What would you do to get the T out of its financial mess?

whighlander said:
Sooner or later -- the clock will strike and the public will throw the bums out -- Note this happened up and down the ballots in almost all of the other states in the November 2010 elections
Click to expand...

Really? Because all they did was elect another slew of bums to replace the bums. John Q. Public is a dumbass and the bums are going to take him for a ride, and if not with a D in front of their name, then with an R.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Really? Because all they did was elect another slew of bums to replace the bums. John Q. Public is a dumbass and the bums are going to take him for a ride, and if not with a D in front of their name, then with an R.
Click to expand...

The newly elected people with an R in front of their name were able to stand up to the status quo on the debt issue about a year ago.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
Really? Because all they did was elect another slew of bums to replace the bums. John Q. Public is a dumbass and the bums are going to take him for a ride, and if not with a D in front of their name, then with an R.
Click to expand...

Urb -- Perhaps

But I think that the public has learned a painful lesson and will be willing to keep throwing Bums out -- until the people we elect to represent us in government get the message

You see for about a generation people expressed the opinion that Congress was a 'Bunch of $$$hts" -- but that my guy or gal was OK because he/she 'Brought home the Bacon" over the "Bridge to kNowear"

Now however Joe Sixpack & Marry HamburgerHelper as well as Joseph Pinot Noir & Marie "Brie and Carrrs' Assorted Biscuits for Cheese" have finally figured it out -- the two commandments of good governance:

1) It's Our Money
2) It's Our Seat

The Bums have already started running for the hills (record number of retirements this early in the year -- two in the last week -- 1 from each Party) and the rest who are too dumb to see the handwriting on the wall -- well they'll see it on election night
 
whighlander said:
Urb -- Perhaps

But I think that the public has learned a painful lesson and will be willing to keep throwing Bums out -- until the people we elect to represent us in government get the message

You see for about a generation people expressed the opinion that Congress was a 'Bunch of $$$hts" -- but that my guy or gal was OK because he/she 'Brought home the Bacon" over the "Bridge to kNowear"

Now however Joe Sixpack & Marry HamburgerHelper as well as Joseph Pinot Noir & Marie "Brie and Carrrs' Assorted Biscuits for Cheese" have finally figured it out -- the two commandments of good governance:

1) It's Our Money
2) It's Our Seat

The Bums have already started running for the hills (record number of retirements this early in the year -- two in the last week -- 1 from each Party) and the rest who are too dumb to see the handwriting on the wall -- well they'll see it on election night
Click to expand...

I saw some recent article in the Globe about Sal DiMasi's surprise transfer to a local prison and what that may imply about the singing he's been doing to the authorities about other legislators on the take. Some off-record legislator made a telling quote about which pols may be sweating getting tarred with even incidental association with that culture of graft. Basically he said, if they're over 50 they're nervous as hell...under 50, not so much. That pretty much says it. There's a generational break erupting in office-holders. Locally it's anyone who's still covered in residual Bulger/Finneran/DiMasi stench-by-association vs. the ones elected later. That former group is realizing that coattails become tentacles given time and brainrot and by and large are getting out before they run the risk of being told to.
 
Kahta said:
The newly elected people with an R in front of their name were able to stand up to the status quo on the debt issue about a year ago.
Click to expand...

Please share what you are smoking. It is only fair.
 
Matthew said:
Please share what you are smoking. It is only fair.
Click to expand...

Mathew -- I'd love to see someone put a link to the Deficit / Debt "Clock"

Latest estimate on ObamaCare is 2X the original numbers -- CBO scoring when the full period of both benefits and revenues are included -- in classic "Timeshare Condo" sales approach when Obamacare was initially scored -- it only included partial activation of benefits but full revenue sources**

Latest estimates for the budget gap in 2020 is many T$s bigger than the estimate when the Administration took office

** Note the CBO only 'scores" what the Congress asks for -- in FY 2010, the proponents desperately wanted to keep the cost side of the ledger to under $1T -- so a lot of not-quite FASB tricks were played
 
Last edited:
Check your facts. The Affordable Care Act is fully paid for, and will ultimately reduce the deficit, unlike most Republican initiatives of the last decade, including the debt-financed Bush tax cuts.

Last year, [the CBO] determined that the Affordable Care Act as a whole would reduce deficits by $210 billion between 2012 and 2021.
Click to expand...

Current estimates of budget gaps still account for the largest depression in American history since the 1930s, and also assume that the budget-busting Bush tax cuts will be permanently extended. If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire according to current law at the end of 2012, then most of the deficit problems will be fixed.

I am curious about why we are still talking about service cuts when research shows that usage of public transportation is booming and returning to heights not seen since the 50s?

http://www.apta.com/mediacenter/pressreleases/2012/Pages/120312_2011Ridership.aspx
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
There's a generational break erupting in office-holders. Locally it's anyone who's still covered in residual Bulger/Finneran/DiMasi stench-by-association vs. the ones elected later.
Click to expand...

It's worth noting that in New Hampshire, one of the many states mentioned by whighlander that went Republican last year, the Speaker of the House is William O'Brien, former law partner of Tom Finneran at Finneran, Byrne, Drechsler & O'Brien.

With New Hampshire's excessively large state house, individual representatives tend to be fairly anonymous. Most people had no idea who William O'Brien, who previously held no leadership role, or the other representatives who have become members of the majority leadership, or simply primary sponsors of unpopular legislation were prior to November 2010. It was simply a combination of a lopsidedly motivated turnout, protest votes, and I'd guess people not really knowing who they were voting for. It was Republicans in New Hampshire, after all, who voted for an income tax and to abolish the death penalty (both vetoed by a Democrat) as recently as 12 years ago. So that's all fair--that's how elections work--but I don't think it's accurate to say the people--at least in New England--were voting to end infrastructure investments and the like.

It's not quite the same as the corruption of the House leadership in Mass--though O'Brien has certainly had his fair share of controversies--but I'd guess that even most people who voted Republican in 2010 were not looking for the sort of policies and tactics O'Brien has employed. The next election will help answer how those elected in 2010 or who have become well-known as part of O'Brien's cohort fare now that they are better known.

It's telling, though, that Democrats have won all but one special election (the other being won by a pro-choice, pro-union Republican who was not endorsed by O'Brien), including for a seat in the same district as O'Brien. That, and that in the latest UNH Granite State Poll, in response to the question asking what is the Most Important Problem Facing NH, 10% of respondents answered "Other" and specified that the Republican-led legislature is their biggest concern.
 
whighlander said:
Frankly my Loyd I don't give a damn -- said in my most credible antebellum Southern Aristocratic accent
Click to expand...

Also very good. And I like that you got rid of the superfluous "L" in Lloyd--it's about time we streamline that name!
 
FrankLloydMike said:
Also very good. And I like that you got rid of the superfluous "L" in Lloyd--it's about time we streamline that name!
Click to expand...

Frank -- always disliked double letters in English

NOTE for all concerned -- This thread is being formally hijacked -- control will be returned later!

The following is a proposal for Euro-English

European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.


As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.


Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas
Click to expand...
 
http://www.boston.com/Boston/metrod...s6zCdnFMtk7nMu19BGuO/index.html?p1=News_links

Fare Increase plan v2.0 revealed. As expected, a lot less punitive than the doomsday cuts of a couple months ago. No weekend service for Greenbush (appropriate...it's underperforming), Kingston/Plymouth (not so sure about this wisdom...people want to go there on weekends, esp. in-season), Needham (that's going to rankle the outer neighborhoods and a 128 construction-addled Needham bigtime, but this line has had no weekend service for most of its existence so that's not an unfamiliar feeling. I do think with 128 hitting the heavy-heavy duty Needham construction schedule over the next 18 months that they may have to revisit this one on construction mitigation grounds). Quincy ferry loses weekend service (appropriate...ferries have near-nil demand outside commute hours). 4 bus routes eliminated entirely + 14 with reduced schedules (no routes specified yet, but if that's it they'll probably be obscure or redundant ones). E line runs to Brigham Circle but not Heath on weekends (huh???...does -1/2 mile really matter other than forcing a new fake wedge issue to eliminate street-running? Zilch labor/ops savings in this...smells like a divide-and-conquer Northeastern vs. the rest of the corridor on quelling the opposition. JP is going to loudly call bullshit.).

I would've whacked all the weekend ferries in lieu of punishing Needham while 128 is a mess or hurting Plymouth in beach weather, or short-turned more lines on the schedule to soften that blow a little. And this half-assed plan on the E is such transparent passive-aggression against the in-street tracks it should be spiked on simple grounds that it saves no money to begin with. But those are nitpicks and horse-trading for the "service cuts generator" phone app...not the apocalypse.

That's it for service reductions. Fare hikes all over, 23% on average (as expected, but less severe than the doomsday proposals). And they get some band-aid funding sources to patch in the interim.

But no structural reform. That's still the disinterested Legislature's and Governor's problem.


I'd say this isn't over by a longshot because everything's got such a short-term focus and no outlook beyond the remainder of this fiscal year. Either there's some other behind-closed-doors commitment being dangled to address the structural flaws or this is #1 of a 1-2 punch of proposals. Otherwise what leverage did the doomsday proposals buy them when this is a full retreat to a minimal band-aid? The diverted funding patches are so very very month-to-month that can't be the only move.

Return serve...not a resolution. The chess game will go on.
 
Last edited:
The elimination of weekend E line service between Brigham Circle and Heath really rankles. As you correctly note, F-Line, this has bupkus to do with budget and everything to do with the T's decades-long efforts to extract themselves from any and all street operations. E Line cut-backs are automatically included in any service change they raise, and "justified" by redundancy with the 39 bus overlap that exists primarily because of the elimination of Arborway service. The argument is circular and cynical.

I'd like to force the entire inept T management team to spend a week in Zurich (or, hell, even Toronto) to see how a massive street-running light rail network can and should be managed, in very crowded cities that get a bunch of snow and foul weather. T management is stuck navel gazing and always sniffs about the issues they face running service in the streets ... they should instead be embarrassed that they can't manage what others view as routine. Show a little pride, guys.
 
Or, if the T truly hates running streetcars, then politely ask the city to remove parking from that stretch of Huntington/South Huntingon, remove an outbound travel lane, and ban cars from the median.
 
^ and if that fails, extending the Huntington Ave tunnel! Right? RIGHT?
 
Ron Newman said:
Are the roofs of MBTA parking garages used for parking? If so, it would be hard to put solar panels on them.
Click to expand...

Nonsense! There are many surface parking lots that have solar panels that are attached to light poles. Erect those on parking lots and place them there.
 
The E-Line should have been cut at Brigham Circle years ago. The nail in the coffin of the streetcar branch of the E was driven in 1986 and the pathetic Heath St. section has been compromising service ever since with trolleys stuck in traffic and involved in accidents. F-Line, you say "what harm can the 1/2 mile stretch do?" but it is actually the part that completely ruins the E-Line's timeliness. By crossing back at Brigham Circle, the E-Line will now be in its own ROW the entire time. This shouldn't just happen on weekends. This should happen all the time. The end of the E-line should be Brigham Circle. Maybe if the T wishes to continue playing games instead of actually improving E service, they could run every other train to Heath and cross the others at Brigham Circle.

The T has proven that they don't care about the state-mandated requirement to restore the "temporary service disruption." The streetcar portion is on life support with the Heath St cutback. Why not just pull the plug and end the misery? The 39 has been beefed up with articulated buses (some brand-new) to make up for the service. That is already the solution for one part of the former trolley service. Why can't it be the solution for the additional 5 stops?

I live on the E-line and I'm sick of this bs with the streetcar portion.
 
datadyne007 said:
The E-Line should have been cut at Brigham Circle years ago. The nail in the streetcar branch of the E was driven in 1986 and the pathetic Heath St. section has been compromising service ever since with trolleys stuck in traffic and involved in accidents. F-Line, you say "what harm can the 1/2 mile stretch do?" but it is actually the part that completely ruins the E-Line's timeliness. By crossing back at Brigham Circle, the E-Line will now be in its own ROW the entire time. This shouldn't just happen on weekends. This should happen all the time. The end of the E-line should be Brigham Circle. Maybe if the T wishes to continue playing games instead of actually improving E service, they could run every other train to Heath and cross the others at Brigham Circle.

The T has proven that they don't care about the state-mandated requirement to restore the "temporary service disruption." The streetcar portion is on life support with the Heath St cutback. Why not just pull the plug and end the misery? The 39 has been beefed up with articulated buses (some brand-new) to make up for the service. That is already the solution for one part of the former trolley service. Why can't it be the solution for the additional 5 stops?

I live on the E-line and I'm sick of this bs with the streetcar portion.
Click to expand...

The turnback at Brigham is painfully awkward to pull off. Staggered platforms, crossover configuration that only allows stops/reverses on the inbound platform. Turning back there on single-track operation is an outstanding way to maim headways on the whole branch, INCLUDING the Copley-Brigham stretch. Want worse service to the Pru/Symphony/NU/MFA/Hospitals area on the reserved right of way...be my guest and advocate for this turd. Heath loop has survived umpteen assassination attempts because they haven't found a better way to turn back cars on the line.

But that's not the point. It doesn't save a dime because they pay the same operators on the same shifts to operate the same number of cars. They don't run less cars because the line is shortened some piddly amount or cut back their operators' hours on the Carmen Union's watch. If they did that's just more operators collecting pay by scratching their asses and playing cards at the carhouse. If they wanted operational efficiency they'd: 1) knock out the redundant Back of Hill and Fenwood stops, which are the #1 and #3 lowest boardings on the entire Green Line, 2) rework the whole set of crossovers at Brigham and possibly the platforms if that's the only way, or 3) cut Heath and South Huntington in favor of the much more useful D-to-E connector at Brookline Village.

Guess what...#2 costs $1M to do, #3 costs $15M, and doing the free one that probably gains them more revenue from efficiency than what they lose from piddly boardings. And we can't have that on our self-loathing little E, can we!

Pure...cynical...bullshit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top