sides just inexplicably end.

From:

ron_newman

I'm a bit confused here, as there is a new very wide sidewalk/bike path along the west side of the Parkway, all the way from Broadway to Mystic Valley Parkway. I bike on this rather than on 16 itself. Beyond Mystic Valley Parkway, the path continues but is much narrower and in poor condition. Where is the sidewalk totally missing?

Edited Date: 2011-09-11 12:03 pm (UTC)

From:

This was in the summer, but you bike on one side, then somewhere the sidewalk ends. Then when they were doing construction on Dilboy field, no sidewalk either (haven't checked to see of they put any in). Plus where there are sidewalks, they are often just part of gas stations pavement, etc. They just end with no warning, and then you either have to walk or try to cross the parkway. We live on Powder House, and I would love to send my kids across 16 to play soccer, but it's just too terrifying a thought to send them in the one crosswalk close to the Blvd. The light is super short, even for grownups crossing, and I shudder to think what would happen if he dropped the ball in the road and ran after it before thinking.

From:

ron_newman

The path is definitely paved all the way in front of Dilboy Field. It crosses a couple of driveways for the Dilboy parking lot but is otherwise uninterrupted.

From:

I live right at Powder House, and yes, the lack of crosswalks across the Parkway is terrifying there. The sort-of-rotary at the intersection of Powder House and the Parkway has no signage as far as I have noticed, so people zip through there extremely fast, not realizing there's a big curve coming up. The people who live above me said they've witnessed at least 2 accidents there in the last few years from people who hydroplane as they go around it, or are just going too fast to make the turn.

From:

Looking at Google Maps, there is just a Yield sign at that sort-of-rotary. Nothing to actually show you the weirdness that the road is about to turn into.

From:

Ah, I go the opposite way. I work near Fresh Pond. There's no paved sidewalk on the west side and no sidewalk at all on the east side for at least part of the block or two between Broadway and Woodstock St, and definitely nothing between Mass Ave and the onramp to the bike path just before Alewife Station. It's possible to walk/bike down Columbus Ave and Seagrave Rd instead of along the Parkway, but there too there are no sidewalks, and those are narrow streets that I'd be wary of walking in with a kid. So the only ways to get from Mass Ave to Alewife Station along the Parkway are to travel in the street or on the grass.

I am glad I have ways around it (usually I just take residential streets the whole way instead, which doesn't add much extra distance for me personally), but I don't know how people with accessibility issues are expected to deal with it and there really should be sidewalks. There is plenty of empty space for them, and there aren't even trees in those areas that they'd have to cut down, just grass to pave over.

From:

ron_newman

I know that the DCR has plans to close both of these gaps, but I don't know the status of this project. I had hoped it would already be finished by now, but they don't seem to have made much progress since this time last year.

The sidewalk between Broadway and Woodstock street is supposed to be widened and cantilevered over the brook, and a new stone-dust path or boardwalk is supposed to connect from the end of Lafayette St. in Arlington. to the Minuteman path.

From:

That is awesome to know, thank you! I was going to go take a look at those areas when I had a chance to figure out what to say in an email to them, but if it's already planned I can hold out for a while.

From:

ron_newman

No, no, you should still email them and ask why these projects are taking so long and when they expect to finish them. (And let me know what reply you get.)

From: