Like many of my Islington neighbors, I left last night's meeting with a feeling of dissatisfaction and a sense of defeat.

I could not attend the meeting and have not attended any of these neighborhood meetings. So OK, I know nothing but what I've read. I sense, from talking to people and what I read here, more of a problem with process than specifics. I hear that people feel "the town" or "the other side of town" just doesn't listen.
But this meeting was not about debating the size of Westwood Station, it was to discuss traffic calming measures. Measures of some sort would be a good idea even without Westwood Station; I've biked, driven, and run those streets and they are hardly walkable, neighborhood streets (except, perhaps Forbes) right now. Anything that could be done to slow down the cars would seem a good idea.
I wish somebody would come up with consultants and money to come over to my part of Islington and tame Clapboardtree and Gay Streets...to add sidewalks to Clapboardtree, extend the sidewalk all the way from Washington to High Street and perhaps, someday, even put sidewalks on Milk and Thatcher. At a minimum, they could reconstruct the intersection of Pine and Gay where a crosswalk was set up on a blind curve that the kids in Islington cross every morning to go to Hanlon. I'm off topic here from this particular meeting, but I would have thought the meeting would have been an opportunity, not to talk about Westwood Station traffic, but how much improvement could be done to pedestrian-friendliness of the roads and to make Canton/Everett/Forbes as walkable and pedestrian friendly as the streets directly around the Downey School that are effectively isolated from traffic now.
So my question is what went wrong? Do people think the plan from the consultants is inadequate? Do they think it is pointless because Westwood Station is going to overwhelm any solution? Or is it just impossible to discuss the details of a solution when there are fundamental issues that make some people feel they can't trust the town so why bother participating at all?

It is the latter.

It is hard for anyone who has not attended years of these meetings to understand the frustration. It is great if the area gets the money to actually calm the traffic. However, these means that the neighbors who use these roads on a daily basis will be going slower and actually taking longer to get in and out of their homes. There are no proposals for sidewalks on Canton Street so as far as a WALKABLE COMMUNITY - this will not be so. I agree traffic on Clapboardtree and Gay Street is heavy sometimes as those streets are cut thrus. HOWEVER, Canton Street serves as a hypotenuse for the 128/95 triangle. The town did not protect the residents and instead allowed a southbound ramp to be put in thus increasing the traffic with people trying to cut out a mile of traffic. Now they are going to do the same thing with the Northbound ramp. The highway interchange is 1 mile up the road. Were these ramps necessary? It is hard to have faith and a positive attitude when our neighborhoods have been overlooked.

I was embarassed and uncomfortable the other night to listen to the angry tones and the yelling. BUT I totally understand. We have been through YEARS of these meetings, gone over ideas, participated in workshops and all to be shown a similar plan to where we were 2 years ago. I think most people would be frustrated and angry. And what bothered me TERRIBLY is once again our town administrator was the spokesman for the Board of Selectmen. NOT ONE MEMBER OF THE BOARD WAS THERE. This is unacceptable. Nice to see 2 of the candidates of Selectmen were there but not the actual SELECTMEN.

I wish I knew the answers on these issues. I really wish someone one the town's payroll or elected boards would stand up, admit that this is a huge mess which is constantly overlooked and that we need a solution. WE all need to work together and patch up our differences. This is the community of Westwood we all adore and from the meeting the other night there was no sense of community. Only a sense of neglect, disgust and frustration.

For two years many of us from "the Islington section of town" have been attending meetings regarding traffic, design and zoning. We've heard statements such as "balanced and equitable traffic mitigation, comprehensive traffic mitigation, and minimal impact to local roads". Transportation goals included a comprehensive traffic mitigation plan and protection for the neighborhoods.Where are they? Relevant questions could not be answered by the traffic consultant. Ironically, his name is Burden. What he failed to convey was the burden of proof. He stated that this is one of his "toughest challenges". However, Mr. Burden did not state why this is the case. Is it because the proposed measures cannot sufficiently deal with the cut-thru traffic or is it because the proposed measures are not sensitive to the needs of the adjoining communities? Maybe it's the funding that is inadequate. After all. he did say that roudabouts cost between $200,000 and $360,000 and T-intersections about $105,000. Here's what we do know. Traffic calming measures were introduced two years ago, but more vocal members of this area convinced others that a cul-de-sac on Canton was the answer. Mike Jaillet (the former teacher and current BOS mouthpiece) assured everyone that "this is not the end of the process". From my vantage point we are back at the beginning again. However, there is one change. Buildings and a forest of trees have come down. It will take years for construction of Westwood Station, but longer to rebuild this side of town's confidence and trust in out BOS and Planning Board.