Green Line extension project in increasing jeopardy

[keithn.livejournal.com]

There have been two new developments over the last 24 hours, from the Globe:

• Yesterday: State won’t rule out canceling Green Line extension
• Today: Several Green Line extension firms lose T contracts

I'm not seeing much of a reason to be optimistic about the GLX project at this point.

Comments

RE: dystopia or no? a guessing game!

[umadboutscience.livejournal.com]

I don't think failed public works projects are going to fix affordable housing issues.

Anyone who can afford a 600k+ condo in Somerville isn't going to be deterred by $6-10 Uber fares to get into the city.

People who rely on public transit are the ones suffering here, and they're the same ones that need affordable housing. The farther public transit extends, the more viable farther suburbs become as livable locations for the middle and lower-middle classes.

Losing the alderman election is no excuse for becoming a vindictive idiot on Livejournal.

Re: dystopia or no? a guessing game!

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Ironically, the densest city in New England is something of a desert for good transit. No trains except Davis, and the Orange Line running just along the other side (but with no stations *in* Somerville until Assembly opened.) Of the 14 "high value"[1] bus lines, none touch Somerville, while 5 run in Cambridge.

[1] I don't know the T's definition, but it's the same as my list of buses that ostensibly run at least every 20 minutes at all times, not counting post-midnight. That was lowering my standards from 10 minutes, but hey, "world class city" cough cough.

RE: dystopia or no? a guessing game!

[dmaze]

People who rely on public transit are the ones suffering here, and they're the same ones that need affordable housing.

From what I've seen in greater Camberville, reasonable-to-good public transit is actually one of the big draws of this corner of the world. Ask a suburban Californian who rides "urban buses", and then ride the 87/88 around here: you see a reasonable slice of technology professionals going to software jobs in East Cambridge, and the T bus clientele is very different from what a suburbanite would expect.

"Affordable housing" is also a technical term. One local mechanism I've seen for getting it is giving developers subsidies in exchange for new units that are deed-restricted to only be sold to people who earn less than 80% of median income. I feel like those units sell for far below market rates: these two units (both between Union and Inman; one 2br/2ba limited to 80% median income, one 1br/1ba limited to 110% median income) are both selling for around $200K, but other properties in the area (according to Zillow) are vastly more than that; even another unit in the 432 Norfolk St. building sold a year ago for $311K.

The short of it is, I think better transit will make the area more expensive, not less, and it will result in even fewer properties being naturally available around that $200K "affordable" price point.