Description

The much anticipated Memorial Drive pedestrianization opened up thousands of acres of new parkland for Cambridge residents to enjoy this last weekend, amounting to the creation of a previously unimaginable public resource for our community. It would normally cost billions to acquire such beautiful river-side parkland, but we got it for free!

Cambridge/DCR has called this a pilot project that is subject to evaluation, but I'm afraid we are going to have the wool pulled over our eyes and lose this awesome new resource on a whim. I could imagine both realities: "It has been closed because not enough people are using it"/"It has been closed because too many people are using it." We have been told that the new space is under study, but I have been unable to find any information about metrics that will be used in the evaluation.

I would like to request that the city calculate essential health and environmental indicators that may be currently getting ignored. We will certainly see benefits in Disability-Adjusted Life Years, reduced noise levels, lower air pollution, for example, especially for the thousands to tens of thousands of people who live within ear-shot of Mem Drive. Perhaps residents along the water will have enjoyed their first week of uninterrupted sleep since moving in. Is it ethical to allow cars back on this now-public space? Do we really need 60+ MPH highways on both sides of the river (we all know how fast people actually travel on these roads)?

Please consider this a request for public information. Perhaps a website explaining the evaluation rubric?