Advocates Express ‘Cautious’ Optimism for Baker’s T Board Picks
Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, said she is “cautiously optimistic” that the new board will be up to the task despite no members of the Fiscal and Administrative Control Board and a gap of months between the final meeting of that predecessor panel. and the first yet to be scheduled meeting of the new board.
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Boston Councilors Delay Vote On Order To Nix Parking Requirements At Affordable Housing Projects
Livable Streets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson cited St. Paul, Minnesota, and Raleigh, North Carolina, as parking reform examples for Boston to follow. St. Paul in August eliminated parking minimums at real estate developments, while Raleigh in June voted to begin the process of eliminating parking requirements at new projects.
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Baker appoints 5 to new MBTA board of directors after delay
“The appointment of the new board is a really important first step,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance. “What we need is that first board meeting to happen as soon as possible and see what their actions are going to be as board members.”
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Baker Names Slate of MBTA Board Members
"Given that there are no board members who served on the previous board and the reasonably long gap, that means that this board has a lot of catch-up to do and a lot of work to do and basically no time to do it," Thompson said in an interview. "It's not that it's an impossible feat, but it's going to be tough and it's going to take a lot of time."
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: 10/6/21
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson discussed why they think the MBTA is safe, how much they think the city should spend on transportation and the plan for the Mass. Pike development project in Allston.
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Can The T Be Fixed?
“It’s safer to get on the T than it is to get in a car and go on the highway,” Thompson said. “By and large, the T is safe. But that does not excuse preventable accidents on the system. We can and need to do more.”
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Justice sought for child victims of hit-and-run crashes in Boston
Livable Streets Executive Director Stacy Thompson said in the city of Boston, there are thousands of injury crashes every year. The street-safety advocacy group has been working with cities like Boston to approach infrastructure with strategies to slow cars down.
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Advocates call for transit improvements in wake of MBTA issues
“We are here to build back trust,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, at the briefing, adding that the coalition needs resources, support, and “governance” in its fight for better public transit.
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Public Transit Rally Held On Beacon Hill
Stacy Thompson was among the organizers and said changes need to be made. “We need our elected officials to take accountability, safety and funding seriously so that we can get the ‘t’ back on track,” she said. “Most importantly bring trust back, which we had been building with the previous control board.”
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MBTA Woes Trigger Calls For Revenue, Board Appointments
Outside the State House, Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance, said she agreed with Baker's assertion that his predecessors should have made bigger investments in the T and showcased 30 reports assembled over the past 20 years that pointed to "chronic disinvestment."
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MBTA ridership rebounds, somewhat, from pandemic
“So, why aren’t we running as much transit service as possible, why aren’t we building as much infrastructure as humanly possible, because we already have the information that we know that people want to use those modes.”
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Advocates For More T Funding And Oversight Rally On Beacon Hill
“We have the tools,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “We have the solutions. Now it is the opportunity of our elected officials and the State House and the governor to build back trust and to use the tools they already have in their toolkit to get it done.”
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Transportation advocates rally at State House for more funding for MBTA
“When we had a control board, every single Monday we heard from leadership, every single week we had a body that was supposed to look into incidents like this,” said Stacy Thompson of LivableStreets Alliance.
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Regularly scheduled service resumes on MBTA Red Line after train derails
Stacy Thompson: A lot in the advocacy community have been saying, look, we’ve told you. So it is never ok when a person is injured or traumatized because of a preventable maintenance issue.
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Frustrated by Yet Another MBTA Derailment, Transit Advocates Push for Change
"A huge amount of the workforce depends on the T, and if it's not safe and it's not reliable, our economy is not going to come back out of COVID, and that's going to have a ripple effect across the region and the state," Thompson said.
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Oversight of potential safety risks at MBTA stations under question after BU professor dies in fall from staircase
“It’s these kinds of intersections, roads, and staircases where we still see really bad things happen,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the advocacy group LivableStreets Alliance. She pointed to several other properties, including bridges over the Charles River that have shifted owners or maintenance over the years. “That is not a sustainable way to manage assets between agencies.”
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Report: MBTA faces fiscal cliff
“[The state legislature is] sitting with a dozen different revenue proposals from advocates that are all well-supported,” Thompson said. “So, to me, it’s just a distraction to ask the trade-offs question when it’s entirely feasible and reasonable to raise the revenue for the needs we have both on maintenance and on new construction.”
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Transit advocates hope stark report on MBTA finances delivers a wake-up call
“The next time the T derails or lights on fire, I don’t want anyone to be surprised,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “It’s a matter of political will at this point. . . . I hope this is a wake up call.”
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: 9/15/21
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson updated listeners on all things transportation.
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Bon Voyage, Boncore…but Who Will Fill the Gap on Transportation Panel?…
“I think it’s going to matter a lot,” she said of who become the next chair. “We need someone who understands that every region has unique transportation needs and that all of those needs need to be met,” Thompson continued.
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Tonight: Help the T Design A New Bus Network
“The T needs new garages, more dedicated bus lanes, additional buses, and more operators,” Kristiana Lachiusa, Director of Transit for the LivableStreets Alliance, told Streetsblog on Wednesday. “Transforming the bus network is great, but how can we actually get something transformational and hold the T accountable? We’re closely tracking those parts.”
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: 8/10/21
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked about the return to pre-pandemic levels of traffic and highlighted various ways that the MBTA Commuter Rail could alleviate congestion.
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Janey rolls out free 28 bus pilot program
Transit advocates with the Livable Streets Alliance estimate that eliminating bus fares in the Boston region would cut $33.7 million from the MBTA coffers, 2.8% of the agency’s total budget.
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Cash cushion eyed to test fare-free bus rides
Voicing support for both low-income fares and testing free bus service, Livable Streets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson urged Beacon Hill to make the proposals a priority.
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Free Bus Service Planned Along Blue Hill Avenue
A pilot program offering free service on a bus route between Mattapan Square and Ruggles Station in Roxbury, starting August 29, is previewed. Report for BNN NewsAired July 26, 2021
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As Free Transit Gains Momentum Across U.S., It's A Big Boston Mayoral Race Topic
“If public transit is a public good, then we should treat it that way," [Stacy Thompson] says. "We should fund it like schools and libraries."
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Advocates Want To Make The T Free. So How Would That Actually Work?
We hear from WBUR Reporter Bruce Gellerman about the growing movement to make public transit free in Massachusetts. We also take listener calls with Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of LiveableStreets Alliance, Kendrys Vasquez, Acting Mayor of Lawrence, and Brian Kane, Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board.
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With some MBTA riders switching to cars and hybrid work on the table, expect your Boston commute to change
“There’s this misperception that ... more folks are working from home, [and so] congestion will somehow be better,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director for the LivableStreets Alliance, an advocacy group focused on transportation innovation and equity in Greater Boston. “The reality is that you only need a small percentage of people to choose not to take the T for us to get to pre-pandemic levels of congestion.”
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Massachusetts needs a gas tax hike, but also rebates for low- and middle-income drivers, former state rep says
“We don’t need everyone to back to the office to have the worst congestion in the country, and we’re there,” Thompson said. “Even if we are in a future where more folks are moving to rural parts of the state ... I think that there’s a misperception that that will take the strain off of our transit systems and our roads and bridges, and if anything, we need all of that plus great broadband.”
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: 7/6/2021
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson discussed the current state of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill and the return to pre-pandemic levels of traffic and congestion. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the TransitMatters board and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Thompson is the executive director of LivableStreets.
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