Fwd: MBTA

[Michael Halle]

For everyone to read....

--Mike

Begin forwarded message:

From: <KNA...@COMCAST.NET>

Subject: MBTA

Date: March 7, 2019 at 10:31:20 AM EST

To: "John Pelletier" <john.f.p...@gmail.com>

Cc: "Donna Murphy" <dmu...@decern.com>, "Jayne Colino" <jco...@newtonma.gov>, "Ludwik Szymanski" <Ludwik.S...@childrens.harvard.edu>, "Michael Halle" <m...@halle.us>, "Lucia Dolan" <dolan...@gmail.com>, "Andreae Downs" <andrea...@yahoo.com>, "Alicia Bowman" <alicia...@comcast.net>

John,

I am writing to you as an individual and not as a representative of the Council on Aging. The COA has not had the chance to discuss the proposed MBTA changes.

I will not be able to attend the TAG meeting on 3/14. As a member of the NewCAL Executive Building Committee, I need to attend a community meeting that same evening.

I am weighing in (again) on the MBTA proposal. I am not as familiar with all of the MBTA proposed changes, but I have become very aware of the potential elimination of the Route # 60 bus stop at the Chestnut Hill Mall/Chestnut Hill Towers. I have a few thoughts.

1. I don't know if it is normal practice but any proposed changes in MBTA routes must take into consideration the needs of seniors in Newton. As you know, Newton has committed to being an age-friendly city and has been formally accepted into the World Health Organization/AARP Age-friendly Communities Network. WHO & AARP have defined "eight domains of livability" for communities to work on. One of these domains is Transportation and Mobility. The Council on Aging along with the Department of Senior Services are the leaders in our Newton Age-friendly initiative. The concept is what is good for seniors is good for everyone.

2. A perfect example of this concept is the proposed elimination of the #60 bus stop at the Mall at Chestnut Hill/Towers of Chestnut Hill where I live. You have heard from my neighbor Ludwik Szymanski who raises important issues. I talked with Ludwik who uses this stop frequently. Over the years, he has observed who uses this stop. He will be collecting data by interviewing people at the bus stop to verify his observations. There seem to be at least six categories of people:
- older people (like Ludwik) who are very active but don't want to drive into the city and have to park;
- young professionals who are headed to work in the medical areas and who often have young children with them who are going to day care sites;
- people with disabilities who are unable to drive;
- workers at the Chestnut Hill and Wegman's mall who are often people of color and some whose English skills may be limited;
- people who work as personal assistants to people who live in the Towers; and
- people who use the bus to make a convenient grocery shopping circuit.

Ludwik will share his data when he finishes the collection.

3. Important and reasonable questions about how much time the re-routing would save has been questioned by a number of people who live at the Towers. The actual time savings (if any) must be weighed against the potential detriments to those who use this bus stop and who rely on it for jobs, mobility, and .

4. The MBTA may say that not enough people are using this stop. One reason for this is that the official schedule which can be viewed on-line does not include morning hours. When I tried to call the MBTA about this several times, the response was that the bus doesn't stop there in the morning, which is not true. It does have a schedule but it is not posted. I and others have asked for the schedule to be updated but it never has.

Closing this bus stop and rerouting to very inconvenient or even potentially dangerous locations could have a sever impact on all of these people. This particular issue should be shared with the Mayor.

In any discussions with the MBTA thesissues must be raised. Because you are a member of both the TAG group and the head of the Council on Aging's Transportation/Mobility Domain Action Team, you are in a very good position to do this. I am happy to talk with you more about these issues. I am sure that Ludwik would be happy to meet with you also.

Marian