City Council - Planning, Development, and Transportation Committee Hearing on Docket #1543

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My name is Sharon Durkan, District 8 City Councilor and I'm the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Planning, Development, and Transportation. Today is October 22nd and the exact time is 2 o 5 p.m. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being livestreamed at boston.gov backslash city-council-tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82 Fios, Channel 964. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccz.plandev at boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all councillors. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc oh sorry I just said that public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing individuals will be called on in the order in which they've signed up and we'll have two minutes to testify I see we have our first page filled up if you'd like to and many more. Everyone is going to get two minutes to testify. If you're interested in testifying in person, please add your name to the sign-in sheet. I'd just like to congratulate Shane Pack

On his Shattuck Award last night, we're incredibly proud of Shane at the City Council. He's done such great work and he has been our shepherd through all our planning development and transportation meetings since I've been and so email him if you'd like to testify virtually shane.pac at boston.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list today's hearing is on docket one five four 4543, order for hearing on traffic enforcement of blocked bike lanes and crosswalks. This matter was sponsored by me, City Councilor Sharon Durkan, and was referred to the committee on August 5th, 2026. Today we were joined by my colleagues in order of arrival, Councilor Murphy, Councillor Flynn, and Councilor Breadon. Since I'm the lead sponsor and the sponsor of this docket, I'm going to read an opening statement. And then we will head to introductions from the panel. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you Chief Osgood and Deputy Chief Goad for being here today.

Mia, John Romano, all everyone who's doing the great work at BTD Thank you to the residents, the advocates and community members who took time out of your day to be here. We want to hear from you because you're on our streets every day and your experiences are what we're here to talk about. This issue is fundamentally about safety for our residents and it impacts their lives every day. A blocked bike lane or crosswalk forces people into biking or walking into the street and into traffic, and increases the risk that they might get into a crash. I hear from many residents every day about this issue in District 8, which is home to many high traffic commercial corridors and residential areas With bike corridors and public transit. I represent many constituents who don't own cars, and I don't either so I share that experience. By foot is the primary way I ended up in a Herald article saying pedestrian is king. I absolutely believe that if we can't make it safe for pedestrians,

As a city, you know that's our goal and vision zero should be our goal. And we have to move quickly and urgently towards that Analyst of Blocked bike lane reports revealed that more than half of all reports occurred along nine main corridors. Two of the top three are in District 8, Kenmore Square and Longwood and Fenway area. Seeing drivers pull up into crosswalks is a regular occurrence Even though it's a legal understate law, lack of consistent enforcement perpetuates a culture in which drivers don't feel accountable for following the rules of the road. Crosswalks and bike lanes are designated to protect pedestrians and cyclists. And when these spaces are routinely blocked, it undermines our trust in transportation investments and compromises the safety benefits this infrastructure is meant to provide. All of our residents and everyone, whether you're from Cambridge, Somerville or elsewhere traveling into our city. You're a tourist. You should be able to walk bike or travel through our city without a car and feel safe doing so.

I often hear City of Boston officials, and none that I'm looking at. But I often hear people talk about oh well that safety improvement is meant for people coming from a different city We are supposed to be sort of at the center of where people are traveling to. We are the biggest city in the Commonwealth, So anyone who's coming to our city and feels unsafe here, that matters deeply to me. Anyone who spends time in my district matters deeply too me. And obviously we prioritize residents who feel unsafe in crosswalks That safety should apply to everyone who traverses our city. Right now, residents are encouraged to report blocked bike lanes and crosswalks through 311 which is important because that data helps us identify where the issues are most prevalent and whether we should target enforcement or street design and infrastructure improvements.

But drivers only stop in bike lanes or crosswalks temporarily, making these violations difficult to report and enforce. Today I'm looking forward to discussing what more we can do to hold drivers accountable This includes exploring targeted enforcement, public awareness and accountability programs. But it also begs the question of whether we should be lobbying the statehouse for more power to do this in a way that would Be more efficient and effective. I hope that some of those takeaways are coming out of our conversation And I just want to thank the administration for being here. They do have a time constraint and have to leave at 3 30, so I want to get into the conversation as quickly as possible. So because i'm the only sponsor of this docket I'm going to go ahead and let them start with their presentation. And then if you have any opening statements or questions, we'll just combine those as we get started.

So we are joined also by City Councilor Russi Louisian So grateful to my colleagues for showing up for this hearing and I'll let the administration introduce themselves. But Mia, John Chris and Nick, thank you for all of your leadership. Let's get into what you guys are working on I have seen an increased enforcement mechanism that is taking place and I think we need to continue I'll let you get into your presentation. We do have a couple of selected testimony from folks, so we are going to pepper those in once you're done with your presentation

Councilor Durkan, thank you so much. Councilors, thank your leadership and for your partnership on this. Thanks to all who are here who are emphasizing the importance of enforcement. Councilor, to your point, fundamentally from a perspective We want to make sure that we are eliminating fatalities from our roadways as well as serious crashes. I'm going to very briefly go through a set of slides and outline our work around enforcement, the companion work around curb management. As you noted, I'm joined by Deputy Chief Gove who oversees all of the operations and maintenance work for our Streets Cabinet. John Romano who overseas our parking enforcement team is our Director of Operations and Mia Capone who is our Director of Parking and Car Management overseeing the parking clerk's office. So, safety is sort of the fundamental bedrock component of the work we are doing It is core to sort of the way in which we are thinking about the tools that we have.

And it is a responsibility, which is both with the Paws and Transportation Department as well as our partners at the Boston Police Department The Police Department has authority over moving violations as well as parking violations. This team, the Transportation Department, has a focus specifically on the parking violations We have a number of different tools that we can use. This conversation is largely about enforcement and curb management, but engineering, the physical changes that we make to the street, and very much to your opening remarks, Councilor, our efforts around MOTIF to encourage more folks Walk, Bike or Take Transit is another way that we can relieve pressure on our roadways and reduce the overall likelihood of some of the parking demand and parking infractions that we see. But again this focus is largely not on the engineering or motion pieces but on the enforcement and curb management components.

Just to give a sense, over the course of fiscal year 2026, the Boston Transportation Department issued a little over 1.1 million parking tickets That was, again, over FY26. As you noted in your opening remarks and with great credit to Deputy Chief Gove as well as to John and really to the 139 parking enforcement officers who work for the Boston Transportation Department, we are Outpacing that amount this year. We're trending about 9% higher in our ticket issuance over the course of this year, really making sure that we are addressing a number of the concerns and requests that come in across the city As everyone knows, the parking enforcement officer role is a difficult role. It's a stressful role and it is with great credit to each member of the team who is out there in the community every single day that is

addressing some of the concerns and complaints that we see both routinely around quality of life and mobility as well as the acute safety concerns that get raised. As you noted in your opening testimony, there is A component of the work which is done by the parking enforcement officers is based upon shifts. We collect a lot of data, principally through 311. Last year we received our calendar year 2025 We received a little over 60,000 through one request for illegal parking, parking enforcement violations that got routed to John's team. Those violation reports do allow us Make sure that we are identifying hot spots in our city for enforcement officers to be able to address and think through not just how we may adjust our shifts, where we may be deploying staff in real time, but also how we maybe adjusting our curb rules overall going forward.

To give a sense, this is a quick snapshot of last month, September 2026, where the team issued over 100,000 parking enforcement tickets over the course of the month including the ones that you see listed here. About 6,000 tickets for violations of no stopping, no standing. About 1,000 Tickets for bike lane and bus lane violations. A thousand tickets for illegal parking for hydrants about 1,000 tickets for double parking and 200 crosswalk violation tickets. A snapshot of what one month looks like both in terms of locations and in terms sort of reinforcing the amount of work which the parking enforcement officers are doing every single day across the city and again informed really by a lot of requests from constituents and also the routes that have been shaped over time by the department.

I appreciate that basically District 8 and District 2 are the most heavily shaded, meaning We're getting some of the most enforcement because of those commercial corridors.

As you noted, some of those hotspot areas that were identified, Kenmore, Longwood are some of these areas where the enforcement officers certainly are. Obviously a component of the enforcement officer's work has also driven around deployment around meters, deployment around posted street sweeping as well as resident permit parking. As you noted and as you all know, we are also looking to expand the types of tools that we're empowering our officers to use. On this slide are just three quick examples The tools that are being explored or considered. Right now in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there are 350 cities and towns that have the opportunity for their enforcement units to be able to use automated parking enforcement. A municipality that does not. We are the one municipality that currently by state law is not allowed to have automated parking enforcement as something which, as you know, Councilor Durkan at

that we are continuing to advocate around and see how that can be a tool that can help our enforcement officers address the concerns that we know that residents have. In addition, as many of you know, is advancing a set of work that is going to come first, the Silver Line 4 and Silver Line 5 routes starting essentially in the new year where they will be issuing tickets for stopping at bus stops as well as parking or standing in bus lanes. The T is providing a significant amount of information about that. Happy to share any of that content with all of you or connect you with folks at the MBTA around that. In addition, the Boston Public Schools have issued an RFP that is specific Thank you.

By Mia Capone and her team in collaboration with our Department of Innovation and Technology. We're just thinking about how do we adjust the rules of our curb? How do we have just the regulatory environment across our streets to best meet demand and by doing that reduce the amount of illegal parking that we see. Are there curb rules that should be adjusted so that we can better create space for commercial loading, for short-term pickup or drop off? for other things that we may be seeing in our neighborhoods where the curb rules themselves are not necessarily supporting the use that we're seeing. And as a result, we are seeing a higher instance of this sort of illegal parking behavior that all of us want to be able to address. You get a snapshot of some of the work that Mia's team is doing work around thinking about where we do things like install EV chargers across our city, have an understanding of what those rules and regulations look like citywide. And how a number of us have been having conversations on how we create

Block by block, a better set of curve rules for the sort of needs that our residents, small businesses et cetera have in a particular location. That is also helping us inform how we Think about engineering changes, which again is not necessarily the focus of this conversation. But it is one of the tools that we have to manage our roads. It's not just enforcement, not just education but also engineering and how we think about sort of designing our roads in places that to better reflect use and better create safe streets. And so we are looking at how we collect through on one request, use those in combination with parking enforcement violations as well as Vision Zero crash-related data to help us think through what are hotspots we need to be using all the levers at our disposal, enforcement, engineering, education, curb management or curb rule redesign. So that is a quick snapshot of the work we're doing.

Again, we sort of welcome the collaboration of all of you and of the many constituents across our city and look forward to your questions and comments.

I know we've got about an hour with you all. And we've been joined now by Councilors Fitzgerald, Culpepper and Weber. So we've gotta packed house so I'm gonna give everyone six minutes and hope that we can get through but I'm going to be really So you say you have 139 parking enforcement officers. Obviously, in the last Six months, there have been thousands of 311 reports of blocked bike lanes. Obviously it's hard to respond to these in real time because the car is likely to move at some point and many more. Thank you Mr. Chair. I have a follow-up question for you. Can you explain how the city approaches enforcement? I will add Editing those curbside regulations is very important because then a traffic enforcement officer has a reason to be in that space. Can you talk about how those topics lend together?

and potentially what curbside regulations you're looking at to make sure that we have the ability to enforce blocked bike lanes.

Happy to start.

And I just want to say there was at least one accident actually in Councilor Flynn's district of a person that we all know who was forced out into a I don't want to necessarily and many more. I don' t want to talk about his individual incident but we know particularly that this and I am lucky to have been a champion from this so i know what's happening in our communities but we need to work harder it's not simply Bikers can just go around. They're put in an unsafe environment, and then people that are driving are put in a unsafe environment where they're having to look out, and nobody wants to have caused something that catastrophic.

I'm so happy to start and really, Nick, John please feel free to add as well as Mia. So the heart of this is really where we have shifts and where we routes. So parking enforcement officers work on shifts and are assigned to specific routes throughout the city. And as they're doing those routes, address a number of the concerns that come in but there's also sort of as we get safety related requests that come in, there's the opportunity for them to be dispatched to be able to go from a particular location to address this specific instance. As you noted at the top because some of these things are very short in duration What often is very helpful for us is to look at the patterns of where we get types of requests over time. It may be that the officer isn't able to get there by the time that specific double parking instance is still happening, but by knowing that request came in

It helps us think through how could we adjust our shifts in the future, or routes in the feature so that a parking enforcement officer can be optimally located given some of request patterns we're seeing.

So we are very clearly in a, you know, we know what to do to avoid a lot of these situations especially with bikers. and many more. This is a real conversation about crosswalks and in order to not block and many more. There are various exits to specific and many more. I think it's important for drivers to leave without, they can't see if a pedestrian is coming towards them so I want and I think often times that's a conversation about parking, a conversation So whether they would end up parking there anyways.

But this lends to the topic that I want to bring up, physical infrastructure. We know that on Cambridge Street, I recently did a video on this but On Cambridge Street, I can just walk down the street and know that the bike lane is going to be blocked. And that's because during snow removal times all of the bollards essentially were hit by you know snow removal vehicles and so forth. Those have not been replaced and I know it' s a topic of conversation even for mgh because they would like to be able It's dire, and so I do think we should start calling it bike lane and emergency vehicle lane because I do our hospitals and the institutions care deeply about those areas not being blocked if they're needed to be used for emergency vehicle. So can you talk a little bit about physical infrastructure and also just the replacement of bollards? I have gotten a lot of thank-you emails. The public garden bike lanes have gotten

and so on. I am thrilled about that but physical infrastructure, enforcement is great but it would be and many more. I think it's a combination of making bad behavior happen by

Again, so engineering changes as well as enforcement and education that helps us ensure... And not to interrupt.

There's just a lot of bike lanes that have been designed with physical infrastructure that don't have that same infrastructure right now So I think as we talk about sort of leading with an engineering focus, we need to just make sure we're replacing the infrastructure that does get eroded. I know that's expensive but for an area like Cambridge Street, we know that it's going to be blocked so we need create that physical barrier.

So as you noted, there are some places where we've restored flex posts. For example like the Public Garden and the Boston Common There's certainly more of that needs to be done. In addition, as many of you have seen we are looking at changing the type of physical infrastructure that we're using particularly to protect our bike lanes moving from something like a flex post or something which is Precast or Cast in Place Concrete. You can go outside right now to State Street and see an example of what precast concrete looks like, it's a material that we are increasingly using which can be more durable under under road use and Friday morning during protection for every single cyclist. You can again go outside this building and go down Congress Street and see what cast in place concrete looks like, something which the team has been with great credit to a wide variety of folks in the streets cabinet over the past year and a half have been refining.

The next set of cast-in-place concrete will be happening on Washington Street between Neyland and Avenue de Lafayette, it's been marked out and we'll get poured shortly So that is the strongly agree that the physical infrastructure is a necessary companion to any enforcement.

And could I just get a quick answer on the daylighting and sort of how those are looked at? Because I know, I don't want to bring up this specific cases it doesn't apply to everyone but daylighting is incredibly important for crosswalks and then just quickly if you could respond to we have a lot of faded crosswalk's and sort of what that maintenance looks like and how those are prioritized.

So happy to talk about daylighting, and Nick, John, please feel free to add on the restoration or maintenance of crosswalks. So one of things which we are looking to do as many of you know, we have a very extensive Thank you very much. The sort of features which are there. So on Center Street in Jamaica Plan, for example, which was recently resurfaced we were able to add daylighting at a number of those intersections that's an example the type of work which we'd be looking Particularly as our next construction season ramps up to make sure that we are putting in place daylighting at key intersections, recognize that in addition to sort of striping that sometimes physical

Thank you so much. I want to thank you for all the work that you do in my district and all the responses that I get. I do think it's really important that, you know, sometimes there's not a... and many more. I know it takes thoughtfulness but in terms of replacing the infrastructure and many more. I think infrastructure should be as designed or even better than design when new things like zebras and other things become available, and many more. There is a notification that the zebras are starting because it can be very hard as well as with cast concrete for drivers there really needs to We've had many cars get stuck because they just didn't realize.

They either end up in the bike lane or they get stuck on the cast concrete and I think that's incredibly important that anything that's designed is designed for safety For drivers as well, who are traveling to the city and don't necessarily know our infrastructure. So thank you so much. I know I wasn't tough on myself because I'm a lead sponsor but Murphy. We're going to be very tough on time because we have exactly the right amount of time for everyone

I know. We're going to go ahead and... I'll just start, that's fine. Thank you for being here. And thank you for the residents, the pedestrians, everyone who came out for this hearing also. Blocked crosswalks, bike lanes we know create rail safety concerns. What I see more so is just blatant disregard for crosswalk. I say this all the time. We'll sit there and see not just one, two, three cars just blow through. Or if you stop to let someone go, cars behind you come around you on the left and just fly through. They can force, as we know, pedestrians, people using wheelchairs. We see parents pushing strollers, kids at bus stops and cyclists into moving traffic. It's obviously dangerous. You shared some slides.

I just have some follow-up questions and I always like a good visual, this visual of it looks like just September. I don't know if you got a copy of this but 1,462 pictures of actual cars from just September 2026 blocking bike lanes for that one month alone is what or at least what they saw and reported. Residents also need to know who's responsible and what happens after a report. oftentimes I hear are like, well we sent it to 311. We made a call. We called your office. We call transportation directly and where did it go? Because we don't see any change Also, sometimes they reach out say to the local police department and they might be working with the transportation cop in their districts. And so I don't think the communication's always connected

One thing that's true, and when we had this conversation around food delivery and mopeds just last year For me, I don't think adding more bureaucracy or more rules or more violations is always necessary when we have rules and ways to If the numbers show, like how many 311 complaints about blocked bike lanes and crosswalks have been submitted so far this year? Do we know?

Good morning. So we'd have to get back to you with that answer. It just comes in as parking enforcement from previous data. Now it's coming in a little bit more, though we've moved on to the new 301 system to be able to break it down but we'd need to have to give back to that answer So originally if you made a call it could be anything from

Someone's blocking my driveway to someone's blocking, like it could have been any traffic enforcement would evolve and put into one category.

We'd have to go through the notes like you know just see so like yes we would be able to tell like what it is based on the case but we just can't pull that number quickly for you.

No no that's fine but I'm saying going forward is the new system allowing you to aggregated before you have to go through the notes. And when did that new system start? Like a week ago, just over a week, right? Yeah, because I was talking to Ergie about it. and that will give us more detailed information so why don't we just talk about that going forward what do we hope with that new system John like what what do We hope to see from that yeah I think

Yeah, so one of the benefits of the new system is that we actually have broken out part of the case categories includes what are called safety cases versus non-safety cases while parking enforcement case is important to us being reported holistically. There is a difference in urgency for the team to know that a fire hydrant is blocked comparative to like an RPP sticker violation. We want to get to all of them, but our team prioritizes can very clearly see what those safety violations are so having that broken out for our team has resulted in a significant increase in our ability to address it, see a dispatch and officer out. Same point that the chief had made earlier was that By the time our officers get there, there's sometimes a chance that those cars are no longer present. But it just keeps it on the radar of our team and that helps build up our team's knowledge to go to the area to help address it for future.

And is it ever communicated with the Boston Police also? Who has the ability to give the tickets, both of you?

Both of us do.

Okay, and who gives out more? Do we know that data?

Us definitely by far.

Okay, if something's happening right now because like you said oftentimes When you get there, it's already gone. Maybe the car has moved. It picked up its pizza. It's driven away. It is gone. But if it's happening right now who can a resident contact and how long do they expect someone to respond?

Yeah, I would say residency utilize 301 is the best system to be able to alert us to get to it. I'm not going to give you an exact time on it because it depends on time of day

Do we have data on that, by the time it came in to the time when it was closed? Would the new system allow us to get a timelapse of how long each complaint...

Yes. I'd definitely have to check with the system first before I can answer it.

And I know the map shows like the heated spots, but where there are repeated complaints. What does happen?

Yeah, I think for us when we know that there's repeated complaints in an area Our officers are paying attention to that area on their routes. They're there pretty consistently in those spots, Our team members have also, our senior levels members of our team have been doing this job some for over 30 years and so they're aware of where some of these higher level or consistent areas might pop up or what might cause something to become more highway like More High Concentrate and 301 Complaints or Issues. So they spend their time, while the two teams have roots, they do spend their timing able to make sure folks understand where they should put weight of their time how to walk around Also, when an officer is present tickets aren't the only way to be able to count them as for enforcement. As you all have probably seen when an officers out there people move Pretty quickly, once you start writing one ticket people go. So their presence also counts as enforcement action because it's resolving that case there too.

What power do they have to request changes? Thank you. We're going to move on to Councilor Flynn. Councilor Flinn, you have the floor. Thank you, Councillor Flynn. Go ahead.

Thank you. Thank You Chris for being here I do want to start with the parking enforcement officers. They play an incredible, important role in this city. They're not respected often I want to acknowledge the professionalism of the Parking Enforcement Officers. I know it's not a group people tend to stand up and support, but I support them, I like them. I respect them. And I think it's terribly unfair How they are treated at times by the public. So I'm gonna do everything I can to support them.

Chris, has assaults against traffic enforcement officers gone up?

First of all, I very much appreciate you noting the incredible role that a parking enforcement officer and entire team plays. They are fundamental to all of our safety work. They're not easy jobs. These are fantastic people who are doing great I can get back to you on the specific trends. I don't have this off the top of my head, but I appreciate you raising both that issue and recognizing their professionalism.

Okay. One issue I focused on For the last nine years, certainly pedestrian safety, improving quality of life and pedestrian safety for residents. I do think the speed limit is excessive. I do think 25 miles an hour driving a vehicle in neighborhoods of Boston is extremely fast, in my opinion. Very difficult to stop at a crosswalk and I hear it often from my parents who are elderly and disabled that are walking and have a hard time when they're in the crosswalk where a car will speed right by them. Other people probably have seen that as well. Chris, do you think there's any opportunity for us to reconsider? And I was part of the team that reduced it from 30 to 25. But could we reduce it or at least have a conversation going from 25 to 20?

Certainly always happy to have that conversation, and it definitely reminded me of this. But we can also look at very specific school zones for example, places where you're seeing Significant instances of speeding where there's an opportunity for us to make further alterations. I'm happy to engage in that conversation.

Thank you. Another issue I've focused on and my colleagues have as well, I want to say thank you to my Concurrent lighting, street lighting is an issue I am concerned with. And for the public that may not know about it, it's basically giving the vehicle or whoever is driving the vehicle in the pedestrian that's crossing the street, basically giving both of them the right-of-way at the same time. The City Council went on record against this proposal several times. I want to acknowledge my colleagues for supporting me. I was at a hearing about six months ago with the Mayor and who is the Mayor's Commission on Disability Rights.

In the first question, someone asked me and they said, hey Ed when are you gonna change the concurrent signaling? It's impacting persons with disabilities It's impacting our seniors. And I said to the person, I'm going to continue working on that. I'm gonna continue fighting for that because I think it's terribly unfair. Chris what is your response?

Certainly this is concurrent versus exclusive signals, it's something that our traffic engineers look at significantly across any signalized intersection in the city. They have, I think recently or within the last two years updated their signal policy. Happy to look back to you on those specifics of the updated signal policy and obviously always interested in your specific thoughts on any intersection that the team should take a look at.

Chris as a public awareness Announcement. When people see a vehicle parked in front of the hydrant or an emergency ramp Tell us what to do, please.

People should immediately call 311 and get to our parking enforcement officers as John outlined for us to be able to dispatch somebody to any of those issues.

John, how quickly will City Officials Respond for anyone that's parked in front of a hydrant. That's what I love doing, finding out who's drunk and then calling the police. Do we have a breakdown in terms Are we able to tow people on the weekends when there's a car at a hydrant?

Between us and the police department, we cover the weekends.

How often do I get that car towed? I mean, how fast will I get the car tow?

Yeah, I think it just depends on what other calls are coming in at the time for us. As we have a you know, it takes significantly longer to tow a car compared to writing a ticket on a car and being able to move so just will take depending on what is already in front of team that day

I have zero tolerance for that. I want that car towed immediately, and when I say immediately, I mean like 20 minutes. By the time I make that call, I want a tow truck down the street towing that guy out of here within 20 minutes. I can't wait around for three or four hours to have a tow truck, because I owe it to my constituents to ensure that their safety is paramount. And I'm not doing my job when I see a car in front of the hydrant for several hours and people will say, hey yeah don't you care about this neighborhood? Why are you allowing that to happen? I need these cars towed immediately if they're in front of a hydrant. Madam Chair, I want to be respectful to my colleagues That's all I have.

Thank you. We're going to go to Council President Breadon, you have six minutes.

Thank You Madam Chair and thank you Councillor Durkan and Councillor Pepén for Your leadership in this topic and for including me as a co-sponsor on this matter. I'm really happy that we're having this conversation this afternoon. Several months ago, the Mayor committed to establish a 3-1-1 category on blocked bike lanes and we're wondering when that would be implemented. I checked earlier today and it's not currently In the list of parking things, well a few hours ago. So currently the only relevant options are illegal parking or illegally blocked sidewalk. Neither of these are specific to bike lanes Which is maybe why, you know, things that are blocked by things other than parked cars. Is there any update on that?

If that wasn't updated within the last week, we can move back to when that was.

The other issue—I have a lot of questions but I realize I'm short and don't One of the big issues that we hear from our constituents is about what I would call problem properties. How do BTD deal with specific problem properties that continue to generate illegal parking activity? For example, there's a large car dealership and garage in my district that is regularly parking cars illegally blocking traffic on sidewalks. And does the BTD have a way to deal with these situations? I don't want to name names, but it's a very significant and very lucrative car dealership in ComAv.

So I think that is a very good example of where enforcement is a lever, In some places, it's not just enforcement alone. There may be engagement of a specific property owner and or an adjustment of the design of the road in that location or the curb rules in that relevant to the specific instance on ComAv that you mentioned, but this is why in combination with our enforcement work a lot of the work that the Transportation Department is doing in collaboration with the Department of Innovation and Technology Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. I sense that they're more or less giving up on the 311 option to report difficulties with bike lanes. and they're turning to alternative sources to track blocked lanes. Is the Streets Cabinet using the independently corrected data that's coming in from the Bike Bureau? Is that usable data for you, is it helpful?

Yeah, so broadly we are always interested regardless of the channel of where people are seeing things in our city. So that we can understand as John discussed the hotspots there are some slightly in the weeds or like technical integration pieces associated with How our 3-in-1 system integrates with apps outside of the city in general that we still need to work through, but in general we are very interested in reports regardless of how they come in as long as they can come into our system in a way that's usable for our parking enforcement team.

Okay, and then in June of this year I sent a letter into streets about requesting an immediate Reinstallation of the barriers along existing bike lanes in Western Ave, North Beacon and Cambridge Street in Alston and Brighton. What is the plan? I have yet to receive a definitive answer to the question like what is the planning and when we might expect to see those protective barriers reinstated.

Sure, I appreciate both you and Councilor Durkens for raising the engineering components of this so we do expect Western Ave will be re-installed This month, I was essentially looking at that stretch from Harvard to Leo Birmingham in line with what was essentially what was previously there and then happy to work on some of the other locations that you've identified.

The other thing... You know, we did the Alston Bright Mobility Study in 2018. It's a while ago. It was almost 10 years. And we looked at all sorts of infrastructure improvements that could be implemented to prevent cars blocking sidewalks, etc., and one of the things that other cities are using is like in New York they're using curb extensions or raised intersections. Is there any thought being given to using those, making that more common, that practice or that infrastructure? installation be used more frequently in Boston to sort of make it more difficult for these infringements to happen in the first place?

Yes, so I think that really as a companion to any of the enforcement really is the engineering changes we can make to our street. that is something we are looking to integrate much more into our general resurfacing program, to think about as we resurface a roadway where do we think about additional daylighting and how do we not just think about projection changes in markings but other ways in which we can deter illegal parking at places Whether it is at a corner or otherwise across our city.

Yeah, and the curb cut-and-dads. So I also wonder as how are streets coordinating with the planning department to ensure that New Article 80 developments are designed to mitigate such issues as pick-up and drop off activity. I think the one that causes the most trouble in Alston Brighton is probably Trader Joe's in Barry's Corner. It's a big, big problem. The bike lane has been removed completely but It was a zoo over there. It was like wacky races, like bicyclists and pedestrians had no idea. And then we had concurrent signaling as well so it was really difficult situation

I just want to give you a chance to respond. Getting the curb rules right is so fundamental to addressing a lot of this, and that is why we're very fortunate to have Mia and her team focused a lot on that specific work. I think to your point about as new development comes in What sort of card rules are going to be needed to be able to support businesses there, residents there and consequently reduce the likelihood of any illegal marketing?

Thank you. And I appreciate them out of time. So thank you.

Thank you. And sorry, just with the timing, everyone won't get through their questions if I don't make sure that I keep everyone. So Councilor Louijeune, you have the floor and we've been joined by Councilor Enrique Pepén.

I'm going to try and go as fast as I can with my questions. So thank you all of you for all the incredible work that you do. I know it's challenging, and I know that we want things to happen a lot faster. There definitely just needs to be a lot more daylighting. And I've had this conversation with you, Chief, like across the city there's so many dangerous places where like I can't see what's happening because we allow cars to park there. And so if there's a charge to anyone, it's like can we go and see where we need to do more daylighting to protect? Like I cannot. Every time I leave my parents' street, I feel like I'm about to get into a car accident because I can't see what's happening on my left-hand side. And so, I think we definitely need to do more daylighting cause it's not safe for anyone and the daylighting needs to be more than just Thank you.

We believe that it's sufficient for there not to actually be physical protections. What goes into that thinking?

So, certainly first on your first point on daylighting.

Like around the city because like I you know as an at-large counselor I literally I mean every neighborhood and it's really really bad so

So that is something which we are here loud and clear, and want to think through how do we actually take that? How do we scale that up? Obviously it's something which the city has generally been doing. And do it in a way which has some sort of physical change to the street that is enduring and I think that's why we've been looking at different types of materials. The Zikwas that Councilor Durkan referenced, the precast or cast in place is sort of different ways which might be able to To your point around bike lanes, we are always looking to think about how can we actually ensure protection for the cyclists. That is often where we have space available Bike lanes that are parking protected, obviously as part of longer term capital projects. Looking at things that are cycle tracks sidewalk grade high quality bike paths we've been able to build in some locations throughout the city. Those tend to take more time and are more capital intensive

More capital intensive.

So really a lot of the work which we are doing in the near term is where we have space to think about and many more. We're also moving parking out from the curb to be able to create parking protected bike lanes and allow for other parked cars themselves provide a degree of physical protection that's obviously not and a number of locations in our city. And that's why we've been able to use precast like what we put in place on State Street, cast-in-place concrete as we were putting it on Washington Street and we've put in on Congress Street flex posts as we are restoring on Western Ave so looking at sort of other Barriers of varying degrees to provide a degree of separation and safety for everybody on the road, most notably the cyclists.

And are the flex posts the least permanent of the physical barriers that we can put in place?

Certainly in comparison to something like a precast concrete or cast-in-place structures, or certainly a cycle track. There are a number of things which are quicker for us to install A flex post would be one example. The Zebra Ziclas, which we also have been using are sort of another example of that.

Are there reasons why like so for example on Cummins Highway when Cummings Highway transitioned into American Legion Highway there were flex posts they've all like decimated, essentially. But are there reasons why you make the determination other than cost effectiveness or efficiency? Why in one place a flex post is a better design than an alternative more permanent structure?

The team looks at sort of a variety of different factors. I can look at that sort of stretched fairway to Mattapan Square about why the choice was, what it was in that stretch and also what we may be able do restore now Now that the capital project is largely complete in advance of the winter.

Okay, thank you. My next questions are about race crosswalks. Same deal, like what is the design? Are we making a design decision? And I'll say this too as a driver I want better crosswalks that make it easier for me to see as a driver. that there's someone who's attempting to cross the street and raise crosswalks, lit crosswalk. So are we designing any crosswalk in the future that aren't sort of With lights or rays, because I think we should not do that. I think it's really hard. I there's a stretch on Columbus Ave right where Northeastern is. Is it Columbus? It's like Columbus and Mass Ave. Whenever I'm driving down that, I feel so badly for the students because again daylighting could help with that as well. Areas where cars shouldn't park It's really hard to see the Northeastern or whoever students in the area that are crossing the street.

And so just thinking about what we could do, and I would prefer if the decision was going forward, we only are putting in crosswalks that have something more to them than just White Paint on the street.

So a pair of things on that, certainly strongly agree with you about the value of raised crosswalks. That is something which where we can, we are looking to put in place one of the things by raising the crosswalk that you often do is you create some drainage challenges on the street so it becomes more of a capital intensive and time-intensive project which is why it's harder for us to do that. I'm looking, where we're looking to do that, a couple of intersections along Hyde Park Ave near Forest Hills. It becomes a more significant engineering project.

Raise crosswalks, lights. You tell me. My time is up. Thank you to you. Thanks to advocates. I defer to you but we need something more in our crosswalk.

Well heard.

Thank you, Councilor Louijeune. Councilor Fitzgerald, you have six minutes.

Thank you chair and thank you panel for being here with us today. A difficult task right? I mean we're trying to legislate Human behavior is a difficult task and people are sort of I think even in some ways, I think people are being more retaliatory by wanting to park in bike lanes, to almost prove their point if they were against it in the first place. And that's just not how we should do it. I feel bad. So a lot of great questions, and I got a lot answered so I guess more just to comment then I'll follow up but I just want to make sure I understand. The ways we're tackling this, we have the 311 app that just has the category now of block crosswalks and bike lanes. That just went live last week so that's awesome and we have, John correct me, an increase in BTD enforcement. I know last time we spoke you talked about how there was new hires to increase BTD Enforcement

and that has allowed us to get into other places that we may not have been covered in past history. And so, I don't want to seem hypocritical because I know I also have conversations with all of you about the calls that we get to the office from people in front of their own home. And it's happened to myself personally, where you're home and you get a ticket on your car in front your own house and you're saying I don't think I'm the priority here There are other places. Why is BT coming down a side residential street? Granted, I deserve the ticket. I paid it. It was what it was. I had an expired thing. I got three kids. I'm sort of thinking of other examples. And this is why I don't want to be hypocritical in what I ask, the way that we use this data and how we inform it because we should have more uh enforcement we should be using the tools more but i do want to be wary and I just caution about where we do that. And I hope we use the data

from the 311, and using all the relations from district and at-large counselors here when we talk to you guys. Because I sit at... When I come into the city and I come through Southie at L and East Broadway, and there's the Dunkeys and the Starbucks right there. and everyone double parks. I know it used to be historically fine to double park in Southie, but things have changed now. And I sit there and I have to wait through two or three light cycles because a couple of kids want to get their latte or whatever, right? It just boiled my blood that this... And every single day, four or five cars all lined up there. And everyone else has to jam into one lane to allow for this to happen. And so I just think about that comparison of... The folks I said like, I've gotten calls like John my bumper was hanging over my driveway and I got ticketed. I've lived here for 45 years. I have never got a ticket in my life and so I just want to be mindful of the way we're using that expanded force.

And I think it's good that we have them because there is a lot of, Thank you, Mr. Osgood Chief. I know there's recommendations from a working group and I don't think that they're not in here, right? But I just wonder if there's an updated timeline. on recommendations. Because if I remember reading something a while ago, it was like early fall there'll be more recommendations coming for the work. There was a quote of yours. I just didn't know if we have an updated timeline Sure, on overall curb management.

Yeah, I think that was really... You sort of actually touched on many of the things which are part of this and part is ensuring that we are staffing and supporting our parking enforcement officers. Part is ensuring and so forth. So it's about equipping and empowering them with the information to be maximally in the right place at Councilors have spoken to, how do we use this data on repeat locations of enforcement challenges to either adjust the curb rules potentially sort Broadway as an example, and make engineering changes to the roadway to reduce the likelihood of any legal parking. It is those three pieces that we are looking to do in tandem some of that I think will be supported by some of the work we're trying to do as Councilor Durkan mentioned at the top

Thinking about how we can provide our parking enforcement team with some additional tools such as the ability to use automated enforcement where appropriate.

Great. That's really all I have. A lot of you guys, the other questions were great and sort of answered everything I wanted but again no you've guys got a very difficult task and I sort of think the general attitude out on the road these days is not up to par on a common courtesy level. And so to try and legislate that is very difficult, but holding those folks accountable and doing the enforcement can certainly bring that back down. So appreciate all you guys do. Look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Fitzgerald. And I'm just going to use the rest of your time to read the nine corridors ranked from the Loud Bicycles Bike Bureau. because I do think this is helpful for city leaders. Kenmore Square is number one at Brookline Ave, Commonwealth Avenue, Brookline Street, Downtown Chinatown, Cambridge Street, Tremont Street and Neyland Streets Longwood and Fenway at Brookline and Longwood Ave, Waterfront at Atlantic Ave, Alston Western Ave, Jamaica Plain Center Street, South End Mass Ave which I'm sure is part of my district too. Part of that's in my district too. West Commonwealth Ave, Commonwealth Ave and South End Washington Street. These were the top nine corridors and of the top two it's 148 and 132. Culpepper you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for holding this hearing from us and holding the hearing. I had a couple of questions. Good to see you.

You might want to put the microphone a little closer.

Good Deputy Chief Grove, I remember you as the acting chief and all of the work that you did there. Governor and Chief Osgood, it seems like you're tracking me everywhere I go. Let me answer a couple of questions regarding enforcement. Are there particular neighborhoods or intersections where enforcement should be prioritized? Sure.

And John and Nick can certainly speak to this, but We really are very focused on dispatching our enforcement officers around safety and routing our officers in places where we see high instances of through-and-on requests, illegal parking in general. as well supporting some of those core components of our overall program from posted street sweeping, meter operations and RPP.

You were talking earlier about how challenging the positions are by the staffing Is there enough staffing there?

So I think one of the things we've been very fortunate with a lot of credit to both Nick and John, and a lot support from the mayors. The overall number of parking enforcement officers has increased over the last several years. Both Nick and John can speak more to this than I can, but that's part of the reason why we are seeing again last year 1.1 million tickets were issued by parking enforcement officers and we're about 9% up We're in our highest staffing levels right now, almost 10 years.

Vehicles and rideshare pickups seem to be a major problem. Have you identified areas where you need to cut more? Lanes where the delivery vehicles and ride share pickups take place. And go on.

Yeah, yes I think that is and Mia please feel free to speak to this but sort of adjusting the curb rules particularly around exactly those issues is something that we are very focused on yeah I don't know if there's something you want to add there?

We're making great progress utilizing the data that we've been receiving from delivery companies, thanks to the recent ordinance you all passed. That is supporting us here and we are hopeful to be able to share out some of those insights in

And so do the rideshare, do they also provide the city with the data? And do you track that data of where rideshares are having issues? or need additional rideshare cuts?

Not currently. We're not getting data on rideshare like passenger deliveries, passenger pickup and drop-offs but I think That would be helpful where we were to get that.

Just the deliveries right now? Just food deliveries, correct. And how do they report in?

We're working through our Department of Innovation Technology has been incredible here. They've developed a new data standard and have been working with the companies to get regular Quarterly data transfers of the data. We're fine tuning some of that process currently with those companies, but they've done an incredible job in making this possible and then we'll be creating dashboards and reports that we can use actively and some decision-making and improvements for both enforcement and curb management.

And what about automatic parking enforcement? And the city is working with the state What specific changes to state law would be necessary in order for the city to do automated enforcement?

Sure, I will start and then Nick please definitely Adam correct here. So it is chapter 90 section 28 1⁄2 which very specifically identifies Boston is having essentially the requirement of affixing a ticket to a vehicle, and it's that language which essentially as a result prevents us from using automated enforcement essentially every other city and town have been able to work their way through. Boston, Cambridge in that particular section are called out as having to affix the ticket. Cambridge has already worked through a process we were working through a

Pardon me? Mayor's General Lawrence. Exactly right. So we'd have to go to the state to make that modification?

Yeah, Cambridge successfully threw a home rule petition which was signed into law in July chapter 140 of the Acts of 2026. They got relief- Chapter one? Chapter 140 of The Acts Of 2026 provided Cambridge relief from Chapter 90, Section 28 1⁄2. So Boston is now the only municipality in the Commonwealth subject to that. And what will we need to do? One option which we have proposed is seeking our own home rule petition from the legislature so that we can also seek similar relief. Have we done that yet?

We are advocating for that, yes. And that would have to start with the council, right? And then if the mayor would approve it and then the Mayor would send it to the state.

No, that process would I mean can the advocacy for it can obviously originate anywhere but

I don't mean the advocacy. I mean, where would it emanate? That's an act by the legislature. Okay. But it would start with the council, right?

The council does not have to take specific action here.

Okay, let me ask the question different if we wanted to If the council wanted to pass a

Thank you.

Can I finish my question, Madam Chair? I think it's important about this.

I'll let you come back, but we're going to go through the list and I think we might have some extra time. Councilor Weber?

Okay, yeah, thanks. to Chief Osgood. I feel like part of the issue here is there's a lack of enforcement generally, and then when we do have enforcement it doesn't always seem The right kind of enforcement you know speaking about people having tickets in West Roxbury with their tire on the line but so for lack of enforcement I mean the reason why we need to keep the bike lanes clear is because people drive You know, very unsafely on the roads and there isn't a lot of enforcement from the police department for traffic. So I know we're talking about parking tickets essentially You know, what are you doing? We don't have red light cameras which would make a huge difference. What are you with the police department to get them to get the cars I think we're very fortunate.

One thing to note, and I think there's a huge amount of enforcement that is happening. 1.1 million tickets over the course The FY26 is a significant amount of work. I also agree that there is more enforcement that is needed, which is why it's great that number is increasing. So I do want us to recognize that our parking enforcement officers are Doing a tremendous amount of work.

Yeah, again these are moving people drive through red lights people or you know turning into crosswalks with people in them and and so on. So it's like you can design the safest streets in the world, and then if people aren't obeying the rules, everyone is in danger. Is there some part of your advocacy or Your work that you're working with the police department.

Yes, I think there's a good amount of coordination. I think we can always think about how we are doing even more to complement engineering changes and curb rule changes with enforcement changes but there's and the city. And as you know, it's sort of always interested in understanding, I know this is raised at community service officers all the time by a number of you, what areas we, the police department should be most focused on? And I know that they are always interested

I guess, are there any changes that you're making in how that engagement is taking place?

Not yet. But to your point, there is legislation which has been moving through around would allow some degree of photo enforcement for moving violations at the state level. It is specific to construction zones and school zones, and designated safety zones But it would be another sort of tool that could potentially be deployed by the city broadly and by our partners in the police department.

Okay, and then I think Councilor Louijeune brought up daylighting. I think that's a huge issue. Just yesterday I was in West Roxbury and I parked in like the last spot on Center Street and then I came out of the coffee shop in front of the Boston Ale House, and there was a car parked right in front me in the daylighting area. And I think that part of the problem when you have the bike lane and the curb bumps out You know, some people are like oh I'm gonna pull up to the curb mate you know just good faith my fellow humans. You know they're just think oh I'll just gonna park here and they're actually blocking the bike lane because their parking in the daylighting thing so I guess just advocate for the sort of concrete islands or something because that's, I think, the only way we're going to enforce the daylighting.

definitely your point is well heard it is one of the things which weather permitting we do expect to be able to put in place on Hyde Park Ave and that stretch again as you know by Forest Hills looking at some cast-in-place concrete essentially We've done some of this closer to Cleary Square already but It is something which we are trying to add to our toolkit to see can that be a way in which we can do some additional daylighting.

Yeah, and I think it's a great idea that you're doing that in Hyde Park Ave., and thank you very much. And then in terms of bollards, they went in a couple years ago. Then they all came out. Are we done with bollards, the plastic lens?

So I think Flexbox and Zyklus et cetera are always going to be part of our overall toolkit. We are looking at figuring out how do we actually transition to something which can get installed That is more permanent, has less of an ongoing maintenance burden and is to your point more effective over time.

Okay. And then so in terms of again for daylighting for people does it helpful to advocate for places or you just You'll take it from here, or can we Point out, can the community how do you recommend they engage?

It is always helpful to get recommendations. This is one of the things that we are looking to incorporate into sort of our more programmatic approaches across the city so as we are building for example our resurfacing program for 2027 working through how do we actually make adjustments. I think it's something which you saw a little bit of on Center Street and Jamaica Plain, how to we actually change some of the markings in the roadway or change some other components of the roadways as we come into a standard resurfacing so that We are not just resurfacing the roadway, but making it safer as a result. So in light of the feedback we're also trying to programmatically address this through the work we're doing throughout the city.

Okay and then I guess other than daylighting the buffer zones in West Roxbury on Center Street What's a way to make them, is there any plans or how to put some barriers up, some planters, something that would help protect the bike lane so people aren't parking in it?

Sure, happy to work through some of the specifics. The buffer zone as you know is there to basically ensure that the cars are parked far enough from the bike lane so that a cyclist who's coming down the bike lanes is not at risk A door opened and have them collide with it. We are happy to sort of think through, are there other ways in which particularly the beginning and ends of some of the parking protected sections We are literally reinforcing the design of that bike lane.

Thank you very much, Chair. Councillor Pepén, you have the floor.

Thank You Madam Chair And thank you to BTD for being here. Thank you to the entire team for all the work they do. Thank it to the advocates and the neighbors that I also see in the audience. I was able to join John and other BTD members for a ride along with parking enforcement officers on Bluehoe Avenue. And when I say that was probably one of the scariest nights of my time on the city council, I'm not over-exaggerating because what I witnessed that night was parking enforcement Thank you for watching. I know that they're out there

And I know no one likes to see that orange slip on their windshield, but if you're going to violate a parking regulation, you're gonna get a ticket. Before I got here, I was on High Park Avenue. I left my car in the lot at Forest Hills and I saw High Park Ave freshly striped. Thank you for doing that. That is kudos to the work of the advocates in both my district and Council Weber's district who really wanted that, and it made it safer. And I do see a lot of progress there, so thank you. Cummins Highway. I was on Cummings Highway this past Saturday with a few of the people in this room, and let me tell you it feels a lot safer. It is a protected bike lane, it is a bigger sidewalk for pedestrians and yes we brought it from four lanes to two lanes in each one lane in each direction but that is the design I want to see moving forward where we are prioritizing multi-modal transportation The concerns we're talking about today, we don't have to talk about them as much in the future.

And I think that a lot of us could agree to that, that we just felt this sense of optimism when we were either riding the bikes or walking on Cummins Highway this past weekend. I want to also advocate and say thank you for the lighting on Hyde Park Ave that I witnessed as the upgrades, because in a dark street it is very hard. To see a pedestrian crossing the street so you improve the lighting and someone recently was hit because of how dark it was on Hyde Park Avenue. So, the work that you did was phenomenal. And I want to ask for some help on some other things. Enforcement on bus lanes, Washington Street and Roslindale consistently sees people violating that bus lane. I want to be, I know that I see parking enforcement officers there sometimes but it's just so consistent that I just want to keep advocating for it because someone that rides the bus down Washington Street but I also know that

A ton of residents use that. It's such a convenience, so when it is blocked, it's troubling. I want to get an update on the bus cameras that the MBTA did an RFP for and I believe now it's all ready to go. When is that going to start? Can we advocate for buses on Washington Street to get them going as soon as possible?

It will formally start on the SL4 and SL5, Silver Line 4 and Silver Line 5. I believe the first day of actual enforcement would be January 1st but I can move back to this, to the entire council on the specifics there. And then over the course of 2027 it will roll out bus yard by bus yard is my understanding so we could see if you get a general timeline for when The bus yard that services Washington Street and Rossendale would be covered. It will do both enforcement for parked cars at bus stops as well as stopped or standing vehicles in bus lanes with a, in the latter category sort of an escalating fine structure so

Thank you. So it sounds like I should send a letter to the MBTA asking for them to prioritize the Forest Hills Bus Yard. Okay, Cambridge is piloting something and Somerville uses Bill Large to re-license plates for folks who are violating commercial parking spots or just any parking violations I met with a few of these organizations in the past just to learn what they do. Where are we with that? I know that there's limitations to what we could do in Boston, but I would love to advocate for that. I just think it would complement the work our enforcement team does Have you thought about using that?

So we've also had conversations with Somerville, and we've had conversations entities that provide that sort of service. It is in that category though something which we are restricted from doing right now because it would be photo enforcement Thank you. I'm going to continue to push for that. I just think it's a good way for us to use new technology.

I want to advocate also for something else. And in the practice of sandwiching bike lanes between traffic and parking, I think that I really want to see that canceled. I want bike lanes to be protected preferably off the street But if it has to be protected with the sidewalk and the parking spots, OK. Like Center Street not in my district but I do enjoy seeing that. Have you stopped that practice?

So similar to Councilor Louijeune's question, our preference will always be Cummins Highway. Something like that is a very happy with. The way that turned out, and it's a wonderful roadway. Great credit to the team in the community who helped shape the design and the design team and construction team that delivered it. That sort of construction project, that alone I think was a $31 million roughly one mile construction project. So it's not the sort of thing which we can necessarily do at pace or on scale. Parking protected obviously, parking protected bike lane is something look as an alternative. We don't always have the roadway cross section, the curb-to-curb cross section to be able to... Chief, I'm going to cut you off because I want to get one more thing.

Clary Square. Intersection of High Park Ave and River Street. It is giving me a lot of headaches when it comes to congestion, and people are violating and blocking the crosswalks in the intersection. I need help with that. Thank you.

Okay. Did you want an answer to that? Nope. Okay, thank you. So we have... Do we have her on? Oh, not yet. OK. I want to give a chance to Councilor Breadon as the other sponsor. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you for being the other Sponsor if you had it looks like we have a couple more minutes so

Thank you so much. I'm wondering how street safety improvements are being integrated into regularly scheduled road maintenance. I know ideally we say if you're going to do the ADA ramps, ADA curb cuts and whatever On Kelton Street was repaved recently. Curb cuts, curb ramps were repaired as part of the ongoing agreement that we have with the federal government But then that was an area that had been identified as a need for safety surge treatments, but there were no curb extensions or other treatments. So this is certainly the direction that we are very much looking to go. How do we incorporate?

Thank you very much. I think there's continued opportunity with great credit to the team to think about how we sort of extend what that toolkit can look like as part of resurfacing and how, Thank you. I know we mentioned score zones earlier but

I really feel that there's some places and spaces where slowing traffic down is actually really, really life-saving. So in thinking about senior housing on Chesterhill Lab we have a concentration of senior housing People have gotten killed on that stretch of road and people have been seriously injured. Is there any consideration being given in addition to school zones like zones around senior housing to try and make it a 20-mile zone with some Treatment on the roadway to just really slow people down.

So we can look at that and you may know sort of our ability, Nick may know the ability that we have to sort of extend the school zone ability or safety zone ability to other locations?

Yeah, we're fairly limited in school zone, school safety zone that we have. Outside of that, because of commitments to Chapter 90 we need to go through a process to make those types of changes. Whether it be, as Councilor Flynn mentioned earlier, looking for a set speed limit to lower throughout the city or making specific changes within a certain neighborhood.

Just one last final moment. I know this great effort, like there seems to be a breakdown of trust between the public and the city about enforcement, all sorts of questions but what transparency measures can we use as a city to make sure that Thank you very much.

Significant volume of work for the team is doing already. We do expect if it's not up already today, it will be up shortly a web page that simply allows people to understand sort of how we do parking enforcement Last we'll sort of dive into some of the stats that I showed earlier today so people get a sense of the significant amount of activity that our parking enforcement team is doing to address safety, mobility and curb access citywide.

Thank you, thank you all.

And I know this was a very difficult hearing to navigate just because I kind of demanded that you all be here and this is the timing that you're running our whole and many more. I know that my colleagues had additional questions we don't have time for A Cambridge City Councilor to go to some of the questions that Councillor Culpepper was asking. We have a Cambridge City Councillor who is on Zoom, who's going to testify soon I just want to tell my colleagues we will have time for closing statements so any additional questions that you'd like to get on the record, we will definitely send a committee report. and get answers to additional questions.

I want us to all as a city think of this advocacy that they're doing. I think it's really important that without that information, and I'd like to just request that we kind of bring those folks in a more formal way to make sure they have and the Transportation Department because they are absolutely doing that work. I'll just say this was kind of a funny thing that the Bike Bureau put out, it's every picture at City Hall in front of City Hall of every blocked bike from in September 2026. So thank you all to being here we are going to go to Tiffany Coggle from the Boston Cyclist Union first and then we're going ahead I'd like to relieve the panel now though because I know you guys all have to go and I just would request that you all view the testimony after the fact. Thank you.

So Tiffany, you have the floor. I just want to wait for them Thank you so much, Tiffany. Go ahead.

Good morning, Chair, Councilor Durkan. Thank you for holding this hearing and members of committee for being present. Tiffany Colgill, Interim Executive Director for the Boston Cyclists Union. So we know that infrastructure for cyclists is our best line of protection, so therefore a blocked bike lane is a crash waiting to happen. Riders, people with the least protection have to brake unexpectedly or swerve into moving traffic. A student riding to school, a mom carrying her children in a cargo bike, a delivery worker, a neighbor who rides because it's the best way for them to get around These lanes were built for their safety. When we allow bike lanes to be blocked, it's a signal that cyclists and their safety is not prioritized. And it's also a signal to already prioritized road users that the most vulnerable are not safe and their safety comes second. Enforcement ultimately prevents harm, we thank the city for the recent focus on ticketing

However, safety cameras have been proven to incentivize law adherence and is unbiased and safer for all involved including the parking clerks. I'm asking this committee to uplift, support and push for eventual camera enforcement of bike lane obstructions. Further, enforcement to keep bike lanes clear should apply to everyone. So when officers and other city officials park in bike lanes they teach the public that the law is optional and that our lives are an inconvenience require every city official and police officer to set an example, stay out of the bike lanes, and report violations publicly. As you said earlier, you alluded to a recent incident in a bike lane. Bike lanes have to be kept in good repair. A lane with potholes and debris isn't a lane at all. It's a trap, a safety hazard.

Lastly, when a vehicle or entering a bike lane causes a crash with or without contact someone must be accountable. require police reports to record the injury and damage so every crash is counted, and every person impacted can access the insurance coverage they're owed. What isn't recorded can't be fixed, and a monetary consequence similar to other road crashes would be a powerful deterrent. Accountability can change the mindset around importance of bike lanes for the safety of cyclists Mobility justice means every rider is protected in every neighborhood. Boston must do better. So I ask that these commitments be taken into consideration today. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Next, on Zoom we have Councilor Patricia Nolan from Cambridge. They're going to speak to some of the work that they've done. They are in some ways light years ahead on safety projects and I'm grateful to Councillor Patricia Nolan for being here. Um, I am giving each of these sort of selected testimonies three minutes and then the testimony for sign up we're giving everyone two minutes

Thank you. Am I ready? Thank you, Patricia. It sounds like you can hear me. I am so excited for this hearing. Thank you to Chair Durkan and to the whole committee. This came out of our, we have followed the same path as Boston and this has been mentioned. It was all about Vision Zero, about our safety plan, and about how is it that we can ensure that handicapped spots, bike lanes, hydrants that those parking officers who cannot be there everywhere, let's make sure we can ticket people. Good idea right? Well as you have found out I read about it in Somerville. Somervill reported in the Globe, this is now three years ago, about their great innovation using a particular technology safety stick that has evolved so that solves the problem and I thought great let's do it! I put in a policy order It turns out, as you've all heard I believe there's a quirky state law chapter 90 section 28 and a half that applies only to Cambridge and Boston so we couldn't do that. We couldn't issue and just adopt what

and many other cities have. And Boston can't either, the home rural path is one that we took. So I very much hope that Boston joins us in asking for permission to issue tickets for parking violations We did take that home rule path. I will say it took a while, and I hope you look at the home rule that actually passed because what we submitted ended up having some questions from the Senate Committee on Transportation and many folks who were concerned about some of the language. So we amended the language, and then Home Rule did finally pass just last year, and we are in the midst of about to deploy our program As you all also know that people say, well do we still need to do this because the state law changed with cameras allowed on buses? That does not solve it. And what you've heard today on pedestrians and bike lanes and others in order to ensure safety for all There is no reason that we should not be able to, as a city, be able issue tickets for parking violations by camera and mail. And yet the state law prevents us from that.

Plumwell would allow you to do that. And it frees up the parking of officers from doing other work, and they can't be there as I believe you heard earlier from Councilor Flynn. Deploy a parking officer every time there's a violation. They may leave too quickly and then you just do not have consequences for people who are endangering Our residents and our citizens. So I encourage you to do that. Happy to, I believe I've sent it already to Chair Durkan and happy to send more information about our path to get there. We are there. I will be happy to report. It did work, and I think Boston should join us too in addressing the glitches in Chapter 28 1⁄2. So thanks so much. That's it. Unless there's questions, I'm happy to just support you all on this journey.

Thank you so much, Councillor and I know that Councillor Pepén and I are planning to file that soon. So we're working hard and I think that...I know the admin has been working with the State House and been talking to folks and I just wanna thank, I know Steve Owens my dear friend was I know your champion in the house. And we've got a lot of champions in the House and the Senate for street safety. And so obviously, we got to get our ducks in order and make sure that the way that we drafted is exactly how the State House wants. We know it can be quirky and defining it as amendable is one of the most important things, is that they can amend it in committee. So we're working on that and part of this hearing was really to get some Clarity on What the city is doing and that was the recommendation that our chief and other folks would want.

And I just wanna give it, Senator Will Brownsberger's office also was pretty instrumental in getting through that so thank you so much.

Yes, and he bikes everywhere. We know from his safety vest. So thank you. Excited because we have a lot of public testimony. I want to thank everyone who's been willing to wait. I thought it was important to get the admin you are relieved and we're grateful for all of your leadership across the river. And we'll be chatting with you soon. So first, we have Jerry. A friend of our office, thank you Jerry for all your work. You have two minutes.

Thank you for your time. I think that the two biggest things I'm really quite frustrated with right now, honestly, with the city... is transparency. And I think this was a theme for me that was apparent today throughout the panel. So, I appreciate that Chris and you know The panelists up here took some time to share some data on improved and increased enforcement, and that there actually has been more enforcement. And he brought the numbers to show that. But I really think that this data needs to be publicly accessible. And this was a commitment that the mayor had made in her July 24th letter, that she said there would be publicly-accessible data on Where BPD or BTD are issuing more tickets, and I think we have yet to see that. And I really think that's really important because we need to be able to hold the city accountable and see where actually they're enforcing it to make sure that they're doing it equitably

and they actually are doing more enforcement. And I think, you know That leads into my second point that like, again we need more transparency between city and community members. The city has begun meeting with advocates again, like myself I'm with the Boston Cyclist Union also I didn't introduce myself, I apologize. I'm a member of Alston, a community member of Austin Brighton as well And the city has begun meeting again with advocates. I appreciate that and you know, I've had some great conversations with Chris but This week, I found out actually from just with my own two eyes that Western Ave now has markings for flex posts to be replaced. And they know that Councilor Breadon and community advocates have been pushing for this for a while I just want to see this communication. Like, I don't wanna be able to find out. Like I wanna find out about these changes from the city itself and not be a community member and me being the one communicating these changes to my city councillors and to my ONS liaison as well.

So I want more data so we can advocate for ourselves, and transparency so that we know what's happening and can again advocate better for ourselves. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Jerry. Next, Kristen Peterson? Oh, okay. Perfect. Go ahead with the baby and then Kristen Steven Skierski John Wendenborn just so you are ready to go.

Hi I'm Patty Mullen. I live in Beacon Hill this is my daughter Claire she also lives in Beacons Hill We bike every day to daycare and because we bike, we're not a car blocking traffic. When there are cars in bike lanes it makes us both unsafe and I wish the city would take our safety seriously. So, that's all I have to say and thank you for having this meeting.

Thank you so much and thank you for being a great District 8 resident, getting around multimodally. Jonathan Landsey I forgot to... Sorry go ahead Kristen but I forgot take Jonathan first so your next.

My name is Kristen Peterson. I'm a resident of West Roxbury. I want to speak today about the Center Street bike lane in West Roxburry from my experience as a regular cycle commuter, mother of a young student and the organizer of the Linden Bike Bus. I regularly bike down Center Street in the parking protected bike lane, often with my own child and or a group of students for weekly rides. After the protected lanes went in a few years ago, I watched enjoy as so many people, especially families with kids use the bike lanes to safely get to and from work, school, daycare, the library and other places. At the same time my joy is dampened when I see a parent with a young child on the back of a cargo bike needing to bike into traffic because the bike lane is blocked. or a child riding their bike to school and having to squeeze through a foot of space in the bike lane when a large truck is parked taking up most of the bike line. This is a fairly regular occurrence when cars park along the curb or in the buffer zone. This forces bikes into traffic, or cyclists need to slow down to squeeze through to get past.

The most common occurrence, as Councilor Weber mentioned is for cars and often trucks to park in the spots at the ends of the bike lane blocking the entrance or exit. and this occurs pretty much every time I use the Center Street bike lanes. Often, the cars park there when there's a visible spot just up ahead and this creates a lot of safety issues for cyclists as well as pedestrians because it blocks The viewing of crosswalks. Drivers often do this because it's convenient but creates a lot of hazards for pedestrians and cyclists The simple solution is to install protections for the bike lanes, small curbs in the buffer zones and planters or other large barriers in the spots that lead into an out of the bike lane. because BTD is not able to constantly be monitoring these spaces. A physical barrier will make it easier and also will make a more gentler approach than doing a lot of ticketing. When a car blocks the lanes,

We as Bostonians need to shift our view to think why do we prioritize the convenience of drivers over the safety of other people getting around our city.

Thank you very much for the time. Thank you so much, Kristen. Sorry, we're going to take Jonathan Landsey out of order. He is also known as The Bike Bureau. The amount of work that you've put in and your advocacy Sort of incredible. So we're going to give you three minutes to speak on your work.

Hi.

Oh, sorry. Are you Jonathan? Oh yeah. Okay perfect.

Hi, thanks so much everyone for being here and Councilor Durkan for putting this together. So I as she said am Jonathan representing the Bike Bureau which is a group of people who've really stepped up in reporting people blocking bike lanes since about June and so I'm gonna provide testimony first about the quantity. So as you see on that paper there it's about a thousand five hundred reports just in September alone, so this is regularly happening and to visualize that we You can imagine if we took this huge city hall, hollowed it out and filled it with cars that would not be enough space in here. And so it would fill City Hall and then you would also fill the courtyard. So yeah, so it's pretty serious. And you might think that maybe we have like a whole army of people that are going reporting. It's actually about 150 people that made those reports in Boston and so This is a really serious problem that you basically can't bike anywhere without having a blocked bike lane, as you know.

But for me the problem isn't actually the car parking in the bike lane. because I'm actually happy when I see a car parked in the bike lane and have the opportunity to report it to the city so that there's a permanent record of that street and that spot on the street, there was absolutely nothing stopping a car from barreling into the bike lane and crushing whatever was in there. And so the problem isn't people parking in the bike lane, the problem is that the bike lanes are not safe. So now I have a few other quotes from people who are in the Bike Bureau. So Shaymon Wu, the user ShaymonWu says, I've personally stopped cycling for the time being as my normal routes are just not safe anymore. Then SaltPoweredRobot12 asks, I feel as though we know exactly what kind of bike lanes we need to keep us safe. What are the actual barriers to putting them in? Then Dylan Thrush says, in his perfect utopia there would be a reduction in parking and physically separated bike lanes.

Now I don't think we need a utopia. Actually... You know, some people they say things like oh this 18 wheeler here it needs to park in the bike lane otherwise the city is gonna fall apart. It's not actually a utopia that we're asking for. We don't need to listen to those people who can't imagine a safe city because we have many examples, real examples of thriving cities that are safe for people to be in them biking and walking and everything. So for example like Copenhagen, Paris we can also look much closer to home. For example Cambridge and Somerville where great strides have been taken in recent years to make things safer. And so I ask that we, oh and also if you look at the map by the way our map you can see every mark is a spot where The bike lane is not safe. And then when you look at the separated bike lanes on the same map, you can see that there's no cars parking in them. And so we're making it easy for you. We know exactly what to do. You know what to please make more separated bike

Thank you so much, Jonathan from the Bike Bureau. Okay. So now we're going to go back to regular testimony. We have Steven and then we're gonna go to John Wendenborn and then Ben Cromartie.

Reckless driving has never been worse. Every light I cross, drivers run the red. I take my toddler to the tot lot near her house. Baby's barely able to walk playing and inches away without fail, I watch dozens of cars roll or plow straight through the four-way stop. We can't see oncoming traffic when we cross at corners because cars are never ticketed for parking in the tow zones. I try and get home with my family, and I have to dodge drivers constantly trying to right-hook me when I have the light. I'm forced in the traffic with multi-ton cars due to the dozens of double parked cars I pass each day. When we put our daughter in the car, we witness drivers weaving into opposing traffic to make lefts around traffic During a red, I can't help but notice that at least a quarter of these drivers are staring out their phones and activity research has shown is worse than drunk driving. Earlier this week, two blocks from my home a driver plowed through a parking lot with two fences and lodged their sedan in the side of a multi-family home. The police let the driver walk away on the ludicrous excuse that their foot got stuck in the accelerator.

Yesterday at the same intersection on my morning commute, a driver in a Jeep Wagoneer with a curb weight of 6,000 pounds ran a red seconds after it turned as I owned my bike and a school bus full of kids waited to go. Last year I saw a cop car parked at the same intersection. When I noticed cars running to red, I went up to ask why they weren't doing anything. They pretended they couldn't hear me until I finally walked away. It's a mystery how these tragedies keep happening. If you ask our councilors or the mayor why this is, they'll often repeat what BPD tells them. They don't have the staff. This is a lie. Traffic enforcement has collapsed nationwide with no correlation to funding levels or staffing levels. U.S. pedestrian fatalities have unsurprisingly skyrocketed in parallel the issue is not complicated officers no longer feel an obligation to do this part of their job and the council has not held them accountable I 100% support better infrastructure. I think the city should be building orders of magnitude more. It can do a lot, but it can't do everything. Speed bumps on Forest Hills didn't stop that driver from launching himself into a house.

This is an epidemic and consequences are the tool to fix it. Why have we effectively legalized negligent and distracted driving? Please actually do something.

Thank you so much. John Wendenborn

Thank you for the time. And thank you, everybody, for being here. So my name is John. I live in Brighton-Alston. I don't often agree with Councillor Flynn on much. But I definitely agreed with him today to thank and praise our parking enforcement officers that and I essentially think we need more of them. While fully separated bike lanes and camera enforcement are better ways of preventing illegal parking, I think enforcement does go a long way. It's deterrence, but there is a dearth of enforcement at least from my perspective in the city most people I talk to whether it's in person or online Cite the lack of enforcement and the obstacles in bike lanes as the number one reason that they don't bike in the city, despite the desire to do so.

And so as an anecdote, I commute about half an hour from Brighton-Alston to downtown and back. So that's one hour every day. And for the past two years, I have been photographing cars sometimes submitting them to 311 and I have accumulated over 250 photographs which represents maybe 10% of the cars that I see. That's 2,500 cars per year If me biking one hour per day was turned into half a dozen parking enforcement officers, Writing tickets for three, four hours a day. That is several million dollars that the city could be making and it would be improving safety. It would be deterring these illegally parked cars, and its significant important money that we could use to Thank you for joining us.

The City, BTD, BPD do something about that. Thank you.

Then and you can use either microphone

Hi, thanks. I'm Ben. I live in Mission Hill just on the edge of Sharon Durkan's district. Thank you, Ms. Durkan or your staff for notifying me about this meeting. I've been trying to get in touch with council since last winter when the roads were so terrible and icy. And then, since the disaster in the summer, I also sent out a big blast. My at-large counselors that I remember, but I appreciate your response. I bike from Mission Hill just about every day, and I want to support what everyone else says about the incredible lack of enforcement. On the road on Huntington Avenue, on Commonwealth Avenue. It is just too easy to find people running red lights, blocking bike lanes, blocking crosswalks, everything you can imagine.

And I still love riding in the city. I can't imagine not doing it, actually. And I feel terrible about the people who don't ride because of these obstacles. I guess in a way, like, I don't feel safe. But maybe it helps that I feel like I'm not as soft as the people who are responsible for enforcing the rules in this city. I feel bad kind of saying that, but people have been saying more transparency. From my perspective, that's what it looks like. It looks like there is no desire to enforce this. There's no desire I didn't hear anybody say how much money all these finds were worth that have been collected in the last couple years or what What the percentage of people who actually pay them is, but it seems like if you want to convince people that you're doing what needs to be done in terms of enforcement

We need to hear more about what that is. What is the money? Where is it coming from? Thank you.

Thank you so much. Seth Kroll, then Patricia Connors, Patrick Mullen. That's the list for now Go ahead.

Good afternoon, my name is Seth Kroll I'm a resident of Jamaica Plain and I work in your district Councilwoman Durkan I'd like to address a particular problem area that I've noticed on Brookline Avenue at the intersection of Brookline avenue and Longwood Avenue. Every morning, literally every morning there are multiple vehicles parked in the bike lane over there. And not only is it making it unsafe for cyclists but it also pinches the traffic so it creates a lot more congestion that's needed. I appreciate Boston Transportation Department's parking enforcement officers. However, it just doesn't seem like they're ever over there at least in the minutes that I'm passing through. I will note also that there is a police presence across the street for months and they do nothing, absolutely nothing about the lane violations, the parking violations across the streets.

A few weeks ago, I approached an officer that was standing literally across the street from five vehicles parked in the bike lane. And the officer said, I think they're allowed to park there if they are making deliveries. So I think there's a big education gap or training gap with Boston police officers in terms of what their responsibilities are for ensuring safe streets for all residents. So thank you.

Thank you so much, Seth. And I think we've spoken on the phone about this particular intersection. So look forward to continuing to work on that. Patricia and then Patrick Mullen, Claire Boydermullen, and then Niels Turley. Go ahead.

Thank you Madam Chair, Durkan and members of the Boston City Council for holding this hearing to improve street safety. My name is Patricia Connors and I am speaking on behalf of West Rocks Bikes a bicycle safety advocacy group Today, the most critical need in order to increase safety for cyclists on Center Street is simply to install low concrete barriers on the perimeter of the existing Center Street bike lane to mark the edge of the parking zone. Currently, motor vehicles frequently park in the bike lane such that cyclists are forced either to take the lane that is right on the busy travel lane of Center Street are to dismount from their bikes to walk around the illegally parked vehicles. Also, motorists and truck drivers frequently parked in the striped buffer zone Increasing the chances of a cyclist getting doored.

Unfortunately, last year a car passenger doored a cyclists in the Center Street bike lane which required the cyclist to be taken by ambulance to the ER The installation of low concrete barriers in the buffer zone would go a long way toward the reduction of these unfortunate accidents. The city did an amazing job converting Center Street from a four-lane highway to a two-lane street with added bike lanes. However, The bike lanes are only half as effective as they could be without physical barriers keeping the cars out of the bike lanes. Many bicyclists still don't feel comfortable riding in them because they are blocked by cars so frequently. Any encroachment by the cars can make the lane nonfunctional. Also, the cramped bike lanes without physical barriers are more dangerous for car passengers exiting their parked cars.

Let's finish the job to make the bike lanes fully functional and safe for all by installing low concrete barriers between parking spaces in the bike lane. Thank you

Thank you, Patricia. We have a lot of areas in my district that are similar to that. I believe Patrick Mullen already went and I don't believe his wife is here anymore so we'll go to Niels Turley then Levy Chen then Heather Baer

Madam Chair, I made copies of my presentation.

If you want to leave them there, I'll put them in the Councilor's mailboxes. Thank you very much. Are you Niles?

Neils, yes.

Oh, Neils. OK, go ahead.

All good. Good afternoon. Thank you for chair, council members, committee members, everyone who was here today. In lining to hear this conversation about bike safety, pedestrian safety in the city I come as a citizen that lives in Southie and commutes to Longwood. It's a short commute, it's 20 minutes Biking should not be this difficult or unsafe for me. I feel a little bit worried every time I get onto Washington Street, Mass Ave., and then the Boylston Street repeatedly, even though there are measures in place and lanes protected. In some situations I feel unsafe in certain spots when and many more. And I think it's really important for us to be able to do that, because if we don't do it, drivers will pull into the lane. I come also representing a roommate who got hit recently with a car parked in the bike lane, pulled out and then he went over the hood.

These are situations that should not happen, do not need to happen. I think everyone here today is on the same side so I don't need to fight you on this but I would come as a citizen asking for in order preventative measures Concrete barriers, reasons that cars will not pull into a bike lane at all. Next, automated measures. I was heartening to hear about measures where we're putting on cameras on buses. I wasn't aware that there is a state law preventing this but I would be intrigued and happy to support any measure that we could get past this And then third, with 311 any kind of reporting measures I would hope to make that as easy as possible for me as a biker and as quick as possible BPT to come report and or tow the vehicle in the bike lane. In any of these cases, I just wish that we can make this an easier and more commutable city for people who don't necessarily want to drive and more easy for people to bike instead. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Niles. Neal, sorry. Okay, Levy Chen? Oh okay go ahead, yes. I know our BU Urbanists are in the house. Hello.

Hello, my name is JJ. I am one of the co-presidents of the Urbanism Club at BU. We're a club that focuses on how cities can make our lives better. I live in Kenmore, I'm very grateful for my city councilor Sharon Durkan for taking this issue seriously So I bike around the city and I encounter cars in the bike lane every single time I ride my bike anywhere. I'm often told to simply go around them, but when they're speeding traffic immediately to my left, I don't exactly feel safe leaving the bike I used to be a much braver cyclist and I'd ride my bike anyway, but over the years as I've had more and more close counters and dangerous interactions with cars, I rarely find myself biking the city at this point. Enforcement can discourage this behavior, but enforcement officers simply can't be on every single street at once. Increasing enforcement would also increase animosity between residents and traffic enforcement

Flynn, and Pepén spoke on. Additionally many of these blockages are quite short and so the damage is already done before they can be enforced. My hope is that the city chooses to build infrastructure that enforces the bike lanes themselves, protected bike lanes, keep cars out without the need to give anyone a ticket We've seen the city stop building them and stop maintaining existing bike lanes. I remember two years ago, a bike lane on Berkeley Street appeared essentially overnight and made my commute to work about five minutes shorter, but now there's no information on whether bike lanes are being built or not. And so there was a time that I once believed the city cared about my safety, and now I'm not so sure. I hope the city can restore my faith. Thank you.

Thank you, JJ. I deeply care about your commute and I want to make sure that you can arrive safely wherever you're going. Levi would you like to go? And then we're gonna go to Heather Baer Kathy Truong Eli Silvert, and Alex Alex. That's the list for now.

Perfect. Yeah. Thank you, Councilor Durkan and everyone for being here and recognizing importance of this issue. My name's Levi Chen, I'm an Alston resident. I'm a BU senior and I'm the other co-president of the Urbanism Club at BU. We're a student group, well JJ already gave this spiel. But I've come to this hearing today to urge for stronger enforcement of block crosswalks and bike lanes. I've noticed how illegal parking creates these enormous blind spots where anybody uses the road. When I'm a cyclist, I have to be really careful when I slow down at intersections because I'm not sure if the illegally parked car in front of me is blocking my view of a pedestrian trying to cross the road. If you're a pedestrian, it's really difficult for you to see incoming traffic as well and they can oftentimes, as it has before, cause Very dangerous traffic accidents. But I also want to emphasize that enforcement needs to come hand-in-hand with infrastructure. Parking enforcement officers shouldn't be necessary for our bike lanes, and they shouldn't put at risk of violence when there are better methods already out there.

I'm standing here to advocate for enforcement, but I don't want us to forget that safe street infrastructure should also be constructed and regularly maintained in conjunction with better enforcement. Illegally parked cars have been a major problem on my university campus, and we as a club have been urging the city to deter this illegal parking by restarting planning of protected bike lanes in our BU East Campus from BU Bridge at Kenmore Square that would make it impossible for cars to park illegally. Well, it's not like police are doing anything about it now when its needed but they shouldn't be on watch all the time when better solutions already exist out there We've heard from over 190 students, faculty and neighboring residents at this point that having physical infrastructure is much preferred over constant surveillance. And I'm sure people in other neighborhoods plagued by illegal parking feel the same way when we have these things like When we have curb extensions, when we have bollards, we should be putting those in to make our streets safer and we shouldn't have to rely on police to be doing everything that a protected bike lane can. Thank you.

Heather, is Heather still here? Okay. Kathy Truong, Eli Silvert and then Alex Alex.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming out here today to do this hearing. I appreciate all of your presence and input. And I've been biking all my life but only about a year or so in the city, and I would say for this duration I can't even begin to count how many instances cars have almost hit someone, killed someone, blocked off bike lanes and crosswalks for pedestrians. and not to mention how annoyed they get or it feels like an attack on their pride when a bike passes them or rightfully takes up the lane. Their aggressiveness, impatience and hubris makes for a dangerous combination and I agree with Councilor Fitzgerald that that the common courtesy between us and drivers are not being reciprocated, sorry. Cars cause so many accidents on a daily basis, yet it's not taken seriously because we've become so accustomed to it. And they state that we shouldn't have bike lanes because no one used them and that it takes up space on the road. Their anger takes hold of any rational thought while they honk at us or try to run us off the main road.

Drivers are upset when we have a designated lane but also park in our spots so that we are forced to go out into the street, and we just can't win. We need protective measures like barriers, not paint lines that anyone can ignore. Paint is not protection. We should not be driving in between an unsafe environment of parked cars where anyone can pop out without looking and the continuous traffic of cars, like Councilor Pepén said. And I apologize if I mispronounce your name. So at this point, I ask how many more accidents and deaths would there have to be before this becomes implemented and protective measures are implanted? At this point, drivers simply don't care. Like Councillor Flynn said, parking ticket enforcers are respected, they're abused and cars think that they're above the law. They don't think that No, they don't care about going past the speed limit or intercepting people on the crosswalks or in bike lanes. And because there are no consequences, they believe that they can get away with it.

So I believe that we need new laws, either new laws implemented For officers to accompany these parking enforcers on their jobs to decrease this likelihood. Thank you.

Thank You so much Kathy Eli Oh yeah, you can put them right there and we'll make sure they get distributed.

Hi, I'm Eli Silver. Thank you so much to the city councilors sponsors for putting so much attention on this local issue that has a tangible impact on all of us I'm a cyclist, but I'm also the co-creator of Toe Zone Alerts, a community text alert system that helps people understand parking rules and avoid making mistakes in the first place. We operate in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Chelsea. And among our 6,000 subscribers we've seen an 87% reduction in illegal parking. Before diving in, I also want to affirm that illegal parking, blocked crosswalks and bike lanes are serious safety risks. And mindless drivers and parkers have compounded to seriously harm people. But through Toys and Alerts, I've also come to empathize with another perspective. We've heard many stories of why people park illegally. Recently, a subscriber to the service in Eastie described circling for half an hour the night before street cleaning unable to find a clear spot and resorting to parking too close to an intersection.

They were tickered by the city and towed by Tedesco. Many parking mistakes are due to not knowing the rules or where legal parking is. These mistakes are do to missing information and would be best addressed with better information rather than parking tickets. For tow zone alerts, we've developed several proactive alert systems. I ask you to consider evaluating some of these helpful alerts that have proven to reduce illegal parking. Due to time off focus on our near real-time ticket alerts which alert people when they've been ticketed so they can fix the mistake before causing more harm and getting more penalties. This would pair well with any ticketing systems, automated or manual. Beyond these simple text-based systems, there's a lot more that can be done to communicate useful parking information to drivers. For example, the city should build on the Smart Grant project led by Emilio Capone who was here earlier and Sam Brenner

When I learned of this curb data project, the Tozen Alerts co-creator Mika Nadeg and I built an app on it that automatically detects where a user has parked and informs them of the relevant rule in their chosen language based on that data. We found that the data isn't accurate enough to make public due to missing signs and street geometries, but continued development of this project and other lightweight alerts will ultimately help improve compliance. Thanks.

Thank you so much. Next we're going to go to Alex Alex. A man who needs no introduction.

My name is Alex, I live in Dorchester. For the last two years, I've documented out of control driving across Boston. I film a fraction of what I see and post onto social media a smaller percentage of what I filmed. And still, I've tagged city leaders and institutions in thousands of violations all across Boston showcasing the incompetence and disregard shown in the city's institutional response. A month ago, I met with BTD leadership and presented a summary of these clips as well as dozens of ideas to improve our roads. The chaos on the road starts with the city. City workers set bad examples. I've shown BTD clips of city vehicles parked in bike lanes next to open parking, forcing a wheelchair user into vehicle traffic on Mass Ave. I've shown city leadership's PTD vehicles simultaneously parked on the sidewalk and in the bike lane, and the mayor's office has been captured using the Cambridge Street Bike Lane as parking. Throughout my various conversations with the people paid to solve these issues, some common refrains have been, we don't have the authority, we can't do that.

I appreciate the efforts that are being taken to curb out of control driving, but when I watch dozens of vehicles speed through crosswalks with an active pedestrian signal When I have to dodge city employees running red lights in uniform, and when I film thousands of such incidents and get no recourse, understand that legality, authority, and procedure are excuses thrown out to defend those who act illegally, endanger others, and make streets dysfunctional. Here are some of the ideas that I've been repeatedly raising to the city. One, create a traffic patrol unit on bikes to regularly patrol the streets and coordinate traffic enforcement blitzes. I don't want to hear that BPD doesn't have the capacity when the city has the resources to send dozens of police to menace me for cleaning up the city. To create a 301 bounty program, I've shown in my videos that the city could generate up to $2,000 in fines in 15 minutes off of a single street. If the city is so short staffed, tap the residents. Push the state to act and if they stand in the way, act anyway to do what's right. Procedure and legality cannot take priority over safety and common sense.

Finally, the way that leadership approaches traffic safety and road usage lacks leadership. We need massive redesign of our streets drastically reducing how much space is given to cars in parking creating a bus and bike network and revamping waste and sanitation services Boston streets must become destinations in and of themselves, not speedways for cars. I will be sharing the presentation that I shared with BTD with the rest of the city council. Thank you very much.

Thank You Alex and we have Krishna next, then Greg Maynard, then Maha Aslam. So we're going to... I just wanted to... Is Krishna here? Okay. Greg Maynerd? I just want to say regarding, we know that residents oftentimes are frustrated with seeing public safety vehicles parked in bike lanes. One thing that we have seen is that they actually have the ability to park in a bike lane for an hour and so that will be a follow-up question that I won't put on the record. And so thank you, yeah, so that too. Thank you Alex. Greg go ahead. And I see the new title, Pioneer Institute. Yes.

My name is Gregory Maynard. I'm a senior fellow at the Pioneer institute where I lead the city initiative. This hearing was a real missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the planning committee has a record of missing opportunities when it comes to streets policy This committee did not hold a hearing in 2025 on the streets project review that Mayor Wu ordered in February 2025 and which was published in April 2025. That was unusual because bike lanes were one of the highest profile issues of the 2025 city elections. A hearing finally happened April 22, 2026, more than a year after the review was published. Even then, the public was denied a complete conversation. The author of the report, Mike Brohill, the Superintendent of Basic City Services was not able to make that hearing. This is important because the lack of a meaningful hearing on the review is not an isolated event Today's hearing is another good example of a missed opportunity. What do I mean?

Out of all the street policy dockets before the planning committee, the one we heard today is the most narrow. Here are the three other street policy dockets before the planning committee that were not included on today's hearing agenda. These three dockets are also not scheduled for a hearing as of a few minutes ago on the city's public notice website. Docket number 1542, a hearing filed by Councilor Weber on August 5th to quote review safety of the operation of heavy commercial vehicles and potential measures to protect pedestrians and cyclists in the city of Boston unquote. Docket number 1418, a hearing order filed by Councilor Weber on July 22nd to quote, review the status of Boston's citywide bike network plan unquote. Docket number 0333, a hearing order filed by Councilor Flynn on February 11th to quote discuss pedestrian safety traffic calming and Vision Zero in the city of Boston unquote.

Chair Durkan should explain why those dockets weren't heard today, why the review wasn't heard in 2025 and when she's planning to hold a real hearing on City Hall street policy moves and decision making over the last three months. Thank you so much.

I would like to respond to that. So obviously we have a very interesting process where we file more dockets than we have time for in any given year, I prioritize this docket because it matters deeply to my constituents and we will be having a hearing on at least one or two of those dockets. Some of them have not been requested by the lead sponsor It's very easy to come in and throw shots when you're driving in from Brockton, but I know what our constituents are looking to hear. I hear from my colleagues which dockets they want to be heard and I work with the administration as well as my office in their office to find a date that works. I know that I have also received feedback that I didn't house the hearing on parking minimums soon enough. That was my filing. I'm often talking to my colleagues about when they'd like

It's very nuanced and complicated, I think that the City Council is a lot more transparent than other bodies that exist about like why we're filing something and if I had been asked by the media, I would have given that response. So I'm happy to give it here now Yeah, yeah go ahead Councillor Weber

Just you mentioned lead sponsors. We do have a hold for the bike network hearing and the truck route, large truck operation for November 5th. I mean again it's It is hard to arrange these hearings and coordinate a lot of different schedules, but we're hoping to have that hearing. I think we've been working with your office.

Yes.

And so in terms of lead sponsors, the two dockets mentioned We have a hold for November 5th and we're working with the administration.

Yeah, I definitely didn't mean to say that all of these lead sponsors have not reached out to me but that is the point of being a chair of a committee as you are trying to I think the fact that we have so much public that this was not important to them. They're Boston residents who care deeply about this issue, so... That being said I will move on to Maha who is at Live Over the Streets Alliance.

Thank you, Councilor for having this hearing. A lot has been said today so I'm not going to talk about how bad Boston drivers are we all know that I think why Louisville Streets Alliance strongly supports self-enforcing infrastructure, which means like separated bike lanes, grace crosswalks, speed humps. We also know that all of these things take time and so we want enforcement to be something that we can pair with really good infrastructure. And something that was mentioned earlier, I think Chris Oscar mentioned it, Councilor Weber also mentioned it I just wanted to share some stats around the stuff that Summerwell did with Safety Stick. They recorded 42 parking violations over 40 days at just three locations. The city reported that the violations at monitored locations went from 10 per day to one or less,

So this technology does prove that you can change behavior, but it has to be consistent. It has to 24-7 and which humans can do which is why no matter how many There will always be a time when you won't have the eye on that bike lane. So I think we strongly encourage that the city not only like Explores what legally they can do, which they were talking about, which is the MBTA buses, which are school buses. But also look for a pathway to change legislation that can expand this tool We can use something similar to the safety stick or some other technology. And of course, this should be paired with advocate staffing, transparent oversight and human review to ensure accountability and fairness. And the city should also explore curbside management, thank you.

Thank you so much Maha, thanks for all your leadership as well. Zachary Yarrow is next? and then Mathias, Iris Millard. And then Ariana Velasquez. Great you have two minutes.

Thank you. So from running Boston BikeBlockers, I have around 5,000 photos from just the top three contributors for the past three years. A critical mass of drivers see unprotected bike lanes and bus lanes as free parking, and enforcement officers' behavior is a massive part of setting that tone. It comes through when a Boston police officer parked their patrol SUV and the bike lane on Boylston to pick up their dinner from Cava, which is a city you never reply to me about. When Boston police officer shouted snide comments to me while I was navigating around illegal parkers on Mass Ave., and did nothing about them when 311 marked Columbus Ave in the south end as all clear, when there were visibly still drivers parked in the bike lane. And it comes to when our mayor and members of her administration respond to physical separation removal by criticizing flexpos, even though flexpos in the meantime are a lot better than no protection which is what we've had for a year and a half. Drivers show they know bike lanes are free parking when they laugh and crack jokes, when I submit them to 311.

When they choose to park in a bike lane instead of an adjacent private parking space or in a bike lane instead of an adjacent accessible parking space, or in bike lanes instead of adjacent fire lanes. Those are equally illegal but they always choose the bike lane. Drivers have flagged down passing police and asked them to make me delete photos I submitted to 311. So what am I asking for? Hold BPD accountable. Treat police parking and bike lanes for non-emergency reasons the same way it would be treated if I abused my authority at my job, Have 311 mail information to owners of offending vehicles reminding them what the law is. I know you can't ticket them for the photos, but can still in some way reach out to them. Ban construction of unprotected bike lanes, if you have a gutter you want to stripe off to narrow the lane or you wanna stripe off the area where cars might get hit by doors opening absolutely do that But don't put a bike icon in it trying to wish it into being an actual bike lane if it isn't.

And finally, I want the City Council to pass the State Streets Ordinance like Cambridge and Somerville to enforce a timeline for installation of physical infrastructure to protect bike lanes and crosswalks so fewer streets are dependent on enforcement officers doing their jobs. Thank you

Thank you so much, Zachary. Matthias? Then Ariana Velasquez. Is Matthias still here? Oh thank you, awesome.

Hi, I'm just going to stand over here so you can see me. Hi, my name is Matthias Iris. I am a Master's of Social Work student at Boston College and I'd like to tell you my story about obstructed bike lanes. In 2022, a driver was obstructing the door zone bike lane on Lomasney Way as I was riding down the street. As I passed by the car, I tapped the driver's side mirror with my open hand to express annoyance and disapproval for blocking the bike lane. I stopped at the red light on Lamazney and Causeway, and then I was shoved off my bike onto the sidewalk. The driver of that car stood over me screaming at me for touching his car and punched me twice in the head while calling me sexual slurs. I fell to the sidewalk in shock and he ran back to his car and reversed down Lomasney, which is a one-way street, and turned onto a side street. No witnesses intervened and asked me if I was okay as I sat on the sidewalk shaking and crying on the phone to Boston police to report the assault. BPD showed up 30 minutes later, looked around said the driver wasn't there anymore and shrugged off my assault.

I have an immense amount of sympathy for parking enforcement officers. They do necessary and extremely dangerous work to try to protect our safety, but automated enforcement of parking infractions must be a priority The City of Boston must make the necessary legal maneuvers to enable camera enforcement of bike lane obstructions by bus cameras, safety sticks or other automated means. Physical separation must be another priority. Make it physically impossible or very difficult for drivers to access bike lanes, and that will protect bike lanes and cyclists 24-7 without bias, without risk of violence to any person. Any street with a door zone or gutter bike lane needs to be redesigned for protected bike lanes. The City of Boston must never install a new door zone, or guter bike lane. All bike lanes must be physically protected. Mayor Wu has said she took out the flex posts because they were ugly and Back Bay business owners asked her to. I think blood on the street, broken bones, and dead Bostonians are uglier than flex posts. Thank you.

Thank you, Matthias. And I look forward to chatting with you about what happened in my district that's horrible and just, I think traffic violence Violence against cyclists is a very real thing. And so just want to acknowledge that and thank you for telling your story. Ariana Velasquez? Don't see Ariana here. We have a ton of people online, so we're going to move to Erica Shira. Might've lost some of them but Erica Shura? Okay. All right, hello. Perfect, you have two minutes.

Okay, thank you. Hi I'm Erica Shira. I'm a Roxbury resident and a parent. I bike every day including with kids and with a disabled person who can't drive. I'm also a developmental clinician and frequent expert witness in child safety and disabilities. It's pretty much impossible for children or disabled people in this city to bike places independently because there's this attitude that bike lanes are an amenity for hobbyists rather than legally binding disability infrastructure. Children generally can't assess the speed of oncoming traffic until about age 14, and a lot of disabled and neurodivergent adults just can't. We have no way of knowing by looking who's disabled or who's a new cyclist. A lot of people can't just go around and no one should have to. So correctly designed and enforced bike infrastructure can be used by an eight year old child or by a developmentally disabled person who's been taught one route and can't deviate

Correctly designed infrastructure is never blocked. And if it must be, there's someone directing traffic. So if you're parking those municipal vehicles for up to one hour or someone needs to be outside of those helping people get past I agree with others that a lot of people, including the police don't actually understand that it's illegal and unsafe to block the lanes. Every day I ask people to move like look there's kids here they need to get past They're usually polite, but they explain why they are allowed to be in the bike lane. UPS and the Postal Service both park blocking The entrance of the parking protected bike lanes while they walk their routes because the entrances aren't protected from vehicles pulling in, as other people have mentioned. And this occurs in Councilor Durkan's district. One spot on Boylston Street that I have been reporting for years We eventually had a UPS driver throw packages at us when I asked them not to block our access to my child's pediatrician's office. Though the city could have prevented this, is my child safety not worth a couple of bollards?

You tell us to report to 311 and you'll address it. I searched, and I found 18,000 311 reports that were closed with the response contact 311. You are 311? So disabled folks are contacting you using a method accessible to them and you're presumably saying you'll only listen to people who use the phone. Again, thank you for doing all this. Let's get to work and let's keep people safe.

Thank you so much, Erica. That's a really important perspective. Micaiah Shira? And then we're going to go to Mary Tenenbaum and George Popston Sorry, Pop Stefanoff.

Hello, thank you for having me. Good afternoon. My name is Micaiah Shira, pronouns they them. I'm a college student testifying as a multiply disabled legally blind person who uses a white cane I am unable to leave the house without a guide due to vehicles constantly blocking crosswalks and curb cuts. I can't leave at all on trash days because of bins all over the sidewalk. I have made hundreds of three-in-one reports about the same intersections in my neighborhood with pictures of me trapped and they are just ignored. If i need to cross the street and the curb cut is blocked, I am just stuck Construction is one of the worst obstacles, even though there is usually a detail officer. People constantly do not recognize what a white cane means or consider what types of directions to give.

Police officers, if they bother to assist me at all will gesture which is just a useless blur to me or they give me directions like come on and just go. That's just useless. I have never once had someone give me verbal directions where I should go. If I were by myself, I'd once again just be stuck. We're sensing a theme here. When sidewalks are blocked off, contractors don't always use the standard cones with a bar that white cane users know. They often use sandwich boards or buckets so it just seems like any poorly enforced cluttered Boston sidewalk. Or they put nothing at all and just have ladders and equipment on the sidewalk for blind people to crash into. This morning, actually, the city literally ripped out the sidewalk in front of my house with no notice except for parking signs. The city needs a system that sends out notifications of sidewalk closures. And as far as I know, Boston Police does zero reinforcement of vehicles that are blocking the box We all know the hotspots for this.

Imagine being a visually impaired person trying to cross the street, encountering cars and having no idea if they are parked stopped moving coming or going. If they notice me and try to help They either scream or honk their horn. Never has someone done the one thing that would actually be helpful and give me verbal directions, or get out to guide me. If the city would like to arrange an officer to follow me around and issue tickets to people who don't stop for white cane users in Crosswalks, you know where to find me. Thank you.

We actually met with ISD and a group of folks about just making Construction in the district, more predictable for residents. And I don't think disabilities ever came up in that conversation. It was all about QR codes and notifications and pictures So I'd love to follow up with you about how we can make construction and everything that you're discussing sort of more at the top of the list of what we're working on at the city.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you. George? Pop Stefanov, you can tell me if I got that right. And then we're gonna go to Sam Finston and then Jordan Justice

I'm here. Can you hear me?

Yes, you have two minutes.

Okay, something is off with my setup. I don't know what it is. I can't hear you anymore. Let me see if I can adjust. Sorry about this.

Yeah, I can see you and hear you now.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, I ca

For some reason, I can't hear you. I'm just going to go ahead and thank you for your time, Councillor Durkan. I don't have a script to share so i'll just give you my own learned experience lived experience having lived in Boston, the last six years. I live in Southie. My office is downtown in the Palm Building. I have friends all over Boston, Hyde Park, Dorchester, some just across the river Somerville, and Cambridge. So in short I get around by whatever means is most efficient and how i feel safe so i get around my foot sometimes i take the t Sometimes I ride my bike, I also have a car. And there's always this decision of which mode do I choose and what makes sense based on where I'm going? And one example is this morning I had an appointment

At the hospital, you just made a video the other day where you were on Cambridge Street. I actually had to take that exact bike lane to get there. I found it most efficient to get for work with my bike. So I took that bike lane and as you could predict, as you were trying to show in your video, you could expect there to be cars parked there at any given time Um, what happened this morning was a car happened to pull into the bike lane and stop suddenly as I was coming down. And as you know it's a downhill so you do have some momentum. I wasn't able to stop quickly enough Due to the car, so I had to swerve into the road. and luckily there wasn't a car immediately there, but there were cars behind. And so for a brief second I thought I might be the next Louisa Gag. It's unfortunate that this is a daily experience

Trying to walk around Boston, trying to bike around Boston. You know my wife shares the same experience walking around town going to work going to where she You know, goes to do her fitness things. So I guess in all, I heard a lot of people are angry. I heard the panelists say we're doing a lot to address this but the lived experience on the street just doesn't match, I think, the volume of violations Way out paces the enforcement and to the extent that we could give resources to the enforcement people to either have more of them, To implement cameras, to implement infrastructure it would be greatly appreciated. I think the thing i've noticed is sometimes it takes somebody dying to implement a bike lane and we don't need to do that every single time. That's all I have thank you

Thank you so much. And then I think we missed Mary Tenenbaum, so I wanted to go back to her if she's still here?

Yes, hello.

Hi, Mary. Go ahead.

Thank you for this hearing and for the opportunity to offer testimony. My name is Mary Tenenbaum, and I live in West Roxbury. Illegal parking of bike lanes and pedestrian crossings is often framed as a minor inconvenience I am here to say that it is a more consequential safety issue. Illegally parked cars obstructing intersectional sight lines and crosswalks makes pedestrians, bicycles, and turning cars invisible to each other raising the chances that someone will be hit by a car. When a bike lane is blocked, it forces people on bicycles like me to merge into car traffic which is often dangerous with risk of being hit and has caused me to face threatening aggressive behavior from drivers. The issue is citywide, but I find it especially frustrating at home in West Roxbury. I'm grateful that Senate Sheet was redesigned and am deeply frustrated that the parking protected bike lane or its necessary safety buffer has been blocked by parked cars on more than half of my trips. Parking in the lane itself makes it entirely impassable.

Parking at the buffer makes it a treacherously narrow door zone between cars and a curb, where I've had close calls or another cyclist was taken to the hospital after being doored by a passenger exiting a car. So I still sometimes take these risks by alone and hope I'll make it home safely. The calculus is different when I am traveling with my two-year-old daughter. She loves riding in our cargo bike at places like the market, music class, and the playground but a blocked bike lane means that we can't use it to get around together safely Without a safe route, we can't go. There are hundreds of unanswered 311 complaints about blocked bike lanes on Center Street alone. The sheer volume of reports shows the scale of the problem but when enforcement increases backlash from the ticketed driver seems to damper these efforts Therefore, there is a pressing need for physical separation to solve the issue and I ask that please consider installing cast-in-place concrete barriers on Center Street to promote safety for everyone. Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Mary. Your city councilor is the only other one left so he is listening I can tell you he's in the room Sam Finston and then Jordan Justice

Hello. Is that good?

Go ahead, we can hear you.

Gotcha. I'm Sam. I am a resident of Alston. The one comment I want to make specifically about enforcement is that there There was talk earlier about everyone is reporting these and then an officer has to go, and it's too late. If we have people happily reporting these taking photos of cars clearly in violation of parking regulations. I don't see why once we get that Home Rule stuff worked out, that can't be enough Thank you. But of course, the real thing everyone wants to talk about is that instead of punishing people after the fact we can prevent these things from happening by designing streets where it is difficult to do this. Race intersections have come up, curb extensions, speed bumps, actually separated bike lanes.

And the thing is, we talked about all this in April. I was there in City Hall testifying about street safety and I've seen very little if anything come from that and so many tragedies have happened in the meantime and while I have been happy to see some changes in the streets department, it just feels wild when all of these are answered by oh we love Vision Zero and we're looking into these Somerville, as many people have pointed out is right next to us. And they've been doing this for years just on a roll every time I walk through A new intersection has been redesigned, crossings raised, etc. And it feels like we just sit here being like, oh no, we just can't figure it out. Boston's just too complicated for that. So I hope that I don't have to do this a third time and talk about why we need to actually act instead of thinking about acting, and thinking about how certain drivers might respond. Because it sounds like everyone who's spoken today

on the council and in the audience has been in favor of all of these. There's no one who doesn't like safety, there is a lot of spite though towards bikers which is kind of ridiculous and shouldn't be given equal standing

Thank you so much, Sam. Yes it's really easy and it sounds like everybody is on board with all the things but we literally had Two councillors that voted against extending and getting new blue bikes as part of the compact that exists. So it's not, you know, it sounds like everybody is on the same page but not everyone's on the page when it actually comes to the details And I do think these public hearings and the time that everyone's taking to testify does make a difference. The videos you make online, the posts you make on Reddit they all make a different And so I think it's really important that we share that as like when I see something happen in my district online, I see it and it makes a difference to me. All of that. And I want to say the 311 reports and the Bike Bureau, that makes a difference to me. That makes a different to us.

A lot of activism that's going on online and also the blocked bike lanes. Jordan, Justice.

Thank you, Chair Durkan. I will hopefully keep this quick so everybody can get back to their days. I appreciate you having me here and to the remaining member of the committee I am Jordan Justice, CEO of Automotus. We help cities keep bike lanes crosswalks travel lanes and loading zones clear using camera assisted curb management Blocked bike lanes and crosswalks are mostly curb management problems, and cities that treat them that way have been seeing results for quite some time. Pittsburgh, Miami Beach and Hoboken also mailed parking tickets for bike lanes crosswalks and loading zones and have resulted in massive reductions of 63 to 97 percent in double parking, as well as corresponding reductions and fatalities and serious injuries. Enforcement is often an effective and necessary method to tackling these safety violations However, there's also other solutions. In cities like Philadelphia, Miami, Pittsburgh and Houston we support smart loading zone programs essentially like E-ZPass for the curb

and just by managing the curve better, increasing turnover through paid loading zones that are automated where anybody can opt in. We've seen reductions in double parking from 36 to 61% that wouldn't require a home rule and could be actionable. Improving loading zone turnover also reduces people blocking travel lanes. Traffic in Center City, Philadelphia improved 30% during rush hour in addition to the massive reduction in double parking and this is just a result of better managing loading zones in addition to potentially enforcing other safety violations. And these are results that we've seen across more than 15 plus peer cities in the US, And oftentimes these loading zone and bike lane, these bus stop and otherwise safety violations last what we see on average less than 10 minutes. So it's really very difficult for enforcement officers to be reliably dispatched even through a 3-1-1 to cite these and change behavior. There are two steps that we see that Boston can take right now.

First, provide a legal spot for these folks to stop that is not in a bike lane or in a crosswalk or travel lane These can be paid short-term smart loading zones that have been proven across the country and in places where other cities haven't been able to mail parking tickets as well, where they essentially mailed invoices for unpaid use to ensure those spaces are turning over.

Thank you so much. We're just at time. So I know that, thank you for testifying. We are going to keep this in committee and I know there's some additional work that's going to be done I'll just be very clear that our committee has no role in procurement, so we definitely don't do any procurement of anything. Simply having the ability to do automated enforcement, it would be the first step and look forward to continuing that conversation with my colleagues. So I want to thank everyone for being here today. I wanna thank specifically those that have shared their personal stories, we've also received a lot of testimony online and virtually and through email So I want to thank every single person who reached out. And we will continue this conversation, Docket 1-5.

And by the way, we will schedule some more hearings in this committee regarding this and other subject matter. Docket 1543 is now adjourned.