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Redo in the works for two JP thoroughfares
By adamg on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 9:11am
Rik Ahlberg reports on a recent community meeting about initial city planning for revamping Centre and South streets from Jackson Square to Forest Hills:
... There was lots of talk of "vision" for the street, but little discussion of what that vision could be. A number of people spoke up and said they'd like to see the street reclaimed for local users. And a clear theme throughout was to reprioritize the street for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit before cars. ...
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Comments
I like Rik's suggestions, but
if it's true that "... a clear theme throughout was to reprioritize the street for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit before cars.", they's a whole lotta people who need to get over themselves.
If one actually lives around there, one understands that those streets (north-south thoroughfares which have recently benefited from repaving) are just too important/highly used to discourage auto use. There is not enough capacity on other nearby routes to make up for less capacity on Centre/South.
wrong
a good chunk of the people I know in JP don't even have cars.
I'd argue that Centre & South are too important & highly used to encourage auto use.
Hipster theme park
That's probably because a good chunk of your friends are slackers with McJobs, buttless hipsters, and fixie trendwhores.
If we close Centre Street to traffic, we can make JP into a hipster theme park, with tours by trolley.
Look kids, there's a rare Hooded Tattooneck. They subsist principally on sanctimony and veggie burgers. Be careful not to approach their moral high ground; they're very territorial.
Once the brunch line disappears at Centre Street, and the Under-Spiced Cafe goes under, the hipsters will lose their primary sources of nourishment and wander off in packs to ravage unattended crudité platters and lick spilled beer off bar floors in desperation.
And then JP will turn into Kalamazoo. Rename Centre to Burdick, add more trash and crackheads, and voilá!
Ugh, here we go
Cue the self-righteous "community organizations" with rich landlords who use their stewardship of said organizations to drive self-serving changes. Don't kid yourself: all of this will be for the benefit of the big land-owners on Centre & South.
A couple of weeks ago at the dedication of a clock in JP Center, Mayor Menino announced that city would start a planning process to redesign Centre Street and South Street from Jackson Square to Forest Hills. The first meeting of this effort took place last week at the Curley School in JP,
Oh really? When did the Mayor bother to tell any of us about this meeting? You know, those of us who aren't fucking trust-fund brats?(which I recognize are a major portion of JP's population) You know, those of us who actually have to work for a living? I bet the meeting was just like the MBTA meeting to discuss the 39, which was held right smack in the middle of the afternoon...
Try again, Brett
The meeting was at 6 PM, publicized in the Gazette. on 21 November.
Was that time inconvenient for you? Were you busy taking candy from babies or berating girl scouts or something?
and the clock ceremony was
and the clock ceremony was on a saturday
Saturday?
Brett was busy making ugly faces down at the maternity ward.
6PM? How convenient.
AKA, when I get off work, along with a good chunk of the rest of the population?
Someone who doesn't work local to JP and gets off at 5:30 would be hard pressed to have shown up to that meeting on time.
brett
maybe they did that on pupose to you! does anyone else know you get out of work at 5:30? i smell a coverup!
My day officially ends at 5:30
But, my office doesn't hold it against me if I leave early to do something. Or I can make up the time by coming in early or staying later another day.
Wrong thing to go after somebody for
As somebody who used to work in Southborough (now Framingham), I agree with Brett that 6 p.m. is too early for a meeting if you really want to include everybody - especially in a city that's known for scheduling meetings to minimize public participation (although, in this case, no, I'm not sensing conspiracy, just a bit of sloppiness).
#39 bus meetings are now held in secrecy
First, the EOT tried to tell people what was, and was not allowed to be discussed at the meetings. Light rail restoration? Forbidden.
Then they brought out a rough proposal for improvements to the #39 and said they'd begin forming an advisory group of citizens to begin public discussions of EOT/MBTA proposals. This was in February.
Now they just meet in secret
I just love how any talk
I just love how any talk about Centre Street in JP makes everyone so nasty. People go totally bananas! I wonder what it is exactly. I have NEVER heard so much cry-baby "Die-yuppie-die" blathering as I hear when JP comes up on the bloggies. Though totally agree about the silly clock blessing. Whadda waste of money--what was it, 100,000 or something like that?
There are definitely conflicting "visions" for central JP, all of them driven by groups who take themselves way to seriously. There is the bunch who want it to be a kind of Northern European pedestrian mall, with emphasis on the "mall" part of it if they would only admit it. Recently the head of JP Main Streets was complianing about the garish sign at "Same Old Place Pizza". What does he want, another boring blue awning? I could go on and on about why I hate him for hating that sign.
The other group is composed of those who resent anyone who they decide is too rich and yuppified. I remember when I was in my 20s and was jealous of people with grown-up lives. I would probably hate the me I am today. But when you're in-it, you're just living and trying to make a few bucks so you don't end up in the poorhouse and along the way you pick up a couple pairs of pleated khakis and a Banana Republic shoulder bag and "poof", there you are, you're yuppie scum. A lot of people behave badly and are greedy and take up too much space and talk to loudly and have manners that are crude and inexcusable--and some of them are yuppies and some them aren't, but they are all bad people whatever they are. Or at least people who make a bad choice every once in awhile and that's pretty much every body.
Whit
Though totally agree about
Though totally agree about the silly clock blessing. Whadda waste of money--what was it, 100,000 or something like that?
I thought the bank paid for everything? If not, they've been severely misrepresenting.
Also, has anyone else noticed that it doesn't seem to keep time reliably? I've walked by it both when it had perfect time and was off by several hours.
I see little difference
I see little difference between the JP progressives who want to make Centre street a pedestrian/bike mall and the suburban denizens who don't want a rapid transit line extended to their town because they don't want the, ummm.. urban population invading their town. Local control gone mad. Centre street was an Indian trail south from the Shawmut peninsula, then a coach road to Dedham and Providence, then a horsecar line, then electric streetcar route, then a major auto route. It has never been the exclusive plaything of the locals. You live in the city, you get traffic.
I don't think Ive ever heard JP characterized that way
I mean, after all, the orange line is only a few blocks away. It just doesn't make sense. This isn't Arlington in the 80s.
Right on
Right on.
Whit