Mayor wants thousands of housing units built near the T

You know, low rents, tight architectural standards which drive up costs, banks unwilling to lend. Those poor people need all the help they can get.

It is about more than the revenue from the lease. The MBTA should retain control, ground leases, if anything, because the MBTA is a state agency that can override local snob zoning. The reason why railroads in Japan do so well is not just because they own the land around their stations, but because they put it to good use, generating high ridership through proper development of housing and business. Japanese land use laws are supportive of that, unlike here, where we often waste the land next to transit stations on terrible uses such as vacant lots, ill-placed parking lots, and dumps. By contrast, in Japan, transit stations are the hearts of neighborhoods, places where almost all the local community members pass by on their daily business, even if they're not riding the trains or buses. New England had developed that way too, with most of the nineteenth century town centers being based around a railroad station.

This will presumably not be an issue in Boston, where Marty Walsh would obviously want to control what goes on the land, and hopefully what he wants is good for the city (mid-range housing options, commerce, etc). The mayor's office can overrule the existing snob zoning ordinances written by elitists who have wanted to see Boston turned into a landscape of single-family houses that only millionaires could ever afford.

But! Land next to MBTA stations will be "transit-adjacent" for a lot longer than Marty will be around, no matter how long he manages to stay in office. The Commonwealth should see it as a priority to ensure that the transit-adjacent land is put to its best use now and forever, something that might be difficult if the equivalent of, say, Rob Ford ever gets elected here.

And there's plenty of MBTA stations that are not in Boston. The legislature should be thinking about the other towns and cities. Some of them have done a good job of preparing reasonable land use plans. Others have not, and have purposefully tried to destroy housing opportunities near transit because of a combination of snobbery, exclusion, and an attempt to create implicit segregation. By maintaining state control of land, we can combat this kind of bad behavior that profits a select few at the expense of everyone else.

Towns and cities that prepare reasonable plans for transit-adjacent land can largely be left to their own devices, but the towns and cities that are hostile to transit use should not be allowed to screw up the MBTA. Why should the rest of the Commonwealth pay big money to run transit to them, if they won't even return the courtesy of letting people live and work next to the stations?

The devil's in the details - but that sounds like it makes a lot of sense. One thing that would also be necessary would be increasing zoning around these locations which could also be used to raise the amounts they can lease for. As usual, that will and should be a discussion between the neighborhoods, the city and the T.

Look--I'm as fed up as the next guy about "luxury condos" but clue in--a lot of people WANT to be living next to the train tracks, as you put it. Being near transportation is so crucial, especially for families, so maybe you can live without the huge expense of a car or, God forbid, two cars. I think this is a great idea, especially if the T can actually make some money off it.

gets a lot of things wrong, but concentrating luxury apts in an area without any of the amenities that families need and building housing (and hopefully more affordable housing) with easy access to rapid transit is damn good idea.

...anticipating an additional 10k new vehicle trips per day through the square. Boston got the shaft on that deal, especially Sullivan Square and Charlestown.

So much for planning. :(

I bet you know how to Google(TM) as well or better than anyone else here. Why don't you try it -- and if the results of your search are useful, share them.