Action Alert: Make Your Voice Heard At The Allston I-90 Community Meeting!

From Livable Streets:

Join us in advocating for a vision of the Allston I-90 Interchange that puts the community first.

Attend tomorrow night’s community-led meeting to tell state and local officials that we need a design that prioritizes:

• Reconnecting Allston with better biking and walking infrastructure
• Transit-centered mobility through West Station and a north-south bus priority corridor
• Enhanced, accessible parkland along the Charles River

The stakes couldn’t be higher. This project has the opportunity to dramatically reshape 100+ acres of land in a critical location, create much needed green space, and make way for long-desired transit.

Will you join LivableStreets, the I-90 Task Force, and other advocates in having your voice heard?

Event details:
Allston I-90 Community-led Meeting
Tuesday, February 7th, 6:30 – 8 pm
@ Jackson-Mann Community Center

For more information, check out our project page and the People’s Pike Facebook group. MassDOT’s latest project proposal, which was presented in December, is available here.

We hope to see you there!

LivableStreets Alliance
http://www.livablestreets.info/

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More Shared Priority Lanes Installed On Brighton Ave!

Greg Hum (Contributor) plays drums on his bike, gets people together for really big midnight and monthly bike rides, and is easily distracted by shiny things and fried potatoes. He shares stories and more on his personal bike blog, The Humble Cyclist.
Connect with Greg on  Twitter | YouTube 
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Just a little while ago, Jasmine Laietmark snagged these shots of city workers laying down the thermoplastic for more priority use lanes on Brighton Ave. in Allston!

Priority lanes are as Globe Reporter Martine Powers called “Sharrows on Steroids.” Kind of like shared lane use markings you’ve seen around town but with dotted lines to indicate to bicyclists and drivers where bicycles safely belong (in the middle of the car lane)

Looks like these go from Packard’s Corner to Harvard Ave. And if these look familiar, it’s be because you may have noticed these same priority lane markers farther down Brighton Ave. on the between Harvard Ave. and Cambridge St. since they were installed a few months ago).

New Brghtn ave. sharrows keep you safe from doorzone.Comm./Hunt. Ave needs these. @bikeboston @universalhub pic.twitter.com/chfj5SkbiY

— Greg Hum (@thehum) November 20, 2013

On my first ride down the priority bike lanes, I immediately noticed more cars changing lanes to pass me rather than queuing up behind me and riding up close to my tail. It felt less stressful and a lot safer to bike on Brighton Ave. which was both strange and a huge relief.

According to Boston Bikes plan for priority lanes on Brighton Ave., we’re still
in Phase 2 of this plan. During Phase 3 of this plan this coming Fall, these dotted priority bike lanes will get painted green.

This is pretty exciting since this type of shared priority lane is an idea born from local Northeastern Civil Engineering Professor Peter Furth and Boston is still one of the first cities to put it into practice.

And I’m not just excited for Boston being one step closer to a complete network of bicycle infrastructure that one day I’ll get to ride on – I’m also excited for the thousands of college students who will inevitably return to Allston in the fall will have a much safer bike commute up and down Brighton Ave. than I once did.

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Public Meeting On Cambridge Street Overpass In Allston

If you have ever ridden over this beast you know it could be better, see below for details on how you can make your voice heard!

from the email, thanks Paola for the tip!

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You may have heard that a group of community advocates in Allston have been mobilizing to help improve the Cambridge Street Overpass, which is scheduled for MassDOT work. A public hearing is scheduled on Tuesday, November 19th at 6pm at the Jackson Mann Community Center. Please share this with your subscribers and help us get signatures and encourage submission of separate comments demanding better pedestrian and cycling facilities in our neighborhood.  You can find our letter and more information about the project and how to get involved here: www.tinyurl.com/CambridgeStreet

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New Apartments In Allston Just For Cyclists? (And Pedestrians Who Take The T)

Bostinno reports:

Apartment buildings are designed for cars. More specifically, these buildings are designed for parking cars: 40 available parking spots means 40 correlating apartments, and so on. But what if parking was removed from the equation entirely? How would that change the landscape and functionality of a building, or a neighborhood, or a city?

Architect Sebastian Mariscal has been working on plans for an 18,000-square-foot apartment building in Allston that doesn’t have on-site parking, either in a lot or underground, flying in the face of city codes requiring a specific ratio of parking spots to tenants. In fact, the building plans to ban cars entirely.

And the real kicker? Mariscal plans to require tenants to sign a special addendum to the lease promising that they don’t own a car, or at least won’t be bringing one to the neighborhood.

Amazing. Requirement to have cars holding back your ability to design the kinds of houses people want to live in? Fuck em! Build an apartment complex for people who want to live car free. Study after study shows that today’s modern city dwellers are increasingly turning away from the car, this looks like a great place for those people to live. It is also a much more efficient use of space, why waste all that money/space building parking spaces for cars people rarely use? Instead pack in some more living space for the actual human residents. I hope this gets built.

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Police Identify Man Killed In Allston

From The BPD Website:

The victim has been identified as 21 year old Chung-Wei Yang.

The facts and circumstances surrounding the accident are as follows:

On November 12, 2012 at 6:36pm officers from D-14 (Brighton) responded to a motor vehicle accident involving a bicyclist at Brighton Avenue and Harvard Avenues.

Upon arrival officers found a seriously injured male victim. EMS transported the 21 year old victim to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Update: Preliminary investigation suggests an MBTA bus did come in contact with the victim. There is no indication that the driver or any of the passengers on the bus knew anyone was struck. At this time, no charges have been filed

The Boston Police Department is continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident. Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide Detectives (617) 343-4470.

Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1(800) 494-TIPS or texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of those who wish to remain anonymous.

I am going to wait until more information comes out before I pass judgement, but I am very suspicious. I can only hope that these incidents of cyclists being killed by large vehicles leads to some serious change in the way things are done in this town. The killing must stop.

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