Mayor Suggests Bringing Monorail To The City At Waltham TEDx

WALTHAM, MA — Mayor Jeannette McCarthy shared a little local history about the City of Waltham's industrial development and resulting traffic congestion, at a Waltham's first TEDx talk recently. She also revived an idea she's had bouncing around since at least 2013: A monorail.

It's a creative solution, she said, to deal with traffic and quality of life issues.

"I would like you to imagine right down the center of 128 a monorail. I would like you to imagine stops in Burlington, Waltham and Westwood," she said.

Burlington connects to Alewife, Waltham connects to North Station and Fitchburg, and Westwood connects to South Station and New York, she said.

It's not going to be easy, she said. But it would be worth it to evolve, reduce environmental impact, increase access to jobs in Waltham and improve the commute.

"Disney could do it," she said. "And with all the brains and money and things we have in this neighborhood we should be able to plan for the future."

This was the first TEDx event (basically using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community) held in Waltham. About a dozen people took to the stage and gave a short talk designed to get you to think.

If you're wondering why the mayor brought this up again, the theme of TEDxWaltham for 2018 was Going Places.

The event, held in mid June, had a dozen speakers sharing their take on that theme, and it included talks on everything from breaking running records, automatic cars.

In a perfectly Waltham way, lead organizer of Waltham's "Watch City Steampunk Festival" attempted to explain what "steampunk" is. Waltham resident Melissa Honig who runs the Watch City Steampunk Festival, and has been a volunteer with the event in its various incarnations since 2011. Honig said she's been going to geeky events since the mid 1980's, when she saw the Doctor Who Fan Club answering the telephones on local TV during a live PBS telethon.

The winner of Waltham's Idol, singer Sebastien Paul performed an original song:

See more about the TEDx: TEDxWaltham

Photo screengrab of YouTube video.