Action Alert: Send Thank Yous For Brattle St And Mass Ave Popups

From the email:

Safe protected bike lanes for all ages and abilities are here on sections of Mass Ave and Brattle St. We’re so excited about the latest two segments of what needs to be a network of protected bike lanes across the city that are accessible to people of all ages and abilities.

Based on our spring canvassing, we know that residents overwhelmingly support expanding Cambridge’s network of safe bicycle infrastructure like this. But, we’ve heard that the city has been getting some discouraging negative feedback about the Brattle St and Mass Ave lanes. In order for a network to become a reality, we need to ensure that decision makers at the city hear loud and clear that the public supports these lanes and wants their installation to continue.

Action: Email the City Manager and City Council now to thank them for putting in the lanes on Mass Ave and Brattle and ask them to keep up the good work. Email [email protected] and [email protected], and copy [email protected] so we get a sense of how many people have written in. If you’re feeling ambitious, there’s a longer list of city staff you could email below.

Just a short one or two sentence email will be perfect. Here are some points to make in your email.

• The lanes make me feel safer and their basic design has been shown to in fact increase safety for everyone, including pedestrians.

• I appreciate the excellent, high-quality work that went into designing these lanes and engaging the community around them.

• I love the two-way movement that the Brattle St lane enables! It provides a safe way in and out of Harvard Square.

• We need to see a network of lanes like this across the city as soon as possible.

P.S. The lanes on Cambridge St are coming soon and you can send another thank you after you’ve had a chance to ride in those lanes!

Sincerely,

The CBS core team

Here’s the longer list of people to email:

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Live In Cambridge? Time To Make Some Phone Calls.

Time to get on the phone!  In between calling up your senators and telling them to fight trump, you should call up your local folks and demand bike lanes!

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We’re writing with good news and bad news about our shared work to make our streets safer for everyone in Cambridge.

First, the good news: All four designs for Inman Square include protected bike facilities and so many of us showed up to the public meeting they had to turn people away and schedule a new one!

Now, the bad news: Unfortunately, the city does not appear to be committed to implementing a Spring network of protected bike lanes as the council requested last fall, based on their most recent update which they’re going to present to the city council tomorrow. Instead, they only plan to complete a portion of Cambridge St and a small sliver of Mass Ave this spring, with no concrete plan for further work. We continue to be excited about the popup protected bike lane that’s planned for Cambridge St, but that needs to be just the first step in a concrete, accelerated work plan for a broad network across the city.

Two cyclists died last year and the city’s lack of urgency is troubling. We need your help to keep up pressure on the city to commit to a detailed plan and timetable for a connected network of protected bike lanes.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Most valuable: Come to the city council meeting tomorrow, Monday January 30, and speak out in support of an expansive Spring network. Public comment starts at 5:30pm, you can call (617) 349-4280 to sign up until 3pm or sign up in person until 6pm. Say that you are speaking about CMA 2017 #27 (the bike safety work plan). We’ll put up talking points here. RSVP and share on Facebook.
2. If you can’t make Monday’s council meeting, please write or call your City Councillors and the City Manager expressing your disappointment at the lack of urgency and the narrow scope in the plans for protected lanes. Numbers for each City Councillor are available here.

Sincerely,
Annie, Nate, and other members of the CBS core team

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Cambridge Bike Safety Update

Got this in the email from the Cambridge Bike Safety Folks:

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. We’re excited to report that planning for the Spring protected bicycle lane pilots is now in full swing. We want to thank everyone that helped us get to this point – without everyone who turned up to city council, writing to councillors, spreading the word, the network would not be on the table. In December, the city installed pop-up protected bike lanes on Mass Ave in Central Square near the Mass and Main intersection, and north of Harvard Square, in front of the Harvard Law School. As planning for the spring network of popups ramps up, we want to express positive feedback to the city about the winter popups and remind them that we are all paying attention to what happens this spring. It would be very helpful for you to take both of the following two actions: Contact the city council, the new City Manager Louis DePasquale, and Deputy City Manager Lisa Peterson, and thank them for the winter pop-ups. Even just a short note to thank them for making us safer and to request an expansive network of similar protected bike lanes this spring will go a long way.Email [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and copy [email protected]. Take our short five question survey to provide feedback about the winter pop-ups. Thanks for your time and stay warm! Nate, Annie, and other CBS core members

On Tuesday 1/24, the city will be presenting options for the Inman Square redesign. See here for more details.

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