Boston Globe article on the importance of maintaining audible pedestrian signals.

Yakir Arbib is blind. He is also a promising young pianist who daily negotiates the Green Line and busy urban streets on his way to study at the Berklee College of Music. None of it daunts him, except the congested crossroads at Massachusetts Avenue and Boylston Street.

The chirping of an audible crossing signal is supposed to alert him and other visually impaired pedestrians when it is safe to cross the traffic-choked street, but for several weeks the signal hasn’t worked.

“I wait for some nice person, or I take a chance,’’ the Israeli native said. “I don’t know how I’m going to get around having to cross that street. I think I’ll have to find a different way.’’

Read the rest here: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/somerville/articles/2009/08/17/advocates_urge_boston_to_add_fix_devices_that_aid_the_blind/

SF LightHouse’s Director of Public Policy, Jessie Lorenz, is quoted in the article.