With the recent snowfall and the ongoing holidays, we are officially extending the feedback period for the Cummins Missing Middle Walk Audit to Friday, 8 January 2021. Note that we are still going to hold the initial feedback session – Session 2 – on this coming Monday, 21 December 2020, as planned. Thanks!
EXAMPLE ADDED: WalkUP Roslindale Snow Clearance Collaborative – Version 4.1 (Virtually, Socially Distanced Yours)
Friends, our good buddy Boston Yeti is telling us that we may have some significant snowfall overnight tonight and so, once the snow has stopped flying, we are calling out all of our WalkUP Roslindale Snow Clearance Collaborative Version 4.1 forces in a virtual, socially distanced way to don a face covering, pickup a shovel, and safely and calmly dig out a bus stop or two wherever in Roslindale they may be, then send us a picture of the dug out stop(s) at mlawlor@nullrc.com, and we’ll be happy to give you kudos and, possibly, a reward if we can work out the details with a key provider of certain discount coupons for neighborhood businesses. Thanks!
As an example, below are photos of the before and after for a bus stop access point that your correspondent shoveled out late yesterday at South & Walter. Would love to post photos from others on their efforts! – mjl
Cummins/Canterbury/HP Av Walk Audit Now Virtual & Rescheduled – 14-21 December 2020
Finally following up on our rescheduled walk audit for the triangle bounded by Cummins Highway, Canterbury Street, and Hyde Park Avenue – with special focus on the so-called “missing middle” on Cummins between Canterbury/American Legion and Rowe Street – WalkUP Roslindale is proud to announce that we will be holding this walk audit virtually over the week starting on Monday, December 14th at 7 pm with a “Pedestrian 101” presentation over zoom, followed by individual, self-guided walk audits and reporting of observations/recommendations during the following 7 days, and then a regroup to discuss results over zoom on Monday, December 21st, also at 7 pm.
Please contact Matt Lawlor at mlawlor@nullrc.com if you’re interested in participating so that we can provide you with a link to the initial zoom meeting. We would thrilled to welcome anyone of any age who has an interest in making this part of our neighborhood safer for everyone using its streets. We are also proud to be partnering with Roslindale Village Main Street to offer $10 Rozzie Buck coupons for participation in each of the 3 phases of the audit.
Special thanks to WalkBoston for lending us their platform and expertise on conducting virtual walk audits.
Washington Street Outbound Bus/Bike Lane Work Starts Tonight!
We are quite happy to learn that the Boston Transportation Department is beginning striping work for the Washington Street/Roslindale Outbound Bus/Bike Lane. We have long pushed for both an evening-outbound and morning-inbound bus/bike lane and hope that finally achieving both goals will be transformational for Rozzie mass transit users as well as cyclists.
A few notes on what to expect over the next few weeks:
- Striping Work is anticipated to begin on Sunday, November 8 at 8 PM.
- BTD will be striping a new bus/bike lane and adding new signage.
- Work will be phased to minimize disruptions during peak hours.
- Plans are in place to manage traffic and ensure safety during road work.
- The new lane is anticipated to be operational on Monday, November 16th for the evening commute.
We’ve also agreed to help distribute a BTD flyer in both English and Spanish concerning the bus lane work. Please spread the word to interested folks!
POSTPONED TO DECEMBER. DATE TBD. Street Safety Audit – Cummins Missing Middle – 17 October 2020 @ 9 am (NW Corner of Rowe & Cummins)
We’ll be more specific about details for the street safety audit, including information for the pre-audit presentation, in the next few days, but wanted to get the date and time out for folks who are interested and can attend. Thanks!
Lower South Street Wins Neighborhood Slow Streets Award
Speeding and other unsafe driver behavior on South Street is a major problem that the Lower South Street Neighborhood Association has been working on for years, including by twice applying to the City’s Neighborhood Slow Streets program. We were thus delighted to learn this area will be one of three communities to receive an award of traffic calming resources in the upcoming year. Check out the neighborhood association’s original 2017 application to the program for more background. We’ve also included a map below of the affected area (outlined in red).
Some of the possible traffic calming measures include speed humps, raised intersections, streamlined signage, better road markings, and ways to make the South Street and Archdale Road intersection safer for pedestrians. Until recently, the City has claimed that speed humps and bumps were not permissible on most city streets (including South Street, but BTD recently changed its policy and indicated that it is open to considering the construction of speed humps on this street.
We understand that BTD will be conducting community outreach over the next few weeks through postcards to every household in the area, Zoom meetings, and perhaps in-person socially distanced events.
Interested residents are invited to sign-up on the City Website for emails about “meetings and project milestones.” We’ll also post updates here as we receive them.
Support housing stability legislation before time runs out at the end of July
Housing advocacy is part of WalkUP Roslindale’s mission so we are speaking up to urge our supporters to help get a pending housing stability bill passed before the legislative session runs out at the end of July. House Bill 5166 and Senate Bill 2992 would, among other things, extend the moratoriums on evictions and foreclosure for a year after the COVID state of emergency ends. Please email or call both your representative and senator to support this important legislation — and please do so quickly! You can find your legislators by address at this website.
More background:
Comment letter on LAND Grant Application for Roslindale Wetlands Urban Wild
This week, we sent a short comment letter in support of the City of Boston’s application for a “LAND” Grant to support the acquisition of 108 Walter Street in Roslindale for an urban wild. Details about the project can be found from the Roslindale Wetlands Task Force; see also this notice concerning a recent public meeting on the project from the Boston Conservation Commission. Our full letter appears below or can be downloaded as a PDF.
Cummins Highway Walk Audit Results
We are pleased to publish a report documenting the Walk Audit of a portion of Cummins Highway (between Washington Street/Roslindale Square and Rowe Street) performed by members of WalkUP Roslindale in December 2019. We identified many opportunities to dramatically improve safety along this stretch including converting one way streets to two way streets, increasing the number and safety of street crossings, and repositioning bicycle lanes between parked cars and the sidewalk. Please check out the report to read our specific recommendations for each intersection. Our next steps will be to set up meetings with the appropriate city officials and elected leaders to begin to address the highest priority items. If you have any thoughts about the report or what our top priorities should be, please leave them in the comments below or write to us at audit@nullwalkuproslindale.org.
Please download and share the full PDF version of the report, or read on for details.
Washington Street Evening Bus Lane Public Meetings June 15 and 16, 2020
As long-time WalkUP followers know, we’re big supporters of bus lanes, and were delighted by the relatively quickly deployment and extraordinary success of a morning in-bound dedicated bus lane on Washington Street from Roslindale Square to Forest Hills. It’s been clear from day one, though, that an evening outbound lane is at least as necessary–if not more so–given the extreme congestion in that direction during normal times. We are happy to report that the City is now moving forward with (virtual) public meetings to discuss an outbound lane and receive community feedback. In advance of next week’s meetings, you can check out a BTD presentation to WalkUP from January which started to explore some of these ideas.
The following meetings are scheduled for next week; click on the links below for flyers with more details:
- Merchant Focused Meetings
- Community-Focused Meetings
Please attend the meeting most appropriate for your interest and speak out in support of this excellent idea!