Category: Event

One Minute, One Slide: Age-Friendly Walking in Boston and Beyond

Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff.
Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on September 23, 2020 on Zoom.

Wendy Landman

Aging in your own community is what almost everybody says they want to do. Massachusetts is working to live up to it’s declaration as an age friendly state and WalkBoston is in the thick of things with our age-friendly walking efforts across the state. Almost exactly a year ago today with the mayor and many local residents we were celebrating new benches in Grove Hall as part of Boston’s new WalkBoston-inspired bench program. Research has shown us that plenty of benches are a key ingredient of keeping older adults walking.

We could not have imagined that today our work would have transitioned to zoom and helping communities figure out the best ways to keep seniors active during COVID-19. That could mean creating pop-up connections between senior housing and nearby parks and shopping. Or carrying out walk audits remotely or with video conversations about individual walks.

We are also thinking about the future and have developed a list of our top 8 municipal infrastructure and policy recommendations for age-friendly walking. People from Egremont to Quincy, from Salem to Worcester and Barnstable want to keep on walking as they age in their communities – and WalkBoston is there as a partner for the long term.

One Minute, One Slide: Walking & Communicating in the time of COVID

Below is a “One Minute, One Slide” presentation shared by a member of the WalkBoston staff.
Text provided is as prepared for this year’s annual event on September 23, 2020 on Zoom.

*Can’t read the text on these screenshots? Click here or on the image to access the archived Mailchimp message.*

Brendan Kearney

I’m Brendan Kearney, WalkBoston’s deputy director.

March 18th, we launched a weekly storytelling email effort that we called “Keep Walking”

It started as a way to share positive news as we collectively grappled with the unfamiliarity of life in quarantine. It quickly became more than that though, and we now know that a limited run email series is a way that we can delve deeper into a topic area related to walking.

It gave us a chance to pause and formulate what has been important to us each week: from exploring new rail trails (Issue 3), to rediscovering neighborhood walking maps (Issue 4); from learning about the animals that coexist on the streets around us (Issue 6), to the blooms of flowers along streets and a resurgence of gardens and CSAs (Issues 8 and 9); from sharing streets for physical distancing (Issue 11), to walking to support main street businesses (Issue 14).

As Stacey spoke about earlier, Keep Walking also became the space where we committed to being better advocates and working to end the structural racism that perpetuates violence against Black people (in Issue 12). We have always believed that safe walking is a fundamental right, but it is not one that we all share equally: a “safe street” does not mean the same thing for every person (Issue 13).

We are grateful to everyone that reached out and shared your stories, too: including the way walking has become a critical release valve.

To read any of these issues, head to walkboston.org/keepwalking

WalkBoston 30th Annual Celebration – save the (new) date, Sept 23rd

Please save the date, with more info & registration link to follow – on September 23rd at 5pm, we’ll gather on Zoom!

WalkBoston is celebrating 30 years of making Massachusetts safer and easier to walk. This year’s keynote speaker is Mark Fenton, a nationally recognized public health, planning, and transportation consultant, an advocate for active transportation, and former host of the “America’s Walking” series on PBS television.

This year’s celebration will recognize the following groups with Golden Shoe Awards:

Boston Public Library | Renovations that enhance walkability
Coalition for a Better Acre Walking Champions | Advocating for safer walking in Lowell
Tufts Health Plan Foundation & Boston Age Strong Commission | Advancing age-friendly walking throughout Massachusetts

Thank you for all your support over the years: we look forward to celebrating with you! Any questions, please send an email to info@dev.walkboston.org

Walkability & Main Street Resilience Recording

Thank you to our panelists, Alia and Che, and all of you who joined us for Walkability and Main Street Resilience!

In case you missed it, the panel discussion was recorded and is available here. We hope you will watch and share it to learn ways you can help the main street businesses that make your community walkable.

If you want to learn more about Roslindale Village Main Street and some of the efforts happening in Roslindale that Alia shared, head to the RVMS website.

Remember to keep supporting your main street businesses, and advocating for enough open space for walking and shopping local:

Let your city/town officials know if you like how your neighborhood main streets are adapting to outdoor dining and providing more space for walking
If you see a conflict point between walking and dining, reach out to your city hall and advocate for more space
Support local businesses using the tips mentioned by the panelists, such as purchasing goods/services, or sharing and liking their social media content
Highlight what is working well. Share with @WalkBoston on Twitter or email: info@dev.walkboston.org

If you work for a town, municipality, or small business in Massachusetts and would like to implement the ideas discussed during this panel in your community, check out some of these resources to get started:

Funding

City of Boston Reopen Fund (for small businesses)

MassDOT’s Shared Streets and Spaces Grant Program

Mass Development’s COVID-19 Response Round: Resurgent Places Funding

Solomon Foundation’s Streets for Recovery Grant Program

Additional Resources

MAPC Webinar on Navigating MassDOT’s New Grant Program

City of Boston Guidance for Temporary Extensions on Public Property

MAPC: Webinar on local permitting pre and post-COVID-19

NACTO: “Streateries” webinar on restaurants and physical distancing

More about current funding opportunities:

Road Race: the Alarming Increase in Speeding on Massachusetts Roadways

Join WalkBoston tomorrow, June 4th, for a virtual AAA Northeast Town Hall to discuss the increase in speeding during the COVID-19 pandemic, making the roads more dangerous for all users at a time when walking outside is especially important for health.

Take part in the conversation tomorrow, June 4th from 11am-noon ET.

Learn more about the event and the panelists:

Excessive speeds have grave implications for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. We’ll discuss this alarming trend and consider approaches for getting people to slow down and prioritize safety.

Moderators: Mary Maguire and Mark Schieldrop

Panelists:

Colonel Christopher Mason, MA State Police

Jonathan Gulliver, MassDOT Highway Administrator

Jeff Larason, MA Director of Highway Safety

Galen Mook, Executive Director, MA Bicycle Coalition

Stacey Beuttell, Executive Director, WalkBoston