On and off the streets of Boston

[magid]

The Democratic National Convention is going to be in Boston during the last week of July. And there's going to be security, which is not surprising given the current polarization of the political arena along with all the other post-9/11 concerns. At first, this meant that some T stations were going to be closed, and some highways closed in the evenings. Then it turns out that the highways will have to be closed earlier, because it takes a while to close a whole highway off. Which makes sense, but is hell for any kind of evening commute, since they're going to stop access to the highways at 4 P.M. Yesterday the news was that a bunch of parking garages downtown will be closed for the duration of the convention. Today, I hear that parts of Rte. 93 will be closed for the week. It's getting out of control. Even if lots of commuters take vacation and/or switch to some form of public transportation, it's still going to be a nightmare. I don't yet know how it will affect me, but I'm sure it will, with the daily revelation of restrictions.

Also on the transportation front: short-term parking (8 hours) at Logan is going from $22 to $50! This is supposedly in line with prices in Boston. Really?

Oh, and a memo to one of the drivers on 128 this morning:
Honking your horn when I am in the lane you want to be in is not effective. Learn to merge.

Comments

[queue.livejournal.com]

I heard a teaser for the TV news last night that said there was more going on with the traffic stuff. Ugh. Closing parking garages downtown is _defiintely_ going to increase T traffic even more, which is going to mean a longer T commute for me, likely. Maybe I'll plan on just going in really early that week, like I did today.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think that week time-shifting from regular hours will be really useful. Or maybe working from home for a day or two.

I don't think it was all parking garages, btw. I just don't remember which areas were affected.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I'll be honest -- I'm glad I'm going to miss this. Before I moved to GA, I was living in Brighton & driving to work in Wakefield. I usually took Storrow Dr. to 93N, then 93N to Rte. 128 N. It was about 23 miles each way, and I remember it being hard to time properly. If I left the house at 8:15 instead of 8:05, Storrow was usually jammed up (though this was not always predictable or consistent), and the junction of 93 and 128 was often a mess too (also not predictable or consistent). And then in the afternoons -- I grew to dread baseball season b/c of what it did to Storrow. I have a feeling that if I were still there, I would have to take the pike west and then go all the way up 128. I hope you manage to get through July with minimal disruption and trouble.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a pretty horrible commute.

I've also noticed how much easier it can be five or ten minutes earlier, especially now that it's construction season again.

Luckily, my commute is a reverse one, heading out to Needham from Cambridge, so I don't get hit with major commuting suckage unless I leave work late enough to hit the general mess that are the highways after 5 or 5:30. And I don't end up in Boston frequently. Even if I do, I'm likely to walk or T, which will hopefully not be too horrible...

(I wish I could avoid the traffic woes of the DNC, but I don't think I could face summer down there either :-)

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

It was a nasty commute, and my co-workers thought I was a little nuts for living so far away, esp. since I didn't have family/roots in the area. But I felt like I needed to be in the community -- I suppose I could have lived near Beth Israel in Malden, but I would have had to go into Brookline to shop anyway, and I had friends in Brookline/Brighton. So ...

And yes, you definitely have the good end of the stick when it comes to summer. We've already been running our a/c for a couple of months.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I totally understand needing to live in one's community, near friends. I'm not really familiar with what's in Malden, but I don't have the impression of it being a large one (I could totally be wrong on that, though).

I end up having to go into Brookline to shop on a regular basis, though with Trader Joe's, it's less frequent than it used to be, and it's less of a hassle if I go on the way to work, rather than home.

I don't have an a/c, just ceiling fans and a floor fan, and lots of windows to open. Usually there are a couple of weeks where I wonder why it is I haven't yet bought an a/c (especially because it's hard to get a cross-breeze in my apartment, despite having windows on three sides), but it's never quite long enough to get me to do it (plus they're usually out of stock then, anyway). I'm nervous about installing it improperly and having it fall out the window. Foolish, perhaps, but there you go. Plus decreased light, and increased noise (I've heard that new ones are pretty quiet, though).

[queue.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that the garage under my building is $21 for all day. I think that's comparable to the other garages around town.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, $50 struck me as price-gouging. Or maybe they're just stupid and looking at the per-hour price but not the whole-day prices. Or something.

$50 is more than a cab/limo to Logan from most of the metro area, more than parking in one of the more remote lots for a couple of days, more than mid-range sushi for two (drinks not included ;-). Obviously, they don't want anyone parking there except people on expense accounts.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

F**k! My commute takes me down 93S right past the Fleet Center. If that's one of the closed sections of highway (and I bet it is), I am royally screwed. Taking the T is not an option, because the nearest T stop to either home or work is at least a 20 minute walk.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think you're SOL on this one. Even if they weren't closing it totally, the previous info had 93 closing around 4 P.M., which is not ideal for most work schedules...

Are there any buses that help with the T commute (or let you avoid the T completely)?
Also, I think there are week-long passes for the T (and/or bus), which might be useful.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Taking the T is not an option, because the nearest T stop to either home or work is at least a 20 minute walk

20 minute walk.

Oh, poor baby.

[queue.livejournal.com]

There was definitely a time when I thought a 20-minute walk was a big deal. Now that I walk most everywhere, 20 minutes is nothing. The 35-minute walk to Stop & Shop is even not really anything to me any more.

D, maybe this will be a chance for you to start walking more (I don't know what sort of walking you normally do).

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the city can bill the convention center for some of the costs involved...

(Yeah, I know, just a pipe dream... but something disruptive like the DNC should really pay more than, oh, say, a convention of opthamologists.)

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think the city's still looking at a lot of the non-obvious costs (ie, not direct costs, that might be charged back to the DNC) as the price of business, that will be made up (theoretically, anyway) by all the business it brings in. Of course, that doesn't much help the thousands upon thousands of workers who are inconvenienced.