Item 1: GaGang Family: The time to act is NOW. Crowd estimates are not our strong suit, but the council chamber at Boston City Hall was full to capacity and they opened a separate room for remote viewing yesterday just after noon when the GaGang Family – Laura, Steve, and Emily – were invited to the podium by District 4 City Councilor Enrique Pepen to offer remarks before the start of the council’s normal Wednesday session. Emily spoke for the family and delivered a highly impassioned and clear call to action to the council, the administration, and really all of us on key street safety priorities, including especially funding for the Streets Cabinet and moving urgently on working through the backlog of good projects so that we can avoid tragedies like the crash that took Louisa’s life just under 4 months ago. Coverage can be found at the Boston Globe (“Relatives of late transportation planner Louisa Gag announce $100,000 in community donations in her honor, call on City Council to fast-track street safety upgrades“) and WBUR (“Family of cyclist killed in Mission Hill pleads for action to improve Boston street safety“).
Item 2: VERY SHORT NOTICE: City Council Hearing Today – 2:00 pm on State of the Bike Network and Large Vehicle Safety. From our friends at the Boston Cyclists Union: “At 2PM on Thursday, 11/5, Boston City Council is holding a hearing on the State of the Boston Bike Network and Large Vehicle Safety in Boston in the Iannella Chamber (5th floor of City Hall). You can attend virtually if you register in advance, but no need to register to attend in person. Testimony will likely start sometime around 3:30, you don’t have to attend the whole hearing but you’ll just miss out on some information from City officials and panelists. If you’d like instructions and an email template for virtually attending or sending in written comment, you can find that here. We’d love to see you there tomorrow!”
Item 3: BETTER NOTICE: City Council Hearing at 10:30 am on Thursday, 19 November 2026 – Annual Street Project Reporting. This one is on a joint proposal from City Councilors Breadon, Pepen, and Weber to require annual reporting of streets projects by the administration to the council, as is already done in places such as Somerville, which has emerged as a regional and even national leader on street safety and vision zero. Information on the hearing and how to attend/offer testimony can be found here: Mandating Annual Reporting of Streets Projects.