The Boston Phoenix November 30 - December 7, 2000
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Some area residents support the Silver Line, eager for better service than they are getting with regular diesel buses. But Terrell of the WSCC, which advocates light rail, sees other risks in relying on buses to serve the traditionally disadvantaged area. "Buses are not a permanent service," he says. "They can be moved [to other routes] at the drop of a hat. A rail line is a fixed and permanent service." Permanent light rail tends to spur neighborhood development more than bus lines do. He also notes the Silver Line's environmental hazards: compressed natural gas still creates emissions, though it's cleaner than diesel. Electric-powered light rail would mean no emissions at all. Terrell is convinced that, despite the $1.35 billion expenditure on the Silver Line, the MBTA is not serious about serving riders in Roxbury and the South End. "We think the MBTA has virtual contempt for its transit-dependent riders and for people who don't have a lot of political clout," he says. "Those low-income folks, those black folks -- give 'em a bus! And if they complain, too bad. But we're not investing money in a serious system. It's not always the amount of money that's invested, it's what it's invested in." Strange bedfellows
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by Dorie Clark
Indeed, only $52 million of the MBTA's outlay will be devoted to the Washington Street portion of the line. By contrast, a full $600 million will be spent on the South Boston Transitway, a tunnel connecting South Station with the South Boston waterfront, which has sparked a flurry of recent development activity, including a plan for offices, condos, and hotels along Fan Pier; the in-progress convention center; and the new federal courthouse. The MBTA estimates that the final section of the Silver Line -- a second tunnel, linking the Washington Street portion (which ends at the New England Medical Center) and the South Boston portion (which ends at South Station) -- will cost $700 million and will be completed sometime between 2008 and 2010. But the agency admits that federal funding has not been secured for the second tunnel, and some activists are skeptical that it will ever be built.
"That segment exists only as a fantasy in the minds of some planners with no funding or prospects in sight," says Rumpler of ACE. And Bob Terrell suspects that the concept of a Silver Line linking Roxbury with South Boston (and ultimately the airport) is a ruse. He points out that until 1998, Washington Street replacement service was considered separate from the work going on in South Boston, and he believes the two ends were joined for political expediency: "We figure the only reason they're going to link us to the [South Boston] Transitway project is so they can turn to the federal government and say, `We're going to bring all these lovely black folks to the airport and Seaport District; why don't you give us money to build?' "
South boston is also beginning to feel exploited by the Silver Line. The area, long a working-class neighborhood, is now being swooned over by big-ticket developers who want to build up the waterfront and need transportation infrastructure to pull it off. The MBTA's answer -- as it was for Washington Street -- is buses. When plans for the Transitway were developed, the agency promised "dual mode" vehicles that would use electricity underground and extremely low-emission diesel aboveground. But, finding no bidders, the T decided to purchase a fleet from the German company Neoplan that, while electric underground, uses higher-emission diesel on the surface. Activists in South Boston are irate that the decision was made without their knowledge; some feel the agency is pushing ahead with an agenda that benefits outsiders more than community members.Says Boston City Council president James Kelly, who represents South Boston, "One of the main issues we had [with the plan the MBTA presented to the council] was the lack of access from the neighborhood itself to the waterfront. The Silver Line is going to be beneficial to people beyond South Boston in getting to the waterfront area, but ... probably it would be easier for [residents] in some cases to walk to the waterfront, because it's going to be a lengthy trip by public transportation." Indeed, while Rumpler declines to speculate on the MBTA's motives for pushing ahead with the diesel-bus plan, he notes that "there are many developers who are eager to move on the fast track on the South Boston waterfront. These developers are eager to have public infrastructure in place to suit their profit-making agenda, regardless of what the community's health and transportation concerns are."
Searching for ways to thwart the diesel-bus plan, the South Boston Environmental Health Watch, a neighborhood advocacy group, turned to the folks at the other end of the Silver Line. After all, says Kaplan of the Conservation Law Foundation, "If you believe the T, and in 2008 they build the [second] tunnel, these buses that they're buying for South Boston are likely to pop out of that tunnel and go down Washington Street." Mary Russell of the South Boston Public Health Initiative, the parent organization of the Health Watch, reports that the group has been tutored in the history of the Silver Line by the Washington Street Corridor Coalition. The Health Watch is a member of the ACE-sponsored Greater Boston Environmental Justice Network, and at their next meeting members plan a vote on whether to officially join another ACE subsidiary, Clean Buses for Boston. And even as South Boston receives help and advice from outside, it's also giving back: residents have written letters advocating light rail along Washington Street, and even went so far as to co-sponsor a recent environmental-justice conference in Roxbury called "EJ in the 'Hood."
The South Boston Environmental Health Watch's crash course culminated in its appeal to Durand this September, asking him to stop the purchase of the higher-emission diesel buses. Durand won plaudits from environmental groups last month for demanding that developer Nicholas Pritzker scale back his development plan for a parcel of land along Fan Pier; he even called for the elimination of an entire building. His decision on Monday calls for a peer-review panel to evaluate the proposed vehicles, consider alternatives such as electric buses, and make recommendations to the MBTA next February in a report to be released along with the agency's annual update. The panel, which will be chaired by MIT professor Nigel Wilson, will consist of six members; two each will be chosen from a pool nominated by the MBTA, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, and the Conservation Law Foundation in collaboration with the South Boston Environmental Health Watch. "We remain very upbeat, very confident that the panel will see that the T acted in good faith and that we found the best vehicle out there to meet the needs of the Transitway and the Silver Line," says MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
But though Durand's decision does not go as far as it could have (he had the option, for example, of requiring a separate, supplemental environmental-impact report), it puts other transportation options back on the table, which could result in the MBTA's having to scrap its current plans. Electric buses are now a strong possibility for the South Boston Transitway, and Durand's report requires the panel to examine the possibility of an eventual conversion to light or heavy rail. Indeed, he specifically notes the MBTA's professed commitment to considering rail as an option for the second tunnel, connecting South Station with the New England Medical Center. And if there's a possibility of rail connecting the Silver Line's two branches, it clearly makes sense to consider converting the entire line to rail, says Kaplan of the CLF -- and activists will be ready to make noise about it.
Though the peer-review panel will address only the South Boston Transitway, its recommendations will be far-reaching. If the committee opposes the higher-emission buses and takes a stand in favor of eventual conversion to light rail, it may represent Washington Street's last, best chance to latch on to anti-bus momentum and get the replacement service residents have long sought. Though such a change would further delay service to the transit-strapped area, Washington Street activists would find it -- to quote the Big Dig PR -- worth its wait.
Dorie Clark can be reached at dclark[a]phx.com.
