The residents of Cummings Road and North Street impacted by the Homer Street One Way traffic modification hereby petition Newton City Government including the City Council, Traffic Council, and Mayor to enact the following:

1. Immediately restore Two Way traffic on Homer Street until such time as One Way is needed to support the Newton Library Parking Lot work currently scheduled to commence in the Spring of 2022

2. Affirm that Two Way traffic will be permanently restored once construction of Library Lot is completed.

Rationale for these requests:

1. Safety - As winter is approaching, reliance on North Street as a primary means of ingress/egress into the neighborhood creates a material risk of accidents occurring due to the well known icing conditions that form on the North Street hill that abuts Comm Ave. Additionally, frustrated commuters are behaving more erratically due to the detours required to navigate the area.

2. Convenience - Traffic patterns in and around Comm Ave, Homer, and Walnut have become significantly congested due to the One Way restriction. Commute times to neighborhood locations such as schools & grocery stores have doubled or even tripled since the change was made. This is an unacceptable situation when no work will be underway for the next 6 months.

3. Trust - when this change was socialized to the neighborhood, it was described as a 'temporary' solution to support the work and the city, "plan[s] to return Homer Street to it's current two-way operation at the completion of the Library Parking Lot project." (Source: https://www.newtonma.gov/government/public-works/transportation-division/library-parking-lot )We've since learned via Director of Transportation Operations, Jason Sobel that this change is being described as a "Long Term Trial" as articulated in Item TC21-21 which goes on to state that, "After construction is completed, conditions will revert back unless subsequent items are docketed and approved by Traffic Council for permanent changes." (Emphasis mine, Source: https://www.newtonma.gov/home/showdocument?id=67309 )This is also unacceptable as the petitioners would never have supported the original plan had we known it would have the potential to be made permanent. We request that a new statement be made publicly to remove any notion of a trial or further possibility of permanent changes.

We look forward to a speedy resolution and commentary from our city officials and trust they will do what's right for the residents of this community.