The Arborway Committee

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Items of note in regarding Green Line restoration.
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May, 2008
A New Installment in the "Rethinking Centre Street" Event Series

Thursday, May 1, 7:30-9:30 pm
Connolly Branch Library, 433 Centre St.,
Jamaica Plain
click here for map

Join us for a showing of the film “Taken for a Ride” followed by a panel discussion with respected professionals who understand transportation policy, planning and financing.

“Taken for a Ride” reveals the tragic and little known story of an auto and oil industry campaign, led by General Motors, to buy and dismantle streetcar lines. The film presents a revealing history of our cities in the 20th century that is also a meditation on corporate power, city form, citizen protest and the social and environmental implications of transportation.

Providing insight on the film and what residents of Boston can do to improve the urban environment in which we struggle to get around are panelists:

William Lieberman, AICP Forty-year transportation planner, former Director of Planning for the San Diego transit authority and currently a Jacobs Carter Burgess consultant

Brian Goodman MASSPIRG's primary advocate for public transportation and author of the report "Derailed by Debt" which analyzes the MBTA's fiscal spending.

The event will moderated by Neighborhood Network News Anchor and News Director Chris Lovett.

This is the third film and panel discussion in the "Rethinking Centre Street” series, co-sponsored by the Arborway Committee.

Made possible with generous support from Prudential Maxfield and Company, His & Hers (Julia's), Indigena at South Street Shops, Taylor House B&B, and Petal & Leaf.

September 6, 2007
Latest on Arborway Committee suit to restore Green Line service

On February 13, 2007, the Arborway Committee filed suit against the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works, and the Conservation Law Foundation in an effort to force the State to restore Arborway Green Line streetcar service to Jamaica Plain. On July 10, 2007, the State filed its Answer to the Complaint. CLF had filed its Answer previously. Access all three documents here:

February 13, 2007
NNN interviews Franklyn Salimbene on Arborway restoration lawsuit

Chris Lovett of Boston's Neighborhood Network News (NNN) interviewed Arborway Committee chair Franklyn Salimbene recently on the committee's lawsuit to enforce the binding agreement mandating Arborway Green Line restoration.

February 13, 2007
Arborway Committee Sues Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Restore E-branch of the Green Line to Forest Hills

The Arborway Committee today filed suit in Suffolk Superior Court to compel the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (State) to restore E-branch Green Line service beyond Heath Street to the Arborway at Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain. The Arborway project was one of the original "Big Dig" transit commitments, which the state promised to complete as part of the overall central artery project. In December, in one of its final acts, however, the Romney administration killed the Arborway project despite efforts by transit advocates to advance the project. This suit names the Executive Office of Transportation, the Department of Public Works, and the Conservation Law Foundation as co-defendants.

Citing Arborway restoration as an "environmental justice" project, Arborway Committee Chair Franklyn Salimbene, said, "The decision by the Romney administration to cancel the project is unconscionable. Jamaica Plain is on the 'top 10 list' of neighborhoods with the highest asthma rates in the entire state. Restoring Green Line service is the only viable way of improving public transit and thereby improving air quality in Jamaica Plain. Route 39 bus service has been, is, and promises to continue to be both ineffective and unhealthful."

David White, Chair of Jamaica Plain Citizens for Clean Air, said, "In view of the poor level of air quality in Suffolk County, particularly regarding carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Arborway Green Line restoration offers far better air benefits for Jamaica Plain than CNG and retrofitted diesel bus service." Buses produce point-of-service pollution in the form of ozone and small particulate matter, both from combustion of fossil fuel and from tire rubber and roadway debris.

According to Dr. Srdjan Nedeljkovic of Brigham and Women's Hospital, "Short-term exposure to these particles can lead to irritation of the respiratory tract, causing coughing, chest tightness, choking, wheezing, and decreased lung function."

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services lists Jamaica Plain as suffering 105 asthma hospitalizations per 1000 population among residents of all ages. Among children under five years old, according to the Boston Public Health Commission (PHC) figures, the rate of asthma hospitalizations in Jamaica Plain is higher than in many other Boston neighborhoods at almost 10 per 1000. PHC figures also show that asthma rates are increasing most dramatically in Boston's Latino community, the greatest concentration of which lives in the Hyde Square area of Jamaica Plain, according to the 2000 US census.

From a transit perspective, the current #39 bus service, which was substituted for the Green Line in 1986, has experienced significant erosion in ridership. Latest MBTA statistics indicate that since 1997, daily ridership has fallen by 5000, from approximately 19,000 a day to 14,000. Since the inception of the substitute service in 1986, the #39 bus has lost 50% of its ridership.

John Kyper, Transportation Chair of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, said, "The remarkable fact is that while #39 ridership has fallen precipitously, during the same period combined Orange Line daily ridership at Jamaica Plain's four stations has remained flat at approximately 23,000. This loss of public transit ridership has a negative impact both on the health of Jamaica Plain residents and on the health of MBTA revenues. It couldn't be much worse."

Gibran Rivera , a member of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council and a 2005 candidate for Boston City Council who carried the Hyde Square area, said, "A return of Green Line service to Jamaica Plain and to the Hyde Square area in particular would represent a boon to local merchants. It would promote Hyde Square as Boston's 'Latin Quarter' while connecting the neighborhood to the central subway system."

About the Arborway Committee
The Arborway Committee is a volunteer group of residents and merchants in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston that advocates for quality public transit in the urban environment. One of the chief objectives of the Committee is the restoration of Green Line service to Jamaica Plain. The Arborway Committee website is at www.arborway.net/lrv

March 21, 2006
Federal court gives Arborway suit go-ahead

A federal judge has ruled that 18 of 20 counts of a suit to hold the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to its transit commitments, including the Arborway restoration project, may proceed.
Read the full story here.

Proposed transit regulation omits Arborway requirement

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has signed off on the Executive Office of Transportation's plan to abandon two of its three remaining transit commitments, the restoration of the Arborway Green Line, and the Red Line-Blue Line connector.

Public hearings on the proposed regulation were held on December 21, and written comment was taken from November 22 to January 17. Check back here for more updates.

The methodologies and data used by the MBTA and CTPS in coming up with a ridership increase of only 200 from Arborway restoration are flawed, inaccurate, and just plain wrong! See:

The substitution process eliminates all guarantees of air quality and transportation in the Arborway corridor, even the 39 bus! Current regulations were intended to at least ensure that any changes had to result in equivalent or better results in the corridor. The new proposal makes no such requirements for substitution, nor does it require proof of infeasibility as a requirement for substitution. In fact, it proposes, among other things, that 1,000 parking spaces in the suburbs be used as one of the substitute projects!

This process to reneg on agreements supposedly made in good faith by our state government represents an attempt to kill transit improvements in the Arborway corridor in any form. Simply put, if you believe in a future that includes better public transportation for Jamaica Plain, the time to act is now.

July 25, 2005
Numbers show only light rail can save Arborway ridership

Between 1998 and 2005, daily ridership fell on the #39 bus by 17% from 17,400 to 14,400. (Jamaica Plain Gazette, Aug. 12) Viewed in context, this is a significant loss that argues strongly for restoring one-seat Arborway Green Line service to Park Street. (click for graphic)

The loss of ridership was projected in the T’s 1987 Arborway Study. That extensive study stated clearly that if Green Line service was not restored, transit ridership in the Arborway corridor would fall. The study also stated just as clearly that ridership would increase if Green Line service was restored. The loss of ridership was, therefore, predicted and relates directly to the MBTA’s failure to restore Green Line service to Park Street.

Read the rest of Arborway Committee Chairman Franklyn P. Salimbene's letter on ridership loss

Click here to read more on ridership loss

Project evaluation proceeds with inaccurate ridership counts

How are state officials attempting this time to negate the benefits of restoring Arborway Service? By grossly underestimating ridership projections.

Many people have asked what the MBTA has been up to regarding the Arborway project in recent months. In January of this year, the answer became clear when the T released the results of two closed-door studies, absent of any public process, repeating disproven arguments against restoration. The Arborway Committee has issued a point-by-point rebuttal showing that the MBTA has again chosen arbitrary, selective, and specious reasoning to attempt to avoid its responsibility to the transit-riding public.

Arborway Committee, CLF, Medford, Somerville sue Commonwealth over missed transit deadlines

The Arborway Committee, along with the Conservation Law Foundation and the cities of Somerville and Medford, has initiated legal proceedings against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for failing to meet deadlines for the package of mass transit commitments, including the Arborway project, agreed to by administrative consent order as part of Central Artery approval. Read more:

The fourth ARRPAC meeting continued where the previous meeting left off. After making considerable progress on drafting a set of stop locations, the committee agreed to schedule another session before its next scheduled meeting date, in order to fully address the remaining stops on the line. That meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 7 at the State Labs.

A more complete summary of this meeting appears on our ARRPAC Notes page.

May 19, 2002
ARRPAC Meeting

ARRPAC met to begin discussions over station design concepts brought by project consultants, and to begin discussion on potential locations of stops along the corridor.

Read more about it on our ARRPAC Notes page.

August 7, 2002
ARRPAC Meet-and-Greet

The Arborway Rail Restoration Project Advisory Committee (ARRPAC) held an informal "meet and greet" session with members of the recently-approved project design team led by Vanesse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB).

Questions were answered about the Scope of Work approved as part of the project contract. Plans for the process leading up to the 15% design review, including the schedule of meetings for the remainder of the year, were also discussed.

Read more about it on our ARRPAC Notes page.

July 10, 2002
ARRPAC Meeting

ARRPAC met for the second time on Wednesday, July 10 in a meeting that began with a bus tour of the Arborway corridor from Forest Hills to Heath Street. Along the way, stops were made to allow committee members to address concerns about specific portions of the route.Upon arrival at Heath Street, the committee disembarked to examine elements of the newly rebuilt station there.

Following the tour, the committee viewed slides of street-running light rail innovations elsewhere in North America, and wrapped up its preliminary procedural discussions.

See the ARRPAC Notes page for more info.

May 22, 2002
ARRPAC Meeting

The Arborway Rail Restoration Project Advisory Committee (ARRPAC), a combination of citizens, delegates of local politicians, city and state officials, and project planners, held its first meeting on Wednesday, May 22.

After committee members were introduced, the issues of Decision-making, Attendance, and the requirement of committee members to support actively the E Line's restoration.

A full summary appears on the ARRPAC Notes page.

January 9, 2002
Community Meets on Restoration

Over 100 community members, city and state political leaders, and other interested parties gathered at the Agassiz Schol on Wednesday night, Jan 9, to begin the public comment phase of Arborway Green Line restoration.

In attendance were MBTA General Manager Mike Mulhern and Director of Design Barbara Boylan, as well as Boston Transportation Commissioner Andrea d'Amato, and project consultant Bill Lieberman.

Mulhern pledged the T's commitment to an open process involving the concerns of all affected by the project. d'Amato told the crowd the city would play an active part in ensuring that the community's needs were addressed.

Lieberman said he planned to apply Best Practices from his experience on similar projects worldwide to the Arborway line, and to this end stated his desire to see technical and community advisory committees combined into a single unified project advisory committee.

Arborway Committee chairman Franklyn Salimbene thanked Mulhern for taking a hands-on role in the process. He called the project a catalyst for the community to address street-related issues in Jamaica Plain whose solutions have been stalled for years over concerns about traffic.

Individuals interested in participating in the advisory committee to the project should e-mail Boylan at bboylan@mbta.com.

November 7, 2001
EOEA AFFIRMS ARBORWAY RESTORATION FEASIBILITY

A t 3:30 this afternoon, November 7, 2001, EOEA through DEP issued a ruling that Arborway Green Line restoration is feasible. The ruling affirmed that EOTC had not proven the infeasibility of Arborway service on any of the three grounds— environmental, engineering, and economic. The ruling concluded as follows:

"The Department (DEP) requires by this letter that a schedule for design and construction of the Arborway Project be provided to the Department by December 31, 2001. The schedule shall include benchmarks, milestones, and action items and shall be subject to approval by the Department."

Read the EOEA press release announcing the decicion, and our press release on the announcement. Also see Robin Washington's story from the Boston Herald in our Articles section.10/29/01 Merchants Speak Out
More than 60 Centre St. and South St. business owners have signed a petition calling for Mayor Thomas Menino to join the many already supporting Arborway Green Line restoration. Read the press release here. Also see local merchants Cat Thomson and Elizabeth Fixler's letter to the mayor calling for his support. 5/30/01 Community Meeting
The MBTA will hold a public meeting to discuss the findings of its study of light rail restoration on the Arborway Corridor. The meeting will be held at 6 pm, Wed. May 30, in the Agassiz School cafeteria, 20 Child St., Jamaica Plain. (click for location)

April 28, 2001
Meeting Notice

The Arborway Committee will meet on Monday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Agassiz School, Child Street. Take the #39 bus to the stop at St. Thomas's Church on South Street (click for location). New members are welcome.

April 13, 2001
Survey Shows Support for Restoration

Arborway Line restoration is the overwhelming favorite in the results of the Jamaica Plain Gazette's Arborway Line survey. In the April 13 issue, a front-page article titled "Most people want to take trolley downtown" reports that 135 of the 180 respondents said they would use public transportation if a one-seat light rail ride to Park Street were available.

March 24, 2001
Take Part in Gazette Survey on Restoration

The Jamaica Plain Gazette wants your opinions on the Arborway Line. Take their quick survey (available here in MS Word and text file formats), and email it to them by April 4.

The Gazette will be conducting a follow-up survey once this one is complete, so be sure to check back here for more information, or visit their web site.