Photo from the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Yes, there is coverage online, for example, here.
The furor did not die down. Not at all. More from yesterday in Wisconsin, comments to follow:
Photo from Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Photo from the Milwaukee wisconsin Journal Sentinel.
Unions, small business people, and just plain ordinary citizens showed up to reclaim their government, to declare that Gov. Walker WILL be recalled, and to make sure everyone knew that Wisconsin had NOT gone back to sleep.
Has the abandonment of the MBTA by the Massachusetts political establishment awakened MetroBoston to the same degree? OccupyMBTA might just be the most massive response to governmental arrogance in the history of this state. Leaving the MBTA to sink or swim on its own, and declaring that Beacon Hill won’t lift a finger to prevent service cuts and fare hikes as Speaker DeLeo (love the Meme) has done is like kicking the population of Boston where it truly hurts. On the record, the Speaker has said there is no money for the MBTA and he will not raise taxes at all, for anything, no matter what. A defiant Rep. Charley Murphy in Exile has demanded the MBTA be funded, and floated a plan.
Rep Charley Murphy from The Burlington Patch
To Representative Murphy’s credit he even called for Open Meeting laws to apply on Beacon Hill. I am told THAT caused quite a stir. The idea that Beacon Hill should focus on paying for infrastructure rather than making giving out corporate welfare via the Tax Expenditure Budget and making lobbyists and the “One Percent” happy must come as quite a shock. Remember – tax revenue is $22 billion and the giveaways are $26 billion. And, of course, the MBTA’s budget woes were created by Beacon Hill, most notably by the failed experiment of dumping the Big Dig debt on the MBTA, waving a magic wand, and saying “Don’t worry! We will pay for it in the future!”
But, anyway, the question for spring in Boston is “Will Massachusetts and Boston wake up like Milwaukee and Madison and Wisconsin?” Stay tuned – and keep an eye on Charlie and the MBTA.
Hello! Anybody paying attention? Knock Knock – Beacon Hill – anybody home?
See link.
Happy days.
The paper is called the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, not the Milwauke Wisconsin Journal Sentinel (nitpicky, I know, but I’m from Milwaukee and it bugged me…otherwise I agree with the premise of this, April 4th should be interesting)
I really can’t express how angry I am over this issue. One corporate tax credit bill to a fat-cat industry (Hollywood) could pay for the deficit, and instead DeLeo is telling the 1 in 6 Massachusetts residents who depend on the MBTA every day to go fuck themselves.
There has been no other issue in state government that I can remember that so clearly demonstrates how much government is broken here.
In the end, though, legislators are so wrapped up in their bubble that they’e completely blind to the problem. They simply don’t get it — that they, BEACON HILL, has caused this problem, not the MBTA — which has long since been cut to the bone.
Forward funding, forcing bigger projects on the MBTA and the Big Dig debt is what has caused this disaster… and the MBTA has no solutions to those but eventual bankruptcy. They can’t have solutions to those problems… because BEACON HILL CAUSED THEM.
I really don’t know what will wake up Beacon Hill on this issue. I’m not sure MBTA passengers lighting themselves on fire could make them grow a conscience.
Just check out these maps: http://bostinno.com/all-series/who-rides-the-t-justice-in-transit-according-to-the-demographics-of-the-mbta-maps/
It should be noted just WHO will bleed – these folks have NO access to vehicles.