Roche: Getting help from T in East Somerville is 'like pulling teeth'

By George P. Hassett

In the winter they don't shovel. And in the spring, they don't clean up. That, according to Ward One Alderman Bill Roche, is how the MBTA keeps up their property in East Somerville.

“There is no cooperation,” he said of the MBTA's response to neighborhood complaints about how they maintain their property. “[Getting them to respond] is like pulling teeth.”

Roche submitted an order at last week's Board of Aldermen meeting asking the MBTA
to clean up debris around the tracks near the Cross St. bridge. He said people use the area as an illegal dump, making the views from Chester Avenue and Tufts Street homes unsightly.

Nearby, an underpass owned by the MBTA and used by Somerville residents to get from Broadway to Sullivan Station is dark, dirty and dangerous. East Somerville resident Ellin Reisner said after rainy days when ice accumulates on the walkway she must hold on to the chain link fence to keep from falling. She has seen elderly pedestrians forced to walk in the street to avoid the ice, she said.

“When I saw a little old lady forced to walk in the street I thought this is obscene,” Reisner said. But for years, she said community members could not get a straight answer about who was responsible for the walkway's upkeep.

In March Reisner wrote a letter to the Globe about the problem and the MBTA admitted it was their land. She said the area has been cleaned up since then but remains dark, even during the day.

“[The sidewalk from Broadway to Maffa Way] is a huge entry point to Somerville. This would never be tolerated in the Back Bay,” she said.

A phone call to the MBTA before the News' deadline was not immediately returned.

Comments

[???]

And we're requesting that this outrageous behavior take place in even more parts of the city? And expected to host their maintenance facility as well? We must have 'sucker' written across our foreheads! Check out the area around the Davis Square T - always dirty and unsightly. I hope everyone is happy when the entire city begins to look more like Allston than like a small suburban city! This is a disgrace, but I don't see it changing. Somerville has no pull statewide, despite Curtatones' support of the governor. Our legislative delegation....must we continue to repeat ourselves.....is ineffective or unqualified.

[Ron Newman]

Davis Square is pretty well kept up. The problem with Sullivan is that it's a backwater area of the City of Boston with few residents and no political constituency.

[Rob]

Ron's right. The issue with the T's lack of maintenance is generally with their secondary property, as opposed to the primary property like the stations. The T has a brutal track record of doing nothing to maintain pathways, tracks, overhangs, etc.

[Tricky]

Also, the area in question is controlled by an amalgam of powers (City of Boston, MBTA, MassHighway), none of whom seem to have a blanket approach to the area.

[Tricky]

Could anyone imagine a land swap between cities? Somerville gets everything west of I-93, and Boston gets everything east of the Orange Line except Draw 7 park. Deal or no deal?

[Roche is the best]

Bill Roche is the city's best ward alderman, with Bob Trane coming in a close second. I wouldn't want to cheat off either guy's english or geography exam, but unlike Becky Boo Hoo they do their job: they respond to neighborhood concerns and they know their ward because they walk it everyday. Stay on the MBTA's hide Bill, don't let them continue to underserve the neighborhood.

[Yes]

Bill is a VG Alderman. Reality tells us the "T" does what it wants. That what we get in return for BEGGING for the Orange Line stop in the deserted Assembly Sq. and the never-to-be-used Green line. Besides the this facility, we get the drunks from boston and the stench of urine....

[robert g.]

Why is it always the T's fault? How about looking at the residents who litter? half the people in east somerville could give a damn what their city looks like. trash piled in front of triple deckers, bottles and papers everywhere. Carriages left all over. They belong in cages. I am so sick of people blaming the T or the city when all they have to do is look at themselves.

[Ron Newman]

This problem has nothing to do with the residents who live in East Somerville, except that they have to walk through this area to get to the Sullivan Square T stop. The problem area is outside Somerville, in the city of Boston. That city and the T need to clean this area up, light it properly, and widen the inadequate sidewalk leading from Broadway to the station.