STREETLIFE

ACTION ALERT: Speak up for safety + accountability at the City of Boston’s budget hearing Monday May 4th @ 10AM

 

You can do this in two ways:

  1. Send an email to City Council ASAP (see below)
  2. Attend the meeting in person at City Hall or online at 10am on Monday, May 4th (here's how)

LivableStreets staff and volunteers have closely reviewed the publicly available budget documents and submitted a letter to the Administration with detailed questions and our priorities. 

You can find the City’s budget documents here including a spreadsheet summary we put together.

Last week, Maha testified at a City Council transportation subcommittee hearing where many advocate and community voices expressed dismay at the lack of progress over the past year (see Globe article, and transcript).

Will you take 5 minutes to send an email and speak up for safer and more LivableStreets in Boston? 


Sample email:

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

Subject: I support a Streets Cabinet budget that prioritizes safety and livability in Boston

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

I am reaching out today to ask that you ensure the below priorities are included in the City of Boston budget this fiscal year:

Accountability and Transparency: Please ask BTD to release the already completed Go Boston 2030 Revisioned documents and have a timeline for releasing an updated Vision Zero Action Plan. These guiding documents are critical in determining how and where to prioritize the City’s limited resources.

Meaningful on-the-ground progress. Please require that the City complete 7.5 miles of protected bike lanes; add cast-in-place concrete barriers on ALL corridors or at any intersection where flexposts have been removed; install 500 new speed humps in addition to replacing any removed during resurfacing; constructing safety improvements at 8 intersections; and update 50 traffic signals to meet the new 2023 traffic signal guidelines.

Planning with Impact: Please require BTD to create a plan for quick build bus priority implementation in collaboration with the MBTA’s Better Buses program for installation in FY28 and to 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.

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

Each of 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.

Please ensure that these priorities are committed to and incorporated into the FY27 budget before voting yes.

Thank you for your partnership and leadership.


Best,

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]