NAG letters to Mayor Menino on Huntington Avenue

Posted by John B. Kelly

After there was no response to our petition in 2005, we sent three letters to Mayor Menino about Huntington Avenue. Here are the first two (a third was sent later in the summer of 2006, but I can't find it).

First letter to Mayor Menino:

May 1, 2006
Mayor Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Plaza
Boston, MA 02201

Dear Mayor Menino:

Please meet with us. Local residents with disabilities have been trying for three years to get city officials to take our concerns seriously -- but our neighborhood only gets more inaccessible. First, uneven and bumpy bricks were laid along Huntington Avenue for the sake of gentrification, forcing wheelchair users off the sidewalks. Last year, functional crosswalks were replaced with expensive, decorative Duratherm™, which shakes us like rumble strips under a car. And now the Transportation Department plans to install Duratherm™ crosswalks all around Symphony Hall, right next to the twin Symphony Plaza housing complexes for elderly and disabled people.

We turn to you because meetings, City Council hearings, and protests have done no good. The Department of Public Works has contemptuously disregarded our complaint before the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (AAB) for almost 2 years now. It has ignored hearings, failed to comply with orders, and even went to court to argue that it was not responsible for the sidewalk! DPW has behaved so egregiously that the AAB is holding a "fine hearing" on May 8 to determine whether to levy a fine.

We need to tell you, personally, our nightmare stories. James McGee lives right on Huntington Avenue, but the bumpy bricks make him ride his scooter in the street. Eileen Brewster relocated to the area because of its access, now taken away by the bricks. Billie Tyler, Galeen Jones, and other women who use wheelchairs have to stay off the bricks or risk incontinence. Pam Beeler finds the Duratherm crosswalks almost as bad as the bricks. People with visual impairments or balance concerns are at greater risk for falling.

Please, listen to the petition we gave you last year requesting the installation of a smooth path of travel along Huntington. And please honor the pledge you made last August at the Symphony Streetscape Project announcement. You interrupted your speech to address disabled people: "We understand your issues about bricks and sidewalks, so we're gonna work with you. Don't worry about it." Then you wrote in your weekly column (August 15, 2005) that "Handicap accessibility is a major priority for this project."

We ask you to order the Transportation Department to respect the interests of local residents, and reject the use of Duratherm. Tell them to replace the bricks on Huntington Avenue, not just adjacent to Symphony Hall and Symphony Plaza West, but all the way to Gainsborough St. This would represent a good-faith beginning to undoing the oppressive gentrification of the last three years.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

John B. Kelly

Then we tried adding lots of signatures to the bottom of the letter.
Second NAG letter to Mayor Thomas M. Menino:

June 6, 2006

Mayor Thomas M. Menino
1 City Hall Plaza
Boston, MA 02201

Dear Mayor Menino:

Once again, we local residents with disabilities ask to meet with you. Your administration's policies regarding sidewalks and crosswalks continue to rob our neighborhoods of access. We need to remind you that "we live here too" and deserve the same respect due every citizen of Boston.

We have been trying -- and trying -- to get our voices heard about the irregular and dangerous bricks on Huntington Avenue since installation began in 2003. The bricks endanger everyone who uses a wheelchair, scooter, cane, or walker for mobility, as well as visually impaired and elderly people. Yet your administration has ignored our message in meetings, hearings, protests, a petition, and our recent letter of May 1, which also requested a meeting with you.

Two years ago, NAG and the Boston Center for Independent Living filed an access complaint about Huntington Avenue before the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board. Unfortunately, your administration has not taken the AAB's process or rulings seriously: over the last 18 months, the city has missed two compliance deadlines, and is now being fined $500 per day retroactive to last November 30, pending compliance by July 1, 2006. Members of the board expressed their concern that the city's inaction constituted "willful noncompliance."

We do not understand why your Department of Public Works continues to insist on wasting city money to lay and re-lay these terrible bricks, which force us into the street, put us in physical danger, and often prevent us from using Huntington Avenue altogether. Please take this opportunity to do the right thing by installing a smooth concrete path of travel along Huntington Avenue, with bricks serving only as a decorative accent strip.

Last August 10 when you announced the Symphony Area Streetscape Project, you interrupted your speech to address a group of us holding signs against the brick:

"You're gonna be part of this planning process, though, as we move forward. We understand your issues about bricks and sidewalks, so we're gonna work with you. Vineet from the transportation department -- our planner -- is committed to it."

But in spite of our strongest objections, your Transportation Department plans to surround Symphony Hall with Duratherm™ plastic-imprint crosswalks, the same ones installed last summer along Huntington Avenue without consulting the elderly and disabled residents who would be impacted. These Duratherm crosswalks function like turnpike rumble strips in how they vibrate people using wheelchairs and scooters. We are told that many people like how the Duratherm looks, but given your oft-stated commitment to "public safety," we question how some people's expensive tastes can possibly outweigh our physical safety. Are we not part of the "public"?
We repeat our urgent request to meet with you.

Please do not ignore us any more. Let's work together to repair the damage done on Huntington Avenue, and to fashion a Symphony Area Streetscape design that includes access for everyone.

We expect to hear from you within two weeks.

Sincerely,


Pam Beeler, Symphony Plaza


John B. Kelly, Fenway

Eileen Brewster, Ruggles


Tim Kunzier, Brookline

Maureen Cancemi, Symphony Plaza


James Magee, Huntington Avenue

Jeannette Ector, Fenway


Richard Nurt, Symphony Plaza

Jack Grieco, Symphony Plaza


Karen Nurt, Symphony Plaza

John Healy, Fenway


Alyson Perry, Brookline

Galeen Jones, Fenway


Karen Schneiderman, Symphony Plaza

Gary Devino, Fenway



Jamie Simpson, Back Bay Billie Tyler, Symphony Plaza



Janice Ward, South End

No, we never heard back.