Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC)

Shout-out to our Director of Arts and Culture Annis Sengupta, who will be the keynote speaker at the Plan NH Fall Conference in September!

Join us Thursday, Aug. 29 at noon for the next session of our Accelerating Climate Resiliency Speaker Series 🌎. "Let’s Talk About It: The Role of Communications in Climate Work" will feature Kristin M. F. Timm, PhD (pictured left), Research Assistant Professor, Agriculture, with the International Arctic Research Center, and Sammi Munson, PhD (right), Lecturer of Environmental Studies and Sciences at Gonzaga University. Register at: https://lnkd.in/e47MuqTm The session will explore the ways we talk, share, and receive information about climate change and how people may interpret and react to information in different ways. We will also discuss how reaching people with information leads to activism, progress, and more engagement.

🙌 MAPC has been a long-time supporter of a reduced fare program for the MBTA and advocated for this funding! Expanded access for reduced fares begins September 4.

Join MAPC's Government Affairs Department next Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 12:00 p.m. for a "Formal Session Wrap Up: Priorities Passed and Next Steps." The team will discuss the Affordable Homes Act, which Governor Healey signed into law, and the Economic Development and Energy Siting bills, which didn’t quite make it across the finish line before the end of the formal session. Learn more about MAPC's victories in the 2023-2024 legislative session, where other policies landed, and how you can help to get priority bills back on the move before 2025. Register through the link below.

It’s great to see projects come to life! MAPC and the Town of Holliston are delighted to announce that Caoin O’Durgy, a talented artist based in Somerville, was selected to create vibrant murals that will connect Holliston Downtown and the Rail Trail. This project is part of the larger Regional Trails Creative Placemaking Strategy, an initiative led by MAPC’s Arts & Culture Department to enhance community engagement and connectivity across the region through public art and creative placemaking. The funding for this mural project has been provided by MAPC. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/e69wF-XQ Caoin, leading his team The Good Boy Collective – a trans-led group of artists dedicated to fostering support and collaboration within the artistic community – brings a unique illustrative style that beautifully captures the essence of Holliston’s past, present, and future. In addition to the main mural, Caoin has designed murals for two electric boxes (check out Caoin’s Instagram for more photos - @cspringerillo). Stay tuned for details on the upcoming community celebration event where the mural and electric box designs will be officially unveiled! Pictured in the second photo, from left to right: Melanie Hamblen, Holliston Economic Development Coordinator; selected artist Caoin; Kathleen Buckley, MBA, SHRM-SCP, Holliston Assistant Town Manager; and MAPC Arts and Culture Fellow Archana Menon, MPIA. Third photo: mural painted by Caoin on the Blaire Square Pavilion in Holliston.

We had a great time during our summer outing last week at Herter Park! Along the Charles riverbank in Brighton, we were grateful to be able to use the Park's Amphitheater for lunch and a short speaking program; Charles Creagh, AICP, transportation project planner with City of Cambridge, Robert King, P.E., LEED AP, CPMM, MCPPO, deputy commissioner for operations of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and our own Senior Transportation Planner David Loutzenheiser shared details about ongoing projects in the area and a history of the park. MAPC staff were able to enjoy using the open space for fun and games 🏐, explore the park's trails and paths, and were treated to ice cream to wrap up the afternoon. Head to our Instagram https://lnkd.in/evf3-3Dx for more photos!

Decades of underinvestment have left the Commonwealth’s transportation system buried in debt and facing an overwhelming maintenance backlog. Yesterday, MAPC released a series of three policy briefs that highlighted ways to make the State’s current transportation revenue streams align more closely with other states’ and major metro areas’ policies across the country. Conservatively, the briefs estimate that these policies could raise somewhere from $250 million to a little over $400 million per year. You can access each brief on our website: https://lnkd.in/gPXdnNJd MAPC Deputy Executive Director Lizzi Weyant spoke with the CommonWealth Beacon about the revenue raising mechanisms.

🚨 New Blog Post Alert! 🚨 Check out the latest post in our 3A Blog series, where we dive into the Economic Feasibility Analysis (EFA). Big shout out to Alexis Smith, RA for leading this crucial effort at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), along with the incredible support from our dedicated staff. Curious about what it takes to balance affordability with financial feasibility in housing development? Here's a sneak peek: "𝐼𝑓 𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡-𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠, 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟-𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡-𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑-𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒’𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3𝐴 𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜 10% 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 80% 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠. 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 10 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑-𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠. 𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑧𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3𝐴 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡." This post provides valuable insights from over 8 EFAs conducted so far, with more to come. Don't miss out on learning how these analyses are shaping the future of housing in our region. #AffordableHousing #UrbanPlanning #EconomicFeasibility #MAPC #Section3A #HousingInnovation 👉 Link to the post: https://lnkd.in/eAjRCTkp

The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded MAPC nearly $500,000 to build upon years of work within the region to better prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate-driven heat in Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Revere, and Winthrop. Our full press release: mapc.ma/MVPActionGrant. The MVP Action Grant will fund our “Lower-Mystic Cool Communications to Build Regional Heat Resiliency” project, which will address the lack comprehensive strategies for effectively communicating with vulnerable populations before, during, and after extreme heat events. "With extreme heat becoming increasingly frequent, MAPC’s leadership in heat resiliency is both timely and critical,” said Secretary Rebecca Tepper of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. MAPC will also work with researchers at the Boston University School of Public Health, including Professor Gregory Wellenius, to obtain and analyze health data to better understand the regional and local heat exposure thresholds that trigger adverse public health impacts in the focus communities. Pictured below, from left to right: Mariangelí Echevarría-Ramos, MPH, Climate Resilience Manager, Mystic River Watershed Association; Sasha Shyduroff, Principal Planner, Clean Energy, MAPC; Governor Maura Healey; Sharon Ron, Assistant Director of the Public Health Department, MAPC, at the MVP Program announcement on Aug. 1 in Leominster.

Government Affairs Policy Analyst II Matt Walsh and Manager of Housing and Neighborhood Development Andrea Harris-Long, MPA, AICP were excited to attend the signing of the Affordable Homes Act yesterday on behalf of MAPC! 👏 MAPC was honored to work to get this bill across the finish line with so many partners, from legislators and municipal officials like Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller who spoke at the event, and Mayor of Salem Dominick Pangallo and Mayor of Somerville Katjana Ballantyne who attended, to housing practitioners and advocates. Thanks to Governor Healey and Lt. Governor Driscoll for leadership in proposing the bill, Secretary Ed Augustus, Eric Shupin, and the whole Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities team for crafting and advocating for the bill across the state, Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka for getting the bill through their respective chambers, Chairs Jim Arciero and Lydia Edwards for their leadership in crafting their chambers respective versions of the bill, and to other conferees, Chair Aaron Michlewitz, Senate President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger, Representative David DeCoste, and Senator Peter Durant for crafting the compromise version of the bill. There are many important wins in the bill. Read a full recap of the end of the 2024 formal session (https://lnkd.in/e76i8Sev) and our statement on the Affordable Homes Act and end of session (https://lnkd.in/eiuc-pZq).