[SBC] Green Line Extension hearing Monday Oct. 16

Mon Oct 16 07:18:11 EDT 2006

SBC Members, Friends of the Community Path and other supporters of extending
the Somerville Community Path eastwards to Cambridge and Boston:

Below is an editorial about the Green Line Extension hearing this Monday
night, Oct 16 at Somerville High School. I hope to go and give comments but,
if not, I'll be sending in written comments. There are a lot of deficiencies
in the description of the Green Line extension. Some are mentioned in the
editorial. These and more should be pointed out as need correction.

There is one significant one relative to the extension of the Community Path
- it's not mentioned as a critical part of the Green Line Extension. It's
clear that the Green Line Extension needs the Community Path for riders to
access the new stops and that physically, the Community Path extension needs
to be designed and built in conjunction with the Green Line Extension,
especially east of Central St. So please come to the meeting and/or send in
comments (see address at the end of the editorial) and express that building
the Community Path to Cambridge and Boston be expressly included in all
future Green Line Extension documents, designs, and construction.

Thanks,

Alan Moore

  _____  

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Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 9:11 AM
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Subject: [S_T_E_P] Digest Number 689

2. 

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S_T_E_P/message/2174;_ylc=X3oDMTJyNzhpNXNhBF9
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lYwNkbXNnBHNsawN2bXNnBHN0aW1lAzExNjA3NDUwODY-> Green Line update 

Posted by: "Ellin Reisner"
<mailto:ereisner at rcn.com?Subject=Re:%20Green%20Line%20update>
ereisner at rcn.com    <http://profiles.yahoo.com/reisnerestep> reisnerestep 

Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:25 am (PST) 

Copied below is a letter that appears in the Somerville Journal today
regarding the next steps for the Green Line extensions.

What is happening with the Green Line extensions?
By Ellin Reisner

In short, we are back on track. There will be an important public
meeting next Monday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Somerville High School
auditorium at 93 Highland Ave. 

At this meeting, the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office
will collect comments to be used in helping them determine what should
be in the Single Environmental Impact Report for the Green Line
extensions that will be prepared over the next two years. The SEIR will
become the full and official description of this long-awaited transit
project. Simply put, Monday's MEPA "Scoping Session" will determine what
is studied and then presented in the Single EIR for the project and what
is not. 

For months, people have been asking what is happening with the
planned extensions of the Green Line to Union Square and along the
Lowell line through Somerville to Medford. The good news is that the
project is now moving to its next phase. We want to work closely with
the Executive Office of Transportation, the MBTA and the MEPA office to
make the Green Line extensions a reality as soon as feasible. We also
need to assure that the extensions will serve the community well for
generations to come. 

We should first express thanks to EOT and the MBTA that the project
is again moving forward. More substantively, all relevant project issues
should be raised at the scoping session and in written comments
(directions below at end) in order to ensure that they are considered by
MEPA in the environmental review. It is important to make sure that
critical concerns that were raised by Somerville residents, elected
officials and members of the citizen advisory committee during the
Beyond Lechmere Study (completed in August 2005) are addressed
thoroughly in the environmental review. 

For example, the Expanded Environmental Notification Form that was
submitted by EOT assumes that the alignment of the Union Square
extension will be along the Fitchburg line. However, it was agreed at
the termination of the Beyond Lechmere feasibility study that alternate
routes would be considered that would bring the Green Line directly into
Union Square. Also, diagrams in the EENF reveal a large gap between the
Lechmere, Washington Street and Union Square stations because there is
no station near Brickbottom or Twin Cities. Yet such a station would
increase access to these commercial establishments and the neighborhoods
just beyond. 

The Fitchburg line alignment will require "extensive reconfiguration
of the existing commuter rail and freight rail tracks;" reconstruction
of three bridges along the right of way; and property takings from
McGrath Highway to Prospect Street. The EENF does not address the need
for coordination with the redesign and reconstruction of McGrath and
O'Brien Highway which must happen soon because of failing columns. 

The SEIR must include full investigation of the land use and urban
design context of the Green Line extensions. At its best, regional
transportation fully serves people and land uses, current and future. At
its worst, transportation planning is a narrow consideration of
infrastructure efficiency without careful regard for those it serves. 

It is also critically important that the environmental review
carefully consider the environmental justice issues identified in the
Beyond Lechmere study. East Cambridge and eastern Somerville are
designated environmental justice areas. By federal regulation, EOT is,
therefore, required to seek full participation of the affected
communities in the Lechmere Station relocation decisions and Green Line
extension planning and implementation. To this end, we strongly urge
appointment of a citizen advisory committee to work with EOT and MEPA to
ensure that this happens during the corridor planning and environmental
permitting process over the next two years. 

STEP will make additional information available on the STEP Web site
and will also e-mail this information to interested groups and
individuals. The full EENF has been posted on the STEP Web site at
Somervillestep.org. 

If you cannot participate next Monday, written comments will be
accepted until Nov. 9. They should be sent to Secretary Robert W.
Golledge Jr., EOEA, Attention MEPA Analyst Deidre Buckley, Regarding
EOEA Project No. 13886, 100 Cambridge St., Suite 900, Boston MA 02114.
Ms. Buckley can be reached at 617-626-1044. Written comments may also be
e-mailed to  <mailto:deirdre.buckley%40state.ma.us>
deirdre.buckley at state.ma.us. 

Ellin Reisner
51 Mount Vernon Street
Somerville, MA 02145
617-776-1987
 <mailto:ereisner%40rcn.com> ereisner at rcn.com

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