Hey, there! Log in / Register
Should the T be an issue in the mayor's race?
By adamg on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 9:03am
Pierce rips into Sam Yoon for declining to take a stand on issues such as increasing the gas tax to help pay for public transportation:
... When you are a little known Counselor up against a mighty incumbent you have to take some risks and find some ways to get noticed. Yoon should have come out big for gas tax to help the T as a means of preventing fare hikes and maintaining services (and as a fairer means of supporting transit than the sales tax hike). And also brand it what it is - a green tax - and make it part of your campaign to green Boston, a way of capturing the attention of young people and affluent liberals. There is some risk in it - but it looks serious and would have gotten press. The business community is also in favor so the stance could have generated some cash potentially as well. ...
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
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
The Mayor of Boston is a
The Mayor of Boston is a pretty big deal , simply because he/she runs a decent sized city. Even though the mayor does not control the MBTA or the gas tax it does make sense for someone running for mayor to take a stance on what they think should happen. After all the MBTA is a huge part of the everyday life of many Bostonians AND a gas tax would be a big deal for the other half of Bostonians who use cars/trucks etc. People on both sides should know where the candidates stand on the issue, and which side they will fight for.
What the heck does that mean? If nobody takes a side then what are we doing here? This is politics, I am sick of hearing people tell us that people should not take sides. Everyone takes sides, and if you will not tell me what your views are then I dont want you running my city/state (I do not live in Boston so he would not be running my "city" but there are plenty of people use that sort of line in politics these days.) This is why people are so upset with Deval Patrick, he spent years winking at people and everyone thought he was their buddy, so when he swung around and pulled the rug out from them they were quite upset. The only thing the general public hates more then someone who does something they dislike is someone who tries to do it behind their back. Yoon has two options before him the Obama option and the Patrick option. On one side you have someone who spoke about consensus and is trying but also knows what he wants to do and does not try to hide it (Obama) love him or hate him he is the boss. On the other you have someone who has no spine, and while he speaks of building a consensus he is not very good at it, and is not even willing to fight for his own solutions (Patrick) he is a hypocrit on so many levels, and will stab you in the back while trying to tell you how nice your new shoes look. I hope Yoon looks into his own political courage and realizes that while building consensus is important, it is also important to be honest about your own goals and visions.
Yoon
I was initially optimistic about Yoon, but the more that comes out from him, the more he sounds like Patrick Lite.
Not even close.
If nothing else, Patrick was quite an inspiring speaker during the campaign. Yoon does not have that gift.
The T should definitly be an
The T should definitly be an issue in the mayors race, and not just the gas tax. Menino has sat idly by while the silver line was turned into a bus, and actually spoke out against the E line being reinstated as the state agreed to do (so he cant say his voice doesn't matter, since he uses his voice against public transit).
Meanwhile, in Somerville Curatone has been very vocal about the green line extension there, and he is getting it, along with a second spur he championed into Union Sq.
Imagine if Menino had pushed for the airport T stop, when being renovated, to be centrally located as central parking is, so a shuttle bus wasnt necessary to waste 30 more minutes. He could have psuhed the orange line to be extended past forest hills deeper into Boston (it goes all the way to Malden the other direction).
If Menino had championed public transit, Boston may have been on the way to increasing its rail system. Instead, its shrunk.
Its time for the mayor to answer why he champions car/suv travel around Boston but fights public transit, while pretending to be interested in making Boston green.
T doesn't add up
I don't see the point in an unpopular tax increase to save a service that doesn't add up in the first place. Single-issue liberals always see leadership in a kamikaze committment to big public service expansion.
As a voter I just want the T
As a voter I just want the T to add up. Expansion would be amazing, but I'm not expecting to see the Green Line Extension finished while I still live in Boston. But I would like some accountability and the T to be in a place where it actually wants to expand subway operations. As it stands now it seems like the only time they can be bothered to do expand a system that is heavily used is when a court orders them to (and even then it's like pulling teeth).
the T still doesn't add up
I think your point shows the paradox of the system. The T loses money for every rider, so Yoon should demand expansion? And expansion shifts service off the city lines.
Finally the T doesn't really get you to the place you need to be on time, such as work or home to pick up your kids. That's not going to be solved by expansion.
Some people just want a tax increase and that's fine to propose I guess. A tax increase will not however make the T run on time, make the T able to support itself, or bring sense to the decision-making around what to run where.
Support itself?
I don't think that the T should have to support itself.
I see it as an essential and responsible service for the common good, not as a business.
Fares can be good -- to offset cost, and for economic diagnostics -- but I think fares have to be balanced with the demands of productivity and commerce, and with the desire to not push people to driving.
Almost all forms of travel
Almost all forms of travel have subsidies and do not balance themselves out, heck even walking doesnt pay for itself as roadways and sidewalks need to be safe for pedestrians.
I do disagree slightly on it not being a business. While many avenues of public good should not act like business' I think mass transit should act like a business to the best of its ability to do so. The MBTA needs to do a better job of getting me from A to B. The MBTA also needs to expand into areas with massive demand, but weak political lobbying power. It also needs to reconsider costly full buses that run to far off well off towns that are almost empty for most of the trip. Any smart business would have killed off those routes, OR designed smaller buses to handle them, OR created a sort of reservation system in advance. If you live in some far off town where only 7 people take the express bus from downtown Boston to and from work maybe we should make the bus smaller and allow you and you to reserve a seat in advance, Id say 12 hours or so minimum. That would save a fortune on gas, and if for some reason the number spikes to 30 you send in the big bus...
The T is necessary, and it needs a good bit of improvement.
Nobody really and truly wants a tax increase for anything, but sometimes a tax increase is necessary. Oftentimes, when taxes do get rolled back, services invariably get cut, and, many, if not most places that do have lower taxes also have fewer social services and less in the way of public transportation.
The Green Line Expansion is necessary. Somerville's Union Square can and does get extremely backed up during the morning and evening rush-hours, and the Green Line Expansion would definitely help alleviate a good bit of that. The T must be supported by state and city officials, as well as average, ordinary taxpaying citizens.
With all due respect ...
With all due respect, sir/madam, exactly what the f- are you talking about?
The "T" service doesn't add up? There are over 1.1 million passenger trips on a DAILY BASIS.
It needs funding because it can't pay its bills because it costs more to run than it collects in revenue.
Either we raise fares (to some unreasonable amount) or find alternate forms of revenue.
Our system suffers from its popularity, not its underuse.
I don't know if I consider public transportation a "liberal" issue, by the way. If I was a big fat banker living in a big fat house in the suburbs and drove a big fat car, I'd want a great public transportation system so that all the "little" people would stay off the roads and I could get to work on time.
While I agree with you your
While I agree with you your fighting stance is quite interesting. It looks like you need to get out of the city on occasion and realize that the sales tax will affect those who have NO access to the better parts of the MBTA and do not drive in Boston on a regular basis. That accounts for a large chunk of the population who will never see the benefits of the mass transit system. So while I agree its something that needs to be funded, otherwise Boston and our economic system here would grind to a hault, I think your overly defensive nature in this matter is curious.
"I don't see the point in an
"I don't see the point in an unpopular tax increase to save a service that doesn't add up in the first place."
Maybe you'll understand it if I put it to you this way:
I don't have kids. I pay taxes, which go to schools.
I don't have a car. I pay taxes, which go to roads.
I don't live in a rough neighborhood. I pay taxes, which go to protecting those that do.
In short, I pay my due. There's only one state service I use with regularity, indeed that I rely on, and that's the T. So whenever people bellyache about how they shouldn't have to pay for it, I find myself wondering why I should pay for their schools, roads, and cops, then.
The point is that the T is
The point is that the T is the sole source of transportation for tens of thousands of people in greater Boston. Not sure how that's a liberal issue.