“Gina was always friendly and collaborative. She served as commissioner while Go Boston 2030 was being drafted, so we didn’t have very much time to see her in action implementing the plan”

“She needs to be able to catch up while expanding the systems,” said Stacy Thompson, the executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. “We have to keep the state moving, literally.”

“We know that traffic safety is achievable without police enforcement,” Catherine Gleason, public policy manager of LivableStreets Alliance, said in a statement. “Banning non-traffic-safety related stops is a clear step toward dismantling the discriminatory role law enforcement plays in traffic safety.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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."

“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.”