by reisnere in Green Line, Transportation
Posted on June 22, 2012 at 1:00 am
Somerville Journal column: "Time for 'adult conversation' on Somerville Green Line Extension"
"The options are clear - either we roll the dice for an all-or-nothing approach and hope the legislature and future governors are committed to the GLX, or we work thoughtfully within the funding limitations we now know are real and get the biggest-bang-for-our-buck in a way that preserves all future possibilities for GLX."
STEP respectfully disagrees. The Green Line Extension is a legal obligation. The State can't simply decide not to build it. We shouldn't give an inch.
[Note: This is a syndicated post. Read the original at Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership.]
5 Comments »
I was in Brookline the other day – specifically at the Fenway station of the Green Line – the same line we’ll have in Union Square. I looked at the station. It worked quite well, and consisted of a single staircase and pedestrian waiting area – nothing more. And I wondered why our stations need be as elaborate as the plans now specify. If the issue is budgets, why is Somerville so critically more than Brookline, or Boston, or Newton, or so many other sites. I know that the justification is the Charlie Card, but they’ve got the same card, and it works quite well. And trimming the plan by a few hundred million – which the Charlie Card will never, ever save – might make it a lot more feasible.
In that case, Ellin’s argument is as true as truth. But … then … the Congressman’s is just as true.
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Unfortunately, Ms. Reisner’s points illustrate one of the first (practical) points law students learn: there is no use suing someone who’s broke.
Yes, it’s a legal obligation. Should have been completed by 2014, 2020, etc. We all know this. STEP knows this, the city knows this, the Commonwealth knows this, and the Congressman knows this. But with all respect due (as Ms. Reisner and her organization have done wonderful things for the city), her approach seems a little naive.
The T simply does not have the money to meet this legal obligation. Or, even if it does, the cost of implementing the GLX in full would completely cripple the T. We’d have stations, but be unable to pay for trains to run or conductors to run them. Or maintenance. Or cleaning. Or running buses, boats, or anything else.
Mr. Beckmann, while I sometimes disagree with him, has an excellent point, and one I have wondered for a while. However, the Fenway stop is on level ground, so accessibility concerns aren’t as great. But we could put in one elevator in each stop on the GLX, one staircase, one awning, and a covered shelter, and boom! T stop.
The Mayor has also, unfortunately, gone down the road of “let’s just get this done.” His recent column, which basically says “suck it up and pay for it,” seems more naive than I would have expected. Perhaps because he’s built his entire legacy on redesigning the city around a GLX that may never come?
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From the cross street, the Fenway stop is NOT on the ground level – I think you’re confusing it with the ones that are beyond. It is precisely what most of our stations will be – but far, far less developed.
I don’t mean to suggest that our stations – like those in Brookline – remain difficult access for wheelchairs, etc. But I do mean that the MBTA could build far simpler stations than their current plans, at far less short term cost, and later invest in improvements. That is what we do as homeowners.
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Joe, I haven’t been at the Fenway stop for some time, but I remember it being accessed from the parking lot at Landmark Center, which was at ground level. Either way, my memory might be off, but the “sheltered stop” at the Riverside station is more like what I was thinking of.
As I remember it, it has a set of stairs, an escalator, an elevator (I think), a platform, and an awning roof. Very simple, and much easier to design than the planned stops in the GLX.
And I did not mean to imply that you favor stops that hinder access to disabled individuals. God no. If it came across that way, I’m sorry.
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Fenway’s actually an odd stop – it’s at grade for Harvard Vanguard and Landmark Center, but below grade from both bridges that cross the Green Line and suburban trains. That’s not unlike some of our probable stations – or what they might be like – particularly Ball Square, Washington Street and Union Square (pdf). I’m most concerned with the over-building planned for North Point, where a $100,000,000 construction budget is rationalized by protecting Charlie Card access which sure isn’t protected anywhere in Brookline.
And I’m also concerned that people with disabilities will be “blamed” for massive over-building, while they’re still unserved in places like Brookline or Newton. It’s rarely that complicated to build an elevator or lift that justifies hundreds of millions of dollars in patronage contracts.
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