Residents Push For More Benches In Brookline - And Get Them

BROOKLINE, MA — If you've noticed a dozen more benches along Beacon Street, that's thanks to a group working to help the town become more walkable. In an effort to transform the town into an "Age Friendly" community, the Brookline Age Friendly Committee and BrooklineCAN members pushed the town to bring in benches, which they say support and encourage different modes of transportation, including walking.

"The aim is to support walking as a form of transportation," Frank Caro of BrooklineCan told Patch in an email. "Some people welcome a rest along the way as they walk from one place to another."

Thanks to the advocacy work, there are now benches at Beacon and Winchester, at the medical office building at Powell Street, out front of Trader Joes and outside the medical office building at Beacon and Hawes Street, among others. Two benches that required a concrete pad to be poured will be installed this month for a total of 15 new benches, according to Brookline's Transportation Administrator Todd Kirrane.

"We have worked with @BrooklineCAN to install new benches on Beacon Street to allow for moments of rest & social interaction for pedestrians," Brookline Transportation tweeted recently.

Caro, who lives on Beacon Street, said what inspired him to ask for more benches was watching people - old and young - who have difficulty walking make their way down Beacon.

"You see some of these people are really struggling. It really makes a difference for them. They walk for a couple of blocks and then they like to rest," he said. "It really makes a difference. And that's what got me started."

Age Friendly Communities prioritize walking, biking, scooting and public transit over personal motor vehicle use.

Caro noted now that the benches have been installed, he's also seen people using them while they wait for rides or friends.

The total cost to purchase the benches was $21,333.70 and internal staff installed them, according to town officials. And so far, feedback has been light, but positive.

The push for the benches has been going on for a while.

In 2016, an age-friendly committee met and noted that when major Beacon Street improvements were made a decade ago, effort was made to provide benches in the commercial areas of St. Mary's, Coolidge Corner and Washington Square. But no provisions were made for benches on Beacon Street between the commercial areas.

Because there is extensive pedestrian traffic on Beacon Street between the commercial areas, the committee reasoned the town should add benches between Coolidge Corner and St. Mary's and between Coolidge Corner and Washington Square.

Walking between the commercial areas could mean more than half a mile to the next bench.

But it wasn't until earlier this year that movement on the proposed benches started happening.

At an Age-Friendly City Committee meeting in January, DPW Commissioner Andrew Pappastergion invited BrooklineCAN to suggest locations for about a dozen new benches. In August, his team started installing the benches along Beacon Street.

"I'm really pleased when I see people sitting on them," Caro told Patch.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).