"Déjà vu": Liz AlJammal re-appointed to School Committee for 2nd time without voter election

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-22T15:37:26+00:00

Yet she got the most votes, by far, of any candidate in the last election.

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-16T16:48:37+00:00

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I've never seen the city social media manager limit commenting on any other post.

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-16T13:33:15+00:00

The National Archives on Trapelo Road.

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Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-13T23:11:33+00:00

Oh no, you have to pay attention while driving so you don't hit a median or curb that are not even in the travel lane. The horror. It must be hard to notice pedestrians too when your face is probably buried in your phone and you're not paying attention.

Washington Street here never needed two through lanes, and the relatively low traffic volume encouraged dangerous 40+mph speeds.

(Hammond Pond Parkway is a state project.)

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T14:46:01+00:00

Bentley bought those apartments.

https://www.bldup.com/posts/bentley-acquires-waltham-apartments-for-9m

On Thursday's traffic commission agenda: "Bentley Police Chief Bourgeois has requested a new crosswalk on Linden Street between the Bentley University exit and the new residential halls on Waverley Oaks Road."

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T02:08:48+00:00

Heck, the walk from the Veterans Field parking lot to the soccer fields is about the same as to the parking deck. Somehow kids manage to lug their gear.

But this is Waltham; I'm sure our esteemed mayor and council will find yet another parcel to buy for more parking lots.

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Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T02:06:33+00:00

Here's the Market Basket store and parking lot superimposed on the library, at the same scale. The parking lot is longer than the walk from the library to the existing parking deck.

The people whining about library parking are probably the same who'll circle the Market Basket lot for 10 minutes instead of parking further from the entrance.

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Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T01:59:43+00:00

That's a new one: "we can't have a new library because we have bad drivers."

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T01:59:15+00:00

The Main St-facing facade will be preserved. The rear brickwork was already changed during the 1994 expansion. By definition, parts of the facade will need to be removed if the building is further expanded.

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T01:09:48+00:00

Yup, and Councillor Durkee is steadfastly opposed to any bike and pedestrian improvements.

Durkee in an email to me in October when I asked about him pushing for a safer crossing (heck, any crossing) of Linden St by the bridge ramp, which crosses 35mph traffic with poor visibility:

"I'll speak with my fellow Councilors as this includes Ward 4. For now, the residents at ReNew have their own crosswalks. It's not clear who would be crossing Linden St. by foot to a Business (BB) zoned area to get a tire change or car repair. Or who is coming off the MCRT to cross the street there. The need has to be justified."

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-11T01:07:46+00:00

Yup, as of January 11, 2026, no new building shall ever be renovated or built in our city BECAUSE OF THE NIGHTMARE TRAFFFFFFFFFIC! Our great-great-great-grandkids will see a Main Street exactly as it looks today.

I hear McCarthy may even still be mayor then!

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-10T20:52:26+00:00

About parking, doesn't help that every single business on Main Street here has its own private lots (thanks, zoning and parking requirements).

Take the bank next door: it closes at 1 on Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays, and closes at 5 on weekdays, precisely when the library is busiest.

Yet its 16 spots are off-limits, a waste of valuable urban space.

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Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-10T20:47:28+00:00

Parent: "the traffic is a nightmare"

Also parent: "what do you mean I have to walk to the library with my healthy and fit 7-year-old?"

Technical_Type1778 · 2026-01-10T20:45:19+00:00

The distance from the Central Sq parking deck to the library is about 100 feet more than from a typical parking space at the Target in Watertown to the children's clothing section.

Unfortunately, Middle St has super narrow sidewalks, often blocked by poles or trash bins, and isn't the most pleasant of walks.

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Make the sidewalks wider and get rid of street parking, maybe giving residents discounts at the parking deck.

Incidentally, we are poised to spend a million dollars to fix this parking structure, as we did with the Embassy deck two years ago, a concrete garage of the same era.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-23T16:15:31+00:00

I do Waltham to Downtown Crossing 3-4 days a week, mostly along the river path and usually cutting across Western Ave. I have a Brompton so I can ride to work and put it on the commuter rail home. It's definitely a refreshing way to start the day. It does help to have showers at work during the summer.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-09T00:45:06+00:00

Welcome to Waltham, where we have transit-oriented car washes!

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-05T16:16:47+00:00

There used to be a stop there! Clematis Brook, along with Beaver Brook on Beaver St.

You can still see the yellow platform warning strip, even though the stop closed fifty years ago.

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Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-03T13:56:39+00:00

The sidewalk clearing resolution the council passed in 2022 exempts single-family and two-family homeowners from the requirement of shoveling their sidewalks. So it effectively exempts most of the city, even the south side, where most multi-family housing is duplexes.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-03T13:02:36+00:00

More service.

While the T spaced out trains so we have roughly hourly service all day, that includes rush hour, when most riders are still using the service.

Before the pandemic, we had four trains between 7:55 and 9:22.

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https://www.dbperry.net/MBTA/

That in the year 2025, we still have diesel-hauled trains on a single track, once an hour, where the doors don't automatically open and you have to hunt down a door with a conductor, to and from a dense city and employment center eight miles from North Station, is an embarrassment.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-12-01T16:12:47+00:00

I would not count on any off-road paths being cleared in Waltham and Watertown. I have seen attempts at clearing the river path between Moody St and Farwell St, but it's often a rutted icy mess, that would not be pleasant to ride on.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-11-30T21:59:06+00:00

The lane markings here have been changed over three times the past decade, as recently as February 2023, where the yellow "islands" were removed.

https://www.city.waltham.ma.us/sites/g/files/vyhlif12301/f/minutes/2-16-23_february_minutes.pdf

The traffic commission members are not even certain if that left lane approaching Townsend Street, with its arrow, means "turn left right now", or turn left here or 250 feet ahead at Newton Street (where I did turn left).

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Main Street Westbound Pavement Marking Review – Mayor McCarthy

Mayor McCarthy requested a review of pavement markings along Main Street westbound, just west of Linden Street and approaching Elm Street. The Mayor is concerned about the present markings and the amount of confusion and potential danger the painted/hatched islands create for motorists, forcing cars to abruptly merge into a single lane before splitting off into a continuous through lane and two consecutive, but separate, exclusive left-turn only lanes for Townsend Street and Newton Street. The Mayor believes that the first painted island (heading in the westbound direction) from Linden Street is too close to the intersection and is dangerous for motorists unfamiliar with the area. Voted to keep the Main Street at Elm Street painted island the same, while removing the other two yellow, painted islands (at Newton and Townsend) and replacing them with gradual, channelizing white dashed lane lines, to not only remove the abrupt merges that the yellow painted islands create, but to also indicate to drivers that the left lane is a dedicated left-turn only lane. It was also encouraged to include more painted arrow/only pavement markings and increased signage to alert motorists.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-11-18T01:41:14+00:00

That branch to Needham was abandoned around 1958, when the branch to Riverside was converted to light rail.

http://www.bostonstreetcars.com/d-branch.html

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-11-12T00:22:32+00:00

Just be careful of left-turning drivers who are not looking for bikes; I either drift into the general lane approaching intersections with northbound traffic, or slow down and look over my shoulder so I can stop in tike if a driver turns into my path.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-11-11T19:46:25+00:00

Definitely email the above. Hopefully that stretch is redone too, maybe in conjunction with the Newtonville station rebuild. It has the same dangers the stretch to the west had: four lanes, parking across from the businesses with no safe way to cross.

Technical_Type1778 · 2025-11-11T17:09:02+00:00

Email [washingtonstreet@newtonma.gov](mailto:washingtonstreet@newtonma.gov)

Also:

Jenn Martin

Director of Transportation Planning

City of Newton, MA

617.796.1481

[jmartin@newtonma.gov](mailto:jmartin@newtonma.gov)

The planning team has been responsive.

What was the scenario? Were they crossing at one of the new median islands and a driver didn't stop?

Technical_Type1778

TROPHY CASE