infrastructure

The MBTA plans to cut services and raise fares.  Does that seem backwards to you?  Usually consumers are willing to pay a higher price if we get more, not less.  Unfortunately the current situation is that our public transportation system doesn't have adequate resources to run as usual...the operating budget is strained.  We also have heard about the capital and maintenance budgets with a backlog for repairs and replacements.

This is not a good situation for riders dependant on lower costing fares, and more frequent service.  We don't want more vehicles on the road; we can't afford more vehicles on the road. Our road systems can't keep up with the current flow of traffic and the environment will surely suffer.  Besides, there's no place to park!

So, here's a couple of things you can do:

• Participate in MBTA meetings.  Follow this link to learn about the proposed changes and the meeting schedule.   [MBTA Fare Change and Service Guide]
• Learn more about the other issues in your community that are important to you.  We need revenues to maintain healthy communities, healthy people, good schools...(you insert what's important to your community)  Check out the Campaign for Our Communities. and then join the campaign!

Remember, the government is us!

Have you wondered what some of the items in the state budget your tax dollars pay for?  Look down at the sidewalks and the roads...look up at the traffic lights and traffic signs...read this article and you'll learn more about the outstanding maintenance bill for our public transportation system that has been neglected but can no longer be ignored for public safety reasons.

The closings [of the Red Line] are needed to allow T crews to make $80 million in repairs designed to keep trains from derailing.  [Full Article: The Boston Globe]

Merchants are already banking on the hope that a new station will bring them more customers and an economic bridge to the rest of the city. ...The MBTA said that adding stations is aimed at providing better transportation to low-income people who are overwhelmingly dependent on public transit.   [Full Article: The Boston Globe]

Civic engagement is definitely needed to get Congress back on track.  As Abraham Lincoln said...It's government of the people, by the people, and for the people... Therefore, it is not for some small group of ideologues to govern and control the purse strings...

A political battle ... is threatening to slow money to the government’s main disaster aid account, which is so low that new rebuilding projects have been put on hold to help victims of Hurricane Irene and future disasters.  [Full Article:  The Boston Globe]

When natural disasters strike, such as Hurricane Irene,  it's our government that protects families and property, shelters the homeless, and revives communities adversely affected by the subsequent destruction.  It's up to all of us to continue to invest in our government so that it can continue to do this work, and carry out the other programs and services we rely upon every day.

...the National Guard was assisting evacuations in the towns of Charlemont, Ashford and North Adams. 200 National Guard troops were deployed to Greenfield in order to assist with evacuations in Franklin County and the Berkshires.  [Full Article: MassLive.com]

There seems to be a disconnect in our country.  We don't understand (or dare I say, appreciate) that it was federal agencies - FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s , that helped save lives and protect property during this latest natural disaster Hurricane Irene.  If we continue to let Congress reduce funding of these necessary agencies, lives and communities will be destroyed...literally.

Tea Partyers who denounce Big Government seem to have an abstract notion that government spending means welfare programs and bloated bureaucracies. Almost certainly they aren’t thinking about hurricane tracking and pre-positioning of FEMA supplies. But if they succeed in paring the government, ... may be surprised to discover that they have turned a Hurricane Irene government back into a Katrina government.  [Full Article: The Washington Post]

Budget and deficit reduction decisions in Washington, DC have substantive (and potentially harmful) consequences for local cities and towns, not only in the current year but for decades.  It now seems that some in Congress now want to play "chicken" with the transportation department as part of the deficit reduction debate.  We need to stay informed and engaged with this issue...

Federal transportation policy shapes, in a profound way, the way Americans connect to their communities and to the economy. When the feds get it right, cities flourish. And when they get it wrong, the consequences can last for decades.   [Full Op-Ed: The Boston Globe]

It should not have been a surprise to anyone that the federal stimulus dollars provided to MA were going to be fully spent during the fiscal year 2012 budget cycle, if  not already spent in the previous year.  We were riding a temporary wave of economic recovery euphoria when for a couple of months tax revenues had been higher than last year.  Now that the stock market has declined dramatically, our current tax revenues have also declined.   In fact, MA tax revenue collections are lower than in fiscal 2008.

The income gap has been widening in Massachusetts, and is especially prominent in Western MA  .  20% of families in North Adams earn less than $20,000 and half of those earn less than $10,000.  In Berkshire County and the Pioneer Valley, median incomes for the poorest, adjusted for inflation, have decreased to $16,000 - similar to areas in Appalachia.  Yet median incomes in Greater Boston have increased over the same amount of time by 54%, to $230,000.

The statistics provide one picture of the story.  This article also provides you the human profile of Mindy Shoestock, single mother, and her struggle to feed her children, provide a safe and clean place to live, stay in a community that has a support system for her family, and find a job(s) with a living wage.  [Full Article:  The Boston Globe]

Maintaining clean water - one of the essential things we do through government.  A great example of what we value in government and how we do things better together than we can do by ourselves.

US Representative William R. Keating plans to rally with environmental advocates and residents at Veterans Memorial Park in Hyannis today to maintain funding and regulations for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. [Full Article: The Boston Globe]