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By Jeffrey Shwom

Somerville’s local government apparatus has shown up and made quick build changes on the community path this fall. Now, it’s on us to be better neighbors and users.

I want to applaud the city for implementing calming measures, better signage, and road treatments along the community path, especially near School Street. As a tri-weekly runner, I thank you. And more importantly, as a four-times-a-week Blue Bike user, I hear you.

For folks who use the path a lot, we did not need The Somerville Beacon’s well-organized statistical analysis to tell us what we already saw: there are some bicycle and e-bike users that just go way too fast and make it more dangerous for the more vulnerable users. I’m talking about walkers and pedestrians. I’m also talking about commuters and students.

Mayor Wilson declared this year the year of the neighbor. I couldn’t think of a more apt expression for how we move forward with these changes.

When we fly by on our two-wheeled bikes, we should use empathy and try to understand our impact of riding so fast within 2 ft of someone who’s moving slower than us. We should understand that our legs, which do burn or get tired from the ups and downs of the path, are not as important as the safety of those around us. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing like riding a bike and feeling 15 mph air flowing by. That being said, is my commute or my workout, at speed, more important than my neighbors?

I know it took a year and a half or more to get to this point. Some would argue it’s taken since 2023, when the community path opened. The journey to get here is complicated: the city didn’t take full ownership and responsibility for the path until a year or two after the MBTA Green Line extension opened. By then, some of the intersections, including School Street, were already designed by Mass DOT architects and designers who didn’t understand the local focus.

Now that the city is in charge, and community members and City councilors are on the case, improvements will be made. Part of that agreement between government and its citizens is a largely unspoken truth: there’s no police on the path and no enforcement beyond ourselves.

I’m certainly not advocating for police presence on the path at all. What I am advocating for is holding each other accountable…and being nice to one another.

I am hopeful that the Somerville community will get this right and use this as a starting point to share the community path in a better way. I know I can improve when I’m on a bike, and you can too.