In the warm Central High School cafeteria, Manchester residents, environmental justice advocates, and planners from across New Hampshire gathered this weekend to discuss how to make the neighborhood between Beech and Maple streets safer.
Beech and Maple are two-lane one-way streets meant to help with the flow of traffic in Manchester. But for some residents, fast traffic causes safety and health concerns.
The Conservation Law Foundation, which organized the community event with Plan New Hampshire, says the neighborhood’s close proximity to those “urban highways” has also led to poor air quality and environmental harms. The area is considered “disadvantaged” under the Federal government’s climate and economic justice screening tool.
During the first part of the community meeting on Friday, small groups huddled over maps of the area, and discussed three questions posed by Plan New Hampshire: What do you see? What do you want to see? What else do you think we need to know?
“The top three things that we see in the neighborhood is that we are a densely populated neighborhood with lots of children and no safe ways to get to facilities. And that it's very hard to cross the street – Maple in particular,” said resident Barry Glunt, who presented on behalf of his group.
Nagat Elmahdi, who works with the Sudanese community in the area, said for the women she works with, expensive rent and poor housing stock are two of the main issues.
“The important issue for those who came as refugees -- unfortunately, they put them in the old apartments,” she said, where lead paint is affecting young children.
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Elmahdi said the people she works with would like to see less noise, as well as a Sudanese community center. She said residents have trouble connecting with services like food stamps and other financial assistance, and with finding assistance with immigration issues.
Other groups noted that a lack of street trees – which can provide shade and help with resilience to extreme heat brought on by climate change – was a major issue. Residents also advocated for streets and sidewalks that are ADA accessible, and that can still be accessible when it snows.
Many agreed that traffic-calming changes, like turning Beech and Maple from two-lane streets to one-lane streets, could help.
The city has already turned part of Maple street, north of Bridge street, into a one-lane. Some attendees said it was frustrating that city leaders hadn’t done that for areas south of Bridge street as well.
But Marcus Ponce de Leon, a candidate for Ward 5 Alderman, noted that Beech and Maple act as “arteries” to help people get to jobs elsewhere.
“A lot of people are apprehensive about it becoming one lane because that's going to be strangling the traffic in the area,” he said, noting that if commute times grow, gentrification of the area could become a greater concern.
Ponce de Leon said he was disappointed in the fact that many of the meeting attendees were not from within the neighborhood that was being discussed. About 40 people came to the first of two community sessions on Friday, but less than half of those gathered raised their hands when asked if they were from the neighborhood being discussed.
Planners with Plan New Hampshire worked during the day Saturday to synthesize what they heard from residents on Friday into a set of recommendations for the community.
Reducing Beech and Maple to one-lane streets, adding large bike lanes and walkways, planting trees along the streets and making room for benches, and coordinating traffic lights so that cars don’t have to wait as long were all presented as options.
Planners also suggested moving parking out to side streets in the neighborhood, and away from Beech and Maple, to free up more space.
Randall Nielsen, the executive director of Queerlective and an arts commissioner with the City of Manchester, focused on efforts to bring art to the neighborhood.
“As we're thinking about developing these new spaces, I really want all of us to think about ways we can utilize art to make sure that the people that live here feel like their part of the community is seen and represented,” he said.
Other ideas presented included adding more transit stops, turning the current Central High School into housing or a community center, and transforming the area around Gill Stadium into affordable housing for teachers and new school buildings.
Arnold Mikolo, an environmental justice advocate with the Conservation Law Foundation, said the improvements discussed are an opportunity for equity in the community that lives between Beech and Maple.
“It's going to bring that equity piece of the equation that's always missing, so that way they're not just carrying the burden. They could also get some of the shared environmental benefits, such as trees, access to transport, better air quality with canopies, but also green space,” he said.
Plan New Hampshire is expected to submit a report to the Conservation Law Foundation in about 10 weeks. The recommendations discussed could then go to Manchester city officials for implementation.
