Dear City Council members,
Ahead of this afternoons meeting I want to express my preference for option number three for Middle avenue. As a decade long former resident lived on Middle avenue in one of the multi-family housing units with three small children, I value very much bicycle safety as well as pedestrian safety.
My children were regular bikers to Oak Knoll and the place where I felt most concerned for their safety was at the Western end of the street at the intersection by Olive. I also thought that coming back along the southern side of the street when passing parked cars was a safety issue in the afternoon.
I generally didnt feel unsafe for myself or my kids outsiders of this and actually see it as problematic to remove all of the parking. For those residents, which I realize is a small number, that live along Middle in multi-family units, there is insufficient parking for most if not all. Ive seen neighbors use this parking outside on the street as a way to switch cars. And I personally need to use it when I had small children (multiple at the same time) in strollers and my parking was blocked. And Ive had friends with small children in strollers visit and need parking nearby. Ive also been injured and needed to use the parking on the street when my parking was blocked. I can think about other situations such as having a handicapped visitor or an elderly visitor, where parking on the street could be pretty necessary. Having lived here gave me this perspective. Im not sure its a perspective that has been widely heard so Im sharing it in case my other neighbors who still do live there have not shared a similar perspective.
When this project first started I was still living on Middle and can vouch that there was not a lot of awareness for this project. I cant speak for the last year but previous to that there was a lack of notification and information.
I would agree on taking out the South side parking on Middle. And I agree with a lowered speed limit and raised sidewalks for more precautions for pedestrians and bikers... As I have seen many cars blow through crosswalks even when people were inside them.
I would argue however that we come up with different solutions for parking in general.
I also agree that the backup parking spaces at Nealon are hazardous. In these instances I would argue that slanted parking spaces before parallel be explored. Because at least with a slanted parking space you can see behind at whats coming at you better. Also since this parking has recently been redone during pandemic not that long ago it feels like redoing it in such a short time is a bad use of town funding. This should have been considered before redoing the parking the first time around in my opinion.
Its a little late to make landlords do more for parking for their tenants in the apartment buildings, but it may be something to consider if the town wants to make it a safer space for pedestrians.
Another factor to consider is that just taking away parking zones will not stop the amount of cars that need to park and so the side streets will need to rethink their parking situations as well. The side streets could become more difficult to bike along because of the increased parking, and so biking lanes, and traffic flow may need to be rethought/reimagined. We may have ideas in mind but not the infrastructure yet.
With increased housing in the area on the horizon these side streets may see more traffic and parks may see more park-goers that need parking, which may lead to a bigger demand in parking. This is yet another reason I am against taking away all parking and will only support option #3 and more thoughtfulness in general with regards to the citys streets and planning for the future and for safety.
Thank you
