The Berklee Bike Lane
Dear Editor,
Mayor Wu met with the Ellis Neighborhood Association last Tuesday at the Revolution Hotel. Prior to the meeting, seventy questions and concerns were submitted by association members that were later reduced to a manageable agenda. The second most frequent concern was bike lanes – in Wu’s retort, “the most emotional issue throughout the city.”
Wu acknowledged that Boston is number one in American city rush hour traffic congestion. Thereafter she – acting as the wily politician she is – segued into an irrelevant monologue about completing a citywide bike lane circuit. She missed the point, entirely: our concern was a protest against bike lanes, not a request for a status report. How constricting traffic with bike lanes will alleviate the traffic problem was never addressed.
Wu has weaponized the BTD and Public Works departments and ignored outcries throughout the South End and Back Bay against the Berkeley bike lane intrusion. The Berkeley/Beacon Street neighborhood requested analysis that City Hall claims supports the Berkley bike lane. To date, no analysis has been furnished. In previous Ellis sponsored meetings, the bike lane spokesperson admitted that no analysis of Berkeley between Tremont and Columbus was undertaken, because money was not available. The mid-street, island construction underway on Tremont is, to the consternation and outrage of residents, businesses and visitors further evidence that bike lane planning is a colossal failure.
City hall remains intransigent to the impact of bike lanes and tone deaf to neighborhood objections. This issue should weigh heavily upon Wu’s re-election, a costly bridge to nowhere for which she alone bears responsibility.
Barry Zaltman
South End Resident