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Officials hold another groundbreaking for Green Line Extension

But this time they really, really mean it, and before you know it, people will be riding the Green Line hard from Union Square and other points west of Lechmere, they say.

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ie, two of about 20 projects cut under the Baker admin?

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Meanwhile, Tufts doesn't have to pay a cent for the GLX. Baker get on the ball. please. We still remember when you called the GLX Big Dig 2.0. Don't let donor money hinder Greater Boston advancement

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The Secretary of Transportation explained her view about West Station. One might disagree with her, but she does provide the rationale.

You, on the other hand, just keep on spouting irrationally.

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Second, when and how do we build West Station, a $100 million transit hub that can serve commuter rail trains and future, as-yet unplanned regional bus and transit services?


It popped out to me when I read her story because she offered no other specifics about much of anything. The rest was a mush of unanswered questions — cluelessness, with no vision for the future.

Her priority is accommodating motor vehicles first. People wishing to use other modes of travel, apparently isn't something she's given much thought to.

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You read the article and can offer a critique of it.

The other guy is the GLX troll.

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does she not remember the west station schematics drawn up by the patrick admin? or the entire dmu plan? or the bus plan? or harvard's master plan?

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in fact a near perfect pr decode. the governor was reamed across mass this week after supporters & critics alike saw the latest glx articles. nearly every city and town has been told by pollack that massdot simply doesn't have the resources for their project / study. then they saw this week's glx news from a secretary with a clear historical glx bias. (note: the unbiased remark in the op-ed, it ain't highway vs transit, massdot and the mbta are one agency, pollack has full control) the sudden west station resources are meant to quell this week's glx blowback. on the flip side, you bought the pollack op-ed pr hook line and sinker. pollack is looking for the waquiots of the world. if you want to learn more about this situation I recommend looking at past clf documentation. there you'll see the real pollack, and why baystaters from pittsfield to boston are mad as hell

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Is completely insane.

I assure you, people in Pittsfield could not care less about the GLX. It’s basically you and the people in your condo complex who are up in arms.

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I got an earful while in the Berkshires. I am pro-GLX but I'm discouraged by how this administration has gone about building it. Imagine if the Gov selected a transpo secretary who had a preconceived dream to build a rail link between Pittsfield and NYC. If that secretary came in and systematically froze every major transit project in the state and used the upfront savings to build her Pittsfield-NYC train dream, the rest of the state would protest.There's no reason why everything else in Mass has to be put on hold to build the GLX. Everyone should get their fair share

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For instance, how did the topic of a train line to Somerville come up?

To be fair, were you to say that those in the Berkshires are annoyed at how much the state spends on the T versus, say, improving transit mobility in the rest of the state, sure, that makes sense, but much like the Old Colony Line and South Coast Rail, I don't see those out west being annoyed specifically with the project as opposed to the disparity in transit spending overall.

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MassDOT promised for months that Lowell Line service would not be effected by GLX construction. Then the promise changed. Now from July to Dec all weekend Lowell service and possibly some weekday service will be cut off for the GLX; replaced with an hour long shuttle bus between West Medford and the OL. Greater Lowell is looking at a $1.2 billion biz/tour loss thanks to the shutdown.

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Working on PTC on the Lowell line and all. Also, the PTC work won’t be done during the folk festival. Of course, we can ignore the fact that this work has been done on nearly every line on both sides. But if you insist, they also are busing on the weekends on the Framingham line due to the GLX.

You really have a one track mind, don’t you.

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Anyone who rides CR knows the PTC excuse tactic is the worst kept secret in GB, just like the overused BS terms when a Green Line train goes down. In the spring, MassDOT officials readily admitted that Lowell PTC work finished up earlier in the year. A few days of testing do not require shutdowns from July to Dec. According to my Keolis friends the feds told MassDOT to stop using PTC as an excuse for every shutdown. Its gonna end poorly

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According to your new conspiracy theory, what did they do on the Franklin Line this past spring? What are they doing on the Framingham Line now?

Also, you do realize that the T shut down 6 miles of the Northeast Corridor for about 6 years- days, nights, weekdays, weekends, holidays- to work on a similar project once. Care to blame Pollack for that?

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The multi-year project you are referring to. I'm assuming you mean the Southwest Corridor. They were able to shut down service because? Do you know? Ok, I'll help you. The Fairmount Line. The Fairmount, which back then was called the original Franklin, Midland, and other names, was a barely used set of tracks between the NEC and South Station. The Fairmount Line became the main service line for Amtrak and the T while the SWC was being built. The SWC was also a Amtrak, CR and Subway development. The GLX is just light rail, not even a subway line, just light rail. In addition, the Lowell Line doesn't have a bypass like the Fairmount-SWC condition. Amtrak Maine trains can stay on the Haverhill Line (they typically use the Wildcat) and slowly roll into Boston. But Lowell and Woburn are screwed. You definitely have passion Waquiot, but there's always that missing link you can't get through a simple google search. As for Pollack, well, she does it to herself. She just admitted the CTPS modeling numbers she pushed for West Station were BS. CTPS modeling was the basis for the GLX. Things are going downhill fast

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In your theories.

Still, what was the T doing on the Franklin Line when they claimed it was PTC installation?

Still waiting for your theory on that.

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I asked about this at this morning's GLX Community Working Group meeting. The weekend shutdowns for Positive Train Control installation will make it easier to do some of the GLX work this summer and fall.

Yes, it's inconvenient for people who want to travel to and from Lowell on weekends, but at least the T is providing replacement bus service, *and* (unlike last year) the bus service is totally free of charge. There will undoubtedly be some economic impact on Lowell, but where do you get your "$1.2 billion" figure from?

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They're GLX shutdowns after August

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Keolis called in the bull earlier this year. I was on a Fitchburg inbound that was told they had to stop at Porter because of PTC work. The conductor announced to my car that it was bull and they would proceed past Porter. They did, and the GLX crew had to scramble off the tracks. Expect more Keolis trains to cut through the GLX site.

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And by “you two” I am referring to the same person, of course.

Again, Franklin? Framingham? Anything?

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I call absolute bullshit on this story. That violates so many railroad safety rules that if an engineer did that they'd never work again.

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I've been on two Boston area trains that have done this. One Lowell train that waited in Medford until the GLX crew left. One South Station Amtrak train that waited outside Boston until a PTC crew left. Its called hierarchy.

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More substance free fake news from our resident GLX compulsive - and here I though Bill Wood was dead ... seems like he's now an internet zombie yet again railing about GLX from his Florida home.

IMAGE(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/15/5e/25/155e255af348f8ec36ec0193f775ffac.png)

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Btw, who is paying for all of these groundbreakings?

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I've always found these media events to be funny.... they throw some dirt and call it 'groundbreaking'

what DOES warrant one of these event?

I mean GLX work has been going on for a few years now. Is this when DOT brings the check from the Fed or something else?

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I was stopped by a reporter on the day the Longfellow "reopened" while riding my bike to work. She was surprised and confused when I told her it was never closed to bikes except for a few weekends. I don't think she even knew it was open to cars headed to Boston for much of the project.

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Mayor Quimby is up for re-election

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Often a road, bridge, or bike path has been open for use for weeks or months before such a ceremony. The Mattapan bike path extension has been open for over a year and still has not had its official ribbon-cutting. (One was scheduled earlier this year, then cancelled due to rain.)

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Would you rather they leave it closed until they can schedule such a ceremony?

Personally I like how it's currently done - open it as soon as possible, hold the ribbon cutting later, when convenient.

Often they wait to hold the ribbon cutting until after all work is complete, including work that doesn't require the road (etc.) to be closed - things like final landscaping, site cleanup, etc. And it can be difficult to schedule a time that works for all the pols who want to be there.

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but I think Mattapan actuallly wants the formality of a ceremony too, and hasn't had it yet.

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The Mattapan Trolley improvement plan keeps getting postponed. MassDOT claims they don't have the funding for it. However, they did have $850,000 for a third GLX groundbreaking.

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I know its hard to keep track. The next groundbreaking is slated for October.

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The entrance to the station has a two story office building for the Transit Police and community rooms unfortunately the police don't staff it and the community can't use it.

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A bunch of us on the Fitchburg line noticed a dwindling number of workers at the GLX site since May. Same thing yesterday evening. The Keolis conductor leveled with the train. The GLX is in a tough spot. The ceremony was meant to save face.

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And why is a Fitchburg train taking riders on the Lowell line? You guys might not have been along the GLX work area, since most of it is along the Lowell line.

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The Union Square branch is along the Fitchburg Line.

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Not.

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Fitchburg Line = Somerville GLX. Slated for 2022, not 2020

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Which commuter rail line is closest to Tufts University? I’ll give you a hint. It’s the one that stops at West Medford Station.

Google the project and check out some of the details. It’s a fascinating project that will greatly improve transportation options for Somerville. I’ll leave it to you to track down the info, though.

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I hope I'm around for the next green line extension ground breaking.

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Elaine Chao, Charlie Baker, and Joseph Curtatone all at one event.

Oh well, I'll be there for opening day. That much I assure all of you, especially a certain anon whose posts today should be laughable.

(But yeah, someone is running for re-election.)

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came across to me as competent, intelligent, and good-humored. These are not generally qualities that the current federal administration selects for.

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Hmm. If I'm Pressley's campaign team, I would take the Capuano & Chao photos and plaster them across District 7 with the text "Resisting Trump? Ah, Nope"

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and I think she's smart enough not to. It would read as opposition to the Green Line extension, losing her any chance of support in Somerville or Cambridge.

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Boston is anti-GLX to the core, especially after the West, Bus, and Fairmount cuts designed to pay for, you guessed it, the GLX

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Very rare that the Pioneer Institute thinks a public transit project is worth while.

So, other than anonymous commenters on the internet, where are these masses of Bostonians that don’t like this project?

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Everyone I know near this project is irate that the promises of 2014 did not pan out and that it has been intolerably delayed when it fills a massive hole in an extremely densely populated area!

The only malcontent who wanted to delay it has since moved to Florida and then died - and he lived on the Winchester line, miles from where it would terminate. This guy was demanding that it be tunneled under to end at Davis as a delay tactic. Also tried to claim that moving the diesel locos ten feet over would cause all of West Medford to get cancer. He enlisted a couple of other elderly fools living nowhere near the line and at least one idiot who claimed they owned right of way that was not in their deed and that they never paid taxes on.

Of course GLXtrollanon doesn't live anywhere near this and probably gets paid $0.25 a post by the Koch Losers to "dissent".

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and Cambridge believe that the GLX is a boondoggle. Plenty.

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Care to share the basis of your assertion?

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The new Lechmere Station is a downgrade for EC. The GLX pushes the station over to the other side of Rt 28. If there were funded plans to improve Rt 28's walkability, then most would be ok with the change. Guess what, there's nothing, zip. zero. Just empty rhetoric. Under the current GLX plan, Lechmere will become the next Science Park / West End station. 80% of East Cambridge is anti GLX.

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But they way I hear it, 90% of East Cambridge is supporting this, along with 95% of Somerville. I mean, I have nothing to back my claim up, but neither do you.

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A new signalized intersection at First Street and O’Brien Highway, to be completed by NorthPoint’s developer HYM, will provide a safe crossing for pedestrians to Lechmere Station
from East Cambridge. Design improvements including traffic islands, medians, crosswalks,
pavement treatments and lighting will increase pedestrian visibility and assist wayfinding

http://greenlineextension.eot.state.ma.us/documents/about/FactSheets/Sta...

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then I have a bridge I would like to sell you. All talk. This will be the first thing taken out due to "cost overruns"

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The new relocated Lechmere station weakens the entire region. Imagine taking a stroller, heavy shopping bags, a wheelchair, crutches, little kids, etc. across Rt 28. Riders will think twice before they head over to CambridgeSide. The new Lechmere station will be a boon for the Pru and a bust for Cambridge

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That no one has heard them.

But as you note, the people who run the Shops at Prudential are driving this whole thing.

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will Cap do then? Pollack and Ramirez are doing their best to go 100% non-union to stay below 3 billion (yes the project has already ballooned) What then Cap?

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She's the wife of insouciant traitor Mitch McConnell and her position in the current Cabinet of thieves and incompetents was only bestowed upon her to further her family's business efforts and reward her scumbag husband for hiding in his office until Trump stole the White House.

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You can't deny that she's more competent and qualified than most everyone else in this administration though.

She has prior cabinet-level experience (Secretary of Labor under Bush Jr.), and was Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Bush Sr.

It's true that she doesn't have any other transportation-related experience (but honestly, that probably doesn't matter much for that high up of a position), and her being married to the Senate Majority Leader reeks of ethical concerns, but at least she has past cabinet experience and isn't drowning under scandal after scandal.

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Yikes DTP. Boston is 25 billion in debt due to "lack-of-experience"

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That's not what I said. What I said is that it doesn't matter as much in a position that high up.

In our society we treat politics as a career path. When you're talking about cabinet level positions in a presidential administration, success hinges a lot more on political experience than it does experience in the specific field. No one is expecting Elaine Chao to go out and design a bridge. That's not her job. Her job is entirely politics.

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Then it's a good thing Boston isn't the level of government financing this.

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20-30 bil debt. feds pulled their support and funding. remember?

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And not funded by Boston.

Are you really that thick, or are you commenting from St. Petersburg?

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But still built by a coterie of Boston based thieves that enjoyed all of the Federal money they carted away in trucks.

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Why do you want to win the race for the least informed comment.

Okay, yours wasn’t as bad as the guy who insisted Boston builds highways, but it is close.

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I don't know how long you've lived here...but does the name Modern Continental mean anything to you?

I'm sure Angel DelValle can fill you in on the rest.

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Boston has $5.3 billion in outstanding debt, including about $4.3 billion in retiree liabilities. That's about $20 billion, or roughly 10 GLXes, more than you claim. But since Boston is not in the business of building such transportation infrastructure, we're in good shape.

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The questionable quality of her appointment is more than just about being McConnell's wife:

" Did Elaine Chao’s DOT interviews help her family’s business?"
"The transportation secretary appears with her father, founder of the family shipping business, in Chinese-language interviews with the DOT emblem behind them."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/06/elaine-chao-father-james-trans...

I believe one of the mandatory requirements of a position in this cabinet is that you must use your power to further your individual wealth.

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You can't deny that she's more competent and qualified than most everyone else in this administration though.

So is keytar bear.

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“Reeks of ethical concerns”. Ya think?

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she's more competent and qualified than most everyone else in this administration

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!

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its a sign. a bad sign

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Had they held it on a weekend or evening, the ratio would be much different.

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No matter the time, you still see more residents than politicians at normal groundbreakings. However, when the project is just a big donor giveaway. Ahem, Pollack Pork. you get the 20 to 1 poli/citi ratio you saw at the GLX event.

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Any news on the blue line connection to the redline?

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For third quarter of 2747.

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We'll have West Station by then!

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No wonder why Boston is the transportation laughingstock of the nation

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Wow, it took a whole 59 minutes for the anti-GLX anon troll to come out of hiding!

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Call me a troll for being against an ill-conceived project. Go ahead

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BTW, are you aware that the whole fucking area is getting incredibly expensive and GLX has total and complete shit-all to do with that?

That prices in the whole fucking area have been going up and have been going up in Medford since LONG before GLX?

More affordable in Malden - WHICH HAS LOTS OF ORANGE LINE. Explain that why don't you. THE CITY WITH MORE TRANSIT IS CHEAPER - therefore, rising prices in Medford MUST be due to a transit line that IS NOT BUILT YET barely goes here - and not the university near it or I-93 access or massively rising prices everywhere.

Sorry dear - lived in Medford for 20 years an I'm not buying it.

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if they can't find housing in time. please. consider the full effects of this project

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How are they being "gentrified out" by a transit line that has been start stop start stop etc. for over a decade AND DOES NOT YET EXIST AND IS NOT OPEN?

Somebody is selling you a pantload of fertilizer here. Rental prices in Medford have been escalating for 25 years. This is hardly a new issue and has nothing to do with GLX. If that is what you have been told, maybe a nice wetland homestead in the Mystic is for you?

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Sounds like you're looking for a big payout. At the expense of your neighbors

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And NOT because of the GLX, which has not been guarenteed for long.

Medford real estate has been going bonkers since 2000, and there was only a slight slow down in 2002 and 2008 - not even a loss!

Try again, dear. It ain't the GLX - its the housing market. Lack of supply. Period. Malden makes a great control for this - they have had orange line for decades, and yet Medford (which will barely see any of the GLX) is still outpacing it.

That's because it isnt the GLX but other factors.

If my property has tripled in value in 20 years, it isn't the GLX but a lack of inventory in my neighborhood and convenience from I-93 and an express bus. I am not what most people would consider walking distance from the Commuter Rail and even further from Rt. 16 or Winthrop and Boston Ave. GLX has made no difference.

Besides, I have kids in the rental market - I do care. But I also see this is a regional problem because I have a brain in my head.

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And btw, when the Wynn-Encore car-pocalypse arrives in 2019 and everyone starts to point fingers over why MassDOT dumped $1 billion into a gentrification machine instead of NEEDED projects like West + Wynn enhancement, any politician left from this group will be thrown out.

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We have waited FORTY YEARS for the restoration of rail service.

Look at a map - this was seriously underserved area with a ROW existing and some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the country.

Cry me a river, trolly mc trollpants. How much do the Kochs pay you, again?

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I think that was issued in April, so we'll have to watch out for the results in the coming weeks. I can't recall if it's been studied before in the past, but that idea sounds familiar to me. I'm sure someone else with a better historical knowledge of public infrastructure history can chime in where I'm coming up short.

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It's been studied several times over, with very different results each time, depending on whether the politics want to make it look doable or completely impossible.

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Ask again when Baker is no longer governor.

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Finally, owners of $800,000 Union Square condos will have the opportunity to live the Dream that is the Green Line too. Promises made - promises kept! Thank you, Joe!

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When I see $500 million per mile as the cost for LRT, the first thing I ask is, ok, what donors does the Gov need to appease. He's a Republican in a Democratic state. Hmmm. Does he have patronage Dems in his admin?

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She's the one in all green at the groundbreaking. Her husband, Ken Snow, gave a ton of money to the current Rep Gov Baker. Once Baker won, he starting doling out patronage jobs like tic tacs, from Revenue to Transportation. Stephanie Pollack Snow got the transportation patronage slot and proceeded to cut dozens of projects across Boston to shore up money for her GLX pet project. And hence, where we are today.

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   IMAGE(https://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/sp.gif)

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But really. Who's counting at this point

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2.3b for 4 miles of track?! Is it paved in gold? No wonder the infrastructure in our country is shit.

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Or did you not notice that two very different Presidential administrations have signed off on this.

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look it up. and no, this funding isn't par for the course. 100 mil per lrt mile is par

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Washington was concerned that the $2 billion project they were willing to support suddenly became $3 billion. And honestly, a lot of people were concerned. Clinton or even Gary Johnson would have signed off on this, since it is basically a decision process driven by bureaucrats, not politicians.

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$500 million per mile is a global standard for SUBWAY construction, not light rail. Compared to the Purple Line LRT in the DC Metro: which has a load of engineering gymnastics: the GLX is absolute craziness. Purple Line is 350 mill per mile, GLX is nearing 600 mil per mile

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First, drop a hundred million from your per mile costs, unless you can show me the math backing up your claim.

Second, while I am not too familiar with the Somerville project, looking at the area from satellite maps, it looks like there is going to be a lot of work with retaining walls and the rebuilding of bridges, all while keeping the Lowell Line up and running. What's being done in Maryland probably doesn't face those problems. I would image that there is a cost difference between building in one of the densest part of the country, Somerville, and building in the suburbs of Maryland.

All I know is that the FTA signed off on this project, so the numbers must be solid.

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Also worth noting - the Purple Line in MD is being built as a partially street-running line. More of a streetcar than true light rail. It's not being built along an active rail corridor. It doesn't require miles of retaining wall. It doesn't require rebuilding numerous bridges. It doesn't have extensive elevated portions. It doesn't have stations that will need pedestrian overpasses with ramps/elevators.

It's apples to oranges.

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