"Mass. Senate OK’s $49m MBTA bailout; Plan would avert bigger hikes, cuts" by Eric Moskowitz | Globe Staff, June 20, 2012
The state Senate agreed Tuesday to tap $49 million from a little-known state surplus to help the MBTA close its deficit for the coming year, avoiding steeper fare increases and wider service cuts than those scheduled for July 1.
Man, they sure can find that money for banks, can't they?
The plan, approved by a 26-9 vote after lengthy debate, largely falls in line with a measure approved by the House last week and appears destined to receive Governor Deval Patrick’s signature before a June 30 deadline.
Related: House set to approve $49m in aid for MBTA
Passage places an exclamation point at the end of six contentious months for the MBTA, when thousands of riders flooded public hearings to protest fare hikes and service cuts.
An exclamation point in$erted into the end of taxpayers!!!
Also see: Tucking You In on the T
Just remember they NEVER UPGRADED ANYTHING and LET REPAIRS LAG!
The Senate bailout nearly closes the gap in the T’s $1.8 billion budget for the coming year, but this one-time aid is a one-year fix, with the possibility of new transportation-specific taxes on the horizon....
UN-FLIPPING-BELIEVABLE!!!
Still, some lawmakers considered the package unpalatable, calling it a bailout for an undeserving T. That view, voiced by some legislators from Central and Western Massachusetts and from the Republican Party, contributed to nearly eight hours of debate and exposed tension about the extent to which the entire state should support the MBTA.
But if you say we need more Repugs at the local levels around here.... aaaaah, heretic!
And being a red-headed step-child out here doesn't mean backing Brownie, etc, etc.
“For those of us outside the MBTA district, this is a bitter pill to swallow,’’ said Senator Michael R. Knapik, a Westfield Republican, saying he resented “snark-a-gram’’s from MBTA supporters suggesting lawmakers do not do enough for the T. He lamented that the money did not go to other causes. “We don’t have two nickels to rub together sometimes, and somehow miraculously we’ve been able to find this money [for the T].’’
Because banks need the debt interest income!!
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The T historically had little incentive for efficiency, relying on lawmakers to close the gap between its income, mostly from fares and expenses. That changed a dozen years ago, when lawmakers ordered the MBTA to balance its books and gave it 20 percent of the state’s sales tax revenue to help, but left the agency too indebted and too reliant on the sales tax, which has flagged amid recessions and a shift in consumer purchasing to out-of-state online retailers....
EXCUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZE ME?
20 cents out of every SALES TAX BUCK was ALREADY GOING to the T for DEBT SERVICE for the LAST DOZEN YEARS?!!!!
And WHEN THEY RAISED IT TO 6.25 a couple of years ago?
"Legislators also agreed last week to change legal language in the recently passed sales tax hike to assure credit agencies that $100 million earmarked for the Turnpike Authority would go toward paying off Big Dig debt"
That's odd; I was told back then it was needed to SAVE TEACHERS, COPS, FIREFIGHTERS, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, etc -- and we STILL GOT THE CUTS!!!
Also see: Another Amazing Tax From Massachusetts
One day you will go to the bathroom and have to weigh your s*** at the pit to pay a tax. Read it here first.
Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat, said “bailout’’ was a fraught term that might apply to failed banks but not public entities providing broad benefits and facing annual cost increases.
Yeah, so don't use it here.
And last I checked those Wall Street banks were back to making billions-per-quarter in profits.
You know, the same banks that are receiving the debt interest payments via the T.
--more--"
I need to get off and get some air:
"They are part of the growing movement to reclaim urban space for pedestrians and bicyclists and promote public transit. But Cynthia Chace-Macniel, who lives a few blocks away, was dismayed, saying the South End already has pocket parks. “We desperately need parking spaces,’’ said Chace-Macniel, 80, wondering why anyone would want to sit so close to parked cars. “That’s a lose-lose.’’
And yet it is the front-page feature of my agenda-pushing Globe that day.
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Another front-page feature:
"Surging MBTA ridership could overwhelm system, report warns" by Eric Moskowitz | Globe Staff, June 14, 2012
By the end of the decade, Boston’s subways could grow so packed that trains would roll past waiting commuters, unable to accommodate more riders, a new report from a leading land-use think tank warns.
Forgive this country rube for laughing.
Surging T ridership and booming construction around transit stations, the study from the Urban Land Institute found, are poised to overwhelm the MBTA, potentially limiting future development and slowing the regional economy.
And yet it is being promoted at what co$t?
The findings in the report, scheduled for release Thursday, inject
additional urgency to the T’s financial crisis and come amid debate on
Beacon Hill debate over how much to invest in public transportation. The
MBTA shoulders the biggest debt burden of any transit agency in the
nation.
It's an agenda-pushing report delivered just in time?!!?
The 390 million transit trips in Greater Boston last year were the most since 1946, and the T has registered a record 15 straight months of ridership growth. Fare increases scheduled for July 1 could dampen the numbers temporarily.
It's an agenda-pushing report delivered just in time?!!?
The 390 million transit trips in Greater Boston last year were the most since 1946, and the T has registered a record 15 straight months of ridership growth. Fare increases scheduled for July 1 could dampen the numbers temporarily.
Related: MBTA ridership up for 15th month in a row
But authors of the study from the Boston branch of the institute, a national nonprofit, issue this warning: Riders who think it is crowded now should be prepared for 20 percent more company by the end of the decade.
Let the groping begin, 'eh, ladies?
Developers are clamoring to build in areas near public transit, and real estate trends, state and local policy, gas prices, and highway traffic are causing demand for the MBTA to grow faster than the regional population.
But without investment in more subway cars, better power and signal systems, and other tools to relieve MBTA crowding, scattered congestion will become widespread, with riders at “hot spots’’ unable to board because cars are too full, and with backups and bottlenecks causing delays systemwide, according to the “Hub and Spoke’’ report....
All because tens of millions every month for years and years has gone and will go for debt interest payments.
--more--"
Also see: Taking the T Home
Yeah, time for me to get off.
3 plead guilty in fake MBTA pass scheme
Dead bacteria to be used to test T sensors
So when does the "terror attack" go live?
BC chemistry lab evacuated after graduate assistant is exposed to dangerous chemical
Residents oppose BU biolab for deadly diseases in South End
Public transit ills called a health issue
They make me sick.
"Bicycle deliveries are on the rise in Boston" April 23, 2012|By Katie Johnston
Want a steak dinner delivered? How about a package of antibodies for scientific research? Or maybe you need to move an armoire - and the rest of your furniture.
Look for the guy on the bike.
These are just a few of the items being schlepped around the city on two wheels, and sometimes three, as bicycle deliveries - once dependent on documents and heading the way of fax machines - rebound in the Boston area.
They have internalized the lingo as well as the agenda, has my fearless morning media reporter!
While there are no official statistics tracking the surge in pedal power, bike couriers are reporting double-digit revenue increases as they transport things like recyclables and medical supplies, and many other types of businesses are biking their goods around the city, too.
Bicycle sellers and manufacturers are also reporting a jump in demand for heavy-duty bicycles used for hauling....
--more--"
Yup, that's the answer. That's why the Chinese and the Cubans are junking bikes in favor of cars.
Related: Bicyclist falls on Bourne Bridge, hit by truck
Bicyclist dies after falling in traffic
BC plans memorial to honor bicyclist
Bike-sharing program is on a roll
Boston Globe Bicycle Chain Falls Off MSM Monitor
Oh, that used to make me so mad!
Better try two then:
"Boston set to benefit from tall ship festival" by Martine Powers Globe Staff / June 3, 2012
Boston is gearing up for a six-day summer tall ship festival — but this year, the organizers have made a promise to share the profits of the event with the city.
The OpSail festival, a gathering of traditional sailing vessels to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812, comes three years after another tall ship festival was fraught with controversy on who would foot the bill for event security.
Yeah, let's celebrate another war.
Once again, the thing is misunderstood. The War of 1812 was the House of Rothschild attempt to destroy the independence of the American colonies through their puppets on the throne of England after they rejected private central banking.
Related: Tall ship parade planned to mark War of 1812
Also see: Boston's Tall Ships Tacking and Jibing
I forgot that I get seasick!
But the city and OpSail organizers said that this year, they will be sharing revenue to help the city recoup money spent on the event.
--more--"
Also see: Tall ship festivals set for 2 cities
I'll take the sea since it's the quickest way out of Boston, and who would want to visit there with all the drugs, gangs, drug raids, club raids, killings, assassins, stranglers, and murders -- despite the cop on the beat?
