Patrick would target private development with new federal money

By adamg on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 7:59am

The Globe reports he would use part of an expected federal stimulus package to build such things as highway ramps and parking garages for developers who are ready to build within six months.

Free tagging:

Deval Patrick

economy

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Comments

This is fraking stupid. How

By anon on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 8:41am.

This is fraking stupid.

How about investing it in pulling green energy development to MA, or on green initiatives or, hell, public transportation.

We got all those bridges that need repairing, or new ones that could take their place.

I know the emphasis is on projectors that can be on the ground and running in months, but is there anything else keeping this stimulus from better investments then private parking garages and on ramps?

Low Hanging T Fruit

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 9:10am.

Upgraded switches for the red line, orange line, and commuter rail would help.

Integrated signal timing for cars and trains on green-line ways would be really nice and get both rail and cars running more smoothly.

Proper evaluation of bus routes for schedule adjustment and realistic run time at rush hour wouldn't take much.

Design and implementation of plans for routing around for every station and segment of the subway and streetcar lines, with permanent signage to direct people where to get on to buses in the event of a reroute.

These are things that could be good to go quite quickly.

Furthermore, as said in the

By anon on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 9:22am.

Furthermore, as said in the comments on the Globes site: Increasing retail jobs is a dead end.

Good for retirees and good for the young, but do we really want to become a state dependent on the minimum wage? We need to focus on long term and short term solutions to high paying jobs, as we have done with medical, bio-tech, education, and technology.

Green Energy will be the next big thing, so what is Patrick doing to promote MA as the new green bowl of this business? It would bring both high tech jobs, and construction jobs at plants.

I still cant figure out why

By ShadyMilkMan on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 10:06am.

I still cant figure out why the Urban Ring is taking so long to get going, couldnt that be accelerated and on the ground within 6 months if we infused some cash into it? We already have the basic plans and layout ready to go. That would go a long way in reducing the congestion on the MBTA system in the middle of the spoke where people currently have to go to get from one part of the city to another.

Kickback-alooza

By EM Painter on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 1:24pm.

So if you kick back some of the money your parking garage gets paid for by the government.