Jumping back to BHA bus lane project. I have been getting served a lot of posts about people coming out against the project and even saw Erin Murphy (CM at-large) supporting the demonstrations against. Similar to other postings about the project, no compromise is going to help these nay-sayers go away, especially based on what I see from a sign, rhetoric they are using. Most of them are clamoring about wanting Rail down the corridor, based on what Culpepper and Worrell put out with their AI generated map. They claim they have not been involved in the process and want a feasibility study exploring rail. Hypothetically, say that feasibility study comes back and says rail is not viable within 15 years, do these demonstrators want nothing done until then? They claim to want to release money now for "safety improvements", but presumably the grant moneys figure drops dramatically if the project is status quo with some lipstick at existing intersections. Bus lane project is just shy of $200 million. A surface rail project is probably in the realm of $1 to $2 billion, and an underground rail project is probably sitting around $6 billion. Clearly these demonstrators don't realize they are advocating for projects that are 5-10 times or 30 times the cost? I so desperately want to chime in on the social media postings, but know it is futile (I also already make people pissed on the Dot Reporter page for housing projects haha). And don't have time to get to the public meetings (project area is only about 1 mile from my house). Wish there was a way to just shake some common sense into folks!!
Place like the Boston Herald and some real estate people talk about "keeping corridors moving" as a reason for not having bus lanes. Or some of the demonstrators (or people on FB) say to "just put in street cars like there was before" and it just shows true ignorance to how a city operates. I saw one article try to play to play the race card of a rail feasibility study into Roslindale from Forest Hills because Roslindale is more white. They don't talk about how that ROW is in place for rail, the tracks are there and - while still expensive - is a matter of converting CR tracks into third rail tracks. That extension to Roslindale is also 1/5 the length of the proposed rail from Ruggles and is completely above grade.
Seeing Erin Murphy participate in the demonstration took me to her FB page and her "emergency hearing request" to possibly blame tactical urbanism solutions at the intersection where Louisa Gag was killed for another scooter rider being hit and injured. As if the road is not dangerous and the city's lack of improvements are not pushing people to take mattes into their own hands. It's almost like this stretch of road (home to Boston Cyclist Union just to the east) wouldn't be put under a microscope by those who advocate for ROW equity.
I'll get off my soap box now, apologies for the vent session.
