Alderman William White said the GLX delay was a "middle finger" from the state.

By Andrew Firestone

Somerville Aldermen spoke out against the Green Line delay this last Thursday, August 25, one going so far as to call the action a “middle finger” to the people of Somerville. The board passed a resolution requesting that the Secretary of Transportation appear to explain the delay, inviting members of the Conversation Law Foundation to attend as well.

“This is an economic catastrophe,” said Alderman-at-Large William White. “The world has changed. Forget about federal aid. They are cutting back. They have slammed the door on us. They have basically given us the middle finger. It’s the middle finger that has been given to the residents of the City of Somerville.”

Last month, Governor Patrick appointed a new Department of Transportation Secretary, Richard Davey, shortly after MassDOT announced a delay of at least three years for the massive transit project. Aside from raising the cost of the project to over one billion dollars, the delay also threw a wrench in the City’s long-term economic development plans.

Somerville Aldermen spoke out against the Green Line delay this last Thursday.

The members of the board unanimously condemned the delay by the state, most of them saying that they believed underhanded tactics were at play, and that the delay was more permanent than MassDOT was letting on.

“My fear is that this is not a delay, that it is a tactic, so that [MassDOT] can fund other commuter projects, like the South Shore project,” said Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane. “I feel like we’re being pushed to the back of the line again,” he said, saying that he did not believe they had a real plan.

The GLX was first proposed in 1991 as a mitigation technique for pollution caused by the city of Boston’s Big Dig project. A lawsuit filed by the CLF in 2006 upheld a ruling that the state was legally required to build the extension, or they could lose any Federal funding they receive.

Ward 1 Alderman Bill Roche said he was concerned about the health and safety of his constituents, many of whom are undergoing testing to determine the effects of air pollution by Tufts University.

“Ward 1, the residents who live in that neighborhood have taken the brunt of the pollution and noise of I-93 on a daily basis,” said Roche. “Now basically what they are telling the residents of Ward 1 by extending that deadline is, ‘we don’t care about your health, we don’t care what happens to the residents down there,’ we’re going to do what we want to do.’”

Alderwoman Maryann Heuston of Ward 2 was likewise incensed by the perceived disrespect from the state, recalling the complicated and time-intensive rezoning process they went through in Union Square.

“We called that rezoning ‘transit-oriented development.’ Here’s a community that has done all the right things,” said Hueston. “The City of Somerville has done everything it can do to pull itself up by it’s own bootstraps, become economically self-sufficient, and all we needed was the State to bring up the rear.”

“Lo and behold,” she said, “the state drops the ball.”

“People have mentioned 2018 [as an opening date],” said White. “Throw that out the window, the state says they only have a 10 percent chance of hitting that deadline. They said there is only a 50 percent chance of not exceeding June 2019. And then they said there is a 90 percent probability of not exceeding July 2020,” he added, before noting that land-takings under eminent domain could be delayed as well, and since the MBTA will not start construction until after the land-takings have been confirmed and notice issued, this was yet another loop-hole for the state to delay.

“This City has spent… hundreds of thousands of dollars planning for economic development. That means ‘maybe July of 2020, maybe not’. It sends a message to developers. It’s economically really going to handicap us,” said White.

“Unless we can force this, I don’t have a feeling that they are ever gong to follow through on this,” said a somber Alderman-at-Large Sean O’Donovan. Both aldermen among others said that they were interested in exploring the option of suing the state in legal action.

Having worked to develop the Red Line station in Davis Square, Alderman-at-Large Jack Connolly remembered that the construction of the station came “because of a large number of people standing up and insisting on not passing us by, but creating the station in Davis, we have the Red Line. It came after years of painstaking work.”

He contrasted: “the Green Line conversely – how many times was the Governor out here to speak? He was here on countless occasions, ‘oh it’s gonna happen, gonna happen.’  Well right now, he’s bitterly disappointed a lot of us.”

Connolly noted that the MassDOT GLX website still recorded their process as unchanged, and was upset with the dismissive attitude he perceived from the MassDOT’s publicity.

“That’s not the right kind of response to put out,” he said. He proposed the BOA “find the best way to file an action against the Commonwealth.”