The
latest theater in the war against MBTA fare hikes and service cuts
opened Monday with a bang on every corner of the train map. Occupy
Somerville forces rallied in Davis Square. Their Jamaica Plain and
Dorchester counterparts gathered at Forest Hills and Fields Corner,
respectively, to sound alarms about troubling proposals. Leading the
pack, a group of loud and determined teens with the Youth
Affordabili(T) Coalition joined hundreds from the T Riders Union
(TRU) and other activist outfits for a mass rally on Copley Square
outside the Boston Public Library, where the MBTA planned a bombshell
public meeting for 6pm on Monday night.
Since
I'm a lone reporter with two feet and one T pass, I missed the
aforementioned send-offs and jumped on the Trail of Jeers at Downtown
Crossing, where a hodgepodge of about 25 Boston Occupiers gathered
beneath the Corner Mall awning. After sizing up the situation, the
horde hit the Washington Street staircase, crammed onto the busy
Orange Line platform, and proceeded to push discourse on the iron
horse.
Their
first ride, between Downtown Crossing and Back Bay, was compromised
by weak projection and an outspoken addict. Second and third attempts
also failed; despite honing an easy-to-announce message, Occupiers
were drowned out by squeaky tracks and a prehistoric PA system. The
mission was scrapped once and for all after an insane female rider
with a nose ring and a skull cap threatened to thrash them. “Have
fun walking when you can't afford the T,” Occupier Jay Kelly
shouted as they exited at Chinatown.
That
boxcar occupation and others, however, were merely piggybacking on
the larger rally, which filled the entire BPL sidewalk across from
Copley by 5pm. More than two months into this battle, groups like On
The Move and Transportation for Massachusetts were steaming, and
carried out an emotional hour-long chorus of hoots and hollers. As
the hearing time approached, delegates from more than 50 community
groups filed into the BPL, where they quickly jammed the basement
auditorium and an adjoining spillover room. More than 100 people were
turned away due to space constraints.
Everybody
in the crowd knew what was coming. Still they screamed loudly as Mark
Boyle, assistant general manager for development at the MBTA,
announced the proposed cuts. To claims that 90 percent of riders
wouldn't be affected, people called Boyle a “liar.” When he laid
out the plan to make The Ride more expensive, MBTA officials were
accused of “attacking disabled riders.” Plans to scale back
service on the Mattapan extension of the Red Line (and bus routes
everywhere) were met with repeated allegations of institutional
racism.
Mayor
Tom Menino fared somewhat better. After scolding outspoken
protesters, he took the podium to express many of the same concerns
coming from the gallery. Blasting proposals to slash service for
disabled and elderly riders, Hizzoner even kicked a metaphor – “You
can't do reconstructive surgery with a first aid kit” – before
officials opened the floor for two hours of impassioned public
testimony. In their turn, some people reminded T honchos that this
mess is the making of their six-figure salaries and hiring binges.
Others simply pleaded for mercy, telling how service cuts will leave
them paralyzed.
Wild
as it was, Monday's showdown was likely small potatoes compared to
what's coming. Transportation is an ideal rallying point between
progressive factions, as everyone from seniors and Occupiers to teens
and disabled rights crusaders are turning out in increasingly large
numbers. Between now and April 4, when MBTA board members vote on
their “racist” proposal, there will be more than a dozen marches
and rallies, many of which – like today's romp at the State House –
will take aim at Governor Patrick and the legislature. In the words
of one heckler: “We want a discussion. So far you've just rammed
this down our throats.”
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