Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition

Burhan Azeem

My primary mode of transportation is my bike which I take to work and errands. I also walk and take public transit daily.

Bike safety is huge. On my way 30 minute commute to work, I often feel my life is in danger.

I understand these issues better than anyone else because I live these issues.

Dennis Carlone

I am multi-modal. I have a car which I use when I have back to back meeting across Cambridge but I walk and take the train where I can.

Inman Square and Porter Square are just a few of the dangerous intersections in the city. I have worked to decrease speed limits to 20MPH (we had most local streets declared safe zones) but we need to do more to ensure cyclist and pedestrian safety. We also need to add speed deterrents on through streets in residential areas: the streets parallel to Mass Ave in Cambridgeport are dangerous due to oversized, speeding vehicles. The crossing at Mass Ave and Garfield Street is unsafe for crossing especially at peak traffic periods. It should be replaced with a pedestrian controlled traffic light

I have been working to make streets safe for pedestrians and cyclists since I was elected in 2013, and before that as a city consultant. I am passionate in my support of a greener future so I am working with my colleagues to ensure our transit system is better for both people and the environment and to create a wealth of green transportation options. The most admired cities in the world offer inviting pedestrian environments, safe biking paths for all ages and a clean and efficient transit to all neighborhoods. Cambridge has to continue moving forward.

Charles Franklin

I walk most places, including to work. I use public transportation for further distances. I have a car, but I try to use it as infrequently as possible, and this summer has mostly been for picking up plants, dirt, and mulch (I probably fill my tank once a month at most.)

I used to bike as well as use a motor scooter (Vespa), but I had a few close calls and a couple of accidents. One of them I was lucky to walk away from. I had been avoiding biking for the past year, but have recently revived my BlueBikes membership. I still won’t bike on most streets.

Recently, the city declined to build a bike lane on Webster Ave, instead suggesting that cyclists bike down Tremont St. I live at the corner of Tremont St. and Hampshire St. and believe that intersection is treacherous, particularly when traversing Tremont. It’s a fairly blind intersection where cars crossing Hampshire St. are hard to see. It can be risky even for pedestrians. I’d like to see a stoplight there or slight changes to increase line of sight.

I understand the needs of non-personal car commuters, as I am one. In the past 5 years, I’ve gotten around by walking, biking, and taking the T. As such, I have experienced the same difficulties that face those who rely on safe streets and public transit to get around. I’ve been a strong advocate for sustainable commuting, including canvassing for bicycle safety in the city. I don’t have mobility issues myself, but I have friends that do and will take their input into account to make sure they can feel safe on the streets.

Craig Kelley

I bike virtually everywhere I go in the local area, as do my wife, Hope, and two boys when they are home from college. For longer local trips we use the MBTA and rent or borrow cars to go camping or visit our boys at college. For trips to NYC, we take a bus from Alewife. We reflect what the future of urban mobility should be- we use a personal vehicle only when other transportation won’t work. Our family-wide focus on bicycling is unexcelled by any family in Cambridge, though as Hope and I get older, we become increasingly worried about the dangers posed by other cyclists as well as drivers.

A particular problem non-drivers face is the lack of common norms for safe, responsible travel. The ad hoc adherence to the law creates dangerous levels of chaos and it’s not all due to cars and trucks, though they pose particularly significant hazards. New platforms like electric skateboards, scooters and onewheels crowd our public ways with little thought about where they belong or the rules they should follow. Delivery systems like Amazon and UBER create pop-up hazards for everyone, pedestrians crossing anywhere they want and CPD’s anemic traffic enforcement efforts add to our problems.

People who care about walking, biking and getting around without driving should vote for me because I am living that life and have lived it, with my entire family, for decades. I know just how dangerous bicycling is, how street safety is an issue in and out of Cambridge, how complicated the right solutions are and how all of us have a responsibility to put safety first. As evidenced by the two Micromobility events I organized this term, I have the vision and the experience to help Cambridge rethink our joint mobility future in a way that goes beyond our current bike/car/pedestrian thinking.

Derek Kopon

I do not own a car. I mainly bike, walk, and take the T. If I am going somewhere not accessible by public transit, I take an Uber pool or Lyft line.

The lack of a contiguous protected bike lane network is a major deficiency in our transportation infrastructure. Major stretches of Mass Ave still require cyclists to ride in the lane of traffic. This is very unsafe.

People who care about these issues should vote for me because I place a very high priority on emissions-free transportation, both for environmental and public health reasons. If we enable people to walk or bike whenever possible, we are encouraging them to be outside, exercise, and interact more naturally with their environment. While cars are necessary some of the time, cars create traffic congestion, noise, air pollution, greenhouse gas emission, etc. Our infrastructure should be designed to enable all forms of transit, especially those modalities that are most healthful to our citizens.

Alanna Mallon

I live near Central Square, so I primarily walk to work and meetings. I am an MBTA rider when I occasionally travel to Boston, and an occasional driver as well.

Massachusetts Ave is the main transit corridor in Cambridge, but it seriously lacks safe cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, particularly near Porter Square, where it is four lanes wide. We need much better crossing light signals for pedestrians. We also need to finish our protected bike network on Webster Ave, the Hampshire and Beacon Street connector, and on Garden St.

I have made improvements in our community, such as the Mass Ave, Western Ave, and Prospect St intersection in Central Square where I introduced a pedestrian super LPI to reduce conflicts with cars when crossing. I also had the City use State highway grants to increase traffic monitoring at Prospect and Broadway and Prospect and Hampshire intersections, particularly during rush hour. I also submitted a policy order to ask the City to work with MAPC to gather data about ridehail services on our streets, and establish pickup and drop off locations to minimize congestion and blocking bike lanes.

Marc McGovern

Mostly walking, driving or public transit

We have some very dangerous intersections in our city. That is why I filed a policy order back in 2014 that lead to the redesign of Inman Sq. That intersection is dangerous for everyone. Another intersection that is problematic is right out in front of City Hall. I have seen near misses on many occasions with cars turning left from Inman St. to Mass Ave., at the same time as cyclists are coming down Mass. Ave.

I have been a leader in addressing street safety in Cambridge. From calling for the redesign of Inman Sq., to supporting bike lanes on Cambridge St., to working with Cambridge Bike Safety and the City to author a first of it's kind ordinance to require dedicated bike lanes during major street construction. Vision Zero can't just be a plan on paper. We need to take the steps necessary to make it a reality.

Jeffery McNary

i walk and talk

alcohol induced travel

their safety and love of friends and relatives

Adriane Musgrave

For nearly 15 years, I have primarily traveled around town by bike and T. For various jobs in Boston I have often commuted down Beacon/Hampshire Street, Mass Ave, and along Memorial Drive before crossing the river. As I’ve been working more in Cambridge, I’ve been biking on all of our streets – major and minor. I also walk a lot since I can meet people in my neighborhood.

I frequently use the Red line (via the Davis T stop) as well as buses (the 77 and 83, mostly).

We own a car so I also drive occasionally.

Cambridge is a dense, compact city that is still mostly car-centric in design so there are several areas that are unsafe to walk or ride. We need to redesign our streets for people first, including:

- Mass Ave is the main artery through Cambridge. It's chaotic and dangerous. We must add protected bike lanes and enhance the crosswalks at every intersection.

- Our Squares are also dangerous. Fortunately, Inman redesign has started. Porter Sq. needs more protected lanes. The center of Harvard Sq. – both inbound and outbound – has long been a challenge, but recently made worse by Uber/Lyft.

People who care about walking, biking, and transit should vote for me because these are my primary modes of transportation. I live these experiences every day and have been doing so for over 15 years. I’ve experienced first-hand the three-fold increase in bike commuters as well as the degradation of our transit system. I served as a local leader during the #UnfairHikes rally to push for transit improvements and new funding streams. Plus, I'm a new mom who has just started family biking. I want to see my son exercise his independence so I want even more to make our streets safer for kids.

Patty Nolan

I usually use my city bike – an upright somewhat heavier bike for urban riding. I also have a road bike, and if I am going more than about 5 miles one way, I will more likely take that since my city bike is slow. I do pay attention to having a place to lock that bike and won’t leave it overnight in town, even locked. I occasionally use BlueBikes (am a member). If meetings are accessible to the T, I use the subway and also use MBTA buses. We also own a car and I use that, for example to visit my in-laws, but not usually around town who live in a place challenging to access by public transit

An issue close to my house in West Cambridge is traveling along Fresh Pond Parkway, since there is no good way to ride your bike or walk. The sidewalks are terrible and there is no bike lane. In general, the issue that I think is dangerous is that in many places there is not enough space for a cyclist, and a pedestrian and a car. Instead of having space allocated for each, usually only cars have designated lanes which are at least sometimes maintained, whereas in many places the sidewalks are not maintained and challenging for pedestrians and impossible for people with disabilities

I use all modes of transportation–I walk, bicycle and drive. I understand living in the city requires accommodation of all modes. During my years on School Committee, I advocated for safe routes to schools, for more walking and biking and bus use for students. I bring people together and am known to be a thoughtful, respectful policymaker who listens, always looks to best practice when assessing options, and is willing to fight for change. As someone who believes that our city needs to do a better job of listening and developing better solutions, I have a track record of effective advocacy.

John Pitkin

On foot and MBTA.

Inman Square. The reconfiguration now underway will make a complex intersection more hazardous by creating more than ten unregulated points of conflict between pedestrians and cyclists and a circuitous route for cyclists that will encourage risky shortcutting through the new pedestrian plaza. I would like to see this ill-advised project stopped in favor of safety improvements to the existing configuration and revival of the park in Vellucci Plaza.

My experience with citizen participation and oversight of municipal transportation planning and public ways, as chair of the 1973-75 Cambridge Transportation Forum and as member of the Board of Traffic and Parking (1974-93). My campaign is about bringing citizens (not corporations) to the center of the democratic process and decision-making in Cambridge. I specifically propose a new, citizen-led and staff-supported Cambridge Transportation Forum, modeled on the earlier Forum, to advise the City Council on transportation planning and policy and management of the public ways. We can do this!

Sumbul Siddiqui

I usually walk, ride the bus or use the T. If I have back to back meetings, I will drive ( I don’t own a car but use my parents if I need to). I broke my ankle in early 2018 and as a result, I had to use uber and also had to rely on my car. I love walking around Cambridge and try to do that as much as possible.

Residents have reported that they feel unsafe at four lane crossings, even when flashing yellow lights are installed. Earlier this summer, a small child crossing Massachusetts Avenue at Garfield Street with his mother was nearly hit by a car that had failed to stop at the flashing yellow lights. It is clear that “Pedestrian Crossing” signs and zebra pavement markings are insufficient. To address the issue, I support strengthening pedestrian safety measures, including full traffic signals and pedestrian-activated High Intensity Activated Crosswalk signals.

During my first term, I have been a strong advocate for improving bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian safety. I co-sponsored policy orders to improve bike lane connectedness, identify traffic-calming and safety features for the Fresh Pond Mall area, and install a pedestrian Super LPI at a congested intersection. If re-elected, I will continue to advocate for pedestrian and cyclist safety.

E. Denise Simmons

Depending upon the day, the schedule, and the need, I either walk, drive, or take public transportation.

The issue of motorists not being more mindful of opening their doors and "dooring" bicyclists continues to be an issue that we need to do a better job in spreading the word on. The City has started promoting the "Dutch Reach" method of opening doors, but we have not saturated the city with this.

I am someone who knows how to get things done on the Council, and I am someone who works to bring people together in finding common ground. Part of this is just my personal approach to problem-solving, and part of it is just down to experience and recognizing how our municipal system works.

Ben Simon

I take the MBTA, bike or walk.

Motorists present a danger to pedestrians and cyclists all over Cambridge. I think Cambridge should look into adopting a ""Green Wave"" traffic system like is done in many places in Germany: auto traffic is limited to designated number of streets and banned on others except for abutters. This reduces traffic, emissions and accidents, as well as frees up many streets for safer pedestrian and cyclist transport.

Also the private companies that rent bicycles and scooters particularly should be regulated and taxed to improve public transit, which is a better, more inclusive transit system.

Ever since learning about global warming in the 7th grade I have passionately believed that our transit system needs to be fundamentally changed. This idea that everyone needs a car to be an independent, respectable, American adult is so steeped into our culture because of decades of marketing telling us so, but we need to break from this thinking. I hope we can look forward to a future where urban transport is centered around an excellent public transit system, walking and cycling and cars are for serving emergency and mobility needs.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

I bike and walk to work near Harvard Sq and to my partner’s apartment in Inman most days, both of which can be dangerous places for pedestrians and cyclists. I also often take the bus and subway to get meetings.

Some sidewalks during my commute are covered with snow & ice in winter because Cambridge currently relies on property owners instead of having municipal snow removal like we do for the parts of the street that cars drive on. And last year I lost part of two teeth in a bike crash with a car in Cambridge, so the need for better pedestrian and bike infrastructure is personal for me.

Porter, Harvard, and Central Squares in Cambridge are often dangerous commutes as a pedestrian or cyclist. I bike through Harvard Sq on my way to work and am worried myself a pedestrian will be hit by a distracted Uber or tour bus driver. We need protected bike lanes in all our squares and infrastructural changes like floating bus stops and traffic calming measures. In Cambridge, streets were designed before cars and driving on them is often frustrating. By making it easier to get around by public transit, bike or foot we can move towards the people-centered design our city was created for.

I usually walk or bike to work, and I get to volunteer work on public transit. The vast majority of our city has a similar commute—surveys show most Cantabrigians don’t commute by car—because they don't have free parking at work. But our current City Council does. We need to elect people who understand how dangerous & inefficient our streets are now.

Our campaign has the ambitious goal of making buses and subways free for Cambridge residents by 2025. We also need to add miles of bus-only lanes and complete the bike network—including PBLs on all of Mass Ave, Hampshire, and Cambridge streets.

Nicola Williams

I walk most of the time, take the bus, or the T. I also carpool as much as possible, depending upon the task.

Central Square cross streets at Prospect Street and Mass Ave is dangerous. They need to limit the size of big rigs coming through the city, require extra mirrors for blind spots and protected bike lanes.

I'll work with other municipality leaders in our neighboring cities on a regional strategy to support their issues. Transit safety represents a pivotal intersection of the issues I care about: accessible & affordable transit, environmentalism, and equity. That's why I've taken the Cambridge Bicycle Safety pledge. I've also been in touch with Cambridge Bicycle Safety group in March to discuss bicycle and pedestrian safety, particularly how Cambridge Bicycle Safety can work with local businesses in helping to achieve their goal of protected bike lanes through all of Mass Ave.

Quinton Zondervan

Depending on distance and timing I walk, bike, use public transportation, or drive my electric car. I have been a bicycle commuter for most of my life, and that is my preferred mode of transit, but as I am still recovering from a hip replacement, currently I can only commute by bike a few days per week.

In my first term I worked on a first in the nation bike safety ordinance that commits the city to building protected bicycle infrastructure whenever a major road that is on the city’s bicycle plan undergoes major repair or redesign. I also worked on reducing speed limits to 20 MPH by declaring safety zones on almost all city side-streets, which will take effect very soon. I also regularly ask for safety improvements and protected bicycle infrastructure at specific intersections or along specific routes, including recently on Webster, River St., Broadway, Hampshire and Mass. Ave. among others.

I have consistently voted and advocated for significant traffic safety improvements throughout the city, including a difficult vote early in the term to redo Inman Sq. with protected infrastructure, despite significant opposition from many of my supporters to that particular project. I consistently prioritize traffic safety for our most vulnerable road users, and I am committed to reforming our car-centric transportation model into a safer and more sustainable model based on public transit, bicycle and pedestrian primacy over cars.

Burhan Azeem

We need to push our city manager. Somerville does far more to improve crosswalk and bike safety and that is because they have a strong mayor that buys into the changes. Our city manager does not, we need to push him to do so or get a new city manager.

The state does not understand how much our cities rely on the MBTA - we need municipal representation.

By law.

Dennis Carlone

I am proud to have worked to lower speed limits on most side streets in Cambridge to 20 MPH. I continue to work toward increasing protections for cyclists and pedestrians - we need to prioritize these modes of transportation. I would like to see improvements to our transit system in addition (including city-sponsored shuttles to underserved neighborhoods), both for accessibility and affordability so that all people have the option to use these methods instead of driving. Crosswalks at dangerous intersections need improved signalling to protect pedestrians with strollers and mobility issues especially. Including car-free zones in areas of our city would be a good step towards reducing emissions and increasing safety.

The MBTA is not meeting the needs of its users. I firmly believe that access to transportation is a human right, along with housing and food. In our society, we cannot live without it and with soaring property prices more and more people are commuting to their jobs from far afield. We need to improve and increase the bus lines to expand the net of service. Funding the MBTA will help with this goal, and support from our wealthies institutions (Harvard and MIT) will be vital. We need to work together as a council to put pressure on the Statehouse to lift the austerity measures in place which are contributing to the deterioration of the MBTA. We need to use the power of City Special Permit process such as making CambridgeSide provide a shuttle service to the RedLine that was free for anyone to use. In the first year, 500,000 people used the service.

We need to work to push more bike safety ordinances and ensure the creation of protected bike lanes doesn't have to wait until a street is redone. First of all, it needs to be comprehensive and include related pedestrian improvements where needed. Many people ride a bike but everyone is a pedestrian. I plan to push the council and our city manager to use our considerable resources to increase transit options - increased shuttles in areas that are underserved but in need, like the Alewife shuttle, as well as better protected bike lanes, and more pedestrian paths. We need to ensure these lanes are spaced appropriately and well designed to mitigate any more tragedies.

Charles Franklin

We must show the city that these changes are a priority for the council, the residents, and commuters. The council can add policy orders to general meeting agendas which gives the public an opportunity to speak on the record. The policy orders themselves can be designed to push the city to hold community meetings so they can hear more directly what we need to feel safe on the streets.
I attended a rally recently when the city declined to add protected bike lanes to Webster Ave. These types of events get the attention of the community at large and are hard to ignore.

The ultimate tool to force the city to move forward with implementing road safety improvements is to pass a city ordinance. Recently, an ordinance was passed requiring the city to add protected bike lanes to streets specified by the city’s official bike network plan when the street is redone.

The MBTA currently does not do a good job of serving all of Cambridge’s residents. Some areas like North and West Cambridge only serviced by busses that run once every hour. This is too slow.

I will push the City Council/Manager to provide its own assessment of where we need new bus lines, and to determine what changes to the bus schedule are needed to better serve our residents.

I would also ask the City Manager to see if there are additional infrastructural improvements we can make to reduce bus dwell times and headways, e.g., by adding more bus lanes where appropriate.

However, there is also only so much influence we can have on the MBTA, as it is a state organization. I am in favor of Cambridge having its own short minibus transit system parallel to the MBTA. Perhaps we could model it after Lexington’s Lexpress system. I believe many tight-looped bus-lines connecting key points in the city will increase use of public ridership as well as give greater access to mobility limited residents.

As stated before, an ordinance was recently passed requiring the city to add protected bike lanes to streets specified by the city’s official bike network plan when the street is redone. This is a great step forward, but we can't wait until a street is scheduled to be redone. A bike lane or off street path should always be under construction. Again, this requires pressuring the city manager to act more swiftly to identify the most dangerous roads and intersections for cyclist and pedestrian safety improvements. Policy orders and public demonstrations have proven themselves successful in the past to move him forward on important issues, and we will continue to employ them.

Craig Kelley

I will continue to advocate for slower speed limits in Cambridge, something I helped pass as the City went to a 20 MPH limit on most streets but in many places even 20 MPH is too fast. City staff says it will take years to get all the streets appropriately signed with this new limit and I will continue to push for increased funding and staffing to make this implementation happen faster. Slower speeds, to include the speeds of cyclists and other non-car platforms, make everyone safer. I will work for faster responses to sidewalk safety issues through better implementation of See/Click/Fix responses and will continue to work to get the City to properly sign (and enforce) pedestrian-only sidewalk areas like Central Square. I will work with traffic staff to review our traffic signal timing, timing that often does not allow slower walkers enough time to cross the street and I will support infrastructure changes, like the median strips on Mt. Auburn, that force drivers to slow down and will work with city staff to improve our intersection treatments to increase the yield percentage at crosswalks for both car and cyclists/scooters/skateboards.

The City can do much to improve public transit. The City must ensure bus stops are used only for buses. I am currently coordinating a study with the Harvard Kennedy School that is reviewing how effective CPD and Parking Control Officers are at keeping people from illegally parking in bus stops, an offense that may seem minor to the offender but can be very impactful to anyone trying to get onto, or bicycle past, a bus that cannot access the curb because of an illegally parked car. The City also needs to do a better job of installing and updating “Next Bus” type notification systems because a significant reason people do not take buses is because they are not sure when the next bus is coming. In conjunction with the MBTA, the City needs to implement bus priority lanes that buses will actually use, which may require City investment in specific contracted transit support to help the T meet very time specific transportation peak needs. As ride-hailing apps change the face of transportation, the City must work more effectively with both TNCs and taxis, as well as private transit systems, to create a seamless system of network-based transit options that fill in gaps in our MBTA lines.

] I have not owned a car for over a decade and my family gets around town almost entirely by bike. I understand the complex dangers of bicycling and nothing is more important to me than bike safety. Where the City has a safe design for bicycling, such as the contra-flow lane on Brattle Street, I am supportive. Unfortunately, the City has a history of creating dangerous, sometimes deadly, bicycle facilities like the bike lanes in Central Square where a cyclist was killed by a bus soon after their installation. The idea of removing the North Mass Ave Median Strip for any reason fills me with fear for myself, my family and the thousands of other people who use that stretch of road. Getting rid of the Median Strip, something the City first planned over 20 years ago, would make the street more dangerous for all users, especially cyclists. Removing parking at specific choke points along the Avenue would be a much better safety solution, as would creating a bikeway along Sherman Street from Rindge to Huron. Addressing intersection conflicts with stanchions, forcing cars to be slower and more deliberate in their turns, would make streets safer as would better traffic enforcement policies.

Derek Kopon

While the city has made progress with traffic calming measures at a few locations in the city, these changes are proceeding gradually with many intersections and streets still needing more attention to make them safer. Just to list a few examples, there are stretches of Linnaean, Garden, and Concord Ave where cars frequently barrel down the road and then come to a rapid stop if there is a pedestrian in the cross walk. One crosswalk on Concord Ave. in particular has a pedestrian crosswalk directly after a series of parked cars, so oncoming drivers do not see the person in the crosswalk until the person has passed the front of the parked car. The result is drivers frequently slamming on the breaks. One could imagine a whole host of traffic calming measures that could be implemented here, such as curb extensions, a polymer overlay to change the texture and color of the crosswalk relative to the road, a raised crosswalk, etc. Like our network of protected bikes lanes, which is discontinuous, our crosswalk safety and traffic calming measures need to be applied everywhere in the city consistently and uniformly.

The branch of public transit most in need of upgrades and infrastructure improvements, the T, is not directly under the purview of the City of Cambridge or the City Council. The red line has been operating at (or sometimes over) capacity for some time, with virtually no substantial infrastructure improvements in decades. I first rode the red line during a summer internship at MIT back in 2002. Since then, the only noticeable changes to the red line in 17 years are a change in seat covers and the change from tokens to the Charlie Card (personally, I miss the tokens). Two months ago, Kendall square leaders publicly declared a transportation emergency with particular attention and criticism given to the MBTA T and bus infrastructure. Lack of sufficient municipal planning and infrastructure improvement have left us in a situation where, to quote the Kendall square leaders, “Today’s red line travelers in Kendall Square often find themselves on full trains and crowded platforms, sometimes getting left behind…The increase of passengers will greatly exacerbate today’s problems.” I will pressure the state legislature to provide funding and priority to these problems.

I support rapid implementation of the 2015 Cambridge Bicycle Plan. I personally do not feel safe when I am biking on the roads of Cambridge, particularly along Mass Ave and any other major thoroughfare that does not have contiguous protected bike lanes. The current city council is simultaneously trying to encourage people to bike and use public transport by getting rid of minimum parking requirements on new development, yet not moving nearly quickly enough to provide cyclists the safe infrastructure with which to do so. Every morning, I see cyclists trying to navigate the area between moving automobile traffic and parked cars, whose driver-side doors can open at any moment. It is dangerous and irresponsible that we still do not have a contiguous network of protected bike lanes. In line with the Cambridge bicycle safety pledge, I will do everything in my power—including voting with the City Council and working with the City Staff— to ensure that the City of Cambridge installs continuous protected bicycle lanes along the entire length of Mass Ave. These improvements should also include bus transit priority and pedestrian safety improvements, where feasible and applicable.

Alanna Mallon

The Council has reduced speeds to 20mph in all Squares, and also asked Traffic and Parking to produce a list of hundreds of streets to be reduced to 20mph, prioritizing the most dangerous to go first in the fall. I also support installing speed cushions to enforce these reduced speed limits. I have also worked to keep large trucks off of our side streets, and asked the City to work with navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze to keep our side streets from becoming major thoroughfares.

As a Councillor, I make it my priority to be constantly out in the community to understand the needs of our residents. That’s why I introduced a policy order to ask for more bus service on Concord Ave, and opposed many of the MBTA’s “improvements” to the Better Bus Project, which would decrease service to many residents who rely on bus service. I also supported Councilor Michelle Wu’s efforts in opposing the MBTA fare hike, as well as her myriad of alternatives for raising revenue for the T that do not put the burden on to lower income riders.

I maintain a close working relationship with Cambridge Bicycle Safety and support their efforts to complete our protected bike network - especially efforts to identify key transit corridors that could be rapidly served by quick build solutions. I also think income should be a larger part of this discussion. For too many families, a bike is a luxury, and I have already proposed a partnership between cycling advocates, the CHA, and the City to establish a low income bike program. This would give our low income residents access to bikes and the skills to repair and maintain them.

Marc McGovern

I supported Cambridge reducing speed limits in our city to 25 mph. I think we can even drop those limits to 20 mph in many areas. I would like to see better coordination of traffic signals. I have taken action and will continue to take action to install crosswalks and stop signs in areas to slow down traffic. I also think we need to launch a public education campaign about the dangers of speeding.

I supported the City of Cambridge investing $25 million to ensure funding for the Green Line Extension. I supported Cambridge implementing bus only lanes. I would like to see the city invest more in improvements to the Red Line. I would like to see the roll out of more bus only lanes.

As mentioned previously, I brought Cambridge Bike Safety and the City together to author a first of it's kind ordinance to implement protected bike lanes during major street construction. I will continue to push for pop up and quick build lanes, as I did with Cambridge St. and Brattle St. I will continue to advocate for additional funding toward building out our bike infrastructure network and I have signed the Cambridge Bike Safety pledge to call for this network to be completed within five years.

Jeffery McNary

feedback from residents via policy pods with experts and residents and colleagues

on the ground interaction with regularity

demand enforcement of current regulations

Adriane Musgrave

Cambridge has been making good progress on traffic slowing by reducing the speed limit to 20 MPH, enhancing crosswalks with lights, and requiring that street reconstructions add protected bike lanes. More work is needed. Cars still disregard the speed limit; many crosswalks are still unsafe; and we need a full network of protected lanes to create cycling safety. These are important issues to me and I’ve seen how they get passed. As city councilor, I will follow the playbook by focusing my attention to street safety, collaborating with city staff, and rallying our residents to build community pressure.

I served as a local leader during the #UnfairHikes #FixTheT rally to push for transit improvements and new funding streams. As a city official I will use my role to advocate for state-level improvements and push locally for change.

- Better Buses: Cambridge hosts one-third of the key bus routes in the metro area (1, 66, 71, 73, and 77). I want to make the 71/73 bus pilot project permanent and extend the 77priority lane into Cambridge. Other key routes and high-use local routes (47 & 70) should be next.

- Kendall Sq./Cambridge Crossing: We must find new ways to get commuters in/out of this critical commercial corridor via mass transit. Priorities include the Grand Junction transit concept; pushing for Kendall Sq. T improvements, which is the 8th busiest and 5th fastest growing stop in the system; advocating for the Red-Blue line connection; and creating dedicated bus lanes in the area.

- Transit deserts: a large portion of the city is not served by any route offering all-day frequent service so we should explore and test new models, including micro-mobility options.

- Ride-Hailing: Explore options to regulate ride-hailing firms to re-incentivize public transit.

In May the city launched the 2020 Bike Plan update process that will take 18 months. It is critical that protected bike lanes top the priority list since they are the best way to ensure safety. Having the city commit to building lanes will allow us to hold our city government accountable to the promises we have collectively made as a community.

But we also can’t wait 18 months for change. We know they are the safest options; we know the most dangerous stretches of road; and we know the roads with the highest bike traffic. Every year we should build 4 miles of dedicated lanes if we are to reach out goal of creating a connected network. But this year we built none. I stand with Cambridge Bike Safety in calling for Mass Ave, our most dangerous stretch of road, to be our next top priority.

In passing the first-in-the nation ordinance requiring that protected lanes be built when roads are reconstructed, we learned how to win key policy advancements. It requires applying focused attention on bike safety solutions, collaborating with city staff, and rallying our residents to build community pressure. I plan to follow this winning playbook when elected.

Patty Nolan

City Council’s role starts with passing policies and ordinances for infrastructure changes. The change to a maximum speed of 20 mph in all major squares started with an idea, followed by community advocacy, discussion by the Council, review and vote. Without community ideas, advocacy and support, changes like that don’t happen. It’s a prime example of how to enact positive change. More review of speed limits is necessary. And, the design of streets to ensure safety like bump outs at crosswalks, needs to include the community.
I would approach these changes through good governance process: identify options, work with a range of groups to decide which are the most promising, bring together city and community folks to discuss how to best implement, and decide which ones to implement under a clear timetable. Often people need multiple ways and times to learn about possible changes. Background, research and rationale must be included or change is resisted. The Council has a very important role in accountability and oversight – a power it should use more. Cambridge needs to make use of technology to communicate AND to generate data about the safety and effectiveness of policies.

A key reason people use their cars is public transit is unreliable, and/or not very accessible. Working with the MBTA, the city need to look at each bus routes potential –explore how to increase frequency of buses along major routes & implement bus only priority sections, like the pilot on Mt. Auburn Street. Buses on the major arteries are not frequent enough, especially for non traditional commuting hours. Plus, I would advocate strongly for more continuous routes – instead of the current system requiring transfers in Harvard or Central Square. Another lapse is the lack of a north –southbus through Cambridge – that is another key route the T should serve.

For the subway, the city needs to work with the T to increase the capacity of the overloaded Red Line. The new cars in process should help, yet the signaling system has to be improved to increase frequency of trains at rush hour, so no one ever thinks taking a car is faster. The lack of a connection between the new Green Line Extension to the Red Line – at either Davis or Porter – is astonishing. That is unlikely to be fixed soon, but thinking long term, it is essential, like the North South commuter rail link

The key to effective governance is oversight, monitoring and systems of accountability. The 2015 Cambridge bike plan is a comprehensive document that lays out the issues and presents information clearly & allows people to understand the city’s infrastructure and safety and comfort levels as a whole. The documentation of need– the visual color coding of which streets are which comfort level for cyclists – presents a framework for developing a city-wide network of paths and protected bike lanes to enable safe travel throughout and across the city. Making that plan a reality will require focused attention, a timetable that is public, and regular reporting of progress to the Council, and all bike citizen groups – to ensure accountability. Too often plans are not followed through because accountability is not clearly stated and monitored. Gaining agreement on a timetable that is appropriately fast will require a willingness to push back if there is a reluctance to agree to a specific timetable. A good way to ensure implementation is to have a public dashboard with milestones and dates – so on a regular basis, everyone in the city (or outside) can see progress towards the goals

John Pitkin

In my Mid-Cambridge neighborhood the first step would be to determine problem spots and what infrastructure changes would help. On the main streets, Cambridge Street, Broadway, Prospect Street, enforcement should be the main tool. The last thing we should be doing is creating obstacles that slow T buses. On longer side streets with through traffic as well as Harvard Street, speed bumps such as those on Rindge Avenue should be considered. There are a number of crosswalks without signals on Mass. Ave. in Mid-Cambridge, where an actuated flashing light, as on Beacon Street at Cooney (Somerville), could be tried. In general and especially for other neighborhoods and development districts, I would rely input from residents at a Transportation Forum for guidance. I am not a traffic expert.

I think the City should strive to increase the speed, punctuality, frequency and comfort of bus service through, to and from Cambridge. I support more bus priority lanes and signals, as on Mt. Auburn Street. Information on bus arrival times should be displayed at all major stops.
I would advocate for a new commuter rail stop and more frequent service near Alewife.
Since I am not an expert on citywide transit needs, again, I would look to input from residents at a new Transportation Forum for guidance on where there are needs that could be addressed by new services to underserved areas. Cambridge is growing and so should our transit system.

Here especially I would look to a new, representative Transportation Forum for guidance. Our streets are a complex system that must work for all users (including tradespeople, delivery vehicles, transit and school buses, ride services for elderly and handicapped, emergency vehicles, and customers of local and neighborhood businesses), and a one-size-fits-all approach is probably not workable. Continued, representative and responsible public input and oversight will expedite successful implementation.

Sumbul Siddiqui

This term, I have promoted traffic-calming measures and improvements to our bicycle infrastructure. To increase bicycle ridership and decrease motor vehicle speed, I supported the “Cycling Safety Ordinance.” To improve pedestrian safety, I co-sponsored a policy order to identify traffic-calming and safety features for the Fresh Pond Mall area as the current conditions in the lot compromise pedestrian and bicyclist safety by failing to clearly separate where vehicles should travel and where to expect pedestrians and cyclists moving safely. To protect pedestrians in congested areas, I joined another colleague, Councillor Alanna Mallon, in installing a pedestrian Super LPI at the intersection of Mass Ave, Prospect St., and Western Ave to give pedestrians a 10-15 head start on traffic.

To increase efficiency, I support the creation of separate bus lanes on major corridors. This will make bus routes run more smoothly, creating an incentive for commuters who currently get to work in single-rider vehicles to switch to a more environmentally friendly and traffic-reducing alternative. I also support more residential construction within walking distance of a T stop or frequently running bus line. For example, we should consider upzoning along Prospect St. between Central Square and Inman Square, in light of the future Green Line stop at Union Square. I would also keep in mind the populations that most need access to public transit, such as disabled people and senior citizens. New infrastructure and housing built should accommodate these folks, as it may be harder for them to bike or walk long distances.

To improve reach, I support measures to reduce MBTA fares. Our ultimate goal should be to eliminate fares altogether, and move towards a system of free public transit; the price of a train ride shouldn’t keep anyone from making it to school or work. I am also supportive of shuttle bus service.

Research indicates that people are far more likely to use protected bike lanes than unprotected ones, and I am supportive of capital investments to create protected bike lanes. This term, I co-sponsored the Cycling Safety Ordinance, which requires the City to construct permanent protected bike lanes on all streets identified for reconstruction under our Five Year Sidewalk & Street Plan. Requiring these lanes to be constructed as part of existing infrastructure projects will ensure that they remain a priority and are built in a timely manner. I also co-sponsored a policy order supporting the implementation protected bike lanes on Webster Ave, Museum Way, O’Brien Highway, and Craigie Bridge.

Cambridge Bicycle Safety has identified top-priority streets for constructing protected bike lanes, including the length of Massachusetts Avenue, Hampshire Street, Broadway Street, and other high bicycle-traffic roads. These recommendations can guide our efforts to implement protected bike lanes. Finally, as many who work in Cambridge live in Somerville and vice versa, we should prioritize collaboration with Somerville to build protected bike lanes on connecting streets between the two cities.

E. Denise Simmons

In Cambridge, the City Council works both by issuing work orders to our City Manager, to ensure that he prioritizes those items that we urge him to; and we also have the bully pulpit, which we can utilize to put public pressure on the City administration to take specific actions. I will continue to utilize both of these avenues.

We made a big step towards this by voting in favor of allocating millions of dollars to the Green Line extension in Union Square. I think we are going to need to turn up the public pressure on the Baker administration, though, in order to address the issues that continue to plague the MBTA.

I have voted in favor of this citywide network, with the caveat that there's wrong way to the right thing. "Faster" is not always "wiser," and I want the City to move with deliberate speed in this process - but I do not want this done *at the expense* of planning to protect against unintended consequences (for example, I would not want a stretch of protected bicycle lanes to be situated in such a way that an ambulance could no longer be parked in front of a senior building). This is why the City needs to work deliberatively and collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure this is done as quickly as possible, but also as thoughtfully as possible.

Ben Simon

The prevalence of for-profit bicycle and motorized scooter companies, while nominally environmentally friendly pose there own environmental concerns and pose a danger to pedestrians, especially the elderly and children. Consequently we should regulate and tax these companies and use the revenue generated to pay for improvements to transit infrastructure improvements such as traffic calming measures like raised intersections. But I think even better than trying to produce safe driving behavior by changing our infrastructure, we should be looking into ways to incentivize people to not drive at all. An excellent, fully-funded public transit system that functioned better and more cheaply for the consumer (maybe it could be free?) would be a good way to do that.

The MBTA is criminally underfunded and I think that is the biggest obstacle to improved service. Public Transit is a public good and as so it should be on the state's books instead of being run like a private business as it currently is. We should look into ways to tax our local 1% to raise revenue to support our public transit and support similar efforts at the state level like State Rep. Mike Connolly's bill HD 2849. Harvard, MIT, big tech and big pharma are enormously profitable institutions that are completely reliant on the MBTA to exist, and yet the pay next to nothing in taxes. Harvard for example is the second wealthiest private non-profit in the world after only the Vatican(!), they pay significantly lower PILOTS than other universities and they are failing to pay the agreed on amounts! They must pay more in taxes and that revenue can help to make improvements to the MBTA as well as other desperately needed social spending projects like the creation of social housing.

I would like to add that transit improvements are known to cause displacement to vulnerable communities so I would want to push for tenant protections and anti-displacement zones alongside any improvements.

I am not well-informed on the city process for approving and implementing this infrastructure so I'm unsure how to respond other than to say that I would learn it and support this infrastructure to the utmost I am able as a city councillor. As I've mentioned above though, I'm generally anti-car and would love to push for getting them entirely off certain streets, leaving them open for safer walking and biking. But I recognize that this may be a less immediately realizable goal politically speaking and so protected bike-lanes and bike paths are something to fight for right away.

It's often good though to have a more radical long-term demand and a less radical short term one at the same time, as the ""scariness"" of the more radical one to the powerful people and institutions that benefit from the status quo may encourage them to accept the less scary one. This was seen recently in Berlin when a massively popular movement to nationalize buildings of some of the biggest corporate landlords and add them to the social housing stock led to a 5-year rent freeze.

Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler

Municipal sidewalk snow removal will make it easier and safer for pedestrians in Cambridge’s long winters. It will reduce traffic by enabling older and disabled who may otherwise be car-dependent to walk more as well. We also need to implement traffic tables and bump outs to ensure cars aren’t treating heavily populated sections of Cambridge like highways.

Completing the city-wide network of protected bike lanes will not only make our streets less dangerous for cyclists, it will also make them safer for pedestrians by calming car traffic. We need to add both temporary “quick-build” lanes and push for the kind of permanent protected bike-lanes that are mandated by the Cambridge Cycling Safety Ordinance I helped push for with Cambridge Bike Safety. Studies show that protected bike lanes calm traffic and reduce conflicts between cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians on confusing sections of streets and intersections. Along with pedestrian and bus infrastructural changes, they send the message that our streets are for everyone, whether or not you can afford a car.

Public transit is at the core of our Cambridge Green New Deal proposal. Improving buses and subways means fewer car emissions, but it also means improving commutes for thousands of lower-income people and people of color who depend on public transit to get to work, to doctor’s appointments, and to live their lives. It’s a way of tackling climate change, income inequality, and racial inequity at the same time.

That’s why we’re pushing to make buses and subways free for Cambridge residents by 2025. Our plan involves purchasing monthly passes for Cambridge residents—half of whom already qualify for discounts because they’re under 18, students, over 65, etc—paid for by congestion pricing, PILOT payments from our two universities with $1 Billion+ endowments, and progressive property taxes. This will also add revenue to the MBTA to help fix the T.

We’ll also push for bus priority lanes, bus-rapid transit, and local micro-transit. As the Mt Auburn St traffic study made clear, on some streets more than half of people commute by bus but 90% of vehicles are cars. By making it easier to commute by bus we create a virtuous cycle reducing traffic and improving commutes.

Along with fellow members of Cambridge Bike Safety, I helped push for the Cambridge Cycling Safety Ordinance, which mandates the addition of protected bike lanes to major streets in Cambridge when they are due for reconstruction. But we also need to demand that the city move faster to save lives and add protected bike lanes along the city-wide network now.

In Cambridge, the City Manager, who serves at the will of the City Council, oversees city staff in deciding when protected bike lanes, bus priority lanes and pedestrian improvements will be added to streets. As a Councilor, I'll bring the activist approach I’m used to from local organizing work to city government and keep pressure up to implement what the vast majority of Cambridge residents have said they want—safer streets, improved public transit, and a city-wide bike network.

One other piece of creating a network in Cambridge is improving Memorial Dr, which is run by the state DCR. Right now, there are 4 lanes of cars and a narrow sidewalk for cyclists, runners, and walkers. As a Councilor, I'll use my platform to demand a safe-streets redesign reducing traffic to two lanes and expand the bike and walking paths.

Nicola Williams

Through my work as a board member of Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, I have also been supporting the efforts of the Memorial Drive Alliance – comprising of environmentalists, bicycle groups, and others. Our shared goals are saving the trees along Memorial drive and adding separate bike lanes in part on Memorial Drive itself, thus limiting vehicular traffic to two lanes and bike lanes to two lanes. This will reduce traffic and make it safer for people who are walking and using mobility assistive devices so they don't have to negotiate with cyclists.

The MBTA has largely been a huge disappointment for Cambridge residents. While fares have gone up, service has gone down. We just received word that Red Line services would not return to their normal speed until October, which will mean longer commutes and likely more packed trains. We need to increase the amount of trains operating, the number of cars, and expand access to areas that have been left out geographically and economically. This will take strategy, pressure, and investment from the many wealthy institutions that call Cambridge and Greater Boston home (such as MIT and Harvard). That's why I want to talk to other city councils across the region to put pressure on the state and allow us to transform the service and reach of the MBTA, within our communities, to make it equitable and inexpensive.

As I have said before, as a community activist, I've already been working to do just this with the Memorial Drive Alliance and have shared insights with the Cambridge Bicycle Safety group about how they can work with local businesses to receive community input, build consensus, and reduce hostilities between cyclists and non-cyclists. As a city councillor, I will take my experience and these initiatives with me to the table and make them a major order of business.

Quinton Zondervan

Thanks in part to my advocacy and leadership, Cambridge will be lowering speed limits on most side streets to 20 MPH. All remaining streets controlled by the city are already at 25 MPH. Also mentioned earlier is the bike safety ordinance, first in the nation, which I helped move through the council. I’m constantly pushing for traffic calming, lane reductions and other measures that will slow down vehicular traffic and improve safety. Along with Councillor Devereux, I’m part of a coalition of local organizations advocating with DCR to reduce vehicular lanes on Memorial Drive, and reclaim the space for pedestrian and bicycle modes, as well as for tree canopy expansion. I recently met with neighbors who want to turn their street into a neighborway, and I’m helping them navigate their project through the bureaucracy; I’ve already gotten the city to commit to adding this street to their road improvement plan. Ultimately I want to see car free zones in all major squares in Cambridge: Kendall, Central, Harvard, Porter (and Davis in Somerville).

I’ve called for free public transit buses in Cambridge, owned and operated by the city. If Harvard and MIT can operate private shuttles, why can’t we operate public ones to help people get around? I’ve called for free MBTA passes for all public school students, and i’ve said that the T should be free for all riders. I’ve advocated with the MBTA to improve maintenance on its stations and trains in Cambridge. I’m calling for equitable congestion pricing (low income drivers wouldn’t pay) on our highways so that we can generate additional revenues for public transit. We should have congestion pricing surcharges on Uber/Lyft rides in and out of Cambridge (Cambridge resident Uber/Lyft drivers would be exempt), with the money going to public transit. I will continue to advocate with the state to lift their absurd austerity measures imposed on the MBTA and properly fund our public transit infrastructure so it can service our residents.

As mentioned I helped shepherd the bike safety ordinance, but even that won’t move fast enough. In addition I’m calling for more “quick-build” projects like we’ve done on Cambridge St., South Mass. Ave. and Porter Sq. among others. The city has done far too few of these projects, and we continue to lose friends and neighbors to vehicular traffic. We have seen progress when we’ve really pushed, including in Porter Square where the staff had no plans to install protected lanes until strong community (and council) pushback; now they will begin a design with protected lanes next year. We’ve had two pedestrian fatalities and one bicycle fatality in the last 2 years in Cambridge, and that rate is unacceptable. We need to expect more of our City Manager on this front: the quick build projects simply aren’t coming fast enough. We are a wealthy city with vast resources; there is no need to wait for mitigation money from development to move ahead with projects that provide basic safety to residents.