Crossing at Washington & Basile gets some attention and we are thrilled and appreciative!

Matt Lawlor 1 Comment
Flexpost
Flexpost

We know WalkUP Roslindale’s walk audit in December 2015 wasn’t the first time members of our neighborhood identified the crosswalk at the intersection of Washington and Basile streets as being in need of safety improvements. Indeed, we recognized at at the time that we were joining a long line of activists who had already called for changes at this important crossing at the northern entrance to Roslindale Square that is the main access point from the west for students going to and from the Sumner School. It was accordingly great to see city contractors out at this intersection in the last few weeks and days reinforcing the recently signed no-parking/standing areas adjacent to the crosswalk, installing curb-ramps, fixing the flashing yellow light, and installing the pedestrian crossing bollard and flexposts in almost all the required areas (the area right on the southbound side is, we believe, awaiting the completion of utility work before flexposts will go in).

We all recognize that there is more work to be done throughout the square and the entire neighborhood to improve walking and cycling and overall safety for all users of our streets. But we will pause for this moment to thank everyone who had a hand this, starting with walkBoston, who took us through the walk audit, and including the Mayor’s Office for Neighborhood Services, Councilors McCarthy and Wu, the Boston Transportation and Public Works Departments, and Roslindale Village Main Street.

 

Support Letter for Washington Street Corridor Bus Rapid Transit Proposal

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Washington Street is arguably the single most critical–and failing–piece of transportation infrastructure in our neighborhood. As restaurants, retail, and housing around Forest Hills explodes (e.g.), and Roslindale Square itself becomes more populated as well as an increasingly popular destination to visit, it will become ever more urgent to make this one-mile connection sustainable. This includes improving the streetscape, sidewalks, and crosswalks for pedestrians; the road for cyclists; offering a more reasonably priced commuter-rail connection; and radically improving bus service. Our Roslindale Gateway Path initiative is another important solution to this puzzle. There is no reason it should take more than ten minutes for anyone to get from the end of the Orange Line to Roslindale Village at any time of day, including time spent waiting for a bus.

If our leaders don’t take real steps soon, we will see gridlock for more and more hours of the day, and extending further and further back toward Roslindale and then on to Dedham. There is simply no space to put more cars in this dense area, whether they are in motion or parked. We need creative solutions, and we need them quickly.

One high ROI proposal we’d like to see implemented immediately is bus rapid transit (“BRT”) improvements along the Washington Street corridor. To that end, back in May, we submitted a letter to support a Boston Transportation Department grant proposal to the charitable nonprofit Barr Foundation. Details below, or in this PDF copy of our letter. We expect to hear from the foundation in the next several weeks about funding. Fingers crossed!

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Why not bundle parking?

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This handy infographic from transportation consultant Nelson\Nygaard succinctly summarizes a systemic failure of Boston’s parking policy (or lack thereof), at great cost to walkability, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability:

Bundled vs Unbundled Parking Graphic

Vision Zero Coalition – An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities (Hearing at State House 6/13/17)

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On Tuesday, June 13th, 2017,  Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition members, including WalkUP Roslindale, will be at the State House to provide testimony at the public hearing for An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities.

Will you help us make Massachusetts streets safer for all? Read More

Next up next door – West Roxbury Walk Audit

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We organized a Roslindale Square Walk Audit back in December 2016; published a report in February 2017; and took a productive tour of the area with city officials in April 2017 (more news soon about new positive developments resulting from that tour). Now our good neighbors to the west1 are taking up the torch and have organized a walk audit for this coming Sunday. Specifically, West Roxbury Main Streets with support from a variety of partners are meeting at 2pm, this Sunday, June 11, 2017, at the Roche Brothers parking lot next to Starbucks, to identify pedestrian safety issues in the neighborhood. Bring your best walking shoes, friends, baby stroller and dog! The event will include a discussion and survey on traffic, safety, and making the main street district more attractive. Contact West Roxbury Main Streets at 617-325-6400 for more info.

Please spread the word and share this PDF flyer for the event.

  1. You’re welcome to refer to the neighborhood in question as “Greater Roslindale” ↩

Roslindale’s First Street Mural Complete

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Roslindale’s first street mural (rumored to be Boston’s second) is now in the books! Thanks to all the community leaders and volunteers who made it happen, including the WalkUP Roslindale Mural Committee lead by Ann-Marie Lawlor, Mandana Moshtaghi, Rachele Rosi-Kessel, and Rebecca Phillips; as well as the Mayor’s Mural Crew (including fearless leader Heidi Schork), Roslindale Village Main Street, and Roslindale Artist-in-Residence Cornell Coley. Be sure to check it out just by the commuter rail station, in front of the modern language school. Creation below:

Also a bunch of photos from the day; thanks to Gradon Tripp, Rob Orthman, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Chris Kollett, and anyone we forgot for the photos!

 

Roslindale’s First Ever Street Mural Painting – Sunday, June 4, 2017 12pm-3pm at South Conway and South Street

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We are pleased to announce a milestone for the WalkUP Roslindale Street Mural initiative: Roslindale’s First Ever Street Mural Painting. Following in the footsteps of Somerville, Cambridge, Seattle among other great cities, the Mayor’s Mural Crew will assist in creating a street mural adjacent the MBTA commuter rail parking lot, at the intersection of South Conway and South Street.

Our friends from Roslindale Village Main Street will be there to support the effort. There will also be a drum circle from 1pm-2:30pm. For those under age 15, we will have street chalk for your own creative art work.

Rain date – June 11. Check walkuproslindale.org closer to the date for any weather updates.

Vision Zero Coalition Letter to Mayor Walsh

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On May 16th, 2017, City of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was interviewed on WGBH radio. In the wake of the recent fatal hit-and-run crash that killed Rick Archer on Comm Ave and an uptick in pedestrian fatalities in Boston and nationwide, Mayor Walsh urged people who walk and bike in the city to take more personal responsibility. Mayor Walsh said that residents were placing too much blame on his administration to solve the problem.

The following is the Vision Zero Coalition’s letter to the Mayor in response to his comments. WalkUP Roslindale is a Coalition member.

If you would like to respond personally to the Mayor, please contact the Mayor’s office. Vision Zero is about designing streets that can account for human error, not blaming the most vulnerable road users. #VisionZero #StreetsAreForPeople #WeAllWalk

Letter from the Coalition to Mayor Walsh

May 17, 2017

Mayor Martin Walsh
City Hall
Boston, MA 02201

Re: Vision Zero

Dear Mayor Walsh:

When you announced the Vision Zero Action Plan in December 2015, we were proud to be your constituents. You demonstrated leadership when you stated:

“We know how to build safer streets. We know how to protect our most vulnerable road users, who are suffering disproportionately because of speeding traffic and distracted drivers. With this Action Plan, I am saying it’s time to act. It’s time to commit to eliminating fatal and serious traffic crashes from our daily experience.”

Which is why we were dismayed by your comments Wednesday afternoon on WGBH Radio.

On behalf of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition we invite you to work with us to fully fund and implement Vision Zero in Boston. We ask that you join us on Friday morning at 8 AM for a moment of silence for victims of traffic violence on City Hall Plaza. On behalf of those victims, we also ask that you apologize for the comments you made on the air.

Our streets are in crisis.

In 2016, fifteen people died while walking on Boston’s streets; a record-breaking high for pedestrian fatalities. We are on track to see even higher numbers in 2017. Crashes overall are up. On average, at least two to three people walking are hit in a crash that results in an EMT call every day.

We need action from you and your administration, not victim-blaming. When you said on the air, “Pedestrians need to put their head up when they’re walking down the street, take your headphones off … you’ve got to understand, cars are going to hit you,” you were reiterating a narrative that doesn’t stand up to the crash data your administration collects.

Most of the people killed while walking were children or older adults. In 2016, of the 10 pedestrian victims whose ages we know, four were older than 60 and two were younger than 3 years old.

This Coalition and your constituents look to you for action.

A week ago, hundreds of people attended the City Council’s FY18 budget hearing for the Boston Transportation Department to call for increased resources to make streets safer for everyone. After the hours of questions from the council and public testimony, it’s clear from all sides – Boston is falling behind.

In your interview with WGBH, you said that the city is doing “everything we can,” but we know Boston is being eclipsed by peer cities in both resources and implementation. The City of New York spends about $20 per person on Vision Zero annually, and San Francisco spends $75 per person annually. Both cities have seen declines in overall traffic fatalities despite a troubling rise in fatal crashes nationwide. Boston is spending less than $5 per person, this is not enough.

Forty-seven neighborhood groups applied for Neighborhood Slow Streets, a signature program of Boston’s Vision Zero initiative. Your FY18 budget recommendation only provides resources to implement two to three in the coming year.

At the current rate of implementation it will take more than 20 years to respond to just the first round of applications. Safety should not be a privilege afforded to only some Boston neighborhoods.

We recognize that there are many competing budget priorities and that rapid change on our streets will cost money. This year we suggest drawing on the parking meter fund. In the long term, we are here to work with you to diversify and increase the revenue streams available for transportation, for example through increased parking revenues.

Simply put, the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, and the thousands of people we represent, feel strongly that the 2018 transportation budget as currently proposed is insufficient to reduce the number of fatalities and serious crashes on our streets.

We hope you will take this opportunity to recommit to leading Boston as a Vision Zero city.

Thank You,

Vision Zero Coalition
Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition members

CC: Boston City Council
Chief of Streets Chris Osgood
Transportation Commissioner Gina Fiandaca
Chief of Staff Dan Koh
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Public

New “Fun-Sized” Target Community meeting tonight (Thursday, May 18, 2017 7pm) at Roslindale Community Center

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Rendering of Expected Roslindale Target Store
Rendering of Expected Roslindale Target Store

Target is replacing Staples at 4165 Washington Street soon. They are holding a community meeting tonight, Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 7pm at the Roslindale Community Center, 6 Cummins Highway.

While the new lease may be a done deal, there is still an opportunity to use this changeover to urge badly-needed walkability improvements in this part of the neighborhood. One likely concern of residents will be increased traffic on an already congested block; the best way to mitigate this impact is to make it easier for people who prefer to walk or bike to Target to do so.

We at WalkUP Roslindale brainstormed a quick list of ideas that Target should implement to make the new store a net positive for the neighborhood. These initial thoughts are below, but please add other ideas in the comments or show up tonight and speak up for walkability!

  • Sponsor Roslindale Village’s Hubway
  • Provide a bike corral or rack, sufficient for both Target employees and customers
  • Rearrange parking area exit and entrance to be safer for pedestrians on Washington Street
  • Provide an outdoor sitting area, more than a bench or two–a well designed area
  • Add crosswalk from Target to other side of Washington Street
  • Improve sidewalk area with more attractive streetlights, greenery and trees
  • Help repave badly-damaged Washington Street from Firth Road up to the square (see our earlier post on this topic)
  • Restripe bicycle lanes for same stretch as lines have nearly disappeared
  • Better crosswalk markings – including bollards to prevent people from parking in the cross walk
  • Removal of “Bike Lane Ends” sign in front of business
  • “Don’t block the box” square for entrance to Bexley Road so southbound traffic can turn and not back up

Official WalkUP Roslindale Comment Letter – 32 Cummins Highway

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Rendering of Proposed 32 Cummins Highway Project
Rendering of Proposed 32 Cummins Highway Project

Yesterday, we sent a comment letter to the Zoning Board of Appeal (technically the “Boston Board of Appeal” under the statute) on a proposed development less than a block from Roslindale Square on Cummins Highway. The project is a 9-unit residential building with 12 off-street parking spaces. While we generally supported the requested zoning relief and appreciate the architectural design and walkability features like secure bicycle storage, we would also to see this and other projects do more to provide affordable units (none are promised here) as well as better support for walkability and enabling a car-free lifestyle. More details on this below.

We hope many of you will agree with some if not all of the points made below. Either way, however, we’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.

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