Tag: vision zero action plan

Vision Zero Coalition Letter to Mayor Walsh 11/21/16

Vision Zero Coalition Letter to Mayor Walsh 11/21/16

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November 21, 2016

Dear Mayor Walsh,

On behalf of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition we would like to thank you for meeting with us to discuss how we can work together to advance progress toward the City’s Vision Zero goals.

We look forward to working with you on the ideas you shared at the meeting including:

  • Supporting the addition of crashes to your dashboard. We believe that the dashboard should show separate statistics by mode (walking, biking, vehicle, other) and should include both injuries and fatalities. We also think that this crash count should include crashes on state roads that have occurred in Boston -­‐-­the public is blind to this nuance and this is how the federal data is recorded. We’ve recommended this to your staff and are happy to follow up with them.
  • An education campaign, and we would like to take you up on your offer to participate in a PSA pertaining to Vision Zero. We are also glad that City staff are working with MassDOT to find ways to collaborate on State and City safety education campaigns.
  • Doing walking assessments to further explore and experience some of the specific signal issue we discuss. We chatted with BTD staff after the meeting and they offered to go on a walk with us first. We look forward to going on a walking tour with you in the coming months as well.

We would also like to reiterate the requests we made of you in the meeting:

  1.  That you will personally commit to ensuring that every department involved in Vision Zero feels the same obligation to bring the number of fatal crashes on our streets to zero, and that all departments are working from the same play book (i.e. the Vision Zero Action Plan; GoBoston 2030) to achieve this goal.
  2. That you will provide additional resources to BTD for Vision Zero in 2017. One way to do this is to charge for parking permits (as is done in surrounding communities: Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville). For example, $30/permit could create 3 million dollars in new revenue in 2017.
  3. That you will work with your staff to create more ambitious Vision Zero goals for 2017 -­‐ 2020 that include:
    a) Completing all of the goals in the 2016 Action Plan by June 2017
    b) Bringing neighborhood slow streets to every residential neighborhood in Boston by 2018 (which the staff have indicated would require additional staff and capital resources).
    c) Working toward a city-­wide network of separated bike lanes on all major arterials in the next 10 years and a commitment to 10 miles of separated or low stress bike facilities each year.
    d) Fixing all of Boston’s traffic signals by 2020, which we understand will require a substantial capital investment by the City (and which we understand to be a very ambitious goal). This would include automatic recall of WALK signals (unless a lightly used, mid-­‐block location), Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI) with a minimum 7 sec. interval, concurrent signals in all locations where safe (with documentation where concurrent should not be used), maximized WALK time at every intersection (no “reservation” of Don’t WALK time for vehicle throughput), re-­‐balancing of signal phasing to serve large volumes of pedestrians (e.g. Park/Tremont), addition of bicycle signals in all locations that include separated bike lane.

 

We fully recognize that these are not simple or easy asks, so we would like to reiterate our offer to work with your staff to better understand the challenges you are facing, so we can work together to find solutions that can be more quickly implemented. We believe that there is enormous community support for these actions, and that they will result in significant quality of life improvements across the City.

We are more than willing to:

  • Provide training for City staff
  • Suggest national experts who have helped other cities manage change
  • Meet with your leadership team to identify specific issues needing the most attention
  • Work with the City Council on these questions as well

We would also like to request a follow up meeting with you in June of 2017 to check in on our progress.

As we mentioned, the MA Vision Zero Coalition will be releasing a progress report on December 7th to report on the City’s progress toward the goals set forth in the Vision Zero Action plan.

We have already met with BTD staff to discuss the progress report in more detail and to determine the best way we can work together to both celebrate the progress made, while acknowledging the urgency of this issue and need to set more ambitious goals in 2017. We appreciate their cooperation and willingness to work with us to share information that will help the public see how Vision Zero is advancing in Boston.

Thank you again for your personal commitment to Vision Zero and your willingness to work with us on this critical issue.

For the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition -­
Becca Wolfson, Boston Cyclists Union Doug Johnson, Boston Cyclists Union
David Read, Dana Farber
Stacy Thompson, LivableStreets Alliance
Brendan Kearney, WalkBoston
Wendy Landman, WalkBoston
Matt Lawlor, WalkUp Rozzie, Walk Boston

Cc Chris Osgood
Gina Fiandaca
Mike Dennehey
Mike Brohel
Vineet Gupta
Charlotte Fleetwood
Kris Carter

Letter to Mayor Walsh-Massachusetts Zero Coalition

Letter to Mayor Walsh-Massachusetts Zero Coalition

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May 17, 2017

Mayor Martin Walsh
City Hall
Boston, MA 02201

Re: Vision Zero

Dear Mayor Walsh:

When you announced the Vision Zero Action Plan in December 2015, we were proud to be your constituents. You demonstrated leadership when you stated:

“We know how to build safer streets. We know how to protect our most vulnerable road users, who are suffering disproportionately because of speeding traffic and distracted drivers. With this Action Plan, I am saying it’s time to act. It’s time to commit to eliminating fatal and serious traffic crashes from our daily experience.”

Which is why we were dismayed by your comments Wednesday afternoon on WGBH Radio.

On behalf of the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition we invite you to work with us to fully fund and implement Vision Zero in Boston. We ask that you join us on Friday morning at 8 AM for a moment of silence for victims of traffic violence on City Hall Plaza. On behalf of those victims, we also ask that you apologize for the comments you made on the air.

Our streets are in crisis.

In 2016, fifteen people died while walking on Boston’s streets; a record-­‐breaking high for pedestrian fatalities. We are on track to see even higher numbers in 2017. Crashes overall are up. On average, at least two to three people walking are hit in a crash that results in an EMT call every day.

We need action from you and your administration, not victim-­‐blaming. When you said on the air, “Pedestrians need to put their head up when they’re walking down the street, take your headphones off … you’ve got to understand, cars are going to hit you,” you were reiterating a narrative that doesn’t stand up to the crash data your administration collects.

Most of the people killed while walking were children or older adults. In 2016, of the 10 pedestrian victims whose ages we know, four were older than 60 and two were younger than 3 years old.

This Coalition and your constituents look to you for action.

A week ago, hundreds of people attended the City Council’s FY18 budget hearing for the Boston Transportation Department to call for increased resources to make streets safer for everyone. After 2 the hours of questions from the council and public testimony, it’s clear from all sides -­‐ Boston is falling behind.

In your interview with WGBH, you said that the city is doing “everything we can,” but we know Boston is being eclipsed by peer cities in both resources and implementation. The City of New York spends about $20 per person on Vision Zero annually, and San Francisco spends $75 per person annually. Both cities have seen declines in overall traffic fatalities despite a troubling rise in fatal crashes nationwide. Boston is spending less than $5 per person, this is not enough.

Forty-­seven neighborhood groups applied for Neighborhood Slow Streets, a signature program of Boston’s Vision Zero initiative. Your FY18 budget recommendation only provides resources to implement two to three in the coming year.

At the current rate of implementation it will take more than 20 years to respond to just the first round of applications. Safety should not be a privilege afforded to only some Boston neighborhoods.

We recognize that there are many competing budget priorities and that rapid change on our streets will cost money. This year we suggest drawing on the parking meter fund. In the long term, we are here to work with you to diversify and increase the revenue streams available for transportation, for example through increased parking revenues.

Simply put, the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition, and the thousands of people we represent, feel strongly that the 2018 transportation budget as currently proposed is insufficient to reduce the number of fatalities and serious crashes on our streets.

We hope you will take this opportunity to recommit to leading Boston as a Vision Zero city.

Thank You,

Vision Zero Coalition

CC: Boston City Council
Chief of Streets Chris Osgood
Transportation Commissioner Gina Fiandaca
Chief of Staff Dan Koh
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