Two letters to the Weekly Dig
in response to its 2001 series "Railroaded," plus an Editor's reply

Hey Weekly Dig,

Good work on the T reporting. It is good to see a new alternative publication emerging. That is what this town needs more of—healthy competition! Regarding the T, I have a great story for you; the community of JP's ongoing struggle (things are really heating up) to restore the E-line after the T closed a portion under the false guise of track repair 14 years ago. The T, since then, has promised to restore it several times, at least once in writing (I have a copy) & has not done so. They are now trying to weasel out of a federal mandate, which instructs them to begin working on restoring light rail service by the end of the year.

I would love to talk,

Greg

Hi,

I have been reading your "Railroaded" series with great interest. I've become involved with the Arborway Committee—the group taking the lead in holding the T to its 15-year promise (and legal mandate) of restoring the Green Line to Forest Hills and I'm interested in knowing if he's been able to dig (no pun intended) into this issue at all. Through the public process related to the restoration, I've seen the T's "smiles and nods" repeatedly, and the goings-on described in the "railroaded" piece don't surprise me one bit. For some info on the Arborway process, visit http://www.geocities.com/arborway2001,

Thanks,

Peter Nersesian

Greg and Peter, thanks for writing. We neglected to print Dan’s e-mail address in the last issue of the paper (we also ran two typos on the cover—a free Fleece Boston T-Shirt to the first reader who snail-mails a copy of the paper with the typos pointed out) you can reach Dan at: dan@weeklydig.com

And please do. On April 25th, we will continue our Railroaded series investigating the MBTA with a look at its poor track record of providing long promised urban service improvements. The E-line extension/restoration is one of many urban transportation improvement projects the T has walked away from, and Dan and the Dig need readers like you to fill us in on the details.

Peace,

Joe Eich-Bonni