From: rnewman@athena.mit.edu (Ron Newman)
Newsgroups: rec.railroad,ba.transportation,talk.politics.misc,talk.environment
Subject: Boston transit (was Re: Cost of transit systems vs highways)
Date: 19 Aug 92 14:54:07 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A few days ago I sent a message to these newsgroups replying to
the assertion that new transit lines and stations always encourage
economic development.  

My reply was, "Sometimes yes, sometimes no".  I cited the success
of Porter Square (Cambridge) and Davis Square (Somerville) in 
promoting development, the mixed record of Alewife (Cambridge), and
the so-far failure of the new Orange Line stations (Ruggles, 
Jackson Square, etc.) to attract commerce and industry.

Len Bachelder e-mailed me a long reply, which he has given me
permission to post here.  Enjoy.  (If you followup this message,
be sure to attribute the statements to Len and not to me.  Thanks)

--------------------
From: Len <M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>
Subject:      Re: Cost of transit systems vs highways

Why hasn't it happened at Alewife, Jackson Square, etc.?

I don't know, obviously, but I'll take a guess.

In the case of Alewife, the place may be simply too far removed from any other
development (residential) and too hard to get to on foot.  Sort of like a
modern-day Manhattan Tranfer!  I think it will happen at Alewife, but it will
be slower and will consist of high-rise office complexes and the like.  That
will have to wait until the end of the current recession.  You hit on the key
I think when you pointed out that both Porter and Davis were minor business
centers before the T came through.  They also are surrounded by residential
areas and are so located that many people walk from their home to the T, thus
creating a steady stream of potential customers for any businesses that chose
to locate there.  By the way, you mentioned I think that both had been commuter
rail stops.  Agree on Porter, but I think you'd have to go quite a ways back -
perhaps 70 years or more I haven't checked - to find "steam" trains stopping
at West Somerville (Davis Square).  I know that the Lexington Branch trains
went that way until sometime in the 40s, but I think (without checking - I have
at home a nearly complete set of B&M public timetables since 1924) that the
station stop had been discontinued much earlier.

As for Roxbury Crossing, Jackson Square, etc., let's just say that the average
income of the area's residents is such as to be unlikely to support a large
investment in new business.  Although I think that too will come, but slowly.
Dudley Square, as you point out, is still the commercial focus of Roxbury, and
old habits are hard to change.  I think what happened in Toronto was that the
subway largely led the growth out of the city to areas that were only beginning
to develop before it came.  In Boston, at least as regards the "new" Orange
Line, what you have is a forced CHANGE in established patterns of an already
existing neighborhood(s).  That will come with more difficulty and more slowly.
What I have noticed, with a bit of very pleasant surprise, is that the
construction of the Orange Line and the establishment of the "linear park"
along much of its route has spurred a very apparent cleaning up and general
attempt at beautification of the neighborhoods immediately adjacent.  I was
very pleasantly surprised to note that particularly in the Jamaica Plain areas
the residents along the streets paralleling the new line had planted gardens,
fixed up their houses, cleaned up vacant lots, etc., and at least seem to be
trying to make some improvements to what had been a pretty dreary neighborhood.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the real difference
between the Toronto and Boston situations is that in Toronto, you had a case
of a new Subway line extending into largely undeveloped or developing areas,
whereas in Boston (Alewife excepted) the new subways run through already
established neighborhoods.  The closest analogy to Toronto's experience in
modern Boston history might be the Blue Line extension to Revere or the Red
Line to Quincy and Braintree - and I think the office complex development
around the North Quincy station is a fair analogy.  Malden Centre may be an
example also, as the focus of the city seems to be gradually shifting from
Malden Square over towards the T station.  In Toronto, the TTC has a history
of transit leading development, whereas in Boston as in most US cities, the
transit has followed development if in fact it ever extended at all.  In Metro
Toronto, the history has been that when the new apartment complexes (In Toronto
as in most Canadian cities the norm for housing even in the suburbs is highrise
apartments not single homes) and new office complexes opened up in the newly
developed suburban areas, the transit was ALREADY in place to serve them.  Now,
really, where has that happened in modern times in the Boston area?  Burlington
or East Woburn? HA!  Back in the 1880-1910 era, the horse car and then even
more so the electric trolley CREATED the "street car suburbs".  What happened
in Toronto especially along the Yonge Street corridor as the subway was first
opened to Eglinton and then progressively extended is a modern version of that
phenomenon.


Len Bachelder        Archives Committee, Boston and Maine RR Historical Society
MITRE Corp.           Secretary, Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts
Bedford MA 01730      Member, 470 Railroad Club
<M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>

"Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should'st die for me!"
                                                 - Charles Wesley

--
Ron Newman		rnewman@bbn.com