Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

Issue #39 / October 2009


Dear friend,
 

Join LivableStreets Alliance today! Your transportation advocacy organization that advocates for improved bicycle, pedestrian and public transit facilities to make your streets more safe, connected and fun. 

Thank you!
In this issue

StreetTalk

· Design advocacy: Designing for how we move through space by Shauna Gillies-Smith and Mark Pasnik, Thursday, Nov 12, 7-9 pm >>>
 
Recent Activity 
· Longfellow Bridge update

· What does your City Councilor think?
· HONK!Fest
· Park(ing) Day in Boston & Cambridge
· New blog postings
· New bicycle cage parking at Forest Hills

 

 Announcements
· Chris Hart named Top 40 under 40
· Rail-Volution coming to Boston 

· Green Guild Film Festival
· Accident report
· MBTA scorecard

· Volunteer/Internship opportunities


StreetTalk
____________________________________________________________________
 

Design Advocacy: Designing for how we move through space
by Shauna Gillies-Smith, landscape architect / Mark Pasnik, architect 
Thurs, Nov 12, 7-9 pm  
@ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge  [ map...]
 
What do architects, landscape architects, and transportation planners have in common? What role does design have in transportation advocacy? Come investigate the movement of people and the ability of designed spaces to support and influence. See how architecture and landscape architecture can make cities more socially and environmentally sustainable.

Shauna Gillies-Smith ASLA, LEED AP will highlight landscape architecture and public art projects where the design and pedestrian experience determined the space. Shauna is principal of Ground Inc., a landscape architecture firm. Trained first as an architect and urban designer, her shift to landscape practice was motivated by the desire to reveal the potentials of surprise and pleasure in the urban experience.

Mark Pasnik RA, LEED AP will focus on a project that engaged students with alternative transportation ideals, but fulfilled them through facility design rather than traditional advocacy. Mark is the founding principal of over,under, a multidisciplinary design firm located in Boston's South End, and director of pinkcomma gallery, which showcases contemporary design work from the Boston area.

"We shape our environment and thereafter our environment shapes us." (Adaptation of a Winston Churchill quote)

 
 
StreetTalks are open to the public, $5 suggested donation, beer/sodas provided compliments of Harpoon Brewery and delivered thanks to MetroPed. Sponsored by LivableStreets Alliance. For more information, click here. 


Recent Activity

_________________________________________________________________

 

Proposal would allow wheelchairs and strollers to cross Longfellow Bridge
Secretary Aloisi commits to adding temporary sidewalks after seeing short film produced by LivableStreets. Film shows a person in a wheelchair trying to cross the bridge.  
The sidewalks would be on both sides of the Boston side of the Longfellow bridge, where none currently exist. The change would, for the first time in decades, allow people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, pedestrians, and runners to cross the Longfellow Bridge on a real sidewalk without having to walk into the roadway. Aloisi said that the situation is 'disgraceful' and 'totally unacceptable.'
To watch the short film, go to

http://livablestreets.info/longfellow.

 
Hopefully the temporary fix can be done in a way that doesn't narrow or eliminate the bike lanes on the bridge, and that a permanent solution is included in the bridge repairs being funded under the state's Accelerated Bridge Program. Improving the balance of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit facilities with automobile lanes is necessary to create livable streets for all users.
 
To read more about LivableStreets advocacy work related to the Longfellow bridge, see photographs of the conditions, and watch our short films, click here >>>
For LivableStreets press release, click here >>>

 
What does your Boston City Councilor say about biking, transit, walking, and traffic? 
 
A transportation issues survey was sent to all candidates for Boston's At-Large and District seats. Candidates responses to the 10 questions are posted online here >>>
All of the participating organizations are non-profit and non-partisan, and neither endorse or oppose candidates for public office. The responses are directly from Councilors - we cannot alter or summarize. 

Come hear what your City Councilors have to say at the

Franklin Park Coalition At-Large Candidates Debate on Parks & Open Space, October 22.  

LivableStreets developed the survey in partnership with WalkBoston, MassBike, Institute for Human Centered Design, Bikes Not Bombs, Charles River Conservancy, Franklin Park Coalition, Boston Parks Advocates,  RozzieBikes, JP Bikes, DOT-Bike, AB-Bikes, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the Arborway Coaliton.

 

LivableStreets Lemonade Brigade in HONK parade

"Reclaim(ing) the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet"

LivableStreets volunteers handed out lemonade to spectators, rode in our constructed cardboard Red Line T car on a bike trailer, rode bikes, dressed up in outlandish costumes or LivableStreets orange, waved banners, passed out candy, and just had a great time parading from Davis Square to Harvard Square to support HONK's theme of "Reclaim(ing) the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet".

 
Thank you for all those who volunteered and Chris Timmel for organizing!
To learn more about contact Jackie at jackie@livablestreets.info / 617.621.1746

 

Park(ing) Day: parking spots become parks for people 



As part of national Park(ing) Day, LivableStreets and WalkBoston, transformed parking spots in Cambridge and Boston. Check out photos of all five Park(ing) locations here >>>
 

The first ever Park(ing) day spot was last year in front of city hall. Watch our film about last year here >>>
 

Park(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into Park(ing) spaces: temporary public parks intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play.

 

Interested in getting involved with Park(ing) Day? Contact Jackie at

jackie@livablestreets.info 

 

New blog postings

 

"Musings on transportation, health, and livable communities"
by Steve Miller, LivableStreets board member

 

Recent postings include:          

 

New bicycle parking cage at Forest Hills Station

  
Being multi-modal just got easier! The "T" has added another bicycle parking cage at Forest Hills (in addition to two located at Alewife that opened in Fall 2008). Entry to the bike cage requires a bike CharlieCard, available at the Forest Hills T station information booth. These cards function like a regular CharlieCard, and can accept transfers of remaining funds from your current regular CharlieCard, but also allow access to the new bike cages.

But the need for bike parking isn't confined to T stations. If you live in Boston and Cambridge and want to request that a bike rack be installed somewhere, LivableStreets has created an on-line website to collect bike rack requests. All the requests are delivered to the bike rack coordinators in each city who will add them to the queue. This initiative was made possible in part with funding from REI/Bicycle Friendly Communities Grant, and some tech-savvy volunteers!
 
Click here to request bike racks in Cambridge or Boston.

Announcements
_____________________________________________________________

 
Chris Hart Named "Top 40 Under 40"

Chris Hart, a LivableStreets board member, has been named to the "Top 40 Under 40" list of people "who have made significant contributions to the public transit industry" published by Mass Transit magazine.
 
Chris, who works at the Institute of Human Centered Design, was selected from over 150 nominees based on achievement, commitment, involvement, contribution, and innovation.   People on the list were described as "stand outs in their respective areas and show a strong passion and commitment that exemplifies the best of the best." Winners will be showcased in the Sept/Oct cover feature of Mass Transit magazine and online.

Congratulations Chris!

 


Rail-Volution Conference is coming to Boston

 
Rail-Volution brings together advocates, policy-makers, technical experts, and others interested in making transit and land-use work together for the betterment of our communities and country. From Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 this huge event will be in Boston. LivableStreets Alliance will be attending the conference, and participating in the "Advocates Reception" on the opening night.
 
LivableStreets members and colleagues will be speaking on the following panels at the conference:
- 'Silver bullet or buckshot? Addressing climate change
   through demand/VMT reduction' - Jeff Rosenblum,
   founder of LivableStreets Alliance
- 'Mobility challenged populations and transit-oriented-development' - Chris Hart,
   board member
- 'Realizing the opportunity: high speed rail in America' and 'Going green with  
   transit: macro and micro' - Fred Salvucci

- 'The pedestrian/bicycle connection to livable communities' - Phil Goff, founding

   board member, and Wendy Landman, WalkBoston

 

 
Tonight: Green Guild Green Film Festival 
 

Tonight, Wed, Oct 21, 7 PM
@ Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA 02446

Featuring The Muddy River Chronicles, the Carbon Footprint, Bag It, and One Home at a Time. Tickets available at the theatre or www.greenguild.com. 
 
Join everyone for the green after-party at the Fireplace restaurant, 1634 Beacon Street in Brookline.
 
For more information, click here >>>

 

Boston's pedestrian accidents jump 21%, deaths more than double


Advocates suggest that it is more likely caused by excessive driving speeds on city streets and poorly timed or malfunctioning traffic and walk light signals. Pedestrian accidents in Boston have jumped by 21 percent since 2006, according to police statistics, reaching 776 last year. Fatalities have increased to 20 in 2008 from 8 in 2005. If a pedestrian is hit by a car traveling at 40 mph, there is an 80% probability of death. If the car is going at 20 mph the odds drop to 5%. Slowing traffic requires both changing the speed limits and restructuring the streets through "traffic calming" techniques such as narrower lanes, curb extensions and tighter turning radii at intersections, raised crosswalks, and better coordinated walk/traffic signals.

For more on traffic calming, see the

Federal Highway Administration, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, or the many sites created by traffic consulting firms such as this one. There were also several excellent letters to the editor on this topic: "Every pedestrian for himself," and "Jaywalkers beset by bad drivers."

 

MBTA scorecard: how well did the T do?
 

State Transportation Department release T scorecard, but operational focus still leaves out goals for mode change, environmental protection, and non-motorized safety.

The Executive Office of Transportation has begun releasing "performance scorecards" about the Accelerated Bridge Program and the MBTA. The "T" scorecard includes numbers about ridership, on-time performance, infrastructure and equipment conditions, dropped trips, and safety.  

Advocates welcome this move towards openness and hope it expands beyond operational issues to include measurements showing progress reaching "quality of life" goals such as:  
- increasing the percentage of trips taken by foot, bicycle, or public transportation
- reducing the amount of vehicle-emitted pollution and noise and the number of people heavily exposed to them
- expanding the ratio of "complete streets" to roadways
- moving towards creation of a state-wide off-road pathway

 

Volunteer/Intern for LivableStreets Alliance
Have more time than money? Consider lending a hand.
There are a wide variety of tasks and projects to suit everyone: big and small,  one-time and continuous, technical and artsy, field observations and computer work, solo and group projects, activist stuff and research/office tasks. Get on our volunteer mailing list today! E-mail volunteer@livablestreets.info.
 
We are also seeking writers, editors and event planners for specific fall/winter projects.

E-mail/call Jackie for more details at jackie@livablestreets.info / 617.621.1746.
 
_____________________________________________________________________
 
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Douglas
 
LivableStreets Alliance
E: jackie@livablestreets.info   
P: 617.621.1746