August 15, 2017

Mayor Marty Walsh
Boston City Hall
Boston, MA 02201

Dear Mayor Walsh -­

Thank you for meeting with us last week to discuss Vision Zero and how we can work together to make our streets better for everyone.

We look forward to continuing the conversation with you on a walk, a bike ride and a bus ride in the coming months. In the meantime, we’ve outlined next steps discussed in the meeting:

1. Confirm your availability for World Day of Remembrance (WDR) on November 19, 2017. WDR is an international day of remembrance for victims of traffic violence. In Massachusetts WDR is organized by the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition and includes a rally with speaking program on the steps of the State House, usually including families or victims of traffic violence and others. We hope you will join us at the event and give brief remarks. We are happy to work with your scheduling team on logistical details.

2. Work with Chief Osgood to schedule a walk and a bike ride with you. These will be informative, small group (3 -­ 5 people) opportunities so that you can experience a few places where we most need to improve walking and biking in the City. It would be ideal for both the ride and walk to take place before the end of the year.

3. Explore the possibility of supporting automated enforcement legislation. Passage of this legislation would be a huge win for the City of Boston, providing the police department with a new, proven tool to ensure more equitable enforcement of traffic violations. Wendy has already reached out to Katie King and both she and Katie will be back in touch with you once they have made a plan about next steps including reaching out to the ACLU and the Boston legislative delegation.

4. Reinstate State of the Hub as an annual event. The State of the Hub served as a valuable platform for sharing the City’s progress on the bike network and other street projects. We are happy to co-­host and help with this event as we have in years past.

5. Finding a solution for Sullivan Square/Rutherford Ave. Thank you for being open to learning more about this large, important and complicated project. Wendy has already reached out to Chief Osgood to continue the conversation and will get back to you once the community is able to review the complete traffic and transportation modeling information.

6. Support a successful Washington Street Bus priority pilot. LivableStreets is already coordinating with BTD to bolster support and excitement for the planned bus priority pilot between Roslindale and Forest Hills this fall. If your schedule allows, we hope you will ride the pilot with advocates to demonstrate your leadership and support for improved transit options in the City of Boston.

7. Work with Commissioner Fiandaca and others in BTD to update the City of Boston’s parking policies. This could include charging a modest fee for residential parking permits much like Boston’s neighboring municipalities and has the potential to be an important revenue source for furthering your Go Boston 2030 goals.

To help track the progress the City is making around these issues, the Vision Zero Coalition will be releasing its next Vision Zero Progress Report for the City of Boston in early 2018. We are happy to work with BTD to assess progress to-­‐date and to identify areas where the city can make additional progress before the end of the year.

Over the next few weeks, we would like to firm up some of the details around World Day of Remembrance, schedule the walk and bike ride, work with your staff regarding automated enforcement, and set a time for the next State of the Hub so that we can send an update to our various networks.

Thank you for your leadership and continued partnership.

Wendy Landman
Executive Director, WalkBoston

Stacy Thompson
Executive Director, LivableStreets Alliance

Becca Wolfson
Executive Director, Boston Cyclists Union

CC: Dan Koh
Chris Osgood
Gina Fiandaca
Vineet Gupta
Charlotte
Fleetwood
Stefanie Seskin