Arborway Green Line Restoration
Letters

A letter to Mayor Menino, accompanying petition of Jamaica Plain merchants in support of Light Rail restoration

16 October 2001

Mayor Thomas Menino
Boston City Hall
Boston, Massachusetts 02201

Re: Arborway Green Line Restoration

Dear Mayor Menino,

Enclosed with this letter is a petition signed by 62 Jamaica Plain businesses that operate along Centre and South Streets. The petition urges your support in the effort to restore MBTA Arborway Green Line service from Park Street to Forest Hills Station.

We are aware of the July, 2001, MBTA report prepared by URS and Systra relating to Arborway transit service. That report is inaccurate and misrepresentative of the benefits of light rail service.

Light rail service is both feasible and advantageous for businesses along the Arborway route. Light rail service would increase transit ridership resulting in more foot traffic on the sidewalks in front of our businesses. Removing buses and restoring streetcar service would result in a more attractive, environmentally sound, and pedestrian friendly business district. The relocation and consolidation of transit stops along Centre and South Streets would have minimal impact on on-street parking in the business district. Further, the public safety arguments regarding emergency vehicle movement are disingenuous and inconsistent with the historical facts of Arborway streetcar service. In short, the MBTA's effort to abandon Arborway Green Line service in favor of buses is wrong-headed and unacceptable.

Support for Green Line restoration has always been and remains broad-based across the neighborhood and across the city. The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council voted 14-2 last March in favor of restoring Green Line service. Recently, the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, the Beacon Hill Civic Association, and the St. Botolph Neighborhood Association all voiced support for restoration.

Because a restored Green Line would be such a positive force for businesses along the route, we call upon you to state publicly your support for restoring Arborway Green Line service. We urge you to review the public testimony given this past July at the Arborway hearings sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. We particularly call your attention to the testimonies of Prof. Vukan R. Vuchic, Dr. Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic, and Atty. Franklyn P. Salimbene. Finally, we ask you to convey your support for restoration to both EOTC and to Secretary Bob Durand at EOEA, who will ultimately make the decision on Arborway service.

Sincerely yours,

cc: Bob Durand, EOEA