Category: In The News

Jamaica Plain Gazette – “City Council holds hearing regarding dockless mobility, electric scooters”

Jamaica Plain Gazette – “City Council holds hearing regarding dockless mobility, electric scooters”

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Jamaica Plain Gazette: “City Council Holds Hearing Regarding Dockless Mobility, Electric Scooters”

Kristen McCosh from the Mayor’s Office of Persons With Disabilities said that part of her role is to make sure the path of travel on the sidewalks remain unobstructed.

“Sidewalks are the most common mode of travel for people with disabilities,” McCosh said. She said she was concerned about accessibility of the scooters themselves as well as their speed, and where they might be left in the way of someone who is blind or low vision.

“People with disabilities are not in a position to move them or even go around them,” she said.

In the third panel, Stacy Thompson, executive director of the Livable Streets Organization, and Brendan Kearney from WalkBoston, made suggestions about the implementation of the new scooters. Thompson told the City Council that she hopes they will meet their excitement about the prospect with “increased funding for the infrastructure that will be required to support this.” She also said that regulating the speed of the scooters is just a small portion of the conversation that needs to be had about regulating the speed of all vehicles. Redesigning streets and curbside management were things that Kearney said needed to be thought about.

Posted November 9, 2018

East Boston Times-Free Press – “City Council Holds Hearing Regarding Dockless Mobility and Electric Scooters”

East Boston Times-Free Press – “City Council Holds Hearing Regarding Dockless Mobility and Electric Scooters”

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East Boston Times-Free Press: “City Council Holds Hearing Regarding Dockless Mobility and Electric Scooters”

In the third panel, Stacy Thompson, executive director of the Livable Streets Organization, and Brendan Kearney from WalkBoston, made suggestions about the implementation of the new scooters.

Thompson told the City Council that she hopes they will meet their excitement about the prospect with “increased funding for the infrastructure that will be required to support this.”

She also said that regulating the speed of the scooters is just a small portion of the conversation that needs to be had about regulating the speed of all vehicles. Redesigning streets and curbside management were things that Kearney said needed to be thought about.

O’Malley said this was one of the most substantive hearings they have had about this topic, and added that “as a City, we need to do a tremendously better effort going forward as it relates to the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.”

He called this a “complex issue,” but one that needs to be discussed.

He said he feels strongly about implementing a pilot program in the spring of next year.

Posted October 26, 2018

Cambridge Day – “Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses”

Cambridge Day – “Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses”

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Cambridge Day: “Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses”

The redesign process began with a council order in June 2014, sparking at least the fourth intensive look at a redesign since 1994 for a square long considered confusing and dangerous for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers. The process gained urgency and attention with the death of bicyclist Amanda Phillips in June 2016, but drew opposition for its plan to shrink the square’s Vellucci Plaza on one side of Hampshire Street so a giant, traffic-bending bump-out could be added on the other side – essentially turning the peculiarly elongated and complex square into two intersections.

Inman Square has been the site of five pedestrian crashes, 10 bicycles crashes (including that of Phillips) and 50 vehicle crashes in just the past three years, according to WalkBoston, a nonprofit founded in 1990 that has worked with Cambridge in Inman Square since 2014.

Posted September 18, 2018

Boston Globe – “Some city councilors want a 20 mph speed limit in Boston”

Boston Globe – “Some city councilors want a 20 mph speed limit in Boston”

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Boston Globe: “Some city councilors want a 20 mph speed limit in Boston”

Even supporters of a change to 20 miles per hour argue a speed limit change is not by itself enough to protect pedestrians. Cities and towns must also design streets to encourage slower driving, said Wendy Landman, executive director of the pedestrian advocacy group WalkBoston.

“Simply changing the speed limit without doing anything about the built environment does a little, but not nearly enough,” she said.

Bike lanes, raised crosswalks, streetside landscaping, and thinner travel lanes are among the traffic-calming measures that actually influence drivers to go slower, Landman said.

Posted August 28, 2018