The city’s current plan for removing parking spaces to make way for protected bike lanes on both sides of Holland St. does not sit well with some area businesses and residents. ~Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Jim Clark

A group of business operators located on Holland St. have banded together to oppose and inform the public and other local businesses about the city’s plans for removing some 50 parking spots on Holland St., to be replaced by protected bike lanes on both sides of the street.

Earlier this month, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said in a public statement, “I have directed City staff to prepare a new plan for Holland Street that includes protected bike lanes from Teele Square to Buena Vista Road that will be implemented this fall. This plan would convert parking on one side of the street to allow for protected bike lanes on both sides.”

Members of the group of concerned Holland St. business owners and administrators – consisting of Conor Brennan, of PJ Ryan’s; Steve Stamides of Angelina’s Pizzeria; Rob Halpin of Rudy’s Café; Ron Draper, CEO of Somerville Municipal Federal Credit Union; and Francillon Dabady of FoodDy’s kitchen – spoke with The Somerville Times on Monday, September 19, outlining their issues and concerns regarding the city’s plans.

A visual representation of the proposed changes along Holland St. ~ Courtesy of the City of Somerville

Conor Brennan told The Times, “We were made aware by the city that on Holland St. we were going to lose 50 parking spots from Teele Square to Davis Square. That was sort of a shock for the small business owners. And we weren’t really aware that this was where the city was going, and we’re still waiting to get more information from the Director of Mobility, Traffic and Parking, Economic Development. We have a meeting scheduled with the mayor, coming up. But we’re really just in an information gathering phase right now. But we feel that there should be a more detailed process and decision making about such a dramatic reduction in parking.”

“This process will be continued,” Brennan added. “We had a meeting a week ago with some city officials from Mobility and they indicated that the process will continue on Broadway, from Holland onto Broadway to Rte. 16. And we’ll lose up to 60 spots fall ’23 / fall ’24, depending on the city’s timeline. So that’s a cumulative net loss of 110 spots within a year and a half, within a half mile of our businesses. We’re not a central business district. Union, Davis, Assembly Row are serviced by public/private parking lots, T stops, and multiple bus lines. We do not have that infrastructure and we cannot sustain 110 parking spot losses within 16 months.”

On Wednesday, September 21, at 5:30 p.m., the city’s Traffic Commission will host a special online meeting to discuss the plan. The meeting is open to the public and can be accessed at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87301414724.

“They are basically going to hear comments from the community,” said Brennan. “So, the one thing that we’d like to do is definitely get the word out to residents and businesses in the area. Because again, it’s not only affecting our neighborhood, but it’s affecting Davis, Teele, it’s going to be up on Broadway. They’re going to be affected down by Clarendon Towers. I mean, a lot of places where it’s going to affect multiple facets of businesses, residents, and the community. So, we’d like to just make sure that people understand and are aware of what’s happening out there and be attentive for this meeting, and also to put the word out and have a voice there, to be able to communicate to Mobility and Traffic and Parking, and the politicians that are involved to understand that this is a very drastic change.

Steve Stamides offered, “Basically, what we’re trying to say is, we would like A number one be heard. And then have a discussion cumulatively about the pros and cons of what they are trying to impose on the streets with regards to what we feel could be more of a collaborative way than just saying, “Hey, we’re just going to change it.”

“Some of our points are the width of Holland St. in comparison to other streets where this has been done is definitely not the same,” he said. “So, putting up two protected bike lanes and losing over 50 spots from here to Davis Square is truly going to affect the small businesses here. Along with people who are residents on the street and on the side streets, because some of the plan is to add more meters on some of the side residential streets.”

“We are the primary credit union for the city of Somerville employees and their family members,” Ron Draper said. “So right now, and probably for 30 years since we’ve been in this location, we have had a parking spot out front. And we quite often have a lot of elderly and disabled members of the credit union, coming with wheelchairs and walkers. That’s going to be removed in the grand scheme of the proposed plan. It’s going to be done in the name of safety, because it’s mentioned in the mayor’s letter that a 72-year-old man was killed in a bike lane. And this proposal just furthers replicates that dangerous situation on the other side of the street.”

“What’s going to happen is you’re going to have the same situation that I believe happened on Broadway to the gentleman that lost his life,” Draper continued. “When someone parks adjacent to a bike lane, they can open a door and someone can get hit. I’m just not convinced that this will improve public safety, since the risk of a loss of life still exists. And then there’s obviously the whole issue of not getting any notice or proper notice. And the way it’s going to impact all the businesses and residents up and down from Teele to Davis Square.”

Francillon Dabady said, “I just signed a lease about six months ago, getting ready to open in a couple of weeks. I’m very concerned with the parking situation. There’s hardly any parking out here already. It has impacted me at my other store on Broadway in Somerville with the bike lane and bus lane. And Broadway’s a lot bigger than this street here, so it’s going to make it almost impossible. A lot of my customers will be online looking for something new and decide to come and there’ll be no parking. This is directly impacting the business itself.”

“We’re just looking for inclusivity here with the business owners,” Brennan added. “We haven’t seen that. I’m led to believe that the city is pushing for this to happen primarily because they have a contract for currently resurfacing the roads. The original plan was for this to happen on Broadway, and they would have to wait for over a year for it to happen on Broadway. The majority of businesses in the square that I’ve talked to outside of this group still are not aware of the plan as proposed.”