HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-05-WALKS-min
Sidewalk Committee Meeting Minutes
November 5, 2007
Present: Marianne Lazarus, Olga Guttag, Meg Lotz, Francine Stieglitz, Jeanne Krieger,
Richard Canale, Judy Crocker, Lucy Fletcher-Jones, Sue Ellen Briggs and Chairman
Jerry Van Hook
The minutes of the October meeting were approved.
Jeanne will research the process of how a sidewalk moves forward from an idea to an
actual paved path.
Olga met with the Fiske Condominium assoc. Parents are diving into the Fiske Condo
development to drop off children in the morning. Parents are also parking there on private
property, sometimes blocking driveways and going to the school. Fiske Condo put up a
fence to reduce foot traffic and car traffic in the area. Olga will be working with the
Fiske PTA to educate parents on how to be safe drivers and conscientious in their parking
habits. This is a problem in other neighborhoods also.
Olga will contact the architect working on the access to Fiske school and ask him to
contact the disability commission to ask for a representative to work on and review
access to the school.
The path from Wisteria Lane to the Fiske School was discussed next. Olga is working on
the process of moving the easement. She will approach the owners of the property.
Judy reported on the situation at several of the schools. At Harrington school the cross
signal at the intersection of Maple and Lowell St needs to be longer. A parent at
Harrington has emailed everyone to try to get this addressed. Judy brings it up here to
alert everyone to this need.
At Estabrook School the buses are dropping off students on Robinson Rd behind the
school. This procedure will not work when snow or ice is on the road because of the
steep grade of the road. The traffic pattern is being reviewed here.
The traffic patterns at several schools are a problem. Clarke and Estabrook have had near
misses. Judy would like to have a meeting of school principals, the superintendent, and
the police to discuss traffic patterns and issues.
Car counts at the elementary schools in the first week of October were:
110 cars at Harrington
120 cars at Bowman, Bridge and Hastings schools
190 cars at Estabrook
Fiske did not do car counts. Their SRTS program has dissolved.
Judy also reported that repair of the bridge connecting Clarke school to their fields is
being discussed.
Judy had posters and tally sheets ready for the next walk day November 7. Students will
receive a yellow feather for riding the bus and a red feather for walking. These feathers
will decorate a large turkey. There are more cars at the schools and fewer buses this year.
Jerry is hopeful that next year communication and implementation of the busing program
will be better.
Marianne reported on the pedestrian conference she attended in September. 85% of
people hit by cars traveling at 40 MPH are killed compared to 5% of those hit by cars
traveling at 20MPH. At the intersection of Woburn St and Mass Ave there have been 5
bike accidents. One suggestion was to make the intersection 90 degrees, however this is
part of the historical district. Another idea is to have access to the bike path behind
Muzzy field or the senior center. Several ideas to slow car traffic and improve the safety
of pedestrians were talked. Crosswalks can be raised to increase awareness of them and
roads can be narrowed at the crossings so pedestrians spend less time in the street.
Richard pointed out that in planning there are compromises. A balance needs to be met
between the needs of cars and pedestrians.
Richard reported that several Lexington residents attended the Moving Together
Conference in Boston in October.
Jerry reported that Hartwell Ave is striped for bikes. Walkers are using the lane. This
lane starts at the Minuteman bike path and goes south. The north end of Hartwell was not
striped because of heavier traffic.
Respectfully submitted by Sue Ellen Briggs 11/27/07.