By Alan Burke
Staff writer
—
MARBLEHEAD — A spoonful of money helps the medicine go down.
That's what supporters of a $1.64 million proposal to overhaul Pleasant Street are hoping, after Gov. Deval Patrick announced that the state will contribute $400,000 toward reducing the cost of narrowing and straightening the busy road, which sometimes expands confusingly to multiple lanes.
A decision on going forward will be debated by the May 3 Town Meeting, and, if it gains approval, voters will have the final say in June. Supporters are hoping that the state money will make it easier to swallow.
"It should make a difference," Selectman Judy Jacobi said.
All five selectmen are supporting the project, which would run from Village to Smith streets. Of special concern is the intersection of Pleasant, Village and Vine streets, where children headed for the middle or Village schools may have to cross 85 feet of roadway.
Improvements would mean that the walk would be reduced to 25 feet.
"The Village and Vine part (of the road) is very hazardous," said Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead. "I've traveled that intersection every day." Improving the road has long been a concern for her, she said, so she worked to make it happen. "I presented this to the chairman of the Transportation Committee. Discussed it with the Department of Transportation."
Sen. Tom McGee, D-Lynn, is also credited with helping to gain funding.
Meanwhile, connected to the plan is a separate effort to purchase the abandoned gas station at the intersection of Pleasant, Village and Vine streets. Negotiations are ongoing, with the cost likely to be substantially below the $500,000 estimate offered initially by one of the selectmen.
The garage could be demolished with the lot used to allow Vine Street to exit onto Pleasant. Now it comes out in an area that touches both Village and Pleasant streets, creating potentially dangerous confusion for drivers and pedestrians.
Buying the garage, Town Planner Becky Curran said, "would make traffic flow much better and reduce a blight."
Worries about safety have increased for Marbleheaders in the wake of a pedestrian accident last summer on Pleasant Street near Mohawk Road, which resulted in the death of 15-year-old Allie Castner. Yet, the passage of this project is no foregone conclusion, given concerns about spending and taxes.
The bills, minus the state's $400,000, would be paid with a "debt exclusion," or temporary, override of Proposition 21/2. In other words, a tax increase would remain in force until the bill is paid off. Complicating matters, two other debt-exclusion overrides totaling as much as $30 million (for a new Glover/Eveleth School and the renovation of the town dump) are also likely to be on the ballot.
Marblehead voters can be unpredictable. A similar proposal was turned down a few years back, and only a decade ago the town rejected hundreds of thousands of dollars in state aid for roadwork at Mugford and Elm streets, a decision made in order to spare a beloved tree.
