Category: Safety

Cummins Highway Walk Audit – Wed Oct 15, 3:30 – 5:00 PM

Ben Bruno

Join us on our third and final walk audit in this year’s series this coming Wednesday! We’ll meet in Adams Park and depart by 3:35 to observe and document how safe, accessible, and welcoming the street and sidewalks are for people of all ages and abilities.  We will not be entering the Sarah Roberts school grounds so as not to interfere with school dismissal and buses, but we will observe and document the issues and challenges on this busy corridor at rush hour / school dismissal time from the opposite site of Cummins Highway.

Cummins Highway (Adams Park to Sarah Roberts Elementary School)
📅 Wednesday, October 15th
🕞 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

👉 RSVP here to let us know you plan to join. While RSVPs aren’t required, they’ll help us prepare enough materials for everyone.

Hope you can join us!

 

Our 2025 walk audit series is made possible by the AARP Community Challenge, a grant program that funds quick-action projects to help communities become more livable for people of all ages. It’s part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative. Learn more at AARP.org/Livable.

Speak Up for a Safer Hyde Park Ave: City Council Hearing Oct. 6

Ben Bruno

Early Monday morning, yet another serious crash on Hyde Park Avenue left a pedestrian critically injured near American Legion Highway. Streetsblog MASS reports that Boston EMS transported the victim to the hospital after being struck by a driver — the latest in a long line of preventable tragedies on this corridor.

For years, residents have pushed for long‑promised safety improvements along Hyde Park Avenue. Despite hundreds of people participating in meetings and engagement processes, the City has delayed action — most recently stalling traffic‑calming measures tied to repaving near Forest Hills. As Streetsblog has noted, the administration has cited the need for “more feedback,” even as the corridor project remains without funding or a timeline. Residents living near Hyde Park have organized the Boston Better Streets Coalition to push for change.

Now, the City Council’s Planning, Development, and Transportation Committee is holding a public hearing to focus on the northern stretch of Hyde Park Ave, from Walk Hill Street to the Arborway. This is our chance to make sure the community’s voice is heard.

👉 How you can help:

  • Arrive by 5:55 pm on this coming Monday, Oct. 6 at the BTU School gym (25 Walk Hill St.) to get on the speaker list.
  • Share your own travel story — whether you walk, use a wheelchair, push a stroller, bike, take the bus, or drive.
  • Highlight the safety challenges you face and how better infrastructure could make the corridor safer and more accessible.
  • Keep it short: just 2 minutes is enough to make an impact.

If you sign up here beforehand, the Better Streets Coalition will help coordinate and offer tips on effective testimony!

If you can’t attend, you can still send written comments to the Council by email, but a strong in‑person showing is the most powerful way to push for change.

Boston Climate Action Plan – Draft 2 – Feedback period ends 30 September 2025 (this Tuesday)!

Matt Lawlor

The second draft of the city’s Climate Action Plan 2025 – which will guide the City through the next 5 years of efforts to reduce our collective carbon emissions and keep on track to hit a 50% drop from 2005 levels for community-wide emissions by 2030 (60% for municipal government emissions) and full carbon neutrality at a 100% drop from those levels by 2050 – has been available since the summer and the feedback period closes on this coming Tuesday, 30 September 2025. You can offer feedback by going HERE. The final draft is expected to be released in early 2026 with adoption/effectiveness in the spring. So, check out the plan and offer your feedback on what our city will be doing in the next 5 years to combat what is and remains the environmental challenge on this and at least the next several generations.

Given our twin focuses of being pro-housing and pro-walk, -bike, and -transit, we would direct your attention to the building and transportation sections of the plan.

For example, in the building section, steps such as streamlining permitting for de-carbonization of buildings, supporting housing stability through building upgrades, and support for affordable housing decarbonization are among what the city is considering.

For transportation, the actions include steps such a broad range of transit improvements (including Zone 1A regional rail citywide), encouraging safer walking and biking through infrastructure improvements that improve connections and reducing motor vehicle driving speeding (continuing the city’s mission toward Vision Zero by 2030), and planning for density and zoning for walkability (we have some recent experience on that here in Roslindale). Have at it by Tuesday!

From Audit to Action: Washington St. Sidewalks Repaired!

Ben Bruno

We are happy to report that our walk audit of Washington St on August 23rd has already yielded meaningful results – the Public Works Department was out on the sidewalks yesterday repairing the biggest sidewalk issues we identified!

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Enrique José Pepén (@enriquepepen)


Thank you to Councilor Pepén’s staff for elevating these concerns, and to the Disabilities Commission, the Parks Department, and the Public Works Department for their work, and finally all of you who participated in our walk audits and helped bring these changes about!

 

Want to be a part of this kind of change in our neighborhood?

Join us on our third and final walk audit in this year’s series!

#3: Cummins Highway (Adams Park to Sarah Roberts Elementary School)
📅 Wednesday, October 15th
🕞 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

👉 RSVP here to let us know you plan to join. While RSVPs aren’t required, they’ll help us prepare enough materials for everyone.

Hope you can join us – see you around Rozzie!

 

Our 2025 walk audit series is made possible by the AARP Community Challenge, a grant program that funds quick-action projects to help communities become more livable for people of all ages. It’s part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative. Learn more at AARP.org/Livable.

Walk Audit #2: Adams Park + Roslindale Square Area – Wed 9/17, 3:30-5pm

Ben Bruno

The 2nd walk audit of our 2025 walk audit series is coming up next week! In this, audit we’ll be examining the heart of our Roslindale community. We’ll begin in Adams Park and walk around the Roslindale Square area, observing and documenting how safe, accessible, and welcoming the streets and sidewalks are for people of all ages and abilities. Together, we can identify opportunities for improvement.

Walk Audit #2: Adams Park + Roslindale Square Area
📅 Wednesday, September 17th
🕞 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

map of walk audit area- Adams Park (meet here) and Roslindale Square area

👉 RSVP here to let us know if you’ll be joining us – while not required, this will help us prepare enough materials for everyone and know to expect you.

 

This initiative is made possible by the AARP Community Challenge, a grant program that funds quick-action projects to help communities become more livable for people of all ages. It’s part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative. Learn more at AARP.org/Livable.

Walk Audit this Saturday 10:30am – Washington St from Basile to Archdale

Ben Bruno

📅 Saturday, August 23rd
🕥 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Our first in a series of three walk audits is this Saturday – please join us! We’ll be meeting at the corner of South St and Taft Hill Terrace and departing shortly after 10:30am. We’ll walk north to Washington Street and begin in earnest at Basile St, cross to the other side of Washington St at Healy Field and continue to Archdale Rd. We’ll observe and document how safe, accessible, and welcoming our streets and sidewalks are for people of all ages and abilities. Together, we’ll identify opportunities for improvement.

Walk Audit #1 Map - Washington St - route from mtg point to Basile to Archdale

Please note that it will be farmer’s market day, so the area is sure to be busy. Consider walking/biking/taking the bus if possible and look for our sign at the meeting spot! If you are running late, we’ll be moving slow so you can catch up with us along the route (click the route map above to view an enlarged image).

👉 RSVP here to let us know if you’ll be joining us – while not required, this will help us prepare enough materials for everyone and know to expect you. Hope you can join us!

Join the Walk Audit Series!

Ben Bruno

We’re excited to host three walk audits in the coming weeks and months, supported by an AARP Community Challenge microgrant. These events are open to all, and we’d love your input.

A walk audit is a community-led stroll through a neighborhood to observe and document how safe, accessible, and welcoming our streets and sidewalks are for people of all ages and abilities. Together, we’ll identify opportunities for improvement—from crosswalk visibility to sidewalk conditions to traffic calming—and gather insights that can inform future advocacy and planning like the Roslindale Transportation Action Plan.

 

Upcoming Walk Audits

#1: Washington St Corridor (Adams Park to Archdale Rd)
📅 Saturday, August 23rd
🕥 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

 

#2: Adams Park + Roslindale Square Area
📅 Wednesday, September 17th
🕞 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

 

#3: Cummins Highway (Adams Park to Sarah Roberts Elementary School)
📅 Wednesday, October 15th
🕞 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

 

👉 RSVP here to let us know which walk audits you plan to join. While RSVPs aren’t required, they’ll help us prepare enough materials for everyone.

Hope you can join us!

 

This initiative is made possible by the AARP Community Challenge, a grant program that funds quick-action projects to help communities become more livable for people of all ages. It’s part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative. Learn more at AARP.org/Livable.

Hebrew Senior Life – Centre/Walter Proposed Project – Article 80 Public Meeting – 6 pm on 23 July 2025

Matt Lawlor

With the Project Notification Form (PNF) for Article 80/Large Project Review of Hebrew Senior Life’s proposed all-affordable senior residential development at Centre/Walter with the Boston Planning Department having been filed on 25 June, we are now within a public comment period for the project that will end on 28 July. As noted in the headline, a community meeting for the project has been scheduled for 6 pm on 23 July via Zoom. Information on signing up for the meeting, as well as as on the project (including the PNF itself), can be found below, which has been cribbed from the Planning Department’s recent notification email.

Very briefly described, Hebrew Senior Life are proposing to fill in what is now a surface parking lot at the corner of Centre and Walter streets on their Roslindale campus with a 78-unit all deeply affordable senior residential building, addressing a critical need for this kind of housing within our overall regional housing emergency. In addition, neighborhood gateway corners are always critical and, as can be seen below, the proposed 6-story building will do an impressive job of holding down this particular gateway corner and complimenting the imminent safety improvements to this intersection that the neighborhood have long sought. Among the proposal’s many benefits, the fact that it is going to fill in what is now a surface parking lot is truly music to our ears. The WalkUP Roslindale Board are strongly supportive of the proposal and we intend to submit a support letter before the close of the comment period that will go into more detail about our specific thinking. We encourage those who support this kind of neighborhood improvement addressing the ongoing housing emergency to attend the meeting, learn more about the project, and, if you come away convinced of its value, to submit a comment in support of the project. We hope to see you there!

THE BELOW IS CUT AND PASTED FROM A PLANNING DEPARTMENT NOTIFICATION EMAIL.

1200 Centre Street

1200 Centre Street

Public Meeting | Virtual Meeting

Wednesday, July 23, 2025 | 06:00 PM – 08:00 PM

This is a public meeting for the proposed 1200 Centre Street Project, located in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the overall project and the potential impacts. The meeting will include a presentation followed by questions and comments from the public.

How to Participate

Please register for the meeting using the following Zoom link: bosplans.org/1200CentreStreet

Meeting ID: 161 991 5474
Toll-Free Call-in Number: 833.568.8864
Speed vs. fatalities

Comment letter on Expanding Safety Surge Program

walkup

This week, the Boston City Council held a hearing on Docket No. 0266 – Pedestrian Safety, Traffic Calming, and Expanding the Safety Surge Program. We emphatically support greater investment in pedestrian safety, which also benefits cyclists and motor vehicle drivers. Our comments for the hearing are below and also available as a PDF as submitted.

Read More

Roslindale Squares & Streets – Boston Zoning Commission Hearing on Deck – Wednesday, 21 May 2025, at 9:00 am – ADOPTED! UPDATE BELOW

Matt Lawlor

Roslindale Square - Squares + Streets | Bostonplans.org

The Boston Zoning Commission is set to hold their public hearing starting at about 9 am on this coming Wednesday, 21 May 2025, on the zoning text and map amendments developed through the small area planning process here in Roslindale Square over the course of the last year-plus.

LINK HERE: BZC agenda and information on how to register.

We encourage supporters of the proposed zoning changes to attend and offer testimony at the hearing, which will be over zoom, if at all possible. Whether you can make it or not, we also encourage you to submit supportive written comments to the Boston Zoning Commission’s Secretary, Jeffrey Hampton, at their official email address of zoningcommission@boston.gov. We’re going to submit our WalkUP Roslindale comment letter around the time of the BPDA Board vote last month. Hope to see many supporters on hand on Wednesday morning and here’s a LINK to a helpful tool that was put together for the BPDA Board meeting, but is also very helpful for preparing for the hearing and submitting your written support in advance!

UPDATE:

As first reported by Universal Hub (“Denser zoning approved for Roslindale Square”), the Roslindale Squares & Streets zoning amendments – both text and map – were adopted by the Boston Zoning Commission at their hearing this past Wednesday morning by a unanimous vote of 11 in favor, 0 against. As we have said many times, deep thanks go to the mayor and her administration, especially the folks at the Boston Planning Department, who worked tirelessly over the last 15 months to solicit feedback, develop the small area plan, and then craft zoning amendments to meet this moment in our neighborhood and city. Now we will all get to see what kinds of improvements and projects the new zoning will engender. Onward!