THE MBTA’S INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER on Monday laid out the benefits of a controversial WiFi commuter rail contract that calls for 74-foot towers along the tracks, but he acknowledged the initiative had been rolled out poorly and couldn’t explain why the contractor was not available to answer questions about the project.
Steve Poftak, the interim general manager, told the Fiscal and Management Control Board that he would work with the contractor to mitigate the impact of the towers but cautioned that the T cannot simply walk way from the contract. He said he planned to continue looking into the contract and report back to the board on Aug. 14.
Residents of Andover and other communities that would be affected by the proposal turned out in force once again to protest the towers, which they said would disrupt the historic nature of their communities and drive down property values. They slammed the design of the project, the technology being used, the poor return for the T, and the transit authority’s failure to give them advance notice of the initiative.
Poftak said the project would significantly improve WiFi service on commuter rail trains and added that the T’s experts have concluded the technology will work as promised.
He said the WiFi initiative, which calls for the installation of 320 towers with fiber-optic cable running underground between them, is expected to cost $140 million. His presentation said the contractor, BAI Communications, would cover the entire cost of the project and make back its investment by selling access to the portion of the towers above 35 feet to wireless carriers and “by taking advantage” of the excess fiber-optic infrastructure.
The contract calls for the T to receive 7.5 percent of any BAI revenues after all of the costs of the project are recouped. Poftak said the T estimates it would receive between $20 million and $40 million over the life of the 22-year contract.
The contract was originally signed in 2014 and then amended in February to include a construction completion schedule that calls for work to begin next month and be completed by August 2018. The contract allows BAI to determine the locations of the towers “subject to approval by the MBTA.”
Joe Aiello, the control board’s chairman, asked how much influence that contract language gives the T over tower locations. The T’s legal counsel, John Englander, said any discussion of contract terms should take place when the board meets in executive session.
During Poftak’s presentation to the Fiscal and Management Control Board, one Andover resident shouted out that BAI should be there to answer questions. When Aiello banged his gavel, another Andover resident shouted, “Don’t gavel.”
Lisa Calise, a member of the Fiscal and Management Control Board, said she doubted the contract would end up being cost-free for the MBTA. She also criticized BAI for not being at the meeting.
“It is unacceptable to me as a board member that they wouldn’t be participants in answering direct communications from the community,” she said.
Brian Shortsleeve, another member of the board, asked Poftak how the WiFi contract might affect other work being done along commuter rail tracks and whether customers are still pushing for better WiFi service on the trains. Shortsleeve, who until last month was the acting general manager of the T, was the official who signed the WiFi contract amendment in February. He declined, on advice of the T’s legal counsel, to answer questions about the amendment after the meeting.
The T’s Fiscal control board is out of control. Joe Aiello the head of the Board worked for FR Harris/DMJM/Aecom/Meridian who does business with vendors all over the country while he doesn’t abstain from voting on business partners contracts before the board, VHB’s retired Ruth Bonsignore of Charlie Bakers home town of Needham who owned tons of VHB stock does the same at the MassDot Board on conflicted votes with firms that VHB teams with, T AGM of Design and Construction came from HNTB, she hired Karen Antion to lead the PTC program for the T and is paying her $260,000 a year plus expenses, Antion managed the PTC program for Caltrain/JPB and that program is over budget, behind schedule and subject of a grand jury investigation in San Carlos, Ca.
So when some rinky dink town like Andover complains about some towers for PTC and contractor not answering questions what do you expect. The T is the same circus run by the same clowns the only thing that has changed is Charlie Baker from Needham hire Ruth Bonsignore from Needham and Joe Aiello from Winthrop to be the heads of the fish that still stink, haha!