ACTION ALERT: Still no commitments to safer streets by Mayor Wu

Can you spend 5 minutes emailing your City Councilor?

Urge them to withhold approval of the transportation budget unless the City commits to measurable progress on safety, transit, and infrastructure. 

It’s time for the City Council to step up, and ensure accountability on transportation and street safety is part of the FY27 Budget. Safe streets and reliable transportation are not optional, they are essential to a dignified, accessible city.

Sample email:

To: YOUR District Councilor (see below)
cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Subject: Oppose approval of the transportation budget until the Wu Administration commits to safer streets

(Share your name, where you live/work/play in Boston and how you get around).

I urge you to not approve the transportation budget without clear timelines, deliverables, and accountability on the following priorities for Fiscal Year 2027:

• Release of the revised GoBoston 2030 plan and the updated Vision Zero Action Plan.
• Install 7.5 miles of new separated bike lanes this year and that any removed flexposts be replaced with concrete barriers or new flexposts with an implementation timeline.
• Install at least 500 new speed humps this year and implement safety upgrades at a minimum of 8 intersections.
• Identify bus priority projects to be undertaken this year in collaboration with the MBTA’s Better Buses program (Longwood Medical Area which is a high priority of LivableStreets).

Add any project or priority that is personally meaningful to you.

These requests is feasible within the constraints of the existing budget and with the existing staff, and is informed by the City’s most recent transportation planning and policy documents.

Boston residents deserve safe, reliable, and accessible transportation. I urge you to use your vote to ensure this budget delivers real progress.

Sincerely,

Your name

1. Address your email to your own City Councilor. 
2. CC: all the at-large councilors, and the Ways & Means Committee [email protected] for it to be entered into the record.

At-Large Councilors:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

District Councilors (map):

D1 [email protected]
D2 [email protected]
D3 [email protected]
D4 [email protected]
D5 [email protected]
D6 [email protected]
D7 [email protected]
D8 [email protected]
D9 [email protected]

All Councilors: [email protected]

PDF OF OUR FULL LETTER HERE

April 24, 2026

Nick Gove, Interim Chief of Streets

1 City Hall Square

Boston, MA 02201

Re: FY2027 Streets Cabinet Draft Budget Priorities and Questions

Dear Interim Chief Gove:

Thank you for meeting with LivableStreets and other members of the advocacy community on April 10, 2026 to discuss the draft FY27 budget and for providing clarifications at the City Council hearing on April 22, 2026 on the future direction of the Streets Cabinet. We recognize the structural fiscal challenges the City faces and appreciate that the current FY27 budget proposal intends to more strategically utilize resources, focus on what matters most, and deliver projects and services more efficiently and effectively. 

For over 20 years LivableStreets Alliance has advocated for the City of Boston to prioritize infrastructure investments that (1) center safety, especially for the most vulnerable people on our streets, and (2) get more people walking, taking public transit, and bicycling. Over the past decade, Boston has built momentum toward this goal with significant investment in staff capacity, project delivery, and collaboration– all of which we want to ensure continues. This past year, we have witnessed changes in the priorities of the Administration, but hope the start of the second term provides an opportunity to reenergize and refocus. 

Ahead of May 4, 2026 City Council hearing regarding the draft FY27 Streets Cabinet budget, we are sharing our priorities for the upcoming fiscal year (below) and our team assembled  series of questions about the draft budget (Attachment 1) that will help us, our partners, our constituents, and the City Council better understand understanding how the Administration will plan and implement projects that further street infrastructure and safety improvements this upcoming fiscal year.  

Based on our conversations, publicly available budget documents, and recent City Council hearings, we are concerned that the Administration's current strategy to utilize its limited transportation resources is not aligned with the City’s own safety and mobility goals.  

We consider the following requests as minimal requirements to be completed in FY27 to ensure the City does not backtrack on street safety and mobility goals:

1. GoBoston 2030 is the current mobility vision and strategic plan for transportation. We request (a) the release of the two completed “Go Boston 2030 Revisioned” updates prior to the May 4 budget hearing to inform the FY27 agenda, and (b) a public process to update and formally articulate goals, set the long-range direction, and identify the next set of projects.
   
   
2. Vision Zero Action Plan provides a more specific agenda for safer streets which was last updated in 2023 and the data used to prioritize safety improvements. We request (a) public recommitment to Vision Zero by Mayor Wu, (b) prompt updates to the “high crash corridors”, “high crash intersections” (last updated 2021 and 2019), and the crash data dashboard (last updated Dec. 2025), and (b) an update to the Vision Zero Action Plan by the end of calendar year 2026.
   
   
3. Bus priority. While recent focus has been on major projects being led by the MBTA (e.g., Columbus Ave. Phase II and Blue Hill Avenue), there are opportunities for the City to take leadership on smaller projects to provide bus priority (e.g., queue-jump lanes) on Boston’s streets. We request the City plan for bus priority in collaboration with the MBTA’s Better Buses program in preparation for installation in FY28 (e.g., Longwood Medical Area which is a high priority of LivableStreets).
   
   
4. Separated bike lanes in Boston have resulted in a significant increase in ridership (separated bike lanes projects increase bike trips by 50%). 2.5 miles of new separated bike lanes per year is inadequate to keep up with demand (500,000 more BlueBikes trips are taken today than in 2018, a 30% increase) and meet the City’s goal of a 4X increase in bike trips taken by 2030. We request that (a) the City aim to triple that number to 7.5 miles, and (b) at minimum commit to 5 miles installed. This is feasible with existing projects that have already gone through most or all of their planning phases (ex. Egleston Square, Dartmouth Street, Western Ave.) and we are happy to work with the City to identify additional corridors that can and should be advanced this fiscal year.
   
   
5. Safe Streets Infrastructure has been codified by the City as standard best practice for safe streets. We request (a) replacement of cast-in-place concrete barriers on any corridor or at any intersection where flexposts have been removed, (b) installation of 500 new speed humps in addition to replacing any removed during resurfacing, (c) incorporate safety-related pedestrian or bicycle infrastructure changes/ quick-build into repaving and curb-ramp programs (e.g., pedestrian “daylighting” at intersections, bus priority queue-jump lanes; separated bike lanes).
   
   
6. Safer intersections is an element of the Safety Surge program outlined in the Vision Zero Action Plan. We request (a) construct safety improvements at 8 intersections, and (b) meet the City’s goal of updating, at minimum, 50 traffic signals to meet the new 2023 traffic signal guidelines.
   
   
7. Curbside Management. The plan to overhaul the parking ticketing system provides a tremendous opportunity to expand the residential parking permit program and implement new policy and enforcement strategies to better support business districts. We request a comprehensive review of parking regulations and enforcement policies and develop an action plan to be implemented in FY28.
   
   
8. Planning and design projects. Even in a fiscally constrained environment, continued planning is still a critical part of a comprehensive transportation agenda. Communities lose trust in government when planning processes are halted. We request that (a) for Columbia Road, a longtime LivableStreets and neighborhood priority, the administration re-engage the planning process to identify how the remaining earmarked funds of about $10M should be expended with goal of programming those funds in FY28, (b) restart planning and design processes for Columbia Road, Hyde Park Avenue, Roxbury Resilient Transportation Corridors, Commonwealth Avenue Phase 3, 3B, and 4, Boylston St. / Fenway, Downtown Crossing, Connect downtown public garden crossings, Roslindale Square, collaborating with advocates and other stakeholders to help prioritize these processes.

There is much broader support for continuing a strong pro-safe-streets agenda than the Administration currently acknowledges. We would like to be your partner in helping you address the challenges you are facing in delivering safer and better streets for Boston constituents. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or to discuss. I can be reached at 617-939-3824 or [email protected]. 

Sincerely Yours,

Jeff Rosenblum, Interim Executive Director

cc: Clare Kelly, Chief of Staff

Beata Coloyan, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning

Kristin McSwain, Chief of Policy and Research

Mohammed Missouri, Executive Director of the Office of Neighborhood Services