planning Archives

CODIFYING A NEW CURB PHILOSOPHY

City proposes new ways of looking at street usage (Somerville Wire) – After two years of data collection and outreach to the community, the City has concluded its Citywide Parking and Curb Use Study. The research team has issued a final report summarizing findings and recommendations for developing “an effective,

LINDA PINKOW October 26, 2022

SPEAK YOUR MIND: BROADWAY BUS LANES, NOV. 9, 6 P.M.

Public forum at the Somerville Media Center main studio, opponents and proponents encouraged to participate! In the three years since the City of Somerville installed dedicated bus lanes on Broadway, they have gotten both cheers and jeers from residents, business owners, and commuters passing through the area. Local stakeholders from

SOMERVILLE WIRE STAFF October 12, 2022

Somerville residents participate in 90 Washington design workshop. Photo by Molly Farrar.

CITY HOLDS DESIGN WORKSHOP TO GET INPUT ON PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING SITE PLAN

Participants use color-coded Lego pieces to suggest housing, stores, business and nonprofit offices, labs, medical/healthcare facilities, common areas, or green spaces for 90 Washington (Somerville Wire) – The City of Somerville went beyond Zoom listening and traditional public meetings last Thursday at a Lego design workshop organized to help understand

MOLLY FARRAR August 9, 2022

Draft City of Somerville Draft Bike Network Vision. Image courtesy of the City of Somerville, Mass.

COMPREHENSIVE BICYCLE NETWORK PLANNED

Streets throughout Somerville to be designated “Neighborways” with reduced vehicle speeds (Somerville Wire) – The City is currently planning a broad new system of bicycle routes throughout Somerville. The preliminary plans, which are being vetted in small pop-ups around the city this spring and summer, would add more separated bike

LINDA PINKOW June 28, 2022

Aerial View of 90 Washington St site courtesy of the City of Somerville

NEIGHBORS SOUND OFF ON PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING PLANS

Mayor announces “pause” in design process, seeking more community input (Somerville Wire) – Committed to siting a new police and fire complex at 90 Washington St., the City has nevertheless paused the design process for the new building. “We put down our pencils. The design of the building is on

LINDA PINKOW June 1, 2022

OPINION: GIVE US 100 DAYS TO PLAN FOR 100 YEARS

“Last month, the Planning Division released a 138-page plan, nominally produced by consultants, but heavily influenced by planning staff, that was somehow worse than the draft they had been entrusted with eleven months earlier.” By Mystic View Task Force, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, Green and Open Somerville, and Union Square

SEVERAL AUTHORS November 9, 2021

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WHOM?

“What is really critical is that community members have a voice in shaping the direction of what gets developed in our underdeveloped areas of Somerville.”

DIEGO MARCANO December 11, 2019

SOME THOUGHTS ON TRANSPORTATION POLICY

It was vexing to watch Bird fans that clearly hadn’t even bothered to read the article in question—let alone my broad and deep back catalog—attack me as some kind of car-loving anti-environmental reactionary in the service of flogging their hipster transportation fetish du jour.

JASON PRAMAS August 16, 2018

‘WALK THE TALK’

Mayor Walsh needs to act faster to mitigate regional global warming threats

JASON PRAMAS June 13, 2018

CITY ON A HILL

Global warming will flood Boston. Why not move the state capital to Worcester? Many small American cities have boosterish metro research organizations that look like a cross between a public policy outfit and a chamber of commerce, and the Bay State’s second biggest urban area is no exception. The

JASON PRAMAS May 23, 2018