Letters to the Editor

A letter from Larry Link

In his article in the July / August Newsletter, Traffic Jam! TAC Raises Transportation Issues,
Chip Gaysunas presented a good description of the Transportation Advisory Committee’s (TAC) work. I appreciate the many efforts of volunteers serving on boards and committees, and TAC is an important one for Belmont. I served on the TAC for almost 5 years and on the HS/MS Traffic Task Force, which addressed challenging topics, accommodated many points of view, and had minuscule funding for equipment and infrastructure.

A few traffic-related questions and comments occurred to me after reading Chip’s article:

• Where can residents find the current “prioritization” list for, call it, “The Top 10” most unsafe or problematic areas in Belmont?
  
• On that list, what is the plan and timing to address the safety deficiency?
  
• When I served, we had public conversation at nearly every meeting and often allowed prolonged discussion with residents about issues or designs, to fully understand the concerns and residents’ ideas for solutions. Why make it seem that Public Input was just invented?
• Leonard/Concord/School/Goden corridor/side street congestion continues to worsen, not improve; this will be significantly exacerbated with the Planning Department’s projected 500 units of housing and hoped-for 1,200 employees in the Belmont Center. What is TAC/Engineering really doing to mitigate this congestion?
• Why is the extensive Heavy Truck traffic aspect (traversing to/from Watertown and Waltham) missing from the White Street summary?
• Finally, if the Committee’s charge is to make recommendations to the Select Board, but everything TAC does is “under the direction of the Town Engineer,” does TAC have the independence to get things done?

There are about five major “projects” I identified and documented several times over the past three years that may finally be “underway” with Chip’s mention of the TAC task forces. These include the School Speed Zone signage/maximized placement distances, Special Speed Zones, visible and working School signals, cyclist sharrows on key/school corridors, and removal of all “30 MPH” signs unless DOT specifically refuses to do so after written request. Let’s publicize that list and set some dates for completion. I’ll help!

Respectfully, Larry Link
49 Orchard Street
TM Precinct 1
Member, Comprehensive Capital Budget Committee

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From Susan Harris 

I always learn a lot from the Belmont Citizens Forum and appreciate all the hard work that goes into it.

I especially enjoyed the article about the McClean development but would like to make one small correction. Olmstead Drive is not an access road for either side of the Woodlands development. All Woodlands automobile access is from Mill St. 

Thank you,

Susan Harris

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From Belmont Rising High School Students

Dear Belmont citizens,

We are 8th graders from Belmont working on a civic action project, and we have an idea that we want to advocate for change in our communities. Our names are Rohin, Alex, and Manex. Our idea is to install more bike lanes in Belmont, and we have acknowledged the benefits and problems it solves, while also considering the downsides and obstacles. We have copied our teacher on this email, Ms. Metter.

Installing bike lanes has a huge impact on fighting global warming because it promotes more biking throughout the community and, in turn, reduces the leading factor of air pollution in Massachusetts (CO2 emissions from cars). It also significantly reduces the number of car crashes in cities and towns, helping keep the safety of the community members and letting them freely bike around. We have exact statistics in our attached infographic below that we hope you take a few minutes of your time to look at. 

So, we ask you to look at Belmont’s  free open space and imagine a town with more bike lanes. If you consider this to be a good idea for the community, we hope that you take our plea into account and add more spaces. So, as we have researched, your main focus is on open spaces in town, so we ask you to look at those open spaces and try to fit in more bike lanes for the community.

We thank you for listening to us on this issue. Because of the reasons we have stated above, we hope that you take a look at our infographic and consider using more open space in the town for bike paths around Belmont.

We send a big thank you for your time and consideration, 

Rohin, Manex, and Alex

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From a Boston University Professor

Hello,

I am a professor at Boston University working to improve early detection of Lyme disease following a tick bite. We are currently seeking volunteers in the Boston area for a clinical study who have recently been bitten by a tick or developed a Lyme disease rash.

Because your members spend significant time outdoors, we thought this study may be relevant to your community and could help improve the diagnosis of Lyme disease for future patients. Would you be willing to circulate the Institutional Review Board-approved study flyer to your members via your newsletter, email list, social media channels, or other communications? Qualified participants will receive a $50 gift card.

The poster can be shared as-is, requiring no editing or additional effort from your team. If you are able to help, we would be very grateful for your support. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best regards,

Alexander A. Green

Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering Department, Biological Design Center
Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, & Biochemistry Program
Boston University

Email: aagreen@bu.edu

Website: https://alexgreenlab.org