MGNA: Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance

The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) will be holding the fifth and final public meeting for the Mystic Valley Parkway Green Line Extension process on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Medford City Hall.

The focus of this final meeting will be a presentation of draft recommendations MAPC has developed regarding land use, zoning, economic development, and transportation for the area around a potential Green Line Station at Mystic Valley Parkway. MAPC also will provide time for comments and questions.

MAPC will also be hosting a pre-meeting from 6:30 to 7 p.m. for those who are new to the process.

For more information, as well as summaries and presentations from the first four Route 16 study meetings, visit the MAPC website.

Click here to RSVP for the meeting.

Download the meeting flyer here.

If you have any questions on the Green Line Extension project, e-mail Kate Fichter at katherine.fichter@state.ma.us, or the MAPC project staff at glx@mapc.org.

Two of the principals involved with the Maxwell’s Green development near the proposed Lowell Street Station on the Green Line Extension expound the virtues of the transit project in a column on Boston.com.

Ted Tobin of KSS Realty and Kyle B. Warwick of Gate Residential Properties write:

“In an economy that is still struggling to recover, the Green Line extension would produce much needed jobs for the Commonwealth, and encourage the kind of development that enhances quality of life while adhering to the state’s own vision and agenda for smart growth.

“The Green Line extension is a major endeavor requiring over $1 billion in investment and a creative approach to financing. But it represents a fundamental responsibility – and a promise the state has made – for which MassDOT and the MBTA must be held accountable. It also represents the very best kind of economic stimulus. The private sector will invest when it has confidence the state is ready to deliver on this project.

“The quarter-century old lesson of the Red Line extension is an illustration of leadership, courage and a commitment to do what’s right for the public interest. The payoff is visible every day in Somerville, Cambridge and the surrounding area, and so that lesson bodes well for what lays ahead as a result of the Green Line extension.

“It’s time for MassDOT and the MBTA to examine its own history, show true leadership and fulfill this commitment.”

AMEN!

- Ken Krause, MGNA

Are you tired of the latest delay in the Green Line Extension project, which was supposed to extend service to Medford Hillside by 2011…then 2014…then 2015…and now, maybe, 2019?

Join the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance and 11 other organizations in showing your support for the Green Line Extension project and your opposition to the latest schedule delay recently announced by MassDOT.

Join our neighbors from Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington in a Mock Groundbreaking Rally at 6 p.m. Thursday, October 20, in front of Somerville High School, 81 Highland Avenue.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and other representatives from throughout the region will bring shovels to help convey the message that supporters of the project are “shovel ready” for construction to begin without further delay.

Immediately after the rally, continue making your voice heard inside the Somerville High School Auditorium, where a public hearing will take place at 6:30 p.m. on the Green Line Extension Environmental Assessment.

At the hearing, MassDOT officials also are inviting suggestions on air pollution mitigation projects the state is required to implement on Dec. 31, 2014, as a penalty for missing the legal deadline for extending Green Line service to Medford Hillside.

Download the Mock Groundbreaking flyer, tell your friends, and please join us Thursday evening at Somerville High School!

For information on the Environmental Assessment hearing, visit the Green Line Extension project website.