Gov. Patrick rolls out a plan to get commuter rail to Fall River and New Bedford by 2016. That’s a fine idea, and one that Tim Murray, Chris Gabrieli and seemingly everyone else talked about in the campaign. The New Bedford mayor compares it to landing the Olympics. (For him, it’s actually better than that — Olympics often end up being an economic wash.)
It also will cost $1.2 billion. In the face of the $19 Billion shortfall in infrastructure spending over the next 20 years — just to keep the stuff we’ve already got — I’m skeptical. Patrick hasn’t rolled out his plans for funding the new line, only proposed money for financing the design. Not only that, there’s some question as to whether the MBTA can afford to expand and keep up its current lines.
I don’t know … sounds like good intentions, but not much else yet. I’ll be interested to see the full funding proposals. Patrick boldly says “Hold us to it. Hold us to it.” I’ve said I didn’t expect Patrick to be a miracle-worker … maybe he’s got a magic wand we don’t know about.
“Developing …”
I would like to point out that Connecticut is planning commuter rail from Enfield to New York City via Hartford. Western Massachusetts can be included in this plan, but infrastructure improvements to the estimate of $30 million must be funded, and I’ve heard around $1m in operating cost subsidies are needed while it starts up.
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The state is planning a $25 million installation of “electronic signs” on route 91, but can’t seem to come up with $30 million to link Springfield to Connecticut’s plan, even though the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission spent a lot of work researching the proposal and stating that it would be a significant winner for Western MA [warning, PDF].
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Now when I read that the state is planning to spend $1.2 billion to build commuter rail out to Fall River and New Bedford, I have to admit I’m stymied as to why it can’t come up with $30m (2.5% of the cost of the Fall River/New Bedford plan) to piggyback Western MA on the significant work that Connecticut has committed to.
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I also read about how the state will come up with new monies for Boston to work on its murder problem because there have been 16 murders there so far this year, yet there have been 7 murders in Springfield in the same time frame, a city that is 1/4 the size of Boston. Proportionally, 7 murders in a city of 150,000 is a lot worse than 16 murders in a city of 600,000.
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Is there an actual active dislike of Western MA, is this just “out of sight, out of mind”, or does our legislative delegation just really, really suck?
I’m in basic agreement with NoPolitician on this. See my piece yesterday on this topic.
I am not familiar with your legislative delegation; however there are basically 3 senate districts that make up the South Coast if you do not include the Cape. They are the 1st & 2nd Bristol and 1st Plymouth. The 1st Bristol has Fall River and 2 of the earliest Reps to support Deval statewide if not the first 2. They are Reps Michael Rodriques and David Sullivan. Rep Sullivan is also running for mayor of Fall River. In 2nd Bristol you have New Bedford and Rep Tony Cabral who supported Deval almost as early as the other two Reps. In 1st Plymouth you have former Taunton Mayor Bob Nunes now Director of Municipal Affairs for Deval, and David Simas former Registrar for the Bristol County Registry of Deeds who is now Deputy Chief of Staff for Deval. Both these men supported Deval from the begining. Maybe your delegation can match or surpass this, but I have to believe this helped the South Coast.
…Therese Murray, Kingston, Pembroke and Plympton
Mark Montigny, New Bedford, Achusnet, Fairhaven
Mr. and Mrs. Creedon – Sen. and Rep., respectively
Rep. Steve Canessa
Rep. Bob Koczera
Rep. John Quinn
rep. Christine Canavan
Rep. Tom Kennedy…
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In fact, QUITE the crew!
I’m not disparaging that region for this success — I think that commuter rail is a lot better than building highways, especially if it is done city-to-city. I think we’re going to have to align our society in that direction in the not-so-far future; I think that the central city model will return because you can’t provide commuter rail to every suburb (it takes just too long to stop at a station in every town on the line). I think it’s great that this is being considered.
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I’m just disappointed that when the subject of commuter rail came up, a relatively small expenditure ($30m) was not included in this bill. $1.2 billion isn’t all that much different from $1.23 billion in the grand scheme of things, especially given the study that shows that there would be significant economic benefits for Western MA, and Springfield in particular.
Have the state cut a deal with the Wampanoags to put a casino resort near the waterfront in New Bedford that would allow money to flood state coffers.
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Have the City of New Bedford cut its own deal to get resources dedicated to local police, fire, schools, housing and other city services.
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Imagine the revitalization of a historic fishing port that is still one of America’s busiest. The cobblestone streets are already there. They even have an existing theater downtown. There are a lot of old Victorians in the area that can/would be brought back to life.
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Watch the New Bedford waterfront rival that of Newport (minus the Mansions) and Provincetown, complete with restaurants and shops. See hotels, bed and breakfasts and other tourist servicing business provide jobs and tax revenue.
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Vacationers from Cape Cod and Boston will take a day trip. Pleasure boaters will make it a port of call.
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Oh yes, people will most definitely come, Ray.
While I’m not a big fan of casinos and would just as assume keep them out of Massachusetts, if the state linked Casino taxes to the rail extension, I’d go for it. It would certainly be one way to get people from the Boston area to go to New Bedford and spend their money in the South Coast.
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Be aware, though, that casinos have hidden costs too. That’s why I’d only favor it if it meant a rail extension, because that would be one thing that would justify the costs of casinos in Massachusetts.
A casino in New Bedford might make the town as desireable as another waterfront casino town, Atlantic City.
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Atlantic City was a slum ’til 1978 when the casinos arrived. Then it became a slum with casinos.
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Casinos in Massachusetts are the worse inevitable move the state will ever consider.
let’s just say there are a few elements in Joisey that don’t come to bear in Massachusetts.
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do you really think the casino business is Massachusetts in 2007 would really be the same as New Jersey in 1978?
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or do you really think the reason Vegas is so wildly successful is because it’s in the desert?
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actually, my dream would be to put a casino in New Bedford with a rail line to the front door and glow in the dark windmills on top serving both to generate energy and act as beacons to attract patrons. you have no idea how much I’m not kidding.
There is a stark difference between Atlantic City and Las Vegas when casinos were introduced.
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Atlantic City was an established city with a poverty problem. As someone noted here, now it’s a poor city with casinos.
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Las Vegas was a small town. It grew up with the casinos. It didn’t have casinos forced on it in an attempt to “transform it”.
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Drive down to Foxwoods. Look at the surrounding area. It’s not thriving. It’s still somewhat depressed.
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Take a look at the Seneca casino in Niagara Falls. Listen to what the small business owners have to say about it. Check out the photos of closed local businesses. Casinos don’t let revenue out of their walls.
I was in New Orleans on business in Oct 2006. After an extra day spent working for Habitat for Humanity (on Musician’s village in the 9th ward) I took a “Katrina Tour.” (If you think things are bad here, take a trip down there!)
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Relevant to this discussion:
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As we went past a casino the tour guide explained that New Orleans does not allow casinos to operate hotels or full service restaurants. That prevents the casinos from capturing all tourist dollars. Patrons have to take a walk to get something to eat or to sleep and it spreads the money around.
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I have mixed feelings about our government getting hooked on gambling revenue.
And it’s not that it isn’t viable. It would work.
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But please tell me – after decades in the wilderness, the insulting process that the Wamponoags had to go through to get the Federal recognition – exactly why would they want to give up the money from the casino that THEY – and only they – are entitled to operate just to prop up Deval’s campaign promises?
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Has it occured to anyone that THEY might have thier OWN plans for the money? Hell, they can open up bingo slots in Mashpee last week! They may well choose to locate a casino in New Bedford. But why will they have to pay off the feckless Mass. Lege, who already dreams about how to spend their money for them?
Let’s not be naive. If they swing a deal with the state and city they can get things done much quicker. They know they can make enough money with a bigger place that it’s worth giving up a little to get it rolling. They’ll still be able to keep more money than they know how to spend.
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They’ve already seen that there are any number of ways the project can be stalled, even with federal recognition and the legal right to operate a bingo hall or casino. Remember how hard it can be made to construct a building in Massachusetts. Any building. This one’s going to need all kinds of infrastructure.
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Anyone can be disgusted. They can bemoan the politicians with their hands out. They can say it’s not fair. Feel free to play the idealist. But that’s the way the world works.
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I hope they get it done and I hope they make enough money to buy all the land they used to inhabit before the Europeans came calling. And I hope it doesn’t require a huge sharing of profits with the city and state. But I think it will require them to give up a little.
As a rider on the commuter rail, I would really like to see how Deval plans to pay for this. With 2 major fare increase in the past three years to the tune of a 90% increase, in the last 3 years. A zone3 12 ride ticket went from $22.50 in 2004 to $45.00 and now $63.00. We are not talking about standard inflation type increase, these increases are off the chart. One more increase and it will be more cost effective to start driving into town again.
Each and every new administration has suggested this for at least the last twenty years. Won’t happen unless and until Uncle Sugar foots the bill. I wonder if the ridership of the buses from New Bedford, Fall River and Taunton fill the seats of their present transportation?
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If we’re gonna do a boondoggle, let’s use someone else’s money!
Patrick said the rail line would attract new investment, increase access to affordable housing for Boston workers, and improve air quality by taking vehicles off local roads and using locomotives that burn ultralow-sulphur diesel.
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Yep, I heard the same message when the commuter rail expanded to Newburyport, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find any data showing any of these goals was reached. Seen housing prices in Newburyport lately?
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There should be no expansion until service is improved and the fiscal house is in order. In other words, get rid of those full pensions at 45 before you hire new employees.
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And when we can afford expansion (not necessarily of the existing system, but of infrastructure investments), by all means, let’s put some of that towards development of the western part of the state. You can only cram just so much more in and around Boston.
Just a couple of years ago estimates for this project were $670M. Has it doubled since then?
Some of the track that was in the original plan has been abandoned since the last proposal. That means more $$ to rehabilitate it.
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All those dotted lines in the Globe graphic are abandoned tracks. The right-of-ways exist, but they’re not suitable for trains anymore, and in some cases may have been repurposed.
Please, This is the Governor keeping a campaign promise and that’s fine. But let’s not confuse this with real transportation policy.
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He promised a plan and he delivered. Now let’s get on with dealing with the real issues:
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Now that the Big Dig is done What is our short, mid and long term transportation plans?
The Romney thing to do would have been to make a nice presentation of a bold initiative, knowing that the lege would gut it, or somehow it wouldn’t ever happen but it wouldn’t be his fault.
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Patrick says “hold us to it.” So yeah, maybe that means “hold me to it in 2016” … but that’s not what it sounds like to me. His language seems a little bolder — he could have said “now it’s in the legislature’s court” and whistled a tune while they buried it, but he didn’t. So I wonder what kind of hand he’s got … (poker reference intentional)
The price tag is now at 1.4B before any hard engineering or legal challanges have been raised! Now factor in the Rappaport Institute’s report on minimal commuter rail economic spin off and this project is a guarenteed loser!
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Again, it’s nice to keep your word but let’s not get carried away.
Charley, lets get back to Reality Based discussions here. If the Governor is suggesting grand plans that will never be implemented what must we hold him to?
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Frankly, count me among the disappointed. We did not elect him to govern by photo op – we elected him for change.
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When does the change begin? Half of his proposals are on Muffy’s list of 50 new ideas (Don’t get me started on the reality of that debacle!).
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I want the man we saw in the campaign. Bring people together in ways they haven’t come together in a long time and then use it to achieve GREAT THINGS – not incremental change or adjustments to the status quo.
If Shirley A. DeLibero known national as the “Queen of Transit” becomes involved this project will happen. About 7 or 8 months ago Shirley moved back to MA after almost 25 years away. She lives right down the street from Deval in Milton. She is a huge Deval supporter and wants to help with this rail project. Shirley DeLibero has spent the last 30 years making a difference in the public transportation industry across the country. Starting first in Boston at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, she then went on to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Washington, D.C. before becoming the deputy executive director of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). In 1990, DeLibero became the executive director of New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit), the nation’s third largest multi-modal public transit system. Under her leadership, ridership grew by 17.4 percent and major rail extensions were built, including the Hudson-Bergen Line. In 1999, DeLibero became the president and CEO of Houston Metro and one of her most significant achievements was building the light rail system, which debuted January 2004, under budget, ahead of schedule, and built solely with local money. She also went head to head against Tom Delay who said he would fight on this project and beat him. A long-time active APTA member, DeLibero was the APTA chair from 1998-1999 and was the Leadership APTA chair from 2001-2002. She also served on the Mobility for the 21st Century Task Force, and now serves as chair of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials. Just recently The Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. [which is a Transportation Think Tank] has invited Shirley to be one of 25 top Transit professionals to participate in a summit in Bellagio, Italy to discuss Metropolitan Transportation and Infrastructure Reform in the United States.
But
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The Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. [which is a Transportation Think Tank] has invited Shirley to be one of 25 top Transit professionals to participate in a summit in Bellagio, Italy to discuss Metropolitan Transportation and Infrastructure Reform in the United States.
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Bellagio? I’ve been there. Nice place. Difficult to get to by car, but a nice place.
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I suspect that the conference will be held at the Villa Serbelloni (been there, too–very nice hotel, with good Internet connections) in Bellagio. But why would they be holding a conference about Metropolitan Transportation and Infrastructure Reform in the United States on Lake Como in northern Italy? It makes no sense, other than for an extended vacation paid for by who knows whom? I suspect, sound and fury, signifying nothing. Except a nice vacation
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Let’s understand something. The US’s public transportation system will pretty much go to wrack and ruin, in large part because nobody cares about it and nobody wants to implement much more of it. The Munich public transport system was pretty much set into motion in 1965, in anticipation of the 1972 Olympics. And it was finished on time and on budget(!). But that was after a war that had still at that time crippled Munich’s central city. Largely because Munich had been awarded the 1972 Olympics, the city and the state (Bavaria) entered into a construction project that resulted in an entire public transportation system (including tunnels hundreds of feet below the center of the city) that is amazing.
And, by the way, they are now building a second tunnel through the center of the city to relieve the burden on the first tunnel. I doubt very seriously that they’ll have to worry about ceiling tiles falling down on either of them.
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Let’s get back to the theme. Who in the US is pushing for an expansion of public transport in the US? Um, virtually nobody. So, it isn’t going to happen. Sound and fury, usw.
I thought the same things regarding the Brookings Institute trip. I mentioned it more as an after thought. The focus of the post is on Shirley’s accomplishments and her reputation as some one who gets things done. The most important thing about Shirley is she has done this before in Texas. She went head to head against Tom Delay at the height of his power and beat him. She is not just one of the countries top transportation experts, but also someone who knows how to build political coalitions. She built a rail system in Texas that for 30 years no one thought possible, and she can do it here in MA.
Contrast
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Big dig About 3.2 miles of tunnel, originally estimated at (I’ll be generous) US$4B, completed(?) in how many years and at a cost that continues to escalate (>US$14B)
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with
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17 mile (or so) bridge tunnel (half bridge, half tunnel) between Denmark and Sweden, completed in on the order of four years and at a cost of about US$4B.
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Um, it seems to me that there has been more than a bit of fraud on the part of the US contractors. Not that anyone in power will do about it, of course. Gelt unterm Tisch.
You present a logical argument and I am sure your facts are accurate. Never the less sometimes regardless what all the facts suggest a person of unique character and spirit who is added to the equation will change the out come. I believe Shirley DeLibero is just such a person. I guess only time will tell.
…my intent was not to denigrate her. I have no idea who she is. My intent was to provide another perspective. A perspective, in regards US public transportation, that appears to be pretty much correct.
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I would be begeistert to be proved wrong regarding public transit in the US, but I have no reason to believe that I would be.
I understand where you are coming from. I hope you are wrong, but there is much to support your stance.