Boston, from an angry driver

Not the most balanced article ever written . . .

from: Allis, Sam. "Road wars: Hub pedestrians rule the streets these days," Boston Globe, 11 September 2005.

One of the defining characteristics of urban life is the endless war between drivers and pedestrians for control of the streets. It is a battle of nerves that ebbs and flows over time. The two agonists in Boston are well matched. The only thing worse than a Boston driver is a Boston walker.

Drivers used to career around Boston with impunity while walkers sashayed anywhere they damned well please. Many on both sides still do. Yet anything approaching a balance between these Hatfields and McCoys is in shreds. The walking movement, with a sympathetic City Hall, has built a hegemony over traffic flow -- pedestrian and automotive -- that is breathtaking.

''We're not going to jeopardize safety for speed," vows Jim Gillooly, the estimable deputy commissioner for engineering and planning of the Boston Transportation Department.

Of course not. But that's a canard. No one's pushing speed. At issue is the decent flow of traffic around our city. Cars and trucks need to move smoothly through Boston. Forget about yuppies cruising Newbury in Beemers, I'm also talking about the goods and services that fuel our economy whose delivery on a timely basis saves money. Boston does not thrive as one giant parking lot.

''It's already difficult to drive in Boston," notes David Luberoff, executive director of Harvard's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. No fan of urban autos, he still wonders, ''Where is the tipping point that would make people stop driving but not take public transit -- they just wouldn't come into the city?"

Let's be clear here. Boston, like, Florence, is a spectacular walking town. The size is right and the rewards fabulous for perambulators. Natives and tourists alike should be able to enjoy these pleasures without fear for their lives every time they cross a street. Walking should be encouraged: it's good for your health and, to the best of my knowledge, does not require infusions of petroleum at $3.59 a gallon.

That said, there's an attitude in Boston today that dismisses the very idea of drivers's rights as an obscene notion. To many hardcore walking activists, drivers are pond scum only a mother could love. To drive a car in the city -- to the movies or the emergency room with a sick child, auto haters can't tell the difference -- is to wallow in evil. The inherent righteousness of Walking Nation is self-evident.

''They force their views on people who drive," says Ivan Sever, a lobbyist for the National Motorists Association, who has been the target of ''nasty e-mails" from members of WalkBoston, the nonprofit that has spearheaded walker power here. . . .