WalkUP Roslindale’s Year in Review – 2025

Matt Lawlor

As adverse as the national level conditions have been generally for anyone concerned about the direction of this country and its respect for fundamental human rights as well as the causes we hold dear in particular, we here at WalkUP Roslindale can still look back at this year at the local level as one of significant accomplishment and enduring improvement for our pro-housing and pro-walk, -bike, -transit advocacy. It is always difficult to choose what seems most significant in a given period of time, but it seems to us that three things stand out most prominently for 2025:

First, the Boston Zoning Commission’s adoption in February of the Squares + Streets zoning text and map amendments for Roslindale Square and its key radiating corridors. This was a very big deal on several levels, but perhaps none more so than the elimination of off-street parking minimums coupled with increases in as-of-right housing density within the rezoned area. The following selected posts from this website give a sense of the process as we experienced it starting in 2024 and running into 2025 as well as the first proposed project within the heart of the square that makes full use of the flexibility allowed by the new zoning – a decidedly admirable and eminently supportable all-affordable, mixed-use, senior-focused development that requires no zoning relief whatsoever:

Squares + Streets – Small Area Planning Process – Roslindale Square Kickoff Open House

Three thoughts on Squares + Streets as we get underway in Roslindale Square

Guest Post – Nate Stell from AHMA: Rezone the residential streets too!

First in an occasional series – Elvira Mora of WUR and AHMA

Open Letter in Support of Squares + Streets

Squares + Streets – ADOPTED!

First Fruits for Squares + Streets…4259-4267 Washington Street come on down!

Second, the 3-part walk audit series sponsored by a micro-grant from the American Association of Retired Persons that looked at the Washington Street corridor between the square and Archdale Road, Roslindale Square’s key intersections, and Cummins Highway’s mid-section around the new Sarah Roberts School. We very much appreciated AARP’s support and were truly stunned at the speed with which the Washington Street audit’s focus on a half-dozen badly heaved sidewalks near street trees resulted in virtually immediate fixes, resulting in vastly improved walkability and rollability in this key neighborhood corridor. Post links:

Join the Walk Audit Series!

From Audit to Action: Washington St. Sidewalks Repaired!

Walk Audit Community Meeting

Third, and finally, we were tremendously gratified to see Phase 1 of the Roslindale Gateway Path open between the end of the Blackwell Path at South Street and Arboretum Road. Roslindale Gateway Path is and has been a foundational, long-term advocacy project for us, so this first phase is welcome and we are eager both to solidify the major improvement in Arnold Arboretum access it represents and to push even harder to get the rest of the path implemented so we can truly open this amazing public resource to much more of Roslindale. Post link: Soft Open Alert – Roslindale Gateway Path Phase 1!

And so, that’s what we think of when we think of this past year’s efforts. And now it’s on to 2026…

WalkUP Roslindale Snow Clearance Collaborative – Version 8.1 – Assemble & Clear!

Matt Lawlor

It’s a close call on whether we have hit the standard 4″ (10 cm) threshold, but we will err on the side of safety and assistance, so we are joining our old friend the Boston Yeti and calling our forces out onto the snowy streets this morning to clear bus stops and curb ramps for our neighbors. As has been the case, if you send us pix of the clearing you’ve done, we will send you back $10 as a reward (which we hope you will spend at one of our neighborhood’s many and varied merchants) and heartfelt thank you. Send pix to matthew.j.lawlor@gmail.com. Thanks!!!

4487 Washington St Public Meeting Wed 12/17 6pm

Ben Bruno

The Planning Department is hosting a Virtual Public Meeting tomorrow, Wednesday 12/17, 6:00-8:00pm for the proposed project at 4487 Washington Street, a new five-story 28-unit residential building with 12 off-street vehicle parking spaces. The site is on the southern tip of one of the new S2 zones established in Roslindale’s Squares and Streets process.

Walk Audit Series Community Meeting Wed 11/19 6:30-8pm

Ben Bruno

Please join us for our community meeting to wrap up our walk audit series! We’ll report back, discuss our findings and improvements that have already been made, and talk about next steps.

BCYF Community Center
6 Cummins Hwy, Boston, MA 02131
📅 Wednesday, November 19
🕞 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

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.

4259 Washington Street Rendering

Comment letter on 4259-4267 Washington Street (former Bank of America location)

walkup

We’ve submitted a comment letter in support of a proposed affordable housing project at 4259-4267 Washington Street, the old Bank of America location just off the square. As detailed below, it’s great to see the Squares and Streets rezoning effort pay off so quickly with a higher density, pedestrian-oriented development, and look forward to welcoming new residents to our neighborhood.

Read More

Show Support for Affordable Senior Housing Tonight!

Ben Bruno

rendering of 4259-4267 Washington St developmentTonight at 6 PM, there’s a public meeting about B’nai B’rith’s proposal for a 6-story, PassiveHouse-certifiable building with 41 affordable senior homes and new retail — including a new home for the Thrift Shop — on the former Bank of America parking lot on Washington St (between Chilacates and the recycling center).

This is exactly the kind of thoughtful, sustainable development that many Roslindale residents hoped would come out of the Squares + Streets rezoning. Let’s show up and show support!

Here are two quick ways to help Roslindale say YES to more affordable homes:

📅Join the Public Zoom Meeting — Tonight, Monday October 20th at 6:00 PM
Register here: bosplans.org/4259Washington-1015

✍️ Send a Written Comment of Support
Use this tool to write and submit a public letter in under 2 minutes.

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.

4259-4267 Washington Street (Phase 1 of the former BofA site redevelopment) – Public Meeting on Monday, 20 October 2025

Matt Lawlor

Just a quick note for interested and supportive folks in our neighborhood that the Small Project Review public meeting on the BBH proposal has been announced by the Boston Planning Department for Monday, 20 October 2025, at 6 pm. It will be over zoom and you can get information on the meeting and register HERE. Hope to see you there to support this ground-floor commercial and certificated, fast-track all-affordable residential proposal that represents the first phase of B’nai B’rith Housing’s redevelopment of the former Bank of America site and requires no zoning relief.

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!