Charlie Baker and the built environment

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TheBostonian

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What is Governor-Elect Charlie Baker's attitude toward the built environment? I'm not sure, but there are hints:

He lives in a handsome 134 year old house built up to the street in a town square. Compare that to the last republican to beat Martha Coakley in statewide office. Before Scott Brown up and left Mass to run for senate in New Hampshire, he lived in a generic, 22 year old house on a cul-de-sac.

Baker used the term "streetscape" when discussing the Springfield casino design. I have never heard a politician use that term before.

He talks about stimulating economic development in the state's Gateway Cities. This seems to be an idea that is catching on, that if Massachusetts is going to prosper, our struggling, former industrial cities should prosper too.

Am I cherry picking the good stuff just to feel optimistic? Will he let public infrastructure crumble for the sake of fiscal discipline? I just don't know.
 
Hopefully he'll evaluate proposals based on their merits as opposed to their political benefits(i.e. Southcoast Rail vs. improving transit infrastructure inside of 128).
 
Nobody's going to kill South Coast Rail because whoring for votes in Bristol County is too politically valuable, but it might get a very badly-needed funding delay and a little self-reflection about maybe trying to address the completely broken/useless schedule before going past Taunton. That was Patrick's baby to rushrushrush and overinflate to absurdity.


Berkshire Rail is dead as a doornail. That was totally a figment of Patrick's imagination. And his self-interest, because his mansion is about 5 miles away from the would-be Lenox stop. Absolutely none of the candidates for Gov.--primary or general--are Western MA'ers. I seriously doubt Baker or Coakley have ever laid eyes on the Housatonic track before (much less seen what appallingly dangerous condition it's in).


I'm not sure the rest matters. Bob DeLeo and Senate-Prez.-to-be-Named still rule this state with a corrupt iron fist. They generally allow each Gov. one signature piece of Legislation, and then castrate him on everything else to show who's boss. Short of a 4th consecutive indicted House Speaker (I put odds of that at par) finally inducing the sheep in the caucus to maybe think for once about choosing better leadership, nothing's going to change with the Legislature. If they didn't learn from Finneran and DiMasi it'll basically take a Speaker ending up on a sex offender registry or committing murder-suicide to get them to wake up. And it's the Legislature that's stuck in neutral at reforming MassDOT's and the T's finances. Or addressing the follow-up question on how to fund transit after the gas tax results (the solution could be better than an indexed gas tax...but they have to take it up first).


I'd be more intrigued about who Baker chooses as MassDOT chair. Are we gonna get another competent lifetime-transportation guy like Rich Davey, or another in the string of lecherous Weld/Cellucci-era political hacks?
 
Shepard said:
Jay Ash selected for Housing and Economic Development cabinet position - Baker's first cabinet pick. In my mind, this shows great judgment on Baker's part as well as a dedication to the built environment. I'm very pleasantly surprised.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...nomic-chief/Y6JCfHsbCzNXVAJ64X9jWI/story.html
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Sounds like a great pick. The other bellwether choice is Davey's replacement. As for Ash, these look like great points in his favor (fair use quotes from Globe)
Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville...said: "He’s smart, he’s innovative, he’s a passionate regionalist. He’s going to do a fantastic job."

Ash, 53, is widely credited with having led a renaissance in the state’s smallest city by land area, which spent much of the 1990s in state receivership...Significant economic growth and a flurry of residential development have helped it wriggle out of its rap as a haven for corruption and mismanagement.

...Ash has worked to connect Chelsea and Boston with Silver Line bus service, and has championed the sort of transit-oriented development hailed by former governor Mitt Romney’s development czar, Doug Foy.
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Though I was a Casino opponent, I'm also consoled that Ash was "the right kind" of Casino proponent, since he seems to have all the right instincts to make it work: a combination of pro-TOD and anti-corruption cred. From the Globe, I'd guess Ash is where Baker got the word "streetscape" to use in the context of the Springfield Casino. That's a really good sign.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Berkshire Rail is dead as a doornail. That was totally a figment of Patrick's imagination. And his self-interest, because his mansion is about 5 miles away from the would-be Lenox stop. Absolutely none of the candidates for Gov.--primary or general--are Western MA'ers. I seriously doubt Baker or Coakley have ever laid eyes on the Housatonic track before (much less seen what appallingly dangerous condition it's in).
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Irrelevant now, but Martha is from North Adams and went to Williams.
 
Any chance Davey stays on?

He seems to be doing a pretty good job.

I think?
 
statler said:
Any chance Davey stays on?
He seems to be doing a pretty good job.
I think?
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Davey resigned about a month ago, so I doubt it. I thought Davey did a good job, and so I'd hope that Baker would call him and ask him to come back (can't hurt) and ask who Davey might recommend instead.
 
Baker will definitely put the kibosh on the accelerated bridge program. That's a given.


In terms of other road and bridge project, I think that the majority of the crumbling bridges in the Commonwealth will have to stay the way that they are under Baker, for the sake of fiscal accountability. I see the MassDOT budget getting shockingly leaner. The GLX to Medford will be put on hold for another few years under Baker.

He has to prove a point. Even if his point is asinine. Also, for the record, Martha needs to retire from politics. For all time.
 
kingofsheeba said:
Baker will definitely put the kibosh on the accelerated bridge program. That's a given.
...I see the MassDOT budget getting shockingly leaner. The GLX to Medford will be put on hold for another few years under Baker.
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Source?
AFAICT, all he's got to do is cut just enough to live without gas tax Indexing, and other than that he has no political need to cut further in MassDOT (and without his veto being upheld, no power to radically reshape the contours of spending

It is more like his only avenue for action is to turn instead turn to "competency" issues (outcomes) in things like DCF, parole, healthcare, smart growth, and education. All he really has to do is check the most obvious/ corrupt stuff.
 
kingofsheeba said:
Also, for the record, Martha needs to retire from politics. For all time.
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This. I voted independent, but if that wasn't an option I probably would have gone for Baker just because Cokely is such a shyster. The entire field is full of such self-serving asshats (both "red" and "blue") that going to the polls is a horrifically depressing experience. Honestly, the only reason I voted at all was for the questions, the ballot made me sick.
 
Yeah, gotta agree with Arlington. The legislature's veto override numbers are so overwhelming that there's no political capital spent at all to use it. The voting public probably wouldn't even notice when/if they do it. That might mean the Gov doesn't even bother using his veto more than a handful of times. Charlie's gonna have to focus more on his executive powers to work within agencies rather than macro budget issues. Personally, that's fine by me, and I'd assume it's fine by him. He ran more as a "Good Guy Executive" than an old fashioned "Small Gov Tax Cutter."
 
Speaking of agencies with "competency issues"... my wish is for Baker to clean house at DCR.
 
Matthew said:
Speaking of agencies with "competency issues"... my wish is for Baker to clean house at DCR.
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This x1000. They either need a whole new staff of engineers who actually understand how to not design roads for maximum suckage or they need to give all the urban parkways over to MassDOT.
 
cden4 said:
This x1000. They either need a whole new staff of engineers who actually understand how to not design roads for maximum suckage or they need to give all the urban parkways over to MassDOT.
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To which cabinet secretary does the DCR report (or maybe that changes)? Seems to me, the DCR is going to report to Jay Ash. Not that Doug Foy ever tamed the DCR beast, but back then the Legislature was busy fighting Romney on agency consolidation (that they gave to Patrick as an early win instead).

Reforming the DCR to be more multi modal would be a huge win and strangely more of a Weld/Romney/Baker kind of thing (I say that only because Patrick *didn't* deliver it, while Republicans seem to enjoy burnishing their enviro-cred as governor in a jump-in-the-Charles/Greenbush/Doug Foy kinda way).
 
Arlington said:
To which cabinet secretary does the DCR report (or maybe that changes)? Seems to me, the DCR is going to report to Jay Ash. Not that Doug Foy ever tamed the DCR beast, but back then the Legislature was busy fighting Romney on agency consolidation (that they gave to Patrick as an early win instead).

Reforming the DCR to be more multi modal would be a huge win and strangely more of a Weld/Romney/Baker kind of thing (I say that only because Patrick *didn't* deliver it, while Republicans seem to enjoy burnishing their enviro-cred as governor in a jump-in-the-Charles/Greenbush/Doug Foy kinda way).
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It's a sub-agency of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (grouped with the state EPA, Public Utilities commission, Agriculture, Fish & Game. With a dashed-line reporting relationship to MassDOT on the parkways and bridges...though it's still got primary jurisdiction over those.


It does definitely need more reform. The parkways have gotta go to MassDOT (much as they aren't trustworthy either) because DCR's only been a marginal improvement over MDC on the management side and most of the overdue infrastructure renewal we're seeing now is totally from the MassHighway side. Also don't see why the Public Utilities are part of it either...except maybe Water Resources. They've got too much on their plate to be chasing after NStar and Nat'l Grid half the time over gas and electrical.
 
cden4 said:
or they need to give all the urban parkways over to MassDOT.
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MassDOT or the local municipalities (Honestly I think I'd prefer the latter). Let DCR concentrate on conservation and recreation.
 
Arlington said:
Source?
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Source? None. Intuition? Everything that a rethuglican has tried to do and has done successfully.


While we're derailing threads, I would say, that with a sister and soon to be brother-in-law who are both social workers, they are both shaking in their boots over Charlie. Their job is already tough enough as it is. We can only imagine what is going to happen under Gov. Douche Nozzle.
 
^ Woah. I bleed blue and even did some emergency canvassing for Martha, but I'm fully willing to give Charlie a fair shot. When he starts announcing his platform and making policy changes, then he can be scrutinized. No need for name calling or assumptions at this point.
 
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