Category: Event

Event – 2023 Bob Sloane Walk

Event – 2023 Bob Sloane Walk

Please join us on Wednesday, May 24th at 5:30pm for this year’s Bob Sloane Walk.

Sign up today!

This walk is in honor of Bob Sloane. Bob was a co-founder of WalkBoston (now WalkMassachusetts) and passed away in May 2021. He was a true pioneer in walking advocacy and a pillar of our organization, and we honor his legacy by hosting a walk each year in his name.

Each spring, we lead a free walk with a ~1-1.5 mile route that includes ~2-4 stops along the way where we hear from a guest speaker. We start or end near public transit, and usually end at a place where people can mingle/have a drink if they’d like to continue conversations.

Since this is a point-to-point walk, we encourage you to use public transportation, walk, or bike to the start so that it is easy for you to head out afterwards.

SPEAKERS & TOPICS

  • City Hall Plaza Redesign 
  • Park Ranger, National Park Service; Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial
  • Nathan Frazee, Project Manager, Boston Parks and Recreation Dept.; Boston Common Master Plan
  • Chris Scovel, RA, LEED; Design Director, MASS Design Group; The Embrace

ROUTE

We’re starting behind the Government Center MBTA Station (corner of Cambridge St and Court St), which is also where our first speaker will talk about the redesign of Boston’s City Hall Plaza. 

From there, we’ll walk along Tremont St, take a right on Beacon and get to the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial across from the State House, where a National Park Service Ranger will join us to talk about the monument and the renovations.

Next, we’ll head to the Frog Pond in the Boston Common, where we’ll be joined by Boston Parks to talk about the Boston Common Master Plan. We’ll then stop at The Embrace to hear from MASS Design Group about the memorial. From there, we will then continue on to MASS Design Group’s office in the South End where they currently have an exhibition called “Making the Embrace.” We’ll end with a drink on their outdoor deck, or invite you to check out one of the many bars and restaurants near their office in the South End!

The walk route is fully accessible. Since the Boston Common entrance at the Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial only has stairs, we will use the sidewalk on Park Street toward Park St Station, and enter the Boston Common at the corner of Park and Tremont.

View the tentative route on Google Maps here.

We hope to see you on May 24th at 5:30pm. Please RSVP today!

Green Line Extension Opening

Green Line Extension Opening

WalkBoston’s Program Coordinator Ava Dimond had the opportunity to attend the Green Line Extension’s (GLX) official opening ceremony in the Tufts Joyce Cummings Center on Monday, Dec. 12th. She stepped onto the Green Line at Haymarket station and comfortably rode it all the way to the Medford/Tufts stop, passing 5 new stops along the way at College Avenue, Ball Square, Magoun Square, Gilman Square, and East Somerville. The Green Line Extension is anticipated to carry riders on more than 50,000 trips each day, allowing residents of Cambridge, Somerville, and Medford to streamline their trips to downtown Boston and beyond. 

As the audience filed in and buzzed about the how the first rides went that morning (starting with an extremely well-attended 4:45 a.m. train departing Tufts), university a capella groups Essence and the Beelzebubs gave fabulous performances while Jumbo (the Tufts mascot) ambled around wearing a Charlie Card on a green lanyard. Speakers at the event included Tufts’ President Tony Monaco, Governor Charlie Baker, Senators Liz Warren and Ed Markey, Mayors Katjana Ballantyne and Breanna Lungo-Koehn, as well as officials from the T, many wearing green.

Like much of the media surrounding the GLX, the tone was celebratory and optimistic— but every speaker dutifully acknowledged the project’s enormous expense, major challenges from its inception decades ago, and seemingly endless delays. Having been officially in the works since 1991, the $2.3 billion project stalled over and over again due to lawsuits, funding struggles, and later, the COVID-19 pandemic. As trains serenely rolled in and out of the Medford/Tufts station just behind the speakers, it was hard not to reflect on the immense amount of community organizing, political will, and physical labor the GLX and the adjoining Community Path Extension (CPX) entailed. Some speakers, like Sen. Warren, alluded to the hope that one day soon Medford/Tufts will be just another stop until the Green Line and Community Path reaches Route 16. Many dream that this project represents a new beginning, and not the end, of an accessible, reliable, and affordable 21st century transit system for the Greater Boston area. 

We were glad to see Mayor Ballantyne take the time to shout out the Community Path Extension. In 2015 and 2016, the CPX’s future looked uncertain due to ballooning Green Line Extension costs. Thanks to the persistent lobbying by local officials, committed residents, and advocacy groups such as Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP), the Conservation Law Foundation, and more, the CPX became a reality. WalkBoston would especially like to congratulate Friends of the Community Path, a longtime supporter and collaborator on walkability, on this exciting success. When the Path’s current extension project is finally completed, “bicycle users and pedestrians will be able to enjoy a continuous off-street pathway between Davis Square and Paul Revere Park on the banks of the Charles River in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood.” We look forward to walking the path soon!

MassDOT 2022 Moving Together Conference

MassDOT 2022 Moving Together Conference

Last week WalkBoston had the opportunity to attend and table at MassDOT’s Moving Together Conference. It was wonderful to be surrounded by colleagues who are as passionate about the possibilities of active transportation and public transportation as the WalkBoston staff is. Walking, alongside bicycling and public transport, encourages better health, a cleaner environment, and more vibrant communities in Massachusetts.

Iolando, Brendan, Althea and Wendy attended workshops and panels, networked with fellow transportation advocates, and shared about WalkBoston’s work while tabling. It was especially great to talk to so many people on November 1st, day one of this year’s Beat the Bay State Challenge, and encourage them to sign up and create teams! 

One panel that stood out to Brendan was “MassTrails – Investments in Trails Across the Commonwealth,” which featured Dan Driscoll and Stella Lensing from the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), Megan Mello of Kittelson, and Pete Sutton and Kayla Sousa of MassDOT. Officially launched in 2018, the MassTrails Team has recently completed its fourth round of grant awards funding $11.8 million in MassTrails Grants to 81 projects throughout the Commonwealth. The team is seeking to create a cohesive network of trails across Massachusetts; excitingly, Dan Driscoll announced that $40 million was recently appropriated by the Governor for funding the Mystic River bridge crossing and they will be restarting the design process soon! 

WalkBoston Attends the NACTO Designing Cities 2022 Conference

WalkBoston Attends the NACTO Designing Cities 2022 Conference

Last week three of our WalkBoston staff had the exciting opportunity to attend the NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) Designing Cities 2022 conference! Our Executive Director Stacey, our Deputy Director Brendan, and our new Senior Program Manager Iolando spent the week exchanging ideas with over 1,000 officials, planners, and practitioners in NACTO’s first in-person conference since 2019. They participated in “Walkshops” (mobile workshops that allow attendees to visit, learn about, and reflect on local transportation projects) and attended talks whose topics ranged from best practices in public communications to universal basic mobility. WalkBoston attendees also got to hear from compelling speakers such as Mayor Michelle Wu and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. 

             

The conference was pervaded by a spirit of optimism for the future of cities which Iolando found contagious. He left feeling “upbeat and happy,” because NACTO was “such a great opportunity to build relationships with like-minded people who are working on the ground on these topics,” including how to make transportation more equitable. Iolando attributes this energy in part to the many transportation experiments conducted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic; experiments whose failures and successes provided plenty for practitioners to come together and reflect over. “As a person who is new to this organization, it felt like ‘Wow, this is such an awesome time to get started!’”

               

Iolando believes this positive energy (even in the midst of Boston’s current struggles to adapt to the Orange Line closures) is a testament to the conference’s skillful highlighting of the strides Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville have made towards a more equitable, safe, and sustainable transit system. For example, Iolando attended a Walkshop in Cambridge entitled “Reimagining Shared Spaces in Cambridge’s Cultural District” that took participants to explore Central Square. It focused on how transforming parking for cars into places for people improves walkability, thereby expanding the community’s access to services, arts, and cultural items. Another Walkshop Iolando attended, “Making Tremont Street Safer: A Journey through Space and Time,” looked at Boston’s South End and featured an interesting discussion of what it looks like to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility while balancing historical preservation in a storied neighborhood. Participants even observed construction crews building safety features such as raised crosswalks, lane reallocations, and separated bike lanes. 

WalkBoston is immensely grateful for the opportunity to attend NACTO this year. Thanks to generous support from the Barr Foundation, NACTO was able to provide funds to support attendance to the conference for people from New England cities.