“Unpopular, even painful” are the words that will define the MBTA for the foreseeable future. If nothing else those three words are guaranteed to bump “reform before revenue” off the top of the MBTA cliché charts.
The MBTA Fiscal Management and Control Board used those three words in its first annual report to describe the types of decisions that state transportation policymakers must make in the coming months as the T tries to balance its fiscal 2017 budget.
It turns out that those words also sum up the MBTA rider experience for the past ten years. State lawmakers took a patchwork approach to the MBTA’s finances and operations largely based on avoiding ballot box retribution for associated tax hikes. That legislative approach-avoidance maneuvering contributed to bringing the authority literally to a screeching halt during the winter of 2015.
The MBTA contributed to the current state of affairs as only the T could in ways that would be hilarious if they weren’t so deadly serious. There’s been a revolving door on general manager’s suite, inability to keep up with trends in deicing fluids, and treating the Green Line Extension as a round of Empire Builder using real money, to name just a few.
With that lack of legislative and organizational oversight, you get multimillion-dollar operating deficits, billions in deferred maintenance, and some angry customers who have little love for the system.
The control board, a group of hardy volunteers who rode in to rescue the T from itself, is poised to spread the pain around. The $1 billion question is: Will they be able to?
Riders do not want any fare increases, at least not before getting transit that runs reliably. Which won’t happen without the riders’ contributions. If riders concede to fare increases, they certainly don’t want increases that may go as high as 10 percent. That sets the stage for a Beacon Hill showdown between the forces of good (5 percent hike) and evil (10 percent hike).
Seniors and the disabled do not want to pay more for The Ride. No one wants young people to see alcohol ads when they look up from playing violent games on their smartphones. People who use low ridership routes are certain to squawk over cuts to their service. And transit advocates will back them all up.
(By the way, Greater Boston riders, the rest of Massachusetts does not feel your pain. That no doubt contributed to the defeat of the 2014 gas tax indexing ballot question, which deprived the T some funding.)
And what of Gov. Charlie Baker, the man who introduced the MBTA to the concept of de facto receivership? He made his stance on the MBTA quite clear in Lauren Dezenski’s excellent Politico interview: “… When you have a transparent process…every idea or thought you’re having about how to deal with the problem becomes a part of the public discussion, which I’m fine with,” he said. “Including raising fares. It should be a part of the conversation.”
Baker continued, “We see what happens when you spend all your money on the shiny new thing and forget about the fact that you have a core system that you need to invest in, to maintain, to enhance, and to modernize.” In other words: Fix it first.
Baker will focus on the core system to the exclusion of everything else. That means belt-tightening which means goodbye late-night service, low ridership buses, and paratransit service that exceeds what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires. As for expansion besides the Green Line Extension, fuggedaboutit.
The Legislature has been content to leave Baker and MassDOT to hack away at the MBTA. But at some point the debate will shift back to Beacon Hill. Quibbling about fare increases should be the least of it.
Because buried in the control board’s dense report is a chart that demonstrates what the MBTA deficits would look like if Massachusetts moved Big Dig and other debt off its books. Getting the debt off the T’s books translates into having the state assume some or all of that debt, especially if state leaders really want the MBTA to function as a healthy quasi-public agency.
Relieving the MBTA of its debt burden is the real epiphany that the governor, state lawmakers, transportation officials, riders, and their advocates need to have. Otherwise, the MBTA will continue to go nowhere fast.
But that conversation promises to be unpopular, even painful. If it happens at all.
GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation warns that the state could face a $1 billion budget hole next year. (Boston Globe)
Former governor Deval Patrick steps in front of the cameras. With Channel 5’s Janet Wu, Patrick and Gov. Charlie Baker separately talk about who is responsible for the ballooning cost of the Green Line Extension. NECN’s Alison King does a more in-depth interview with Patrick in which he says he would not be anyone’s vice presidential running mate.
Beacon Hill’s Big Three: One big happy family. (State House News)
Mike Dukakis has one simple bit of advice for Charlie Baker as he tries to fix the region’s problem-plagued transit system: Hop on the T once in awhile. (Boston Herald)
Steve Koczela of the MassINC Polling Group says Baker’s popularity goes way beyond the economy. (WBUR)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Mayor Marty Walsh may be getting the IndyCar race he has said will help counter the culture of “no” in Boston, but new bumps in the road have arisen with word that the CEO of the speed spectacle has a very checkered financial past that includes a federal tax conviction and multiple liens against him. (Boston Globe) Looking to contain the fallout, the race organizers say the CEO, Mark Perrone, is assuming a reduced role in the event for “personal health reasons.” (Boston Herald)
A jury ordered Quincy to pay $433,000 to a New Hampshire man after finding that seven current and former city officials interfered with his right to build a home in the Houghs Neck neighborhood. (Patriot Ledger)
Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera asks UMass officials for help in bringing foods familiar to ethnic groups to area grocery stores. (Eagle-Tribune)
Sven Amirian, who joins the Haverhill School Committee in January, works for the company selected to put solar panels on the roof of Haverhill High School. (Eagle-Tribune)
Barre police officers take a vote of no confidence in Chief Erik Demetropoulos. (Telegram & Gazette)
CASINOS/GAMBLING
Meet the world’s best fantasy sports player, Boston resident Saahil Sud. (Boston Globe)
East Boston anti-casino activists file suit against Attorney General Maura Healey and Secretary of State William Galvin urging them to rethink their approval of a ballot question allowing a second slots parlor. (Masslive)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Virginia’s attorney general, a strong supporter of gun restrictions, has used his authority to revoke reciprocal agreements with 25 states and will no longer recognize those states’ permits for people to carry concealed weapons in Virginia, (New York Times)
Five members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are part of a group of 15 asking the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider its decision allowing prescriptions of OxyContin for children as young as 11. (State House News)
ELECTIONS
Every day he stays in the lead, Donald Trump becomes more likely to be the Republican nominee, writes the Globe’s James Pindell.
The state’s population is growing at a good clip for a northeastern state, which bodes well for the congressional delegation remaining its current size. (State House News)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
US gross domestic product expanded by 2 percent in the last quarter, exceeding expectations though slightly below original forecasts. (U.S. News & World Report)
EDUCATION
The state’s plan to allow school districts to again choose between two different tests this spring as it prepares to switch to a new “MCAS 2.0” could jeopardize more than $2 million in federal funding. (Boston Globe)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
The Globe spotlights the questionable practices of the owners of a string of Massachusetts nursing homes, who profit handsomely while skimping on patient care in the lightly-regulated industry.
The National Institutes of Health awarded $16 million in grants to several institutions including Boston University to study brain trauma and disease but none of the funds will come from the NFL even though the research could have major implications for their players. (New York Times) Here’s what a leader of the BU research had to say about the funding controversy. (Boston Herald)
The mounting evidence on the life-threatening dangers of football lead a one-time college football player to say goodbye the sport, which he vows to no longer watch. “It’s a modern-day Roman Coliseum,” writes Noah Van Niel, a former Harvard fullback who is now an Episcopal priest, “a gladiatorial spectacle that ends with heads on a platter — in a lab being sliced open to see what went wrong.” (Boston Globe)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA Fiscal Control and Management Board warns some very tough choices are ahead as the transit agency struggles with a deficit. Big fare changes are expected. (CommonWealth) An Eagle-Tribune editorial slams the board for considering a fare increase of 10 percent.
T riders say raising fares without improving the shabby state of service would add insult to injury. (Boston Globe)
A Herald editorial decries the sky-high amounts some T workers are earning.
With the state nearing its debt ceiling, the South Coast Rail project could be among the casualties. (Herald News)
The rise of Uber is causing problems for financial institutions that have lent money to purchasers of taxi medallions. (Governing)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Blame El Nino for the weird weather pattern that has brought Spring-like temperatures to the Northeast, tornadoes to the South, and piles of snow to the West as millions hit the roads and airways for holiday travel. (Associated Press)
Another mystery solved: The Boston Yeti who roamed the streets during last winter’s blizzards has been unmasked, but he’s no one we really know. (Greater Boston)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A former UMass Lowell bookkeeper is charged with stealing more than $200,000 from the university over a five-year period. (The Sun)
Attorney General Maura Healey warns the state’s gun dealers to comply with all Massachusetts guns laws, while saying her office is investigating several possible violators. (Boston Globe)
MEDIA
Ed Ansin says he still hopes to keep Channel 7 and have it remain Boston’s NBC affiliate. (Boston Globe)
Mike Hengel, the editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, steps down amid swirling questions in the wake of Sheldon Adelson’s purchase of the newspaper. (Poynter)
New Media Investment Group, the corporate parent of GateHouse Media, buys Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. (Boston Business Journal)
Dan Kennedy sees a conspiracy among liberal media — against liberal politicians. (WGBH)
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