@brendanjkearney
executive director at a #pedestrian advocacy org (WalkMassachusetts - previously known as WalkBoston), grew up in S.Jersey (Go #Phillies!), went to college in MA (#HolyCross), live in Framingham. I used to run fast, now I run sometimes for fun.
My experience as a year-round outdoor runner (and dog owner) in greater Boston this winter taught me one thing:
Virtually every city and town did not shovel out intermediary pedestrian islands. Those tiny, critical bits of infrastructure that keep us safe crossing extra-wide streets: all untouched
Do you think AJ Brown gets traded before week 1? And what’s a receiver worth on the trade market these days (or, where could he land)?
Semi-cleared Sidewalk after a sidewalk snow plow has made one pass a few days after a big storm. You can see the treads of the plow remain. A white and brown labradoodle walks on a leash in the foreground
To continue thread of what it can look like after a sidewalk plow comes through when they just do one pass. This was yesterday (friday 2/27) mid-morning. Hoping the warm up will help this a lot!
Thanks - good photos! It can take a Herculean effort to even get through piles like that - and that’s without even getting the curb cut clear (it isn’t at the corner which I’m sure is for a slew of possible reasons - slope/cross slope, drainage, not wanting to bump out corner to force slower turn…)
possible that if the commission had not been set up, we might be looking at similar reaction in the wake of some of those crashes this past fall
I think they follow the little bobcat plows with some of the brushes to clear that last bit in downtown business districts.
Plow doesn’t do everything - but it is way better than piecemeal; unclear if you could get through independently if you had a wheelchair.
Doesn’t seem like they scrape completely to the ground; it isn’t as flat/straight as if they were clearing a downtown business district or rail trail.
Totally hear you; I read your comments with the nuance it deserves.
I will say, now living on a street that eventually gets a sidewalk plow to come through (sidewalk is just 1 side of street, we are not far from Framingham HS) - folks don’t shovel/clean up! They feel sidewalk plow is good enough
Agree! Do want to flag this follow up was important; they’ve heard the feedback from @walkmass.bsky.social and many others that it is absolutely impossible for people to get around safely & for people shoveling to clear curb cuts if the plows pile the street snow there
bsky.app/profile/wutr...
Labradoodle next to a snowbank above their head
That was saved for after work, once the winds chilled out a bit
Mavis elected to pass on a snow romp at lunchtime today.
Tough to beat Randall’s record, but he’ll try his darnedest
Pretty sure Mavis waited for me to start filming before she resumed playing with the chunk of ice in our driveway
Oh yea, big waste of time. I felt the need to explain who he was mixing me up with since I actually knew of the other person, which I think made this knucklehead think I was spinning an elaborate lie
I got a “why are you interviewing for this role in Boston if you’re in grad school in Philly?”
Guy googled my name, found another BK. (I was FB friends with that BK, since that’s what you did in the early times.) Very pleased with himself, thought he had a gotcha & I was lying on my resume?
Olympics torch being passed by Italian athletes at the opening ceremony in Italy. Andrea Bocelli is singing. Caption reads: singing in a non-English language
[SINGING IN A NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE]
They knew the program was going to include Andrea Bocelli singing in Italian and that’s the best NBC can do with captions?
Doesn’t bode well for NBC’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Enough with the snow: We deserve clear sidewalks.
walkmass.org/2026/02/06/e...
While my board term ended at the end of 2025, I'm going to continue to read and support the org (and hope you will, too) since I really appreciate the coverage -- congrats to the incoming board members at @mass.streetsblog.org! mass.streetsblog.org/2026/01/16/s...
This is like how Putin still has one of Bob Kraft’s Super Bowl rings
www.essentiallysports.com/nfl-legends-...
Only trusted one guy to throw to by the end of this tire fire
Person lounging on a couch with a Labradoodle on top of them. Labradoodle has a backwards hat on and looks unimpressed
How we’re feeling as the end of the first quarter. Go birds
Lots of Jesuit touchdowns today! Coker in the early game went to Holy Cross.
labradoodle curled up on a blue couch and brown blanket.
Took Mavis to senior housing on our street this afternoon; walked down one hallway w/ the activity director to say hello to residents. This happened since we got a mislabeled piece of mail. I dropped it off and asked if their residents would like to say hi to a dog sometime. 10/10 would recommend.
If you like “this year” as much as I do, you’ll love their new song “cold at night”
open.spotify.com/track/4ijPmm...
Mavis the labradoodle laying under a Christmas tree, chewing on a tennis ball that is held between her paws
Mavis the labradoodle examines the cherry hill dog stick library ball collection
Merry Christmas from Cherry Hill, NJ; Mavis selected a tennis ball from the dog stick little library in my parents’ neighborhood.
Fun nugget in this story that New Bedford and Fall River may have been inspiration for name of Bedford Falls. @universalhub.com
3 albums for me:
Vulfmon - “Deg” (Just 24min! Bunch of cool instrumental jams interspersed with pop nuggets).
Mountain Goats - “Through this fire across from Peter Balkan” (‘cold at night’ might be their best song in the last 20 years, up there with ‘this year’).
Snocaps - “Snocaps”
More should be done to make streets safer for all Drs. Natalia Barron Cervantes, Cassandra M. Kelleher, and Peter T. Masiakos highlighted an important safety concern in their Nov. 27 op-ed, “Massachusetts laws haven’t kept up with e-bike technology, and children are paying the price.” The authors recommend a number of regulations they’d like to see the Legislature enact. At the end of 2024, the Legislature established a Special Commission on Micromobility, which has met five times this year. A report is due out soon, with findings that may require lawmakers to act to make streets safer both for people using micromobility devices and for pedestrians. I would also note that removing the fastest and heaviest micromobility devices from sidewalks and trails across the Commonwealth would improve safety for people walking, running, and enjoying parks and trails, but there is more to do to improve mobility and safety for everyone. After all, the majority of fatal and serious crashes in Massachusetts involve automobiles. Users are often on sidewalks because streets are dangerous. We need to do everything we can to slow speeding drivers down, such as allowing municipalities to opt in to road safety cameras. Lawmakers should pass proposed legislation that would do that.
This letter from @brendanjkearney.bsky.social of @walkmass.bsky.social notes that while more regulation is needed for things like e-motos, our state has not made progress on other measures that would have an even larger impact on the safety of pedestrians and micro-mobility users.
Something I often talk about is the need for media outlets to put conversations about e-bike safety and regulations in the context of the larger danger on our streets: cars.
The Boston Globe published two letters to the editors that do this well. I'll thread them below.
