Civic Agenda
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MARCH WWW.FENWAYNEWS.ORG 2019 COLOR! FREE COVERING THE FENWAY, AUDUBON CIRCLE, KENMORE SQUARE, UPPER BACK BAY, PRUDENTIAL, LONGWOOD, AND MISSION HILL SINCE 1974 • VOLUME 45, NUMBER 3 • MARCH 1, 2019 - MARCH 29, 2019 FLOWERS, CANDLES, ‘GHOST BIKE’ MARK PARK DRIVE SITE WHERE CYCLIST DIED Could Voting Help Bridge PHOTO: MARCUS NECHAY Friends, family, and cyclists gathered in the Political Gap Between the rain on Sunday, Feb. 24, to remember Students and Residents? Paula Sharaga, a BY JULIA UBERTINI AND Many students, including Carson, use retired Brookline EVELYN NOREEN BLEED “strategic voting,” choosing to stay registered librarian killed in his or her home state because they believe earlier in the week bsentee voting has become that their vote will have a stronger impact on when a cement truck a major trend among college politics there. hit her bike at the students, due to the large In an informal survey sent to Fenway corner of Brookline percentage of students who study college students, out of 29 responses, Ave. and Park Drive. outside their home state, and students who A 50 percent said they voted strategically. The Boston Cyclists vote absentee are not as civically engaged in their local community. Responses mostly included remarks Union installed about votes carrying more weight in one’s a “ghost bike” to The number of voters who vote early or via absentee ballots has more than doubled home state and feeling uninformed about mark the spot amid candidates in Boston. tributes to Sharaga in the past 15 years. In Boston alone, there are 35 institutions of higher education, Notably, one student replied and calls for better creating a large assembly of individuals who “Massachusetts has a lot of students like me, bike infrastructure. use this voting option. Students often face so my vote counts more in my home state.” a tough decision during election season: “Strategic voting is really valuable,” whether to vote in their home state or in said Pettit, the College Democrats president. the state in which they study. Absentee “If you want to vote for your community you MBTA Streamlining Affects Local Buses voting by a large student population affects should register in your community but if you BY ALISON PULTINAS the community by not allowing the two want to vote where your vote has more of an ix routes that travel through the Fenway and LMA are among 47 groups to face current issues together, thus impact, I think that’s a valid reason to stay targeted for “faster, more reliable service” under the MBTA’s Better eliminating the camaraderie that can arise registered where you are from.” Bus Project. The agency will accept public comments on the changes from the engagement in civic duties such as The Boston Ward 4 Democratic until March 13 (at MBTA.com/BBPfeedback). On March 7, it will hold voting. Committee conducts the official business Sa public meeting to discuss both the Better Bus Project and a proposed fare Kristen Mobilia, a community leader of the Massachusetts Democratic Party in increase at the State Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, 6-8pm. and candidate in the upcoming District many communities, including parts of the If approved by the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board (FMCB) 8 Boston City Council race, said she has South End and the Fenway. Jonathan Cohn in April, the route changes would take effect by Sept. 1. Chrystal Kornegay, seen more voter participation from Fenway chairs the committee. executive director of MassHousing and a Mission Hill resident, was appointed residents than students throughout her 2017 Cohn said that if one’s vote matters to the five-member FMCB in January. campaign and onward. more in their home state, then it makes One of the most dramatic changes in Fenway routes would involve “[The students] want to be involved in sense to stay registered there in order to Routes 8, 19, and 47, which currently pick up and drop off passengers in the different ways but it’s not on the local level,” have a bigger impact. If one is a registered busway below the Ruggles Station concourse. Buses on these routes would said Mobilia. “The [midterm] election we Democrat from California, then one’s no longer travel through the station on the way to the Fenway. Instead, they just had is on the state and federal level.” vote does not really affect the political would stop at a new passenger waiting area on Ruggles Street, presumably In previous years, students landscape too much by registering to vote in Massachusetts, when both states vote alongside the extra lane used for The Ride parking. The T believes this change were unwilling to register to vote in consistently Democratic. would save five to six minutes on each trip by avoiding the long wait at the Massachusetts and be a part of the election However, there are reasons why it traffic signal at the exit from the busway onto Ruggles Street. The #8 bus process here; they preferred to register in would be beneficial for students to register would also bypass South Bay Center, substituting stops on Mass. Ave. their home state. Although it remains unclear in Boston. If Fenway students register (and Other significant changes could affect Fenway and LMA riders: why, one might infer that such decisions vote), politicians will be more obliged to • Route 65 now travels between Kenmore and Brighton Center but would were strongly influenced by the sense of listen to what they have to say in order to get originate at Ruggles, eliminating service on Brookline Avenue north of home. re-elected, explained Cohn. Longwood. Kenmore-bound riders would need to use the 8, 19, or 60 Hanna Pettit is a third-year Northeastern University student and the Cohn also said that students are citizens routes instead. The 65 would travel between Ruggles and the medical area the city council should want to listen to. on Huntington and Longwood avenues, connecting to current Brookline president of the Northeastern College Democrats. She was unsure about registering Even if they are not registered, students Avenue stops near the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Joslin Diabetes should still be aware of who their city Center. in Massachusetts, and eventually decided to register in her home state. council members are in case they need to • Route 60, which now travels from Kenmore to Chestnut Hill, would stop on For three years, Pettit has lived in address and civic issues. Route 9 instead of circling around and pulling into the parking lot of The Mission Hill. “I feel like I have a root in University students are ultimately the Shops at Chestnut Hill, adding a seven-minute walk to or from the mall for the Boston community. So I am more sure ones most affected by future legislation passengers. that I want to switch my registration to and policy changes, and are also the most • Route 8 between Kenmore and JFK/UMass and Route 47 between Massachusetts,” she said. powerful agents of change for the future. Cambridge and South Boston would also change their approach from Kristen Carson, the external vice Carson, the College Republicans’ Ruggles to the LMA, using Huntington and Longwood avenues instead president of the Northeastern University external vice president, has mixed feelings of Louis Prang Street and The Fenway. Frequent traffic backups and College Republicans has a different on whether or not students should register to congestion on Louis Prang have been a perennial concern for planners, perspective. In the recent election, Carson vote where their college is. and rerouting buses away from the parkways (like The Fenway) has been a sent in an absentee ballot to New York, “The biggest part about voting is that goal for park advocates. However, those routes would now bypass stops on claiming her vote mattered more in the local your vot[ing] is your right and it’s your own Louis Pasteur near Emmanuel College and Boston Latin School. election there. She is not currently planning personal opinion and there’s not a wrong The MBTA anticipates major improvements in the bus network over on changing her registration from New York. VOTING on page 5 > the next several years; it has framed these proposals as just the first step. Additional investment would be needed, as well as a buy-in from municipalities, to introduce separate bus lanes on some routes. The proposed fare increases, if approved by the FMCB, would take A PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS effect in July. They would have the biggest impact on commuter rail riders, It’s not quite spring, but the cost of a monthly Link pass (unlimited travel on the four subway lines but witch hazel and most buses) would increase from $84.50 to $90. Boston City Councilor is in bloom at the Michelle Wu’s says that, before the comment period ends, she will present Victory Gardens a petition to the MBTA opposing the fare increases and calling for the T to PHOTO: STEVE CHASE entrance at Park reinvent its pricing structure. Drive and Boylston. Alison Pultinas lives in Mission Hill. Typically chartreuse witch hazel blooms appear in late February or early TUE. 3/12 THU. 3/14 THU. 3/28 March and will not die in a freeze at CIVIC Public meeting on Fundraiser for the Fenway CDC holds its this time of year. Red Sox proposal for Community Center 46th annual meeting It is sometimes a 5,000-seat concert honoring Lauren at Fenway Health confused with AGENDA hall on Ipswich Street. Dewey Platt. 1340 Boylston Street forsythia, which 20 Jersey Street 6:30-10pm 6:30-8:30pm blooms bright (State St.