Peg Crowe

City Council, Ward 1

Q1. How do you primarily get around? Where do you walk in Malden? When and where was the last time you biked, traveled with a person with mobility impairments, or took public transit? What is your evaluation of your own experiences traveling in Malden outside of a car?

I primarily get around by car or walking. Each day I extensively walk around my ward, as well as my neighboring ward 7 and I love to walk to the center of town. I have not biked in a very long time. I do walk quite a bit with residents of my ward who have disabilities, when they reach out to me, on their way to the supermarket or errands. When I have meetings in Boston, I often take public transit. My experience is that walking, especially in my ward, helps me stay in touch with my constituents and understand their views.

Q2. Name at least one concrete action that you think Malden can and should take within the next two years in order to improve the safety of streets and sidewalks for people not in cars—e.g., pedestrians, bicyclists, people with mobility assistance devices, people with disabilities, and children playing. Limit your answer to interventions which are possible entirely at the municipal level.

Recently, I voted for dedicated funding, along with my Council colleagues, to install speed humps on the most dangerous streets throughout the City. We voted to dedicate $300,000 for this first and second round of traffic calming measures. As part of this project, speed humps were recently installed on Bainbridge Street to slow cars down and make that route safer for everyone. This was done with thoughtful collaboration with the police department, residents, and the Traffic Commission. This solution has been very successful. My belief is that thoughtful collaboration is key to making these kinds of improvements work. I would support additional proposals of this type in other locations throughout Malden.

While some interventions are possible entirely at the municipal level, I believe it is critical that we seek out resources at the state and federal levels when possible to facilitate improvements in public safety without impacting our City budget – and I have focused many of my public safety efforts over the years on these kinds of creative solutions.

For example, I wrote the Complete Streets policy that gave Malden access to over $800,000 in state funds to make our roads safer for all our residents. I testified to the state legislature in favor of cities like Malden being allowed to lower their speed limits to improve public safety. After the legislature finally allowed cities to do so, I led the successful effort here in Malden to lower our citywide speed limit to 25 mph.

Moreover, I was successful in having the cost of traffic calming measures added at the dangerous Cross Street/Hancock Street intersection as a response to concerns among neighboring residents. It was a project that ensured the costs were covered by the MBTA, which was in the process of making bus stop changes on Cross Street and they agreed to add the traffic calming to the costs for the entire project.

In addition, at the intersection of Madison, Bell Rock and Converse Streets, an area that has been historically problematic and dangerous, I worked closely with our Traffic Planner, neighboring residents and a transportation design firm called Neighborways to come up with creative solutions to safely guide traffic. As a pilot project for Neighborways, we all came together – myself, neighbors, other City Councillors, State Reps Donato and Ultrino, and Mayor Christenson – to paint the intersection with directional aids to guide traffic. Now we have a more permanent solution as a result of this successful project.

Q3. What, in your view, is the city's role in making Malden a community where more people are encouraged to get around easily and conveniently by foot, on bicycles, and on public transit? Name at least one concrete action you would take to make Malden a leader on this issue. Given that more than 40% of carbon emissions in Massachusetts are from transportation, how will your actions in this area support Malden’s sustainability and green energy goals?

I believe the city should work to educate all residents on the various mobility options and how we can all get around safely regardless of our chosen mode of transportation. I supported recent changes to many of our bus routes that extended the routes and added access – for example the 104 bus being changed to now offer direct access from Malden including my ward to the airport is a fantastic improvement for our residents and I wholeheartedly supported that. I voted for and strongly support implementation actions for the Malden Climate Action Plan. I also have supported the Malden Community Electricity initiative.

As a kid growing up in Malden, I relied on buses and trains to do everything because my parents did not drive at all. I’m thankful that we are working to make sure that public transit, biking and walking become more accessible to as many of our residents as possible.

Q4. Malden families don’t have the opportunity of relying on school buses. They also aren’t guaranteed their closest neighborhood school, and school drop-off traffic is one of the most persistent congestion challenges in the city. How will you help families who want to get their kids to and from school without relying on a car?

In the past I have supported and been involved in the Safe Routes to School Initiatives. I have also worked on the Walking to School Bus Program, which is a wonderful initiative but it relies on volunteers so it has been challenging to sustain. Alternatively, I believe we can build community within our schools (through PTO and School Councils) to better connect families that may be able to support each other with carpools to and from school — and this may be a better option at this point in time.

Q5. Many communities in our area are investing in regionally interconnected paths and trails to create opportunities for both recreational and functional trips on foot or bike over larger distances. Where do you see opportunities to work with Malden’s neighbors on such projects?

To create more interconnected paths and trails that are meaningful and accomplish these goals will take a long term commitment to collaboration – with other jurisdictions and affinity groups, while addressing the barriers, needs, and capabilities that each community faces, in order to create a shared vision that works for us all. For example, I have been incredibly pleased to see the success of the Northern Strand Community Trail. But as Councillor Winslow has frequently noted, it took 30 years of collaboration and dedicated work to achieve this success. Ultimately, the NSCT provides a roadmap for future regional work.

Q6. What is one way that you think street design could help improve Malden’s business and retail districts? What kinds of access do you think are most needed to make Malden a more attractive place for shopping and doing business?

I would support a thorough review of our business districts for accessibility for people with disabilities. Improving the accessibility of our business districts would not only be a good thing in and of itself, but it would also encourage more frequent visits by customers to these businesses.

There are a number of other measures that I would support including more parking enforcement downtown, as well as encouraging more drivers to use local garages and encouraging more businesses to validate parking. Having spoken with many of our downtown business owners, I do not support an increase in short term parking spots. I am aware that several of my Council colleagues are working on developing a proposal on residential parking stickers; I am in full support of this idea once we can find a solution for our private ways, since we have many streets that fall in this category and the City cannot enforce parking regulations on these streets.

Q7. Do you support micromobility investments for areas such as Canal and Charles streets and, if so, what sort of infrastructure would you support and recommend?

As I said in my answer to Question 5 above, any and all initiatives of this type require careful and thoughtful planning. I have and will continue to support better connectivity and access across the city.

Regarding the Canal Street situation, the utility poles are a major factor that need to be addressed to meet the needs of all constituencies including residents moving by all modes, Green Street building residents, and the commercial businesses along that corridor.