By Sal Giarratani
THANK GOD THEY CAME TO THEIR SENSES
The Boston Transportation Department is to be thanked for announcing its support on the Sullivan Square traffic that includes the use of underpasses and not the surface only option. Many in the packed meeting at the Knights on May 18 were glad to hear that news and many others not so glad. Personally, I have always endorsed the underpass option as the realistic option. Rutherford Avenue is not a country road, it is for all intents and purposes a major artery for traffic passing through Charlestown in and out of the City of Boston.
I could only see the worse if Sullivan Square traffic didn’t have an underpass. I hope this will mean saving the Austin Street underpass too.
The Surface Option was pretty upset with the BTD decision but in the end, it made the most sense. The last thing anyone wants to see is a standstill of the traffic flow at rush hours and the expectation that Main Street would become a bottleneck as traffic tried to bypass the mess.
This is Charlestown and everyone has a right to his or her opinion. A tradition that ,by the way, goes back to the Battle of Bunker Hill.
BACK TO MORE MUNDANE SUBJECTS
The Boston Globe stuck itself into the OneCharlestown proposal up on Bunker Hill Street. First, in a big piece in its Business section and then followed up with an editorial. The Business section piece seemed pretty fair by Globe standards. It highlighted the opposition to the B.H.A./ Corcoran-Jennings vision which was pretty decent of them. I have followed the plans of retired architect Sy Mintz who sees a smaller scale rehab using many of thje existing buildings. OneCharlestown took lots of Townies by surprise. Eric Philippi who seems to support the Mintz idea sees the larger project as a possible “Tsunami “ that could “flatten Charlestown.”
However, the Boston Globe’s opine seem to be playing it down the middle in an issue without a middle ground. The developers say only the larger plan is do-able disagreeing with Mintz’s supporters at the moment.
Also, why is the Boston Globe lecturing Townies stating, NIMBYism shouldn’t stall Charlestown project.” Listen as someone who grew up in the projects over in Roxbury, I understand how people there feel about making their housing better than it has become over the years through age and deterioration. I also understand the community at large trying to keep the character of the community intact. No one can support concrete mountains. The whole idea of OneCharlestown is to foster one Charlestown. I think everyone gets that and we don’t need to be lectured on how bad we might be acting in the eyes of the Globe editorialists.
We will get to the promised land of good housing for all by working together. Charlestown can work together and has often worked together for the good of all. We need to be treated fairly and not with scorn. We are One and we will stay One.
CAR CLASSIC OF THE WEEK
I used to drive a 1997 Grand Marquis for years. Great car bad on gas and terrible in winter driving. Had a few accidents in it. However, take a look at what Mercury was building back when I was an infant. A sturdy looking 1949 Mercury. Looks like you could run it into a brick wall without getting a scratch on it. Built like a tank. Of course this was when cars were made of real steel and not make-believe steel-looking plastic.