25 mph Speed Limit Standout #4 – Washington @ Blue Ledge — 11 am on 25 March 2017

No peppy name this time. This will be the fourth and final installment of our standout series. The location this time is at the main southern entrance to our neighborhood and the place where our neighbor, Silvia Acosta, was killed by a hit and run driver while crossing Washington Street in a crosswalk. It would be great to top last week’s 14 participants, so feel free to bring a sign along with yourself and your great attitude. Thanks in advance!!!

Standout #3 – Big numbers on a beautiful day for Beyond Thunderdome!

Here’s the photo:

I count a total of 13 in the photo who held signs (there are a couple of fellow travelers mixed in) and one of our number took it, so that’s 14 – one more person than we had signs. Messrs. Guptill and Tedrow are in the running for perfect 25 mph standout attendance!!!

Let 10,000 flowers – or at least 4 NSS applications – bloom in Roslindale! (UPDATED with survey link for Lower South)

We here at WalkUP Roslindale have been talking up BTD’s Neighborhood Slow Streets (NSS) program since they released the application package a few weeks ago. We even went so far as to host a workshop a bit over a month ago to inform and encourage our neighbors all across this great neighborhood to band together and apply. At this point, we are aware of at least 4 separate NSS applications in Roslindale that are in production and almost certain to be submitted by the March 24 deadline. They are listed below with contact information, their draft area maps, and, where available, links to the online surveys for residents in those areas to weigh in on their concerns and support for the concept of making our residential streets safer through calmed traffic:

Longfellow Area (from Knoll to Congreve, between Centre and South/Walter plus the spur of South from the Walter-South intersection to the commuter rail station): LINK to survey. Contact: Rob Orthman, robert.orthman@nullgmail.com.

Lower South Street (South/Bussey intersection down through the Archdale bridge, covering the side streets between South and Washington to Firth and then crossing Washington to pick up the side streets between Florence and Washington down to Cummins). SURVEY LINK. Contact: Steve Gag, stevengag@nullgmail.com.

Metropolitan Hill/Beech Street (Metropolitan to Beech, Washington to Poplar): LINK here. Contact: Sarah Kurpiel Lee, stk1221@nullgmail.com.

Mount Hope/Canterbury (residential side streets off of American Legion, from Walk Hill and Mount Hope to Cummins). Contact: Lisa Beatman, lisabeatman@nullyahoo.com.

 

25 MPH SPEED LIMIT STANDOUT #3, AKA BEYOND THUNDERDOME – SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 2017 – WALTER-SOUTH @11 AM

The forecast is for much warmer weather. I am accordingly hoping we won’t look this cold:

And your faithful correspondent will stand a round of coffee/hot chocolate at Green T to all participants promptly upon conclusion of the standout at Noon!!! BE THERE, BEYOND THUNDERDOME!!!!!

UPDATED: WUR 25mph Standout #2 – Saturday, March 11, 2017 – 11 am – Cummins/American Legion/Canterbury

WalkUP Roslindale’s Standout #2 is ON. Location is noted above. We’ll convene near the fire station on the Cummins side and fan out around the intersection for an hour of promoting the new citywide default speed limit. Though the forecast looks chilly, we will forge ahead. We would love to see you there, so bundle up and come on down!!!

PS Last week’s standout received positive coverage in this week’s Roslindale Bulletin: WalkUP reminds everyone 25 is the limit!

REPORT FROM THE FIELD OF THE SECOND STANDOUT: Very cold again!! Standout participants numbered six — Mses. Beatman, Phillips, and (Lynn), and Messrs. Guptill, Tedrow, and Lawlor. On to #3 – Walter/South!!

Standout #1 in the books — Cold but spirited!

Pictured: Liz, Matt, and Steve (L to R).

Your standout standouts this morning were a magnificent 7 – Mses. Phillips, Graham-Meredith, and Moshtaghi, and Messrs. Guptill, Tedrow, Gag, and your faithful correspondent. Reaction from those we saw exercising all modes of travel — including cars — was positive. Many thumbs-up and horn-honks and even a brief conversation a handful of times about the new 25 mph default speed limit, why it’s so important, and how it works. Hoping to see a bigger turnout for our next installment on what will hopefully be a slightly warmer day:

NEXT WALKUP ROSLINDALE 25 MPH STANDOUT: Saturday, March 11, 2017, 11 am @ American Legion/Cummins/Canterbury (meet next to the fire station)

REMINDER: Call to Action – Standouts to Promote New 25 mph Citywide Speed Limit – March 4, 11, 18, & 25

REMINDER: Despite the cold temps forecast, we are going to stick with our first standout tomorrow morning, March 4, 2017 @ 11 am, at Washington & Cummins in Roslindale Square (Adams Park side of Washington). Bundle up and come on down!

Motivated by the common sense concept that slower vehicle speeds lead to safer streets, Boston, under the leadership of Mayor Walsh, recently exercised its local option to reduce the citywide speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph as of January 9.  To draw attention to and increase awareness of this important change, WalkUP Roslindale will be organizing 60-minute standouts with hand-held signs around our neighborhood on each of the next 4 Saturdays.

Each standout will start at 11 am and end at 12 pm. The locations are as follows:

March 4 – Roslindale Square (meet on Adams Park side of Cummins/Washington)

March 11 – 5-way American Legion/Canterbury/Cummins (meet by the fire station)

March 18 – Walter/South (meet by Green T)

March 25 – Washington at WR Parkway (meet by the Dunkin Donuts)

We have secured a baker’s dozen signs from Councilor O’Malley (many thanks!), but it would be also be terrific for those interested in participating to bring your own homemade signs promoting the change as well. Thanks!!

Here are the stakes for the FY2018 Boston Vision Zero Budget

Take 5 minutes to:

  1. Read this article in the Herald: Battle for safer streets: Nine pedestrians hit in Boston in 1 day.
  2. View this local TV news piece from WCVB: Steps being taken in Boston to curb pedestrian crashes.

Here’s the upshot: Policy and aspirations in this city around walking and cycling and safer streets for all are not being met with resources. When the Herald takes note and publishes a front page article on the 9 pedestrian crashes that occurred on a single day last week and then local tv devotes as much time as they just have to the same issue, it begins to feel like the time may finally have come to really do what needs to be done to make our streets safer and better for all users. The municipal fiscal year starts every July 1. The FY2018 budget will be developed and approved in the next handful of months. The Vision Zero line item in the current FY2017 budget is $3.1 Million for a city of about 670,000 people. As the TV piece indicates, that’s woefully inadequate. On a per capita basis, it’s on the order of a third of NYC’s vision zero budget and 1/25th of San Francisco’s. Let that sink in. More to come on this.

South/Bussey Proposed Improvements – Public Meeting – 6 pm on 2/1 @ Arboretum Weld Hill Facility

Bussey and South Street
Intersection of Bussey and South Street, seen from South Street heading southwest away from Jamaica Plain

Share this as broadly as you can: the Boston Transportation Department (BTD) and Public Works Department (PWD) will hold a public meeting on proposed improvements for the Bussey-South intersection – 6 pm on February 1, 2017 at the Weld Hill Research Building in the Arboretum (1300 Centre Street). This is currently one of the least pedestrian friendly intersections in and around the Arboretum and is in desperate need of a walkable redesign. Please attend to lend your critical thinking and advocacy skills for safer vehicle speeds and better walking and cycling in our neighborhood.