350 Supporters And Counting!

After passing 300 supporters, the Forest Road sidewalk project is finally on Acton's AGENDA, but it is not yet in Acton's BUDGET! Acton is running out of time before the election (April 29) and town meeting (May 5-6). VOTE AGAINST THE DPW PROJECT WITHOUT SIDEWALKS!

Please share this petition (https://www.change.org/acton-sidewalks) on social media to convince Acton to do the right thing!

The DPW building is the only town building in Acton WITHOUT SIDEWALKS. Acton wisely provided sidewalks for the SAFETY of the North Acton Fire Station neighbors; Acton should provide sidewalks for the SAFETY of the DPW neighbors! Acton requires PRIVATE construction projects to include sidewalks.  Do not let Acton exempt itself from providing sidewalk for this PUBLIC construction project!

The marginal cost of adding sidewalks to the 20-year bond for the DPW project is pennies/month for the average Actonian! The cost of one wrongful death lawsuit will be way more than the cost of sidewalks! So consider sidewalks cheap insurance for a SAFER ACTON!

Please share this petition (https://www.change.org/acton-sidewalks) by email to make SAFETY a priority for the DPW project!

Now imagine a DPW facility WITH SIDEWALKS. K-12 Conant students could walk from the Conant School to the DPW facility to learn how heat pumps work, to learn how you give a car wash to a snow plow, to learn how recycling works! Without sidewalks, the DPW will forever be disconnected from the greater Acton community.

Please share this petition (https://www.change.org/acton-sidewalks) with one other Actonian today!

This is NOT JUST ABOUT FOREST ROAD. That's why the project is called SIDEWALKS FOR ACTON. The Town of Acton should set aside 2.5% of the cost of ALL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS for sidewalks. The DPW project is just the start of a SAFER ACTON, one that repairs a broken DPW and repairs Acton's broken promises about sidewalks.

As Project For Public Spaces founder Fred Kent so wisely said. "If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places."

Please email me (heels@alum.mit.edu) to keep in touch about this project. I attend as many Select Board, Finance Committee, DPW Building Committee, and Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings as I can! Thanks for your support!

Erik Heels, 17 Forest Road, Actonian since 1995.