Did you know that LivableStreets has over 400 current volunteers that we call on for any given project on any given day? Our volunteers are students, mothers, planners, architects, biologists, bakers, marathon runners, shop owners, cyclists, swimmers, and designers, all working to make streets safer and our communities more livable for you.

“Whenever I see a bunch of folks standing on a corner in bright orange shirts I know they are fighting the good fight and getting stuff done.” – LivableStreets volunteer

Our volunteers are out in the neighborhoods, sharing the latest news with residents, giving out information and collecting thousands of postcards to send to our city and state transportation leaders. Daily, they are speaking at public meetings, submitting comments and getting letters to the editor published to advocate for safer streets in the Boston region for you.

 

 ”Volunteering with LivableStreets has been a great experience. It’s wonderful to be part of an organization that is really making a difference in the lives of those in the community. I’ve also learned a great deal about outreach, advocacy, and how non-profits such as LivableStreets function – knowledge that will help me in my future work.” – LivableStreets volunteer

 

We want to say THANK YOU to every volunteer who has ever helped us with a campaign, work in the office, and/or an event. Thanks to you, LivableStreets is where it is today.

 

“It’s like our city streets have been in a suspended state of animation for decades… they are designed for a different era.”

                                      – Janette Sadik-Kahn, NYCDOT Commissioner

 

Jackie Douglas (E.D of LivableStreets) Ray LaHood (Secretary of US. DOT) and Jeffrey Rosenblum (Co-founder of LivableStreets) at the NACTO Conference in New York City.

Why did hundreds of elected officials, transportation leaders, and key stakeholders from US cities gather for a three-day Designing Cities conference last month hosted by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO)? Cities recognize the shortcomings of traditional street design guidelines and are leading an innovative agenda to invest in sustainable transportation projects that re-imagine and reinvent our streets.

 

LivableStreets Executive Director Jackie Douglas moderated a panel “Safer Streets” with leaders from across the US. Though every year over 5,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed in traffic nationwide (worldwide, 145 people die per hour in all road collisions- that’s more than 2 per minute!), most collisions in US cities are preventable. Design is critical. But design doesn’t have to be long-term and expensive capital projects. Cities are being creative with quick cheaper fixes and using in-house crews to keep costs low and increase impact.

 

LivableStreets Co-founder Jeff Rosenblum moderated a panel “Traffic signals: integrating space and time,” challenging the conventional wisdom of traditional designs based solely on car throughput at the hour. New transparent design criteria are starting to be used that address mobility of walking, biking, and transit, recognizing that street design is more than just technical number crunching but incorporates policy and social values into the decision making process.

The statistics look like a mistake. In July, the Globe highlighted a successful mode-shift policy in Kendall Square. Kendall Square has managed to add 4.6 million square feet of new spaces (a 40% increase since 2000) while reducing car trips by as much as 14% in the last decade.

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Join the LivableStreets growing team as a Campaign Coordinator

LivableStreets is searching for a Campaign Coordinator to play a critical part in our growing non-profit organization. We challenge people, government, and businesses to think differently about the role of transportation in our daily lives. We’re working to create a system that better balances transit, walking, and biking with automobiles to make the Boston region more connected and livable. We inspire a vision, build partnerships, empower communities, and create change.

As a Campaign Coordinator, you will be responsible for coordinating LivableStreets’

Help make this happen.

advocacy campaigns. On any given day, you might:

• Develop and implement campaign tactics and strategies
• Track transportation projects and policies in the Boston region, and from around the world to introduce best practices here.
• Interact with city and state agency staff, legislators, and partner organizations and articulate our policy and engineering recommendations.
• Coordinate production of campaign materials, including, print, email, web and social media communications.
• Represent LivableStreets at public events, meetings, and with the press.
• Activate and train volunteers
• Build partnerships with organizations and key stakeholders.

Streets and sidewalks comprise close to 80 percent of a city’s public space. These streets not only represent essential corridors of commerce and industry, they serve as front yards, playgrounds, and theaters which showcase the expressions of urban life. While the public must decide how it wants to use this wealth of space, city leaders can inspire us to imagine all the possibilities.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail, one of Danny O’Brien’s crowning achievements.

 

Danny O’Brien, a good friend of LivableStreets, passed away this past summer after a long battle with cancer. Danny was the director of Greenway Planning at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and known to many as the “Godfather of rails to trails” in Massachusetts. We often forget that behind some of the greatest things in our built environment is a passionate and dedicated champion within government. Danny is one of those people. Take a few minutes to celebrate what he has given to us by browsing some photos of the  Cape Cod Rail Trail, a crowning achievement of his.