The Select Board on Monday, June 3, voted to support a series of unrelated issues — Summer Street crosswalk safety, an extended lease for the Arlington Children’s Center (ACC), a name change for the Senior Center, a renewed deal for Lime bicycles and pride events. Consider each (all votes were 4-0; Joseph Curro Jr. was absent):
- Crosswalk: The board’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) recommended a no-parking area on the eastbound side of Summer Street between 40 feet before and 5 feet after the crosswalk on Summer Street at Victoria Road/Buzzell Field. The TAC is continuing to investigate the feasibility and desirability of moving the crosswalk from the east side of the intersection to the west side.
A Columbia Road resident expressed concern about safety vehicles parked for games at Buzzell Field on the eastbound approach to the crosswalk obscure the visibility of pedestrians trying to cross. Because Summer Street curves to the right approaching the crosswalk, a TAC memo says, pedestrians stepping into the crosswalk from the field have parked cars to their immediate left, blocking their view of oncoming traffic and drivers’ views of them trying to cross.
- Former Parmenter School space: The board backed requests to extend a lease for Arlington Children’s Center and issue a request for proposals to lease ground-floor space in the former International School of Boston.
The ACC lease would continue from July 1 through June 30, 2024. Mathew Dolan, ACC executive director, proposed through the term an annual capital contribution equal to 60 cents per square foot, or $5,179.20, payable monthly at the rate of $431.60.
Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine said two groups have expressed interest in the ground floor — Food Link, whose new Summer Street headquarters won’t be ready, as well ACC.
Board Chair Diane Mahon raised concerns about the traffic bottleneck on Academy at Irving caused, in part, by vehicles parked in spaces longer than the 15 minutes indicated. Dolan showed up later in the meeting to express support for improving the intersection.
- New name: To follow a national trend aiming to make more residents feel welcome, Chapdelaine said, the building at Academy and Maple, which was once the high school and became the Multipurpose Arlington Senior Center in the early 1980s, would be renamed the Arlington Community Center. The manager said the Redevelopment Board had approved the change.
An April 4 memo to Jenny Raitt, planning director, from Christine Bongiorno, health and human services director, asked the Redevelopment Board for the name change as part of the planned renovation in fiscal 2020, to take effect once the building has reopened. She wrote:
“This name change represents a movement across the country to shift away from terminology such as senior and elder, towards more age‐friendly and inclusive terminology.”
The proposal was brought to both the Council on Aging Board as well as the Arlington Seniors Association, she wrote.
See sidebar from the Arlington Senior Association.
- Lime: The one-year extension to its contract includes a provision calling for all e-bikes. A May 28 memo from Scott Mullen, Lime’s director of expansion, Northeast, says e-bikes are much more popular. “Our pedal assist e-bikes make bike share accessible to a larger portion of the population and allow riders to tackle hills more easily and arrive to their destination with less sweat.”
For the 2019 season, Lime is instituting a “demand-based supply” model — meaning Lime will match actual demand with the appropriate number of bicycles based on trips per vehicle per day metrics. The target is two such trips a day. Higher use would add bicycles; lower use the opposite.
The current minimum is 50 bicycles, and the maximum is 300. Should that change, Lime would contact the town for further discussion.
Of 15 communities under the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission master contract, two are not renewing, Mullen said.
- Pride: Board Vice Chair Dan Dunn read a proclamation declaring June pride month in town, part of a nationwide effort to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.
View of name-changingMalcolm Hamilton, president of the Arlington Seniors Association, was asked for comment about the name change. He wrote:
“The Arlington Seniors Association, Inc. was not asked to ‘vote’ on this. I attend meetings of a committee working on a project to raise funds to furnish the upcoming renovated Senior Center.
“I voiced concern that to change the name at this point would confuse residents about what is being renovated and what we are raising funds to furnish.
“What we now call the Senior Center occupies two floors of the old Central School, or, according to a sign erected in the mid-1980s, the ‘Multi-Purpose Senior Center.’ It was my belief that the sign referred only to the two-floor senior center, not the whole building.
“Following the renovation, it will still occupy two floors of the five-floor building, which is to be known as the Arlington Community Center. The building will house the Council on Aging, the business office of the Arlington Seniors Association, and programming and senior services space on the ground and first floors.
“Floors three and four are the Arlington Center for the Arts, and the second floor will house the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) and a couple of other small departments or organizations. (HHS will move from its current location on the ground floor to the second floor during the renovation.)”
In a month marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York, a watershed in gay history, the town has painted the Mass. Ave. crosswalk in front of Town Hall and illuminated Town Hall in rainbow colors.
Acting Chief Juliann Flaherty spoke, saying she has chosen to remain liaison with Rainbow Commission, despite overseeing the force.
In other business, Howard Muise of TAC asked for no vote on proposed traffic calming on Herbert Road at the entrance to Magnolia Park. The group had asked for the speed limit to be reduced to 20 mph, but that has not yet been implemented. Once it is, he said the area would be monitored, likely this summer.
TAC is not recommending a speed table, which would cost $100,000.
The following requests were approved, 4-0:
- Special (one-day) beer-and-wine license, 6/8/19 at Robbins Memorial Town Hall for a Private Event, Daniel Markarian
- Special (one-day) beer-and-wine licens, 6/15/19 at Whittemore-Robbins House for a Private Event, Lisa Deutsch
- Special (one-day) beer-and-wine licens, 6/15/19 at Robbins Memorial Town Hall for a Private Event Babak Momeni
- Special (one-day) all-alcohol license, 6/22/19 at Whittemore-Robbins House for a Private Event, Jodi Kurtz
- Appointment of new election workers: (1) Theresa DeVito, 1145 Mass. Ave., U, Pct. 21; (2) Deborah Gallagher, 16 Shelley Road, U, Pct. 18; (3) Gary Horowitz, 172 Charlton St., D, Pct. 18
- Hackney/Taxi Business Operator’s Permit Renewal, Boston Ride, Abdullahi Magan
- Arlington Cultural Council, Susan Larson (term to expire 6/30/2022), an arts professional.
During the citizens’ open forum, the board heard:
- Christian Klein, Friends of Robbins Farm Park, report there would be no July Fourth events again this year. They were put off last year because the fields were undergoing renovation. This year, the group hoped to resume events, but new grass is not growing as it should. The group looked into alternatives, but there was not enough time to organize them.
- Lenard Diggins asked why the June 11 election was to be held on a Tuesday when other elections occur on Saturdays. Dunn noted a recommendation of an election study commission, and Mahon said deadlines required by the state School Building Authority gave the town a “very tight time frame.”
This news summary was published Tuesday, June 4, 2019.
