Resolution - Transit Equity Day — File 22-2043

A Resolution Declaring February 4th Transit Equity Day WHEREAS, The City of Somerville recognizes that excessive car-dependency, inequitable access to affordable public transportation, and a lack of multi-modal infrastructure contributes to the climate crisis and exacerbates existing inequities within our community; and WHEREAS, The impacts of car-dependency and environmental racism disproportionately harm people of color, low-income people, and constitute a civil rights crisis, as seen locally through the increased rates of asthma, heart-disease, and sleep disruption for residents living near I-93; and WHEREAS, The City of Somerville has set climate goals that rely on a significant decrease in car-based commuting as well as an increased use of environmentally-sustainable modes of transportation to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis; and WHEREAS, Public transit jobs in the United States have historically been good jobs that paid living wages, but as a result of the cuts in public funding for transit and the trend of increased privatization and fares there is a growing marginalization of transit workers, who are facing worsening work conditions and erosion of their collective bargaining rights; and WHEREAS, Paratransit is a necessary component for any public transit system to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities, service equity for all residents, and comprehensive connectivity; and WHEREAS, The required expansion of public transit to address the climate crisis also provides an unprecedented opportunity to create a large number of good, high-skill, family- supporting transit operation jobs, as well as construction jobs for building new transit facilities; and WHEREAS, The Somerville City Council passed a resolution supporting a North-South paratransit pilot on October 13th; and WHEREAS, The City of Somerville has worked to ensure equitable transit for all residents by partnering with our community, state, and federal partners to extend the community path and Green Line, pressing the MBTA to maintain connectivity in their bus network redesign, collaborating on legislation to build a comprehensive bicycle network in a timely manner; and WHEREAS, Municipalities, counties, and states across the country have held Transit Equity Days in collaboration with the Labor Network for Sustainability to foment a future of labor, environmental, and social justice; and

WHEREAS, Rosa Parks was an iconic figure who played a major role in the Civil Rights movement that ended legal segregation in the United States through a focus on the unequal access of African-Americans to public transit; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Somerville City Council respectfully declares Rosa Parks’ birthday, on February 4th, 2023, our inaugural Transit Equity Day, on which various transit equity organizations and activists shall host events in which residents can celebrate our transit progress and organizing for a better transit future; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council calls upon the Administration to deploy City assets and resources, such as city-owned trucks and spaces, for Transit Equity Day in order to draw attention to the continuing racial, economic, and accessibility inequalities in our community as well as the City’s plans to increase progress in these areas.