Category: Transit

Fall Stroll Through the Arboretum, October 17th

Ben Bruno

Join WalkUP Roslindale and the Arnold Arboretum for a guided fall walk! We’ll start at the newly renovated Forest Hills Gate and finish at Poplar Gate inside the Arboretum, with plenty of fall color along the way.

The details

  • When: Saturday, October 17, 1:00 to about 2:30 PM
  • Meet at: Forest Hills Gate, across from Forest Hills Station
  • Walk ends at: Poplar Gate, inside the Arnold Arboretum
  • Led by: Rodney Eason, Director of Horticulture & Landscape at the Arnold Arboretum, and WalkUP Roslindale

What we’ll cover

Expect a bit of everything: horticulture and history, how the path and gate improvements came together, and what’s next for connectivity and pedestrian safety in and around the Arboretum.

Please note ⚠️ ♿

We’ll walk a little less than a mile. The route is not fully accessible to people with walking disabilities, but we’ll be examining and discussing some of those missing links as we go.

We hope to see you out there! Please feel free to share the below flyer for the event:

And one more thing today on transportation projects in our neighborhood – District 5 City Councilor Pepen Letter

Matt Lawlor

The letter pretty much speaks for itself and puts several points out there demonstrating that we really can’t wait any longer for progress on major projects in our neighborhood:

WalkUP Roslindale Snow Clearance Collaborative, Version 8.6 – Another big one!

Matt Lawlor
The Boston Yeti is back at it again (even he is shocked at this point)! Photo Credit: abc15 (27 Jan 2015).

We’re looking at a snowfall total on the order of at least 18″ (45.7 cm) from this significant northeaster, which is several multiples over our 4″ (10 cm) benchmark. Once again, each of us knows our part of the neighborhood and where the worst pinch points are likely to be found after a snowfall, so, once it is safe to do so, let’s take care of our neighbors by digging them out and providing safe paths of travel wherever and whenever we can. As always, anyone sending in a before-and-after set of pictures of a curb ramp, bus stop, or stretch of sidewalk or bike lane they’ve cleared will receive a $10 reward as a small expression of our deepest thanks (note: spending of these funds at a neighborhood business of your choice strongly encouraged) (those pix can be sent to matthew.j.lawlor@gmail.com). Be well everyone!

10 years in and still at it!

Matt Lawlor

Yes, you read that right. WalkUP Roslindale are now in our eleventh year of pro-housing and pro-walk, -bike, and -transit advocacy. We announced this venture, which started out as the brainchild of Adam Kessel and your correspondent, in the spring of 2015 with the following post:

Welcome to WalkUP Rosindale!

We were simply a group of neighbors who came together to try to make, as Adam indicated, Roslindale “the most walkable neighborhood in all of Boston.” We’ve come quite a way over the last decade, including formally incorporating as a non-profit in the fall of 2021 and availing ourselves of the generous fiscal sponsorship of Roslindale Village Main Street in the process. According to wordpress, we’ve also posted a total of 517 times in those years (this post will be #518). The principal through-lines have, at least from my perspective, been (1) comment letters on new projects in the neighborhood, whether focused on new development or supportive infrastructure for walking, cycling, and transit; (2) support for planning, seeking funding, and implementing the Roslindale Gateway Path with collaborative support from, among many others, the Arnold Arboretum, the Arboretum Park Conservancy, the Solomon Foundation, LivableStreets Alliance, and the City of Boston’s Parks and Transportation Departments; and (3) supporting the fundamental restructuring of the city’s regulatory system to get way from our decades-old, painfully slow development by variance approach to reform-based, pro-housing approaches such as Squares + Streets. Herewith the first or most emblematic post from this website in each of those areas:

Housing Needed!

Rozzie Bike Corral Meeting June 10

First Official WalkUP Roslindale Comment Letter – 100 Weld Street

Boston’s Vision Zero Action Plan and sharing the Arboretum Gateway Path with our friends at LivableStreets’ 10-in-1 Street Talk

WalkUP Comment Letter on Washington Street Bus Lane

Open Letter in Support of Squares + Streets

We’re grateful for all of the support we’ve seen along the way so far and look forward to the next decade of advocating for a better, safer, and more welcoming neighborhood!

 

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!

BTD Open Houses: Roslindale Transportation Action Plan & Hyde Park Ave

Ben Bruno

Mark your calendar for two upcoming Boston Transportation Department (BTD) open houses this May!

Roslindale Transportation Action Plan Open House

Tuesday May 13th, 6:00 – 7:30pm @ St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church

BTD will be introducing the project, sharing what they’ve heard, and asking for some initial feedback. There’s no formal program and no need to stay the whole time. Come any time to meet the planners, learn about the project, and share your thoughts! See the flyer for the event.

Hyde Park Ave Multimodal Corridor Open House #3

Wednesday May 21st, 6:00pm – 8:00pm @ Boston Teachers Union School

Come listen and provide feedback on the latest design concepts for Hyde Park Ave.

Hyde Park Avenue Safety Walk – Saturday, April 12 1-3 PM

Ben Bruno

The Boston Better Streets Coalition has organized a Hyde Park Safety Walk tomorrow, Saturday April 12 from 1-3 PM, to help envision a safer Hyde Park Avenue. Meet at Forest Hills Station at 1pm. City Councilors, officials, and Boston transportation planners will be in attendance.

Tell the City What Street Safety Means to You by This Friday 3/7

Ben Bruno

UPDATE: View WalkUP Roslindale’s letter to the administration.

Mayor Wu’s administration has announced a sudden 30-day “Review” of safety and transit improvements that have been implemented in the past three years. This could signal a pivot away from multimodal infrastructure & safe streets (Boston Globe, Streetsblog Mass, Boston Better Streets). It is critical that we all tell the city how much we appreciate the improvements, and how we use this infrastructure every day and rely on it for our safety.

There are good people who work in the administration who probably want to keep the safety improvements they’ve helped build over the past three years, but the people they’re hearing from are those who want it dismantled; our officials need to hear from people who use and support it in order to justify keeping it, and they need to hear by this Friday, March 7th.

In your message, we suggest highlighting 1-2 specific improvements and how you use them and how they how they have affected your life. Here are maps of the City’s bus improvement projects, bike network, and road safety projects for reference.

We recommend emailing the mayor, BTD officials, and city councilors by clicking here.

Comment Letter on Squares + Streets Small Area Plan

Ben Bruno Leave a comment

Today, we sent in our comment letter on the Roslindale Squares + Streets Small Area Plan.

If you haven’t sent in your comments yet, you can still take a few minutes to do so by using the tools and resources from our prior post. But please hurry because the deadline is TODAY (1/31/25)!

Submit Comments by January 31 on the S+S Small Area Plan!

Ben Bruno 3 Comments

Make sure to submit your comments by January 31 on the Small Area Plan for the Roslindale Squares+Streets initiative!

  1. Draft your comment with this handy public comment generator (Español) or draw inspiration from these sample public comments and talking points.
  2. Submit your public comment (or send it to Eileen.Michaud@Boston.gov).

For a more in-depth pro-housing take on the Plan, check out Nate Stell’s what I like and what I dislike.

 

Wait, What’s the Small Area Plan?

The Small Area Plan sets a vision for new public investment and housing development in our neighborhood center. It recommends location, scale, and design standards for future development on our main streets, and it identifies priority improvements to public spaces, intersections, and transportation infrastructure. The Small Area Plan’s land use framework will inform the Planning Department’s zoning recommendations anticipated to be released in February 2025. The plan and the zoning recommendations are the culmination of Roslindale’s Squares+Streets process that began in January 2024.

 

Upcoming Squares + Streets Events

Virtual Office Hours (register in advance)
Thursday, January 28 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Thursday, January 29 | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Roslindale Square Squares + Streets Plan Closeout Meeting (virtual)
Thursday, February 6 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM