How should decisions be made in Cambridge? Who deserves a voice in these choices? On April 7, the City Council approved a brief policy order saying “That the city manager and appropriate staff move forward with Option 4 to reopen Garden Street to two-way traffic while maintaining separated bike lanes,” introduced by Paul Toner. This pushed for changing the design he came up with for the part of Garden Street between Huron and Concord avenues. The vote was tight-5-4-and it went against what experts and public input had supported for the current setup. Instead of healing divisions in our neighborhood, it made them worse. It means tearing out, at taxpayer cost, the design installed just 2.5 years ago that added separated bike lanes and turned the road into one-way car traffic so parking and loading could stay (because there isn’t enough space on this road for two-way car traffic plus parking plus bike lanes).
What really should be left to traffic engineers who understand road safety and how networks work ended up being taken over by politicians pushing their own agendas. That’s decision-making at its worst. How did we get here?
Community involvement
The design now in place was created back in 2022 after four community meetings (May 24; July 12; Aug. 9; and Sept. 20). City staff asked us what we thought mattered most. They showed options at each meeting that changed based on what people said. The main concerns from neighbors were keeping parking spots and making sure bike lanes were safe.
Right after these changes went live in November 2022, complaints started coming in fast. Folks said nearby side streets were getting too much extra traffic spilling over onto them. The city responded with three listening sessions (Nov. 9; Nov. 29; Jan. 3) and put up several “no left turn” signs trying to manage how cars moved through.
The Transportation Department shared a detailed report-63 pages long-that looked at different designs and called putting Garden Street back to two-way “non-viable.” Going back would mean losing all parking and loading spaces, which was actually a key goal of this project, plus it’d cause more congestion especially at that tricky five-way intersection where Garden crosses Huron, along with eight others: Chauncy, Walker, Shepard, Bond, Linnaean, Robinson, Fernald and Mason streets as well. New data from early 2023 showed only small bumps in traffic volume on side streets.
On the bright side though, fewer cars passed near Graham & Parks Elementary School or on the part of Garden beyond Huron where bike lanes stop being separated from cars. Plus having a one-way street made things safer for pedestrians-which seniors and families really appreciated.
A surprise policy push
Then late one December Thursday night-two whole years later-a sudden new policy order popped up on the council agenda forcing Garden Street to become two-way again but losing every single parking spot along half a mile stretch of road instead. Nobody outside a small planning group saw this coming-the public comments already lined up behind supporters-and just three days later it was going to be voted on again by council members without any heads-up given to thousands affected by this change! Toner plus his co-sponsors Patty Nolan, Ayesha Wilson and Cathie Zusy basically claimed no one liked how things were now-and they knew better than anyone else.
Experts confirm
Before voting finally happened though there was a four-month pause during which more info came out. The Transportation Department produced another study (March 23) comparing both plans-the existing setup versus switching back to two-way-and Commissioner Brooke Mc Kenna stated once more that “the existing configuration is safer and leads to less congestion.”
During that time many of us collected about 700 signatures from Cambridge residents mostly living nearby who wanted to keep things as they are now-we wrote hundreds of letters begging council members to listen-offered meetings so they could hear us face-to-face-but Mayor E. Denise Simmons along with Councillor Wilson who eventually voted yes never got back to us.
The choice made turned this into an all-or-nothing political vote with zero dialogue or expert advice considered-it set neighbors against each other and will leave us with roads that are less safe, more jammed up with cars stuck longer in traffic lights or intersections-and all without any parking anywhere either! And ironically there’s no proof showing changing back solves any problem anyone has raised so far here either honestly… Our leaders oughta listen carefully first-to facts not just stories or politics trying not rock boats too much.
Could things have gone differently?
Why did this order favor some folks way more than others? No councillor took time beforehand even just hold meetings inviting varied views around table before rushing ahead like this! Days before voting my neighbors & I actually sat down talking face-to-face with folks who wanted change too-we tried hard finding common ground understanding concerns both sides shared-we agreed lots about safety wanting calmer streets everywhere-but didn’t yet agree exactly how best fix problem together yet either… We told councillors all about those talks hoping they’d step into help bring peace back around here soon enough but nope-they rushed vote anyway ignoring those efforts completely.>
Councillors who voted yes kept mentioning figuring out where folks living right on Garden might park instead-even though Transport Dept said you can’t really have your cake & eat it too here-they talked about needing thoughtful bigger-picture plans but then picked their own ideas rather than working alongside community like promised earlier.. Everyone loses when stuff plays out like that unfortunately… This ain’t how Cambridge decisions should happen really.>
Ronald Axelrod, Maggie Baratz and Sarah Block>
Ronald Axelrod is retired architect with fifty years designing transportation projects under his belt while Maggie Baratz & Sarah Block helped organize Keep Garden Street As-Is petition-all live right next door off Garden itself.>
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