Green Line Extension to Medford & Union Sq

Everyone who bet two nickels and a shirt button on nothing being decided today...collect your prize. They're moving to vote on waiting for an FTA review, then voting again sometime later.


Ain't governance sponsored by the Pioneer Institute grand?
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According to Nicole Dungca from the Glove via Twitter: Quote from Pollack:

"I don't think it's the most important thing for the MBTA to be doing in the next three years."

To me, that's the quote of a transportation secretary who wants to pull the plug.
 
https://twitter.com/ndungca/status/729778496801640448

Every board member who's spoken...except a very bleak-sounding Pollack...has said they have to continue this project if they can make these finances check out. I'm gonna not go out on a limb and conjecture that Gov. Baker was hoping he'd have a much more effortless kill than this. Oh well, Charlie...you were the one who handpicked this board.


EDIT: And now she's getting pushback from the other Board members for being a Debbie Downer. That's a little bit satisfying, albeit in a rodeo-clown-getting-gored kind of context.
 
^ F-Line I thought you were the guy who did the very careful math showing how Baker could not afford, electorally, to kill it. Now you're saying that his intent was to kill it?

I think Pollack's statement is more one of she's got to worry about billions of state of good repair and fare collection and bus redesign which do, ultimately, touch way more than even 30k/day on the GLX. Not a desire to kill, just that she's got a whole lot on her plate, and probably even things she'd rather spend both $73m on and $1b on.

I'd spin this as you being right about Baker's desire to save it, and that the FMCB expresses this, while Pollack probably has 20 things like late night buses at $3m/year/each that she'd rather be doing.
 
Am I reading this right? Stephanie Pollack - the transit advocate, one of the key people who got the legal mandate for GLX in the first place... is hinting she wants it killed?

Meanwhile the other members are speaking positively and speaking in terms they are okay to go forward?
 
ant8904 said:
Am I reading this right? Stephanie Pollack - the transit advocate, one of the key people who got the legal mandate for GLX in the first place... is hinting she wants it killed?
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A part of me wonders what she must have done in a past life to be put in this situation.
 
^ Sure. Good transit advocates do a $/new rider prioritization and state of good repair stuff before they go laying new lines. They don't just build every project at any price. For a long time after the CLF wrung it as a concession, everyone thought it would cost a more national-norm $600m or $900m.
 
Arlington said:
^ F-Line I thought you were the guy who did the very careful math showing how Baker could not afford, electorally, to kill it. Now you're saying that his intent was to kill it?

I think Pollack's statement is more one of she's got to worry about billions of state of good repair and fare collection and bus redesign which do, ultimately, touch way more than even 30k/day on the GLX. Not a desire to kill, just that she's got a whole lot on her plate, and probably even things she'd rather spend both $73m on and $1b on.
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I still firmly believe that. But the way his chief deputy keeps emphasizing "can't do" mentality (whose job is it to address that, now???) suggests the intent was always to test the waters to see how easy/not-easy it would be to shirk it. We're getting the expected answer: not easy. And it's his own handpicked board who's making it not easy.

Doesn't mean the top of the pyramid has to be happy about that. They were hoping for easy, hopeful for easier. Now they're being backed into a corner where if the FTA gives thumbs-up there's not a lot of F.U.D. left to spread in hopes of delaying it. That's making somebody a little downtrodden today, is all.
 
...and now she's concern-trolling the $73M deficit as an immovable object for meeting schedule for the refinancing plan. This a mere 96 hours after Cambridge and Somerville ponied up $75M out of thin air.

She needs to stop talking right now. She's losing control of the Board with this pity party, and her boss ain't going to like losing control of his sandbox. Aiello and others made multiple motions to vote for go-ahead contingent on FTA approval.
 
The board is having difficulty agreeing on what they are actually voting for.
 
And we have a resolution:

Vote to move forward for now...but with a bazillion strings attached that could allow them to re-vote to kill it. Or re-vote to delay it. Or re-vote to re-vote some more re-votes.


An altogether fine use of 4-1/2 hours, fearless leaders. Doesn't everyone feel so accomplished right now?
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
And we have a resolution:

Vote to move forward for now...but with a bazillion strings attached that could allow them to re-vote to kill it. Or re-vote to delay it. Or re-vote to re-vote some more re-votes.


An altogether fine use of 4-1/2 hours, fearless leaders. Doesn't everyone feel so accomplished right now?
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Given Massachusetts, I'm amazed that they didn't vote to delay a vote. I'll put this down in the "Win...?" column.
 
I am so dismayed by Pollack it brought me out of just lurking here. Her entire performance today and recent quotes have been unbelievable, given her history of opinions and advocacy.

I'm finding it very hard to find charitable reasons for her 180 degree turn on this.
 
Transit Savvy Denver

Denver Business Journal:
RTD's ride into the future: 2016 is a big year for Denver transit (Regional Transit District)

April 18, 2016

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/b...e-into-the-future-2016-is-a-big-year-for.html


Here is what Denver is accomplishing:

"FasTracks is the name for Denver’s ambitious, multibillion-dollar transit construction project that’s a one-of-a-kind in the United States".

"The plan calls for building 122 miles of new passenger rail lines throughout metro Denver, plus 18 miles of bus rapid transit infrastructure, and 21,000 new parking spaces at rail and bus stations".

"To date, RTD has about $5.5 billion worth of FasTracks projects either completed, under construction or under contract. An additional $1.4 billion to $1.8 billion worth of work is needed to complete the vision, according to RTD officials".

Governor Baker has asked the MBTA to find other sources for funding.

Here's Denver's funding sources:

"With businesses backing a $3.6 million “FasTracks Yes!” campaign in 2004, Denver-area voters approved a special 0.4 percent sales tax, or 4 pennies for every $10 spent, to help pay for a sprawling network of new rail lines and upgraded bus service".

".... the Great Recession sapped the amount of tax money that rolled in ....
Instead RTD, led by former CEO and General Manager Phil Washington, turned to a new kind of financing arrangement: public-private partnerships. RTD decided to partner with the private sector to design, build, operate, manage and finance a major part of the FasTracks project".

Note that the Colorado legislature was, apparently, not involved with financial backing.

Politicians have no problem spending tax money voters have approved.

Would it be simple enough to mount a sales tax campaign for rail upgrades and extensions in Eastern Massachusetts with businesses such as GE backing it?

The Denver region's remarkable effort makes the MBTA's effort look amateurish.
 
ArsenalBOS said:
I am so dismayed by Pollack it brought me out of just lurking here. Her entire performance today and recent quotes have been unbelievable, given her history of opinions and advocacy.

I'm finding it very hard to find charitable reasons for her 180 degree turn on this.
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Top administration members represent the governor, not themselves. She is an extension of Baker. While she may have input in the process, you better believe that her messaging will be consistent with Baker. I cannot stress the importance of having a unified administration. Baker is to blame for this at the end of the day
 
ArsenalBOS said:
I am so dismayed by Pollack it brought me out of just lurking here. Her entire performance today and recent quotes have been unbelievable, given her history of opinions and advocacy.

I'm finding it very hard to find charitable reasons for her 180 degree turn on this.
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At $2.3B, I understand. There are lots of projects upgrading current infrastructure that could be done with $1.3B of the state's money; and some of those could get federal matching for that other $1B.
 
Baker and his henchman/henchwomen are full of bullshit with their fix it first before expansion mantra. We need both improvements to the existing system and expansion in dense areas like somerville. I don't see them putting on the brakes on the add a lane project on Rte 128 until every deficient bridge or roadway is first fixed in the Commonwealth....
 
Baker and his henchman/henchwomen are full of bullshit with their fix it first before expansion mantra. We need both improvements to the existing system and expansion in dense areas like somerville. I don't see them putting on the brakes on the add a lane project on Rte 128 until every deficient bridge or roadway is first fixed in the Commonwealth...
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$5 regardless of GLX outcome there will never be *another* expansion of the T in our lifetime (40 years). It's simply too expensive and nobody wants to pay for it. None of it is getting cheaper either.
 
commuter guy said:
Baker and his henchman/henchwomen are full of bullshit with their fix it first before expansion mantra. We need both improvements to the existing system and expansion in dense areas like somerville. I don't see them putting on the brakes on the add a lane project on Rte 128 until every deficient bridge or roadway is first fixed in the Commonwealth....
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Yes exactly. Nicole ended up summarizing that discussion with "Can the T walk and chew gum at the same time?"
 
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