"Live-blog" of Tim Murray event

Network access in the basement of the Morse Institute Library in Natick was very spotty, so the "live-blogging" took place offline, and was posted afterwards.

Apologies to anybody whose names I missed / mangled.

7:15 Lt Gov Murray has arrived, and the moderator Tim Dooley is introducing the forum and guidelines. Quick run-down of recent events, including transportation commission report, mileage tax, gas tax increase.

7:20 Murray thanks Natick Democrats, talks briefly about experience in government in last 10 years.

7:22 Biggest surprise in last nine months on the job? Amount of deferred maintenance and work -- $15-19B. We need to come up with creative solutions to address this shortfall. Must avoid not just Minnesota-style bridge collapses, but everyday traffic slowdowns, potholes and stresses on infrostructure. Chapter 90 money restored but not back to pre-2002 levels.

7:24 Deferred maintenance due to "alice in wonderland" style thinking, just wishing it away. Can't run businesses or households that way, so why run gov't? Talks about closing famous loopholes (companies claiming different statuses in state and federal returns) to fund Chapter 90 funding, among others. Also tax telephony infrastructure.

7:28 In last 4 years $1.2B in employee salaries have migrated from operating budget to 80% in capital budget(!). Equivalent to paying employees by issuing municipal bonds -- not sustainable.

7:31 Casinos proposal designed to "recapture revenue lost to CT and RI", use half of funds for property tax relief and the rest for deferred maintenance. Amount saved in property tax, per capita, would be greater than amount saved by reducing income tax from 5.3% to 5.0%.

7:34 Secretary of Transportation is on a weekly or biweekly basis sitting down with heads of Mass Highway, MassPike, Massport, etc, for first time in a long time.

7:35 Minnesota reminds us that infrastructure is taken for granted. Built in 50s for the future, but under-maintained since then. Important that we step up and keep it in shape.

7:37 First question from Patrick Reffett. Lots of local projects need attention, but take just four. 1) Route 9 (major local artery), esp intersections. 2) MBTA accessibility. 13% of Natick have mobility issues. 3) More parking for MBTA facilities to enable greater use of mass transit. 4) Local community must be entity to design and redesign access to local state highways. Natick will have to spend $1.5M to redo 135 and 27 because state has dropped these highways in our lap.

7:40 Murray: Route 9 has issues along the way, yes. Look at grants for, eg Mathworks expansion, to include highway redesign to handle increased traffic. MBTA: Could spend whole forum on MBTA alone. In office of mayor had to handle MBTA issues often. MBTA pays 26% of annual revenue towards debt relief. To expand accessibility and parking, this situation needs to be remedied. Was able to free up some funds to handle Framingham downtown rail situation, and also in Ashland.

7:44 Town manager of Ashland: Thanks administration for viewing municipal-state relations as more of a partnership. MetroWest has really come together as a region in last two decades, including recent establishment of local RTA. Plenty of parking in Ashland, but rail service to Ashland is spotty. Ashland full of at-grade crossing; just this afternoon town was effectively cut in half by giant CSX train. Anything state can do to help with rail issues is greatly appreciated.

7:47 Murray: Governor ran on bringing government closer to people and local governments, and will continue living up to that.

7:48 Peter Golden, Natick Town Mtg Member: Problems faced here are similar to problems faced across the country. Are we looking outside the state (other regions and federal gov't) for help or ideas in solving our problems?

7:49 Murray: Yes, we have, and will continue to do so. In first two weeks, Patrick for example, rejoined New England Governor's Association (which Romney withdrew from). NEGA governors meet on a regular basis to talk about common issues, esp transportation since our transportation tends to be older than the rest of the nation's. MN governor campaigned on no new taxes devoted to transportation, and is now reconsidering this... Patrick admin also beefing up DC office to deal with federal issues.

7:54 Josh Ostroff, Natick selectman: What can be done to avert pike toll increase? Thoughts on negotiations with CSX to improve rail service, and on rail trail issues?

7:55 Murray: Only in the last month have we been able to appoint members to Pike Authority, so that's just getting started. However there were bond agreements signed by Pike that demand payment, and increases *may* be needed to make these payments. Looking at matter hard, figure out how to mitigate increase. CSX: Huge corporation, makes gov't look swift. Patrick has met with VP of CSX. We think we have their attention in paying attention to our issues and usage of the tracks. Trying to improve timeliness and even quantity of trains (c.f. Ashland above).

8:01 Dave Margil, Natick Town Mtg Member: If a casino goes in somewher, what will be done to mitigate impact on transportation issues?

8:02 Murray: Anticipate $450 million to go to property tax relief *after* taking into account loss of revenues to lottery, health care fund (2.5% of casino revenues), and local infrastructure and safety issues.

8:05 Former soviet union citizen from Framingham: Governor ran on "together we can" and indeed, we all have to do things together, join ideas. Need to change our system to effect change. Need to find efficiencies to solve our problems.

8:08 Murray: We are working to find efficiencies, and when we do that more people will be able to use the system at less cost. Bringing major agencies together to find efficiencies.

8:13 Deede Bergeron: Whenever costs arise in road budget, it always seems like the funds come out of MBTA budget money. This discourages use of MBTA

8:15 Murray: Big Dig federal money required state matching funds, so state authorities had to contribute money. This has continued to today, especially as fuel costs have gone up. Need to find efficiencies and revenues to pay off MBTA debt, for example.

8:18 Tom Mahoney, Framingham planning board: Rail crossing work has been very important for both Framingham and rail crossing, thank you. Need to keep in mind Route 9 growth, not just in Natick/Framingham, but out to Southborough and beyond. Right-of-way limited, need to perhaps set up intelligent light timing and command center to handle more traffic. Many towns involved, maybe a regional planning system?

8:19 Murray: This could perhaps be a function of an RTA. Could engage in a pilot program, find the funds.

8:20 Steven Zee, Wayland: How to reconcile transportation issues which may require "benevolent dictatorship" to resolve issues, with traditional local management by 351 towns and cities?

8:22 Murray: Co-operation between state operations is a start. Regional planning, communities given incentives for participating in this process. Companies looking to grow, but can't due to lack of permitted sites. Devens is a good success story -- site was pre-permitted and ready to go. Getting rid of county governments introduced problems -- they were the regional governments, and now they're gone. Franklin County towns have banded together into Franklin Council, an interesting idea the state is investigating.

8:26 Question on index card: Carpooling.

8:26 Murray: Cabinet of transportation officials have discussed growing the MassRides program. Some businesses are sponsoring van service-type carpooling. State wants to encourage these "mini-RTAs" for neighborhoods and industrial parks. More commuter boats in Boston. Think outside the box.

8:28 Ross from Natick: In Boston it was very easy to find a bus to get places. Out here in Natick if you want to go to other suburbs, it's hard to get there via public transport, or to get from other suburbs to rail system.

8:29: Murray: Major concern. RTAs try to address these issues, but face spending issues, and bus routes get cut, particular remote routes. State is trying to grow and encourage RTAs. Murray takes the train periodically.

8:30 Q con'td: What about town shuttles etc?

8:31 Murray: Some towns and cities do do this; needs encouragement. Public-private partnerships may handle this aspect.

8:31 Karen Schlosberg, Natick Dems chair: Can funds come from gas taxes, discourage gas-guzzlers, to improve fuel supply for buses and public transport?

8:32 Murray: One idea floated is to alter registration fees based on fuel efficiency. Look around the country and study what improves fuel efficiency.

8:34 Walter, chairman of transportation for Marlborough: Jobs: 20,000 jobs for the new casinos. At 495 & 9, EMC is looking to hire 7,000 jobs, but how will they get to work? Local highways are at capacity. Regionally, up to 100,000 jobs could be generated if the infrastructure existed for people to get to work. 100,000 jobs = $4.6B/year in state tax revenues. Why is there virtually no funding for this area of potential high growth? Why emphasis on casinos as job creators and not this crucial transportation plans and funding?

8:37 Murray: Just to be clear, this is not an either/or proposition vs the casinos. Casinos are trying to recapture funds lost to CT and RI. We did, though, lose the 100,000 jobs you mentioned. Trends recently, though, are looking up. Consider Evergreen Solar, staying in Massachusetts and generating lots of jobs. Can't ignore 20,000 jobs paying average of $36K each, though, in casinos.

8:41 Steve Roach, Natick: Regional casinos great idea. Much better than slots @ tracks, which would only encourage tracks to stay around when they should go away for a variety of reasons. Most important thing for state to do is get airtight contracts with casinos and controlled growth. Casino control commission kept Mob out of Atlantic City casinos, need to pay attention here. Cites Atlantic City growth to casinos.

8:44 Murray: 24,000 jobs will be created by casinos, and will provide boon to areas around casinos. Need vigilant and independant gaming commissions to keep criminal element out of casinos. Casinos will pay for special state police facilities in the casinos. Learn from best practices and worst practices from Atlantic City.

8:46: Me: Nevermind the $15-19 billion shortfall in maintenance; do we have the necessary workers to complete the task? Or will we end up with a bunch of 9/16 bridges (a bridge in Wellesley that has been under construction for over five years)?

8:47: Murray: We're certainly not going to get all the money at once, and we are working on a plan to do the maintenance task by task, bearing in mind the workforce available, which is sufficient.

8:50: Dick Miller, Natick: Re dialogues with CSX. Need to improve transit into Boston, roads are jam-packed. Mass transit not currently inviting for lots of reasons. Can't park in downtown Natick. Possibly mix public and private transportation solutions, including bicycles and feet. Bike/ped infrastructure very poor, can be improved. In MA, 4 railtrails are stymied due to CSX asking unreasonable prices for right-of-ways. Rail-trails not just a walk in the woods, can be method of getting to railroad stations. Need help from state in dealing with CSX. Boston MPO not much help; typically funds 5 road projects out of 300 vying for attention. MA turns down tons of federal funds due to state policy requiring 25% money down and planning done by town.

8:57: Murray: Interesting ideas, will look into it.

8:57: Murray, closing thoughts as library closes at 9: Old adage, should leave things better than we found it. Appeals to Democratic core principals of investing in people, and our attention is on transportation and making it work.