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The EGE wrote: Wonderland garage delayed,I believe they are building it right now. Certainly looks like a garage.
Somerville Mayor Curtatone Responds to GLX delay
(from Universal Hub)
In light of yesterday's announcement about the Green Line, I want to be clear about where we stand as a community. A four-year delay of the Green Line Extension bereft of any tangible commitments from the Commonwealth is simply unacceptable. Somerville deserves a transparent, accurate timeline for the Green Line Extension, with clear deliverables. Fundamental matters of social justice, economic justice and environmental justice are at stake in this project. Governor Patrick promised to extend rail transit to the most densely populated community in New England and he needs to break ground while he is still Governor. The State must do better than declare it is going to miss the legally mandated 2014 deadline for the extension with vague promises that it is still “behind” the project.
I plan on meeting with the Governor to help restore sanity and accountability to this process. Residents and business owners in Somerville, Cambridge and Medford need to inundate the Governor, their state representatives, MassDOT and the MBTA with letters, calls and emails demanding a definitive plan for the Green Line Extension be adopted. This is a clear case of the people needing to remind the government of its responsibilities.
3rdrail wrote:The State has leverage because all that they have to fall back on in their argument not to proceed is to say "if the money's not there, there's nothing to build with." The statement in and of itself is a true one, whether or not it is true as it applies in this case. This throws the ball into the opposition's court in that to overcome this argument, you must prove where money exists to fund such a project. In these pre-depression times, good luck with that. Also, in my opinion, if you think that it's only delayed by a couple of years, I think that you're in for a surprise in 2013.If the money doesn't exist, you don't lie lie lie lie lie lie lie about how everything's full speed ahead for close to a bloody decade, sign and reaffirm many times over legally-binding agreements to build it, and then pull the rug out. Again. For about the 5th time on one of these transit commitments. If they made an argument about money being tight in advance and cautiously, this isn't nearly so galling. When it comes the same week as more of this crap, it's doubling galling:
Gov. Deval Patrick's South Coast rail project leader, Kristina Egan, left in June, causing speculation and concern that the momentum she has developed will be lost.What we're getting is the equivalent of saying "Sucker!" to all of Somerville just like JP, Lynn, and other neighborhoods got. It smashes another leg out from under what little trust people still have left in transportation in Massachusetts and the intentions of the people running transportation in Massachusetts.
State Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral, D-New Bedford, asked for and received a meeting on Thursday with the governor and other legislators along the proposed route.
He said later in a statement that he was very satisfied with the governor's pledge of continued commitment. "I have every confidence that the administration is working aggressively to move this project forward," Cabral said. Patrick has promised to replace Egan as quickly as possible.
Conservation Law Foundation staff attorney Rafael Mares said that by delaying the Green Line far past its stated 2014 completion date, the state is opening itself up to a citizens’ lawsuit under the Clean Air Act, and to a possible loss of federal highway funds. He also said that in asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to approve the shelving of the Red Line-Blue Line Connector, the T is asking the state for relief that only the federal Environmental Protection Agency can grant.Those are fighting words they haven't used before, especially the warning about loss of highway funds as a direct consequence of the legal actions from this delay. But also challenging the state's own jurisdiction to even be able to cancel Red-Blue. With the Big Dig toppling another EOT chair and being another politically threatening crisis to the Patrick admin, that is a veiled legal threat against the political capital of the most embedded power-brokers in the state. It's not a little temper tantrum from urban do-gooders or a few folks in JP who are gonna re-elect the same folks every time. If they have nothing to lose among their elite interests, it's made to be ignored. If they lose a capital source they're dependent on for firewalling the Big Dig political fallout, it is a potentially imminent danger to what's most near and dear to them. That's where this warning makes them *gulp* a little.
Adams_Umass_Boston wrote:You know, I'm really looking forward to this. I'm sure when they are done, they will next start on the Arborway and Watertown extensions, lolThe EGE wrote: Wonderland garage delayed,I believe they are building it right now. Certainly looks like a garage.
I too have been following along on their website.
http://www.greenlineextension.org/
I am shocked at how far they have come and how fast its over. I believe they had just had meeting all last month on the finalization of station designs. In fact i was emailed yesterday about them posting that info on there website.
Arborway wrote:Ultimately, the T will build a few parking spaces next to a commuter rail station in an exburb and say it's the same thing as extending the Green Line.I'm not quite that cynical. The T also has a long history of delayed extensions that nevertheless DO manage to get built, albeit decades late. I predict that the Somerville extension will open some time around 2030.
Because they have practice doing that.
#5 - Dyre Ave wrote:2018? Because the money's not there? So why doesn't the Patrick administration stop further work on Fall River/New Bedford project? If there's no money to build the Medford and Somerville GL extensions, how can there still be money for FR/NB?There's not money for South Coast Rail in the first place. It's politics at this point, and I imagine that the southern cities are better political capital than Somerville and Medford, so they carry out the charade of SCR and give lip service to GLX.
I hope CLF sues the state and the T over this!It's very possible. The CLF has serious legal muscle and they hold all the cards here.
At this rate, the 2nd Avenue Subway's first phase is going to be up and running before the GL goes to Medford and Somerville.SAS Phase I is currently scheduled for 2016. Sad but true.
At the very least get something open. Why not start with a relocated Lechmere station and the Union Square stop as a first phase? Does the whole thing need to open in one shot?Definitely getting something open soon is a good idea. Union Square is not a likely target, only because it doesn't get into Medford like the settlement says. But there's no reason they shouldn't be starting on the Lechmere move and getting tracks laid on the Pan Am land, starting yesterday.
