Author: Ben Bruno

The Mayor’s Office of Housing is hosting a Backyard ADU Showcase on City Hall Plaza, where you can step inside a full-scale model Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) and learn how these small homes can expand housing options across the city. Whether you’re hoping to make space for a loved one in your home, or create a rental opportunity in your own backyard, this is a chance to see what’s possible. 

🕛 Daily Info Sessions: Join every day at 12:00 PM (Tuesday–Friday) for a guided overview of how ADUs work in Boston and what it takes to build one.

🏡ADU Resource Fair: On Saturday (1:00–5:00 PM), there will be a resource fair with architects, builders, lenders, and housing organizations available to answer your questions.

📍 Location: Boston City Hall Plaza

 📅 Dates: Tuesday, 5/12 through Sunday, 5/17

No registration required—just stop by!

 

We hope for zoning changes to allow these detached ADUs to be built as-of-right in Hyde Park, Roslindale, and West Roxbury through the Planning Department’s Neighborhood Housing zoning initiative.

WalkUP Roslindale is joining with LivableStreets and other safe streets advocacy organizations to call on our community to speak up on Monday, May 4 at 10:00 AM, when the Boston City Council will hold a hearing on the upcoming fiscal year budget for the Streets Cabinet (which includes the Boston Transportation Department and Public Works Department). This budget covers July 2026 through June 2027.

Last week, many advocates and community members testified at a City Council transportation subcommittee hearing and expressed deep concern about the lack of progress over the past year. Coverage in local media and the hearing transcript reflect the urgency of this moment. This upcoming budget hearing is a critical opportunity for residents to demand real progress on street safety, transparency, and accountability.

LivableStreets staff and volunteers have reviewed the publicly available budget documents and submitted a letter to the Administration with a comprehensive detailed list of questions and priorities. You can find the City’s budget documents, along with a spreadsheet summary prepared by LivableStreets, on their website.

You can take action in two ways:

1. Send an email to the City Council ASAP
2. Attend the hearing in person at City Hall or online at 10:00 AM on Monday, May 4

 

Sample Email to Send

To: [Your District Councilor]
CC: ruthzee.louijeune@boston.gov, julia.mejia@boston.gov, erin.murphy@boston.gov, henry.santana@boston.gov, ccc.wm@boston.gov, info@livablestreets.info

Subject: I support a Streets Cabinet budget that prioritizes safety and livability in Boston

[Share your name, where you live, work, or spend time in Boston, and how you get around.]

I am reaching out today to ask that you ensure the below priorities are included in the City of Boston budget this fiscal year:

Accountability and Transparency: Please ask BTD to release the already completed Go Boston 2030 Revisioned documents and have a timeline for releasing an updated Vision Zero Action Plan. These guiding documents are critical in determining how and where to prioritize the City’s limited resources.

Meaningful on the ground progress: Please require that the City complete 7.5 miles of protected bike lanes; add cast-in-place concrete barriers on ALL corridors or at any intersection where flexposts have been removed; install 500 new speed humps in addition to replacing any removed during resurfacing; constructing safety improvements at 8 intersections; and update 50 traffic signals to meet the new 2023 traffic signal guidelines.

Planning with Impact: Please require BTD to create a plan for quick build bus priority implementation in collaboration with the MBTA’s Better Buses program for installation in FY28 and to restart planning and design processes for Columbia Road, Hyde Park Avenue, Roxbury Resilient Transportation Corridors, Commonwealth Avenue Phase 3, 3B, and 4, Boylston St. / Fenway, Downtown Crossing, Connect downtown public garden crossings, Roslindale Square, collaborating with advocates and other stakeholders.

[Add any project or priority that is personally meaningful to you.]

Each of these requests is feasible within the constraints of the existing budget and with the existing staff, and is informed by the City’s most recent transportation planning and policy documents.

Please ensure that these priorities are committed to and incorporated into the FY27 budget before voting yes.

Thank you for your partnership and leadership.

[Your name]

How to Address Your Email

At Large Councilors: ruthzee.louijeune@boston.gov julia.mejia@boston.gov erin.murphy@boston.gov henry.santana@boston.gov

District Councilors:
D1 gabriela.coletta@boston.gov
D2 ed.flynn@boston.gov
D3 john.fitzgerald@boston.gov
D4 brian.worrell@boston.gov
D5 enrique.pepen@boston.gov
D6 benjamin.weber@boston.gov
D7 miniard.culpepper@boston.gov
D8 sharon.durkan@boston.gov
D9 liz.breadon@boston.gov

All Councilors: City.Council@boston.gov

Join TOMORROW Saturday April 25th with the Boston Better Streets Coalition and City Councilors Ben Weber and Enrique Pepen at Forest Hills Station to demand that the city fix the dangerous conditions on Hyde Park Ave. Boston Transportation Department planners will be there along with Cecily Graham, director of the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services.

Please sign up here to let them know that you’re coming. Meet inside the Forest Hills train station at noon. At around 1pm, we will take letters to businesses on Hyde Park Ave and ask them to support safe streets.

Rally at 1:15 pm

@ City Hall Plaza at the Government Center entrance preceding the hearing

Our asks to the City are clear:

• Provide real, time bound updates on all transportation projects and identify which ones are moving, paused, or at risk.
• Restart the speed hump safety surge and commit to installation numbers and timing for this year.
• Give advance notice of barrier removals and specify replacement materials, with durable options prioritized.
• Reestablish regular engagement with residents and advocates.
• Fill permanent leadership and staffing roles in the Streets Cabinet.

 

City Council Hearing at 2:00pm

Three ways to weigh in:

Today, we submitted a comment letter supporting the proposed development at 4301 Washington Street in Roslindale. The Proposed Project strongly aligns with the objectives of the Squares + Streets rezoning initiative. Replacing a vacant building with 16 new dwelling units, three of which will be IDP units, on a transit-served parcel within walking distance of a broad variety of retail and service uses in the immediate vicinity, as well as Roslindale Square represents an appropriate and beneficial use of land. This project will help address the city’s acute housing shortage while welcoming new neighbors who can support nearby small businesses and contribute to the vitality of the nearby square.

Read our full letter.

Comments from the public are due today (4/9), so please submit your comments right away!