Ensuring Public Health and Safety
Public health and public safety must be intertwined to provide the services our communities need.
Community Health and Safety
The FY25 Recommended Budget includes strategic investments to improve the health and resilience of communities across the City. The budget includes $1 million to support low-threshold housing, addressing substance abuse and homelessness, 12 new EMTs to improve response time to urgent medical needs across the City, and investments in both the Office of Women's Advancement and Boston’s Public Health Commission to address racial disparities in the health of infants and birthing parents.
To continue supporting high standards of community policing, this budget includes historic collective bargaining agreements with police unions, technology to modernize the police detail system and allow civilian personnel to participate, and additional funding for BPD to meet the standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
Safer Streets and Transportation
Improving Streets for All
The City is determined to ensure that all residents can safely and reliably get around Boston. In addition to $155 million in funding for roadway resurfacing and sidewalk reconstruction to promote mobility and safety, the budget also includes:
- $1.4 million investment for improving pavement markings, crosswalks, and lane markings markings to enhance safety for drivers and pedestrians.
- A $3 million capital investment to perform fiber upgrades at 104 traffic signal locations across the city and $200,000 to optimize the city’s sign shop.
- An $18 million project, leveraging $14.4 million of federal grants, to make systemic safety improvements to traffic signals along the City’s High-Crash Network.
- $19 million in funding for the continued development of a citywide strategic bike networks connecting key bike corridors.
- $100,000 for New Mobility work to better manage the City's curb space and roadways, thereby minimizing congestion, pollution, and noise.
- $44 million of City, MBTA, and a Federal infrastructure grant to reconstruct Blue Hill Ave into a modern, 21st century mobility corridor, prioritizing public transit and pedestrians.