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TheHonorableSavage t1_jcysn4g wrote

Waltham is a couple infill apartment buildings away from being a popular spot for people in their 20s. Lived their for a year and while I couldn’t bear the commute into the city, it was impressive how little I used a car.

It’s got the colleges, the restaurants and bars and commute not bad to 128. Just needs that bit extra density of people to make it feel alive past 8pm.

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3owlsinatrenchc0at t1_jcyuoef wrote

Imo, opening Moody St to outdoor dining in the summer would go a LONG way towards that. The last couple of summers it's made Waltham feel like a place to be. They're still deliberating about whether to do it again this summer and I hope enough folks turn out in support of it.

I tend to agree on the commute into the city being shitty, and I still use my car for grocery shopping and such, but depending on where in the city you're going it can actually be really doable without a car. Mine sucks because I commute to somewhere that's not very transit-accessible, so I have to drive, but a commute to Cambridge is reasonable on the commuter rail.

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bentheechidna t1_jd0pq5a wrote

Mayor McCarthy has been weaselly about shutting down Moody Street and said she had no power now that COVID was over, and now it's solely the traffic commission's power.

Worth noting she's being challenged as Mayor this year by one of the councilors. Said councilor is heavily in support of closing down Moody Street for outdoor dining again.

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mrkro3434 t1_jcyvt16 wrote

I also lived there without a car for a year in my late 20's. Absolutely loved it. The grocery store, Moody St, even my Vet, were all within a 5-10 minute walk. But yeah, the one thing that killed it for me was commuting downtown and back everyday.

The express bus could easily be over an hour+ long and worse in the winter, and even though I lived by the commuter rail, I'd either have a pretty long walk or an extra leg on the Green line to get to my office.

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TheHonorableSavage t1_jcz4zh7 wrote

That was exactly my experience on the express bus. If I had an early meeting I’d have to wake up at the crack of dawn to make sure I was in on time.

An express/HOV lane on the Pike and removing a couple closely spaced stops in Waltham/Newton could revolutionize those 500 buses and actually make that commute attractive.

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tjrileywisc t1_jczprwq wrote

Hopefully the MBTA Communities law results in some construction that provides that housing (and for the rest of eastern MA as well).

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