Changes in Peabody Square?

I must say I was a bit surprised this weekend when I saw that Peabody Square had finally gotten some new road stripes painted on the roadway. The old ones had been pretty badly worn away, but I just figured that this was yet another price we pay in Peabody for our unnaturally low tax rate.

THE OLD PEABODY SQUARE LAYOUT

So... hurray! They have finally restriped the road! But wait a second... The traffic entering the Square from Lowell Street can NO LONGER use both the left lane and the center lane to proceed straight onto Main Street...? And the striping that used to show two lanes traveling toward Salem on Main Street..., between Foster and Walgreen's are NO LONGER THERE!

THE NEW LAYOUT (FROM LOWELL ST)

What has happened? It seems that instead of discussing and debating the prospects of turning Main Street into a single-lane road... the new Director of Public Services has decided to start the process without the need for public or Council approval... is this the right way to do things in this City?

THE NEW LAYOUT (FROM MAIN ST)

Now, I am actually in favor of rethinking the traffic flow through downtown... and I very well may decide that the one-lane approach is the best one... but it needs to be discussed and debated and ONLY THEN should a change be made. This smacks of top-down arrogance to me.

Perhaps I am wrong about this... but this doesn't seem like the right way to proceed in these types of matters.