Residents of Forsyth Street told Chelsea’s Traffic and Parking Commission on Wednesday night that drivers speed down their hill so fast that parked cars are being hit and damaged almost daily. The commission did not act on their complaints, which were not on the agenda, but it approved a key step for the Downtown Broadway rebuild and put off a change to parking meters on Central Avenue.
Forsyth Street
A man who said he has lived on Forsyth Street for more than 15 years told the commission his car has been hit three or four times, in hit-and-runs he had to put through his own insurance. Drivers come down from Franklin Avenue at 30 to 40 miles an hour in the early morning and late at night, he said, including bus and truck drivers. In recent weeks, he said, some neighbors’ cars were hit a second time while they were still filing claims for the first.
He said the garage at a large apartment building on the street has been condemned, putting the cars from its 109 units on the street. Residents have suggested a portable speed bump or making the street one way, he said, and he opposes one way. “We have over 100 something kids on that hill,” he said, and many ride scooters and bikes.
A Franklin Avenue resident said the one-way stretch of Franklin is her only way out of her house and that turning onto Forsyth is dangerous because of the speed on the hill. She said double parking has grown since the garage problem began and that children walking to school have had near misses.
She also asked the commission to put back a stop sign where Franklin Avenue meets Spruce Street. A neighbor who grew up there told her a sign stood at the corner until it was knocked down in a winter storm, probably within the last 20 years, and never replaced, she said. With cars parked around the corner there are no good sight lines, she said, and she asked for a sign with flashing red lights like ones the city has put up elsewhere. Her request came in too late for this agenda.
A third Forsyth Street resident said drivers run the red light at Cary Square while people are crossing, and that people have already been hit there.
Downtown Broadway layout goes to the council
Housing and Community Development Director Ben Cares asked the commission to approve what he called a formality for the Downtown Broadway reconstruction. When the roadway was surveyed, he said, the city found that private owners hold title to pieces of the sidewalk. The layout alteration makes the full width from the back of one curb to the back of the other a public way, with the city taking those pieces through permanent easements. He said the change does not affect the parking, signals or construction plans the commission already approved, and that the step is needed for the state and federal highway funding behind the project.
The commission voted to recommend that the City Council approve the alterations of portions of Broadway, Bellingham Street, Marlborough Street, Sixth Street, Washington Avenue and Chestnut Street, including four parcels shown on the project plans, as the Planning Board recommended unanimously on September 22. Two days earlier, the council approved the property takings for the project.
Central Avenue meters tabled
City Manager Fidel Maltez asked the commission to change the 10-hour meters on Central Avenue, near Eastern Avenue, to two-hour meters like the ones downtown. The city’s housing deputy director said the goal is turnover for a new restaurant in the area. A commission member said the 10-hour meters were meant for airport workers whose employers do not pay for spaces in the nearby parking garage, and that they would be ticketed under a two-hour limit. The commission tabled the request to next month to get more information from the city manager.
Councillor’s update: barriers, noise and scooters
District 5 Councillor Lisa Santagate said the safety barriers at Shurtleff Street, Marlborough Street and Broadway are finished, that early signs show drivers slowing down, and that the reflective tape is visible all the way from Central Avenue. She said a resident complained about loud car music at Willow Street and Central Avenue, and that she asked the police patrol division for night patrols there.
She also said the Chelsea Police Department plans a scooter safety operation in the spring, combining education and enforcement aimed at e-bikes, scooters and mopeds on sidewalks and weaving through traffic. The department is looking at an online road safety course for younger riders, she said, and chose to wait for spring because ridership drops in winter.
Also
- The commission denied a resident’s appeal of the revocation of a 2026 resident parking permit. The appellant had been given more than a month to bring proof of residency and did not.
- A handicap parking request on Hooper Street was tabled until next month so the applicant can explain why her driveway cannot be used. The commission has been strict about its limit on signs, as it showed in October.
- The commission approved removing a handicap sign on Essex Street at the request of City Clerk Jeanette Cintron White because the holder had not updated an expired placard.
- The minutes of the October 6 meeting were approved.
Read the full transcript or watch the meeting on Chelsea Community Cable.