Jan 31 Special MBTA Meeting

The "Government Subcommittee" of the Watertown Council (chaired by Angie Kounelis) is holding a meeting on Tuesday, January 31 to talk about the changes in the MBTA routes. It's purpose will be to decide on whether the Council should submit a letter about the proposed cuts and, if so, what it should say. Do note: this meeting is being organized by the Watertown Town Council, not the MBTA. Details follow:

Date: January 31
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: Richard E. Mastrangelo Council Chamber

Address:
149 Main Street
Administration Building
Watertown, MA 02472

Contact: 617-972-6470
Email: valerie papas

http://www.ci.watertown.ma.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=9099&month=1&year=2012&day=31&calType=0

Please share this with anybody who you think may be effected by the the MBTA proposed changes to service in Watertown.

MassDOT WeMove Information

The following message comes from Trey Wadsworth, Project Manager for MassDOT:

In 2009, MassDOT’s youMove Massachusetts project team met with people across the Commonwealth to learn about the transportation challenges individuals faced on a daily basis. From this effort, we developed a list of ten core themes: statements of fundamental importance that articulate the concerns, needs, and aspirations of Massachusetts residents for their transportation network.

I am writing to you because, as part of weMove Massachusetts (the next step in this initiative), we'd like to hear in more detail about the transportation experiences and needs of a wide range of stakeholders. We are collecting these transportation experiences and ideas to incorporate them in our goals and implementation of transportation reform. This information is being used to develop a system of priorities for transportation system investments.

I hope you will share this [blog post] and information about this effort with your colleagues and stakeholders you represent. We hope a large number of participants will visit the youMove Massachusetts website and fill out our online questionnaire (available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese). Individuals may also use our interactive map (available in Spanish and English) to pinpoint a specific issue or need.

If you need a print copy of the questionnaire, please contact Rachel Hammerman, Regina Villa Associates, rhammerman@reginavilla.com, and she will mail it to you. Please specify the language you need.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions about this project.

Thank you,
Trey Wadsworth
Project Manager
Massachusetts Department of Transportation – MassDOT
Office of Transportation Planning
trey.wadsworth@state.ma.us
www.massdot.state.ma.us/wemove

For transportation news and updates visit MassDOT at our website: www.mass.gov/massdot, blog: www.mass.gov/blog/transportation, or follow MassDOT on twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot

The Watertown Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee hopes that you'll take some time to do the online questionnaire (available in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese)!

Jan 26 Bicycle Winter Workshop -- FREE

The following announcement comes from Price Armstrong of MassBike!

The City of Newton is sponsoring a free MassBike winter workshop next Thursday, and it would be much appreciated if you could help spread the word. Attached is a flyer, and you can see below for details.

Where: Newton City Hall, Rm 222
1000 Commonwealth Ave
Newton, MA

When: Thursday, January 26, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

Contact Info: price@massbike.org, or call 617-542-2453.

All are welcome to attend this free event!

Urban Trend: Parklets

The new trend in urban design is "parklets".

According to Wikipedia, a parklets is "a small urban park, often created by replacing several under-utilized parallel parking spots with a patio, planters, trees, benches, café tables with chairs, fountain(s), artwork, sculptures and/or bicycle parking."

An article in the San Francisco Gate recently drew attention to these miniature creations. Click here to be redirected to that article, but here's a highlight which illustrates how much parklets are being embraced in the the Golden Gate City.

There are 22 of these little parks sprinkled throughout San Francisco, the most recent of which is being built at Devil's Teeth Baking Co. on Noriega Street between 45th and 46th avenues in the Sunset District. A recent request by the city for more proposals elicited 31 applications, showing the growing support for parklets - and the likelihood that more will be added soon.

Thanks go to Watertown Senior Planner, Gideon Schreiber, for sharing this link with the WBPC supporters.