Is 4-lane travel on Mass. Ave truly our highest priority?
Do we value it more than safety for adults and children crossing the street?
Is it worth rejecting more than $6 million in federal and state funding to rebuild Mass Ave, billing Arlington taxpayers for the entire cost instead?
Is being able to race down this stretch in the shortest possible time more important than a vibrant business district that invites people to spend time in the neighborhood strolling past the shops—instead of fearing for their lives if they dare to cross the road to visit another store?
And is clinging to a 4-lane design even necessary when time and again it's been persuasively shown that the sky will not fall with the current, intelligent 3-lane design?
My answer to these questions is a resounding NO, and that is how I will vote on Question 1.
Eric Helmuth, Grandview Road
