Green Line report criticized at Somerville hearing

Somerville Chamber of Commerce President Steve Mackey advocated for an economic development plan for the Green Line Extension Project at a public hearing at Somerville High School Nov. 18. ~Photo by Tom Nash By Tom Nash Elected officials and residents weighed in on a Green Line extension environmental report last Wednesday, with dozens putting in more than three hours of testimony cautioning state officials to analyze the project more thoroughly. The Green Line Extension Project, mandated by the federal government as mitigation for the pollution caused by the Big Dig, will reach from the current terminus at Lechmere Station through Medford and Union Square. The recently released Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment (DEIR) analyzes a variety of environmental issues in extending the service. The meeting, held at Somerville High School, began with a presentation from Green Line Project Manager Kate Fichter but quickly became a forum for a wide variety of officials and residents to explain why the DEIR is lacking. The majority of those commenting spoke against the proposal to put a Green Line maintenance facility on a site in Brickbottom known as Yard 8, adjacent to a converted industrial space that now serves as an artist community. Residents and city officials argued that in addition to quality of life issues Brickbottom neighbors would face, the real estate should be used for economic development or risk losing millions in lost tax base revenue. Aldermen Rebekah Gewirtz, Dennis Sullivan and Bill White registered their opposition to the Yard 8 plan, demanding to know why alternative proposals created by the city were not taken on instead. White said that unlike those who decided to route I-93 through the city, the decision makers at the Department of Transportation would not be able to hide in obscurity. "I'll promise you folks, if Yard 8 goes through where it's sited I'm going to ask the Somerville library to create some shelf space, and we're going to call it 'DOT's Folly,'" he said. "We're going to have the information there." Brickbottom resident George Gabin, a painter, said he had lived through the commuter rail line maintenance facility being put in a half-mile away and isn't willing to put up with the noise just across from his home. "We are a creative group of people, and we are being threatened," Gabin said. "From the moment your bulldozers come, we will be in misery." "I'm 78-years-old," he added. "If it comes to it, I will be the first one laying down in front of those bulldozers." Others, including Medford city officials, picked apart the report's lack of detail in areas relating to disability access, storm water management and traffic issues. Steve Mackey, president of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, said state officials need to include a plan for economic growth in addition to studying the project's environmental impact. "Let's not have another meeting without the Office of Housing and Economic Development," Mackey said. "Let's not underestimate the gateway to Boston and Cambridge -- the Innerbelt and Brickbottom area -- and let's not submit a $1 billion project without an economic development plan." The DEIR can be found at www.greenlineextension.org or public libraries in Somerville, Cambridge and Medford. Written comments will be accepted until Jan. 8 through e-mail to [email protected] or by mail to Secretary Ian Bowles, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, MEPA Office, Attn: Holly Johnson, MEPA Analyst, EEA #13886, 100 Cambridge St., Suite 900, Boston, MA 02114.