As an organization committed to the future of West Roxbury, we feel that the issue of Centre Street is too important not to have a public discourse about it. Therefore, we would like to correct inaccuracies contained in the Transcript editorial entitled "Centre St. needs to broaden" in the June 24 issue.
 
     More than 300 West Roxbury businesses and residents signed a petition over a year ago asking the city to reduce the number of lanes on Centre Street and implement other traffic-calming measures. Among that number were 71 businesses and landlords, more than the 36 of whom favored retention of the current four-lane format, in a survey conducted by Main Streets in winter 2002 and frequently quoted by representatives of the city. In October 2003, some 150 residents turned up at a community-sponsored meeting to urge the Boston Transportation Department to table its reconstruction plan until other alternatives for the street could be fully explored. Those in attendance stated unequivocally that pedestrian safety and restoration of a walkable, commercially viable neighborhood center were their main priorities.
 
     In spite of the large number of residents requesting a moratorium, their requests have been ignored by the BTD and most local officials.
 
     The Transcript calls the current four- and five-lane Centre Street configuration a "strength" of West Roxbury, enabling "customers to get in and out fairly painlessly." In point of fact, at both ends of the West Roxbury commercial district - the Route 109 link and the Holy Name Rotary - the feeder roads are one lane in each direction. The irony is that while vehicles can speed up between those points, becoming hazards to pedestrians and each other in the heart of our community, they still have to slow down to leave.
 
     Comparing Centre Street in West Roxbury to Needham Street in Newton is misleading and represents a grave misconception about the nature of Centre Street. Needham Street is a feeder to routes 128 and 9 which serves a series of small strip shopping centers, drive-through eateries and big-box retailers. It is NOT a neighborhood shopping center.
 
     Our fear is that West Roxbury's commercial district, with its current four- and five-lane configuration, is becoming more and more like Needham Street. One needs only to look at the "improvements" on Spring and Centre streets that the city completed last year to understand the roots of that fear. There are entire blocks with no trees to shade pedestrians and new businesses that resemble those found on major arteries such as Needham Street and Route 1. We do not want Centre Street to become a feeder to Route 1 and Route 128.
 
     Successful commercial districts are prosperous because they keep shoppers in stores and in the shopping district. The antiquated automobile-centered street design from the 1970s led to Centre Street's decline and is hardly its "strength."
 
     Think about the successful neighborhood commercial districts in which you shop: Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, South Street in Roslindale, Washington Street in Brighton, Mass. Avenue in Cambridge, Harvard Street in Brookline. Do customers "get in and out fairly painlessly?" Do they want to get in and out fast? Do the retailers along those streets want customers to move through quickly, or do they want them to linger long enough to make impulse purchases and perhaps stop for lunch?
 
     These other commercial streets are successful precisely because people do not drive through them quickly. These streets (all with fewer than four lanes; the last three the result of lane reductions or "road diets") all acknowledge that they are more than a roadway; they are also the cultural and social centers of their communities.
 
     Central to the debate about Centre Street is a vision of West Roxbury's commercial district. The important question to answer is "Do you view Centre Street as a major artery or do you view Centre Street as a neighborhood shopping street?" We can't have it both ways.
 
     The view of Centre Street as a major arterial is vehicle-centered. It focuses on moving large numbers of vehicles, quickly. It means a greater number of lanes to cross on foot, minimum-width sidewalks, minimum neck-downs to protect pedestrians waiting to cross the street or to board public transportation, narrow parking bays that require car doors to open into a travel lane, no bicycle lanes and inadequate storage for shoveled snow. This is the Boston Transportation Department's vision, endorsed in the Transcript's June 24 editorial.
 
     The vision Walkable West Roxbury endorses, that of a neighborhood shopping street, balances the needs of all users with slower, more efficiently moving traffic; widened sidewalks with room for side-by-side walkers, benches, trees, street art, and outdoor cafes; adequate neck-downs to protect those who wait to cross the street or board buses; fewer lanes to cross from one side of the street to the other; parking bays that permit car doors to open into a safe zone; bicycle lanes; and adequate storage for shoveled snow.
 
     Walkable West Roxbury's nationally known transportation consultant, Cranston "Chan" Rogers, feels that this holistic approach can move vehicular traffic efficiently if exclusive left-turn signals are added at major intersections and curbside parking is enforced by parking officers or meters. Unfortunately, neither of these recommendations is included in the BTD's current plan.
 
     What is your vision for Centre Street? Major artery or neighborhood center? Please join Walkable West Roxbury in asking for a moratorium on all construction until the options for the street can be fully discussed and evaluated, beginning with a conversation about the goals of the community. Contact our Web site, www.walkablewestroxbury.org, for information on modern transportation design options and a contact list for elected officials.
 
     (Written by Virginia Gass, Fredericka Harvey, William J. Golden, Charles Landraitis, Gwynne Morgan, Sally Maguire Muspratt and Raymond Porfilio for Walkable West Roxbury.)