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Typical: MBTA screws up fare-hike hearing
By adamg on Tue, 06/06/2006 - 11:37pm
Jason tried to attend the MBTA fare-hike hearing at the BPL tonight:
It was a disaster. ... The public hearing for the City of Boston (about 600,000 people) was held in a room with a capacity of 125. It was full and no other citizens could be accommodated. I counted at least 54 people who couldn't get into the hearing room. As one person left the meeting, another was let in. There was no sound system in place, so it was not possible to hear the meeting while it was going on from outside the room. It was scheduled from 4:30 - 6:30. Many people took off of work to attend the meeting. They wasted their time because there wasn't enough room. The MBTA employees had to be outside the room to accommodate citizens wanting to make statements. Those employees were rude and dismissive of the concerns of those of us trapped outside. ... The choice of this very small room can only be understood as a purposeful attempt to frustrate open and transparent process in the Commonwealth and is indicative of the dismissive and aristocratic demeanor of the MBTA staff who organized it and who were at the hearing.
Jen Stewart also reports on the hearing and posts photos from the rally before it.
Mass. Marrier has meeting notes - with even more here.
Chris Cagle files his report, focusing on the T's current state-mandated funding mechanism.
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Comments
Important Info for Those Unable to Attend Hearings
I wanted to make sure to post this info here in the comments, as I'm sure more people will see it here than on my blog:
Per the MBTA's website, you can email or mail your statement if you cannot make it to one of the hearings (or show up at a hearing that doesn't have room to accommodate everyone interested in attending). From their website:
Comments may be made concerning the Fare Proposal and Fare Policy in order that the Board of Directors may give consideration to the effect on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of this proposal and policy. The MBTA’s Fare Policy is available on the website at www.mbta.com. Written comments will be accepted through June 30, 2006 and should be mailed to MBTA, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116, Attn: Fare Policy Committee, or sent via email to [email protected].
Personally, I think that, if people DO decide to use this option (and I strongly encourage people to do so), they should cc their state reps and senators on the emails.
Also, I actually only posted photos of the rally, not the hearing. I was seated too far up front at the hearing to get much in the way of photos without being a pest to all around me, and the one photo I took from the back, before leaving, was too blurry to post.
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Jen Stewart
Boston Herald Article
Boston Herald covers (too briefly for my tastes, but at least there's some coverage) the rally and the hearing here. I don't see anything over on the Globe's site, at least not yet.
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Jen Stewart