Hey, there! Log in / Register
Governor declares state of emergency
By adamg on Mon, 02/09/2015 - 5:56pm
The declaration clears the way for emergency equipment to start coming into Massachusetts from other states: Front-end loaders, backhoes, snow melters and the like for getting rid of snow.
Parking bans to remain in effect through end of weeks, non-essential state workers in eastern Massachusetts given tomorrow off due in part to the T shutdown. Baker said he wants to wait until after the storm damage clears to have detailed discussions with T officials about what's gone wrong this winter.
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
If he had shut the T down
If he had shut the T down today it would have been operational for Tuesday.
Tell That to the T
They could have shut themselves down today for that very reason without needing Baker's approval.
It's clear that he made
It's clear that he made shutting down today an "unacceptable" option. Buck stops at the top.
Remember, we were supposed to run at a Partial level
I listened to the press conf, and the thing that really seemed to be cheesing him off was that he was lied to, or given bad information, or both. I'm guessing he was told "Yeah, 70% functional" and when that turned out to actually be more like 7%, he wigged.
He should be proud of that
He cut the achilles tendon and expects the horse to run?
He can blather out bullshit "make it so" CEO bluster all he wants. You can't run a system that was intentionally gutted by the likes of him.
Exactly.
He's a jackass, engaged in classic cynical blame-deflection. Give us all a break, Baker. We weren't born yesterday.
LOL @ 14 million from a 1.9
LOL @ 14 million from a 1.9 BILLION dollar budget being "gutted."
You're right: $40M is small potatoes compared
to the annual $1B in T underfunding that Baker's decisions on Big Dig financing nearly 20 years ago ago have led to every year since.
Point taken.
Not so easy
What should we have cut in order to afford that $1B?
What were Baker's options - at that time?
We should have defaulted on the Big Dig debt
instead of putting it on the MBTA's books.
This would have freed up a *huge* amount of money for T maintenance and new vehicles.
Have thought that myself
But after watching what happened in Detroit, I don't think there's a court in America that would sign off on that idea. You can't just "choose" to default. Bondholders have substantial rights.
I guess it's possible the T could "go bust" but I would guess as an agency of the state that the Commonwealth is ultimately on the hook.
Next idea?
And if they did default, Mass
And if they did default, Mass bond rating would be junked; interest rates on future bonds would quickly eat up any savings the T or State made right now. This is just plain irresponsible.
No
We should have done what other states and now the Fed do - hold the contractors accountable for blowing budgets and failing their schedules.
These overruns were the fault of the contractors. They were paid for being late and over budget because the politicians put the welfare of Bechtel et al ahead of the welfare of the Commonwealth, thinking they could get away with fucking with the transit portions of the contract.
This sort of corrupt bushleague bullshit is why the Fed now puts big MA contracts under Fed supervision.
Defaulting on the Big Dig Debt--
Now...Defaulting on the Big Dig Debt would've been an excellent idea! Better still, maybe the Big Dig shouldn't have been implemented here at all. It's proved to be far more trouble than it's worth, in a great many respects.
Ha!
Really, a state authority defaulting on its debt? You think we have problems now?
Leave the debt where it was
Instead of foisting the debt that was state-owned and budgeted onto a quasi-private agency while simultaneously hamstringing them with a "forward funded" budget of whatever the sales tax brings in with no means of rectifying their deficit should they run into trouble from this new form of revenue stream...
Instead of doing that, he could have left the debt where it was and had the state continue to pay its obligations to a functioning mass transit system that makes the entire state better for its continued existence.
Instead, he designed bonds against future federal transportation funding. He basically mortgaged ALL of our transportation needs to force the MBTA to let the Republican governor announce the end of the costs of the Big Dig (as well as any other past debt taken on for state-owned MBTA projects).
The idea that the MBTA is "broke" is a canard. It's all part of the offloading of "MBTA debt" to the agency as if it should run its own finances from top to bottom rather than operate as a public state agency. You want a solution to the problem right now? Disband the MBTA and make it a whole part of the state DOT including all of its debt and obligations becoming the state's problem. If Governor "I just fixed the deficit" Baker wants a real challenge that clipping $14M isn't going to solve, then let's see him handle where he left off but without mortgaging our future to do so.
Reasonable solution
But then the state has to cut something - what should that have been? We could eliminate local aid altogether perhaps - towns would scream - but it would end the farce of sending laundered money back to the towns after Beacon Hill takes their vig and then hitting them with assessments only to watch the laundered and vigged money go back to the state for more a complete bleach job.
No we don't
We have to generate enough revenue to run a state that was mishandled before. Big Dig funding problems or past agency cost overruns are sins of our past. The past should have dealt with them but didn't. That means we "pull up our bootstraps" (to steal a popular phrase) and pay for our past problems so they don't become our future's. We are a state that sends more of our tax revenue to other states than we keep ourselves. Maybe it's time we bellied up to the federal trough and demanded some of that money back like we did with Deval's Accelerated Bridges in order to cover over for Baker's pre-spent federal transportation budget. Maybe it's time we raise the gas tax above its 1991 level now that gas is at historic lows and it would be more palatable. Maybe the state's superior debt rating has to take a ding and the rainy day fund needs to be used. There are a lot of ways we can deal with this problem, but I don't see Baker as being the guy to get all heroic and fix it rather than kick it down the road some more as he's done everywhere else he has been.
So everyone...
who has been responsible for the T funding in the last 20 years is off the hook? What about those who actually started the underfunded Big Dig project in the first place? That's Baker's fault as well?
The Big Dig is for the suburbanites who use the city.
The Big Dig was really made for the South Shore suburbanites who use the city. That's who it was really made for! People who live in the city were clearly not taken into account when this whole project started in the first place.
$14M
$14M is more than enough to do damage. When the governor cuts, he doesn't say from where, just that the T is losing $14M. The T then decides where to deduct it from, internally. There are certain things they can't just choose to reduce on a whim, like their debt payments, paying employees, and pensions. They can't turn off the lights. The unions won't allow layoffs. So what do they do? Defer maintenance on a few dozen train cars for a year, enough to add up to $14M saved, and hope the $14M comes in next year.
Then a train shits itself and they need $50M, not $14M, just to get back where they need to be. Then another, and another...
And you can't make a reasonable plan
When the people you're relying on to give you information to build that plan either can't or won't.
For what amorphous definition
For what amorphous definition of "operational"? "At least trains aren't getting stranded on the ice"?
Charlie's debt chickens have
Charlie's debt chickens have finally come home to roost.
Right, blame the guy who has
Right, blame the guy who has been here for a month rather than the guy that was here for the past 8 years. You sound foolish. And don't tell me that a decision he made in 1997 (almost 20 years ago) caused the total combustion of the mbta.
Lasting repercussions.
Almost 20 years later the MBTA is still hobbled by it.
No. You sound foolish.
This has nothing to do with his current job and EVERYTHING to do with how he carried out his duties many years ago. Did you not see what was posted about how Baker was the architect of the "dump all the debt on the MBTA" mess?
No?
READ IT.
Ok, so he wreaked havoc and
Ok, so he wreaked havoc and absolutely destroyed the mbta 20 years ago, to such an extent that a uninterrupted run of democratic legislatures and 8 years of a democrat governor could not undo it?? I never realized what a diabolical evil genius our new governor is.
yep
it's cynical as all hell, and it works like a fucking charm when poll after poll tell you people want stuff, and don't want to pay for it. Align your party with an anti-tax, government can't do right platform, then cut away and point to the brokeness as self justification for giving you more power to break-ahem-fix it.
The Dems are assholes for not finding a way to be the grownups and fix it, but the GOP / Voodoo economics should be damned for what it is, childish bullshit of the highest order. And lets face it, Commonwealthers have not been scrambling to push their representatives to fix what was broken a long time ago. Real wages have been falling and we're just clawing back out of the great recession.
Baker and Co broke this to make themselves look good in the short run, now lets see if he can fix it or doubles down like the idiot in Kansas. Maybe we'll finally have the political will and public and private uproar to do something about it.
Lest we forget
Baker isn't even a Republican, if one is to believe his campaign ads, campaign website, campaign signs ...
He was a flagrant Libertarian when he dumped debt on the MBTA, with complicit legislators eager to make a grandstand by screwing over Boston.
Oh no
NEVER conflate Charlie Baker with a Libertarian. That is not only uninformed but moronic. I always thought you were better than that. I'm disappointed in you.
Tell it to the Pioneer
Tell it to the Pioneer Institute, Einstein.
Wow. Baker apologists
Yes. Actions have consequences, even ones that happened "20 years ago". Just ask the Taliban where they got their funding.
Well, here's something that you should all agree on:
regardless of whether you think Baker is responsible for the MBTA mess or not, it's now unequivocally his problem, and he will be held responsible if it is not significantly better in a little less than 4 years.
I spent enough time in state government to have a pretty strong sense of what might be going on right now, and it's what I alluded to on another thread: a plan is being hatched to use this crisis to enable the Governor to remove and replace a lot of people, regardless of whether they have contracts (sorry, Dr. Scott) or if they are not at the end of their appointments (e.g., MBTA Board Members). I really believe that we are going to see some things that are really uncommon, particularly with respect to the Board Members, e.g., charges that are analogous to dereliction of duty, which is, if I recall correctly, one of only a very limited number of ways to get rid of board members before expiration of a term (the enabling legislation for each authority is a little different).
As someone else said, the next few weeks and months are going to be great for political junkies, however, I am hoping for more. I am hoping for the development of some kind of wide-ranging consensus that we need to do much, much more on the transportation funding and management front (see my earlier comment here) because if we don't we'll be worrying about retaining a lot more than just "young professionals" because the T doesn't run late (I commented earlier on the appropriateness of having that discussion at all given the current course of events).
Nope, well maybe
What you said is true but my money is on Baker proposing to make the T a rush-hour only service on the grounds that this is the only way to keep it running reliably.
Then in 2-3 years when ridership is down they'll say there is no reason to expand service to the old levels since the public doesn't want/need the T. This opens up the door to allow them to cut the T's budget even more.
Every crisis is an opportunity. It's hard to see Baker pushing hard (aka spending money) to improve the T since his ideas are part of the reason why it's so bad to begin with. A lot of people on Beacon Hill see the T akin to a form of welfare which can be cut without too much political reprisal. So long as the suburban commuters can get in and out of the city during normal business hours it's all good.
But maybe I'm just cynical.
Dear God
If he wants to chase everyone away who works in our vaunted tech and health-care sectors and turn this city into Detroit, that might be the best way to do it.
Agreed.
For precisely those reasons, I do not think that Baker has any interest in doing anything like what was suggested above.
I think you are reading his
I think you are reading his mind. Rush hour only service seems like a thing he'd like.
Baker did appoint Stephanie
Baker did appoint Stephanie Pollack, so I don't think he's that clueless to propose something stupid like "rush hour only" service.
Anyway, she'd set him straight in a jiffy if he were to even think about it.
Paranoia
This seems to be fueled more by your view of Republicans than any realistic assessment. I'll eat my hat if I'm wrong, but no hell in way Baker would think the MBTA in such terms like "Let's make the MBTA a rush hour service only". He might not be inclined enough to spend money on the MBTA, I won't put that idea as something outside of his character (but I hope now), but he's not insane either.
reading the T leaves
Interesting ideas about the Board. Will be interesting to see if any of that pans out. While I generally agree with anon^2's point above at a national level, I do think it has less weight here in the Bay State as ALL OF OUR DAMNED POLS ARE DEMOCRATS. I mean c'mon does anyone take Bruce Tarr seriously?
Baker is hardly Sam Brownback, but he is the guy who came up with the current debt mess for the T. Baker is going to do SOMEthing about the T (and MassDOT in general) or else it's one term and out. But what that is going to be... we'll see. I'm wondering about how many snake-oily public-private-partnerships (PPPs) we'll be seeing rolled out as national models. Keep yer eye on the pea as the shells go spinning!
Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
Whether we like it or not, these are coming. Particularly with a Republican majority in Washington.
I personally think that there is a place for them - just not the way that they have been implemented so far in so many places (i.e., not for the management of existing assets such as the Indiana Toll Road or the Chicago parking meter debacle). I think that they are best used for the development of new infrastructure (e.g., the Port of Miami Tunnel).
Lastly, I loved the title of your comment.
Really??
Do you really and truly believe that Baker has any intentions of doing anything to improve the MBTA, after what he helped put it into the conditions that it's in right now? I don't think he will, frankly.
Legacy
Very few things left to stamp a legacy. Romney got himself Romneycare. Baker could be like the Mussolini of Mass - "but he made the trains run on time."
Great White Dope
I really don't think Charlie Baker is the anti-christ. He tried to pull a fast-one back years ago with the Big Dig financing deal - which probably looked better at the time than it does in hindsight (after years of Romney cutting the fuck out of everything and not investing in maintenance, and then Patrick not having the huevos to really push this particular issue). As someone else has said it all hinges on what he does this summer after all the budget kerfuffle passes.
If he comes out listening to his Secty of Transpo and leveraging the good bond rating to get the money (and match it with Fed money - pushing on the delegation and any thin strands of influence he may have with a GOP congress - assuming that's not a whole helluva lot) to invest in both our transit system maintenance/modernization and the general state-wide transportation needs, then he's worth saving from drowning. If he does something stupid, i.e. not investing the system, shell games, etc., then keep your foot on his head until the bubbles stop.
Off topic: Somebody likened Baker to the token goofy white guy that NBA teams used to be required to have back in the 80s. (Now they just import those from eastern Europe or somewhere.)
Ahem
In Massachusetts, it's a Commonwealth of emergency!
French Toast Alert Level is
French Toast Alert Level is now set to "Burnt".
You mean
the French Toast threw itself into the flames, in despair.
Carbon Conference still on for Thursday...unless it snows!
Global Warming"Carbon Conference" is still on for Thursday, unless it snows. Unsure if Gore and Kerry will be flying in. Priceless!Oh that's funny!!!
Because we can't possibly have more snow if the planet is warming. Isn't that right Rush?
End of snow..
....according to recent NY Times article...so yeah.
This is climate change
Notice how the snow totals have been climbing over time?
You need warm, moist air to make snow.
Some easy reading on this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/26/glob...
https://theconversation.com/does-global-warming-mean-more-or-less-snow-3...
Idiot.
I just explained this to the cat
And I think he understood it better than some of our willfully moronic friends ever will.
And like the cat...
....Fishy will turn around and give you a splendid view of his asshole with a look on his face that says "check it out!"
Derptastic
Climate change doesn't mean winter goes away.
Our region specifically is slated to get wetter with greater temperature swings. Wetter when it's cold out makes... what?
Besides our coasts being ruined, we'll get off pretty easy compared to other areas of the country. Assuming global upheavals and conflicts don't screw with our way of life first.
Yes. Global Climate Change is a problem
You can tell by the historic last few weeks we've had. Or you could, if you weren't a complete moron.
Yes
You should definitely base global climate change on the weather of a small portion of said globe over a couple weeks. Makes total sense.
MAN THEM SCIENTISTS SURE IS DUM!!!
Also, AL GORE IS FAT!!!1!!1! eleven
What's gone wrong
is historically absurd levels of snow in a short period of time. We've gotten over a winter's worth of snow in under two weeks--truly stuff you'll be telling your grandkids about in 30 years. I don't think any system that Boston could reasonably have been expected to have would have been able to cope.
I couldn't tell my grandkids about these storms...
...because I died.
(that, and I never had the kids I'd need to have first to have grandkids).
But the big question is
Will this seem unusual to our grandchildren?
That's an understatement
We've gotten 70" of snow in 15 days.
In the past 122 winters (since modern records have been kept), only 11 have had at least that much snow. So we've experienced a top 10 winter in the past 15 days.
To put it another way: February is now 1 inch shy of being the snowiest February ever, and 3" shy of being the snowiest month ever. It's February 10, by the way. Take the over.
And the previous snowiest months (58" in 28 days) had that much snow fall over twice the time and had thaws in between. Boston hasn't been above 40 in 19 days (not so unusual; occurs about 1 in every 4 years) but has a good chance of making it to a month without hitting 40, which has occurred only four times in the last 80 years.
Where's the National Guard?
Where's the National Guard?
Yes, the National Guard is a perfectly cromulent response
What, exactly, is the National Guard to do?
Is Rhode Island threatening to attack?
Has the early closure of some Dunkin Donuts driven us to the brink of civil insurrection?
Are we intending to issue them ice scrapers and a T map to begin hand clearing the 3rd rails en masse?
Or are we to pull them away from their own homes and communities to drink hot coffee (from the open Dunkin Donuts) and provide a photogenic backdrop to press conferences, reassuring the panicky something-is-being-done?
They could drive hospital employees to and from work on Tuesday
The City of Boston is encouraging hospital employees to call the police early tomorrow morning if they need a ride to work. Seems like the National Guard could provide that service too.
I was just thinking the same thing
Which organization around here has a bunch of heavy equipment and the ability to assemble a trained workforce quick?
The ads I used to see at the movies point to situations. Heck, the former senator most of you all hate began a live affair with the Guard back during the Blizzard. They would seem to be the place to turn to.
What "heavy equipment" do
What "heavy equipment" do they have? Snowplows? And what are they trained to do that would help in this situation?
I'm not running down the Guard at all; they were deployed in my community during Irene, they evacuated people and we really needed them. But I'm not sure they'd be able to do much in this situation.
Hey, I'm all for swords-into
Hey, I'm all for swords-into-plowshares but I'm not confident that even the Nat'l Guard you saw in the recruiting ad can whittle howitzers into plow blades before, say, spring.
As to trained, yes, they are. I'm not sure how their training is all that relevant (unless Rhode Island finally is coming for us) beyond being organized and the having/using tools for organization.
Seriously, unless you're expecting them to deploy their entrenching tools (isn't that what those little folding shovels they have are called?) and start nibbling away at the snow drifts there seems precious little they can do that isn't already being done by folks who already know what they're doing, with all the tools available. (My apologies to Mrs. Fleischer for that sentence.)
Again, what do you propose they do?
Please educate yourself
Perhaps if you'd actually look at what the Guard has and does before commenting, you wouldn't feel like screaming and shouting. The MA National Guard has an Engineer battalion. They have all kinds of heavy construction equipment -- the kind that's useful for moving snow. The MA Guard also has police and transportation units.
Yes, we know...
...that they have an engineer battalion as well as MPs and transport. Again, what do you think they're going to do with those things? Their engineer battalion most likely has dozers and backhoes, which can move some snow in a pinch, but aren't really designed to do so. The MPs can...do what? Stand around on street corners directing non-existent traffic? Stop the rampaging hordes from looting the Food King? And transport, that would be military trucks suitable for transporting troops on treated paved surfaces (not any great amount of off-road transport). Are you proposing to use them in lieu of MBTA buses?
Save the NG for the coming floods
When this stuff melts in a single week in April or May, they'll be ready.
Oh, right...
...because it's GOING TO MELT IN A SINGLE WEEK.
Honestly, it floors me that you people don't have enough problems that you need to clutch at highly unlikely straws like this one.
("No, that happens, it happens all the time, I remember this one year and it got warm and melted really fast, well I hadn't exactly measured the snow so I don't know that none of it had melted before, but but but it melted REAL FAST and there was a big puddle in front of my house and the basement got really damp.")
A little melting goes a long way
Last week, we had a day of 37-degree temperatures, all day and night. The result was a lake on Mass Ave next to Out of Town News -- not an especially low-lying area.
It has happened before
It isn't unusual to get a warm week with rain to thaw much if not all of the snowpack. When that snow pack is a few inches, it is locally messy. When that snowpack is substantial, we are totally frogged.
There is a reason that Lowell has a floodgate. At least two of the drops were such sudden thaws.
Is that your answer for everything?
"I take you haven't been around here long?" Great answer when I ask you for data. "It isn't unusual"...show me the data. Can't, because you don't have it.
I know plenty about spring flooding, Swirl. When I lived in Boston, I lived in the west Fens; now I live on a river in snow country. Trust me, I've probably forgotten more about spring flooding than you'll ever know. Snow melts every single year. "Locally messy" != disaster. Please don't act as if it were.
Look up the history of sudden thaws of big snow falls
If we are lucky, this thaw will be slow like it was in '97.
Lucky.
Good luck with that river in snow country. I hope you checked the flood maps and the local paper archives and property damage records before you bought. Nature never suffers fools gladly.
No, I don't think you DO know.
The Engineers have front-loaders and dump trucks. the Guard has been used to good effect in past snow emergencies. Maybe you don't remember those events. Not that I think the transport battalion would be used to replace T buses, but if you think soldiers are only transported on "treated paved surfaces (not any great amount of off-road transport)," you really need to do some research.
Moving the goalposts
First you're talking about the Mass National Guard, now you're talking about "soldiers". We all know that "soldiers" aren't only transported on road, but we're talking about the Mass National Guard. So perhaps you could tell us all what the Mass National Guard transportation battalion's off-road capacity is? And what would they be transporting, and what would they do when they get there?
Again, you and all the "call out the National Guard" fans: what exactly would you have them do, and with what equipment? If you can quantify how they would be used and what good it would do, then hurray. But nobody who's panicking and yelling "Call out the National Guard!!!" has anything resembling a plan.
Well, the Governor has called
Well, the Governor has called up a handful... and the reality is that they are extra hands. Have them shovel out crosswalks and bus stops and sidewalks. Give me a company of GIs with shovels and I can do a whole lot of good.
You don't know that the National Guard are soldiers?
Seriously? What do you think they are -- stockbrokers? If you honestly think they aren't soldiers, I suggest you drop by one of the local veteran's clubs and tell them that. I'm sure some of the returned NG war veterans will be very amused.
You obviously didn't bother to click the links I provided. Governor Patrick called out the Guard at least twice to help with snow emergencies. Do you think he and his predecessors do that because the Guard look good in uniforms?
I'm no fan of the military, but they're available, they are trained, and they are equipped. The city obviously can't handle this weather, and the Guard can definitely help, as they have before.
The MA NG has every piece of equipment that the DPW has, including snowplows and front loaders. Plus, they have tow trucks, including the really big ones you need to pull out a stuck train or tractor-trailer. They have all these things because they're part of the US Army, and they have to be self-sufficient.
Can we...
... maybe just move the whole state to somewhere near Maui, perhaps?
It's a start
But we need to get Obama to declare a federal emergency so that FEMA can get involved.
Oh. That'll help.
n/t
That's another idea.
We're on the brink of a disaster as it is. Maybe a Federal emergency should be declared, like it's been in some other places.
Baker said he wants to wait
"After the storm damage clears"?
What's going to clear it, exactly -- the balmy summer sun?
Really?? Oh, ha ha ha!
This:
is really a laugh and a half. It would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that Baker helped sink the MBTA and to screw its ridership 20 years ago. This is the guy that was elected as our governor, namely by mostly suburbanites, especially out in the I-495 area, who just use the city.
Partners just told staff its "okay" to use sick time tomorrow
Way to win the hearts and minds of your receptionists and staff who aren't in the hospitals guys. We can use sick time since we can't get to work because the T is shut down so we can't get to work - thank you!
We had a fight about that at
We had a fight about that at work, we were told that were were suppose to use either our sick time or personal time off to if we could not work from home only a few of us can, I cannot. So I get penalized for a job that doesn't allow me to work from home.
When I did my timesheet last week, I was told that the "person" who fed us the information from the top was "mis-informed" and were were being paid as this was a state of emergency and an "Act of God." No need to use any sick time, or personal time.
Funding for the broken down T
A commentator on TV said that funding proposals for the T has been sent to the legislature on Beacon Hill several times over the years by governors but the dummies in that state house say, oh, why should we pay for funding for the T when we don't take the T. The out-of-towners take it so we don't want to pay."
ALL the commuters should not show up in Boston tomorrow, which might happen, and the city looses money because they don't have the out-of-towners to run it.. A boycott of all the commuters would be perfect to get Beacon Hill to stop funding unnecessary projects in Boston and fund a proper public transportation. And they want the Olympics in 2024...that's dream has just vanished!!!
Other US cities don't have such a parochial attitude!!
Just curious
What "unnecessary" public projects are being funded in Boston at this given moment? The place is held together with duct tape and bubble gum as it is.
Network?
What network was this commentator working for? Faux News? It seems really odd that anyone who's been in Boston for more than five minutes would be so stupid as to think that "the out-of-towners" are the people who use the T. People in the city are heavily reliant on it.
"Faux News"
That's so funny, witty, and original!
I wonder what Brian Williams will be reporting on the "real" news tonight.
If the shoe fits ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2014/07/08/punditfact...
Blame CLF and Stephanie
Blame CLF and Stephanie Pollack. They sued the state to stop Big Dig (as they don't like cars) and forced through a consent decree , the building of a bunch of fancy shiny new commuter rail lines at the expense of fixing The Red Line, Green Line modernizing and so on. Baker didn't negotiate that, so leave him alone......wait! check that , he just hired CLF litigator Pollack to be Trans Secty, Oh Well
Entertaining ignorance
Nope. Try again.
The Federal Government required transit mitigations as a matter of contract for the Big Dig. MA decided that contracts didn't apply to them when they overspent on the tunnels.
You would be the first to scream if you paid $$$ for something and the person you paid said "well I spent too much on part of it, so I'm not delivering".
Get the story right or go home. MA stole money from the fed to pay big contractors for their overruns rather than complete their contract. The Fed doesn't take this lightly. This was also why the Fed ran 93Fast14 and not MA - they run a tight ship, and didn't want mystery overruns and payouts to kill the project.