Walking the walk
They don’t even try to hide it anymore.
The anti-car sentiment couldn’t be any more glaring from those who believe that fossil fuels are destroying the planet rather than the empirical truth: that fossil fuels have done more to improve the quality of life on earth than just about anything.
Examples of this disdain for automobiles are all around us. One recent manifestation is the MBTA Communities Multifamily Zoning mandate. It’s ostensibly about increasing housing, but it’s dripping with contempt for motor vehicles. The stated goal is to crowd everyone into multifamily housing around public transit so people will take the bus or train instead of driving.
“Multi-family housing near transit creates walkable neighborhoods with climate and transportation benefits,” according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, “including better access to work/services, increased utilization of public transit and reduced reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.”
The EOHLC sounds like a fun place to work, doesn’t it? I wonder how many bike racks they have outside their offices.
Another example of this contempt for drivers surfaced at the last Wakefield Town Council meeting.
Town Administrator Steve Maio and Town Councilor Ed Dombroski each reported having difficulty parking at the Galvin Middle School when they went to vote in the March 5 Presidential Primary. While there were no classes held on that day so the building could be used as a polling place, there was apparently “professional development” being held for teachers. So, the parking lot was full of teachers’ vehicles, leaving voters to compete for the few remaining spaces.
Earlier in the same Town Council meeting, during a discussion of the new Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, Dombroski had warned that “Master Plans” have a way of establishing precedent and being used as justification for all kinds of future decisions.
It didn’t take long for Dombroski’s prophecy to come to pass.
Sixty-five minutes after he made his prediction, Councilor Mehreen Butt cited the new Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan in dismissively arguing that if more voters biked or walked to the polls, Election Day parking wouldn’t be a problem.
(Another way to solve the Election Day parking problem would be to go back to the old neighborhood polling places, which more people actually could walk or bike to.)
As far as supporters of the Bike/Ped Plan and the MBTA Multifamily Zoning plan are concerned, it’s fine if you can’t find a parking space on Election Day. If you drive a car, they’d just as soon you didn’t vote anyway.
I wonder if Councilor Butt walked or biked the 1.2 miles from her condo in Greenwood to the Galvin Middle School on Election Day.
Just kidding. I’m sure she took the bus.
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[This column originally appeared in the March 21, 2024 Wakefield Daily Item.]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: autombiles, bicycle, bike, bus, cars, Climate Change, drivers, Edward Dombroski, election, EOHLC, fossil fuels, Galvin Middle School, Greenwood, housing, Humor, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Master Plan, MBTA, Mehreen Butt, multifamily, Opinion, parking, pedestrian, planet earth, Politics, polling place, primary, schools, Stephen P. Maio, teachers, Town Council, train, transit, transportation, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, walk, walkable, zoning
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Mark Sardella 
A nicely written commentary Mark about, which seems to me living in Georgia, a political/corporate “handshake” that will further enhance the tearing down of the character of a once beautiful community without any regard for the opinions of its citizens! Using the excuse of slowing “global warming/climate change,” by adopting this policy, is ludicrous and insulting to the mindset of the common American citizen.
This new political policy and the completely ugly overbuilding of condo developments, without regards to zoning violations in Wakefield, is so shameful. Is this the new “blueprint” for the future of Wakefield?
Sadly,
David J Tropeano shushI
Dear Mark, You are so right about this MBTA mess. There are those of us who are incapable of the alternatives of driving. We can’t walk too far. I/We , on and around Preston St, could walk to my neighborhood voting place. Now living near, but too far to walk to, the bus and train station, I find I no longer live in what used to be a quaint, beautiful and unique town. As near as I live to the Galvin, I cannot walk there and no bus comes near my way. Now industry is gone and the big condos are here making this wonderful town, a city… and nothing else except restaurants, and out of towners who have taken over everything. Wakefield is becoming an ugly place to live.Greed. Why bother walking to relax and view a quiet wooded street or wooded area with nature? No such place exists here anymore I am very sad to see our unique town suffocating and dying. So… When are they going to vote for the town to become a city with only walking spaces. for those who can. (sarcasm) You are right in so many ways. Thank You for speaking out
All excellent points Mark. The whole fossill fuel hoax is a topic for another day but this is the fallout and many of our(mis)reps are very much on board. Perhaps they should learn more about the costs and hazards of alternative fuel inspead of being trendy. Agenda 21, 30, and whatever they call it today has been in the works for 30+ years. Those who push it are as usual the ones who will profit from we citizens being herded like cattle. Our beautiful town should not participate in such nonsense. Leave us alone, let us live our lives our way. We have the power of the polls, lets use it.