June Update: Walk Audits and Budget Season

Hello Worcester Strong Towners! Our next general meeting is this Saturday, June 6th, at 4 PM. This meeting, we’ll be doing a walk audit! Meet at Technocopia (44 Portland St) and we’ll go from there. The entire walk will be about 1.6 miles, during which we’ll look at road conditions, assess the pedestrian environment, and determine where things could be safer or more accessible for pedestrians along the road’s length. We’ll be stopping and starting frequently to really observe what’s going on! Wear comfortable shoes and clothing and bring water – we’ll have clipboards and papers available to mark our observations. (For anyone who would prefer not to walk, we can have postcards ready to go for more letter writing!)

May Recap: Thank you to everyone for attending our May meeting. We wrote postcards to City Councilors in support of safer roads, improved public transit, and changing zoning for housing development! We had quite a large turnout, so plenty of reading material for our councilors 😊.

Bike Ride Recap: On Saturday, May 16th, a group of us gathered at Binienda Beach at Coes Pond for a Strong Towns bike ride. We did a loop of Mill St → June St → Coes Boardwalk and then repeated it. It was great to see and use the extensive bike lanes available on Mill St – and to compare it immediately with the lack of bike lanes on June St. Worcester has made a lot of progress so far, but there’s still lots to go for a connected bike network throughout the city. We’d love to do more community rides – sound off on Discord if that’s something you’re interested in!

Action Items

City Council: Worcester’s City Council is meeting on June 2nd at 6:30 PM in the Esther Howland Chamber (on the third floor of City Hall). You can view the upcoming agendas and all of its other files here (just look for City Council under “Meeting Title” on the left). You can watch in person or online.

Budget Season: We are currently in budget season. You can view the City Manager’s Budget for FY27, Worcester’s first billion dollar budget. Something really important to know is that in Worcester, the City Council can only reduce spending, and cannot increase or reallocate it. So, in essence, the budget the City Manager presents is what we’ll get next year, unless the City Council decides to reduce a line item (historically unlikely). Budget approvals will occur in June.

Vernon Connected: This is a planning effort regarding the future of the Vernon Street Bridge and the surrounding neighborhoods. These are neighborhoods that were separated by I-290 decades ago, and this is an opportunity to reconnect them.

• You can learn more about Vernon Connected here. There is also a Vernon Connected survey, located at that link.
• Watch Jeff Speck (author of Walkable City) give the keynote speech for Vernon Connected, “Walking Through the Past, Present, and Future” with Jeff Speck.
• If you’ve ever encountered an issue with the transportation network in this area, you can add a marker to this interactive map to bring the project team’s attention to it.

Regional Pedestrian Plan: The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (CMRPC) is beginning work on updating its Regional Pedestrian Plan. Take its survey to make your voice heard on your walking experience in Central Massachusetts!

Vision Zero: CMRPC is also developing a Regional Vision Zero Action Plan (Regional Safe Streets for All), covering all of central and southern Worcester County. CMRPC is looking for feedback in the development of the plan.

• There is a short survey here to help CMRPC identify and prioritize projects across the region meant to eliminate fatalities on the region’s roadways.
• There is also a concern mapper (here) where you can specifically identify areas on the map where you have mobility concerns (like a dangerous intersection, or areas where biking is dodgy, for example).

WRTA Bus Tracker: If you didn’t know, the Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) released an updated bus tracker online. Use it here.

Housing Reports: The Worcester Regional Research Bureau recently released two reports on housing in Worcester. The Housing Production Plan Explainer briefly explains the City’s Housing Production Plan. Its most recent report, from last week, Raising Housing: Understanding the Affordable Housing Crisis in Worcester, takes a deeper dive into all of Worcester’s housing challenges. Read them both at the links above!

Call to Action! We’re putting out feelers for any Strong Towns members who would be open to going to City boards and commissions meetings – especially those most related to Strong Towns interests (such as the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals). Let’s get that conversation started on our Discord!

What We’re Watching

Check out this video by the Happy Urbanist about a tactical urbanism project in Chattanooga!

Ongoing Efforts

• We continue to advocate for the Now|Next Plan, the Vision Zero Safety Action Plan, the Mobility Action Plan, and the Housing Production Plan.

Social Media

We have an Instagram, a Discord, a Facebook group, a Facebook page, and a Bluesky. We’d love to see you there and hear your thoughts! If you have any pictures or other Worcester-specific content you’d like us to post, please share!

Thank you for your continued interest! We look forward to bringing you more in the future.