WalkUP Roslindale is made up of residents who live, work, or simply care about Roslindale and intend to make it the most pedestrian-friendly neighborhood in the city of Boston. Regardless of how else we get around, everyone walks (or, similarly, uses a wheelchair). We envision Roslindale as a safe, pleasant, and beautiful place to walk, gather, and interact, for the young, old, and everyone in between. The approach to improving the human environment is comprehensive and holistic: development, design, infrastructure, culture, social norms, and law enforcement. Although our starting point is people on their feet, we will work with allies to improve the neighborhood for bikes, other non-motorized forms of transportation, as well as mass transit.
Check out our Mission and and Seven Statements of Principles, first published 9/30/15.
You can sign up as a “supporter”; this just shows you believe in our mission. Any information you provide will be kept confidential and you will receive, at most, infrequent emails, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
You can also join our private email discussion list, follow us on Twitter, and/or join us on Facebook.
Our group’s name in inspired by a set of studies about the value attached to “Walkable Urban Places” or “WalkUPs.” To paraphrase Leinberger’s March 2015 report on WalkUPs in the Boston region, a “Walkable Urban Place” is a place characterized by
- Relatively high intensity of development with
- Multiple and vertically/horizontally mixed uses (housing, office, retail, recreation, education, etc.) located in close proximity to one another,
- Employing multiple modes of transportation (walking, bicycling, transit, and automobiles) that get people and goods to the place, and
- Walkability once you’re there.
In other words, Roslindale Square and the neighborhood that surrounds it.
Between the Walsh Administration’s Vision Zero project and its recent housing report predicting 70,000 new residents needing 53,000 new housing units of all kinds by 2030 and the increasing concentration of new development of all kinds in WalkUPs that Leinberger is forecasting, we are going to see real growth and significant development pressure in Roslindale in the next decade and a half.
WalkUP Roslindale seeks to be a gathering place for those who welcome this new wave of development but know that it has to be done right so that our neighborhood becomes even more livable. Thanks for stopping in!
Hi there!
I work for the Southwest Boston CDC and we are currently working with the Yes on 5 for a Better Boston campaign to educate the community about the upcoming vote for passing the Community Preservation Act (CPA). Passing the CPA for Boston would provide funding for affordable housing, parks and green spaces, and historic preservation efforts.
If your team is willing and able, we would love any chance to provide materials to your organization to help educate the community on this campaign. I’m not sure what your connections are beyond this website but if you would able to post anything here, that would be great as well!
Please let me know your thoughts, looking forward to hearing from you.
-Charlotte Karol
I applaud the service you perform. I cannot work for you or assist you, but I do need your help.
I am an 86 year old Franciscan Sister who lives in Roslindale. Because of my recent leg injury, I am not able to shovel my sidewalk (which children use coming home from school) or clean off my car. I am a caregiver for the elderly in our Parish and cannot get to them when it snows. I will pay for services. Is there any way you can help me? Thank you
I am an 86 year old Franciscan Sister living in Roslindale and am recuperating from a leg injury. I need to be able to get around in my car. When we have a snow storm, I, at this time, cannot shovel my sidewalk ( which children use going to school) and I cannot clean off my car. I am a caregiver to the elderly in our Parish. Is there someone I can call on to help me when I need help? I will pay for services rendered
Sister Margaret T. Yennock
660 Canterbury St.
Roslindale, MA 02131
857-222-8553
Sr. Margaret – Give a call at 617.966.3614 if you need help after this particular snow event. Thanks! – Matt Lawlor
Oh I do not support this at all. This isn’t Europe. What in the absolute hell! I do not want more rodents in my neighborhood. This is a small footprint state. Go somewhere else with your sun blocking buildings everywhere! Who’s a part of this who actually was born and raised here anyway? For how long? Stop trying to being NYC here! We don’t want it!
Nothing in this post, which has been our “About” statement for almost 5 years now (with some minor edits over that period), suggests that WalkUP Roslindale wants our neighborhood to be “NYC.” And as for noting that Roslindale “isn’t Europe,” that is correct. Roslindale is not located in Europe. Finally, it’s no secret that WalkUP Roslindale is a group of residents, some born and raised here, some here for several decades, some more recent arrivals, with as much right to advocate for what we think is best for our neighborhood as anyone else and we’re not planning on going anywhere. Thanks.
Although I think that Eva may have misunderstood the purpose of WalkUP Roslindale, I read in her comment a concern about all the new non-affordable high-rise “development” that is occurring in our community. People are moving out of Roslindale because they can no longer afford the rents, and many middle-income people cannot move in, by either renting or buying. My husband and I were fortunate to buy our house eleven years ago, when prices were low. We would not be able to move here now. If we value diversity, including racial, ethnic, and economic diversity, we cannot gloss over the fact that in the future most of the people enjoying the walkability of Roslindale will be very wealthy and that low- and middle-income people will be squeezed out.