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Several parking spaces on High Street in West Medford are being eliminated as part of the Brooks School Safe Routes project, but not everyone is happy about it.

The Traffic Commission on Feb. 11 voted to eliminate the spaces on the southbound side of High Street, from Auburn to Woburn streets.

“I am a homeowner and a landlord,” said Camille Passatempo, whose home is on the same side of High Street as the Brooks. “My kids went to school there; we all want it safe, but this will eliminate parking. I have an 80-year-old tenant.”

Passatempo doesn’t believe claims parking can be absorbed on the other side of High Street. And, she takes issue with the way the matter was handled by the Traffic Commission.

“Folks thought the meeting was to discuss the proposed Safe Routes to School Project,” she said. “Unbeknownst to us who attended, it was a meeting to actually vote on the removal of parking for a bike lane. We were only notified of this meeting two weeks ago. Meanwhile, this has been in the planning stages for over two years!

“Because this is a state driven program, there were no public hearings or council meetings for the residents to attend,” she continued. “They voted unanimously to remove the parking, so residents on the north side of High Street and surrounding side streets people will be parking in front of their houses now. The way this was handled was deceitful and underhanded. The way it seemed to me, it was a done deal; we had no voice or say in this. I have lived in Medford all my life and can’t believe they took parking away from us for a bike lane that only a handful of people will use.”

Based on her observations, High Street is already short of spaces with bus or commuter rail riders parking there.

Otherwise, Passatempo is in favor of other elements of the plan, such as curb extensions/bump outs facilitating shorter crossing and better sight lines, Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) for improved safety and awareness of pedestrian crossings, new crosswalk(s), including at Auburn and a new splitter island at Woburn.

After the Traffic Commission meeting, the City Council also discussed the Safe Routes project in a meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

City Council minutes of the Committee of the Whole meeting indicate, “There were people at the Traffic Commission who supported and opposed removal of the parking.”

Councilor Michael Marks asked about on-street parking. City Engineer Tim McGivern told him parking on the south side of High would be removed, but most of that area is not used much.

McGivern also said flyers were distributed to notify residents about the Traffic Commission meeting and the project “is a federal process” which requires him “to sit down with every property owner impacted,” a reference to property owners whose land will be taken for curb cuts and easements.

Whether Passatempo falls in to the category of an impacted property owner is unclear.

Safe Routes to School programs were started in various states in the 1990s, but became a federal program in 2005. The Brooks initiative started last year.

Resident Ken Krause expressed approval of the Traffic Commission decision, adding only 19 of 60 spaces would be lost.