• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School news
  • Private schools, sponsored by Riverbend
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Business news
  • Embracing diversity
  • Seniors
  • Letters to the editor
  • Guidelines for letters to the editor
  • Fire & police scanner
  • Worship
  • Deland, Gibson Insurance Athlete of the Week
  • Raiders sports schedules & results
  • Live gov’t meetings
  • 2023 Town Election
  • Events
  • About us
  • Natick Report
 
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Write Ahead, Wellesley

Swellesley cracks “The Case of the Wellesley non-Crosswalk”

January 17, 2017 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

This curious case begins with an emailed photo we received in mid-December from a couple of flabbergasted residents of a nearby town. The picture shows a car seemingly parked in a crosswalk on Washington Street in front of Blue Ginger in Wellesley. The photo taker wrote: “Absolutely no excuses could be used in this case. Sunny clear day, crosswalk markings visible, and snow shoveled at crossing. Just a total disregard for pedestrians, and the law.”

blue ginger crosswalk

An open and shut case? At first blush, I had to admit it looked that way, but having recently watched the BBC/PBS  “Sherlock” TV series starring Benedict Cumberbatch, my intuition was not to jump to any conclusions. After all, my name is Mr. Swellesley. It is my business to know what other people do not know.

The Adventures of Mr. Swellesley

I’d gotten used to the white stripes being there for however long, even though it had crossed my mind that they were awfully close to the brick crosswalk at the intersection of Church and Washington Streets. I always found myself braking when approaching the crosswalk in my car, having seen those sated with Ming’s Bings and Butterfish happily saunter across at night after dinner.

So I swung by the scene of the alleged crime one morning shortly before Christmas to take a closer look and investigate the matter. I knew a case of this particular nature this was going to require some serious ratiocination, not to mention literal street smarts.

*Indeed, parking space markings were on the street — on either side of the crosswalk’s end in front of Blue Ginger — where that car in the photo had been stationed.

*There were no such markings at the other end of the crosswalk, which has faded to a ghostly white, on the side of the street housing a funeral home-turned-real estate office and those barren Belclare retail spaces.

*There were no curb cuts on either side, but I deduced that snow was cleared from the sidewalk so as to allow access to the crosswalk.

*I couldn’t tell if there was a meter dedicated for the space in front of Blue Ginger because one of those green holiday Free Parking hoods was on the closest one. I dared not remove it, but could feel two meter heads under the material.

Hmmm… I scratched my chin, adjusted my deerhunter and pondered the situation. I then pestered a passerby to ask him what he thought. He agreed it was puzzling, then scurried off to catch his train and avoid any follow-up questions.

Belclare crosswalk

The Final Problem

I figured Scotland Yard wouldn’t have a clue, so I turned my investigation closer to home.

Blue Ginger restaurant General Manager Armando Carlos Dias told me that crosswalk was put down when the Belclare complex construction was nearing completion. “It is quite confusing to people because there is a metered parking spot right over it. Many guests have asked us if it is a valid parking spot and we have no idea either,” he explained.

My next course of action was to reach out to town officials, though I feared they might not want to deal with such perceived trifles and would simply stonewall me.

Wait…did someone say stone wall?

Wellesley’s parking clerk said she would look into the matter and requested photographic evidence, which I eagerly supplied. But I also contacted that clever Wellesley Police Department, which informed me that the Board of Selectmen’s office confirmed the crosswalk was temporarily installed by the Belclare team while repairing a — stone wall!

My head started to spin and I flashed back to sitting in traffic jams created by the construction work just as the school year started this past fall.

Wellesley Deputy Director Terry Connolly followed up to tell me that the developer was putting the contractor in touch with the town and would have a plan to remove the crosswalk . Black road paint would probably be used, leaving only a phantom crosswalk lurking beneath the surface.

No need to credit us with unraveling this mystery or prompting a resolution. It was really all quite elementary.

MORE: Wellesley art mystery: Hardy school “chalk” outlines | Wellesley gets a mobile parking app

print

Filed Under: Police, Restaurants, Transportation

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisements:

Linden Square, Wellesley
EXPLO, Wellesley
Wellesley Hills Junior Women's Club

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Advertisements

Wellesley Square, Wellesley Merchants
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Beacon Hill Athletic Club, Wellesley
Fay School, Southborough
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Wellesley Theatre Project
Volvo
Cheesy Street Grill
Mature Caregivers
Admit Fit, Wellesley
charles river chamber
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Most Read Posts

  • Sign up now for summer camp in Wellesley (and beyond)
  • Letters to the editor on The Swellesley Report
  • Voting rights expert to give talk at Wellesley College
  • Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • Wellesley business buzz: La Toscana's, Express Gourmet to serve alcohol; Where the town banks (not SVB!)

Click on Entering Natick sign to read our Natick Report

Entering Natick road sign

Upcoming Events

Mar 23
9:00 am - 10:30 pm

Select Board office hours

Mar 23
11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Wellesley Neighbors information session

Mar 23
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Babson Arts presents “The Forgotten Kingdom”

Mar 25
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm

The Lightning Thief, The Percy Jackson Musical

Mar 26
10:00 am - 10:30 am

6th annual “Plunge for Elodie”

View Calendar

Popular pages

  • Wellesley’s 2023 Boston Marathon charity runners
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads

Recent Comments

  • Mike on Time is right for new owners of Wellesley’s Coconut Thai Cafe
  • Ken on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • J covino on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • LADY WELLESLEY on Wellesley High parents pan standards-based grading, school leaders say improvements planned
  • Michali Lerner on Wellesley High School hosting standards-based grading discussion

Links we like

  • Danny's Place
  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (24)
  • 2023 Town Election (13)
  • Animals (429)
  • Antiques (49)
  • Art (596)
  • Beyond Wellesley (53)
  • Books (380)
  • Business (1,568)
  • Camp (12)
  • Careers/jobs (53)
  • Churches (82)
  • Clubs (241)
  • Construction (301)
  • Dump (131)
  • Education (3,218)
    • Babson College (252)
    • Bates Elementary School (18)
    • Dana Hall School (37)
    • Fiske Elementary School (11)
    • Hardy Elementary School (48)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (47)
    • MassBay (57)
    • Schofield Elementary School (26)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (2)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (11)
    • Upham Elementary School (35)
    • Wellesley College (615)
    • Wellesley High School (1,008)
    • Wellesley Middle School (208)
  • Embracing diversity (97)
  • Entertainment (823)
  • Environment (779)
  • Fashion (145)
  • Finance (15)
  • Fire (174)
  • Food (360)
  • Fundraising (649)
  • Gardens (165)
  • Government (625)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
    • 2022 Town Election (15)
  • Health (870)
    • COVID-19 (203)
  • Hikes (6)
  • History (403)
  • Holidays (442)
  • Houses (164)
  • Humor (47)
  • Kids (869)
  • Law (8)
  • Legal notices (10)
  • Letters to the Editor (89)
  • Media (72)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (13)
  • Morses Pond (109)
  • Music (584)
  • Natick Report (30)
  • Neighbors (282)
  • Obituaries & remembrances (86)
  • Outdoors (658)
  • Parenting (63)
  • Police (786)
    • Crime (398)
  • Politics (560)
  • POPS Senior Profile (10)
  • RDF (7)
  • Real estate (348)
  • Religion (139)
  • Restaurants (345)
  • Safety (156)
  • Scouts (2)
  • Seniors (128)
  • Shopping (164)
  • Sponsored (6)
  • Sports (1,024)
    • Athlete of the Week (14)
  • STEM (109)
  • Technology (165)
  • Theatre (397)
  • Town Meeting (26)
  • Transportation (242)
  • Travel (17)
  • Uncategorized (1,245)
  • Volunteering (351)
  • Weather (180)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (282)
  • Wellesley Holiday Gift Guide (2)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (20)

© 2023 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login