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Leiran Biton submitting comments re: #200639, a raised crosswalk at the West Somerville Neighborhood School.
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Official Text
To the Honorable Board:
I am writing to you to advocate for additional safety measures in the area around the West Somerville Neighborhood School. I live in Ward 7 at 1087 Broadway (near Teele Square), and the WSNS is my neighborhood school, where my daughter is in first grade. We love the school, and we love being able to walk the short distance between our home and school.
In the course of our daily trips to/from school, we have had several "close calls" with cars, especially in the evening at pickup from afterschool. As you know, at that hour, there are no crossing guards to assist children (and parents) home safely. Cars zoom through the intersections at Powderhouse and Curtis (or Powderhouse and North) and pass the school at very high speeds. I have been standing in the crosswalk in front of the school and been able to reach out and touch a car passing at greater than 30 miles per hour.
I understand that the Board of Aldermen is considering a proposal submitted by Ward 7 Alderman Ballantyne to discuss the possibility of installing a speed bump at this location. I think the idea would go a long way toward improving pedestrian safety in the WSNS area, and help prevent pedestrians from being hit in this high traffic area. Furthermore, I would welcome additional measures to calm traffic around the school, though I do not think these measures are currently in front of the Public Safety Committee. Other traffic calming measures could include:
• Installing a crosswalk and speed bump on Raymond Ave at the rear entrance to the school. Many children in the neighborhood cross at this location and it would help protect them to install a crosswalk at this location.
• Hire a crossing guard for Raymond & Curtis. Despite the raised street at this intersection, cars do not seem to stop for pedestrians crossing here.
• Install backing boards for western facing traffic lights in intersections around the WSNS area. Many of the western facing traffic signals, particularly the one at Broadway & Curtis & Holland (Teele Sq) are obscured during the morning commute due to sun glare. Drivers squint into the sun to try to see if they have a green light and sometimes don't see pedestrians crossing in the crosswalks. It seems like a simple fix like a backing board for these lights would greatly improve safety for this critical intersection.
I hope you will take some of these ideas into consideration as you prepare plans for improving the public safety and making investments to protect the citizens and children of Somerville.
Respectfully,
Leiran Biton