MGNA: Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance

The next Green Line Extension Project Advisory Group meeting will be
held on Monday, September 15, at St. Clement’s High School (New
Parish Hall), 579 Boston Ave., Medford, from 4-6 PM. Meeting
directions are below my signature, and I will be sending out a
meeting agenda closer to the meeting date.

Please call or email me if you have any questions or require access
accommodations.

Thanks,

Regan Checchio
Public Affairs Manager
Regina Villa Associates
51 Franklin St., 4th floor
Boston, MA 02110
Ph: 617-357-5772 ext. 14
Fax: 617-357-8361
E-mail: rchecchio@reginavilla.com

DIRECTIONS:

St. Clements Parish High School is located at the intersection of
Warner St. and Boston Ave. Warner is the continuation of Harvard
Street on the other side of Boston Ave. The Advisory Group meeting
is in New Parish Hall, on the lower level, which you can enter from
the Warner St. main entrance (the sign next to the door says “St.
Clement’s Parish Schools”). The room is down a few steps.

The handicapped entrance is located in the walkway space between the
church and the school. It can be reached from Warner St. or from the
school parking lot. The doorway leads to an elevator, which goes to
the lower level (you will arrive in a hall outside of New Parish
Hall).

There is one handicapped parking space and there may be some spaces
available in the school’s parking lot by the time our meeting begins.

On street parking for non-residents is available on Boston Ave. and
on St.Clement’s Road but only on one side of each street, so please
read the signs to make sure you are not choosing resident parking.

Here is a google map of the location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8
<http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-
a&q=579+Boston+
Ave,+Medford,+MA+02155,+USA&z=16&iwloc=addr>
&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-
a&q=579+Boston+Ave,+Medford,+MA+02155,+USA&z=16&iwl
oc=addr

Nearby MBTA bus routes that serve the area (specifically PowderHouse
Square) include the 89, 94, and 80.

As always, we will be providing a microphone system for use
throughout the meeting.

As we noted in the last notice, Somerville Community Access
Television will be taping and broadcasting our Public Advisory Group
meetings.

Representatives of the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance on Tuesday night presented to the Medford City Council a petition signed by 1,008 Medford residents in support of a Route 16 station for the Green Line extension.

The Medford signatures represent almost half of the more than 2,100 that have been registered on the petition over the last nine weeks. Last week the petition was presented to Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn and to the Executive Office of Transportation, which is planning the Green Line extension and studying whether the final station on the line will be at College Avenue/Boston Avenue in Medford, or whether one additional station will be added at Route 16 on the Medford/Somerville line.

The MGNA supports a station at Route 16 because it will provide Green Line service to more than 9,000 people, including two environmental justice communities, within a half-mile walk who would not be similarly served by a station at College Avenue, about a mile away.

The Medford signatures represented residents from 220  different city streets, or about 35 percent. Click here to see a street-by-street breakdown of the signatures.

The Green Line petition remains open online and may be signed by clicking here.

Finally, the Medford Transcript website is conducting a poll on where readers think the Green Line extension should end in Medford. Cast your vote here.

Petition and Demographic Data Support Route 16 Station for Green Line Extension to Medford/Somerville

The Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance (MGNA) today presented state transportation leaders and local elected officials a citizen petition and a demographic report in support of extending the Green Line to Route 16 (Mystic Valley Parkway) on the Medford/Somerville line.

At today’s meeting of the Green Line Project Advisory Board, MGNA delivered a petition with 2,022 signatures stating support for extending the Green Line to Route 16.

In addition, MGNA presented census data analysis that showed a Route 16 station would put Green Line service within a half-mile walk of 9,116 residents of Medford, Somerville and Arlington who would not have such access if the extension were terminated at a College Avenue station at the intersection with Boston Avenue.

The MGNA report also pointed out that a Route 16 station would provide transit service within a half-mile walk of five environmental justice neighborhoods that would not be similarly served by a terminus station at College Avenue.

The Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) is currently evaluating the College Avenue/Boston Avenue site and Route 16 (Mystic Valley Parkway) as possible locations for the terminal stations. EOT is analyzing factors such as environmental impacts including air quality, right-of-way impacts, costs, and ridership projections. A decision could come as soon as September.

“The citizen petition and demographic data quantify MGNA’s position that a Green Line station at Route 16 has community support, and that it will help the extension project meet two of its most important objectives – improving air quality by providing better transit alternatives to car travel, and providing fair and equitable service to environmental justice communities,” MGNA said in a statement.

The petition signatures were collected online and in paper form over seven weeks, from June 5 to July 31, 2008. Petition signers added numerous comments in favor of a Route 16 station, particularly citing the need to improve public transportation options in the wake of record fuel costs.

“In today’s world of high gas prices, this addition could provide many of us with a cleaner, faster and simpler way of transportation. [It] would be nice to leave my car and walk to the T,” wrote Medford resident Rick Weir.

“The Green Line at Route 16 is an ideal location to be served by transit,” wrote Medford resident Roberta Cameron. “The site directly abuts around 250,000 square feet of existing office and retail space, as well as two affordable multifamily housing developments, with a substantial density of single and multifamily housing in Medford and Arlington, as well as a school all within close walking distance. This dense, mixed-use neighborhood would not be served at all by a station a half mile to a mile away.”

The Route 16 demographic data was analyzed by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst Benjamin Krepp and GIS research consultant Barbara Parmenter. Using 2000 U.S. Census data, the most recent available, they determined which portion of each census block group fell within prescribed distances, or buffer areas, of the Route 16 station location, then estimated the population within each buffer area.

By putting nearly 10,000 additional residents within a ten-minute walk of Green Line service, a Route 16 station increases the potential for the project to shift more person trips from autos to transit, and therefore to improve regional air quality in the corridor, a legal requirement that emerged from the Big Dig project.

And, a Route 16 station would help provide fair and equitable access to stations, ensuring that the project adheres to environmental justice principles that no segment of the population should be denied environmental benefits, or bear a disproportionate burden of the environmental impacts.

Click here to read the Petition Summary Report.

Click here to view all the petition signatures.

Click here to see a map showing the location of petition signers.

Click here to read the Route 16 Demographic Study report.