Re: Green Line to Medford to start in 2011
Possibility of Green Line stops puts residents in the pink
By Danielle Dreilinger
Globe Correspondent / February 10, 2008
The MBTA has considered extending the Green Line into Somerville for decades. But after the governor's October pledge to prioritize the project - and with the state bound to finish by 2014 -the long-promised service seems almost imminent.
That explained the standing-room-only crowd at the Visiting Nurse Association assisted living center Jan. 29. Easily 100 people came to learn about the proposed Ball Square and Lowell Street stops at one of a series of meetings about the line.
Mike McArdle and Kristine Wickham of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, consultants working for the state's Executive Office of Transportation, posted draft maps around the room. No state officials attended.
The consultants were gathering information, they said, not presenting a done deal. "We're very early on in the planning process," McArdle said. "You guys know better than we do."
The consultants are examining where in Medford to end the line, whether to run a spur to Union Square, and where to situate the stops. The draft route and stations minimized the need to reconstruct bridges or take over private land.
The consultants will soon put out noise monitors to measure baseline conditions. "You're going to see us out and about a lot over the next 18 months," McArdle said.
But even as McArdle spoke at the Somerville session, noise had started growing in the room, with some attendees whispering over the maps. When he stopped, the buzz turned into a roar. People craned over each other around two tables holding maps and drawings of the two proposed stations. Since there wasn't nearly enough space, small groups crowded the other maps.
Somerville, it seems, abounds with amateur urban planners. No minutiae were too minute to escape analysis.
"To me the only advantage is this is such a dead zone it would be good to use it," said Solh Zendeh, 33, pointing at the potential Lowell Street stop, roughly sited at Vernon Street near the nursing home.
"But where's the connection to this side?" asked Anne Judge, 45, running her finger along the map.
Josh Grzegorzewski, 32, wanted to take the opportunity to extend the community bike path that currently runs through Davis Square. "Ooh! I can race the trolley!" he said, imagining the results.
Many questioned the proposed station locations. Lowell Street would be located in a no-man's land between Somerville Hospital and Magoun Square. Similarly, the Ball Square stop was several blocks from that square, northwest toward Tufts.
Robert Smyth, 57, said that intersection at "Boston Avenue and Harvard Street is incredibly busy already and gets all jammed up."
City Election Commission chairman Nick Salerno brought photos of the old Ball Square commuter rail station on Broadway.
"Obviously it makes sense to consider putting the station there because it was there," said Patti Davis 33, of South Medford. She considered it crucial to neighborhood development. If the Davis Square T stop had been built outside Davis, she said, "nothing would have happened."
Some defended the consultants' choices. Stuart Goldman, 44, pointed out that they chose the Lowell Street location based on a bend in the old rail bed.
Some skepticism remained over the project as a whole. "Every time we hear something good, we hear three things that are setbacks," said C?sar Urrunaga, 31. "I'm taking everything with a grain of salt."
Joe Lynch, president of the Magoun Square Neighborhood Association, thought it wouldn't get done on time. "My common sense says it's going to be 2018."
Another overarching concern was whether the presumed rise in property values along the route would force some residents out. When the Red Line came to Davis, "the old neighborhood, that kind of ran away," Urrunaga said. "People are working to make sure it doesn't happen again."
After about an hour, McArdle summarized some of the input. "We're going to look at bringing that station as close to Ball Square as possible," he said, and connecting the Lowell stop to the bike path.
Many attendees expressed excitement no matter what the specifics. "We just bought [a home] a year and a half ago," said Judge. "The fact that this was coming was, like, 'yay.' "
Goldman said, "As far as I'm concerned it can't get done soon enough."
The next meeting takes place Feb. 19 and covers Union Square.
Official updates:
greenlineextension.org
Interactive map:
somervillestep.org/green_line/
Link
