If you would like to sign on to the letter below about making the crosswalk safer at Washington/Shepard Street in Brighton where Ann O'Flaherty, a nurse from St. Elizabeth's, was struck and killed, please add your name and any affiliation you wish to include. A group of nurses wrote this letter along with WalkBoston, a nonprofit pedestrian advocacy organization. (https://walkboston.org/)

We will then send this letter to Nupoor Monani, (nupoor.monani@boston.gov), the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) contact for the project team of the St. Elizabeth's Medical Center Institutional Master Plan; we'll make sure to copy civic leaders and elected officials.

Please sign on by Wednesday, July 27th to be included.

Thank you!

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We’re writing because our colleague and fellow nurse, Ann O’Flaherty, was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while crossing at the Shepard Street crosswalk on Washington Street on her way to work at St. Elizabeth's at 6:20AM in Brighton on December 15th, 2021.

Over the last few months, we have had discussions with civic and elected officials, and met with WalkBoston at the crosswalk in order to assess the location and push for a safer crossing to prevent more deaths or injuries like that of Ann. The Boston Transportation Department (BTD) is making some changes in response to the crash.

We were very disappointed to see drawings in the supplemental filing presentation from April 2022 for the new parking garage that show the crosswalk at Shepard Street has been removed. This crosswalk and all of Washington Street needs to be made safer for people to cross. The answer is not to remove the crosswalk, but rather to make it safer because this is a location where we know that people will cross the street. We have heard from BTD that this crosswalk is staying, but felt the need to voice our concerns with the project team directly.

We ask for your confirmation that you will not only take steps to keep the crosswalk, but also push for improved visibility, button-activated flashing yellow crosswalk lights, and slower speeds there to further increase safety.

Let’s make it safe for everyone to walk along and across Washington Street to not only access St. Elizabeth’s, but also local businesses, residences, and the satellite lot on Shepard Street.

We know hundreds of St. Elizabeth's employees would support any safety measure here, and the Massachusetts Nurses' Association is also in support of any measure to prevent more deaths or injuries like that of Ann O’Flaherty.

Thank you for your consideration.
Signed,