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Proposed new Green Line stops announced
By adamg on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 8:05pm
The Cambridge Chronicle posts the new stops north of Lechmere proposed for the Green Line extension - including a relocated Lechmere.
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Comments
this isn't news. There also
this isn't news.
There also wasn't anything about local lackey Tim Toomey's mad suggestion for digging a tunnel under McGrath-O'Brien Hwy for easier pedestrian access to the station.
don't get me wrong, I'm all for pedestrian access, but does he think the money grows on trees? And more importantly, would he hold up the project until he got this tunnel and/or was heard enough?
This is news, and good news.
This is news, and good news. It looks like they've included a station at Route 16 behind the new Whole Foods, which was looking less likely by the end of the first round of station meetings. And the stops at College Ave and Winthrop St have been consolidated into a single stop at Winthrop, which is where most of the shops along Boston Ave are.
Anyone know if they are still proposing a parking lot at Route 16 in place of the U-Haul building? That didn't go over well at the station meeting for that stop.
But we don't need it to get around Medford!
Yeah ... and all those scary "other" people will come here and rob us ... and so and so might lose his illegal spot he likes to park in at the gym ... and we don't control it so it can't be allowed.
One of the biggest anti green line opponants is the same asshat who won't tell anybody but a select few where the caucus meetings are for the Democratic Committee because God Forbid these things be publicly known and God Forbid actual elected ward representatives show up and vote in unpredictably ... democratic ... ways!!!!
He and his dutiful and democracy-fearing wife with her slimy lying local newspaper contacts and innuendo slinging habits have decided that it would be far better for the state to spend billions of dollars to route the green line through newly hewn tunnels in the rocks under Somerville in a spiralling pattern to Davis Square rather than taint pristine Medford with an alien streecarness that Medford never knew (since WW II ... but that is imperfect history and it doesn't matter because we can't ever change anything from the way it is right now!). Oh, and the noise from electric trolleys running up and down an existing right-of-way shared with current MCBR service will be deafening compared to the MCBR diesel locomotives on the commuter rail. And that "proposed" service yard on Rt. 16 that seems to exist only in the space inhabited by strawmen and their fearmongering consorts. Yeah, that's it, and besides NOBODY ASKED THEM FIRST!!
(makes "L" sign with hand ... uh oh ... that's ... that's... that's a scary GANG SIGN ... oh noes ... those people ... they're invading already ...)
I'm actually NOT all that
I'm actually NOT all that excited about this development. I live off of North Street. Not only will I be close to a high-pollution repair yard, I'm guessing my rent is going to soar and force me out of a neighborhood that I like living in - a neighborhood that is affordable BECAUSE the nearest T stop is a mile away. I suppose some snotty yuppie can take my place.
High Pollution Repair Yard???
Explain. Last I heard, that North Street distraction was a strawboogyman put up there by Lifetime Hereditary Mayor boy and his posse to scare people into thinking him a hero when it doesn't happen - never mind that it was maybe sorta suggested but never planned in the first place.
If you can't google "brickbottom" or "innerbelt" to find Somerville Yard 8 on a map, I can't help you. Then again, it would have to be a map that showed more than Medford, as Yard 8 is near where Washington Street crosses under McGrath/O'Brien Highway.
Where do you get the "high pollution" bit, anyway? I work in air pollution and health and I don't see what you are saying here. This is electric rolling stock, not diesel buses or locomotives.
Put anymore strawmen in your yard and you might as well plant corn ... oh, but that might mean a change to the character of the neighborhood - a neighborhood that once held farms and then had streetcars. Consider this: if the city had a comprehensive citizen derived development plan other than BANANA+BITS (big important townie sayso), the city could work with the regional level economic and planning realties and better direct the INEVITABLE changes that come with time.
If repair yards don't
If repair yards don't pollute, aren't noisy and aren't bad for neighborhoods and are such lovely places then why doesn't EVERYONE want one in their backyard?! No one wants a repair yard in their backyard. Why is it when projects are located in industrial areas, kids get breathing problems?
A parking lot at the Whole Foods WILL certainly increase congestion in an already VERY congested neighborhood.
Trolley stops will DEFINITELY increase the price of rent (something you didn't respond to) which WILL push out the people who moved to this neighborhood because it was more affordable than less-accessible areas.
I'm not saying there aren't benefits to this development. I'm saying that for some people (and no, we are all stupid or misguided but thanks for the insinuations) have NOTHING to gain here.
I like my quiet, affordable neighborhood as it is. Just because you're madly in love with your own opinion, that doesn't make it a universal truth.
Get the Facts Straight Please
You complain that your rent will go up. Then you complain that there will be industrial activity and congestion that will ruin your life. Your rent will go up because you can walk, but there will be congestion because everyone is going to drive.
Which is it?
Besides, did you even look at a map??? That "repair yard" isn't going to even be in your neighborhood - the support sheds will be closer to Union Square Somerville. Last I checked, this is 3-4 miles away. Similarly, a parking lot at Whole Foods is suggested, but not part of the settled package. Yet another Mayor McCheese strawburger scaretactic.
BTW, my kids go to school very near to the areas you mention and I don't have a problem with that.
As for "breathing problems", you don't know who you are dealing with here (and I will leave it with that). Bus and Locomotive depots have serious pollution issues because of the COMBUSTION of DIESEL FUEL, not because they service transit apriori. Electric motors don't emit particulates, NOx, SOx, or contribute to Ozone directly or emit other mobile source air toxic pollution (the generating plants far afield - different matter). So don't lecture me with a bunch of anonymous press release talking points you don't even understand - just remember to thank me when the new criteria pollutant standards are promulgated.
I am a homeowner and taxpayer in Medford, and I am very happy that my kids may be able to use the green line by the time they finish high school. That's because their student ID plus $20/month is much cheaper than them driving or being driven everywhere. Just like it is far cheaper for me to bike and T into the city to work than owning a second car.
Oh, and are rents still going up? Won't the drop in the market make a difference - that and the rapidly escallating price of gasoline for people living in inaccessible areas?
Finally, Meford is a city, contiguous with a city, contiguous with a city ... and the 88th most densely populated municipality in the country - even including the land area of the Fells. Not having a full mass-transit line to areas with jobs when we are five miles from the center of the metropolitan area is backward. I'm sorry that you fear that you might have to move in six years or eight years (isn't that a really long time for a renter anyway??), but you might also find out that you will save in other ways. You may also discover that nothing at all will happen to long-term tenants with long-term live in landlords, as was the experience of others that I knew in Arlington when rent control in Cambridge caused a boom.
I am a homeowner and
I am a homeowner and taxpayer in Medford,
Good for you. Your property value will increase while I will likely be forced out of a place I really like. 6-8 years is not a long time to be a renter. I've been a renter 8 years as of this May. In this economy not everyone (especially, us single people) can afford to invest in a home.
I don't know where all this vitrol is coming from. All I've said is that this development is good for some people and bad for others -- for me, it's bad so I can empathize with the people's names you are dragging through the mud.
The Misinformation Doesn't Help
The vitriol comes from the intentional scare tactics being used by the anti-green line folks and the local politicians. When you started to buy into the misinformation campaign and parrot their bs, that's when I go off.
Some of it is spill over I will admit - certain of their lot are constantly preventing and brutally suppressing any sort of democratic process from happening in the city by any means necessary, even if they have to constantly lie and illegally maneuver and obstruct to get their way.
When those elected to represent areas of the city in the democratic committees cannot even find out where and when the meetings are because they are select-group invitation only, something is very, very, very wrong.
When those same folk take advantage of people like you, the same can be said. Suffice it to say that these are not people who are in the least interested in affordable housing beyond the issue's immediate demogogic value - the sooner you understand that, the better.
Honestly? I don't even know
Honestly? I don't even know which government people you're talking about or about any misinformation campaigns. I only know how Boston-area rent works ... the closer to T service (i.e. not a bus) the more expensive the rent. I'm just saying that there might be reasons that everyone doesn't share your excitement.
More than one anon?
North street facility = misinformation
pollution from electric trolley yard = misinformation
Whole Paycheck Parking lot is a done deal = misinformation
Anti-T leaders really caring about affordable housing when they have fought multi-unit "affordable" housing initiatives in the past = misinformation
I agree that there may be a downside for some people. What I won't accept is that a desperately necessary modernization of transportation in the area that will benefit tens of thousands of people should be stopped. I also find it difficult to believe that your neighborhood is affordable and inaccessible anyway - with buses to Davis, short distances to Davis, Tufts students driving up rents, Graduate students and young professionals in droves, close access to major highways, etc. I know this area well enough to doubt the assertion that it will see anywhere near as much appreciation in prices than some of the rather isolated places in Somerville that are much closer in. Those of us who knew Union Square in the late '80s know that Hillside will change far less than places three to five stops from North Station.
also - I certainly don't
also - I certainly don't agree with illegal and undemocratic maneuvers either.
also - I don't feel "taken adavantage of" or like I've been like I am buying into misinformation.
For me, in the 8 years I've rented, it's a fact that T proximity affects rental price - there's no misinformation in that.
Pollution? Uh...no
I'm echoing SwirlyGrrl's confusion at your belief that the repair yard would be a source of pollution.
Buses pollute, trains do not. The only "exhaust" trains give off is excess thermal energy - primarily from their HVAC systems and electric motors.
At worst, you might feel a fraction of a degree warmer walking next to some trolleys sitting in the yard. That's about it, really.
A little out of touch, maybe
maybe your neighbors and probably eventually yourself will enjoy the fact that you have easy, quick access to a quiet, low-polluting transportation option. you should note that the cars on north street pollute more in one day than the green line and all its associated elements will in a year. also, many people besides yuppies enjoy good, reliable public transportation.
what's a spur?
in that story, it says a 'spur' is proposed at union sq. does that mean no stop there?
It just means there will be
It just means that there will be a short branch off the main line that goes to Union Square from Webster.
Which really should continue
Which really should continue on to Porter, and take some further strain off of Park St. Bringing about a little sliver of the Urban Ring at the same time.
How?
Is there an existing rail bed that could be used for this?
The thought is that it could
The thought is that it could follow the existing communter rail tracks.
Short names are good
I'm glad the Lechmere replacement will be called just "Lechmere." At one time, IIRC, there was a plan to buy the support of a couple of local constituencies by adding them to the name of the station. At that point I figured the T was headed toward station names like "Copley - Boston Public Library - Old South Church - The Chinese Restaurant Across the Street."
Actual map
Here's an official map document plus a Summary of Station Evaluations/Site Selections and a, umm, Summary of Station Evaluations/Site Selections from the Executive Office of Transportation (PDF format).
Note the line actually runs in a southeast-northwest direction, as shown on the Cambridge Chronicle's map.