“We need to get to a budget that’s transparent and clear,” said Mayor Joseph Curtatone of Somerville
“You have to bake this into the planning and the entire process, not decide to do it two-thirds of the way in,” he (McCarthy) said.
said Straus, a Democrat from Mattapoisett. “It’s not just who you’re asking to pay, but who you’re asking not to pay.”
he (Rossi) said. “We don’t really understand what the numbers are and what it means.”
“There’s reluctance to go forward with a transfer until we know what the deal is,” said Regan,
“You can’t keep changing the rules,” O’Connor said. “People are taking big risks with capital here, and they want to know what the government is going to do.”
Yet every time Gov. Baker says an issue need further study, all of a sudden that’s a bad idea on BMG. Shouldn’t the Commonwealth and Legislature follow the common sense outlined above before they spend money (as it could apply to any project)? Shouldn’t the previous administration have done the same with the GLX? Why are we all these years into this project and these people have to ask these questions?
jconwaysays
I think what is agonizing to people who have fought for three decades for this project is that it took that long and a federal court settlement to finally get the state to pony up the money, and then the state completely mismanaged how that money would be spent, undermining the case for this extension and future needed extensions.
Ernie is half right to suggest that other communities have more pressing transit needs that should be meet, you are right to suggest this project is going to be over budget and delivered after it’s deadlines, but how do we assemble a transit policy that delivers to every community and does so in a costly and timely manner? That’s the key question, and one I am eager to see Gov. Baker, the control board, the legislative leadership and others answer, seeing as the ball is in their court now.
merrimackguysays
but your line here
and then the state completely mismanaged how that money would be spent, undermining the case for
could be used so many time with a multiple of items completing the sentence. Here’s one from Andover earlier this year. Everyone was there with a shovel in 2010, but nowhere to be found now.
Is it any wonder that when a guy shows up and says “I’m going to run the government better” or “Let’s find out where the money is going before we spend more, ” that voters/taxpayers find that appealing?
SomervilleTomsays
The article doesn’t say (or at least I haven’t found) anything about the scope of the original proposal, as compared to now. Nor does the article say who requested the funding changes or why.
The article does mention Keolis — they took over in 2014, after MBCR (an earlier effort at privatization) operated the commuter rail between 2003 and 2014.
I’d like to know what Charlie Baker and his new board are going to do differently, other than cancelling everything. I’m reminded of the apocryphal IT manager who announces the immediate suspension of ALL user accounts within the company in order to “maximize system availability” — an appealing approach for somebody who doesn’t have a clue about what to actually do and who doesn’t care one iota about the purpose of the organization they head.
If the scope of the original double-tracking proposal neglected to include incidental details like making sure the resulting track can get under the existing bridges, then the issue is with the original proposal, not the current total.
merrimackguysays
That’s what was on the Amtrack site. There are other amounts kicking around in news reports.
The point is the general public is skeptical of pouring money into something without end. It’s just how most people are.
SomervilleTomsays
The Blue Line does not serve communities that took the brunt of drastically increased traffic caused by the Big Dig. I93 goes through Somerville, not Lynn. The “folks” served by the GLX are just as “real” as those in Lynn. An even casual walk-about in the neighborhoods of the proposed GLX shows that — but it’s far easier to publish hyperbolic screeds than to actually walk some streets and look around.
This isn’t even a diary or threadstarter, it’s nothing more than a false and misleading title. It is bumper-sticker posturing at its worst.
And yes, the GLX is still a federal mandate required by court order, and the state has already accepted federal funds to build the GLX. The effort to kill the GLX is yet one more round in the relentless effort of some to destroy public transportation in Massachusetts.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iiisays
From your name I assume you live in Somerville. Currently what are your MBTA choices for getting in town?
It seems to me that the Somerville Green Line ext. is now only about developers in Union Square and other places who can jack up their already high-priced housing. Instead for walking 2 blocks and taking a bus or walking to an already existing T station Somerville and Medfordites, who can afford to pay the rents can live around the corner from a T station.
Most will be young yuppies gone long before their kids hit junior high. No roots.
You want to do a good thing, take a small chunk of the money the state was going to pay for the greem line and let the subways and certain bus routes run until 3:00 or later.
That would be a big help to the low wage earners, mostly immigrants, without whose help the city would fall apart.
BTW Boat loads of these people love in Lynn. Send the Blue Line to Lynn.
Oh wait, we can’t. The line would run next to the existing train tracks. They run over marsh land.
There’s no place for developers to build along there. Nobody for the powers that to cave to.
But the GreenLine project. So many of the right people will benefit.
thebakersays
Somerville dose not need another T station thank you very much. Your idea to run trains until 3 am is a winner, though not with the yuppies in Somerville.
SomervilleTomsays
Instead of wasting our time here, you might instead walk around the areas that will be served by the GLX — Pearl Street from McGrath Highway to Medford Street might be a good start, or maybe down Trull Street or Nashua Street. Densely populated working class neighborhoods heavily impacted by commuters trying to avoid the daily parking lot on I93 south. I encourage YOU to try that walk to an existing T station — you’ll find out just how wrong you are.
You’re casually throwing around lies like “walking 2 blocks”, “walking to an existing T station”, and “around the corner from a T station” — not to mention horse manure about yuppies, kids, and “no roots” — that have absolutely NO connection to reality. You clearly don’t know squat about Somerville, and what you’re doing is sharing your own fucked up prejudices.
Here’s a tip — reading lies about Union Square and talking to old cronies about those awful “yuppies” (jeesh, don’t you know the world left that word behind at the turn of the century?) is NOT the same as actually LEARNING about someplace.
If YOU want to do a “good thing”, you might try learning a little bit about a town before you dump your boorish, ignorant, and hateful bullshit. I strongly suspect that you don’t know any more about Lynn or the existing Blue Line than you do about Somerville.
thebakersays
You’d be surprised how many yuppies think they live in Lynn.
jotaemeisays
I live in West Medford, around the corner from where the terminal GLX station at Route 16 would be.
Already within less than a 10 min walk, I can take the 80 to Lechmere, the 94 to Davis Sq., the 95 to Sullivan Sq., one of those 300 something Express buses to North Station, and the Lowell Commuter Rail line one hop to North Station. With the new stop, I (and various people who are homeowners and have cars – two groups of which I’m too poor to belong to) will be even more spoiled and can be even lazier rather than going for a walk beyond 1 block or a bicycle ride for 5-10 mins to the next closest stop.
Assuming the terminal just winds up being at College Ave in Medford, people close to there would have 2 buses to Red Line and the 80 bus to Lechmere, but walk from College Ave to Davis is prob only 20 mins (lazy people no like!)
For years, I’ve felt the state gov and MBTA should focus more on increasing access to those commuting in from further out and developing affordable housing further out rather than giving more options to this already highly congested area in Somerville with people already having various options to choose from and beaucoup convenience.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iiisays
Tell me more about that. So this is a mitigation project for a passed hurt expereinced by a few as opposed to a transportaion project for the greater good of the whole community?
Also, wouldn’t a Blue Line ext help with the historically over-crowded Lynnway and a few other roads? Could you tell me the exactly where in Somerville and Medford traffic would decrease with a Greenline ext.
I just don’t see it.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iiisays
that’s what it sounds like you are saying.
jotaemeisays
Tom, are you saying Somerville deserves the Green Line ext like Native Americans Derserve Casino Licenses?
that’s what it sounds like you are saying.
WAT
jconwaysays
But when the project was proposed, Somerville was a blue collar city, it remains one of the most densely populated in the city and one of the most congested. Taking cars off the roads in both cities will reduce emissions and increase ridership and political support for the T. Axing this project, not only violates a federal settlement with transit advocates the region is required to honor, but it would also contribute to the death spiral of the T and empower it’s opponents to raise fares, cut service, and defer maintenance until only the working poor use it.
I want to expand every line and build new ones, I want to revive the Urban ring, I definitely want a North-South connector-none of these projects down the pipeline will happen if this one is killed. That is just an honest assessment of the political situation.
cossays
We need the green line extension, *and* we need more public transit lines elsewhere. We underspend on transit expansion and maintenance to a ridiculous degree. The merits of proposing a blue line extension have little to do with whether the green line should be extended.
East Somerville into Medford is still a relatively poor area compared to its neighbors, but more importantly, it’s an area with very high levels of particulate pollution from traffic, causing increased rates of asthma and other health problems (including possible cancer). Somerville was promised the Green line extension to reduce traffic and pollution. We need to follow through on that. People don’t deserve to get sick or die for this broken promise.
“(Progressive idea A) isn’t all that great – (progressive idea B) is what we should get behind!”
We should do both, and opposing A would only makes B less likely, because losing drains political power. If you lose on A, the money isn’t any more likely to go to B – in fact, it’s less likely to do so because you just lost, so GFY. It’s a myth that project funding is zero-sum – budgets are made up by politicians, and if you have power there’ll be more, and if you don’t have power there’ll always be less.
In contrast, winning on A makes B even more likely, because winning builds political power, and again, there’s always exactly as much money as we’re willing to fight for & have the power to deliver.
SomervilleTomsays
It is not surprising the EB3 makes a stupid, self-destructive, and fundamentally ignorant argument — such screeds are generously mixed in with the occasional contribution that is actually insightful.
jotaemeisays
It’s a myth that project funding is zero-sum – budgets are made up by politicians, and if you have power there’ll be more, and if you don’t have power there’ll always be less.
In contrast, winning on A makes B even more likely, because winning builds political power, and again, there’s always exactly as much money as we’re willing to fight for & have the power to deliver.
Exactly how much political power do you believe the people who would be helped by an extended Blue Line have?
Or perhaps you imagine a coalition of advocates where the more construction projects are implemented, the more empowered these people will become “because winning builds political power,” and then the more they’ll be pushing for construction projects in areas where they don’t even live and which wouldn’t benefit them.
Why not upzone the parcels in a 1/2 mile radius? That would help lower housing prices in Boston, result in more ridership revenue without the capital expenditures or increased operating costs, and perhaps provide Boston with some schoolchildren to put in its somewhat vacant public schools?
Note: I’m not opposed to extending the Blue Line, but I don’t see why Wonderland and/or Suffolk Downs didn’t become dense mixed use neighborhoods serviced by Blue Line stations.
jconwaysays
Cause “jobs!” Or some shit. Seriously, EB3’s post, quite possibly unintentionally, epitomizes the narrow minded parochial nature of our local politics that pits communities against each other to fight over crumbs while the powers that be line their pockets and dispense patronage jobs. Thats why casinos are cool, and actual solutions to our revenue, transit and housing problems aren’t considered. Fight to the death to defend film tax credits so we can see Tom Cruise eat a fuckin wahlburger, but heaven forbid actual residents can use functioning trains to take them from affordable communities to job centers. We really could be doing so much better.
I might add this fellow also thought the Olympics, the classic pork barrel and corporate welfare project for the 1%, would benefit the city. So I take the working class hero stuff with a truckload of salt. GLX is the kind of project we should be doing ten more of, not drowning in a bathtub.
Christophersays
…that all of the colored subway lines should extend to 128. I also wish the Green Line could be modernized in the process as it is not a pleasant ride.
mike_cotesays
By this logic, the Green Line should stop at the Longwood Station, because “screw all those rich people who live in Brookline” and let them eat cake/let them buy cars and such nonsense. One of the points of public transportation is to promote economic development, is it not?
Brookline wouldn’t be the wealthy community it is now without the T — it was necessary but not sufficient. By expanding the subway, we’ll increase the wealth of the inner-Boston metro. More people avoiding commuting costs, more businesses locating in the area, helping to manage congestion on the roadways.
Although I’d add that Longwood Station is, in fact, in Brookline. 🙂
regularjoesays
The tracks that exist, exist. The tracks that don’t, don’t. The question is are we going to use our precious resources providing an extended green line to the rapidly gentrifying Somerville from where the poor will soon have to move or should we service an area occupied by some of our most impoverished neighbors, such as Chelsea and Lynn. Like it or not, Somerville is on a trajectory that will make it much less likely that the users of the extended line will be poor. The residents of Chelsea and Lynn absolutely need our help more than the residents of Somerville. There is no dispute there.
You’re going to see gentrification anywhere you put in subway stops, because subway stops are a valuable amenity. Look at Broadway and Andrew stations. It ain’t the same demographic it was 15 years ago, that’s for damn sure… and the gentrification had already (just?) started by then.
Part of the reason Somerville is gentrifying is because of GLX, even though it isn’t even built yet.
Personally, I’d have no problem “forking” the Blue Line after Wood Island and running a leg northward, some sort of Chelsea – Everett – Malden run. But, before we do that, why don’t we get more development in Eastie and Revere within 1/2 mile of existing Blue Line stops. Doing so would help keep housing costs lower in that area, which would be a boon to the working class residents who live NE of downtown Boston, be they in existing Blue Line communities or adjacent?
jconwaysays
Programs that only serve the poor, or are perceived to only serve the poor, are always the last to get funding and the first to get cut. As it is, the T is already being viewed as ‘the transit of last resort’ for those who can’t afford cars. Mass transit should be used by the masses, and that includes the middle class and even the upper class that is gentrifying communities in the greater Boston area. Old money and NIMBYism killed the Red Line extension past Alewife, the irony is, the new money moving into Arlington would want that project today.
Absolutely connect poorer and isolated communities to the rest of the transit hub, that won’t happen if transit is viewed as an anti-poverty program rather than a program that benefits every taxpayer.
Kevin Lsays
The Blue Line should also be connected with the Red Line at Charles/MGH (maybe elsewhere as well). I admit, I may be a bit biased as a commuter who will have to get from Aquarium to Alewife later this winter, but why must it be so difficult to get from Blue to Red and vice-versa?
jconwaysays
I think where the T can clearly do better is connecting different spokes of the wheel together at different points. It was a little ridiculous taking 90min-2hrs go from Greenwood, Wakefield to Harvard Station. Its why GLX is so important since laying it down makes it more likely we get an urban ring BRT or rail connector. The sad thing is, we used to be much better connected a century ago via inter city rail and intracity streetcars. In many ways, what makes these projects so expensive is that we have consistently built over existing transit infrastructure that could’ve been helpful today.
johnk says
what ever happened to the Indigo line. That was a thing, didn’t make that up.
SomervilleTom says
n/m
regularjoe says
I thought the yawn signified your ennui. You are a tricky one.
jconway says
Link here.
merrimackguy says
Yet every time Gov. Baker says an issue need further study, all of a sudden that’s a bad idea on BMG. Shouldn’t the Commonwealth and Legislature follow the common sense outlined above before they spend money (as it could apply to any project)? Shouldn’t the previous administration have done the same with the GLX? Why are we all these years into this project and these people have to ask these questions?
jconway says
I think what is agonizing to people who have fought for three decades for this project is that it took that long and a federal court settlement to finally get the state to pony up the money, and then the state completely mismanaged how that money would be spent, undermining the case for this extension and future needed extensions.
Ernie is half right to suggest that other communities have more pressing transit needs that should be meet, you are right to suggest this project is going to be over budget and delivered after it’s deadlines, but how do we assemble a transit policy that delivers to every community and does so in a costly and timely manner? That’s the key question, and one I am eager to see Gov. Baker, the control board, the legislative leadership and others answer, seeing as the ball is in their court now.
merrimackguy says
but your line here
could be used so many time with a multiple of items completing the sentence. Here’s one from Andover earlier this year. Everyone was there with a shovel in 2010, but nowhere to be found now.
http://www.andovertownsman.com/news/local_news/delays-beset-double-tracking-project-mbta-upgrade-costs-said-to/article_7b4a4687-4d07-57aa-a9b0-cba30d700068.html
Is it any wonder that when a guy shows up and says “I’m going to run the government better” or “Let’s find out where the money is going before we spend more, ” that voters/taxpayers find that appealing?
SomervilleTom says
The article doesn’t say (or at least I haven’t found) anything about the scope of the original proposal, as compared to now. Nor does the article say who requested the funding changes or why.
The article does mention Keolis — they took over in 2014, after MBCR (an earlier effort at privatization) operated the commuter rail between 2003 and 2014.
I’d like to know what Charlie Baker and his new board are going to do differently, other than cancelling everything. I’m reminded of the apocryphal IT manager who announces the immediate suspension of ALL user accounts within the company in order to “maximize system availability” — an appealing approach for somebody who doesn’t have a clue about what to actually do and who doesn’t care one iota about the purpose of the organization they head.
If the scope of the original double-tracking proposal neglected to include incidental details like making sure the resulting track can get under the existing bridges, then the issue is with the original proposal, not the current total.
merrimackguy says
That’s what was on the Amtrack site. There are other amounts kicking around in news reports.
The point is the general public is skeptical of pouring money into something without end. It’s just how most people are.
SomervilleTom says
The Blue Line does not serve communities that took the brunt of drastically increased traffic caused by the Big Dig. I93 goes through Somerville, not Lynn. The “folks” served by the GLX are just as “real” as those in Lynn. An even casual walk-about in the neighborhoods of the proposed GLX shows that — but it’s far easier to publish hyperbolic screeds than to actually walk some streets and look around.
This isn’t even a diary or threadstarter, it’s nothing more than a false and misleading title. It is bumper-sticker posturing at its worst.
And yes, the GLX is still a federal mandate required by court order, and the state has already accepted federal funds to build the GLX. The effort to kill the GLX is yet one more round in the relentless effort of some to destroy public transportation in Massachusetts.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
From your name I assume you live in Somerville. Currently what are your MBTA choices for getting in town?
It seems to me that the Somerville Green Line ext. is now only about developers in Union Square and other places who can jack up their already high-priced housing. Instead for walking 2 blocks and taking a bus or walking to an already existing T station Somerville and Medfordites, who can afford to pay the rents can live around the corner from a T station.
Most will be young yuppies gone long before their kids hit junior high. No roots.
You want to do a good thing, take a small chunk of the money the state was going to pay for the greem line and let the subways and certain bus routes run until 3:00 or later.
That would be a big help to the low wage earners, mostly immigrants, without whose help the city would fall apart.
BTW Boat loads of these people love in Lynn. Send the Blue Line to Lynn.
Oh wait, we can’t. The line would run next to the existing train tracks. They run over marsh land.
There’s no place for developers to build along there. Nobody for the powers that to cave to.
But the GreenLine project. So many of the right people will benefit.
thebaker says
Somerville dose not need another T station thank you very much. Your idea to run trains until 3 am is a winner, though not with the yuppies in Somerville.
SomervilleTom says
Instead of wasting our time here, you might instead walk around the areas that will be served by the GLX — Pearl Street from McGrath Highway to Medford Street might be a good start, or maybe down Trull Street or Nashua Street. Densely populated working class neighborhoods heavily impacted by commuters trying to avoid the daily parking lot on I93 south. I encourage YOU to try that walk to an existing T station — you’ll find out just how wrong you are.
You’re casually throwing around lies like “walking 2 blocks”, “walking to an existing T station”, and “around the corner from a T station” — not to mention horse manure about yuppies, kids, and “no roots” — that have absolutely NO connection to reality. You clearly don’t know squat about Somerville, and what you’re doing is sharing your own fucked up prejudices.
Here’s a tip — reading lies about Union Square and talking to old cronies about those awful “yuppies” (jeesh, don’t you know the world left that word behind at the turn of the century?) is NOT the same as actually LEARNING about someplace.
If YOU want to do a “good thing”, you might try learning a little bit about a town before you dump your boorish, ignorant, and hateful bullshit. I strongly suspect that you don’t know any more about Lynn or the existing Blue Line than you do about Somerville.
thebaker says
You’d be surprised how many yuppies think they live in Lynn.
jotaemei says
I live in West Medford, around the corner from where the terminal GLX station at Route 16 would be.
Already within less than a 10 min walk, I can take the 80 to Lechmere, the 94 to Davis Sq., the 95 to Sullivan Sq., one of those 300 something Express buses to North Station, and the Lowell Commuter Rail line one hop to North Station. With the new stop, I (and various people who are homeowners and have cars – two groups of which I’m too poor to belong to) will be even more spoiled and can be even lazier rather than going for a walk beyond 1 block or a bicycle ride for 5-10 mins to the next closest stop.
Assuming the terminal just winds up being at College Ave in Medford, people close to there would have 2 buses to Red Line and the 80 bus to Lechmere, but walk from College Ave to Davis is prob only 20 mins (lazy people no like!)
For years, I’ve felt the state gov and MBTA should focus more on increasing access to those commuting in from further out and developing affordable housing further out rather than giving more options to this already highly congested area in Somerville with people already having various options to choose from and beaucoup convenience.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Tell me more about that. So this is a mitigation project for a passed hurt expereinced by a few as opposed to a transportaion project for the greater good of the whole community?
Also, wouldn’t a Blue Line ext help with the historically over-crowded Lynnway and a few other roads? Could you tell me the exactly where in Somerville and Medford traffic would decrease with a Greenline ext.
I just don’t see it.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
that’s what it sounds like you are saying.
jotaemei says
WAT
jconway says
But when the project was proposed, Somerville was a blue collar city, it remains one of the most densely populated in the city and one of the most congested. Taking cars off the roads in both cities will reduce emissions and increase ridership and political support for the T. Axing this project, not only violates a federal settlement with transit advocates the region is required to honor, but it would also contribute to the death spiral of the T and empower it’s opponents to raise fares, cut service, and defer maintenance until only the working poor use it.
I want to expand every line and build new ones, I want to revive the Urban ring, I definitely want a North-South connector-none of these projects down the pipeline will happen if this one is killed. That is just an honest assessment of the political situation.
cos says
We need the green line extension, *and* we need more public transit lines elsewhere. We underspend on transit expansion and maintenance to a ridiculous degree. The merits of proposing a blue line extension have little to do with whether the green line should be extended.
East Somerville into Medford is still a relatively poor area compared to its neighbors, but more importantly, it’s an area with very high levels of particulate pollution from traffic, causing increased rates of asthma and other health problems (including possible cancer). Somerville was promised the Green line extension to reduce traffic and pollution. We need to follow through on that. People don’t deserve to get sick or die for this broken promise.
thegreenmiles says
“(Progressive idea A) isn’t all that great – (progressive idea B) is what we should get behind!”
We should do both, and opposing A would only makes B less likely, because losing drains political power. If you lose on A, the money isn’t any more likely to go to B – in fact, it’s less likely to do so because you just lost, so GFY. It’s a myth that project funding is zero-sum – budgets are made up by politicians, and if you have power there’ll be more, and if you don’t have power there’ll always be less.
In contrast, winning on A makes B even more likely, because winning builds political power, and again, there’s always exactly as much money as we’re willing to fight for & have the power to deliver.
SomervilleTom says
It is not surprising the EB3 makes a stupid, self-destructive, and fundamentally ignorant argument — such screeds are generously mixed in with the occasional contribution that is actually insightful.
jotaemei says
Exactly how much political power do you believe the people who would be helped by an extended Blue Line have?
Or perhaps you imagine a coalition of advocates where the more construction projects are implemented, the more empowered these people will become “because winning builds political power,” and then the more they’ll be pushing for construction projects in areas where they don’t even live and which wouldn’t benefit them.
stomv says
Why not upzone the parcels in a 1/2 mile radius? That would help lower housing prices in Boston, result in more ridership revenue without the capital expenditures or increased operating costs, and perhaps provide Boston with some schoolchildren to put in its somewhat vacant public schools?
Note: I’m not opposed to extending the Blue Line, but I don’t see why Wonderland and/or Suffolk Downs didn’t become dense mixed use neighborhoods serviced by Blue Line stations.
jconway says
Cause “jobs!” Or some shit. Seriously, EB3’s post, quite possibly unintentionally, epitomizes the narrow minded parochial nature of our local politics that pits communities against each other to fight over crumbs while the powers that be line their pockets and dispense patronage jobs. Thats why casinos are cool, and actual solutions to our revenue, transit and housing problems aren’t considered. Fight to the death to defend film tax credits so we can see Tom Cruise eat a fuckin wahlburger, but heaven forbid actual residents can use functioning trains to take them from affordable communities to job centers. We really could be doing so much better.
I might add this fellow also thought the Olympics, the classic pork barrel and corporate welfare project for the 1%, would benefit the city. So I take the working class hero stuff with a truckload of salt. GLX is the kind of project we should be doing ten more of, not drowning in a bathtub.
Christopher says
…that all of the colored subway lines should extend to 128. I also wish the Green Line could be modernized in the process as it is not a pleasant ride.
mike_cote says
By this logic, the Green Line should stop at the Longwood Station, because “screw all those rich people who live in Brookline” and let them eat cake/let them buy cars and such nonsense. One of the points of public transportation is to promote economic development, is it not?
stomv says
Brookline wouldn’t be the wealthy community it is now without the T — it was necessary but not sufficient. By expanding the subway, we’ll increase the wealth of the inner-Boston metro. More people avoiding commuting costs, more businesses locating in the area, helping to manage congestion on the roadways.
Although I’d add that Longwood Station is, in fact, in Brookline. 🙂
regularjoe says
The tracks that exist, exist. The tracks that don’t, don’t. The question is are we going to use our precious resources providing an extended green line to the rapidly gentrifying Somerville from where the poor will soon have to move or should we service an area occupied by some of our most impoverished neighbors, such as Chelsea and Lynn. Like it or not, Somerville is on a trajectory that will make it much less likely that the users of the extended line will be poor. The residents of Chelsea and Lynn absolutely need our help more than the residents of Somerville. There is no dispute there.
stomv says
You’re going to see gentrification anywhere you put in subway stops, because subway stops are a valuable amenity. Look at Broadway and Andrew stations. It ain’t the same demographic it was 15 years ago, that’s for damn sure… and the gentrification had already (just?) started by then.
Part of the reason Somerville is gentrifying is because of GLX, even though it isn’t even built yet.
Personally, I’d have no problem “forking” the Blue Line after Wood Island and running a leg northward, some sort of Chelsea – Everett – Malden run. But, before we do that, why don’t we get more development in Eastie and Revere within 1/2 mile of existing Blue Line stops. Doing so would help keep housing costs lower in that area, which would be a boon to the working class residents who live NE of downtown Boston, be they in existing Blue Line communities or adjacent?
jconway says
Programs that only serve the poor, or are perceived to only serve the poor, are always the last to get funding and the first to get cut. As it is, the T is already being viewed as ‘the transit of last resort’ for those who can’t afford cars. Mass transit should be used by the masses, and that includes the middle class and even the upper class that is gentrifying communities in the greater Boston area. Old money and NIMBYism killed the Red Line extension past Alewife, the irony is, the new money moving into Arlington would want that project today.
Absolutely connect poorer and isolated communities to the rest of the transit hub, that won’t happen if transit is viewed as an anti-poverty program rather than a program that benefits every taxpayer.
Kevin L says
The Blue Line should also be connected with the Red Line at Charles/MGH (maybe elsewhere as well). I admit, I may be a bit biased as a commuter who will have to get from Aquarium to Alewife later this winter, but why must it be so difficult to get from Blue to Red and vice-versa?
jconway says
I think where the T can clearly do better is connecting different spokes of the wheel together at different points. It was a little ridiculous taking 90min-2hrs go from Greenwood, Wakefield to Harvard Station. Its why GLX is so important since laying it down makes it more likely we get an urban ring BRT or rail connector. The sad thing is, we used to be much better connected a century ago via inter city rail and intracity streetcars. In many ways, what makes these projects so expensive is that we have consistently built over existing transit infrastructure that could’ve been helpful today.