Today we sent a letter to Mayor-Elect Michelle Wu, congratulating her on her decisive victory and offering some ideas for initial priorities in line with WalkUP’s mission. Our full letter is below, also available as a PDF.
Read More
Tag: Michelle Wu
Recap of Roslindale Gateway Path – 25% Meeting on MBTA Portion
We had great turnout and lots of enthusiasm at a community meeting held last week to present the preliminary 25% design of the first portion of the planned Roslindale Gateway Path. The Gateway Path is WalkUP’s signature initiative, supported by a broad coalition of like-minded organizations including Rozzie Bikes and the Livable Streets Alliance. Ultimately, the path will create a new entrance to the Arboretum closer to Roslindale Village (right from the MBTA Commuter Rail station), allow entry to the park from Roslindale without having to surmount a big hill, provide improved access to the park along its route, and connect all the way up to the Forest Hills orange line station and Southwest Corridor Path.
For this meeting, we were focused only on the first portion which will cross over MBTA land. Since this portion requires negotiating land rights (the Arboretum, the City, and the MBTA will be all be involved), we thought it important to complete the process of gathering community feedback on that section first so those negotiations can move forward. Hence, this meeting, which was attended by as many as 50 residents, business owners, city employees, and representatives of our elected officials. Notably represented at the meeting were District City Councilors Tim McCarthy and Matt O’Malley, State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, and State Sen. Michael Rush. City-Councilor-at-Large Michelle Wu has also been very supportive of the project.
The presentation was lead by Jen Relstab of the Horsley Witten Group, our design consultant from the start of this effort. Be sure to check out the complete presentation. Following the slideshow, we received ample constructive feedback and questions from the group, ranging from questions about snow and ice; maintenance; policing; wildlife; storm water; trash; and ideas about various surfaces that might be used in different parts of the path. We’re incorporating this feedback and ideas into our next steps, and look forward to returning to the community as the project moves forward. If you have comments in the meantime, feel free to send them to path@nullwalkuproslindale.org.
Some tweets and photos from the event below.
Roslindale Gateway Path 25% concept design meeting getting underway at the Roslindale Community Center. @StevenGag introducing project. Reps here from @McCarthy4Boston, @SenatorMikeRush, @ONSRoslindale among others. Great turnout! pic.twitter.com/ItOpqSo0fI
— WalkUP Roslindale (@walkuprozzie) July 25, 2018
We’ve also been joined by representatives from City Councilor @MattOMalley and State Rep @jeffrey_sanchez. pic.twitter.com/HRZ8cNsLLl
— WalkUP Roslindale (@walkuprozzie) July 25, 2018
Full house! pic.twitter.com/Z8vnYrIXUB
— WalkUP Roslindale (@walkuprozzie) July 25, 2018
@walkuprozzie community presentation for the Arboretum Gateway Path between #Roslindale Village and Forest Hills. This is an important one. 🚴♀️🚶🏿♂️ pic.twitter.com/M3pMiFhGfb
— Robert Orthman (@realroborthman) July 25, 2018
Great turnout to talk approval of 25% design of the Roslindale Gateway Path with @walkuprozzie and other community groups! pic.twitter.com/JBGVKtCZ7L
— LivableStreets (@StreetsBoston) July 25, 2018
@jeffrey_sanchez Looking forward to state funding for this important path to help ppl get out of CO2 producing cars and use active transportation means to get where they r going. https://t.co/eACfTBLWDC
— Alan Wright (@AlnThinks) July 26, 2018
Dedicated Bus Lane Test Run Stunningly Successful
We were thrilled to see the City of Boston and MBTA test out a trial run of a dedicated bus lane on Washington Street inbound this morning. WalkUP has strongly advocated for the City to implement this bus lane concept along the very congested Roslindale Village-to-Forest Hills corridor. Reports were universally positive — to get some flavor of the community reaction, check out our Twitter feed for dozens of retweets of reactions and photos. We’ve also include a gallery of photos below.
Members of the WalkUP Steering Committee were out and about along the route to inform riders of this lane and explain the process behind it. The City plans to test this dedicated lane again next Tuesday, December 19, during the morning commute. Dedicated bus lanes are proven methods for significantly improving bus commute times and encouraging more people to take public transportation. During the morning and evening rush hour, almost 60% of all travelers on Washington St are riding a bus –these riders need a faster way to reach their destinations and go to-and-from the main subway line at Forest Hills. And if the bus lane operates as successfully as it appeared to do, many more are likely to switch to the bus to save time, thus even further increasing the percentage of travelers on mass transit.
We should note that we are also very pleased to hear from cyclists who used this dedicated lane today of the ease of their commute and lack of any bus-bike conflict. There was some concern going into the test about this issue, but at least today’s data points suggest the cycling experience will be much improved rather than diminished. We will continue to monitor the cyclist experience in this dedicated lane and believe it can be a boon for bike riders in addition to bus riders.
WalkUP will continue its strong advocacy to the City of Boston to implement a full multi-week pilot of this dedicated bus lane in 2018 to fully gauge its effectiveness and effects. The full pilot should consist of a dedicated lane inbound to Forest Hills in the morning and a dedicated lane outbound to Roslindale Village in the evening. We’d really like to make this happen as soon as possible–tomorrow is not too soon!
Please contact Mayor Walsh, City Councilor Tim McCarthy, and our At-Large City Councilors (Annissa Essaibi-George, Michael Flaherty, Ayanna Pressley, Michelle Wu) to express your support for this dedicated bus lane and request a full multi-week pilot as soon as possible in 2018. You can also respond to this tweet from BTD or email them at btd@nullboston.gov. It is very important that our city officials hear from us on this. We appreciate their willingness to test this out and want them to know many Roslindale residents support this concept!
We look forward to seeing this dedicated bus lane in action again next Tuesday!
Two Important Events: Hubway Roslindale TONIGHT (10/26) and Green Transportation Rally Saturday (10/28)
First, a reminder that the City is hosting a bike share workshop tonight, October 26, 2017, at 6pm-8pm at the Roslindale Community Center. Details:
Our public bike share system is getting bigger and even better! In Boston, we are adding more than 70 new stations over the next two years.
We need your help finding great places in Roslindale for bike share stations! We will focus on Roslindale and nearby neighborhoods during the workshop. We will have materials available so that you can discuss all neighborhoods under consideration for the expansion.
You do not need to be a resident of Roslindale to attend this workshop.
Second, City Councilor-at-Large (and Candidate) Michelle Wu is hosting a Get Out the Vote Green Transportation Rally this Saturday, October 28, 2017, at 2pm, starting near the Stony Brook MBTA stop on the Orange Line. Details:
Join us at 2pm on Saturday 10/28 for our GOTV Green Transportation Rally! Join climate justice advocates, safe streets champions, healthy community activists, and supporters as we celebrate the accomplishments of the last four years, and share our ideas for improvements we can make in the future. Halloween costumes and bicycles encouraged.
After a brief speaking program, we will go on a bike ride and walk to a local eatery in JP.
While WalkUP Roslindale doesn’t take official positions on candidate elections, we can certainly get behind an event where safe street champions will share ideas for improvements to Boston streets.
Hope to see you all at both events. Spread the word.
WalkUP-sponsored city councilor forum a success
WalkUP was thrilled to host an engaging forum on Tuesday night with the incumbent councilors and candidates for Boston City Council At-Large. All eight candidates were in attendance: Councilors Annissa Essaibi-George, Michael Flaherty, Ayanna Pressley, and Michelle Wu, and challengers Domingos DaRosa, Althea Garrison, William King, and Pat Payaso. We appreciate their unanimous participation as well as the packed room and viewers on our Facebook livestream! It’s clear our neighborhood is very engaged in local politics and passionate about the issues discussed.
The forum focused on transportation and housing issues pertinent to Roslindale. One consensus point was the need for a robust and safer bike system in Roslindale and Boston. Candidates expressed particular support for the Arboretum Gateway Path and planned expansion of Hubway bike sharing to Roslindale. No candidate, however, explicitly said he or she would support the removal of parking spots to create such protected bike lanes where necessary. Another consensus point was the need to significantly improve the American Legion corridor pedestrian and bike experience. Several candidates gave credit to the community advocates along American Legion for their work and recent Slow Street neighborhood designation.
Although all eight candidates agreed on the urgency of our ongoing housing crisis, they disagreed on how to treat parking at new developments. Several candidates expressed a view that more parking is needed at each new development. They also want each individual parking spot ‘bundled’ with a corresponding housing unit, which significantly raises the overall cost of the unit–a decent ballpark estimate is about $50,000 in development costs for each additional space. WalkUP is of the belief, based on data and experience, that a better strategy is to price parking separately so that only unit owners who need a space are required to purchase one. This helps keep the overall cost of the units down for those who do not need a vehicle and reduce the overall number of cars at a site. To the concern that individuals will just park on nearby public ways, some candidates want the city put a price on its resident parking permits. Currently, the city provides as many resident parking stickers as a resident wants for no charge. Councilor Wu, for example, wants the city to charge for the permits and cap the amount of permits per resident to better manage these public parking resources.
We also learned some interesting tidbits about the councilors and candidates. Councilor Pressley does not own a car and that informs her view of the need for better public transit across the city as a social equity issue. Candidate King lives on American Legion Highway and sees firsthand the need to improve it. Councilor Essaibi-George owns a small business in Dorchester which informs her concern for the negative effects an Amazon headquarters could have in Boston. In fact, all the candidates interestingly expressed reservations about efforts to attract Amazon to the city.
Our neighbor Adam Gaffin attended the forum and provides his review on Universal Hub. We appreciate his attendance and that of other media members! Stay tuned for a forum later this month with the district councilors who represent Roslindale.
Roslindale screening of This Changes Everything, Saturday October 15, 2016 6:30pm-8:30pm Congregational Church
Join your Roslindale neighbors and City Council President Michelle Wu for a screening of “This Changes Everything” — a documentary film about the effects that climate change is having on real people, in real places, today. Following the film will be a brief conversation about how to get take action for climate resiliency and adaptation in Boston, including efforts to stop the high pressure natural gas pipeline being constructed in neighboring West Roxbury.
The screening will be on Saturday, October 15, 2016, starting at 6:30pm at the Roslindale Congregational Church at 25 Cummins Highway.
Spread the word, and hope to see you there!
Day 205 @ Washington-Blue Ledge: Just about fully installed!
No pictures yet, but I went by early this morning and the full reconfiguration/restriping of the intersection at Washington and Blue Ledge is now done. I believe the remaining items to be installed at this point are median strip signs indicating the new crosswalk and the flashing pedestrian sign. Many thanks to BTD/PWD, our municipal elected officials (especially District 5 City Councilor Tim McCarthy, City Council President Michelle Wu, and City Councilor Sal LaMattina, who chairs the Committee on Parks, Recreation, and Transportation that held a hearing on the Vision Zero program in May), and Mayor Walsh for getting this done. We should also recognize the advocacy around Vision Zero Boston generally from WalkBoston, Livable Streets, Boston Cyclists Union, and MassBike, among others. Lots, lots more to do to improve everyone’s safety on our streets all around this great city.
Celebrating new bicycle infrastructure in Roslindale!
It took longer than it should have given the level of community support, but many community partners, starting with RVMS but including Street Ops, the offices of councilors McCarthy and Wu, Boston Transportation Department, the BSA Foundation, RozzieBikes, and your own WalkUP Rozzie, have finally succeeded in placing a bike corral next to the parklet at Fornax. The ribbon-cutting was yesterday and we had an excellent turnout. RVMS Executive Director Christina DiLisio made the point that several thousand dollars have been raised and is now available for more bike infrastructure in the square generally, so hopefully this is just a sign of much more to come.
WalkUP Testimony at City Vision Zero Hearing
The Boston City Council held a hearing today on Vision Zero and traffic calming in the city. WalkUP Roslindale attended and submitted testimony, reproduced below and available as an official PDF. The preliminary take-home is it’s going to take a lot of work and pushing our officials zealously to really turn the ship in the right direction.
Update 1: Video of the hearing now available.
Update 2: Check out this comment letter from our friends at the Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association.
Read More
City Council Candidates Forum October 14, 2015 at Roslindale Community Center
Election day is November 3, 2015. There are only a few contested races this time around; five candidates for the four “at-large” city council positions, as well as two candidates running for for District 5, which covers much of Roslindale, and District 4, which touches on a corner of the neighborhood. Even though there is no high visibility office up for grabs (e.g. Mayor, Governor, President), it’s absolutely crucial that we all get out and vote — elected people pay close attention to which areas vote in the highest numbers, so just getting to the polls at all helps our neighborhood get the attention it needs from the city. Moreover, election season is the perfect time to bring top priority concerns to candidate’s attention–such as our goal to make Roslindale the most walkable neighborhood in Boston.
Against that background, Progressive WRox/Roz is hosting a city council election forum next Wednesday, October 14, 6:45pm, at the Roslindale Community Center. Voters can meet and hear from the five candidates running for City Council At-Large (Annissa Essaibi George, Michael Flaherty, Stephen Murphy, Ayanna Pressley, and Michelle Wu), the contenders for District 4 (Andrea Campbell and Charles Yancey, TBD), and the candidates for District 5 (Tim McCarthy and Jean-Claude Sanon). District 6 Councilor Matt O’Malley will also participate, although he is running unopposed. The evening will include mingling with candidates at the start and end, statements from the candidates, and Q&A. The evnet is co-sponsored by a number of Roslindale and West Roxbury neighborhood organizations and local media.
Please show up to this forum and make sure these candidates know that walkability is a top concern in our neighborhood!