Want the Green Line Extension to be built? The time to speak up is now.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

A public meeting on the GLX project is scheduled for this Wednesday, March 2nd at 6:30pm-8:00pm at the Somerville Armory, 191 Highland Avenue. (Open House portion starts at 5:30.) This will be the first in a set of meetings that MassDOT and the MBTA have scheduled over the next several weeks to receive public input/suggestions on ways to reduce the cost of construction of the Green Line Extension (GLX) project.

It is important to speak out on our commitment to, and need for, the fully functional GLX.

As you probably know, the GLX project is in jeopardy these days. These 3 components in particular are under consideration to be dropped from the project: Union Square T-Stop, Community Path Extension, and an extension to Route 16.

For more information, including talking points and list of the public meetings after March 2nd, see http://www.somervillestep.org

Comments

I suppose it doesn't hurt, but...

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Having been to MBTA public meetings before, it's less of a chance to provide input or suggestions than a legally-mandated session where comments can be officially recorded in some file somewhere and disregarded.

RE: I suppose it doesn't hurt, but...

[fefie.livejournal.com]

Having attended most of the the MassDOT + MBTA public meetings on the Green Line Extension over way too many years, my experience has been different.

The reason the Green Line Extension has progressed as far as it has over the last decade is in no small part due to the dogged and determined advocacy for the project by the communities of Somerville, Medford, and Cambridge.

With the re-evaluation of the GLX project under a new administration, it is important that advocates continue to keep the pressure on.

Gov. Baker has framed discussion about the MBTA as a false choice between repairing the existing system versus an expansion such as the Green Line Extension. His remarks at a business breakfast Thursday are typical:

“I get that people like the shiny balls, OK? But the million people who ride that system? They need us to focus on reliability and resilience,” Baker told the room at the Intercontinental Hotel. He said, “People can talk about building it to here and there and everywhere. But if we don’t get it right on the core system… it’s going to be incredibly hard to grow the ridership.” (http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20160226/NEWS01/160229951)

We need both the repair and the expansion. The Green Line Extension isn’t merely a “shiny ball.” It’s critical to the lives and economic future of Somerville and the region.