Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff. Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on September 23, 2020 on Zoom.
Jenny Choi
As a data analyst intern at WalkBoston this past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work on several projects involving pedestrian crash data.
The first project is designing town-specific pedestrian crash profiles for Mass in Motion communities, shown on the left. By organizing key data in an accessible, concise way, these profiles aim to help towns and cities better understand how and why these crashes happen in their communities.
The second project is conducting spatial analysis with an age-friendly focus, shown on the right. We looked at pedestrian crashes involving older adults and how they spatially related to relevant demographic, geographic, and built environment factors. By translating data into compelling visualizations, our analysis can encourage lively community discussions around pedestrian safety and age-friendly walking.
Moving forward, we hope to continue using data to tell important stories and make informed decisions that can help us all strive towards safer, healthier, and more equitable communities.
One Minute, One Slide: September 2020 Presentations & Video
Presented as part of the #WalkBoston30th Annual Meeting, September 23, 2020 on Zoom. As we have done in past years, WalkBoston staff members each gave a one minute, one slide presentation. Video segment below. We’ve included the text as prepared for each person’s presentation at the links underneath the video.
Brendan Kearney – Walking & Communicating in the time of COVID
Boston Public Library Boston Public Library: David Leonard; Eamon Shelton; Michael Colford; Laura Irmscher; Ellen Donaghey; Beth Prindle; Boston Public Facilities Dept.: Patrick Brophy (Mayor’s Office); Tricia Lyons; Jim McQueen; Maureen Anderson; William Rawn Associates: Bill Rawn; Cliff Gayley; Sindu Meier; Elizabeth Bondaryk; Andy Jonic; Reed Hilderbrand: Doug Reed; Adrian Nial; Consigli Construction: Jim Hervol; Phil Brault; PMA: Chris Carroll.
This year the award goes to the Boston Public Library Central Library Renovation Team – for imagining and redesigning the landmark public space as a sidewalk-level, open, accessible place that welcomes people of all backgrounds and abilities.
Coalition for a Better Acre Walking Champions Aurora Erickson (CBA program leader), Maria Claudio, Laura Diaz, Destiny Gath, Billy Heath, Michael Heath, Nandi Munson, Marianne Staid, Luz Vasudevan, and Ediana and Angel Williams.
This group met with us regularly for over a year to make changes to the walking conditions in their neighborhood. The Coalition for a Better Acre was a true partner in this effort. So the award goes to the Lowell Walking Champions for your persistence in voicing the need for safer walking in your neighborhood, and effecting lasting changes that advance walkability for all Lowell residents.
Tufts Health Plan Foundation & Boston Age Strong Commission Tufts Health Plan Foundation: Nora Moreno-Cargie; Phillip Gonzalez; Kimberly Blakemore; Boston Age Strong Commission: Emily Shea; Andrea Burns; Nicole Chandler.
The Tufts Health Plan Foundation gave WalkBoston its start in age-friendly work by supporting our Boston Age-Friendly Walking program. This program yielded many successes including new benches and senior-focused, open streets events.With your continued support, we have expanded our age-friendly walking efforts across the state to make walking safer for people of all ages in rural towns and gateway cities. Tonight we honor you for embracing and advancing the age-friendly walking movement supporting healthy aging in communities across the Commonwealth.
The Age Strong Commission was an early and enthusiastic adopter of the idea that an age-friendly community must include age-friendly walking, and that the City must focus its energy on the streets and sidewalks that serve seniors with the highest need. Tonight we honor you with a Golden Shoe award for ensuring that Boston’s streets and sidewalks safely serve seniors so that all can continue to walk and age strong.
Keynote Speaker Mark Fenton
Mark Fenton is an adjunct associate professor at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, a nationally recognized public health, planning, and transportation consultant, an advocate for active transportation, and former host of the “America’s Walking” series on PBS television. Mark is a longtime friend of WalkBoston, and in fact, the one and only honorary lifetime WalkBoston member. I’m going to stop here and let those who really know Mark well introduce him.
One Minute, One Slide: Racial Inequities in Walking & Gateway Cities Walkable TOD
Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff. Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on September 23, 2020 on Zoom.
Ayesha Mehrotra
Hi, I’m Ayesha Mehrotra. After interning with WalkBoston last year, I’m thrilled to be back this fall working on a few projects that speak to WalkBoston’s commitment to advocating for every community across Massachusetts, and promoting equity through improving the built environment.
Amongst these projects is a report on racial disparities in walkability. In Massachusetts and across the country, neighborhoods with predominantly Black and brown populations tend to be the least walkable, have among the worst health outcomes, and are already bearing the brunt of climate change. All of these factors are related, and the result of decades of racist planning policies. WalkBoston’s report highlights the mechanisms through which these inequities have persisted and makes specific, actionable recommendations to guide communities and decision-makers who wish to address racial justice.
We’re also partnering with MassINC and UMass through a Solomon Foundation grant to conduct walk audits around transit hubs in 5 gateway cities, and make recommendations for improved streetscapes, as well as social infrastructure like open spaces, public art, and storefronts. Better access to transit is core to advancing equity, and we know the best way to do that is to ensure walkability.
One Minute, One Slide: Allston I90 – The Saga Continues
Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff. Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on September 23, 2020 on Zoom.
Bob Sloane
A long time ago, in a public meeting not too far away –
It is the year 2014, amidst a period of development in the commonwealth. Neighborhood residents and statewide advocacy organizations alike come to hear about the Allston Multimodal Project from MASSDOT, set to reshape a corner of Allston with a new VIADUCT, a gateway to BOSTON for the rest of the COMMONWEALTH. Years pass.
Advocates and neighbors alike cheered when SECRETARY POLLACK considered building the project at ground level, with newly connected neighborhoods and a vision for better transit before, during, and after construction. It was a victory for all in the MASSDOT process. Years pass.
Now – in 2020 – a new VIADUCT is back on the table, and looms large over every discussion – wider and higher than ever before. The ground level option seems doomed. The Charles River in Allston is a tremendous asset that should be restored, enhanced, and made accessible. A new, wider VIADUCT, that would stand above the river and shade its park, will be built if a compromise is not reached.
Advocacy leaders are in agreement – let’s lower the VIADUCT to the ground and let the neighborhoods (Allston, Brookline, Cambridge, Brighton and Boston) form a level constellation so they can see each other and the river with its walkers and bikers.
