All of my beliefs and policy positions

Streets & Transportation

Our streets should be designed to prioritize people, community, and safety. Sidewalks should be wide enough to accommodate street trees, trash pickup, and still allow users of assistive devices to pass with plenty of clearance. Pedestrian crossings should be raised to give priority to people walking. Major thoroughfares that carry bus routes should have bus lanes where width allows, and other bus priority improvements if not. There should be dedicated, protected, grade-separated bicycle infrastructure to access all commercial areas to enable people of all ages and abilities to get to work, errands, etc. We should create more pedestrian plazas and streets for people to socialize, build community, and increase foot traffic to local businesses.

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Specific streets I'd like to see improvements on include:

Washington Street east of McGrath - We should be adding bus lanes to almost the entirety of this street. It's an important connector serving a new high-frequency route and several other commuter routes.

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Elm Street in Davis Square - While this would be a sizeable undertaking due to reconfiguring traffic flow, it should be pedestrianized. There is a high density of restaurants, shops, and other businesses that foot traffic is already often overflowing and vehicular traffic is inefficient. Furthermore, Davis represents a critical gap in the regional bicycle commuting network as the community path abruptly ends at either side with no safe way to bike through the square. In the short term, parking on Elm should be restricted to short term loading to reduce the double parking issues that plague the area.

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Highland Ave - There are many businesses and resources on Highland Ave that are inaccessible to many people on bikes due to street condition and slopes of side streets. We need two-way separated cycle tracks the entire length of Highland.

Assembly Row in Assembly Row - The street down the middle of Assembly Row, which is also named Assembly Row, should be pedestrianized. On weekends and evenings, foot traffic is already spilling into the street, and there is no reason for car traffic to be there - all garage and loading dock access is from the cross streets. Parts of the street are already closed to traffic and offered as a beer garden and restaurant seating; imagine the exciting programing and popup shops that could be offered if we transformed the whole street!

Zoning

Until very recently, it was illegal to build new triple deckers - the iconic housing type of Somerville and Boston - in Somerville. We can't make housing affordable for all the people who want to live here without zoning for more dense housing. We can increase housing density and also provide more community benefits by changing zoning in a number of areas. Specifically, rezoning Highland Ave, Somerville Ave, and eastern Washington Ave to MR6 (mid-rise, six stories) for their entire length would create much needed residential density and offer more opportunities for street-level small businesses to serve the community. Furthermore, we need to make the zoning and permitting process more straightforward and less bureaucratic. Currently, most uses, including normal residential units in mixed-use buildings, require a special permit to build.

Climate Change

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Public Safety

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Accessibility

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