At Martin Playground – this is Mayor Menino’s 12th annual Neighborhood Coffee Hour program, a great way to advocate face-to-face for your park or other issues…
Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ category
Mayor Menino Coffee Hour – May 11
May 10th, 2010Fairmount Line: New Stations and Greenway
May 3rd, 2010
The Fairmount Line opened in 1855 and was one of Boston’s first commuter railroads, running approximately 9 miles between South Station and Hyde Park. After long years of declining ridership, the line was closed down in 1944 – it was reopened by the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1979, but without any Dorchester or Mattapan stations. In 1987, two new stations opened in Mattapan (Morton Street) and Uphams Corner due to community pressure. Carrying about 2,000 riders daily, it is the smallest commuter line in the MBTA system and the only one entirely contained in Boston, MA. Currently there are four stations – Uphams Corner, Morton Street, Fairmount and Readville – and the line runs through communities (Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park) that constitute more than 30% of Boston’s population.
Over the years, the Fairmount Corridor Collaborative (FCC), a group of local housing and economic development agencies, realized the commuter line was travelling through rather than serving the transit needs of the neighborhoods. Dorchester and Mattapan communities are served mostly by bus » Read more: Fairmount Line: New Stations and Greenway
Advocating for our DCR parks
May 3rd, 2010DEHC’s meeting on the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) budget with MA State Representative Martin Walsh has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 4, at 12:30pm in State House Room 540.
The April 26 meeting with Senator Jack Hart went well, with the Senator promising to fight for level funding for the Department of Conservation and Recreation and his support for an updated bottle bill.
If you would like to attend on Tuesday, please RSVP to Rosanne Foley 617-474-1478 or rosanne.foley[AT]dotwell.org, so we know to expect you. Please bring stories about what the DCR parks and beaches mean to you and how you think an 8% cut on top of the 23% during 2009 might affect these spaces. Also bring your supporting comments about what it would mean to pass the bottle bill, extending the deposit/refund system for cans to plastic and glass bottles.
Click here for the Boston Parks Advocates fact sheets on the state budget and Dorchester parks including info on the Ways and Means budget, and a fact sheet on the bottle bill. Also see a sample letter from the Environmental League of Massachusetts in support of amendments that directly affect the environmental budget, including one to raise funding for state and urban parks by $5.39 million.
Help DEHC advocate for our parks!
April 22nd, 2010DEHC’s Green Space Campaign Team is organizing visits with elected officials (including a meeting set for Senator Jack Hart’s office on Monday April 26, 11 AM, Room 109C at the State House – join us if you can!) to let them know that proposed massive cuts to the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) budget will have a huge impact on our local parks’ already too-low level of maintenance. » Read more: Help DEHC advocate for our parks!
Help Get Money for Biking: Call Congress Today!
March 11th, 2010
bike lane franklin park
Last week, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced a groundbreaking new bill to support bicycling and walking: the Active Community Transportation Act (H.R.4722) creates a competitive grant program with $2 Billion to help communities build bicycling and walking networks.
For the first time, communities would be able to compete for multi-year funding to build active transportation systems, just as they do for transit and road infrastructure. And one of the seven original sponsors of the bill is Massachusetts’ own Representative Michael Capuano (D-MA)!
This new bill gives you the opportunity » Read more: Help Get Money for Biking: Call Congress Today!
