The City of Boston recently launched the Squares + Streets initiative to focus on activity-rich neighborhood centers along main streets across Boston. We encourage all WalkUP followers to complete the initiative’s survey by December 1. The survey is brief and you’ll be entered into a raffle for $100 Boston Public Market gift cards for filling it out. Please spread the word!
Checking things out through a walk is such a fabulous idea. As the sign says, you can find out more information on their webpage HERE.
Speed humps first appeared in our neighborhood with the Mount Hope-Canterbury Neighborhood Slow Streets installations a couple of years ago, and they have just been installed on the first couple of blocks of Poplar Street leading away from Roslindale Square/Washington Street toward Canterbury (we anticipate signs and more paint alerting drivers to the presence of the humps soon, as is typical). It seems this installation is both part of the Poplar Street safety improvements project for which we recently reaffirmed our support and also the Boston Transportation Department’s overall program of deploying 500 of these humble yet highly effective traffic calming devices citywide on an annual basis. It is worth noting that these are speed humps, not speed bumps – humps like these are much gentler on vehicle suspensions while still being highly effective and sized/placed to achieve the 25 mph citywide default speed limit on streets such as Poplar Street.
The folks at the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) have a useful explainer of the general concept behind speed humps here. We expect more speed humps soon in a nearby part of Roslindale with the imminent installation of the Lower South Street Neighborhood Slow Streets interventions, but we’d love to see them in many more places as quickly as they can be deployed. More of this please!
We’re co-sponsoring with the above ward committees, plus Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants and West Rox Bikes. Go to this link to register. We hope to see you there!
At our annual meeting a week ago Sunday, 17 September 2023, we were pleased to elect 2 new board members, return several other existing board members for full 3-year terms and re-appoint our executive committee team for another year, such that the full board and EC team for the next year is as follows:
As always, our corporate formation documentation and our 2023 annual report to the MA Secretary of the Commonwealth’s corporations division can be found on their website HERE. Note that we are officially incorporated as “Walkable Urban Place Roslindale, Inc.,” with a d/b/a of WalkUP Roslindale. Thanks all!
WalkUP Roslindale recently had occasion to reiterate our support for the Boston Transportation Department’s proposed set of initial safety improvements for the set of blocks between Washington Street and Sycamore Street. We look forward to their implementation this fall. The full text of the letter is as follows:
25 September 2023
Nathaniel Fink
Sarah Davis
Boston Transportation Department
1 City Hall Square Suite 721
Boston, MA 02201
Dear Nathan and Sarah,
We are writing to you today to reiterate WalkUP Roslindale’s support for, and the importance of, the safety modifications proposed for Poplar St in Roslindale, including speed humps, increased pedestrian crossings, and a contraflow bicycle lane.
WalkUP Roslindale consists of Roslindale residents and business owners. We live in all areas of Roslindale, some are lucky to work in Roslindale, we all shop in Roslindale, and we all enjoy other services provided by Roslindale Village and its associated businesses.
Poplar St, from Roslindale Village through Sycamore St to Canterbury St, is a crucial passage east out of the Square, but also west – up to Sycamore St – towards the square. It provides an alternative to traveling on Cummins Highway, for both cyclists and drivers of vehicles.
Cummins Highway is a street of substantial width and includes 3 sets of stop lights (as compared to none on Poplar St until Canterbury St), as well as the large hill of Mount Hope. These combined factors encourage vehicles to travel with excessive speed, and to regularly jump through the lights.
Traveling by bicycle on Cummins Highway into or out of the square as it is presently configured is not a safe or pleasant or easy experience: the speed of vehicles, the deteriorating state of bicycle lanes, the vehicular doors opening into bicycle lanes (especially by the post office) and the steep hill that is Mount Hope, all combine to rule out Cummins Highway as a safe or sensible place to ride a bicycle.
Although Poplar St is narrow (compared to Cummins Highway) due to vehicular parking on both sides of the street on several blocks, it is still used frequently by both vehicular and bicycle traffic. However, the lack of stop lights often encourages vehicles to move with excessive speed, despite the narrowness of the road, regardless of other road users. This makes travel along Poplar St for vehicles difficult and generally unsafe for bicycles.
It should also be noted, that not only do vehicles travel above the 25 mph limit on Poplar St, but they are also regularly observed by residents to be driving the WRONG WAY down the one-way section of Poplar St, immediately adjacent to the square.
WalkUP Roslindale therefore welcomes the changes proposed by the Boston Transportation Department for Poplar St, and encourages them to apply these changes as soon as possible and then to extend similar changes to other similar streets and other one-way systems throughout Roslindale and the City, to increase safety for all street users, and to encourage those who are able to ride their bicycles in an effort to make more efficient use of our streets and, at the same time, combat climate change.
The department’s proposals are well-proven to increase safety for all users of the street by reducing vehicular traveling speed, and the addition of a one-way contra-flow bicycle lane – while we would prefer a full two way protected contra-flow bicycle lane – is a welcome addition.
- Reduction of vehicular travel speed on streets is directly related to increasing the safety on streets (for example see the USDOT Federal Highway Administration statements1). The addition of speed humps along Poplar St is an excellent, passive method by which to control vehicular speed and well in line with citywide efforts to install hundreds of speed humps every year starting in 2023.
- Addition of the contra-flow bicycle lane will provide current cyclists an option to travel on Poplar St all the way to Roslindale Village without having to travel on Cummins Highway. This will eliminate the risks from the currently unsafe configuration of Cummins (vehicular speed; vehicular doors opening into bicycle lane) as well as the necessity of tackling Mount Hope. In general, providing cyclists safe options to travel around Roslindale and the City of Boston more broadly will encourage more people who are able to cycle to their nearer destinations: cycling not only actively (through exercise) and passively (through reduced tailpipe emissions) increases the overall health of residents, but also, by being a zero carbon emitting mode of transport, is an active way to participate in our ongoing battle against climate change. An excellent example of how cities, large and small, can encourage more cyclists is found in the transformation of the City of London where cycling is now the primary mode of transportation2.
We realize that street modifications to increase street safety for all street users can cause consternation for short periods as street users become accustomed to them: new street patterns; altered parking distribution; decreased speed of vehicles and increased bicycle use.
However, we believe that the majority of residents and non-residents would agree that saving just one life by reducing vehicular speed, or by aiding future generations by providing safe bicycle infrastructure to promote overall public health and to assist in our battle against climate change, is a positive modification, for which it is worth going 50 feet further to our personal motor vehicles.
Sincerely,
WalkUP Roslindale Board of Directors
About WalkUP Roslindale
WalkUP Roslindale, which takes its name from the international movement to foster “Walkable Urban Places,” is a collaborative group of residents and business owners dedicated to making Roslindale the most walkable neighborhood in Boston. We advocate for a dynamic, livable streetscape and we support positive changes to our public and private built environment that strengthen walkability and other forms of active mobility as means toward better personal and public health, safety, social capital, economic development, and environmental sustainability. We are led by a board of directors comprised of residents and business owners and have nearly 1,000 additional supporters. More information about WalkUP Roslindale and our initiatives can be found at www.walkuproslindale.org. We recognize that no single group of people can be said to speak for our entire neighborhood – instead, please take these comments as representing the collective support of our board members resulting from our mission and principles.
References:
- Speed Management is Key to Road Safety by Guan Xu, Abdul Zineddin, Randolph Atkins, and Sarah Abel https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/winter-2022/05
- Report from the Environment Department of the City of London Corporation https://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/documents/s182953/TMO_Review_Stage_2_End_of_Review_Committee_Report_PT_March_2023_V1.pdf
You read that right! On Sunday, 17 September 2023, WalkUP Roslindale will feature back-t0-back speakers commencing at 5 pm at the Substation in Roslindale Square. The public are invited to these informational sessions.
To start, we’ll hear from Jarred Johnson of TransitMatters, about their transit advocacy plans for the fall and, especially, the recent report they released on “Modernizing the Needham Line: The Case for an Orange Line Extension to West Roxbury.” NOTE: WalkUP Roslindale has not taken a position on any of the report’s recommendations.
To finish, we’ll have a presentation from our own Greg Tobin, WalkUP Roslindale board member, on the City’s progress with implementation of the shared city/arboretum/community vision around the Roslindale Gateway Path, especially the start of construction on the first phase of the path, running from the end of the Blackwell Path at South Street to the underpass at Arboretum Road. The photo above was taken just today – we hope it’s severely dated by the time we get to the 17th of next month!
We’re planning 30 minutes for each of our presentations and Q+A, so everyone should be on their way by 6 pm.
Well, the time may in fact have come. The recently-passed and now signed Massachusetts Fiscal Year 2024 budget expands the board of the MBTA by two seats, including, most importantly for purposes of this post, one for an appointee of the Mayor of Boston. You can read the full announcement on the City’s website, and we’ve pulled the text here:
Mayor Michelle Wu is seeking ideas and recommendations from residents to inform the City of Boston’s representation on the MBTA Board. Earlier this month, the State Legislature and Governor passed a state budget that created a City of Boston seat on the Board of Directors of the MBTA, giving the City a direct role in the governance of the region’s public transit system. Mayor Wu wants community to be a partner in building this new relationship with the MBTA to best reflect the needs of commuters and riders.
Boston’s economic strength, community well-being, and cultural vibrancy depend on public transportation and the City is ready to partner on the urgent endeavor of building the quality transit that our entire region deserves. In the coming weeks, Mayor Wu will be considering candidates to serve on the Board of Directors, which meets monthly and holds monthly subcommittee meetings. Click here to learn more about leadership at the MBTA.
Those interested in serving should be:
- A resident of Boston
- A public transit rider
- Connected to communities of transit riders, including employees, customers, and students
- Committed to high quality, reliable, and affordable public transportation as a core strategy of economic growth, cultural vibrancy, and quality of life.
We are also asking residents and community members to help inform Boston’s involvement on the MBTA Board. Please submit your ideas and/or interest through this form by Monday, September 5th at 5 p.m. For more information, visit boston.gov/mbta-board
On Tuesday, June 18, 2023, we cosponsored a forum for the candidates running to represent District 5 (much of which is in Roslindale) on the City Council. The candidates were (alphabetically) incumbent Ricardo Arroyo, Enrique Pepén, Jose Ruiz, and Jean-Claude Sanon. In case you missed the forum, a video of the event is below. You can also read a summary on Universal Hub. Our own Rob Orthman asked questions about our priority housing and transportation issues about 39 minutes into the event.
This week, we sent a brief comment letter to the Zoning Board of Appeal concerning a proposal by the Cooperative Bank to demolish two nearby homes and replace them with a parking lot (BOA- 1431753). In short, we believe our neighborhood is in dire need of more places for people to live, not more spots to store cars. Our full letter is reproduced below, also available as a PDF.