In attendance: Heidi Moesinger (temp. chair), Doreen Miller (minutes), Dianne Lescinskas, Jennifer Deabler, Samia, Des Rohan, Yomari Chavez
Review of the Interactive Street Safety Map
- Posted on the Savin Hill Facebook page and the CSHCA website safety committee page.
- Crosswalks have been requested in strategic locations, including by Savin Hill Park.
Discussion of Problematic Areas
- Buttonwood – Columbia Road intersection
- Speeding is a threat to pedestrian safety. Suggestions include:
- Request that crosswalks be installed at the intersection.
- Proper curb cuts for pedestrians crossing Buttonwood.
- Install traffic calming measures especially on the section of Buttonwood to Grafton Street.
- Enforce the no-turn onto Buttonwood from Columbia Road between 4-6PM.
- Install a raised speed hump before Grafton to slow speeders.
- Make the stop sign at Grafton Street more visible via solar powered illumination.
- Make use of digital speed boards to show actual speed. (Do these boards also track data?)
- Install cameras to photograph speeding cars.
- McConnell Park
- Looking ahead, the parking lot by the yacht club is problematic in the summer with cars/groups coming and going all night.
- Determine ownership of the parking lot – the yacht club or DCR?
- Possibly install a gate that can be closed at night, or a gate that can be opened with a yacht club membership card after dusk.
- Coyotes in Savin Hill Park
- From the Parks Department request signage alerting the public to the presence of coyotes.
- Place the signs at key entry points.
- An increase in rat sightings
- Uncovered trash a problem
- Call 311 to address rat problems.
- Plant marigolds and peppermint together to deter rats.
Suggestions
- Request further updates from Councilor Frank Baker, who is aware and advocating for speed humps, and who has previously mentioned budgeting discussions around this.
- The Safety committee should compile a list of wants and needs for improved safety to deliver to key people.
- Decide how to strategically ask for improvements. Determine who oversees which roads – city or state?
- Push for real physical fixes, not just more signs that people will ignore.
- Request traffic studies in problematic areas.
- Get the mayoral candidates on board with funding projects for improved pedestrian and bicycle safety.
- Download the app Citizen – an emergency alert app that sends you push notifications on accidents and crimes (including 911 calls) happening within a 1-mile radius of you. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/citizen-connect-and-stay-safe/id1039889567
Action Items
- Heidi will look into seeing if it is possible run a report on monthly updates to the interactive safety map so that we can see what has been added within the past month. These could be shared with the CSHCA, BPD officer Mike Kearny, and other stakeholders.
- Heidi will contact Dan Hunt regarding problems related to McConnell Park, the Buttonwood- Columbia Road intersection, and speeding issues on Buttonwood.
- Heidi will contact Ryan Woods in the Parks Dept. to inquire about coyote signage for Savin Hill Park (by Grampian Way & Caspian Way entries)
- Next month’s guest speaker will be someone from the Boston Transportation Department – Vision Zero/Safe Streets/Better Bikes
Nominations for the Chair
- Co-chairs: Dianne Lescinskas and Jennifer Deabler
- Dianne is a life-long resident of Savin Hill. She is interested in doing outreach to cover and include people from the whole area of CSHCA, and to increase diversity. She is working on a survey to ascertain issues people may have.
- Jennifer has lived in Savin Hill for 20 years, has two children and has always been interested in improving safety in the neighborhood.
- Dianne and Jennifer were nominated as co-chairs and voted on with unanimous support. By-laws should be reviewed and amended to reflect the practice of having co-chairs.
The next meeting: April 20, 2021 at 7pm (the third Tuesday of the month)