Proposed Changes to Parking in Somerville

[lillibet]

I have sent the following email and thought I'd re-post it here in hopes of inspiring others to voice their concerns. Details about the proposed changes are available in this article.
_________________________________________________________

"Mayor Curtatone" <mayor@somervillema.gov>
"Rebekah Gewirtz" <rebekah@rcn.com>
"Somerville Chamber of Commerce" <smackey@somervillechamber.org>

Good afternoon!

As the Artistic Director of Theatre@First, Somerville's largest
community theatre, I have been very distressed to hear about the
Traffic Commission's planned changes to parking in Somerville.

In the past year we have had over 100 participants and attract
audiences of more than 500 people to our shows. Many of our
participants and audience members are not Somerville residents. They
bring outside business not only to us but to other Somerville
restaurants and businesses when they come for Theatre@First. The
proposed parking changes will make it extremely difficult for us to
park for rehearsals and to attract non-Somervillians to our shows.
Without the non-residents we would be hard-pressed to continue
offering affordable, high-quality theatre in the Somerville community.

I have discussed this matter with our supporters and with many
Somerville residents and business people and all are concerned that
this decision, which will have a major impact on life in Somerville,
has been made so hastily and without any democratic process. While we
all understand that the current economic climate has made it important
for the City of Somerville to raise its revenues, the same conditions
have made it harder for all of us and discouraging visitors to the
city cannot help.

I am writing to ask you to please do whatever you can to delay this
decision until further public discussion has been held and to consider
the extraordinary impact on business and the arts in Somerville.
Surely there is a way to accommodate the needs of the city without
making Somerville a difficult place to visit.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Hunter
Artistic Director
Theatre@First
www.theatreatfirst.org
taf@theatreatfirst.org

Comments

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing this.

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

Bravo.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Excellent letter!

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Oh, well done. *3 snaps in Z formation*

I should get on some letter-writing myself.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

Beautifully stated. I'm glad I know you and that you're on my side. :-)

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Good letter, thanks for writing. With the proposed changes, we could not have been a part of Winter's Tale. I'm really just confused about why they think this could help more than it is going to hurt.

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

*pauses*
*thinks*

Doesn't that require 4? :-)

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Heh...no, the way to think of it is to imagine making the three slashing motions of the Z letterform, with the snap coming at the end of each slash. :)

[melted-snowball.livejournal.com]

*thinks some more*

I guess I do it both ways. Perhaps there is snap-queen dialect.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

thank you! i would have written but i suspect that since i own neither a house nor a business in somerville, my voice would not count for nearly so much.

[kissoflife.livejournal.com]

_Really_ glad you did this. I've been too mild in my consideration of the subject. Speaking out, indeed action, is needed.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

It's not like they're cross checking.

I wrote, did not mention that I owned a house (oops! but it doesn't feel relevant, to me.), did mention the anecdote that loosened parking changes (for at least a little while, they took *away* meters in Teele Sq, in my memory, and just signed them 2h parking!) made my life easier when patronizing the dry cleaner in Teele that I have patronized for over a dozen years.

If you say something about "first moved to somervile more than a dozen years ago" you will probably establish plenty of cred anyway. Though I think being the artistic director of T@F still wins.