Make Moody Street Market Permanent!

Mayor Jeannette McCarthy

The Moody Street Market experiment in Waltham has been a great success! Let's take it a step further and make Moody Street into a pedestrian plaza permanently!!

Moody Street, closed to traffic. People dine on the side and walk down the middle of the road.

Walkable spaces are foundational to what makes a city a great place to live. Removing the sound, pollution and danger of car traffic from areas where humans are intended to walk just makes things better. It leaves room for people to walk, sit, bike, and enjoy one another's company in a leisurely way rather than hustle from a parking space to a doorway and back. Outdoor dining becomes a relaxing way to spend time in the city. Neighbors meet each other out enjoying the area and catch up on conversation without the sound of trucks going by. Children can run around and play while their parents shop. Teens can enjoy a public space to gather after school.

Now let's take it a step further! What if our city invested in people-centered infrastructure instead of car-centered infrastructure?

  • Local businesses could provide more permanent and comfortable seating for outdoor dining and install awnings to protect diners from excessive sun or rain.

  • Street crossings where side streets intersect could be at sidewalk level in order to ease traffic for disabled community members.

  • Bike lanes could create a safe corridor for people to reach the commuter rail; bike parking could cut down on the number of people driving to Moody Street.

Don't take our word for it, though! Burlington, Vermont, a city 2/3 our size, did this successfully in the 70's and created the successful Church Street Marketplace! Ask yourself: Isn't this place more appealing than a road with street parking? Read about the Church Street Marketplace here:

An image of the Church Street marketplace. The area is paved with patterned bricks and shaded by trees. A church sits at the end of the road. People walk along the plaza and sit at tables.

And if you're curious, this is the before image. Looks a lot like Moody Street, right?:

An image of a road that has cars parked alongside it.

If you've made it this far, thank you and congratulations! "Why is this being sponsored by the Waltham Green New Deal Coalition" you may ask. How is this related to the Green New Deal? Who are these people?

The Waltham Green New Deal Coalition is a citizen-organized grassroots coalition of people who want to see Waltham plan for the looming climate crisis in a way that is consistent with the ideas expressed in the Green New Deal. Closing Moody Street to cars is just the first step in radically reimagining how we spend our city funds on infrastructure and what kinds of spaces and types of transit are prioritized going forward. As shortages are already driving personal automobile prices higher and higher, it is up to us to reorient Waltham back to its historic roots of mass transit and pedestrian spaces, as well as build infrastructure for safe bike travel.

Closing Moody Street is a great example of a way that reclaiming space from cars can not only result in a beautiful public space but even reduce car traffic in the city by providing nearby locations that will encourage Waltham residents to socialize close to home instead of hopping in a car to find a more peaceful place. It also gives us the opportunity to reimagine what a world that moves beyond car-centric planning could look like and give people a brighter vision of what the future of our city could be. Finally, reorienting our city towards walking, biking, and public transit would be a blow struck against the auto industry that is lobbying hard to prevent us from transitioning away from fossil fuels. This is how we take the offensive against climate change and make the world a better place in the process!

To: Mayor Jeannette McCarthy
From: [Your Name]

Mayor McCarthy,

We want Moody Street to become a pedestrian plaza permanently.

The Moody Street Market has had strong support from the public and has benefited the city. This has not only further elevated the reputation of Moody Street as a destination for surrounding communities but also created a beautiful, safe, and lively place for our own residents to enjoy the city free of cars.

We are asking you to begin a process to design a pedestrian plaza where the Moody Street Market currently runs, with the help of experts in universal access, public space design, non-car infrastructure design and social justice groups that focus on economic justice for marginalized communities. There should be a robust period of public input as the design evolves to ensure community support and engagement in the process. This transformation should take the needs of all businesses into account and not simply benefit the dining industry. We would like to see this designed in such a way as public events can be held on the newly pedestrianized Moody Street. The space should also prioritize the needs of the local community, not simply the needs of the business sector.

We understand that this transformation will not happen overnight, but we ask you to work with the City Council and Traffic Commission to begin this process as swiftly as possible.