Signs of spring are all around us! The Red-winged Blackbirds are singing, the forsythia are budding, and I am asking you to donate to my Bos/tréal campaign.
When I signed up for my first Bos/tréal in 2021, I wanted to go on an adventure after 15 months of pandemic isolation. It was wonderful to turn my pedals in the fresh air. I wasn’t expecting that I’d be back year after year (six years so far!), or that I’d find myself in a community of interesting, fun, bike-loving people, or that I’d fall in love and adopt a couple of tuxedo cats with one of my fellow riders (the wedding’s this fall!). Bos/tréal is an adventure of the body, mind, and heart. I owe so much of the good in my life to it, and to the Boston Cyclists Union which supports, and is supported by, this ride each year. So let’s talk about why this ride exists in the first place.
Bos/tréal is the BCU’s largest annual fundraiser. Your donation to my campaign helps pay the small BCU staff so they can show up every day to help build the community we want to live in: connected, equitable, future-oriented, people-centered. This is not always easy.
Case in point: on March 15, 2026, news broke that the reason why Boston, a city which went from the thrice-ranked Worst Biking City (Bicycling Magazine) to number 17 in Bicycle Magazine’s “50 Best Bike Cities” in just 10 years, has stalled nearly all of its safe streets projects in the last 12 months is because Mayor Michelle Wu imposed a policy that “most” transit and road safety projects now require her personal approval — which she does not appear to be granting.
According to the Boston Globe (paywall-free version of the article here), many of these stalled projects have significant community support from those who live and work in the vicinity; other projects have been approved for tens of millions of dollars in federal funding which will evaporate if not used by the end of 2026. Suspiciously, they also have vocal opposition from wealthy business owners and car drivers quibbling over parking spots absorbed here and there by bike lane projects. Eleven current and former city hall employees went on record for the article (apparently anonymously, fearing retaliation from City Hall), explaining that the Mayor ordered them to stop work on many street infrastructure projects; that they had hoped they would be allowed to re-start work after November’s election; that now, in March, there are no signs that these projects are slated for green-lighting.
It was the tireless work of advocates from organizations like the Boston Cyclists Union (including on their Safe Streets Can't Wait campaign) which made this an issue interesting enough for the Globe to report on, and now Boston City councillors are calling on Wu and her administration for transparency and clarity on her transportation agenda. Exciting!
This is what I mean when I say that the BCU shows up every day to do the work of building the community we want to live in. Whether or not our elected representatives are laying down new bike lanes or removing the flex posts meant to keep moving cars out of our personal space (both of which Wu’s administration has done in the past year), the BCU keeps showing up to demand streets that are safe for every body. Your donation goes to this tireless group of individuals who are meeting the need to act as the Mayor’s conscience on this issue.
I just want to travel to work and back in one piece. I don’t think that should be a political issue. Please consider donating to my Bos/tréal campaign. Thank you.