Dear Neighbors and Business Leaders in West Roxbury:

         As you may know, if you have read any of the accounts in the local papers, I am one of the folks spearheading a petition drive to get Centre Street returned to its original two-lane width in the interests of pedestrian safety and in restoring Centre to its earlier, more shoppable downtown roots.

        Ironically, since Centre was taken from two to four lanes in the mid-seventies, with a resultant loss of pedestrian comfort and retail success, other successful commercial districts have moved in the opposite direction. All the City’s “Main Streets” shopping areas—Brighton, Hyde Park, Dorchester, Roslindale, Roxbury—are two lane, as are the shopping districts of Wellesley, Newton, Dedham, Needham, Harvard Street in Brookline and Cambridge’s Central Square.

        Despite the terrible spring weather, our petition effort has garnered more than 100 signatories from civic and business leaders, school principals, clergy, judges, architects, engineers, and others from all walks of West Roxbury. That reception led me to invite "experts" from WalkBoston, the pedestrian advocacy group, and the traffic project director from the Town of Brookline to address the May 13 meeting of the Highland Civic Assn., which I also head. (I want to point out that this is not a Highland Civic agenda, although members of Highland are involved; supporters of the petition and traffic calming come from all areas of West Roxbury.)

        Among the points made that night by WalkBoston's Dorothea Hass and Bill Smith, the project manager for Harvard and Beacon Streets’ narrowing projects, were the following:

* The best way to improve pedestrian safety is to SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC;

* For safe pedestrian movement, traffic on Centre should be slowed to 20 MILES PER HOUR;

* Centre Street would be safer for pedestrians if it were TWO, NOT FOUR, lanes;

* Businesses with DRIVE THROUGH WINDOWS DETRACT from the objective of building a walkable shopping center;

* Streets can be narrowed by low-budget moves like removing traffic lanes and repainting stripes to give the optical illusion of narrowed streets and/or by the addition of medians or small traffic islands;

* DRIVERS also SLOW speeds WHEN THEY HAVE FREQUENT STOPS. While reducing the number of traveling lanes is the best way to slow traffic, there are other traffic calming techniques which work to slow traffic including:

* the addition of a number of pedestrian activated traffic signals that     would not only slow traffic but also enable pedestrians to safely cross Centre Street and patronize stores on both sides of the street.

* Hass and Smith also advocated the more generous use of pedestrian amenities—benches, trash receptacles, bike racks, outdoor café tables—to invite people to spend time on the sidewalks, and the use of more appropriate (shorter) and closely spaced street lighting and tree plantings to signal that Centre is a place for pedestrians where cars need to slow down.

* Neckdowns (curb extensions into the street) should be retained along Centre Street to enhance pedestrian visibility to drivers. IT IS NOT TRUE that neckdowns eat up parking spaces. It is not legal to park within 20 feet of an intersection.

* The second most important change that would help West Roxbury retailing, they told me privately, would be the addition of parking meters along Centre Street and in the two city-owned lots. (This last comment, very important to retail businesses, did not come up in the meeting because no retailers were present.)

        I don't know if you have any interest in this subject. If you like to walk, shop, eat, or conduct business on Centre Street, I'd appreciate the opportunity to discuss traffic calming options with you and show you some pertinent research findings.

        This type of informative discussion should take place in a public forum, but some representatives of the City of Boston have repeatedly and rudely refused to explain their devotion to the status quo on Centre Street, or to allow residents and retailers to participate in decisions which affect our daily lives.  The City has also implemented street furniture, bus shelters, highway-height lighting and Centre Street tree planting without community feedback.

         We would very much appreciate your signature on our petition, and your possible help in lobbying for change with our City Council representatives, State Senator Marian Walsh and Rep. Mike Rush. If you have any questions about the above information, or if you wish to get involved in our petition and research effort, please do not hesitate to call me after Sunday, June 1, at 617-323-2896 or e-mail me at gwynne.morgan@verizon.net  Thanks for your thoughtful consideration of this issue.

Best regards,

Gwynne Morgan for a Walkable West Roxbury