About time. Deval Patrick wants to finally fix transportation in Massachusetts.[views:6956][posts:30]_________________________________ [Oct 3,2007 1:15pm - sinistas ""] http://www.telegram.com/article/20071003/NEWS/710030588/1116 Oct 3, 2007 - Patrick eyes uniting transportation By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF BOSTON— Gov. Deval L. Patrick will try to succeed where others have failed by attempting to rid the state of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Plans are still taking shape; however state Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen said yesterday the move would be part of a larger plan to finally coordinate management of the state’s array of bus, train, highway, bridge and park road agencies under a single transportation agency. A two-page outline called “A Framework for Real Reform” released yesterday indicates the Turnpike Authority would be folded into other state highway operations. The report is being circulated among legislators, whose support would be needed to implement the consolidation. The Legislature repeatedly rejected proposals from Gov. Mitt Romney to merge the Turnpike Authority with the state Highway Department. Mr. Patrick apparently believes he’ll have better luck with the merger. Under the plan, a Massachusetts Transportation Authority would administer all transportation agencies in the state. The plan envisions committing all highway and transportation fees and subsidies, such as tolls, gas taxes and federal revenues, to a transportation fund administered by the new authority. It also calls for boards of the MBTA and turnpike authority to be eliminated and the creation of a single board appointed by the governor and chaired by the state secretary of transportation. Under the plan, turnpike operations would be merged with the highway department into a single state road and bridge agency that also would manage the Tobin Bridge, state park roadways and regional transit authorities. The plan states that the administration would work with finance companies, the Legislature and the public to build a new administration system “that will allow us to move beyond our fragmented, poorly managed and under-funded transportation system.” Mr. Cohen said yesterday the most important aspect of the framework is that it has started the state “down the road of real reform” that the governor has demanded. “There is a long history of transportation agencies in Massachusetts that do not operate from a statewide policy perspective,” he said, noting that the need for coordination is compounded by the high amount of state infrastructure in disrepair. “The big picture here is we are taking our responsibility as transportation leaders to see what we would do to restructure and reform the system we have, to make sure we are extracting all the transportation resources we can in order to invest them in our services and operations and infrastructure,” Mr. Cohen said. “That’s the major goal,” he said. “It’s less a plan and more of a collection of ideas that are going to require substantial discussion with members of the Legislature, the finance community and our transportation stakeholders,” he said. “We want at the end of the day to have a plan that represents the best ideas out there about how to do this,” he said. “We are serious about addressing this issue of fragmented decision-making.” The framework calls for a new administrative structure that would allow coordinated statewide transportation planning through a single agency that would prioritize projects based on need and would produce savings through shared costs. ----- Alright, seriously - if you live in this shithole of a state, and you agree that something needs to be done about the continued wasting of MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS every year by these corrupt agencies - call your state senator / representative and tell them that this needs to happen. I think it's the only way to fix the bullshit at this point. |
| _____________________________________ [Oct 3,2007 2:22pm - Aura_At_Dusk ""] im too sick to read all of that. |
| ____________________________ [Oct 3,2007 6:04pm - pam ""] I'm kind of excited that he wants to finally finish the commuter rail line down here, but afraid my rent is going to skyrocket. |
| _________________________________ [Oct 3,2007 6:51pm - sinistas ""] I want the connector commuter rail to become a reality (the one that goes to all the endpoints i.e. providence -> foxborough -> worcester, etc.), and for the Pike to get out from under the Turnpike Authority. |
| __________________________________________ [Oct 3,2007 6:51pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] Aura_At_Dusk said:im too sick to read all of that. |
| _____________________________________________ [Oct 3,2007 8:51pm - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""] The commuter rail would be a lot more effective if they ran service all along 495, rather than having every line radiate out from North or South Station If the state privatized the purple line the first company to build tracks from Salisbury to Wareham would have a license to print money. |
| ______________________________ [Oct 3,2007 9:08pm - Hoser ""] Mass sucks...you have so many problems. I laugh at you all from my comfortable log cabin in the woods. You can almost hear me... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....... |
| ______________________________ [Oct 4,2007 12:46pm - Yeti ""] invest some money and get the fucking trains fixed. they are always breaking down. |
| ________________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 12:46pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] Hoser said:Mass sucks...you have so many problems. I laugh at you all from my comfortable log cabin in the woods. You can almost hear me... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....... Not over the traffic, we can't. |
| ________________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 12:48pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] BobNOMAAMRooney nli said:The commuter rail would be a lot more effective if they ran service all along 495, rather than having every line radiate out from North or South Station If the state privatized the purple line the first company to build tracks from Salisbury to Wareham would have a license to print money. Seriously. There actually are places I'd like to go that aren't in Boston, and I'd rather not have to go there to get to them. Fuck, just getting from Cambridge to Allston requires stocking up on provisions for the trip. Talk about the longest possible distance between two points; I heard they've got the physicists over at MIT working on ways to make the T go through other dimensions just to fuck up your commute a little bit more. |
| _______________________________ [Oct 4,2007 1:41pm - xmikex ""] If Deval Patrick pulled this off and it worked I'd give the guy my first born son. This would be incredible for the state, especially those of us that commute to Boston everyday. The MBTA is a goddamn joke. It's the epitome of Massachusetts status quo tredding water politics. I absolutely out and out refuse to believe that the MBTA legitimately got themselves in this much debt. I've never seen the official numbers but they've got to be pulling in pretty substantial numbers every single day. And what are there costs? Once you build the infrastructure (which has been there forever), and pay the employees (who are definitely over paid) where does the rest of their captial get eaten up? They're not making tokens anymore. They don't power the subway cars with coal. I find it impossible to believe that they can't turn a profit. |
| ___________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 2:11pm - Kinslayer ""] they just passed upping the tolls $.25 on Allston and $.50 elsewhere this morning... |
| _____________________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 2:18pm - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""] The MBTA needs to fire all its subway drivers and run automated trains like Vancouver's SkyTrain; there, you've saved a few million dollars. |
| _______________________________ [Oct 4,2007 2:54pm - xmikex ""] Kinslayer said:they just passed upping the tolls $.25 on Allston and $.50 elsewhere this morning... Son of a fucking bitch. I take that Allston exit all the time. |
| ____________________________ [Oct 4,2007 2:58pm - mOe ""] all i know is its getting closer and closer to 5 bucks one way to get from western MA to boston and that shit dont make any sense at all |
| ____________________________ [Oct 4,2007 2:58pm - mOe ""] it may take a little longer but thats why I always opt to take Rt. 2 when I have to get out there |
| _____________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 3:55pm - Hungtableed ""] Deval is a fag. Lousy Democat.... |
| _______________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 4:05pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] Hungtableed said:Deval is a fag. Lousy Democat.... Thank you for your contribution. We now all know a little bit more - and knowing is half the battle! |
| ____________________________ [Oct 4,2007 5:25pm - pam ""] Hungtableed said:Deval is a fag. Lousy Democat.... Yeah, I sure wish we could get a republican like Mitt Romney back...boy those were the days! |
| __________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 5:53pm - dreadkill ""] i always want to call him "duvall" patrick for some reason. deval just doesn't sit right with me. |
| ____________________________ [Oct 4,2007 6:17pm - pam ""] dreadkill said:i always want to call him "duvall" patrick for some reason. deval just doesn't sit right with me. Nor do the appropriate pronunciations of about 100 other things. |
| ___________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 6:31pm - Kinslayer ""] Deval Patrick, Robert Duvall, Robert Patrick...PATRICK SWAYZE! [img] [img] [img] [img] |
| _________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 6:33pm - Dankill ""] This would be good, HOWEVER, nothing in Massachusetts is EVER this simple. They will find a way to fuck it up or run it so over budget that we'll have to pay out the ass for it for ages. I'm still waiting for them to get rid of the Turnpike Authority and just merge with the Highway Board. |
| _____________________________ [Oct 4,2007 7:17pm - afar ""] I just attended a seminar by some Somerville agency who got Patrick to approve a green line stop in Somerville to be built (if I remember correctly). It's been 2 years since he agreed to do that and still nada. We'll see it when it happens. Until then, everything is mere speculation and charlatanry. |
| __________________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 7:18pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] Deval Patrick sounds/looks like a muppet. |
| _________________________________ [Oct 4,2007 7:24pm - sinistas ""] afar, Deval's been in office since January. it's not like he's ignoring this shit. |
| _____________________________ [Oct 5,2007 1:30am - afar ""] I don't remember what the woman said, it might not have been deval since it was some time ago. Either way, I'll believe it when I see a positive outcome from any kind of rearranging of hats in the transit department. |
| ______________________________________ [Oct 5,2007 2:20am - y_ddraig_goch ""] What about New Hampshire, we don't have commuter lines period...or many buses. We just got the retard buses that come around once an hour. I did hear Nashua is getting a commuter line that will connect with Worcester or Lowell. |
| _____________________________ [Oct 5,2007 6:08am - Mess ""] FuckIsMySignature said:Deval Patrick sounds/looks like a muppet. same with byron barnet, he's the black kermit de frog of local news. |
| _______________________________________ [Oct 5,2007 7:58am - brad weymouth ""] y_ddraig_goch said:What about New Hampshire, we don't have commuter lines period...or many buses. We just got the retard buses that come around once an hour. I did hear Nashua is getting a commuter line that will connect with Worcester or Lowell. shut up and drive yer tractor! |
| ______________________________________ [Oct 5,2007 9:47am - y_ddraig_goch ""] brad weymouth said:y_ddraig_goch said:What about New Hampshire, we don't have commuter lines period...or many buses. We just got the retard buses that come around once an hour. I did hear Nashua is getting a commuter line that will connect with Worcester or Lowell. shut up and drive yer tractor! Nigga, you muss never been to New Hampshire...there are very, very few places where you "drive your tractor" and those are all small ass towns locked away in the mountain region. New Hampshire cities are like the nice cities of Massachusetts ...but nicer. |