Save our MBTA service! Public hearing and protest Tuesday 2/28 at Somerville High School

[ron_newman]

The MBTA wants to drastically cut service and increase fares on July 1. They are holding a public hearing this Tuesday at Somerville High School from 6 to 8 pm. A protest rally outside the high school will precede the hearing, starting at 5 pm.

Please come to the hearing and tell the MBTA that it is not acceptable to cut:
- Somerville bus routes 80, 85, 90, 92, 95, and 96
- many other bus routes in Cambridge, Medford, and other cities and towns
- ALL weekend service on the Green Line "E" branch
- ALL weekend commuter rail service
- ALL weekday commuter rail service after 10 pm

With these cuts, there will be: no way to reach the Assembly Square Mall or Burlington Mall at all; no way to take weekend daytrips beyond the inner suburbs; no weekend service to the Museum of Fine Arts, Gardner Museum, and much of the Longwood Medical Area; and no way for Somerville residents to reach weekend jobs in the suburbs (or suburban residents to reach weekend jobs in Somerville).

Here's a leaflet you can print out and post at your nearby bus stops.

If you can't make Tuesday's hearing, the T is holding another one Wednesday, February 29 from 6-8 pm at Cambridge City Hall.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

According to the T's web site, the Wednesday meeting is at 806 Mass Ave, at the Cambridge Senior Center, not City Hall. I plan to be there. I'm absolutely furious about the proposed service cuts.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

The venue for the Cambridge hearing was changed to Cambridge City Hall as the Senior Center was considered too small to hold the expected turnout.

http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/public_meetings/?id=23581

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!!!! Yes, I hope there's a huge turnout!

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify, it's less the MBTA "wanting to drastically cut service ...." and more about how the MBTA is deeply in debt and desperately needs a new funding mechanism. And the legislature and Patrick administration (who control how the T is funded) have ignored the enormous debt (due to inadequate funding and Big Dig debt bestowed on the T by the legislature) for a number of years.

If you've missed the articles in local media about how the T got into this mess, here are a couple of short articles that provide some background:

http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-05/metro/31025121_1_transit-systems-state-sales-tax-mbta

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/why_the_mbta_is_broke/

While the Patrick administration still does not think funding the T is a high priority (http://www.cambridgeday.com/2012/02/22/just-across-the-river-patrick-and-murray-seem-unreachable-on-mass-transit/), the legislature seems to be finally paying attention to the testimony of the hundreds of people that have turned out to each one of these MBTA hearing over the past 6 weeks.

In addition to testimony at the hearings, public comments will be accepted through March 1, 2012 by email to fareproposal@mbta.com, via snail mail to MBTA, Ten Park Plaza, Boston, Ma 02116, Attention: Fare Proposal Committee,

Please also consider contacting your legislators and the Governor's office as they are the ones who control how the MBTA is funded.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Yes!!! Write the Governor (http://www.mass.gov/governor/constituentservices/contact) and your legislators (start a search at http://www.malegislature.gov/People/Search). Especially write your legislator if you're not in the T-heavy central area (because the legislators in the central areas are already in favor of more state funding). Politicians pay a lot of attention to writers, because they figure for each e-mail they get, there are many more people who agree but haven't bothered to write.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

As someone who recently accepted a job at one of the many tech companies in Burlington, I can't believe they're seriously considering cutting all bus service to that city in one of the proposed scenarios. As I can't drive due to a disability, my only options would be taxi, carpool, or (most likely) working from home.

I'll definitely try to make it to one of the two meetings, though it probably will be Wednesday's as that one fits better into my work schedule.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

As if the MBTA's debt, and the state's failure to act like grown-ups about it, weren't bad enough on its own, the new chief financial officer for the Mass. Dept. of Transportation (http://www.massdot.state.ma.us/main/tabid/1085/ctl/detail/mid/2937/itemid/149/MassDOT-Secretary-Davey-Appoints-Levenson-as-MassDOT-Chief-Financial-Officer.aspx) is an investment banker who thinks that leasing public infrastructure to private companies is an Awesome Idea. He did it when he worked for the city of Chicago, and I just can't /wait/ to see what delightful solution he'll come up with for the MBTA or other parts of our transportation infrastructure. It's his area of expertise, after all.

Here's an interview with the guy: http://www.governing.com/topics/finance/Dana-Levenson.html

And here's some things about the fiasco that leasing Chicago's parking turned into: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?tag=privatization