#Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720
Friends of Acton,
Just over two years ago, I was thrust into the Acton political scene because the Town of Acton was proposing to spend $37,995,690 (borrowing $35,220,690) on a new Department of Public Works (DPW) facility – but without including any reasonable safety accommodations for the DPW neighbors (like me) most impacted by this proposed project.
Fortunately, at the 2025-04-29 Town Election, the required Proposition 2.5 override for the DPW project was voted down 56.41% to 39.51%.
On 2025-01-29, in at attempt to be part of the solution and not the problem, I started attending meetings of the Acton Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC). On 2025-06-26, I applied to be a member of TAC based on my transportation experience (including flying jets while in the USAF and doing accident reconstruction work for a forensics consulting firm while in law school). And on 2025-09-15, the Select Board unanimously voted to appoint me as an Associate (non-voting) member of TAC.
A Brief History Of TAC & Sidewalks
As an Associate (non-voting) member of TAC, I helped to document some of the excellent work that TAC has done over the last two decades, which is summarized below:
2006-12-18 – Select Board minutes (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16586) mention citizen-driven sidewalk ranking project.
2007-01-08 – Select Board minutes (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16322) mention that the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) has “moved toward a full committee.” Minutes also refer to creating a five-year sidewalk capital plan.
2007-11-05 – Select Board minutes (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16268) mention that the Sidewalk Committee is developing a “needs list” and “applying a matrix against sidewalk requests.”
2007-50-21 – Select Board minutes (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16311) mention the formation of a Sidewalk Committee.
2008-03-03 – Select Board minutes (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/16139) mention that the Sidewalk Committee will be meeting “to look at the first cut of sidewalks.”
2010-04-04 – Sidewalk Committee published a 21-page “Design Guidelines For Acton Sidewalks” document (https://doc.acton-ma.gov/dsweb/Get/Document-99198/2010-04-04%20FINAL%20Design%20Guidelines%20for%20Acton%20Sidewalks.pdf), written by Celia Kent.
2010-05-25 – The OpenNeighborhood Project, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University, published an 86-page report entitled “Lessons from OpenNeighborhood/ReVisioning Kelley’s Corner: An Experiment in Public Participation” (https://www.acton-ma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/864/Open-Neighborhood-Final-Report?bidId=), including suggestions for sidewalk improvements.
2018-10-10 – Sidewalk Committee minutes (https://actonma.gov/Archive.aspx?AMID=66&Type=&ADID=) noted as the final minutes for this committee, whose work was absorbed by the pre-existing Transportation Advisory Committee.
2020-02-20 – Transportation Advisory Committee’s charge (https://actonma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11700/2020-Transportation-Advisory-Committee-Charge?bidId=) includes “Sidewalk Construction and Repair Priority Lists” and “Evaluate sidewalks utilizing established criteria.”
2026-02-25 – Transportation Advisory Committee meeting (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/22654) discussed the 2025-11-06 sidewalk priority list spreadsheet, which included tabs containing historic rankings from the former Sidewalk Committee, completed sidewalks, and over 100 requests for sidewalks from Acton residents.
2026-03-25 – Transportation Advisory Committee meeting (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/23007) discussed updated sidewalk priority list spreadsheet, including quantitative sortable criteria, namely speed limits and proximity data, namely roads within 500 feet of notable locations (such as shopping centers), using Acton’s GIS system for the proximity data (https://actonma.mapgeo.io/).
2026-06-24 – Transportation Advisory Committee meeting (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/23085) discussed need to add a changelog to the sidewalk priority list spreadsheet to document the work of TAC (2006-PRESENT) and the former Sidewalk Committee (2009-2018) on the sidewalk project.
2026-07-01 – Transportation Advisory Committee meeting (https://actonma.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/23086), added CHANGELOG tab to 2006-Present Acton TAC Sidewalk Priority List Spreadsheet.
Whither Acton’s Sidewalks?
Despite the volunteer work of transportation professionals over the last two decades, little progress has been made in Acton on sidewalks.
On 2025-04-11, Acton published its Town Report (https://ma-acton2.civicplus.com/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/21572), in which the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) report stated (emphasis in original):
“In 2021, the Town Manager developed a plan that involves borrowing money to achieve more production of sidewalks than we have been able to do in the years since 2009 when the former Sidewalk Committee created a priority list. In 2024, TAC continued to urge the Select Board to make progress with this plan. Sidewalk production is a part of [the] Town’s capital plan. The budget does not include the level of debt funding needed to move ahead boldly in this area…. Various locations continue to remain pressing safety concerns from the pedestrian/bicyclist perspective: Stow Street residents repeatedly stated their concerns about the safety of the region, given walk/bike popularity due to the commuter rail station, Jones Field, an early education center, Lombardo’s landscaping trucks, residential density, and high vehicular speeds…. Forest Road, which sees heavy vehicle traffic to and from the DPW facility, has been on the sidewalk list for many years. The volume of trucks and snow plows would be expected to grow with the town’s population.”
Recent comments by the Select Board during their 2026-09-28 meeting suggest that the Select Board is relying on the functional equivalent of conspiracy theories – rather than facts – for its interactions with TAC. Contrary to what was suggested in that meeting, I did not add Forest Road to TAC’s Sidewalk Priority list. The Select Board’s logic about cause and effect is completely backwards: Forest Road is not highly ranked on the sidewalk priority list because Erik Heels joined TAC, Erik Heels joined TAC because Forest Road is highly ranked on the sidewalk priority list! Also, no roads were added or removed from the sidewalk priority list during my tenure. To the contrary, TAC left on the sidewalk list the portion of Taylor Road by the Conant Campus, where sidewalks were recently added, in order to validate TAC’s methodology. Finally, as an Associate Member of TAC, I had no role in preparing agendas or voting on agenda items.
Budgets are priorities. But if Acton is every going to “move ahead boldly” with sidewalks, then sidewalks must make the leap from unfunded with list items on the Town Mangers 10-Year Capital plan to capital projects on the Town Meeting warrant.
Whither Erik Heels
Finally, it has become clear to me that my presence on TAC has become a distraction both to the Select Board and to TAC. Fortunately, as I was reviewing documents in preparation for writing this article, I realized that my term on TAC expired on 2026-06-30, and I have not been re-appointed.
Thanks to my friends on TAC for your excellent work, and I’m sorry that I won’t be joining you going forward. I’ll still be rooting you on, just from outside of the tent, as LBJ once said.
Related Posts
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Letter to the Editor of the Acton Exchange
#Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720 - * Does Acton Have A “Not Invented Here” Problem? (2026-04-13)
Letter to the Editor of the Acton Exchange - * A Modest Proposal For Acton – Plow The Streets! (2026-02-02)
Letter to the Editor of the Acton Exchange
#Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720 - * Sidewalks For Acton – 2025 Year In Review (2025-12-30)
#Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720 - * Book Review: ‘The Geography Of Nowhere’ (2025-12-15)
by James Howard Kunstler - * Acton Spending Survey Results (2025-10-29)
Public Statement #11. Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-10-28 Acton Finance Committee (FinCom) meeting. Emphasis added. - * Acton DPW HazMat Day Is Unreasonably Hazardous For Pedestrians (2025-06-22)
Letter to the Editor of the Acton Exchange - * Sidewalks For Acton – A Round One Victory (Of Sorts) (2025-04-30)
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#01720 #Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720 - * The Most Dangerous Walking Roads In Acton MA 01720 (Part 1) (2025-03-18)
#01720 #Acton #ActonDPW #ActonMA #ActonMA01720 - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #10 (2025-02-26)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-02-26 Acton Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #9 (2025-02-24)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-02-24 Acton Select Board meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #8 (2025-02-12)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-02-12 Acton Department of Public Works (DPW) Building Committee meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #7 (2025-02-03)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-02-03 Acton Select Board meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #6 (2025-01-27)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-01-27 Acton Select Board meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #5 (2025-01-13)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2025-01-13 Acton Select Board meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #4 (2024-12-16)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2024-12-16 Acton Select Board meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #3 (2024-12-12)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2024-12-12 Acton Department of Public Works (DPW) Building Committee meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #2 (2024-11-07)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2024-11-07 Acton Department of Public Works (DPW) Building Committee meeting. Emphasis added. - * Sidewalks For Acton – Public Statement #1 (2024-09-26)
Erik J. Heels read the following prepared statement at the 2024-09-26 Acton Department of Public Works (DPW) Building Committee meeting. Emphasis added.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER & NOTICE: The “Sidewalks For Acton” campaign was started by and is funded by GiantPeople LLC, a single-person LLC founded in 1999 by Erik J. Heels (heels@alum.mit.edu). Erik is a small business owner, a USAF veteran, and has been an Actonian since 1995. Except for a one-year stint from 2024-2025, Erik has never belonged to any political party. Opinions expressed herein are Erik’s individually.
