Central Street bump-outs are here to stay Selectmen say Feb. vote was meaningless
Published on August 9th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - It was a tale told by citizens and Stoneham officials signifying absolutely nothing.
"I don't think any vote we take now has any relevance to anything we are going to do," said Selectman Al Conti.
But yet the Board of Selectmen was in session Tuesday night, Aug. 8, to address one issue: bump-outs on Central Street in front of Town Hall.
A bump-out is a curb extension narrowing the width of the street. The question for which the meeting was called was whether or not the selectmen had voted to remove any and all bump-outs from Central and Church Streets.
A group of citizens said that the bump-outs cause traffic problems by narrowing the road. These citizens also said that the bump-outs take away valuable parking spots.
Police Chief Eugene Passaro said that the bump-outs slow traffic and keep pedestrians safe while crossing the street.
Town Administrator Jeff Nutting said that the bump-outs are located at corners and lined up with crosswalks where cars could not park regardless of a bump-out.
The First Parish Congrega-tional Church on Church Street does not oppose the plan.
The minutes of a Feb. 8 selectmen's meeting state that Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello made a motion "to eliminate the bump-out." The motion passed 4-0, with Conti abstaining.
Ciccarello said on Tuesday night that the tape of the Feb. 8 meeting revealed that he had said "to get rid of all the bump-outs." But on that tape the selectmen did not talk about Church Street.
What the citizens assembled at the Aug. 8 meeting wanted was all the bump-outs gone and an explanation for why they weren't gone already.
The citizens got only an explanation: The Town Administrator has authority over the public roads. He interpreted the Feb. 8 vote to mean take out the middle portion of the elongated bump-out in front of Town Hall to allow for parking.
"I thought what people wanted was to park in front of Town Hall like they always had," Nutting said. "So we left spaces in front of Town Hall."
And what the Town Administrator says about roads goes under the laws of Stoneham, the Town Adminis-trator Act specifically.
Selectmen Chairman Pat Jordan acknowledged that the minutes said "eliminate the bump-out" and that the vote was 4-0.
"We don't call the shots," Jordan said.
Conti said that the town would have trouble going against the recommendations of the Police and Fire Chiefs, who both recommended bump-outs for safety.
Someone in the audience snickered that the two chiefs are hired by the Town Administrator. Other citizens accepted the safety concerns but were still upset about the disorganization of the whole Town Hall / Town Common project.
"We went through this whole approval process and you (selectmen) gave us your word, but you were unaware of who had authority," said citizen Alice Del Rossi. "I feel mistreated."
Jordan said the board plans to be more aware.
The meeting was adjourned without a vote on the bump-outs.
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