Should a bridge or surface streets replace the Casey Overpass? MassDOT is giving you until Tuesday to comment. JP activists on both sides deserve more time than that. Cries of “bias” are in the air, and they are right. MassDOT clearly preferred the surface option from the start and surely will announce it as...
Blog Archives
Editorial: Remembering Muñiz
The death of Margarita Muñiz was a shock but not a surprise. It was an open secret for the past year that she was dying of cancer, even as she continued running the Hernandez School, the groundbreaking bilingual school she fought to keep alive. Officials and parents rushed to memorialize Muñiz before it was...
Letter: Backing a bridge in Forest Hills
In your last edition, you published local business owner and avid bicyclist Jeffrey Ferris’s letter supporting a bridge solution over the at-grade solution now being pushed by MassDOT as a replacement for the Casey Overpass in Forest Hills. I would like to build upon that. A bridge solution will keep traffic on the ground...
Letter: A new bridge is better
I believe it is better to build a new overpass to replace the Casey Overpass. Forest Hills Station is a huge hub of trains, buses, school buses and lots of cars already. I travel through the area most times I leave my house, and there is great congestion there every weekday. Adding more car lanes...
Letter: Population crisis is looming
The news is out: world population hit 7 billion on Oct. 31! Meanwhile, the Massachusetts population reached a record high of 6,547,629 in 2010. It was great to see that after years of pretty much ignoring the issue, the national, state, and even some local media gave the issue its due attention. If we...
Letter: Give us a bridge, not pavement
At the most recent meeting about redesigning the Casey Overpass, I found the consultants’ presentation strongly skewed against a bridge. Their bridge mock-ups were singularly ugly and their language clearly favored the no-bridge option. I would like to register an opinion in favor of a bridge for the following reasons: Getting through-traffic off the...
Letter: School move leaves kids behind
The Boston Public Schools facilities plan proposed by Superintendent Carol Johnson on Oct. 24 and approved on Nov. 15 by the Boston School Committee moves the Mission Hill elementary school to Jamaica Plain, taking a high-quality, highly-selected K-8 to another assignment zone. It’s like musical chairs for the six pilot schools involved in the package...
Letter: Surface streets can’t handle 24K more cars
I support a bridge replacement option for the Casey Overpass. I have lived on a street off Hyde Park Avenue across from the Forest Hills T parking lot for 30 years and the traffic has only gotten worse. Hyde Park Ave. is often gridlocked in the morning and at evening rush hours. I have extreme...
Letter: Surface option resurrects park
I had the privilege of attending the Nov. 21 public meeting on the Casey Overpass and was impressed with the thorough design exploration and well-reasoned alternatives. There is no doubt in my mind that, on access and livability criteria alone, the at-grade solution is far superior to a replacement bridge. When you add in the premium...
Letter: Surface traffic is no solution
There has been much discussion about the Casey Overpass replacement options over the past few months, and interest continues to grow, as demonstrated by the standing-room-only crowd at last week’s meeting introducing the public to the two design options: a new, smaller and lower overpass vs. a six-lane road at grade level (the “at-grade”...