For the record, my name is Sharon Durkin, District 8 City Councilor, and I'm chair of the Committee on Planning Development and Transportation.

Today is April 21st.

The exact time is 2 p.m.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov backslash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on Expendity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, BIOS Channel 964.

Written comments may be sent to the committee email at CCC.plan DEV at Boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing.

Individuals will be called on in the order of which they've signed up and have two minutes to testify.

If you are interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-up sheet near the entrance of the chamber.

If you are looking to testify virtually, please add your please email our central staff liaison, ShanePack at Shane SHANE dot PAC at Boston.gov, and um your name will be added to the list.

Today's hearing is on Docket 0204, order for a hearing to discuss making neighborhood streets safer following the 30-day review of street projects in Boston.

This uh matter was sponsored by Benjamin Weber and Enrique Pepin and referred to the committee on January 28, 2026.

Docket 0588, order for hearing to discuss City of Boston transportation philosophy and status of infrastructure projects.

This matter was sponsored by Councillors Durkin, Pepin, and Weber, and is referred to the committee on March 18, 2026.

And Docket 0589, order for a hearing to discuss the status of state and federal funding allocated for transportation projects.

This matter was sponsored by Council President Liz Braden and was referred to the committee on March 18, 2026.

Today I am joined by my colleagues in order of arrival.

Okay.

Councillor Flynn, Councillor Murphy, Councillor Peppen, Councillor Braden, Councillor Weber, Councillor Cole Pepper, and Councillor Fitzgerald.

Um good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for being here.

When I introduced my docket to the council floor, I committed to scheduling this hearing as soon as possible in the midst of budget season because I believe this issue is important and urgent.

Residents expect and deserve to feel safe on our streets.

Meeting that expectation is a shared responsibility that depends on consistent work and clear coordination across city across the city.

Boston has committed through Vision Zero to eliminate fatal and severe traffic crashes by 2030, and there are a number of important street and safety projects underway to help get us there.

But in recent months, there has been concern that too many of these projects have been slowed down or stalled without clear evidence of what's happening or why.

Constituents ask me every day for updates as well as through through being the chair of planning development and transportation, and I haven't always had answers to those questions.

Many of these projects are desperately needed to protect all road users and ensure everyone can get around our city safely, especially our most vulnerable.

In District 8, where so many residents and visitors navigate by foot all every day.

This is something I think about consistently.

More and more young people are choosing not to drive.

We need to embrace the future and plan accordingly, recognizing that many Boston residents, including myself do not own a car.

The delay of many of these projects has also put state and federal transportation funding at risk.

Similarly, we've had discussions in this chamber about Blue Holav at a time when we are facing challenges and a challenging budget season, coupled with federal uncertainty and decreasing state funding.

I know that the city is taking steps to extend public engagement and community involvement.

However, there does remain a lack of clarity on how we're moving in an overall direction, what our transportation philosophy is, what our long-term goals are, and how these projects are going to be made whole.

I hope that we can gain more clarity from City of Boston leadership about the transportation philosophy and decision making process, the status of key projects, and the path forward to delivering safer and more efficient streets for Boston residents.

As city councillors, we have an important role to partner with the administration to advance the goal of safety on our streets and sidewalks.

Thank you to all the residents and organizations who are here, what are watching this afternoon, and thank you for your continued advocacy on these important issues.

I want to thank uh interim chief chief Nick Gove and Mohammed Mazuri for joining us today.

Um Nick uh Gove is the interim chief of streets for the city of Boston, and Mohammed Missouri is executive director for the Office of Neighborhood Services.

Um I'm going to go to opening statements from my colleagues that are sponsors.

So Councillor Liz Braden, you have I'm sorry, Council President Liz Braden, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you all for being here.

Lots of road users in the in the House to uh listen to this very important discussion.

Um I filed a docket 0589, an order for a hearing to discuss the status of state and federal funding allocated for transportation and streets projects.

Uh it it came as sort of a wake-up call recently when we lost 327 million cut dollars cut from the I-90 project as part of a map uh because the project was years behind schedule and the money wasn't obligated.

I think in this case, we're looking citywide at uh hundreds of millions of dollars that are in jeopardy.

Uh as we as a city uh if we as a city do not move forward decisively and obligate these funds and show forward direction.

We have many unanswered questions about why the process is stalled, and we also um feel that this is a moment uh of in the middle of our budget season and uh looking forward to what we can and and uh foreseeably deliver from Boston.

That in this moment it's critically important that we partner with our state and federal partners and that we f partner with the MBTA to make sure that we uh utilize the funds and use them as uh as they were intended.

Uh and and if we don't use them, we're in danger of losing them.

So this is a an important moment and an important issue for uh all of us across the city, but it's uh it's uh particularly important for my district as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Council President.

Um, next we'll go to uh the lead sponsor of the other docket, um, Councillor Weber.

You have the floor in two minutes.

Uh thank you very much.

Uh I'm I'm glad to see so many of my colleagues coming out today uh and for the administration for everyone who's shown up here in City Hall.

I I yeah I filed uh docket on the 30-day review uh in April 2025.

Uh and so it's been a year for us to try to figure out what that review meant and what we were doing about it.

And honestly, I feel like you know uh we haven't done a good job since that review came out.

It said we need a better community process uh around street safety improvements, and instead, what we've had is no process and no improvements.

Uh and so I you know I I speak for my constituents in district six who you know want to be able to walk uh you know walk around safely and ride their bikes safely on the streets.

And right now, as their city councilor, I don't know what to tell them in terms of how to how to move this process forward, how to get speed humps on their streets, uh, and how to address you know areas where there's dangerous conditions.

Um, we had Glenn Ingram who died uh, you know, right in front of Forest Hill Station, crossing the street on a green light, and it just you know it's I I think you know uh the majority of my constituents want to see improvements go forward.

Uh and the answer can't be that we're never gonna do anything.

Uh uh.

So, you know, I'm here.

Um I hope we get some answers, and and I just want to thank everyone for coming out today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, next we're gonna go to Councillor Pepin, who uh is the co-sponsor on all these dockets.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you to the advocates, panels, organizers, and community members who are here today.

Your voices, your persistence, and your commitment to safer streets are what is going to keep this city moving forward.

But I'm not just here as a city councilor, I'm someone here that stands with you.

Before I had the honor of serving on the city council, I work for transportation for Massachusetts, T4MA.

In that role, I saw firsthand what's possible when we commit to bold people-centered transportation policy.

And I also saw what happens when we hesitate.

Progress stalls, safety suffers, and communities are left behind.

That experience shaped how I show up today to this building.

Because at the end of the day, transportation is not just about getting from point A to point B.

It's about safety.

It's about equity.

It's about whether a parent feels safe and comfortable letting their child walk to school, whether a senior can cross the street with confidence, whether a cyclist can ride without fear, and whether a public transit writer are treated with dignity they deserve.

That's why I've made transportation.

It's high priority in my work on the council and why I continue to advocate for it every single day.

Safer streets don't happen by accident.

They happen because we choose them.

They happen when we invest in traffic common measures like speed bumps.

They happen when we improve signage and visibility.

They happen when we build safer and more accessible crosswalks and sidewalks.

And they happen when we have the courage to take on larger projects.

So they work for everyone, not just for cars, but for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and drivers alike.

From our school zones to our residential streets to our busiest corridors, every part of the city should reflect that commitment.

That is why I'm proud to be a co-sponsor on both dockets that we're going to hear from today.

Transportation is probably the topic that I hear from the most in my district.

Residents consistently asking me what's the what's the state?

What's the update on the projects?

When are we getting more speed humans?

When are streets going to be safer?

So I'm looking forward to the questions.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much.

Um, and for each of my colleagues that aren't co-sponsors, we're just gonna let you have a minute, um, not two minutes, because I know we have a lot of public testimony.

Um, but you'll have a chance to ask more questions when we get to um when we get to questions.

So, Councilor Flynn, you have a minute.

Thank you.

I'll try to be brief as possible.

This in this hearing is important.

This is an issue I've worked on for eight years, trying to keep our streets and sidewalks safe, trying to reduce the speed limit, which we did from 25 to 20.

I think it should be reduced even further.

I think we need to make major infrastructure changes in the city of Boston to provide a safer environment for people, for all people, especially persons with disabilities in our seniors.

We need more traffic enforcement as well from the Boston police, enforcing all rules of the road.

Boston can't be the wild west.

It has to be a city where people follow the rules, respect the rules, and the rules are enforced consistently.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Flynn.

Counselor Murphy, you have the floor.

Thank you.

So last year it was stated with my former lead sponsors.

Um, I was a lead sponsor in April of last year when we filed the hearing order to get answers on the 30-day review, and we know that came after the need for the safety surge initiative and just hearing from residents.

Every resident, if you're walking, biking in a car, on a bus, you deserve to be safe.

And we need to know what we're doing here on the city to make sure and what data we've collected.

So looking forward to this conversation, making sure that um also hearing from the residents and what they want to see and make sure that everyone feels safe.

So thank you.

Thanks, Councilor Murphy.

Um, next we're gonna go to Councillor Culpepper.

Thank you.

Um Madam Chairwoman, and thank you to the panelists for being here today.

Um District 7, the number of streets in my district that need immediate attention from Columbus Avenue.

We're repaving and restoration of the center of Cobblestone is overdue.

Concord Square, Northampton Street, probably BWS work there, smaller but important streets like Wellington Street, Claremont Park, Greenwich Park.

And these are not large-scale redesign programs, they are basic maintenance and quality of life issues that residents are dealing with every day.

And while we talk about planning future projects, we have to address concerns about projects already underway, particularly around uh Blue Hill Avenue, which is a clear example where despite the city's stated commitment to community consensus that Blue Hill Labs, Center Lane, many residents, and we just had that large community meeting.

Many of those residents feel that they were not meaningfully, Councilor Compact.

Counselor Fitzgerald.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh appreciate it.

Uh, as a parent of three young kids, my biggest fear is uh vehicles uh and the way they're driving lately.

Uh even playing in front of the house.

We only let the kids play in the backyard now because of the fear of of cars coming down.

So uh but I'm also realistic about uh the the role of a car in my family's dependency on trying to get to everything with three young kids as well.

So, not that one's gonna go away.

Uh, we have to learn how this can coexist in a safer better model, and I look forward to that conversation.

Thank you.

Thanks, Councillor Fitzgerald.

Um, okay.

So now we're going to go.

I know there's a presentation, so we're gonna go to our administration panel, uh, which can consist of um Chief Chief Gove and um Director Missouri, so um go ahead.

Good afternoon, thanks for having us here today.

Um, we're gonna start off just by talking about the streets cabinets mission and values.

Um we deliver the essential city services that keep Boston moving, clean, safe, and vibrant.

We believe in getting the details right for residents, businesses, and commuters who rely on us in their daily lives.

We hold ourselves uh to direct and thorough engagement through clear, straightforward communication.

We're committed to maintaining and improving safe and accessible streets that work for all roadway users.

From a visioning perspective, Boston streets should be safe, efficient, and connected, not chaotic or stressful.

In the first term, we made real progress by moving quickly, testing ideas, learning in real time, and delivering fast, affordable safety improvements.

We will build on that progress with a shift to lasting neighborhood specific infrastructure.

We will move from temporary infrastructure to durable, well-designed and integrated solutions.

Shift away from a one-size-fits-all mindset that prioritizes speed over specifics.

We'll focus on using a range of tools and options to find the win-win for different roadway users.

We'll implement a coordinated rather than siloed approach.

Instead of prioritizing new safety infrastructure over state of good repair, we will lead with streets that are due for state of good repair work and evaluate them for safety improvements.

We'll deploy better enforcement, focusing on key hotspots to keep roads, bike and bus lanes, and sidewalks unobstructed.

This next phase is not about slowing down on progress.

It's about getting the design right and avoiding unintended consequences for residents, communities, and local businesses.

We'll strive for street designs that feel better, work better, and last longer because they were designed with the experience of the residents, businesses, and commuters who are using them every day.

Our priorities will continue to be state of good repair.

This includes, you know, safe streets starts with getting the basics right, sanitation, street sweeping, filling potholes, resurfacing streets, fixing street lights, refreshing pavement markings, and clear curbside regulations.

We'll continue to implement traffic calming measures.

We'll continue to implement physical design changes to streets to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists, including horizontal and vertical deflection measures, signs and pavement markings, and education and enforcement.

We'll continue to invest in key corridors.

We'll redesign high crash corridors and build neighborhood safety projects to reduce crashes.

Seven of these projects we'll discuss later in the in the deck.

The safety surge.

Speed humps.

The first phase of this program rapidly constructed speed humps on high priority streets across the city.

The next phase will reassess the current criteria for speed hump eligibility to determine if a neighborhood is better served by speed humps versus other traffic calming measures.

Only streets deemed eligible will be candidates for speed humps.

Safer intersections and signals.

Intersections help connect people from one route to another, but they are also where most crashes occur.

We are working to reduce these conflicts between people driving, walking, and cycling at intersections throughout Boston through both infrastructure and signal improvements.

State of good repair, an update on our progress.

This administration has resurfaced over 105 miles of roadway.

We've filled over 27,000 potholes.

We've constructed 18 miles of bike lanes, nearly doubling the existing bike lane network.

We've constructed over 6,400 curb ramps, and we've installed over 1,400 speed humps citywide.

This year, we're looking to resurface another 45 miles of uh roadway at least, with a goal of constructing over 1,800 ADA compliant ramps.

Through the projects that we'll reference later in the deck, we'll construct over two two and a half miles of new bike lanes along with key network connections.

And next month we'll install over a hundred new speed humps as well as return speed humps to roadways that were resurfaced last year.

The projects I referenced earlier.

There's seven projects here.

These are all neighborhood safety and reconstruction projects.

A Street in Congress and Sleeper, which is underway, Cummins Highway, which will be completed this summer, Harrison Ave, the Inc.

Block, which will get underway in July, Jones Ave, Lower Roxbury, Lost Village, and the Ellis Safe routes to school, all of these projects will begin construction this year.

From a planning engagement and design perspective, we have moved Rutherford Av in Sullivan Square, a project that's been in planning for over two decades, is now moving to the 25% design submission.

Hyde Park Ave and Columbia Road, those planning efforts will continue this year.

We'll continue outreach and stakeholder engagement on downtown crossing, Andrew Square, Wood Av, the Boylston Street Project and the Fenway, the Maverick and Rosendale Square Square Transportation Action Plans, as well as the Public Gardens Crossing Project.

With that, we welcome any questions that the uh councillors have.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you so much.

Um, our first um round is going to be six minutes.

Um so uh council president Braden, would you like to go first?

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

Um I think the streets um department you have a lot of uh a lot of real estate on your plate.

So um I I want to my particular questions are focused on the grants for um federal grants specifically.

I I uh I I think it's not beyond we have seen grants withdrawn, and uh we just want to I'd love to get a sense of the status of of grants where we're at.

It's my understanding that it's significantly harder for the feds to claw back money once it's been obligated.

And I was how many ongoing street major street projects have reached the point where the money has been obligated and it's it's sort of locked down so that we can use it going forward.

So, Council, we can provide a kind of thorough update of all of these state and federal uh projects that are are funded within the city.

Um I think we we could provide that background, uh, and I can get into any specifics that you you would like, but it is a pretty detailed discussion.

Um we're happy to share the projects from a federal perspective that have been either paused or rescinded.

Um projects that are you know are we haven't entered into an agreement yet.

Um if there's specific projects that you'd like me to talk about, I'm happy to do that.

Well, I think one project that lost funding recently was the one in the Fenway where there's eight million dollars were taken.

It was a high crash zone, and I don't know what the circumstances are why it was withdrawn, but we did lose the eight million dollars from that project.

It was actually reallocated, it wasn't lost.

Um I'd love to hear your what where it was reallocated and and why was it sure council?

I think I believe you're referring to the uh uh Boyleson Street project in the Fenway, yeah, uh, which is a TIP-funded project.

Um we have not lost the funds, but the project has been pushed out uh till the federal 2031 uh schedule.

Um there were a number of projects that were uh shifted around by the MPO uh this month.

Um that was one that was moved to the out years, but we have not we have not lost the project.

Uh we did, in fact, as part of this, move up a project, which is the uh Cambridge Street Bridge.

Um the time to build that is is now that the Mafa Mystic Way uh project is wrapping up.

That's a project we'd like to complete in advance of uh the Rutherford and Sullivan Square.

So we have not lost that funding, and it's just been reallocated to the later years.

Is the Cambridge Street Bridge?

Is that the Alston Bridge or the No, another one?

There's two Cambridge Street Bridges.

This is the Cambridge Street Bridge Bridge in Charlestown.

Yeah, because we lost the funding for the uh 327 million, the I-90 project early action items was the Cambridge Street Bridge in Alston, which is in pretty bad disrepair over a federal highway.

How many how many funders of transportation infrastructure have we heard from that are concerned about progress on these projects?

And given the current national climate, are are folks.

Other partners like Mastod, MBTA, Federal Transportation Authority, any other funders and partners that we work with that you know want to see these progress.

That if we if we lose them, it may be decades before we get them back.

Sure.

I you know, I think you know, we are in regular contact with Mastod and the MBTA on all of the projects that we have in planning and design.

Um I think there has been some well publicized projects that have that have lost federal funding.

Um but we are continue to focus on you know the projects that are that are funded and moving through the process.

Um I think obviously there's concern whenever you know a project either has funding rescinded or doesn't move ahead in the grant process, but you know, we are working to make sure that the funding that we do have and that is available to us is moving forward.

Is it possible to get a like a schedule of um where we're at with all the different projects?

Sure.

We have a complete we can provide a complete breakdown project by project of all the state and federal projects that are that are funded for you.

Uh I have a uh one one particularly serious concern I have is with the delay and uh funding that we're expecting for the green line um uh improvements of COMAV and the B branch realignment.

Um we have to do all that work in preparation for getting new cars and the new cars will work on the old existing track.

So um I was wondering where have we have we written, have we had we have we heard from the uh MBTA about uh any concerns we have about why we're not moving forward in a timely way with any of that work?

Yeah, we are we have a monthly standing meeting with the MBTA on on that project, and we you know we are working with them on both advancing the B and E-line projects.

They're they're moving ahead with that.

Um we also have the opportunity to make significant uh street uh and neighborhood safety improvements as part of that work, so that's that's why we're engaged the way we are, but uh those projects continue to move forward.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, uh Madam President.

Um we're gonna go to um Councillor Weber next.

Um you have six minutes.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh so in terms of uh the 30-year review, you know, sort of seemed like we paused things, we were rapidly putting in the you know uh bike infrastructure, speed bumps, safety things, and it seemed like nothing has happened since I guess you know number one is what's gonna be the process now.

How do I talk to my constituents who want to see something, you know, whether it's already in the planned or they want something new?

Like what's what's gonna be different after today?

Uh so specific to is there any specific projects you you want me to do?

Well, I just so I mean there's there are certain projects uh you know Egglison Square that has been planned essentially, or whatever it is, 60 percent or um uh planned.

I you know what what do I tell my constituents about Egglison Square?

Sure.

So for that example, that that project um is nearing, I believe, the design milestone of 70 percent.

Uh construction of the square is not currently uh funded.

That said, there are significant um smaller neighborhood safety improvements that are proposed as part of that planning effort, and we're looking to move those forward uh in advance and as part of the uh white stadium reconstruction project.

Well, so I mean I could specifically like you know bike lanes, speed humps, crosswalks, like what gets moved forward and what doesn't.

We're gonna be start restarting some engagement on that where we're gonna talk about you know what what the community feels like should be prioritized as part of those smaller projects that we can pull out uh to complete as part of some state of good repair work.

Okay.

Um and then in terms of what you know, I've I've I've I've got a dozen different streets that are being used as cut throughs, people want speed bumps on their streets, and so uh and I think many of those are really you know, they're they're they could be uh made a lot better with speed bumps on those streets.

So you know, what do I tell my constituents up till now?

We've just been telling people to sign a petition, you know, circulate a petition among your neighbors, get everyone on board, and then I'll take that.

I you know, as of today, I don't know what what to do with that petition.

So what what do I tell my constituents in that situation?

Sure.

So as I mentioned, we will be rolling out our our spring program uh speed hump and installations next month.

Um we're happy to if we're happy to share that with you if we haven't if we haven't already.

But as far as you know, streets that are not on that spring program, um, as I mentioned, we're gonna be we're redesigning this program um and we'll be back with kind of what engagement is gonna look like moving forward, what streets are eligible.

Uh but in the interim, you're please obviously share the streets that you believe you know continue to be a priority.

Yeah, I well I okay.

So I mean maybe this is for you, Mohammed.

I I don't know, but um yeah, I I know we were in the I think there was a press release this morning last night.

I I thought the whole 30-day review process was you know, the we need more community process around these things, and it seems like we're again starting with the lack of a community process to announce street changes, and honestly, like I I'll take you know, I'll take some engagement and you know uh imperfect as it is, just get some speed bumps in on streets that need it.

But it I I don't I I'm not it doesn't fill me with a lot of faith in this process that the the one thing to take out a 30-day review is we need more community process, and that I feel like we're not getting it.

But I don't I don't know what you're if you have any anything either of you want to say about that.

I I will say that and I'll let Mohammed take it after, but I you know the the spring program that we are moving ahead with next month, you know, those are examples, all of those locations, all of those streets that were receiving speed humps.

Um there's there's been thorough engagement with the neighborhoods on those on those projects.

But yeah, I mean I would say excuse me, counselor, we as you know, we engage all of you throughout the year, we engage residents throughout the year.

I mean the 30-day review, as you said, it it's not just about um you know more community process necessarily for the sake of process, it's very what we learned from it and what we've learned in conversations with um our residents and our you know advocates who are here today and and counselors, other elected officials and stakeholders, is that Boston is a unique city, it's a historic city, and every neighborhood has it very specific things that um they're looking for and when we are changing the built environment.

And so what we do is we actually just look for um making sure that our projects are meeting um you know, meeting the needs, the unique needs of every single neighborhood, and so we've identified as many people as if you know as possible so that and you know to to the unique solutions for that to address the unique solutions of that neighborhood.

So it may seem uh I you know respect obviously that it feels um, you know, that it that you apologize that it felt that it you know took some time since last year, but at the same time, I just want to say that we moved very, very fast.

We made rapid, rapid progress as an administration, you know, compared to many years prior, um, and we are just learning as we get learning to make sure that we're not just you know finishing something uh to finish it, but it's actually done really well uh and meeting all the needs of the neighborhood.

Yeah, I'll just I'm I just have a comment.

Uh I won't ask any animal questions this round.

I have another round.

I mean, I I would I would just I I feel like we've had a year to play like where everything has been stopped from my perspective uh and uh you know now is the time to come out with the plan.

I feel I feel like what we're getting is is still very vague.

Uh and what I'd like to hear is these are the we've come up with a plan, a process, and these are the three things you need to do to get speed bumps on your road or to get a bike lane here or to get you know high park gav redesigned or whatever it is, and then we can pick up, you know, it's up to us to pick that up and and and make our constituents' voices heard.

But you know, right now we it's like that arena doesn't even exist, and and you know, I I I thank you for coming here and for presenting that.

I think it's it's a really a show of good faith, but it's um you know, I was hoping for something a little more, you know cooked.

Can I just address that?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I'll just address it briefly and we can maybe come back to it later.

But I think um again, like when you have a city like like Boston that is you know, it's compared to sure some European cities and others like you know, not as old, but it's a historic city, it's old, the roads are designed for maybe a different time, the streets are designed for a different time.

We can't do a cookie side, like you know, sort of one size fits all approach.

We're not a grid, it makes things more complicated for sure, but we also have again like historic neighborhoods where you've got residents who've lived there for generations, others who you know just moved here, all of those different perspectives are unique and important for us, and I I understand what you're coming from, but it's about having those conversations for us, and it's not sort of like oh, you hit this threshold, then therefore it you know triggers this thing, because I don't think that would necessarily be um you know be fair to that specific neighborhood or to advocates for that matter, because we again want to make sure that we're hearing all the voices and finding the best solutions that are unique to specific parts of the city.

Thank you, Councillor Warber.

Um so I'm gonna take my time now.

Um I feel very mixed about this because the conversation about process um is one that is it has um it's complicated because publicly available crash shadow over the last four years shows an upward trend and fatalities in a flat line reduction in crashes.

That seems to be um to me the the need for growing infrastructure improvements to reduce these numbers, but also it's important that we actually go with the data, so it's not simply about you know one person has an inkling that on their street they need safety.

There are places in my district where people have passed away, and the fact that there isn't hasn't been you know that immediate sort of salve for and and you know um so it's like I I so appreciate I'm like looking around, I so appreciate like the individual residents who want action on like their specific street, but I also think that it's important that we look at the data because um you know there we we we've proven that community engagement brings certain voices to the table.

People that have time to be here, and I know uh from looking at the crowd, there are a lot of people who took off work to be here, and thank you so much for being here.

Um, but there are also people that like deeply need um their roads to be slowed down that aren't gonna have time to be here and aren't gonna have time to be in City Hall.

So I noticed that the Vision Zero crash data, um, which is vital information for residents and for agencies in the city, um, hasn't been updated.

Um, you know, it it's we have up to December 31st online.

I just wanted to get a commitment that that we could get sort of up to now online because I think that is important data for us all to look at.

Yes, council, yes, we are working through that.

Um, and I did want to ask a question about the budget.

How much of the slowdown or you know, that as you know, some have alluded to, or like how much of sort of where we're at now with and how we're planning, because I hear seeing your slides, you're talking about state of good repair, you're talking about basic city services.

You're like, you know, we're prioritizing the number one things first.

Um how much of this is and sort of the city's vision for this driven by the budget and how much resources we have upcoming.

Yeah, I mean, this the state of good repair priority is is part of our mission.

I mean, we you know, we are we're funded to complete, you know, significant improvements.

Uh again, we have seven seven small projects, moderate, small to moderate projects that are either in construction or moving into construction this year, and you know, we potentially could set another record year as far as resurfacing.

So, you know, we we feel these are priorities, and we think that there are opportunities to be able to do some of these other safety improvements that we're hearing uh demand for.

And there, I mean, there are a number of um asks in my district.

I I do try to work very closely with the administration on the things that my constituents are asking for, especially speed humps, especially road repaves, especially the basic city services, the brick repairs.

Um specifically, there have been um there have been places where there's been a crash, you know.

We've obviously last week this is an important time to be having this hearing because last week the construction moratorium ended, and finally we can get back to work on the streets.

Um I'm just sort of curious.

Um, I know there was talk of, you know, we we collaborate and we talk to everyone on the council about their speed hump priorities.

I haven't gotten everything that I've asked for.

Um, so if I imagine I'm looking around at all my colleagues, I imagine that they have things that they thought were really important and that their constituents thought were really important.

Um, what is the best way for us to put things on the agenda?

Sure.

As I mentioned, we you know, we are reworking this program.

You know, the previously the program relied heavily on an algorithm-based approach to identify speed hump locations.

And so one of the reasons we're changing this program is we want to make sure that we are installing speed humps on the streets that need the most.

Not every street in the city of Boston is gonna be eligible for speed humps.

Sorry, and I I don't want to, I just am running out of time.

Like I remember that when we were talking about speed humps last year with constituents in Beacon Hell, someone from the streets cabinet said you have to do a zone.

So you have to do like we have to do if we're gonna do it, we have to do everything.

Now I I it seems like we're going, we're gonna go street by street and have different types of contracts.

Is that correct?

Um no, we will.

So, for example, the the speed humps that we're installing next month, we'll do that all in probably over a couple weeks' time uh from an efficiency perspective.

But you're not you don't have to put speed humps all over a neighborhood in order to because that that was what was happening.

We we there are cases where where that might be the right approach, but we don't think that that is the standard moving forward.

Okay, that's helpful to get on the record.

Um, and I know we've talked about this, but there's a mid-block crosswalk needed outside of the Roxbury Crossing T station, which is on the border of mine and Menure Culpeppers district.

Um that is it's so important that we prioritize transportation safety outside of MBTA stations, and obviously there has been two deaths at that location.

Um we need to make sure that that's prioritized.

I know on the list of projects that you presented in this, it was not there.

I just want to make sure that's on the agenda.

Yes, and that that is a smaller project that would be captured under one of our annual programs, not a standalone project.

Okay, and Ricardo Patron will tell you that I have also given a list of crosswalks that need to be repainted in my district.

It is incredibly important that outside of schools, outside of churches, outside of places where people are walking, um, that we have just like the paint and the snow and the ice and the has just um really worn out all of our crosswalks across the city.

And so, as we're thinking about small scale improvements, I just think we really need to in our neighborhoods see um those improvements come to come to fruition soon.

Um so okay, so next we're gonna hear from uh counselor pepin, you have six minutes.

Thank you, madam chair, and thank you, Chief Golvin Mohammed, for the presentation.

One of the slides that that stood out to me was the list of projects that you're gonna be looking at, and there are projects that a lot of people in this room have questions about, and we want updates.

I'm not gonna list the projects because the the question that I have is more of a general question, and it's that I'm glad to see that they're on the list, but wanted to ask are there benchmarks that you're trying to reach or be able to accomplish for each of those projects?

How do you calculate that?

Because what I get, if I get a question about High Park Avenue, if I got a question about the Rosnell Square Redesign Wood Avenue, Cummins Highway, you name it, it's very hard for me to give them a an answer on this is when it's gonna get done, this is where we are right now.

Um you can expect some tour some type of update on I don't know, August of this year.

It's coming to the situation where I'm not able to give anything.

So I want to ask you what is your mechanism of calculating all right, this is how we're gonna reach our goals for each of these projects.

Can you kind of break that down for us?

Sure.

So all of the projects that we've listed here, we can provide updates as far as uh status is concerned, right?

So for the projects that are either in construction or moving into construction, you know, we can we can provide updates on those.

Cummins highways I mentioned that project is scheduled to be completed this summer.

On the planning and design side, a little bit different.

Some of those projects are just funded for a planning effort, some are f funded for both the planning and design.

They're all in different um phases.

Some are coming to the end, some are just you know, kind of getting started.

We can provide an update on all of those.

We do plan to update the website to provide kind of status updates on on where all these projects sit.

That'll be very helpful because what has happened with, and I'm gonna keep bringing up the Hype Archav project, because it that's a project where we've been in the design process for many years.

And we've had council meetings and we've had we had an in-person hearing in the in an evening at a school there, and there's just no update yet.

So if we could get something concrete to give to residents of like, hey, after such and such conversations, this is the update for this project.

And I I'm using Hype Archav as an example, but I would like that for all the projects that were listed there, and even for future projects.

That would be I think that's what a lot of where a lot of the frustration arises from, where we keep having the meetings, the meetings and designs and the conversations, but we're not seeing the that next step, yeah, in the process.

And that's the same situation for um the speed hump program.

And I I know we keep bringing it up, and I know that we can't have speed humps in every street.

But what I wanna ask you is when you are one, when are you looking at revamping the program, taking that back off?

Two, maybe this is more for Mohammed.

Who do you have to live?

Who do we have to go to in the community to this to see like where do we need them the most?

Because I have like an example, Glendower Road, Cornell, and down Beach Street in Rosendal.

Those three streets are parallel to each other.

They're between the Conley School and the Phineas and the um the Phineas Bait School.

Residents there have been asking for speed humps on those three streets for before I got into office.

But all the residents are in agreement that they want them, but there has been no traction on that.

So if not the residents, who what's the process similar to Councillor Durkin's office?

Is it by zones?

Is it one-offs?

I just want to know exactly how do we get to achieving getting more speed homes?

I mean, you start out by saying this is a Muhammad uh question, but then you turn it into a Nick actually answer.

I want to hear from both of you.

No, sure.

So on the in this case, because I'm you know familiar with these, we've spoken about them.

I we know we're familiar, we know that residents on these streets are would like to have speed humps.

Um but I think when it comes to a case like this, then we then discuss with the streets team.

I'll discuss with Chief, you know, with Chief Gove and his the uh planners and we'll and and sorry uh engineers, and we'll figure out also like how does the how do how would putting in speed humps on those streets and how many and all those different things impact you know the travel for the rest of the neighborhood and those kinds of things, but you know, Chief Gove, you want to talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, and I think I think evaluating you know, are speed humps the best traffic calming measure for a particular street?

You know, are things like raised crosswalks and and bump outs at intersections, are those better treatments for a particular neighborhood, right?

So we want to we want to expand um the tools that are available to us to figure out what is the best um approach for a particular street or or set of streets in a neighborhood.

Okay.

Okay, and I'm not gonna ask a very detailed question, but for the projects that were listed on that list.

Um were you planning on updating the websites for each of those projects?

Yes.

And when would you when do you think we could get an update?

Hopefully this week.

This week?

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'll I have more questions, but I'm gonna wait until my second round.

Thank you, Councilor Capan.

Okay, now we're gonna hear from Councillor Flynn.

Counselor Flynn, you have six minutes.

Thank you.

I believe it's critical we focus on efforts on quality of life issues, pedestrian safety, public safety, the nuts and bolts of city government fixing fixing sidewalks, fixing potholes.

I have a hearing coming up on potholes, and I have never received as many calls over the last several months as I have as I ever have.

Um Chief, I've I've I've worked with you for many years trying to get residential parking in South Boston.

We've we've we've had this conversation going on three years now.

The plan is ready.

I know it's ready, you know it's ready.

It's just been sitting there on the shelf collecting dust.

When when are we gonna do it?

When are we gonna finally um let residents know that they they can get resident parking like other communities have no thank you, counselor, and and and just for those who may not be familiar, uh you're I believe you're referencing the expansion of president permit parking in South Boston uh to seven days a week for the for the basically half the neighborhood that doesn't currently have it.

You know, the mayor has committed to doing this.

Uh we are planning to do it as start of the restart of our uh RPP expansion, which has been paused since um the pandemic.

Um we have not forgotten about that project, counselor, and we we do look forward to moving it, moving it ahead.

And I'll I'll just add counselor to that.

I mean, when you're like like Chief Cove just said, we're the mayor's committed to it, we're committed to it.

Uh the next phase will be because obviously something like this would still be disruptive.

Anything when you make a massive change, whether it's just even changing when you know one year street is going to be cleaned on a specific day.

You you know, we need to make sure that we're um having the right process and not just engage but inform residents so that the transition to this expansion isn't uh you know is as it's is not disruptive to their lives.

Thank you.

What is the status of the the federal and city agreement to address um ADA compliance uh ramps?

I know this has been going on for what six seven years maybe.

Um how much progress have we made?

How much more do we have to do?

How much have we spent?

I believe we're committed to spending, is it six hundred million dollars or five hundred million dollars?

But can you give me a rundown on that, please?

Yes, counselor.

So I I think you're referring to the consent decree that the city is under to construct ADA compliant curb ramps.

Um we've constructed 6,448 ramps in in this administration.

Um this year we're trying to get to 1800.

Um that's a we've been at I think 16, 17, and 1,800 for this year.

That's a significant um expansion of work.

I think we're we're on track to spend almost 45 million dollars this year on on ramp reconstruction.

You know, we view this as part of our uh state of good repair.

Uh we obviously coordinate that work with roadway resurfacing uh at the same time.

Um frankly, this is this is a project that the city has prioritized but will continue to take us uh more than a decade to complete.

No, I understand.

Thank you.

I was with um Council Weber came to a community meeting with me in Chinatown talking about the budget.

Residents kept asking me about Phillips Square, as you know.

They want to see some action done on Phillips Square.

It's an it's a neighborhood mostly people of color, many many seniors, most that don't have air conditioning in the summertime.

It can reach 100 degrees in some of those apartments.

Phillips square Phillips Square will be a critical area for people to gather with trees with open space.

Um is this a priority, or is this something that I'm gonna have to continue fighting for and fighting for and fighting for, or is this or is the administration just going to support the residents of Chinatown, treat them with a little bit of respect?

So this project has um is moving forward.

Uh the community has been it's been very engaged.

Uh there's been a lot of work on on selection of a design uh for the permanent construction.

Uh we have the project mostly funded, uh, and it is something we we are planning to move forward.

Couldn't can I tell them this will happen?

We'll we'll do the we'll start the construction this summer.

I don't we haven't procured the the project yet, but we're happy to get back to you with the No I know that, but I council Webber heard the whole conversation.

Every person asked me, Ed, when are we gonna get this done?

And I said, I'm gonna get this done as soon as I can.

But I only can say that so long.

Um I'm gonna tell them I'm gonna get it done this summer.

It's gonna start this summer.

I I I need you to be on board with that.

Um I just can't keep blowing people off and saying we'll get we'll get it done, we'll get it done.

I can't tell communities of color in my district that it's not going to get done.

I want it to get done this this summer, and that should be that should be a priority.

Um are you willing to work with me this summer to get it done?

I'll be here all summer.

I'll I'll help you with the project.

I'll get on there myself.

But I I need your nick on board because I I just can't keep waiting and delaying this project.

We'll get you an update on the status of the project counselor, but again, the project is funded.

Uh I believe we we have a selected design.

Um we are doing some kind of spruce up of the of the current plaza in advance of the events this summer.

Um, but I we will get back to you on a schedule for the project.

And I would just add we had a great community process.

We had we were very happy with the design.

Members of the community across the neighborhood are very happy with the design because you know their input was is reflected in the final design uh choice that we had, and I would say um it's not delayed because we're committing to doing it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Flynn, Counselor Murphy.

So three years ago we shifted from the slow streets initiative to the safety surge initiative, because then the administration said that this policy would provide a more equitable distribution of traffic safety measures, including designating speed humps as part of the standard street design.

Um then last year in February 2025, we announced the city was undergoing a 30-day review of the transit improvements made over the past three years, and then in April the memo was acknowledging that the communication and community engagement process could be improved.

Um now here we are with the well-attended room, but knowing myself as an at-large counselor, if I'm getting emails, calls, or just out in all of the neighborhoods across the city, I constantly hear this.

Residents continue to ask, like what does an enhanced, more equitable, more transparent communication process look like?

So hoping we can kind of have that answer.

I know many of my colleagues have already asked that question.

One um thing that was brought up, you said speed humps will go into high priority streets and they have to be deemed eligible.

So what is that process and is that on the website to make it clear to residents how your street becomes deemed eligible, and then what steps can be taken to be put on the list and the timeline for it to happen?

So we we have not yet updated the website with the new process counselor, but but we will be working on that.

Um can you share what it is the so you know as I mentioned the you know the city rapidly constructed over 1400 uh speed humps over the last several years, and you know, we focused on on many high priority streets that that needed them.

Uh and at that time, how did you deem them high priority?

Because the residents asked for them, or what made them high priority then and how would they be differently deemed eligible now?

So there was there was an analysis done at the time to determine um which streets were uh eligible candidates for speed humps, um, and then they were prioritized by need, and and there was a map at the time which showed um, but what made you eligible?

Uh variety of factors um crash history, uh street design, speeds, you know, whether it was you know near a school, school zone, community center, etc.

There were variety of factors and criteria that went into whether a street was eligible or not.

Obviously, there was a conversation with public safety, you know, um, you know, what the classification of the roadway was, etc.

And now what is the shift to be deemed eligible in the new so what we're what we're look working on and looking at now is kind of moving away from that like algorithm-based approach that we had uh and figuring out on the streets that will restrict get speed humps.

Is that the best application?

Is a street a better candidate for something like a raised crosswalk or bump outs or some other type of uh traffic calming measure?

I would just add to that, counselor.

So in addition to some of the sort of similar factors that we may have used in the past, but that were only but like Chief Kopp said, just you know, uh sort of um an agnostic algorithm.

We want to include voices of residents, uh stakeholders, see you know, groups who advocate for seniors, uh, you know, people with disabilities, um, you know, multimodal advocates, obviously elected officials, so that the data is also informed by you know the lived experience of people uh in those different neighborhoods.

So, what are all of the common measures that can be used?

So obviously there's speed humps, there's raised crosswalks, uh there's bump outs, um, frankly, reconstruction of streets, changing the directionality, improved signage, pavement markings, signalized intersections.

Is this shift based on data that came back showing that the first wave and how we implemented speed humps originally was not effective?

No, we believe that the the first phase of the program you know was effective.

Um that said, there were a number of speed humps that were evaluated last year that you know didn't have robust feedback and probably weren't uh as high priority locations as others, and so you know, we are iterating the program uh and making sure that we are investing in placing these assets in the places that need them most of the audience.

Um I drive through this several times a day, but on Washington Street, um, I mean Galvable of Arden at the Washington Street intersection, there is a blanking crosswalk.

Very effective.

Um, how many blinking crosswalks do we have around the city?

I think they all should be blinking.

Because when you see that cars actually stop on that four-way speeding highway, because they're unfortunately I don't feel like we're ever gonna get to a place where we pull cars over for going 80, and we just see people stranded waiting to get across a four-lane highway.

But when the light blinks, it's effective.

I have many other places I would say to put them also.

But how many do we have around the city?

And is there an investment to continue spreading those?

I don't have that number offhand, Council, but we can get it for you.

I think you're referring to the fixed like permanent uh blinking lights, not like the speed feedback signs, right?

No, not when they put like a moving sign that will just tell you your speed, but it's an actual blinking fixed installed.

How I haven't seen others.

Are there others around the city?

How many are there?

Yeah, we we we have many, and we we can get you the number of what they are.

Okay, and there's an investment to continue that.

Is the data already showing that that's another example of the type an alternate type of uh traffic calming measure?

We use them uh in school zones across the city, they're they are effective.

Thank you, Counselor Murphy.

Counselor Culpepper Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, madam chair, and Chief Groves, good to see you again, and I do appreciate the response that we got during the snowstorms and how quickly and how rapidly you and your team move to uh respond to those requests from the community.

But when it comes to the center bus lane, uh we get a much different response, and the community has been consistent about raising concerns about the center running bus lane, yet it remains a central component of the current design.

Uh and here's my question.

At what point does the 2000 uh petition signature that has been submitted several weeks ago, hundreds of community members gathered at uh the Reed Auditorium in Grove Hall?

At what point does the city begin to hear the community and their opposition to the center running bus lane and give us another design that does not include a center business center running bus lane?

I mean, I heard you say what the community feels about when you were talking about uh bump lanes.

I heard Mr.

Muhammad say that it's about the community process.

At what point does it really sink in that the community is saying they don't want a center bus lane, and it and the city began to look at other options for that center bus running bus lane.

Thank you, counselor.

Um Blue Hill Lab is in desperate need of transit safety and public realm improvements the entire quarter and and has for decades.

I I know you know that.

Uh that was my next question.

It's it's it's been a long-standing priority.

Um, you know, the the mayor and Secretary Ann Bang have been meeting frequently uh on this project to help keep progress moving, right?

We're we're planning to co-host uh a community meeting with the MBTA who who is our partner in the project.

Um, we have asked the MBTA to check in with the FTA about the flexibility of the grant conditions.

Um, and we are scheduled to kind of reconvene with the META at the end of this month to figure out what neck next steps are on the project.

But you know, we are trying to balance.

Um I think everyone agrees that those improvements that my reference to are needed on Blue Hill Live, and we don't want to lose that opportunity.

So we want to try to figure out the best way to move this project forward um and and deliver on on all of those improvements.

So we know the 80 million dollars came down, right?

That was a surprise.

No one here knew about it in the in D7 until it hit the newspapers.

And we know that that center bus lane with that 80 million dollars, there was only 30 percent design, and the 30 percent design was only of the center bus lane with no meaningful conversation or meetings with the community.

Why did they have to begin with the 30 percent center bus lane and no community input whatsoever?

There was a um community the the city did a uh pretty No talking about the city, I'm talking about the MBTA.

Oh, I'm sorry, okay.

Yeah, uh we'll get to the cities.

And Councilor Cole Pepper, we did invite the MBTA, they did decline to come today's hearing.

Oh, we're gonna do a do a uh summons for they're not coming.

But we do have enforcement ways to bring them here though.

We I mean we can't just accept they're not coming.

There are ways that we can enforce that they come here.

And so if we have to move another way, maybe we should talk about it.

But let me finish with Chief Grove.

Um finish your question.

I mean your answer.

Sure.

So, you know, we're we're continuing this work with with the T.

We did do uh significant amount of engagement that's documented documented in a report we completed in in 23.

The basis of the 80 million dollar grant, right?

It's the MBTA's grant.

Um it is based on uh providing significant transit improvements.

Uh and you know, the T feels the best way to improve transit priority on that corridor is through center running bus lanes.

But but what at what point does the MBTA begin to head the community?

In other words, how far will we have to go?

And and you know, in one of the uh the meetings we had, we had uh members of the community saying that they're willing to protest, willing to lay down in the street.

I mean, how far do we have to go to really get them to understand that we're serious about a center bus lane and that we want other designs?

Well, I think I think the community meeting that we referenced um is I think a good opportunity for that.

I think if hypothetically also i i if the if the project was to move forward and the next step in that would be you know the MBTA taking the project as currently designed to the MPO and asking them to move that to the long-term project list, right?

If if the MPO voted to do that, that would kick off a formal 30-day comment period, which would be a robust public process.

I came to hear you out so that you can tell us what we should do.

Well, this is the first plan is to kick us out of our own neighborhoods.

This plan isn't actually for the people who live here.

But I think we can all agree that something has got to be done about Blue Hill Avenue.

We need to get together and make it better.

And I understand where a lot of you are coming from.

You feel like you're gonna lose your businesses, you can feel like you're gonna lose a lot of things, but there's a lot of positive gains, and I think we need to look at both sides.

I've always encouraged the administration to come up with alternate designs.

Because the RFP wasn't based off of a center-running bus lane, it was about a dedicated bus lane.

So they will tell you one thing.

Oh, we had a community process, but they don't tell you the details, and it was not fair.

It was not transparent.

None of this is for us.

I just want to say I'm for the bus lane.

This was thank you.

Well, thank you, Counselor Cole.

I gave you an extra minute because I was speaking to the case.

I think I didn't get an extra.

Can I just add one question?

For the record.

No, just there are there's a lot of public testimonies.

Can I just ask one thing with the other thing?

So we're gonna go to Counselor Fitzgerald.

Can I just address one thing quickly?

Or I can move on.

Yeah, you you I guess you can respond, and then we're gonna go to Councilor Fitzgerald.

We have a lot of people waiting to testify with over 40 people.

I can just I can talk.

Okay, it's okay, Counselor Fitzgerald, you have the floor.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um, thank you for being with us here today.

Um just educate all of us.

When we talk about the data that we're pouring over, where is that data come from?

What data are we using specific to what counselor?

Well, you got that's I mean, I guess so, right?

So explain to me maybe what some uh where we put speed humps, what are we looking at?

Uh to where we're deciding where to you know do uh safety design reconfigurations, etc.

Uh maybe explain to me which data is helping us guide which process.

Sure.

So you know, for some of the capital um uh and reconstruction projects I'm I mentioned earlier, right?

So uh several of those, and and frankly, many of our our large capital projects, they are based on you know the the data in the high crash network, right?

So if a quarter is deemed you know to have a significant number of crashes, right?

That's a place that we're gonna we're gonna focus on.

We use a very similar sort of data for our intersections, right?

We have intersections that are rated from you know worst on up.

Um we have crash data, vehicle speeds, speeds that we capture from uh speed feedback signs, um you know, for for bike facilities, we do bike counts.

Um obviously our traffic management center provides a bunch of different types of data for uh all sorts of quarter work.

So, you know, and in addition to that, we also have you know planning efforts that do you know you know data collection for specific quarters, projects, intersections of the so is it mostly city data collected?

I mean, we're using is it police data, is the crash data come from the state, from the city?

Great question.

It's a combination of all those things.

It's federal, state, city, police, EMS, all of that.

Great, awesome.

Thank good to know.

Um as it relates to speed humps, we have had some conversations recently.

I'm excited about some long overdue speed humps IRS.

They they were the number one request uh in the last in the first term, my first term in office.

Uh it since died down a bit.

I don't know if just people said, well, they're just not happening, or if people have sort of changed their mind about uh whether they would want them on their street specifically.

Um but I still would advocate uh uh it there is good to the ones that are coming, I'm happy are coming.

And I would still advocate that we look to the counselors who are uh to just give to five to ten streets a year, uh that when you when you're thinking about what the main thoroughfares are, or the ones that what are the cut throughs, what are the places that we need, um especially the district city counselors who are um in the district each and every day and and are very familiar, go to those civics.

Um I'll continue to advocate for that.

Um you touched on the residency permit parking program that it has been on pause.

Um and I believe Council Flynn asked to it, but I just want to make sure it is going to come back, and do we have a timeline for that?

I'll just say one thing and then Chief Cove can answer, I can expand on it.

I would just say I've heard the pause the word pause a couple of times, whether it's projects or you know, RPP uh or residential parking permit um program.

Nothing is on on pause.

We you know, we've spent a lot of time working over the last year since the 30-day report, and even during obviously, to just make sure that our process is the way it needs to be, that our you know, the way we think about to achieve our goal for for our streets, which is that they're all walkable, drivable, you know, cyclable um for all people, for all road users, um, you know, and and they're they're safe and nice, and that they're also helping our small businesses.

Like ultimately, that's the goal for the administration to make sure every neighborhood um is you know pleasant to walk or drive or or bicycle, I mean, or bike.

Um the reason you know it may have taken longer than in the past is we had staff turnover and other factors, you know, related to that, I would say uh that led to what you know has been slower than it the first three years.

But Nick, do you want to say a little bit more about that?

It's that's all right.

I want to make sure I get to my other questions.

But I do appreciate that answer, Mommy.

Thank you.

Um on a more technical matter, getting in.

I I think about some of the projects coming.

We have uh the Morrissey Boulevard redesign, which yes is a state project.

Uh we're looking at the Columbia Road redesign.

I would just ask folks to think about all of these in um within one another.

If we were to have, I'm just thinking about my district of Dorchester.

If you're doing a Columbia Road redesign with a Morrissey Boulevard redesign, that is absolute chaos in between, right?

So just thinking about the timing and sequencing of these projects and how they will affect each other, which I know you guys do, but I just want to call that one out because that's two main arteries that could undergo some significant redesign potentially around the same time.

Uh and I just want to be very cognizant of that.

Um otherwise, I just want to touch upon two thoughts.

I have I still think we need a separate traffic enforcement, whether that relies under what lies under BTD or the Boston police, I don't know.

Uh but I think a lot of what we hear from our constituents is if the police are busy dealing with other issues uh and the minor infraction traffic infractions occur.

Do we have a way that we can still enforce traffic enforcement?

Because I know if I was if I was given that, if I was deputized to pull anyone over, right, and give tickets, uh, which I used to be, and uh I would I I could pull over 10 people every time I drive into the city, right?

And I think we all see that as we as we go around.

So uh thinking about that, and then lastly, just I uh you guys can touch upon it.

Um, but the uh a unit a universal unique color code around school safety, traffic safety signs.

My thought there is if I'm in high if I live in Hyde Park and I'm driving through South E, and I typically do not visit South E.

I do not know where the schools are, right?

And you can see a school zone sign, but those kind of become it's a yellow sign, right?

Um but if we in Boston had a universal unique color, um, I'll just say purple because I went to Boston Latin, right?

But like we'll just say it's a purple color.

That way, no matter where I go, I see purple signs.

I know, okay, I'm in a school district, and I should I should slow my role, right?

Um just an idea.

Figured it'd be a good time to throw it out there.

Um if you guys have time to react.

Thank you, Chair.

Sure.

So to the enforcement um comment, counselor, yeah.

You know, we work regularly with BPD.

Um, this is a place where we have obviously shared responsibility.

I think the the way the way essentially it's divided right now is that you know, BTD can issue um you know a parking violation to any vehicle that is not moving, right?

So a vehicle that is double parked, illegally parked, etc.

Uh, we can obviously tow and impound vehicles, but if but if the vehicle is moving and it becomes a moving violation, that responsibility falls uh with the police.

And so to your point, any if there was a creation of um you know some type of traffic traffic enforcement, you'd want to make sure that that entity can also uh issue moving violations.

As as you know, there is a bunch of um automated enforcement uh legislation kicking around on this.

But just a quick comment on the on you know the big projects uh in in your in Dorchester um you know Morrissey and Columbia and the impacts.

I think to that point, it's why it's so important for us to take the time and that those are state, you know, so it's different, but we're still working with them for everything that we do, whether it's Blue Hill Lab or anything else.

We want to take the time to get it right because again, it's not just the end result that has an impact, it's you know the bigger the projects the the larger obviously the impact also of construction that it will have on the neighborhood, and we that's why it's so important to make sure the end result is something people feel really really good about, and it's a win-win uh because getting there is also not easy.

Thank you guys.

Thank you, Counselor Fitzgerald.

Um, we've been joined by Counselor.

Um, you have the floor in six minutes.

Uh thank you, Chair.

Uh, thank you to the panel for being here.

Um when when you when we are installing uh or coming up with design for major thoroughfares or streets, do we do an economic impact to understand you know how said design will impact the businesses and do we go back uh to any of the other designs that we have implemented, like let's say Columbus have to see how uh that redesign has impacted uh those businesses or even you know property value taxes, etc.

Sure.

So to answer your question, counselor, we don't you know we don't necessarily do like uh you know economic feasibility study for a specific project or court or um that said we do we do try to capture those needs, particularly around curbside demand, um you know, as part of the engagement process for whatever project that is.

Um we do you know do post-project kind of evaluation.

Um that is something that frankly actually we're working on right now with the T on Columbus Tremont phase one.

Um but to your point that it we need to do more post-project implementation uh across the board, and it's something that we've identified uh to do more of in the future.

Um good to hear.

I mean, it will be definitely something uh just knowing how many businesses are on Blue Hill Lab and how many families have poured, you know, their life savings and their time and energy before you know we make a decision that can have you know a real impact on all those businesses.

Um the residential uh parking program, uh something that I hear about often uh in our neighborhood, um, but it's also something I haven't heard from you know the administration about on you know when it's gonna be restarted, if it's gonna be restarted.

Can you provide any collabor uh you know clarity on on the program?

Sure.

Uh we did mention this a little bit earlier, but our our our plan is we we have fortunately uh restored our parking enforcement numbers, um our our staff that does that work to uh to historic levels, and we feel that we can restart the expansion of that program.

We are planning to do that um this year, but I'll let Muhammad add.

No, I mean, just to your point, counselor, about um, you know, businesses and other stakeholders who are impacted by any change, um, even you know, with residential parking permit too, it's the same thing.

We want to make sure we just get it right when we when we when we actually implement it, whether it's uh you know adding something that didn't exist or even expanding something where it exists so that people feel um you know that it was a smooth transition essentially.

Um you know, we've because of because obviously this has existed in in different parts of the city for many many decades.

Um we can you know we've had to adjust it throughout in different neighborhoods, right?

So like there's a for instance in the you know you can go to the south end and we've heard from businesses last year who said listen, like traffic isn't you know moving as fast as they need to in front of this place, so you know, can this be a 15-minute zone, for instance?

So it's like looking at all these different details and making sure uh we're addressing all the concerns of you know how people will be impacted, and then we'll roll them up.

But I wouldn't say they've been paused and needed to be restarted, they're just in the process of being uh thoroughly vetted.

Awesome.

And then um, when it comes to just funding, um do you have a total dollar amount of federal funds that have been given back regarding any capital project?

Do you have that dollar amount?

We had a quick conversation about this at the the start of the hearing.

Um we have not given anything back.

Uh there has been some money rescinded, uh, and there has been some uh some federal funds that um while the grant hasn't been rescinded, we have not moved forward into a grant agreement, and so it's kind of those funds are kind of in limbo.

Um but uh uh council president Britton asked this question earlier, and we do have a very detailed document that shows every project that has state and federal funding and what the status of that is, and we're happy to share that.

Yeah, um, through the chair will love to uh see that that list.

And is it common that uh state and federal funding is paired, or can you still receive state funding on an intersection or thoroughfare without receiving federal funds?

It's a great question.

Um, we have we seek um outside funding from uh a variety obviously of state and federal grants, and and sometimes, you know, particularly for larger capital projects, we may have try to have to you know pool those resources together, but depending upon what type of program we're we're targeting, um no, we may just target one particular grant.

So we have you know uh intersection uh grants that might fund a couple dozen intersection programs.

You know, we've got we've got a partnership project with Mastot at the at the Ellis Elementary School, right?

That's a state funded grant project.

And quick sorry time is running low.

Um there have been designs that have been scaled backed or you know removed.

What what what has been the reason on already installed uh you know what whether it's uh you know bus lanes, bike lanes, um temporary designs.

What has been the reason for the removal of any past projects?

Sure, uh great great question.

Um the city has not this administration has not removed any bike lanes.

Uh we we have removed uh some bus lanes.

Um there were three locations.

Uh one was a pilot program, that was Summer Street.

Um the project unfortunately didn't come with a significant increase in in service frequency.

Uh compliance was low uh in enforcement was very limited.

So you know, we you know, based on you know feedback, uh we did we decided to end that pilot.

That said, in the future, you know, if if enforcement or changes to the corridor were made, that is something that maybe could be evaluated.

Um Boylston Street, this was the uh bus lane that was added as part of the bike lane project uh from Clarendon to Arlington.

The post-implementation evaluation showed the facility wasn't delivering significant transit improvements.

Uh it was contributing to some curbside access and congestion.

You know, the analysis, I believe, found you know one minute in in time savings per trip during the AM peak, uh, but but no improvement during the PM.

So, you know, we we chose to remove that as part of that post-project evaluation.

And then the last section was uh last summer as part of a state of good repair or surfacing project.

Um we removed a short section of bus lane on North Washington Street.

Um, frankly, that design had challenges uh from the implementation, um, and there was not a plan to carry uh the bus lane onto the North Washington Street bridge.

So uh we made a decision to you know remove that section of the bus lane.

Uh again, is part of a future uh project.

Um you know, we're in we're in design on on Rutherford Av, that could be evaluated in the future, but at the time we made the decision that it would to remove that section.

But we and but we did keep and expand uh inbound.

That's correct into the city and then going through up uh we did.

We we kept the inbound side, uh expanded it uh as part of some increased service delivery the T plans as part of their uh better bus network.

Thank you, Councilor.

Um our plan was to um take some testimony out of order, and then we're gonna go to a second round.

Um I do want to just I think it's really important for those that are here.

Um, while I think no bike lanes have been removed, there has been protective infrastructure that's been removed.

So I think that is an important thing to read into the record.

No, no clapping, I'm sorry.

Um, but I just think it's important.

Like I that has happened in District 8, and it, you know, and it hasn't just been marathon related.

Um, and I know that's something that has been a point of tension, particularly with my office, because we do have a lot of people that in our district that travel multimodally.

Um I am gonna let these advocates speak to that experience, but I just I think it's important that like that that answer also be read into the record.

So um, we're gonna go to Tristan Thomas, transit is essential, Tiffany Cogell, um, the Boston Cyclist Union, Benjamin Siegel, Boston Better Streets Coalition.

This is the order, Elijah Evans, bike not bombs, and Brandon Kearney walk mass, and you're each gonna have two minutes.

Um so let me know when you want to start.

And just make sure you say your name and what organization you're with.

All right, I'm ready.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Tristan Thomas.

I work as director of policy and law for alternatives for community and environment, also known as ACE.

ACE is a member-based nonprofit that for over 30 years has served Boston's black and brown communities.

Every month we host the transit riders union where residents in Boston demand equitable public transportation.

ACE is also a proud member of the Transit is essential coalition, a diverse coalition of more than 60 environmental justice, mobility justice, and business organizations working to ensure that the MBTA and public transportation are safe, robustly funded, and affordable for everyone in the region.

I testify today on behalf of ACE and transit is essential to demand transparency and accountability for significant projects affecting our neighborhoods.

As we've heard, last year in February of 2025, a 30-day review was initiated.

In April 2025, a memo was put out.

Yet here we are in April of 2026, and we still have not received meaningful updates or timelines for these critical projects.

So I'm here to ask the simple and urgent question: why the delay.

While we wait, people are dying.

Just last month, someone was killed in a car crash in our streets.

That is the real cost of inaction.

We're not just losing lives, we're losing federal funding or reallocating federal funding, whether that's eight million dollars in Fenway, 20 million dollars in Roxbury, my neighborhood, or the threats around the Columbus and Blue Hill Ave projects.

We're not here to assign blame.

We are here to demand accountability.

So we have three demands.

Articulate a concrete plan and timeline for advancing projects that have federal funding at risk.

We need concrete dates and milestones that we can measure against.

Establish clear metrics for evaluating these projects, specifically metrics around safety, reliability, and accessibility of bus service.

And these need to be transparent to everyone so we can understand how decisions are made.

So it's not arbitrary or worse, political.

Finally, we need to uh have explanations for why uh planners were told to cancel meetings with the MBTA on Columbus Av.

Uh and I'll just like to end and say we cannot wait for another 30-day review.

We need transparency and accountability now, so look forward to those dates and those commitments.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Tiffany.

Good morning, Councillor Jerkin, or afternoon, I should say at this point.

Uh Boston's neighborhoods have been promised safer streets, accessible transit, and a city that moves for everyone, not just those who can afford a car.

Our reality is a pattern of stalled projects with held updates and communities that are left in the dark.

Every day of inaction is a day that federal and state dollars slip through our fingers or get transferred to another project.

It's a day a cyclist is endangered, a day a disabled residents is stranded.

We are calling on the city to stop treating transparency as optional and start treating mobility justice as the urgent obligation that it is.

We know what good transportation policy looks like.

We see the proof in cities across this country and places right here in Boston.

Protected bike lanes save lives.

Accessible infrastructure opens up the city to everyone.

We have the knowledge and we have the funding.

Now we need the will and follow through.

On behalf of the people, Boston Cyclists Union is here to ask for accountability and strongly urge the city to do the work to rebuild trust with our communities and start a collaborative path forward.

Do we want a city that works for everyone?

Boston is overdue on that promise.

The pause on Boston's transportation projects is a regional crisis with a price tag.

Safe streets can't wait, and funding allocated for streets and infrastructure does not wait.

When projects stall, dollars are forfeited, opportunities are lost, and the communities who need safe streets most are left behind the longest.

Boston's neighbors, advocates, and riders deserve more than promises.

Residents deserve a city that shows up, follows through, and builds the infrastructure that makes mobility justice possible for all of us.

Thank you.

Benjamin Siegel, Boston Better Streets Coalition.

Okay.

Can I take this place after get to work now here at 145?

Um we're we're going in this order, but um Elijah Evans, you hear.

Good afternoon, counselors and community.

My name is Elijah Evans, and I serve as the CEO of Bike Stomp Bombs, and I live in Jamaica Plain.

At Bike Stomp Bombs, we work to dismantle mobility apartheid by ensuring every Bostonian has access to dignified and safe transportation.

To understand the scope of this crisis, you must understand the disparity.

The per capita income in our communities and our core communities like Roxbury's 21,000, Mount Penn, 28,000, is far below the city's average of 44,000.

This is why residents disproportionately rely on public and micro-mobility infrastructure that we're fighting for.

We're deeply concerned with the lack of accountability and the continued pause on essential transportation infrastructure projects.

When I was in college riding my bike from Grove Hall to UMass Boston, the lack of dedicated lanes on streets like Columbia Road made the trip terrifying.

A constant high-stakes game of avoidance.

That stress and danger is what we're fighting to eliminate for all residents.

The consequences of this pause are measured in crashes, not quarterly reports.

For instance, the Hyde Park Avenue corridor, a high crash area, saw over 30 car accidents, and nearly 10 pedestrian incidents in 2025 alone.

The Blue Hole Avenue redesign, which serves a high concentration of black and brown residents, is a perfect example of a project that must be unpaused immediately.

This isn't just painting lines, it's about providing safe and protected infrastructure alongside the planned center running bus lane, which I support, bikes up bomb supports, ensuring all commuters can commute without fear.

Our advocacy isn't just top-down.

Our youth apprentices who serve as leaders today and represent the future of our city are already leading change by testifying and co-creating solutions for safer streets in their own neighborhoods.

Counselors, we asked for two things.

First, um provide an immediate transparency and a path forward on all projects.

Second, commit to prioritizing investments in protected micromobility infrastructure.

This action will support local businesses, improve public health, and finally build the safe and interconnected Boston our residents deserve.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, next we're gonna hear from Brendan Kearney, Rock Mass.

And then we're gonna go to sorry, just to give you a heads up.

Regi Ramos will be after that.

Great.

My name's Brennan Carney, I'm executive director of Walk Massachusetts statewide pedestrian advocacy organization founded in 1990 as Walk Boston.

Thanks for holding this hearing today.

Since 2015, Vision Zero and the overarching Go Boston 2030 efforts have been major guideposts for policy priorities related to safety and mobility in the city of Boston.

The 30-day review pause through a bit of a wrench in those.

Staffing changes, challenging funding environment, and rising costs beyond all of our control have added a lot of uncertainty.

Go Boston 2030 was once a long-range plan of projects.

2030 now shows up in the five-year budgets.

There's a need for a reset and recommitment to safety and mobility priorities for the years ahead.

Let the talented staff on the seventh floor do the work to plan safer streets.

You've heard and we'll hear about many projects.

I just want to speak to the importance of speed humps.

They were first piloted through neighborhood slow streets starting in 2018 in order to demonstrate if they can slow down excessive speeders.

The pilot was a success, a rousing success.

And learnings from neighborhood slow streets were incorporated into wider traffic calming programs as the safety surge in fall 2013, 2023.

Speed hubs were now going to be a tool that planning and public works could use beyond the zones for traffic calming.

I proudly stood alongside the mayor, city counselors, and PTV staff when the safety surge was announced.

There was a goal of 500 speed humps per year.

Streets log reported more than 600 were added in 2024, but just a handful last year.

It really is disheartening to see this safety work stalled, since Boston really is been a leader on this.

There's a ripple effect we've seen in other communities across Massachusetts since 2015.

Following Boston's lead to implement their own vision zero and traffic calming efforts, a safer Boston means a safer Massachusetts.

Injury crashes involving pedestrians rose again last year in Boston to 571, with at least eight people losing their lives.

With vehicles on our streets larger than ever before, we need a recommitment to that vision zero as a priority in Boston.

I'm hopeful Speed Hump Program can get back to what it was meant to be.

A way to take advantage of public works' normal road resurfacing efforts as a chance to add 24-7 traffic calming, since otherwise speeders will go even faster on newly paved streets.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Reggie Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Reggie Ramos.

I am the executive director of transportation for Massachusetts.

I want to thank this council for holding this hearing.

This is extremely important to the residents of Boston, as well as the advocates who are showing up today.

I want I had a prepared uh comment, but I'm going off script.

Just because I want to speak plainly, because platitudes and reference like we are committed to doing this, and we will give you an update, we'll no longer do.

What it has done is make clear that there is no comprehensive transportation plan in place.

One of the things that I heard today was nothing is on pause.

That is, I have never heard anything more inaccurate and disingenuous than that.

Let's take, for example, the Wallstone Fenway project.

Well, we can say that it had been funding for that, the 8 million had been funded for fiscal year 31.

This is $8 million we could have used today.

But because Boston did not, because the city of Boston did not submit a 25% design to mass DOT, that money is spunted five years from now.

In transportation, as I'm sure the panel knows, and this August body knows, there is such a thing as we call transportation cost overruns.

Hence.

I just want to reiterate what we want to ask for this come to this committee.

I sincerely ask this committee to ask the administration to come back.

There are milestones that are hinged on us availing of federal funds that we need.

They need to come back with updates.

We have been chasing the city for updates, and what we get are platitudes like we are committed to doing it.

There is nothing that's been passed.

Come on.

Let's get real.

Sixteen projects have been passed, and we need the city to get on a move on them today.

Thank you, Reggie.

Bazak Alkan.

Joey Zed, sorry, Zeldin and Alex Alex.

Hello, good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Bashak Al Khan.

I live with my twin eight-year-olds in Rosendale.

Let me start by saying this.

I cannot afford to be here right now.

It's a work day and my kids are in on spring break.

Yet I am here because I fear that my voice, our voices are not being heard.

I'm one of many parents who can't be here today.

We have chosen Boston's transit-rich neighbors to raise our kids.

Many of us can't afford a car on top of our rent or our mortgage.

The sad thing is, these so-called walkable neighborhoods aren't really safe for pedestrians.

We have to play frag or across one-way speed tunnels, wide-laned car sewers, and car centric intersections on a daily basis to walk or bike to school in our neighborhoods.

I know that I might be speaking to the choir here.

You all know that this isn't right.

I believe that you and your staff know what needs to be done because we've discussed these solutions at your planning workshops, and you wrote them down in your plans.

What kills us is that you won't take action.

In my five years in Rosendale, I have seen speeding cars crash and turn over on residential sidewalks.

I've seen them crash into our beloved village monument and even take a building facade down in Rosendale village.

Then, and it's only a matter of time when another pedestrian gets hurt.

Please know that we will not only blame those speeding drivers, we will also blame the city staff who designed these streets for speed and the city leadership who refuse to spend our tax money to redesign them for the safety of those who walk, who bike and take transit.

We can't have both speed and safety because speed kills.

If I'm hit by a car traveling at 20 miles per hour, my chance of survival is 80%.

At 40 miles per hour, my the chance of me dying is 80%.

So we demand action now.

It is time that the city of Boston puts its money where its mouth is and build a great city that it claims to be, starting with its public streets.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Um Joey Zed Zeldon.

Good morning, everybody, or good afternoon, I should say.

Um my name is Joey Zeldon, and I'm a resident of Brighton.

Um I'm currently a grad student at Boston University, and right after this, I'll actually give be giving my final presentation regarding uh Cleveland Circle and Reservoir Stations.

Good luck.

Um what's that?

Good luck.

I thank you.

Um but and and it's appropriate timing because a significant portion of this final project that I'm giving is literally giving recommendations to demonstrate what transportation planners do in order to incorporate multimodal improvements.

Um none of these improvements that I'm going to recommend today could actually feasibly happen because of all of the holdups happening with the um the pr the projects and the delays in the budget.

The more urgent matter at hand right now is that if transportation projects and funding are not utilized and handled appropriately, our communities cannot thrive.

I've only lived in Boston for about five months now, and one of the most prominent observations that I have made is that a lot of the sidewalks and bike lanes in our communities are in urgent disrepair.

In fact, along the traffic circle consisting of Nonantum Road, Soldiers Field Road, and North Beacon Street that I walk along regularly, I've noticed that many of the sidewalks would be um horrible conditions for those with vision impairments or um other impairments to walk on.

And I'm myself an able-bodied.

And so I I think about them when I'm saying this.

Um there are also signals um that aren't there.

And even more so, I was disappointed to learn about the eight million dollars that was let go to waste because right now in this political climate, wasting eight million dollars in federal funding is not something we can just simply take lightly.

Um, this federal administration is currently hostile towards urban governments, and by wasting that money, um, that will now most likely have to come from the city of Boston or some other source of funding.

And like the executive director whose name I can't remember, unfortunately, had said, um, that funding will now increase.

Um, and that takes away from other projects.

So um thank you so much for having me, and please let's get this done.

Thank you so much.

Um, next we'll hear from Alex Alex.

My name is Alex.

I first testified before the city council at the October 6th Hyde Park hearing where the city government was collecting community input on the decision to start restart six years of outreach and planning updates.

I highlighted the contradiction of Councillor Durkin's warning that we had limited funds with the exorbitant cost of maintaining car infrastructure in the city throwing away years of plans and labor.

I shared with the council and the city government how I document the dysfunction of Boston Road, published to social media, as well as take damaged traffic devices to city hall.

I gave the council a policy sheet on street design.

I'm going to reiterate some of those points right now.

Raise crosswalks to sidewalk level, acting as speed bumps, addressing curb flooding and mismatch curb cuts and sidewalks.

As an added benefit, uh drivers are conditioned to respect non-race crosswalks and not block intersections.

Create a bounty program for traffic violations and a finding scheme that doubles per subsequent infraction.

Community service for those who cannot pay.

These fines and bounties can go into a fund for infrastructure and safety updates.

Do randomized traffic enforcement pushes coordinated between BPD and BTD and state agencies, create a traffic enforcement unit on bikes to generate revenue and cut costs, as I've demonstrated for a full year now how effective the model is.

My counselor Fitzgerald told me it was a tough ass to expect an overburdened police force to enforce traffic laws.

I think the statement is unreasonable when cars double park five feet away from cops who do nothing, or when the city can send 12 cops to confront me for bringing litter to city hall.

The city should create a rapid bus in the MS network along with micromobility network to separate functional transit from cars.

School buses can use these networks, and along with a bike to school program for BPS, these policies can slash the nearly 200 million busing budget.

I've just posted a video on Instagram documenting how buses are backed up and congested along major busways, especially in communities like Dorchester and Roxbury, where the lack of action from the city holds neighborhoods hostage.

School kids are skipped by packed buses, pedestrians are pedestrians with the light are menaced by drivers, seniors have to walk into the road because cars are in the bus stops, and buses on the same route wind up right behind each other.

Rather than fully completing the bus the Boylston Street bus lane as a green line sees repeated shutdowns, such as those happening this week, uh this administration got rid of it in favor of parking.

I see double parking on both sides of Bolison Street with no enforcement as police loiter nearby and buses we through traffic.

Again, this footage is visible on the video I just posted and tied the council in.

Finally, the city must pursue congestion pricing.

I was in the State House yesterday raising the idea to be various legislators using the bounds of garbage on the side of 93 to show a car worship attacks or well-being on multiple fronts.

Thank you.

Okay, John Saylor.

And I am trying to gather this first page because we now have five pages of public testimony.

So I just we're gonna try to just do a couple more of these and then we're gonna go to second round.

So John Saylor, Colleen Mahoney, and Monica Alares.

Okay, go ahead.

Hello everyone.

Uh, my name is John Saylor.

I'm a Jamaica Plain resident in Councillor Weber's district.

Um I live on Boynton Street, which is a street that sees a lot of fast traffic, is in desperate need of speed humps.

Uh it has a playground on it.

Um, like other commenters, I'm taking time out of work to be here.

Um for my own benefit, for my 11-month-old son, for other people who can't be here to uh express a lot of surprise about the news about the 30-month plan or sorry, 30-day review plan.

Um I think this is maybe the unprecedented situation for an administration to win a landslide election like this and immediately adopt uh the policies of of their opponent.

Um frankly quite surprising.

Um I think it's very important for the uh council to press the city on the reason, the rationale underlying this changed approach.

Um as uh director Gove said, um, the speed hump program had and I'm paraphrasing you, but had no instances of misplaced speed bumps of their review did not find any instance where a speed bump was incorrectly placed.

The worst they could say is that certain streets got speed bumps before other streets that had higher priorities.

And the absence of any empirical data to support the change is uh is kind of surprising to me.

Um I think the council should press uh the city on that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Um Colleen Mahoney.

Colin, sorry.

It's okay.

Um my name's Colin Mahoney, I'm a resident of Jackson Square.

As a Boston resident, I feel lucky to have access to the robust public transit and bike share networks we have.

Because of these options, I choose not to have a car, saving hundreds of dollars a month I can instead spend in my community.

That's why I've been disheartened by the inaction of the administration, the removal of several bus lanes last year, and reporting from streets blog Massachusetts that city officials have been ordered to stop communicating with the MBTA on certain projects without direct approval from above.

Perhaps most frustratingly is the apparent halting of the Blue Hill Avenue project.

I visit the Mattapan Health Center for health visits and have been appalled at the conditions for transit and pedestrians.

Coming from where I live near Columbus Ave, where bus infrastructure creates safety islands for pedestrians and creates a visual signal to cars to slow down.

It's a complete 180.

Blue Hill Ave is a six-lane, wide open road that's designed like a highway, uh, where drivers are reckless, pedestrian infrastructure is virtually unusable, and the air quality is poor from idling vehicles.

Buses get stuck in traffic, slowing them down not just for the tens of thousands of people who use them in Mattapan and Dorchester, but for those who use the same routes further down the line in Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslendale, Fenway, and Mission Hill.

This prompts more people to look to a car to get around the city, which compounds the problem.

The four-mile trip from my home to Mattapan Square is nearly 45 minutes.

That's nearly an hour and a half to go round trip to a restaurant in Mattapan.

I don't have a car to make that 15-minute drive, and I would fear for my life on a bike with the current configuration.

Streets Blog Massachusetts also recently reported on an internal city poll that showed plurality support for this project across every neighborhood in the city.

It's also important to note that in a uh city PowerPoint on the Go Boston 2030 project, the city reported that 34% of people travel by transit, and biking and walking makes up another 16% for half of our city.

Knowing this, instead of returning millions of dollars in grants to the Trump administration, Mayor, we should focus on investing in our communities, resume the Blue Hill Av project, restart regular communication with the MBTA, and continue advocating for transit and bike priority projects across the city.

Thank you.

Monica LaLares, and then we're gonna go to Create Kate Crockford.

Is Monica here?

Okay, I guess we'll just go to Cade Crockford.

Thanks, Chair.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Kate.

I live in Dorchester.

Um I want to make uh a number of points.

Number one, um, safe streets are a public safety issue, and we all know that the BPD is not going to enforce the traffic laws of this city, so let's stop joking and kidding ourselves.

And frankly, it is honestly preferable that they don't.

Um, we don't want cops pulling more people over and engaging in more unnecessary interactions with members of the public.

We need to redesign the streets of our city, okay?

That is why we're all here.

That is the only thing that is going to solve these problems.

Number two, safe streets are a racial and economic justice issue.

I don't have to explain more.

We've heard from Ace, we're gonna hear from other members of the community.

Uh, we've heard from bikes not bombs.

I live in Dorchester, right off Blue Hill Ave.

I ride the 28 bus every single day.

Counselor Culpepper, you are my counselor, and I have heard counselors say nobody rides the bus.

Lots of people ride the bus.

I ride the bus every day.

That is how I get to work.

That is how many, many people get to work.

It is how working class people of color in this city get to work.

I am always the only white person on the bus, just to be crystal clear about who rides the bus in this city.

And you know, I also want to talk about the future.

We've heard a lot about, you know, oh, people in in the neighborhood oppose the Blue Hill Ab project.

That is not true.

People are split.

It is a genuine disagreement in our community about that project.

You know who supports it though?

Young people, the future of this city and the future of this country.

So, you know, we've heard young people today.

I want to make two more points.

One, we don't have to go to Europe to experience safe streets.

We can build them right here, and we must.

Um, I support the Blue Hill Ave project.

If we give 150 million dollars back to the Trump administration, it will be a stain that will not be erased from any of the decision makers in the city who are involved.

And my final point is people complain about traffic.

If you drive, you are traffic.

The only way that we are going to reduce traffic in this city is to get people out of their cars.

Period.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Galen Mook.

Kat Radisk.

Sorry.

And Cole Lewis, and then Maha Aslam, and then we're gonna go back to um counselors.

I don't know if I could follow that.

That was really good.

Um, hi, my name is Gayla Mook.

I'm uh executive director of Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition.

We're a statewide organization, but I'm an Alston resident, and I've lived in the city of Boston since 2003.

So I've been around since before we had bike lanes.

Um, I remember when we had a mayor who in 2009, after the implementation of the first bike lane, said the car is no longer king.

Mayor Manino stood there and said that to the populace.

It was not popular.

Nobody really was pushing for that bike lane who were a constituents.

It went through a college campus who were nonvoters, but yet we had leadership from the top who said we must have a progressive city if we're gonna move forward, because he saw, as we all do, the existential problems that we see in terms of congestion and greenhouse gas emissions that is choking our city and keeping us from moving forward.

So we are looking for leadership.

Um I have also seen the city sign on division zero to push forward with complete streets, to move ahead in some of the most progressive policies that have been taken up across the country, and now we are seeing an administration slip back on all of those.

What we are hearing today, and I really appreciate the work from BTD and DPW, but what we're hearing today is bits and pieces of projects, not vision.

What we are seeking is an actual process of how can we contribute to the forward-thinking nature of what are we gonna do in this administration?

We have a mandate of four more years, which should let us go into the future.

Um transportation hits housing, transportation hits climate, transportation hits affordability.

You all know this.

It's not about a pothole, it's not about a bike lane, it is about a vision of where we're gonna take the city.

So, quick recommendations that I may have.

Um, I believe that the council can help here, but this administration should call for an advisory board that helps your team do its work out in the community.

This is what Mayor Manino was able to do under the bike czar with Nicole Friedman, and we moved amazingly fast and forward in that progress.

Um, I also think that we need to influence the systemic structure of City Hall with this advisory board, and it should include more than just bikers, obviously, everybody who depends on the transportation system.

And I do believe that we need to have the accountability of not just transportation goals, but how transportation hits our climate goals, how it hits our safety goals, how it hits our mode shift goals, how it hits our housing goals.

So this is not just a transportation hearing.

This is a how are we going to be a progressive city hearing.

So I appreciate the city council for holding it here.

Thank you, Counselor.

Thank you, Chair, and uh appreciate the work.

Kat Rodisek.

And then we're gonna go to Cole Lewis and then Maha Islam.

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name's Katerina Torres Radisick.

I'm a JP resident, and I'm speaking on behalf of Shared Spaces, a coalition of community advocates and organizations, including the Boston Center for Independent Living, the Riders Transportation Access Group, Transportation for Massachusetts, Walk Mass, Boston Cyclists Union, and Mass Bike.

Our work focuses on improving safety and accessibility in shared public spaces, especially for people with disabilities.

In November, we organized a site visit along Hyde Park Avenue with residents, city staff, and counselors Pepin and Warell to better understand real world conditions on the ground.

What we saw was deeply concerning.

Traffic speeds regularly exceeded the posted 30 miles per hour with some vehicles traveling over 40.

The road's wide multi-lane design encourages speeding and dangerous behaviors, including what's known as a double threat.

When one car stops for a pedestrian, but another car speeds past, putting that person at serious risk.

Crossings are incomplete or unsafe.

Sidewalks and curb ramps lack basic accessibility features like detectable warning strips.

At key intersections, parked cars, black visibility, forcing pedestrians to step into traffic just to see oncoming vehicles.

There are no accessible pedestrian signals at several crossings.

For cyclists, there are no bike lanes, pushing people onto sidewalks and creating conflicts with pedestrians.

Bus stops are also inaccessible, sometimes requiring multiple crossings just to reach them safe safely.

We also attempted a follow-up visit to Hyde Park Avenue after a snowstorm with a wheelchair user and a deafblind participant.

They could not attend because the sidewalks were not cleared.

This is the reality many residents face.

This corridor does not work for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, or drivers.

This project is currently paused and under evaluation alongside three others, and four more have already been removed from the Capitol plan.

Meanwhile, Hyde Park Ave is not unique.

Across the city, people with disabilities, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders are navigating streets where they feel and are unsafe every day.

While long-term redesign is essential, we cannot afford to wait.

Immediate low-cost interventions, especially those that reduce speeds, can save lives right now.

I urge you to move Hyde Park Ave and other projects forward, prioritize safety, and work with us to deliver tangible improvements.

Thank you.

I also have printed copies of our Hyde Park Ave site visit for everyone, but If you want to leave them right there, we can get them to have it.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Okay, cool, Lewis.

Maha Islam.

And I'm sorry if I get more crazy about cutting people off.

It's because we have a list of like three more, three more pages.

So I just want to make sure I'm consistent.

Go ahead.

Thank you to the council for the opportunity to present public comments today.

My name is Cole Lewis.

I'm here representing Transit Matters.

We're a nonprofit that advocates for better public transportation and mobility for Boston area residents.

I'm here today to express concern over the city of Boston's inaction on 16 streets projects currently on the city's capital plan.

Um projects that, if completed, would have a massive impact on Bostonians' safety and mobility.

It's been encouraging to see progress on the Rutherford Ave redesign and Fort Point safety improvements in the last few months.

And we'd like to commend the city for the work on those plans while calling on this city hall to push forward other projects across Boston.

Across these pause projects, there's been a notable lack of transparency from BTD.

Residents have been completely in the dark about where projects in their neighborhood have gone.

We're here to ask the streets cabinet give real updates on these stall plans.

Projects like phase two of the Columbus Av Trimont Street redesign, which was supposed to go to bid for a contractor in the next few months, have been completely on pause with no explanation.

It wasn't until last month that Chief Gove addressed it, calling for major design changes in a letter to the MBTA.

On many of these projects, Boston has been granted large sums of federal funds to make bus riders' commutes more reliable and make the city's streets safer.

Holding up these projects puts our funding at risk, money which the project, which the city may not get back for decades.

For example, transportation action plans in both Roslendale and Maverick Square are funded by Federal American American Rescue Plan dollars that expired this year, but the city has yet to put out a real plan for community engagement to make these projects happen.

Lastly, the lack of lack of consensus has continually been used to explain delays in these projects.

Community engagement is extremely important on these projects, but um what especially when it comes to projects like this, but it cannot be used as a reason to pause projects indefinitely or to lose funding.

Engaging residents and asking for their feedback just to disappear and not take that feedback loses trust.

We need a concrete plan about when community engagement will resume on Columbus Ave, High Park Ave, Rosalindale, and Maverick Square, Blue Hill Ave, and Boyelson Street, just to name a few.

Thank you.

Maha Slam.

Hi, thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, my name is Maha.

I represent the Wool Streets Alliance.

Um I'm gonna a lot has been said, so I'm not gonna go over all the things amazingly people have said.

Uh, what I'm gonna focus on is I know thank you, Chief Co for your vision.

Uh, those slides were really helpful, and I know we have talked a lot about data and vision.

And I think talking about that, let's talk about the vision zero website.

Um currently it only has data till December 2025.

We're talking about data and we're talking about vision.

We should get a more recent update on that.

High crash network data is 2021, and high crash intersection is 2017.

So when we're talking about vision, we're talking about data, these are some basic things that need to be updated, and we're excited to see, like, you know, as we got a press release today, there's movement around like projects and vision.

So these are some of the basic things that we need to like up, you know, update and then move on to those bigger visions of how to get stuff done.

And previously we had Go Boston 2030.

So I think one of our asks is like when are we getting Go Boston 2030 to vision?

When are we getting an update on Vision Zero action plan?

Um, both of these things will inform a lot of the BTD's budget and priorities and goals, uh, especially moving forward next week in the budget conversation.

So I think clarity on that would be amazing.

Um other thing that I want to talk about is community process, the 30-day surge, uh the 30-day review process.

A lot of a lot of people have talked about it.

One of the things that the the report mentioned was not the ineffectiveness of the program, but like a lack of community engagement.

So I guess one of our questions is in the last year, what has BTD done to improve and strengthen that community engagement process?

Um, and it's great to know that the mayor has publicly committed to that process, so we are looking forward to this year to see where we go from there, especially considering like a lot of these projects have a lot of contentious like being into, I think that is what we ask.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Maha.

Okay, so we're gonna go back um now to uh counselor questions.

We're only gonna give four minutes because there's a lot more testimony.

Um so but if you'd like to waive your time, I'm sure many in the crowd would still appre would appreciate that.

So um, counselor uh council president Braden, you're first.

Thank you, and thank you to all the folks who've uh been here to testify and those who are waiting.

Um a question about just just general philosophy.

I know Go Boston 2030 uh is still being used to uh is it still being used to proactively dictate steep street projects and decisions, or are we in the process of reviewing that?

Like it was um, you know, a lot of us I remember when it came out first, we were very engaged at the community level, and um are we still using it and and where do we go next?

Yeah, thank you, counselor.

Uh yes, I mean many of the projects that we are moving into construction this year uh are based on the 2030 Boston 2030 vision.

So we continue to use that.

There has been work done uh to do an update to that document.

That is something we look forward to doing some engagement on this year uh and update that as we previously committed doing.

Um I was wondering, you know, in terms of your next steps in terms of revisioning, revising the twal 2030, or um is that review or is that anticipated to be ready this year?

And uh what does it look like going forward?

Like I know where there's there's road users that um micro mobility devices that maybe we weren't thinking about 10 years ago, 15 years ago, but um what what's what does it look like in terms of priorities?

Yes, it it is we are looking to update the document this year, and and to your point, yes, there's there's been a lot of changes uh since the original document.

You know, the the introduction of a whole bunch of micro mobility devices, you know, the uh micro mil micro mobility commission just wrapped up and provided a report on that in in January.

Um you know, frankly, the the expansion of food delivery during the pandemic, which continues.

There's there's been a lot of changes.

Um frankly, the the traffic pattern, not just in the city but across the commonwealth has changed and has remained changed since since the pandemic.

So there's been a lot of things that we we do need to update as part of that work.

And again we've done a lot of work but we are we have some more to do and we want to do some engagement on what that update looks like this year.

So and and just back to the vision zero um I know um the goal is to have zero fatalities and is the BTD committed to implementing that and making sure we can try and continue to try and reach those goals of zero fatalities because that's yes we we are still committed to uh vision zero yes and um and in what way are we operationalizing that commitment in terms of how how we do things sure so there's you know we have an entire um safe roots to school program uh that built out on a lot of that prioritizing school zones you know we have you know every year we do updates to signage pavement markings etc that team does work like on the LSN elementary school project that's moving into construction so yeah that that team does a a lot of work uh they've been part of the the design for uh fenway because that's part of the uh high crash network so those that team you know has has input on on all of our projects yeah and then the other one of the big takeaways from the the 90 the 30 day review was project communications and community engagement were inadequate um we're wondering just how the city has changed their engagement policy and and maybe you can speak to that but how how have we adjusted our engagement policy to ensure that we're um really communicating better with our commun with the community sure thank you counselor um council president I think there are you know obviously it depends on the scale but for instance I'll take uh Ruth Rafadav as a and as an example because it's something we launched recently and we're very excited about and it's a transformative it will just transform that corridor to make it you know walkable and uh just multimodal um the engagement there is to work with the community to actually develop the engagement process that's sort of that's one thing we learned is that um instead of sort of just like us figuring out what that is is to engage counselor you know get different stakeholders members of the neighborhood who really you know um who are who represent different uh sort of perspectives uh told us well we think uh you know we would love to you in that example move very fast uh we don't want 10 meetings we want you know these kinds of things here's the information we'd like to see uh you know here's the like the level of information that we want to engage on and and be involved in um and I think we've had three or two two very good uh community meetings so far that have been very productive and we have um you know a few more coming up thank you my time's up thank you so much thank you council president um counselor Weber you have the floor okay thank you very much um so uh I think uh and I think we we sent uh uh Nick uh a memo in December you know with a bunch of streets where we had talked to people like what Chusid and Morane and uh Alendale Boynton Myrtle Rockwood Castleton and so I think some of those will be getting speed bumps this uh this spring but so you know yeah I what do we tell folks you know do we have to continue to advocate for those uh those streets uh in terms of the process you know um what what do we do with inform you know we've got received feedback from constituents you know going back months do we do we have to present new data to you or or uh how can we be helpful uh it just to answer part of your question counselor yeah Watchuset um on on the list for the spring um I think you may have referenced some of these but moraine yeah Watchuset Archdale um Elvin and Brookway are all on the the spring program yeah well in terms of like what what do we do going forward and then I guess you know how is ONS involved uh you know what what do you the you know I we have feedback from constituents how to present it to you you know like how can we present that to you in a effective manner or and or will you be telling us that at some point down the road again I th I think you know we're we're in the process of of making some changes to this program and and we will be back right and we'll have more information on what that looks like I think in the interim please continue to provide us the places that you know you know have strong support from the community and I think you know if there are if there are places or streets in there that that we know we don't think are the right fit I think we can we can probably communicate that pretty quickly but also with that communicate what might be better treatments for those streets.

And I think you know, if there are if there are places or streets in there that that we know we don't think are the right fit, I think we can we can probably communicate that pretty quickly, but also with that communicate what might be better treatments for those streets.

So I think while we're working through this new process, we can help parse through those types of requests.

And you can continue to pass along, obviously, all that information as you know, and we can like our goal obviously is to get give you um like like Chief Gove said an answer as quickly as possible about okay, yeah, we want to look at this and we think we might move forward, uh, but we just need to look at the the right design, uh, or it could just be we don't think this is appropriate um for speed ups.

Okay, yeah, I mean I I I hope I hope we it'll be a conversation back and forth rather than I mean I think what's the last year and you were not the chief this whole year and and you're not in the position you're he's the director, he's still not the chief.

Okay, sorry.

Uh I apologize, director.

Uh we're you know there was uh we had Chief Franklin Hodge was there.

So I mean I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about Muhammad, I'm confused.

Sorry.

Uh anyway, um I expect all my time to be uh uh you know refunded to me.

But um anyway, I I think it should be a conversation, and obviously you will have a lot of input uh and and ultimately decide where things are going.

But we can advocate.

I guess so.

Just I I'm gonna go down uh a list in terms of you mentioned Egglison Square and pieces.

Is uh is a bike lane a part of that discussion at this point in Egglison Square?

In the square specifically?

Uh I don't know.

No, uh I think you know, school street going up to that's you know uh that's been a topic of discussion.

Yeah.

The school street uh bike lane is part of the 75% design.

That is not something we're looking to move forward at this time.

Okay.

And then uh uh JP Center South, if you just give me like 30 more seconds, Chair.

I already paused it actually.

But I will, yeah, go I'll go go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

JP Center South, are we moving forward with that, or is that in limbo?

Uh that one we'll have to get back to you on the status of uh the Hyde Park Avenue.

We talked about, you know, uh there's option one, option two.

Are we going with I mean I I prefer option two?

I I you know, but um reduces it to three lanes, uh makes room for bike lanes and stuff like that.

But it w what's the stat?

I just you know, let's get this all out, you know, what what's the status from your point of view, Director?

So uh so obviously you know we have done a bunch of safety improvements on Hyde Park Av over the last couple of years, right?

These are these are smaller interventions, but we have done work there.

We've done some state of good repair and resurfacing, we've tried we've experimented with some cast in place islands at crossings, you know, as part of the larger multimodal um quarter planning effort, as part of some future resurfacing, we'd like to look and see if there are elements of that planning that you know safety elements that we could implement as part of that uh state of good repair works.

So we can um Council Weather conversation.

Sorry, if there's any questions you want us to send, we we will yeah, and just I just wanted to flag um no more questions for me.

Just uh McBride and Jamaica Plain.

I know we've talked about it, I'd like that to move forward, uh, especially for English High, the they they have trouble with drop-offs on McBride, and there should be a bike lane there, and I think uh and on uh you know we we had a walkthrough uh with BTD on Lagrange in West Roxbury, and there's definitely some issues there, and I hope we can talk about that further.

And we are planning to participate on the walk this weekend on on Hyde Park Av.

Okay, okay, thank you.

Thank you thank you, Church.

Um I almost called you the chair.

Thank you so much.

You are the chair of the budget process.

So um so counselor Pepan, you have four minutes.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I wanted to ask some budget related questions if that's okay.

So I know that in the multi-neighborhood section, there's $13 million for safety surge, $6.2 million for pavement markings, and $35.8 million dollars for street safety improvement designs.

Those are those are great numbers and investments.

What I wanted to know is how do you decide where and how those that money's allocated?

Um what's the process for deciding?

All right, we're gonna use such and such amount of money in this area, and then can you break that down for me?

Sure.

Uh so you know, a a large portion of that money is used to make safety improvements as part of other state of good repair projects, right?

But they also address you know small you know specific needs from a particular neighborhood or business district, right?

So something so for example, there's a priority crossrock, crosswalk request, but there's no ramp, so we've got to reconstruct that to put in a crosswalk.

Uh maybe we're doing something around uh a school zone, right?

Yeah, those are the types of small interventions, and again, this is this is data-driven, it comes from community feedback.

We're always you know looking areas in the you know, whether we've had a crash or or a known place in the high crash network, you know, we're always looking to see what pieces that we can we can move forward.

So that's so like your engagement around that is what's brought to your attention from community concerns, um, electeds and groups as well that represent those communities.

Correct.

Okay.

Well, both both, right?

We identify stuff, we we bring stuff to the community, stuff comes obviously from counselors, stakeholders, et cetera.

Yeah, we we proactively obviously have staff who also identify these things.

So that's great.

ONS is a big contributor to that.

Okay, and that was gonna be my next question.

Does um is ONS the only type of community engagement that BTD does, or does BTD have its own community engagement team.

We we don't have our own um community engagement team per se.

We certainly have folks in our in our comms team who who do that type of work, but but all of our planners and project managers, right?

People who may that is an essential function of their job, right?

And and frankly, you know, no one knows their particular program or project better.

Um so yes, they they drive a lot of those, you know, individual project engagements.

But what we we are working on, counselor is um having a process that's the same across the board, so that we've got principles in place for you know whether streets were planning or you know ominess that are um you know that have the same principles so that it every project community engagement has at least certain core values that are always uh met that are part of it and that are that feel the same for for residents and other stakeholders.

Yeah, and I do want to give credit where credit is due.

Um your team, the BTD team has had staff members come out to my district.

I was literally on Walworth Street um at a street light with Al Velar at 7:30 in the morning the day after the election, and he just was there and he we saw implement changes implemented, and so I do have to give credit where credit is due.

So shout out to some to your team for engaging when we do reach out.

Um I know my time is limited, but I want to emphasize a few specific intersections in my district that I really want to be paid attention to, and then a plug for something else.

High Park Avenue Cummins Highway, very dangerous.

High Park Ave and River Street.

There's a lot of congestion there that could be changed by the timing of lighting there, and that is in the middle of a proposed squares and streets area, and folks are very concerned about um how development can potentially affect that.

I don't want that to be an issue of why we won't pass questions and streets in the future.

So I'm just keeping ahead of that.

And then the last second plug, safe routes to school.

I really want to prioritize that.

I represent a district that has many, many elementary and middle schools in residential areas, and the I'm gonna plug in the GRU school.

They recently reached out where they really want to see improved transportation um infrastructure improvements on their on their street over in Hyde Park.

And I know there's only one safe for the school planner in BTD, so as long as they get as much support as they can, that would be helpful because those streets are the ones that I really do care about.

Um we've already had a couple of four-year-olds get killed in my district, so I want to make sure that there's not another one.

So thank you, guys.

Thank you, Councilor Fefan.

Um I'm gonna go now.

Um I I know that I didn't give you guys a chance to respond to separators, ballards, and the removal of protective infrastructure, and I just want to give you the chance to respond to that point.

Sure.

So it is as part of our better buffer program that we rolled out last year, you know, we're gonna we're gonna start moving away from you know, temporary infrastructure like flex posts.

And one of the places that we're gonna focus on again is taking advantage of um, you know, resurfacing projects, right, to to complete that work.

So, you know, for example, we're doing some we're surfacing downtown and in the wharf district here in advance of the summer events, Congress Street has had you know temporary infrastructure for many years.

We plan to to put cast in place um uh in there as you know as a permanent solution to that bike lane, right?

That's the type of treatment that we look to do with all of our bike infrastructure over time.

As part of that, we'll likely do some stuff on Milk Street as well.

But you know, we are cast and place has arisen uh you know to be something that is almost on par from an affordability standpoint to flex posts, is much more resilient and can actually be constructed with surprising speed.

So okay, and um I know that's something that some folks in my district have pushed for.

Um, I do want to ask about the Dartmouth Street bike lane because if casting concrete is the prior, you know, if that's the priority, are we going to plan to finish the rest of that cast concrete bike lane?

Sure.

Dartmouth Street, we just resurfaced.

We needed to get in there to do some work before the marathon.

There's been, as you know, which it looks beautiful.

Thank you for resurfacing it.

Yeah, unfortunately, we had yeah, there was some well, anyway.

There's there's some continued utility work that needs to happen there.

So this resurfacing was was truly temporary.

Um, and you know, we what will go back in short term for at least the summer will be what was there before, but it will go in paint until we can and it's just important that I get this on the record.

Um, I ran during a time when there was a Berkeley Street bike lane proposed, and we heard fiercely from people in the community that they didn't want it on Berkeley Street, and that is not people in the bike community, those are people on those blocks.

Um I mean, I was literally someone spit on my feet um at one of those meetings.

So it was a very tense situation.

Um the city then said, okay, community members, where should we put this bike infrastructure?

It was important for the city that there be a connection to the Esplanade and that connection from the south end to the back bay.

That was like a core priority of the city.

Um, and I worked in deep community with community members to get everyone on board, and so I put my own political future on the line in some ways, and I I know that's a little dramatic, but um, but like I've been willing to do that hard work because I believe that safety is really important to my community and very important to my constituents and very important to the 12 colleges and universities that touch my district as well.

Um there are parents sending their kids to school here, they're using blue bikes, they're getting around multimodally, and I feel like I mean, I know I'm only 35 and I only have a cat and I have no husband, but um, but I feel like these are my kids in some weird way, and I want to make sure they're protected.

So I just need to put it on the record that I am in support of finishing that.

Um, and I know that it takes political will and courage to continue to have the same position on every issue, even when people disagree with you.

Um, but for me, um, these are like issues of conscience in a way, and um, they're issues of just like morality in my opinion, and um, and I am not for doing the easy thing ever because I think that as a city councilor, we have to step forward and make those difficult decisions.

Um, like I was charged with leading, and I think that also as the chair of this committee, we're charged with having really nuanced conversations about all these things, and that's why I'm bringing up the crash data.

That's why I'm bringing up, and I just want to respond to some of the conversation about process here as well.

Um community process is always flawed because certain people are empowered to come to the conversation, and certain people are not.

Um, that is not that is a that's a government issue, that's a civic participation issue that we have not found a way to get to the root of.

Um, but what I find is that when people that are supportive of things come to meetings, we believe them less.

And that is a real problem, and I think that's something that we have to solve at the city.

Um, because we have had hearings on issues that are spicy, and when we get people to come and we motivate them, it just feels like there's sometimes isn't there's this cognitive dissonance of people showing up, and just because they don't have the same position as the 12 people that you talked to last, they're just a little bit not thought of as as legitimate, and that is not a problem that either of you can solve.

It's something that we as a city have to work together to solve.

Um so I know I've gone over.

I'm I'm so sorry.

Um, so I'm gonna go to Councillor Colepper and then Councillor Aurel.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and uh Chief Grove.

Let me get to these questions quick so I can get them in before I get cut off.

Um I want to ask you about specific streets in my district that need attention.

You don't have to try and answer them now unless you have one.

You can provide it back to me uh when you get back and do your research.

Columbus Avenue, repaving and cobblestone restoration, Concord Square, repaving, following 2025 work, Northampton Street, post BWSC emergency work, Mass Ave in the South End, Wellington Street, Claremont Park, and Greenwich Park.

And so you don't need to try and answer you, you may not have them, but when you get it when you get a chance, so I can get back to my constituents.

We were at a meeting last night.

I told them I would ask you these questions today, so I can give them an update on what to expect.

We will get back to you with those council.

I will tell you that Columbus, we are doing work on, and we do want to get back out and engage the community on that.

Okay, thank you, Chief.

The other thing you mentioned that there was a next level MBTA review.

If there's not a uh change in the uh design, that 30 percent.

What's the next level you mentioned?

Sure.

So, you know, what we have proposed with with the MBTA is a joint public meeting.

Um, but let's and when is that?

We that has been scheduled, okay.

But it's something that we would like to propose uh separate from the MPO process.

But what I had referenced earlier was hypothetically what's the MPO the uh Massachusetts Planning Organization.

They they they have to approve it.

Yes, so they manage they manage the uh TIP process the federal funds for for the Commonwealth.

Okay.

The other thing that I wanted to ask you, uh was regard to the uh Boston Transportation Department and their traffic enforcement.

Now you know along Blue Hill Avenue there's double parking much of the time, sometimes triple parking, some other times.

I saw the uh Boston Transportation Department uh between Mass Ave and Hemiway one evening.

So I sat there one night.

I just took pictures at 849 on a Friday night, they were out given tickets between Hemingway and Mass Avenue on Borelson Street.

The BTD.

How can we get that same kind of enforcement on Blue Hill Avenue?

Even during the day.

Uh what do we have to do?

Sure.

So we we do do enforcement citywide.

Um we you know, our our enforcement teams we cover six days a week, and we'll be entering our third year with uh with a Sunday enforcement pilot.

So and we even have an overnight team.

So we do we do enforcement um across the city year-round.

Um you know, we have done um targeted enforcement efforts in conjunction with BPD on Blue Hill Lab to address some of the double parking issues that you you've mentioned.

Um we will continue to support that that regular effort.

Um look it would be helpful as soon as possible, especially on Friday evenings, um, and on the weekends, because that's when it becomes really uh difficult to travel down Blue Hill Avenue.

And I just say, look, the same thing you do uh between Massav and Hemiway on Borison Street, do that on Blue Hill Avenue because I think that will make a big difference in the traffic flow down Blue Hill Ave, and without us any bus lane for the buses to get down Blue Hill Avenue.

Thank you, Chief Grove, and uh Mohammed, thank you for all that you do.

Thank you, Councilor.

Thank you, Counselor Cole Pepper.

And who knows?

I mean, that might have been during a Red Sox game.

They do pay for additional details.

So we do I I'm okay.

Okay, okay.

Just making sure.

Um Councilor Raoul, you have four minutes.

Uh thank you, Chair.

Uh few questions around um Blue Hill Avenue.

I I do agree with Council Cole Pepper, just having a dedicated dedicated schedule to uh Doorchester, District 4, District 7, um is something that I've advocated for um in the past because oftentimes when we put up these signs, um you know we want to make sure that we aren't enforcing those signs that are on the street.

Um do we have any data on transit riders along Blue Hood Lab?

Like where is their final destination?

Do we have any data around that?

Yeah, we have we have some, I think fairly robust data on that counselor, and we're we're happy to have to share that.

Yeah.

A lot of it comes directly from the MBTA, but we're happy to share that.

Yeah, we'll love love to see that.

Um and then do we have an hourly breakdown by day um of the week of bus private vehicle volume on blue as blue lav.

I'll have to check the specific breakdown.

Well, I short answer is I don't know.

Um, but we'll we'll see what um what traffic study, what what data we do have for vehicle volumes of the various types on Blue Hill Lav.

Uh, and we can we can provide what what analysis was done as part of the current planning and design.

All right, and then hopefully um part of that data for volume, hourly breakdown by day of the week and hour of travel speeds for buses and private vehicles on Blue Lav.

Yep, we'll we'll include that.

All right, and then do we have a curb analysis for Blue Hulav?

We have done a lot of curbside planning as part of the um you know stakeholder engagement for the project.

Um, you know, yeah, as we were talking with with Council Culpepper about enforcement a couple minutes ago, you know, we we know the hot spots where we need more turnover, short-term turnover uh for parking, you know, for short-term pickup and drop off.

Um, and I think you know, we have thought about that as part of a future project there.

We think changes to those curbside regulations that encourage that turnover would help move some of those vehicles through there in a in a better fashion.

Okay.

And then just want to just acknowledge the work that our uh that the community has done around the Fairmont Indigo line.

I believe it's one of the only communities that has expanded rail uh and new stations in the city of Boston uh to increase uh transit justice and really fight for it in a in a major way.

So this is something that the community has done, and I just want you know everyone to acknowledge uh the work uh the community uh not only has done but continues to do, because I believe this is gonna be one of the only rails that will be electrified in the near in the near future.

Um and I I say that to also ask how how does rail uh you know the Fairmont Indigo line play into speed um and moving um people to a final destination in your view.

Sure.

So you know, as you know, council, the you know the city has and will continue to support the electrication of the Fairmont line.

You know, we we believe that you know that that provides significant um transit benefits for current users, but also opens up a lot of opportunities uh for people to get places faster than you know the transportation they're using now.

So we we fully support that.

Um you know, we think it opens up you know public transit opportunities to sections of the city that have never had that type of reliable uh transit or in speed.

So we are we are committed to working with the team on on making that happen.

And this is uh last point I want to make, and it'll be very quick.

Um we talk about you know uh community engagement, um, whether it's uh rate racial justice, um, I think an important part uh is to make sure that we're not only affirming uh the voices of those in that community, uh whether they have you know paved the way for the future or are the future uh because that is an important part of that process of of racial justice.

And oftentimes, I'll just want to just end on this is that our community feels harmed because of past projects that have always been told to us this is a good thing.

Um and yet uh it always never felt as as such.

So I just want you know, when we're making these decisions that that we are taking that into consideration as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor.

Um so I'm gonna if if you have any closing statements, if not, you both are free to go, and we're gonna hear from the rest.

Um I do if I could get a commitment though that you'll watch the rest of this hearing.

I'll stay as long as I can stay.

I just need to take a quick break and I'll okay.

Okay.

Yeah, same.

I can okay, perfect.

Okay.

So um, so I'm gonna go to public testimony.

Each person again has two minutes.

Um Mimi Ramos is first, then Sam Fiston.

Okay, well, ever who whoever's next that I just saw Sam Fiston.

Okay.

Izzy Esman, Hayden Seeger, and Matt Lawler.

That's the order.

Hello, uh, it's Sam Finston.

Um I live in Alston.

I'm not here representing a specific group.

I just walk around the neighborhood.

I walk around the city a lot.

Um walking is my main form of transportation, and I'm not taking the tea.

Um, and I have a lot of near misses.

There are a lot of cars, as people have talked about, that go right through red lights, uh, stop signs.

Um, and I hate that it's just dangerous.

Like on their restaurants that are near me that I don't go to because I don't want to cross an intersection called Union Square, um, where a lot of iconic businesses and a community center are.

Um so last fall I put up these signs that say, Hey Alston Brighton, do you hate crossing the street?

Tell me about it.

Um I put them at intersections that are in key locations in the city that I thought were very dangerous that my friends have told me they feel in danger, and where I have to wait for a very long time to cross the street.

I mentioned Union Square.

You can wait for four traffic signals to get from one corner of it to the opposite corner.

Um, just because either one lane or sorry, one street has two non-synced uh signals, or one signal does not give you enough time to cross the entire street.

And when cars want to ch save a few seconds, they um can just speed through a light.

Um but when pedestrians do it, they put themselves in grave danger.

I do that a lot trying to get on the Grig Street um green line platform.

So anyway, I have a packet with 14 pages of responses.

It's about 150 of my neighbors who said, here is a place I walk regularly and I feel in danger or in great inconvenience.

And I think a lot of the blowback against safe street changes are about parking or shaving a few seconds off of a cars.

Um like you know, trip.

Um, but it adds so much more time.

You miss that bus.

You run across to get to the green line platform because you see that the train is coming.

But on Commonwealth Avenue, that is, you know, six lanes of traffic, car traffic, and two lanes of you know, train traffic.

Thank you.

I know.

If you want to leave that right there, and then I'll make it um I'll we'll scan it and we'll make it part of the public record.

Thank you.

Um Izzy Esman, Hayden Seeger, Matt Lawler, Anora Murray, Bea Bruno.

If you guys could make a line just so because we gotta keep this gotta keep it moving.

And Brendan Kearney, if I think we already heard from you, okay.

Okay.

Hayden, I guess you're the first one.

Okay, go ahead.

I'm actually hey I'm Aiden, I'm gonna give my time to Mike.

Uh okay.

Mike's gonna get four minutes.

Okay.

I don't know if you're gonna go.

Go ahead, Mike.

Um hi, my name is Mike DeMayo, and I'm my president in the South End.

Um my wife and I navigate the streets of Boston first and foremost on foot as well as on transit and on bike.

I want to see our city become a place where people can navigate all neighborhoods in ways that are both sustainable and safe.

The city's abrupt changes in streets policy over the past 14 months, however, have taken us further from that hope.

For example, I would love for our street to have speed humps.

It's a quiet side street with 90 families.

But cars occasionally speed through it to access the main road at the other end.

The city's identified my street as one that would benefit from speed humps on its website.

But the speed hump program stalled last year, and I'm hearing today that it will be much more restricted going forward.

The city's website says to reach out to my neighborhood liaison to get speed humps, which I've done, but I've seen no movement.

The best explanation I've received from city officials for stalling the speed hump program is they don't want to slow cars down through residential streets.

Even though driving slowly is the best way to keep people safe, particularly where kids are running around.

I've heard today that there will be certain speed humps that will advance, but no criteria were provided as to how the city was select streets, and the process I heard remains opaque.

To counselor Durkin's point, not having defined criteria results in an ad hoc process that favors certain voices over others.

Regarding bike lanes, the city's studies have shown that barriers between bike lanes and car lanes make the street safer for everyone, whether you're in a car, on foot, or on bike.

But over the past year, rather than working to make the street safer for all road users, the most visible changes to bike lanes in the city is the city's removal of bike lane separators across many bike lanes, um, letting cars pike park in the lane, enforcing bikers to appear in front of cars, endangering everyone.

The primary explanation the city has given for its change in policy is that it wants to seek more community input.

But these changes to make our city less safe have happened without giving anyone a chance to say anything at all.

We've heard for over a year of an interest in cast in place, which would be really great.

But thus far we've seen flex posts removed almost everywhere and cast in place implemented almost nowhere.

I hope the city gets back to work on finishing Letter Promise and Speed Humps and Separated Protected Bike Lanes.

Thank you for your time, and thank you to the council for all these important hearing.

Thank you so much, Mike, and thank you for your support on um parking minimums as well.

Um, we are going to, well, or lack of support for parking minimums, I should say.

Matt Lawler.

Sure.

Um, thanks very much.

My name is Matt Lawler.

Um, I submitted a letter on behalf of Walka Brosendel, of which I'm a co-founder to the committee earlier today, so I'm not gonna rehash the points in that letter or comments that were made by others earlier.

I generally support everything that that folks who have shown up here and supported on pausing the situation have said.

So I just want to focus on three points.

Um the numbers of new bike lanes and speed humps that were cited here today are too low by a factor of at least 10.

Um, if my math isn't wrong, um I've been around doing this long enough.

I think that's gonna be lower than any year of the Walsh administration.

Certainly for a number of new lanes, length of new lanes of bike lanes.

Those are words I never thought I would say about the Wu administration, that it is doing worse than the Walsh administration.

I can't believe that's where we are.

Um, second, the argument that uses our narrow old streets to deny safety to vulnerable street users needs to be retired today for good.

Our narrow old streets largely predate motor vehicles, especially downtown.

If there's a space crunch, the unwanted party goers are the motor vehicles, not the people on foot or on bikes or on buses.

The streets were actually designed for them in the first instance.

And finally, I just want to pick up on the exchange with respect to Bert, uh sorry, Beach and Glen Dower Streets in Roslendale, because we heard all the residents on those streets want speed humps.

That is not surprising at all.

But somehow, that is still not good enough.

Because I don't know either.

I don't know why that's not okay, why they're not gonna get speed humps.

But somehow they won't, and that is a problem.

So I hope that we get there someday soon.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Matt.

Um, okay, Anora Murray, and sorry if I'm saying that wrong.

Via Bruno, Aaron Greiner, Levi Chan.

That's the list.

Go ahead.

All right.

Uh good afternoon, Chair Durkin and the members of the committee who decided to stick around.

Uh, my name is Andrew Murray, I'm a Rosendale resident.

Um, I'm on the board of walk-up with Matt, and I founded Rosidents from more residents.

Uh, I'm here as someone who walks, bikes, and relies on transit every day.

For many of us, our safety on Boston streets do not feel like a priority.

Uh, we have known problem areas like High Park Avenue and Blue Hill Avenue where people are being actively harmed by speeders and reckless driving.

Uh, what's really frustrating about this isn't just the danger, it's the complete lack of communication and urgency.

Um, projects are announced, engagement takes place, and then they go quiet for months, even years, um, with little clarity beyond a stated need for more engagement or consensus.

Uh, how much more engagement can the city expect from residents um if the hours that we've already put into the engagement process um aren't sufficient?

And how does consensus, what is consensus mean uh when it's between people that are asking to move safely and with dignity through their communities, and those who are asking to maintain dangerous conditions.

Um we have rules that are supposed to protect people, but they are not enforced.

Cars parking crosswalks, bus lanes, bike lanes with little consequence, sends a clear message about whose safety is negotiable.

Um, when infrastructure is installed, too often it feels like a half measure.

Paint is not protection.

Materials that drivers can run over, like the new Zeklas, uh, do not keep people safe and actually actively invite people to park over them.

Uh my question is what's the city's transportation philosophy?

We say vision zero is still the goal, uh, so why aren't we actively implementing changes to ensure that traffic deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable?

If it's not vision zero, residents deserve clarity on what level of serious injury and death is considered acceptable.

Um, when we talk about the community, and I wish the counselors were still here, uh, especially on council corridors like Blue Hill Avenue, uh, that has to include the tens of thousands of bus riders on those corridors, along with the pedestrians and cyclists who move through them, not just those concerned about parking.

Uh, we can't have safe streets, strong businesses, and reliable transit, but only if we prioritize human life.

Thank you.

Thank you, Andrew, and sorry for getting your name wrong.

I care why.

Uh Bea or Bia, Bruno?

Okay, got it.

And Aaron Greiner.

Levi Chen.

Gad boy.

Okay, go ahead.

Hi, my name's Levi.

I'm an Austin resident.

I'm a BU Junior and I'm one of two co-presidents of the Urbanism Club at BU, which some of you may know.

We are a student group focused on urban advocacy and education.

And recently, our club released a petition, the This Street Sucks campaign to voice our concerns at our campuses, Main Street, Camav, well, it sucks.

Our petition urges Mayor Wu to unpause the BUE's protected bike lane project, which has been collecting dust somewhere in the planning department for years, while cyclists like myself risk their lives just trying to commute to work or school down Comav or speeding and cars blocking the bike lanes are daily occurrence.

I have printed some of our many testimonies for you all to read today.

Our petition currently sits at well over 160 signatures from all sorts of people.

These are BU students and faculty, non-BU community members, pedestrians, and cyclists, because 160 plus people have recognized that safe streets are an immediate necessity.

We want these streets and we need them.

Yet Mayor Wu's silence surrounding building safe streets for us signals a cold indifference towards our safety.

As young people, we rely a lot more on cycling, walking, and taking public transportation to get in and around the city, as do many of the city's residents who do not own cars.

When I entered here at City Hall last summer, I actually biked to out of office events in JP and Mission Hill because the Southwest Corridor provided a safe path for cyclists.

But in coming to today's hearing, I took the T because I didn't want to risk my neck on Cambridge Street or Kemore Square.

As the Mayor Wu has been stalling on improvements to cycling, walking, and public transportation, it puts city residents in more danger than is necessary because we know that these plans for safe streets exist.

We know that we have the funds to build them.

We know we have the manpower to construct it, and yet nothing is being done.

We're risking losing the funding, and more importantly, we're risking losing people's lives.

Though Mayor Wu's spring construction schedule release this morning is a step in the right direction.

Multiple projects like the East Campus Protected Bike Lanes are still stalled.

And I believe that a band-aid fix of repavements over deeper issue of lack of transparency won't last forever.

So thank you, Councillors Weber, Pepin, Durgan, and Breedden for holding this hearing.

And I hope that the city can restart these safe street projects as soon as we can.

Thank you.

Thank you, Levi.

I'll be at your club soon.

I love being there.

Yeah, one more meeting.

So okay, next we're gonna hear from Seth.

Oh, yeah, if you leave it there, we'll get it to everyone.

Seth Goy.

Good afternoon, Council and Administration.

My name is Seth Gadboys.

I'm a transportation attorney at Conservation Law Foundation.

Thank you so much for making the space for this hearing today on multiple critical transportation matters, including Docket 0588 discussing transportation philosophy.

The city of Boston has set several commendable transportation goals across multiple plans.

However, recent city actions and budget proposals are at direct odds with these goals.

Additionally, these goals are also too high level for measuring progress.

A climate plan goal to reduce car dependency is good.

Zero fatalities on roadways is critical and has a 2030 date, but goals are not short-term tangible metrics.

Number of bike lane miles added, number of daylighted intersections and road diets, number of zones dedicated to deliveries, all the things that make walking, rolling in transit safer and more reliable.

Every day, inadequate infrastructure and chaotic traffic operations degrade our streets and compound to dramatically undermined climate, safety, and health goals.

We need clear metric-based links between uh we need clear metric-based links that tie plans to budgets, covering infrastructure and traffic operations solutions.

Without metric-based links, between goals and spending, we have philosophy without action or action without direction, leading to empty promises or costly, inconsistent decisions.

We need a master plan that commits funding to measurable year-by-year outcomes for clear community-driven strategies.

To the administration, please be bold with your budget and be progressive with your power.

To the council, please legislate where gaps need to be filled or corrected, and look to other major metropolitan cities for policies that produce tangible outcomes.

To all in government, please see us, please use us, advocates and residents as resources and partners.

We can make major change together and sooner than we think.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next, we're gonna hear from Travan Longsford, Matthias Iris for Mail, Zachary Yarrow, Esther from Dorchester, and Daniel Um Krollwetch.

So that's the that's the list.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is uh Trevin.

Uh not Trevon, uh sorry.

Thanks, parents, for giving me that name.

Uh, I am a resident of Jamaica Plain.

Uh thank you, Ben Weber for organizing this.

Uh I ride my bike everywhere.

I ride my bike to Brighton to get to work.

I ride it to get to groceries, I ride it to get to friends' houses, everywhere.

It's important to me, it's important to my safety.

Uh Councillor Weber, you asked about the Center South Streets uh transportation action plan.

It was just reported by Streets Blog Mass that zero dollars is allocated to it in fiscal year 2027.

So if that's not a pause, what is a pause?

The street that I go to to shop, to eat, to drink, to go to the doctor, to live on, is not getting the investment that it so desperately needs.

I feel unsafe on this street.

The 39 bus is stuck in traffic every single day, and we're not gonna do anything about it.

People are using this street as a way to get around Jamaica Way, not have to be on Washington Street, the corridors that can actually serve traffic, and so they're cutting through my neighborhood and affecting my livelihood and the livelihoods of all of my neighbors, just so that they can get through Jamaica Plain.

Center and South Streets should be the high streets of Jamaica Plain.

It's where everything happens.

It's where we gather at the monument, it's where we go to the Lauren Greeno house, where we watch movies on the lawn.

This is a street for people, and the city doesn't seem to be putting the amount of effort and funding towards it that it truly does deserve.

And so I implore the city to actually do something about it.

We need safe streets.

Safe streets cannot wait.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Um, next, Matthias.

Then Esther, sorry, then Zachary Yarrow, then Esther, then Daniel Krolwich.

Go ahead.

All right.

Hi, my name is Matthias Iris Remillard.

I currently live in Somerville because living on Hyde Park Ave in Councillor Royal's Counselor Warell's district was so deeply unpleasant and dangerous that I left Boston because Somerville's actually doing something about making streets nice and livable on a quarter of the budget that Boston is, so it's a better place to live.

And I'll beg you to forgive my strident tone, but I've just had too many empty promises given in so many meetings like this, and I've experienced too much traffic violence trying to get around Boston on my bike, which is my primary mode of transportation.

I am angry and I am tired of risking my life to travel from point A to point B because the city administration deems my non-car owning life unimportant and inconvenient.

I voted for Michelle Wu twice, and I was happy to.

I assisted with the campaigns.

I promoted her to all my friends because she was progressive.

She wanted people to be able to get around safely on bikes, and that's something I'm really about.

And now I feel profoundly foolish and angry that I voted for Mayor Wu in the last election.

I might as well have voted for Josh Kraft because she's implementing his anti-bike lane agenda now anyway.

So a year of paused bike lane projects and silence is unacceptable.

The mayor's 11th hour memo this morning about good repair projects, making no mention of bikes anywhere is also not acceptable.

I'm left struggling to figure out what Mayor Wu actually cares about because it's not the campaign promises she made, and it's not the progressive value she claimed to have, and it's not improving Boston and bettering quality of life for residents.

It doesn't appear to be about funding because she's frittering away federal dollars with inaction, and it really doesn't even seem to be about the lives of her constituents because she's letting people die on her streets while she does nothing.

So what will get her to care about us?

So I'm angrily begging for the city to fix Hyde Park Av for one, for concrete milestones on complete streets projects for actionable and tangible goals and a high quality protected micromobility network.

Thank you.

Zachary.

Hi.

Uh I last took time off work to speak here when the city failed at equitable snow removal.

And I hope we could keep things headed in the right direction after that.

Instead, we saw more bike lane protection removed and not replaced.

We saw 311 continue to mark streets as all clear where drivers were parked in unprotected bike lanes.

So basically, instead of permitting them to park in bike lanes instead of shoveling out spaces, now they can just park just because they don't want to find legal safe parking.

I like that I can walk, that I can take transit, and that I can bike to so many destinations in the Boston area, but where Cambridge and Somerville move swiftly with safety improvements where people have been killed.

Mayor Woo has frozen safety projects following pedestrian and cyclist ass in places like Cambridge Street and Alston and High Park Avenue JP.

And just last week we heard a student was struck near a Boston school in an area that the original safety surge announcement said was going to get speed bumps before that project got paused for over a year.

This hasn't been an issue of the work just being focused elsewhere in the city.

The work of building these infrastructure improvements has stopped everywhere.

It seems as though the city has joined Josh Kraft's campaign to get me off my feet, off my bike, off my off the bus, and into my car if I want to get around much of Boston.

So I'm joining my fellow vulnerable road users in calling for restarting all the police projects.

The city has a lot of trust to rebuild since a 30-day pause turned into over 400 days.

That means, especially ones like Hyde Park Ave, that residents turned out time and again to overwhelmingly support.

When was the last time you saw a city meeting where residents were unanimous on anything?

But they were unanimous on their support for that.

Projects like Columbus Ave Phase 2 that the AMPTA has said is ready to start when the city is going to let them.

And if you're gonna offer us bump outs and raise crossings instead of speed bumps or Zikla zippers and cast in place curbs instead of flex posts, I am all for that.

But give us timelines and then deliver.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Esther from Dorchester.

Okay.

Daniel Krulewich.

Okay.

Sarah Freeman.

Harry Dewar Dorer.

Steven Suritsky.

Leichen U.

Those are the people that are next.

Hi everyone, I'm Sarah Freeman from JP.

Um, like Matt Lawler said, I did submit some written comments, so I'll try not to repeat, and I appreciate what everyone has said before me.

In fact, if you add up the thousands of hours people in this room have dedicated toward trying to get safer streets, it's pretty heartbreaking that we're here asking why a 30-day pause is leaves us in limbo a year later.

We have a communication problem.

And I trust that we will be hearing updates on all the projects that were paused on how to get a speed hump.

Um restarting dialogue that has broken, sadly.

Um replace staff that we read in the Globe has left uh the transportation department.

How do we turn this into a positive?

Um I'm affiliated with a lot of groups that are here.

Um, so I don't want to take the time to go through them all, but um I think we can learn from other cities if we can't talk to each other and reach consensus.

It's projects get done.

And we shouldn't have a few loud voices kill a project, or uh look at an empty bike lane and say no one bikes.

Look at the Paul Dudley white path on the Espinade, or look at Southwest Corridor.

When you build a good people use it.

Is that my time?

Yeah, it is.

Oh, no, it's okay, Sarah.

We'll we'll hear from you again.

I know.

No, um anyone who wants to talk to me.

Um Counselor Webber knows how to find me.

Uh Harry Dor Harry Dorer.

Steven Suritsky, and then Ly Chunio.

Okay, go ahead.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh my name's Harry Dore.

I'm an ordinary citizen living in Alson.

Uh I own an electric bike, and I'm a frequent wider of the Green Line, the 66 and the 57.

I moved to Boston very recently, and I chose to live in this city because of its storic walkability, robust transit, and actively expanding bike network.

I saw how the Wu administration pushed to rapidly expand the bike network and support improvements to transit during her first term.

And in an and in a primary campaign where the mayor's largest opponent ran against safe streets, I, along with tens and thousands of other Bostonians, voted for them.

In light of all that, I'm very disappointed to hear reporting about this administration's pivot to pausing projects and removing bus lanes and safety infrastructure.

I'm particularly disappointed to learn just today that the mayor's proposed fiscal year 27 budget zeroes out funding for safety improvements to ComAV west of Packard's Corner, which would go right by my street and make my commute to work by bike many times safer.

This represents a major breach of the mayor's campaign promises.

While these projects languish, federal funds are at risk of being lost, cars continue to pollute and isolate our communities, and people are getting injured and dying on unsafe roads and unsafe intersections.

This is not what I voted for.

I thank this committee for calling this oversight hearing, and I call upon the mayor and her administration to hear our concerns and get this city building safe streets again.

I yield my time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Harry.

Um, Steven Suritsky.

Hi, thanks for having me today.

My name is Steven Sariski.

I'm a physicist living in JP and working in Cambridge.

My family and I, which includes our one and a half year old daughter get around Boston primarily by walking public transit and bicycle.

The Safe Street projects have been essential for our lives here.

I live on Forest Town Street, and when we moved here, our park adjacent residential street had traffic constantly exceeding 50 miles an hour.

The prospect of taking our dog out or strolling with our baby came with constant risk.

The installation of speed bumps as part of the surge was transformative.

It's crucial to why we can enjoy walking in our neighborhood with our family today.

It's unfortunate that Mayor Wu has all but ceased this program, deciding along with the people here that saving fractions of a second for reckless drivers is of more value than the safety of our children and parents like me being able to enjoy their neighborhoods with their babies.

Mr.

Gove, you mentioned moving away from algorithmic decisions.

This has seemed to have no effect on the mayor's collaboration with Google that AI optimize inner intersections for higher throughput, which is still being advertised on the Boston website.

When the mayor started this review last year, it was advertised as being about neighborhood consensus.

Yet major infrastructure rollbacks were made without a single meeting.

BTD claimed we want to hear it from constituents, but anyone who tried to make their voice heard to BTD only ever received a formal letter back from Mohammed.

Physically going to BDD and trying to communicate there resulted in the same.

Expert staff at BTD were reportedly victims of the same fate, boxed out of doing their own jobs as the mayor took control to delay projects across the city.

Again, this happened without a single meeting.

So what exactly is meant by consensus here?

Mr.

Goov, you mentioned all the work that was done under your predecessor.

The notable word there is predecessor.

Your job implied in recent news reportings was making the people who carried out those projects so miserable that they quit.

You touted your plan to install more speed bumps this year.

If I heard right, I think the number was 100.

That would amount to two per square mile of Boston.

And as the other commenter mentioned, one of the lowest rates in recent memory.

Similarly, with Craig's crosswalks and bump outs, this seems to have become almost a running joke.

I hear it all the time.

We never see them in Boston.

Your testimony today confirm what we were all worried about.

We really are seeing BTD gutted and losing our safe streets.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, Lychen Yu, and then we're gonna go to Giovanni Zun Zuniga, um, Uzoma Alici.

Um, I think Elijah Evans isn't here anymore.

Patricia O'Connors, Matthias, oh, I think we might have already heard from.

Okay, that's the list.

If you guys could get in line.

Go ahead.

Thank you, madam chair.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lynn Chen Yu, and I am an Alston Bryan resident and a member of the Alston Brighton How Collaborative.

Alston Brighton is the second biggest neighborhood in Boston and is continuing to grow and thus depends on transit and infrastructure projects to support the people living in the neighborhood, traveling through, as well as future residents.

This was already understood when the Austin Brighton Mobility Plan was finalized and adopted in 2021 by the planning department.

And I stand here in 2026 with only a few of the recommendations acted upon, and many of the visions seemingly shoved in the filing cabinet.

Did the planners, residents, and community organizations spend nearly three years to gather opinions, devise proposals, and envision what the community wants, only to now hear that we need to gather more community feedback to get it right.

It's even more disheartening to hear that Boston might lose potentially millions of funding towards these projects.

The Transportation and Mobility Committee of the ABHC conducted a survey regarding mobility in the Brighton Center last year when the city had proposed to install a dedicated bus lane for the 57 bus, one of the routes with the highest riderships in the city, yes, slowest buses in the city.

Our survey found that majority of the people frequenting Brighton Center had desires for safety crosswalks, increased bus services, and micro mobility options.

The same thing five years ago with none of the changes.

I urge the city administration to no longer sit on the years and dollars spent on studying our neighborhood and act to make our streets safer and healthier because we know what great transportation can do for our city.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, I read a bunch of names.

Oh, perfect.

You're here.

Okay.

So we'll go to you, and then if you are waiting to testify, if you could just stand up and get in line, that would be awesome.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Trish, just so I I was pressed for time and uh I failed to mention Washington Street in West Roxbury to uh to Mr.

Go.

It isn't listed in my memo, just so you know.

Oh, okay.

But uh I think that's a good thing.

He has some explanation.

He had some explaining to do.

I support what Trish Connors and System.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay.

Um, thank you, um, Councillor Dorkin.

So I brought 17 copies per the city's website.

They suggested bringing copies for all of the city.

Yeah, if you leave them right here, we'll reach over here.

Yes.

Okay, great.

Okay, may it please the city council.

My name is Patricia Connors, and I'm a 72-year-old avid cyclist.

I live in West Roxbury and I'm a member of the West Rock Spikes Steering Committee.

Cyclists, pedestrians, and I dare say most motor vehicle drivers greatly appreciate the city's reconstruction of Center Street in 2023.

This redesign stretching from the Holy Name Rotary to LeGrange Street, reduced travel lanes to one in each direction, added a center turn lane, and installed bike lanes.

By most accounts, this reconstruction has achieved its objectives of enhancing safety, reducing serious crashes, and improving traffic flow.

However, additional upgrades are needed to complete the work that the city has done to date.

Presently, motorists often park at the curb illegally at the beginning of center street blocks along the bike lane, particularly those close to take out enterprises, thereby preventing cyclists from entering the bike lane at these sections of the bike lane and forcing them either to get off their bikes to walk around the motor vehicle or to to quote take the lane on the street.

Street infrastructure improvements to stop this motor vehicle obstruction should consider including the positioning of large planters alongside the entrance to the bike lane at the beginning of each block, thus providing a quote green barrier to illegal and obstructive parking.

Of note, executive director Lindsay Chase of West Roxbury Main Streets strongly supports the placement of planters on Center Street and that they soften landscapes or I'm sorry, soften hardscapes, introduce color, and foster a welcoming, well-cared for our atmosphere.

In addition to increasing street beautification.

Thank you.

Okay.

Sorry, no, thank you so much.

And we'll make sure this becomes part of the public record.

Okay, thank you.

Keith Winackey.

Hi, I'm Kate Winnicki.

Um, I'm a community organizer in Alston Brighton.

Um, I've lived there for over three years now.

Um, I regularly walk down CalMav to catch the beeline, and I see the trash all around me.

I hop over large pools of water at the bottom of broken curb cuts.

Um, I cycle in the road next to bike lanes full of potholes or gravel.

I walk on sidewalks in the dark, unable to tell if the slight shadow is a pile of leaves or a hole.

The infrastructure around me reminds me that I am not welcome.

The lights on these roads are for cars that puddle as I cross the street, reminds me to be careful.

I'm entering a space not meant for me.

The trash says no one cares, you like your neighborhood, don't matter.

Today I want to push back against this status quo.

I agree with much of what the great uh speakers before me have been saying.

Um to make bad decisions to run into the trolley lines to block our access to public transit.

We need to slow down drivers on Camav.

We don't want or need a highway in our neighborhood.

Enforcement of the speed limit is never going to be enough.

We need infrastructure to make drivers slow down to that speed limit so that we can cross to get to the train, to get to the laundromat, whatever we may need to do to go see our friends.

Ultimately, I want to resume all of these pause projects, build relationships in the community, and I want safety-focused engineers and leaders who work with community to implement safe streets projects.

When residents walk or roll down the sidewalk or bike lane and across the street, we should feel safe and know that our lives are valued as much as the convenience of the people in cars.

Thank you.

Elliot Weiner Minor.

Perfect.

Hi, my name is Eli, and I live in Roslendale.

I want everyone to drop the idea that we need more community engagement when it comes to street safety.

I'm a parent, I have a full-time job, and I don't really have time to engage with you.

And even if I did, why do I need to engage with you in order to explain that our streets should be safe?

That I shouldn't have to be scared of my son being killed while I'm walking him to preschool or biking with him to the grocery store.

Do I need to engage with the city to make the case for drink clean drinking water?

That when I turn on the kitchen sink, drinkable water should come out.

The city makes that happen without me having to attend a meeting about it.

When I go around my neighborhood with my family, I want us to not die.

That's public safety.

If the community isn't okay with what it takes to guarantee that, I don't really care.

And you shouldn't either.

Copy them.

Use your power to make it happen as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eli.

Um, Scott Kiljoin.

Kilcoin, sorry.

No worries.

Hi, I'm Scott Kilcoin.

Um I have heard that the city is looking for consensus.

We have consensus, the city has consensus.

They know exactly.

They suppressed a report uh survey last year that showed bike lanes and safe streets projects are extremely popular.

And that most of the uh resistance is just from people don't not understand what's happening, not because they don't like it.

The city has Mayo Wu has U-turned on the safe street projects.

She has uh hidden and suppressed this survey.

She's hidden and suppressed uh exactly what happened with that 30-day review on who actually got involved in that consensus.

Because to me and to everyone else around, it sure seems like the consensus is one billionaire choosing that we can't have safe streets anymore because he did not like having a bike lane in front of his mansion downtown.

That is not consensus.

The consensus shows safe streets are popular and need to happen.

The consensus is that we don't want to die on the streets.

The consensus is that the other billionaire that ran on bike lanes are terrible, was uh run out of town.

So he doesn't even live here anymore.

Like the consensus is that bike lanes are good and we want them, and we want you guys to stop pausing and stop lying to us.

You said there was no pause.

Then we have the counselor ask a specific project.

You said it was 75%, and you're not working on it anymore.

That is a pause or cancellation, which you also said nothing's been canceled.

You keep saying that there are no removal of bike lanes.

You removed the facility.

If we can't use the bike lane because there's no more flex posts, and now cars are parked in it.

That is a removal.

Don't lie to us, we know the experience.

Thank you.

Thank you, Scott.

Okay, so we are moving to online.

If you are here in person and you'd like to publicly testify, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Okay, one last person or more people, okay.

If you are testifying, please get in line.

Okay, thank you.

Um hi, my name's Daniel from Jamaica Plain, been in Boston resident for eight years.

Um, I'm a driver, I'm a cyclist, I'm a pedestrian.

I think most of us in this room are some combination of those three things.

Um I think it's clear that uh drivers take the space we give them, and space given to drivers takes away from everyone else.

And if you take space away from me as a driver, that gives me space as a cyclist, right?

Um I think that's important, and I think that what everyone has said today is important, and uh I am frustrated just like everyone else, and if I have to go out and get a shovel, I don't want to do that, but I feel like that's the direction we're headed.

I don't want to be LA, I don't have to paint sidewalks myself.

I want safe streets.

Thank you.

Are you Daniel Krullwitch?

No.

Okay, could you please sign in?

Okay.

Yeah, thank you.

Oh, okay, perfect.

You're next.

And if you haven't signed in yet, please sign in.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Daniel Tucker.

I'm a Dorchester resident.

I received a state e-bike voucher uh last August.

And I started bike commuting to Cambridge.

And quite frankly, it changed my life.

And just yesterday, I learned how much it's changed my health.

My I had a heart attack 12 years ago.

My cardiac function is better than it's ever been because I ride my bike virtually everywhere now.

As the previous speaker said, I own a car, I bike, I take the tea.

Um I choose to bike for my health, and this is an important thing to me because I want to live longer.

I also don't want to die in traffic.

Right.

The process described by the commissioner is no process.

I'm a manager.

A process involves steps.

A process involves an outline of what to do and how things work.

And I've not heard that.

Why can't I see this massive spreadsheet that the commissioner mentioned?

I'd like to see that.

Is it available to the general public?

What are the milestones?

What are the what are the goalposts?

The same thing.

A lot of talk about speed humps, they're great.

I appreciate the commissioner's statement that it's not always the right answer.

Bump outs, raise crosswalks, brilliant solutions in in places.

But what are the criteria for that?

How do I, as a citizen, advocate for a specific thing other than through the elected?

Um there should it should be obvious to me, and as the previous uh previous speaker also said, the examples are out there.

Other world class cities have done it.

Paris has done a phenomenal job in the past few years.

The work is there, the planners know, Mohammed, you know what can and should be done.

And we're not doing it, and this 30-day pause that has turned to 14 months is nonsense.

So thank you.

My time is up.

I appreciate the the council's calling this hearing and the presence of the commissioner.

Thank you.

And if you haven't signed in yet, just make sure you sign in.

And then we're we are now moving to online testimony.

So we have moved on from public testimony indoors.

Eric Herot, you are next, and you have two minutes.

Then we're gonna go with Molly Phelps online, Allegra Cohen, Kelly McGrath, Kathy McCabe, Lewis Gruner, Ben Crowther, Richard Murphy, and that's the order we're going in.

So I had a goal to get us out here by 5 30, and I think we just might do it.

So I'm ready.

Yes, go ahead.

Hi, my name's Eric Heron.

I'm a resident of Jamaica Plain.

Um thanks uh Counselor Durkin for holding this hearing.

It's actually such an important issue, and uh really glad to get the opportunity to speak on it.

Um, I just have to offer one piece of advice um to the mayor since she's obviously decided to see the entire uh campaign issue of street safety in favor of I don't know something that's the opposite of what almost everybody who supported or um uh ran on uh and instead suggest that I don't actually think in her what appears to be inevitable campaign uh for the governor's office or statewide office or whatever.

Um getting projects done, whether even if they may be controversial ones, is I think ultimately um it is it's the answer to what gets you elected.

So I just I just want to say that I I don't I don't think that this approach of sidelining things and not really having any answer to what's gonna happen to our streets, not dealing with the street safety issue whatsoever.

It's not it's not a winning approach, no matter what you're doing.

Um that's all I'm gonna say.

Yeah, I I just I want to echo all the other comments that came before me.

They have been some excellent things have been said, and I can't top them.

So that's all.

Thank you, Eric.

Um, next we're gonna go to Allegra Cohen.

You have two minutes.

Thank you.

Um thanks for the opportunity to speak.

I'm Allegra Cohen, I live in Jamaica Plain.

Um, and I worry every day that my husband is gonna get hit by a car.

Um, he's been cut off, he has been yelled at, he's been physically threatened by drivers on his bike.

Um, someone literally put their car in park once and got out of the car to chase him.

Um there's one crosswalk that we consistently almost die at together every single time we go through it.

Um okay, that's really awful, but the point I want to make is that it's super valuable data that nobody is asking for us, us for.

Um so residents are experts in how to survive in Boston.

You should be asking us about it all the time.

There are automated tools now, like conversational surveys that can talk to residents at scale outside of the public hearing process.

And so there's really no excuse not to get real-time data from residents.

What's more, we should be able to see those data, see the agreements and the disagreements, and hold the city accountable for how it responds to those data.

And this is well within the power of a good IT team.

I know that the city has folks in that department who are working on this kind of thing.

So if you're not using technology to paint a clearer and more transparent picture of transit safety, um, then you haven't really redesigned your process in any kind of meaningful way.

So that's all I have to say.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Allegra.

Um Kelly McGrath and then Kathy McCade.

Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Kelly McGrath, and I'm the executive director of Brighton Main Streets, and I am here representing the small business community, specifically along the Western Ave Corridor, North Beacon Street, and other small business districts.

Since late 2024, approximately 150 parking spaces were removed from this corridor without a comprehensive mitigation plan.

Over the past year, our businesses have done everything, asked of them.

They organized, they met with city staff, they participated in walkthroughs and provided detailed feedback and solutions.

And yet, nearly a year later, they're still waiting for action.

In that time, businesses have reported a 20 to 25% loss in business.

We've already lost one business, a black-owned woman business, the House of Arts and Crafts.

Others are now paying thousands of dollars for private parking just to stay open.

They're also facing serious safety concerns.

Parents are dropping off children in bike lanes, deliveries and rideshare pickups are happening in unsafe conditions, and buses cannot properly pull over.

This is not a theoretical issue.

This is happening every single day.

We want to be very clear that we are not opposed to bike infrastructure or any other safety infrastructure for our neighbors.

We're asking for equitable infrastructure and one that works for small businesses, residents, families, seniors, and people with disabilities.

We know this is possible.

There are sections of Western Ave near the Labworks building where bike lanes and parking coexists successfully.

The model works and it proves that balance is achievable.

So today we're asking for action.

Restore limited parking, where feasible.

Look to reopen and restore residential parking analysis based on the rail residents that live in those side streets.

Create designated loading and drop-off zones.

Address okay, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, uh Kathy McCabe, you have two minutes.

Hi, thank you.

I'm Kathy McCabe, and I'm president of the Longfellow Area Neighborhood Association, and I'd like to highlight three projects, uh transportation projects that are in need of advancement towards implementation.

One is the signals and sidewalk project for South Walter and Robert streets by Fallon Field in our neighborhood.

We understood this project was at 95% design, ready to go out for bid in fall of 2025, but it did not.

The signals are old and in need of replacement.

Sidewalks are in poor condition.

The South Robert intersection has a dangerous feature.

The right turn lane from Robert onto South is via a slip lane that is not controlled by the signal.

Instead, there's a stop sign where driver non-compliance has been observed to be only 60 to 70%.

And this is a slip lane that one needs to cross to even press the pedestrian button so they can cross the street.

We need to fix this intersection and get the streets and signals project moving.

The second project is Walter Street, South Street sidewalks and crosswalks.

Lana has been advocating for these improvements for over a decade for sidewalk improvements from Bosie Brook and Walter to Failing Field South Street.

We organized a charrette.

We've had community engagement.

And that charrette was over a decade ago with neighborhood residents.

Residents wanted slower speeds, safer walking and bicycling conditions, and the ability to safely cross Walter Street as well as safely walking along Walter Street.

Sidewalks are uneven, prone to puddling and icing.

They are largely non-ADA compliant.

Person using a walker, wheelchair, or pushing a stroller cannot safely travel on the sidewalks.

They're bumpy with trip hackers, including utility caps, heaped asphalt, and curved sidewalks.

Sidewalks are poorly lit, making it difficult to navigate trip hazards in the dusk and evening.

So we need to look for improvement.

Lana wants concrete sidewalks that are ADA time.

And I also want to point out while weld and center street.

We've submitted written comments.

We've done community engagement.

We've been waiting for those improvements for over four years, and we don't know what's happening.

So thank you very much.

Okay.

And we look forward to working with you.

Okay, Lucas is next, and then Ben Crowther.

Thank you, counselors, for the opportunity to speak.

Um, I want to start by saying I'm extremely disappointed in the stalling of projects, despite the city's own data showing that they're successful and popular.

However, I did want to comment on a few other things.

Um, I was glad to hear today that the Streets Cabinet is looking to follow global best practices and coordinate safety work with repair.

Um, we need more of this as the default, as an example.

There's a new apartment project in JP that's going to include the reconstruction of Rockville Circle, but there's been no indication that any significant safety improvements will be made despite the street being extremely wide, a dead end, and opening out onto busy Washington Street.

It's also good to hear that the cabinet is trying to consider what the best traffic calming measures are for a neighborhood.

Um, but the current process needs to improve in my experience working um with residents of the Stonebook neighborhood.

The city's been acting as if speed humps are adequate to address issues with rat running during rush hour, which residents know is not true.

Um, I'd also like to urge you to consider flush streets and shared streets.

Many parts of my neighborhood and JP are perfect candidates for this.

They have very narrow sidewalks that are not ADA compliant and are either partially or completely obstructed by telephone poles, trees, and driveway ramps.

Uh, most of these streets also have very low traffic volumes, and people typically walk in the street anyway.

Um, with that being said, if things continue as they have been in the last year, I just don't trust the city to actually follow through on these things.

Um, hearing the claim today that no projects have been paused does not give me the impression that the streets cabinet is being allowed to work in good faith.

Um, I know that the talented staff at BTD have been told to stop working on certain safety projects.

Um barriers have been removed from bike lanes, notably on Mass Av, with no public process or explanation.

The Beacon Street bike lanes never finished construction at the Arlington Street intersection.

There have been no updates on the public garden crossings, Center South Action Plan, the State Street Resign, Columbus Ave Bus Lanes, the extension, uh Huntington Ab Accessibility Project, Charles Street South, and many other projects for at least a year.

Uh, the only update some of these projects have seen has been having their funding cut or eliminated by the mayor's latest budget proposal.

Um Mayor Boo has been completely inconsistent with her policy recently on street safety, and at this point, I have no idea what she actually believes or what her motivations are.

Um we need real actions and not words to regain public trust on this stuff at this point.

Just look across the river to see what kind of policy leads to real results.

Thank you.

Ben Crowther, you're next.

And your last.

We've cheered the steps that the city have taken to improve safe streets under Mayor Wu's first term, and we really need more action now.

Um, like others have said, I also feel betrayed by voting for Mayor Wu.

Um, the lack of meaningful progress since March of 2025 on safe streets is incredibly problematic, especially without any clear explanation for the lack of updates.

I'll speak about the experience in our neighborhood where there remains to be so much more to be done to improve pedestrian, bicyclist, and driver safety.

And it seems like this is emblematic of problems elsewhere across the city.

Um, at the intersection of Walworth and South Street next to Fallon Field, uh BTD installed you know, right turn on red sign after we asked.

That's an agreement with their adopted guidance in 2023.

Um, about a month after they installed it, they took it down without an explanation.

There's children that cross uh to the park constantly.

A pedestrian cyclist have both been hit there in 2024.

We sent a letter in 2020, December 2025 with a request for an explanation.

No response.

That one's a quick fix.

Uh, we've worked with BTD on plans for safety improvements to the nearby Hewlett South Walter Roberts Intersection.

Pedestrians hit there in 2023.

This was approved by the PIC all these improvements and signal upgrades in March 2025.

We've asked BTD for an update on project timing and status.

No answer.

Uh so at the end of the day, not investing in safe streets.

It's just it's costing lives, and it's costing Boston residents money.

When I moved here uh from LaGrange Street in West Roxbury, a little over a mile away.

My car insurance rates double because of the number of crashes in our neighborhoods.

So something urgently needs to be done to make all city streets safer for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists in the mayor's office and BTD need to resume their leadership role.

Well, I don't know, over, but we have four we had at least 47 people testify.

And I think that's a huge testament to how much people care about this work.