175 ‘MBTA Communities’ will have to start increasing multi-family zoning this year
Stacy Thompson of the LivableStreets Alliance said the draft guidelines on the whole appear to do good, but she took issue with the fact that the plan doesn’t require a certain percentage of the units be affordable.
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Suffolk District Attorney Rollins launches criminal probe into MBTA
“The system had to fail at multiple levels for this to happen,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “It is frustrating that perhaps the only mechanism we have to deal with chronic lack of oversight is the DA taking this step . . . People cannot be getting hurt on our systems anymore.”
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Boston Public Radio Full Show: Jan. 3, 2022
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked about Mayor Michelle Wu’s transit agenda, including free fare pilot programs, and the problems with parking in the city. Aloisi is the former Massachusetts transportation secretary, a member of the Transit Matters board and contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. Thompson is executive director of Livable Streets.
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Boston’s fare-free bus pilot program sets the stage for transit equity, advocates say
Following Boston City Council’s approval of Mayor Michelle Wu’s $8 million free bus expansion proposal last month, transit advocates Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to share how the two-year pilot program could spur change across the transit sector.
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Boston's new chief of streets to steer city beyond car-centric transportation
"Michelle Wu is probably definitively the most progressive transportation mayor in the country," said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance.
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Fed Transpo Aid Raises Vision Question For State
"Whether or not we use this money in a transformative way is entirely contingent on if the Legislature can get its act together," said Stacy Thompson, executive director of the LivableStreets Alliance.
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Mayor Wu Appoints GovTech Expert Jascha Franklin-Hodge As Boston’s New Chief of Streets
Mayor Michelle Wu announced on Tuesday morning that Jascha Franklin-Hodge, a board member for the LivableStreets Alliance and former Chief Information Officer for the City of Boston, will be her administration’s new Chief of Streets to oversee the Boston Transportation Department and Public Works Department.
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Boston pedestrian fatalities at highest since 2017
“Unfortunately, these numbers aren’t surprising, and they’re tragic,” said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets, a nonprofit based in Metro Boston. “Pedestrian fatalities and serious crashes that have an enormous mental, physical and economic toll are truly a public health crisis.”
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Now we’re getting somewhere with free public transit
“Two years ago, we put out a paper saying it’s cheap and makes good economic sense to make buses free, and everybody thought we were crazy,” said Stacy Thompson, head of the safe-transit group Livable Streets Alliance. “Now we’re seeing it happen.”
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Why we need the dedicated bus lanes on North Massachusetts Avenue
This is why we need dedicated bus lanes, separate from normal vehicle lanes: They speed up the bus and reduce variability for a very large number of people at once, even if the number of vehicles is small. In the end, people are important, not vehicles.
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MassDOT Launches Bicycle-Safety Pilot
This pilot is the result of a strong partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the City of Cambridge, the City of Boston, and various advocacy groups, including Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), LivableStreets Alliance, TransitMatters, MassBike, Cambridge Bike Safety, and WalkBoston, according to MassDOT.
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Boston City Council approves $8 million to make three MBTA bus lines fare-free starting next year
Riders of the 23, 28, and 29 buses are primarily people of color who have low incomes, according to a 2019 report from LivableStreets, a public transportation advocacy group.
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Boston Public Radio full show: Dec. 1, 2021
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked about Baker’s decision to pull Massachusetts out of a multi-state compact aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the transportation sector.
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Boston Mayor pushes for more fare-free buses
Stacy Thompson, Executive Director of community group the Livable Streets Alliance, said: “We are thrilled to hear about the expansion and extension of the free buses pilot in Boston – and we are proud that Boston has become a national leader in the free transit movement.
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Road-safety advocates push Massachusetts lawmakers to pass road safety bills as fatalities pile up
“This is the sixth year the Vision Zero Coalition has called on the Legislature to pass life-saving legislation on World Day of Remembrance. Every moment of delay adds to the devastating statewide toll of preventable traffic crashes,” said Emily Stein of Safe Roads Alliance, one of a handful of safe-streets organizations that make up the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition.
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Wu quickly expanding reach of fare-free transit
“This is not pie-in-the-sky. These are reasonable, achievable, affordable steps to improve transit service and make us a national leader in transit,” Thompson said. “We need to dispel the myth that we need to choose between free service and great service. We can have both and we are implementing both.”
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The latest green line extension delay is testing patience for locals
“Every project has someone complaining about something, and I don’t really see anything particularly glaring about this project,” said Thompson, an executive director at Livable Streets Alliance. “As a knowledgeable advocate, who knows the ins and outs of this project, I’m not worried about this delay because they were able to keep the project on track during COVID.”
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On first full day as mayor, Michelle Wu asks City Council for $8 million to make three bus lines free for two years
A 2019 report from the transportation advocacy group LivableStreets found that more than 59 percent of riders on the 23, 28, and 29 buses were low income and more than 96 percent were people of color.
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Eyes Free Fares On 3 MBTA Bus Routes
“The ridership on that route is almost up to pre-pandemic levels and is now the most popular bus route in the entire MBTA system,” said Stacy Thompson of the Liveable Street Alliance.
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The latest Green Line extension delay is testing patience for locals – Boston University News Service – Boston, Massachusetts
Thompson, Executive Director of the Livable Streets Alliance, said: “As a knowledgeable advocate who knows the details of this project, I was able to get the project on track during COVID, so I don’t have to worry about this delay.”
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Boston Public Radio full show: 11/9/21
Jim Aloisi and Stacy Thompson talked all things transportation, including Beacon Hill’s response to Mayor-elect Michelle Wu’s plan for free ridership on the MBTA.
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MBTA and City of Boston Cut Ribbon on New England’s First Center-Running Bus Lane on Columbus Avenue
“This project has been a major step forward for the MBTA and Boston when it comes to closing our system’s transit equity gap,” said LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson.
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Columbus Avenue bus routes have first center-running lane in New England
LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson said 90% of Route 22 riders are people of color, a group that has had disproportionately longer commutes for decades. “Every minute” the MBTA saves riders closes that gap, she added.
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Making Society Better One Street at a Time
For Stacy Thompson of Boston’s LivableStreets Alliance, a successful street is one that you can use safely and enjoyably, without even having to think about it, just like you get running water from the tap or access to reliable weather on your phone.
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Riding Boston's New Fare-Free Bus — What Riders and the MBTA Say
It was successful, said Stacy Thompson, the executive director of the group LivableStreets. "The data is proving our assumptions correct." She said ridership is up 20% since the pilot started, and the MBTA confirms ridership on the 28 is up.
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Both Boston mayoral candidates want ‘transit equity.’ Here’s where they differ on how to achieve it
Wu has remained fairly consistent on her transportation policy stances over the last five years, while Essaibi George’s stances have evolved, according to a review of 2017, 2019, and 2021 candidate questionnaires from the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, which advocates for policies that reduce traffic-related deaths.
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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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