Boston – Page 22 – WalkMassachusetts

Good news: Mayor Walsh proposes an increase in funding for staff & capital improvements in Boston!

By WalkMassachusetts | April 3, 2018

Kudos to Mayor Marty Walsh & the staff for moving Go Boston 2030 from plan toward reality!

Bottom line – this means 15-20 new positions at the Boston Transportation Department to work on many of the things that we care about: Vision Zero, signals, transit, sidewalks. Funding will come from increased parking fines, which will need to be approved by the Boston City Council.

Read the press release from City of Boston: https://www.boston.gov/news/mayor-walsh-announces-transformative-investments-go-boston-2030-transportation-plan-part

#PutABradyOnIt links

By WalkMassachusetts | March 21, 2018

We list all media clips on our website, but on this post we consolidated some of the media coverage this particular project received. Please let us know if we missed any others that you’ve seen and we can try and keep this current.

Teacher Sam Balto added a photo of Tom Brady to an in-street pedestrian sign that kept getting hit outside a school in Roxbury. Would drivers on Walnut Ave slow down in respect to beloved Patriots QB more than the normal school zone “yield to pedestrian” sign? First covered by Steve Annear in the Boston Globe, the photos and story of a teacher trying to improve safety on the street for students and family walking or biking to school took off! The story was picked up quickly by other local outlets, and then by the Associated Press and United Press International – and even the New England Patriots! Thanks in part to this effort, the City of Boston is now looking at making improvements to Walnut Avenue.

From the Boston Globe article, “Teacher uses Tom Brady cutouts to get cars to slow down in school zone“:

Balto launched the experiment on Walnut Avenue with the help of Brendan Kearney, a spokesman for WalkBoston, an advocacy group that works to make streets safer for pedestrians around the city.

“People really fly down Walnut Avenue or use it as a cut through, and that’s not right on any neighborhood street — let alone one with so many kids walking down it,” said Kearney. “I’m glad Sam has taken this step. He’s looking at a way to call attention to the crosswalk. . . . If Tom Brady can make that happen it’s great.”

NECN / NBC Boston: This Famous Face was attached to a sign to battle speeding

CBS WBZ: ‘Cars Will Have To Slow Down For Him’: Teacher Uses Tom Brady Face On Crosswalk Signs

WBZ / iheartradio: Teacher Puts Tom Brady Photo on Crossing Walk Sign

WCVB: Teacher uses Tom Brady’s famous face to slow down drivers

Universalhub: No Bostonian would sack Tom Brady, right?

ESPN: Tom Brady photos help slow down drivers in Boston school zone

Boston Herald: Tom Brady photos slow down drivers in school zone

Associated Press: Tom Brady photos slow down drivers in school zone

Fox News: Tom Brady photos slow down drivers in school zone

Boston.com: Teacher uses Tom Brady photos to slow down drivers in school zone

UPI: Boston teacher seeks to deter speeders with Tom Brady photo

Sports Illustrated: A Massachusetts Teacher Used a Picture of Tom Brady to Get Cars to Slow Down

Patriots.com: Before crossing the street: Stop, look, Tom Brady

USA Today – For the Win: Brilliant teacher uses Tom Brady’s beautiful face to slow down school traffic

Newstalk 1010: TOM BRADY PHOTOS SLOW DOWN DRIVERS IN SCHOOL ZONE

DailyMail: ‘He is so good looking. Cars will have to slow down for him’: Teacher puts Tom Brady’s face on pedestrian crossing signs to stop speeding outside Boston elementary school

ESPN Radio: Golic & Wingo radio show

Boston 25 News: #PutABradyOnIt: Organization uses Tom Brady’s face on yield signs to slow drivers down

WDJX: Teacher Uses Tom Brady To Get People To Slow Down

ACQ5: Boston teacher seeks to deter speeders with Tom Brady photo

Newsline: Boston teacher seeks to deter speeders with Tom Brady photo

Safety Sign dot com: Don’t Sack the Sign

Off the Monster Sports: Local School Puts Picture of Tom Brady on Crosswalk to Slow Down Drivers

International Business Times: Boston Teacher Uses Tom Brady’s Face To Slow Cars For His Students

Age-Friendly Walking – better walking for all ages

By WalkMassachusetts | March 6, 2018

By Adi Nochur/Project Manager, WalkBoston

Age-Friendly Walking is an emerging framework to increase pedestrian safety for children and older adults. WalkBoston has spent many years working with children on Safe Routes to Schools efforts, and over the last two years we have focused on seniors through an Age-Friendly Walking initiative with Boston. In close collaboration with the City’s Elderly Commission and many other municipal agencies, community partners, and local residents, we are advancing safe and comfortable walking for Boston seniors – and by extension everyone!

With financial support from the Tufts Health Plan Foundation and the Mass Councils on Aging, we are working with three pilot neighborhoods in Boston – the South End, East Boston, and Mattapan Square – to identify key issues and concerns, and to implement street and sidewalk improvements that create safe and pleasant walking conditions for seniors. We are also using the lessons learned from these pilots to create guidelines for a long-term citywide approach to senior walking. Providing benches as places to rest and repairing unfilled and uneven tree pits to eliminate tripping hazards are among the top priorities we have identified (as well as sidewalk snow shoveling, of course). Thanks to our efforts, improving pedestrian safety is a key recommendation in the City’s Age-Friendly Boston Action Plan. We look forward to our continued partnership with city agencies and community partners to make a positive impact on these issues.

As elderly populations continue to grow across the state and country, the need for walkable communities increases. Walkability is key to ensuring that seniors can age in place, access important goods and services, remain socially active, and maintain physical and economic mobility. Working with low-income seniors and seniors of color has helped us incorporate equity into this work. We have learned that Age-Friendly Walking is a powerful frame to bring diverse stakeholders and new partners to the table.

We encourage your community to consider joining the global Age-Friendly Communities movement, with leadership from the World Health Organization and AARP. We also invite you to contact WalkBoston if you’re interested in starting an Age-Friendly Walking initiative in your community! Visit our page for more details on our Age-Friendly work to date.

This article was featured in WalkBoston’s March 2018 newsletter.
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Crosswalk Crisis: Dangerous Intersections in Boston

By WalkMassachusetts | February 13, 2018

NBC10 Boston: “Crosswalk Crisis: Dangerous Intersections in Boston”

Two Boston high school students were hit by a car as they crossed the street at the intersection of Tremont Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in Roxbury on Tuesday. Safety advocates say the intersection is a hazard and that changes need to be made to make sure tragedy doesn’t happen again. NBC10 Boston Investigator Ally Donnelly has been tracking dangerous intersections across the city for months. She discovered there were at least 772 pedestrian crashes throughout the city last year, 12 of which were fatal. That number was down from the year before after the city lowered the speed limit, and installed bike lanes, speed bumps and lights in some neighborhoods, but even the mayor has admitted more needs to be done. Ally Donnelly has more.

Posted February 13, 2018

Boston: Walk to the Democratic National Convention 2004 Map

By WalkMassachusetts | January 1, 2018

Walk America’s Walking City No doubt you’ll want to see and do a lot while in Boston, so here’s important advice: the easiest, most pleasant and least stressful way to enjoy the city is on foot. WalkBoston, as a member of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions (CERC), created this guide to encourage DNC delegates and visitors to travel on foot and by public transportation. Shown on the map are most major hotels and a recommended walking route to the FleetCenter. Also noted are some must-see tourist attractions, along with just a few of Boston’s unique and charming neighborhoods including the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the North End, and the South End.