Category: COVID-19

COVID-19 Fundraising Challenge for #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5

COVID-19 Fundraising Challenge for #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5

Every day, WalkBoston works to make walking safer and easier throughout Massachusetts.

Through our technical assistance, education, and advocacy initiatives, WalkBoston works to achieve more walkable communities with equitable access to parks, natural environments, and open spaces as well as basic needs such as nutritious food and healthcare. During the COVID-19 public health crisis, our mission is all the more critical.

Join us in supporting our work in 120+ communities throughout Massachusetts by giving to our COVID-19 Fundraising Campaign for #GivingTuesdayNow on May 5. Your gift will help provide immediate financial support, ensuring WalkBoston can address urgent and pressing issues of pedestrian safety, such as communicating with Department of Public Health and other city officials on important next steps to promote pedestrian safety in times of COVID. We are aiming to raise $3,000 in honor of our 30th anniversary.

During this unprecedented time, many donors, corporations, and foundations are, understandably, choosing to support basic needs organizations. We hope you’ll consider investing in our work as well. Safe and accessible walking is important now more than ever.

Please use the following link to give to our campaign: COVID-19 Fundraising Challenge

We are in the process of transitioning our 30th anniversary events to virtual gatherings. Please stay tuned for updates on more ways to connect and support our work.
Letter to City Council on Safe Streets and COVID-19

Letter to City Council on Safe Streets and COVID-19

April 30, 2020

City Councilor Liz Breadon
City Councilor Michelle Wu
1 City Hall Square
Boston, MA 02201

Dear Councilors Breadon and Wu:

Thank you for filing an order for a hearing regarding implementing changes for safe streets during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated in WalkBoston’s March 27, 2020, post “We are all in this together,” and the Vision Zero Coalition’s April 13, 2020, statement,“Keeping People Safe While Making Essential Trips During the COVID-19 Crisis,” we share your concerns regarding limited space for people to safely walk, bike and use transit while maintaining the recommended 6 feet of physical distance.  Our recommendations mirror yours, and we commend you on elevating this issue to the Boston City Council.

As we continue to remain close to home to stop the spread of the virus, we remain connected to those on the front lines of this crisis to better understand the built environment issues they face when making essential trips outside their homes. MassBike and the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative have included us in conversations about the needs of older adults living in senior housing units in urban centers. Older adults are among the most vulnerable to fall victim to COVID-19. Ensuring that our elders have safe access and enough room on our sidewalks to walk to get food and other essential services is a must. We ask that you keep the needs of our seniors on the top of your minds when deciding on a methodology to share Boston’s streets.

We have also been in contact with the Boston Age Strong Commission who have identified potential locations where expanded sidewalks and outdoor spaces would greatly benefit senior residents. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but will be a good starting point and can help act as models for other cities and towns as they design and implement shared streets as part of COVID response and recovery.

Thank you again for elevating this issue to the City Council. As the weather gets warmer in the coming weeks, we believe that the need to reallocate space on our streets will be more important than ever. Please let me know if WalkBoston can be helpful in any way.

Sincerely,

Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director
WalkBoston

Boston Magazine: Now, and After the Pandemic, Boston’s Streets Need a Fresh Look

Boston Magazine: Now, and After the Pandemic, Boston’s Streets Need a Fresh Look

Boston Magazine: “Now, and After the Pandemic, Boston’s Streets Need a Fresh Look”

“This crisis has really given everyone a new sense of what public space means and how it should be used,” says Stacey Buettell, executive director of the advocacy group WalkBoston. “I’m guessing people probably didn’t think about the fact that sidewalks are typically only 5 feet wide” before all of this.

we’re all in this together

we’re all in this together

 As of Governor Baker’s Friday morning update (March 27, 2020), Massachusetts officials say to stay home, stop the spread. MassDPH’s public health advisory says to “only leave your home to address essential needs, get some fresh air and exercise, and if you do, avoid unnecessary contact with other individuals.”  It is still permissible to walk, bike, roll, or run outside as long as we maintain 6 feet of physical distance between us. However, in many areas, sidewalks are not wide enough to accommodate this recommendation.

With more people out walking, biking, rolling and running than ever before, help us call on Massachusetts city and town leaders to make these activities safer.

Here are a few ways your local officials can help: 

  • Make a public announcement to residents that every street is considered a shared street. Expect to see people walking, biking, rolling, or running in the street as they maintain 6 feet of physical distance on narrow sidewalks. If you are driving, be prepared to yield to people walking and biking and DRIVE SLOWLY. 
  • Automate walk signals so pedestrians do not have to push buttons. It is one less surface to touch and potentially contract/spread disease. Brookline and Cambridge have already started this effort, and other communities should follow.
  • If a park or pathway is overcrowded, try to allow people to spread out. Vehicle use is down, which has revealed the vast amounts of pavement dedicated to cars. Streets are public space and these valuable resources can serve as a way to keep people sane and healthy through walking, biking, rolling, and running with appropriate social distancing. Learn techniques on a free webinar from Toole Design on April 2nd at 2pm titled “Rebalancing Streets for People.”

Here are ways you can help if you do leave your home:

  • Stop running or walking in groups, and pass others with care. If people do not practice social distancing, it is possible that stricter limits will be enforced on outdoor activities. Keep your neighbors safe, and don’t ruin it for everyone.  
  • Remember that safe streets save lives as well. It is especially important at this time to reduce the number of injuries from traffic crashes in order to lessen the burden on our emergency medical services. Anecdotally in Massachusetts, many people that are out driving on wide open roads are driving faster and recklessly, putting pedestrians in danger. In New York, data from automated speed enforcement cameras confirm this assertion. Streetsblog NYC found that the enforcement cameras issued more speeding tickets for several days in March compared to the same day of the month in January, despite many fewer drivers on the roads.

Thank you to all people working on the front lines to contain this virus and treat those who are suffering its ill effects. Our goal is to support our public health, medical and elected officials in their efforts to protect community health. Our ask is for more space so that people can walk, bike, run and roll responsibly during this challenging time. We’re all in this together. Be well.

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