By Eugene C. Brune
Mayor Emeritus      

Finally. After more than 50 years of expectation., long-awaited and promised Green Line is now serving the city of Somerville. The promise of this public transportation expansion was made after a major battle was launched by those neighborhoods that felt the noise, the disruption, the displacement, and the ill health effects, when I 93 ripped through Somerville, the densest city in the state. In the process, several lawsuits were filed which demonstrated the cumulative environmental problems which the new highway brought to town. Public transportation was seen as a mitigation for the environmental problems caused by the highway.

~Photo courtesy of Spirit of Somerville

History will also show that politics in Somerville were corrupt, as former Mayor Larry Bretta, aligning with Governor Sergeant, help to push for the new roadway to be built, rather than to side with the impacted neighborhoods in East Somerville, in particular. There was strong resistance from many champions in East Somerville, but in the end the bulldozers came in, and by the early seventies, the neighborhood known as the “Nunnery Grounds” or the “Aves” was separated by the new highway, 93, from what is now Assembly Roe, along with the population loss of nearly 20,000 residents.

Despite the heartbreak from that period, the citizens in Somerville can be incredibly pleased with our new rapid transportation system, which places the great majority of residents within about a 10-minute walk to a T stop. I want to recognize my former fellow mayors, former Congressman Michael Capuano, Dorothy Kelly Gay, and Joseph Curtatone, for their continuity in never letting go of the vision of an expanded Green Line as an achievable goal.

As a former Alderman in Ward 6, including Davis Square, I also helped in pushing to have the Red Line extended to Davis Square, and as your former mayor was able to cut the ribbon on that new train system with Governor Dukakis and Ward 6 Alderman Jack Connolly in 1984. Also knowing that Governor Dukakis was strongly in favor of public transportation, I asked the Governor and Secretary of Transportation Fred Salvucci if they would consider a Green Line stop in Ball Square. I base my argument on the premise that having a stop in Ball Square would not only be serving a broad area of Somerville, but because Ball Square also abuts Medford, it would be in walking distance for several thousand Medford residence. My secondary argument was that a Ball Square stop would just be a short distance from Tufts University, allowing the students the ability to travel to other destinations in Boston and allowing workers to get to Tufts by public transit.

I also asked the assistance from two particularly good Somerville representatives, the late Senator Sal Albano, and the late State Representative Joseph Mackey. In 1988, we began to have several meetings with the MBTA regarding the extension of the Green Line north to Somerville. There was an appropriation bill before the State Senate that would allow the MBTA to issue bonds for a proposed $825 million reconstruction project. The funds would allow for the relocation of the Cambridge Lechmere T-Station from his present location to a new location east of the highway. That was the start of the Green Line extension project – and now, 34 years later, ribbons are being cut this week. Not only in the past, Union Square, but now also in Ball Square and Tufts University.

Getting more transit service in Somerville, not only meant an expansion of the Red Line and the Green Line, but also the Orange Line. I had asked Governor Dukakis and Secretary Salvucci to visit with me at Assembly Square. when in the 1980’s we had opened the new Assembly Square Mall, which was the original Ford Plant Assembly Line. Also, at that time we had a developer that was going to break ground for the first of four office buildings and a hotel with all underground parking that was going to happen at the site that’s now Home Depot. But, if you recall in 1988 all the banks had financial problems, some closing, and the federal government had to bail out many with loans. The developer called me with the sad news that they could not break ground and the bank stopped all loans for their development. Although, I did receive a commitment from the governor for the Orange Line.

Still, 30 years later, in a public/ private partnership, with bonding help from the City of Somerville, Assembly Row finally did get its orange line stop. Again. When it comes to our public train system, we just need to keep on pushing through, the stops and the starts (no pun intended) and never give up on the dream of clean, convenient, and inexpensive transit for all our residents.