Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,
On Thursday, May 18, 2023, approximately between 11:30 pm – 1:30 pm, an MBTA Sweeper Machine was busily spinning ’round and ’round in the interior of The Clarendon Hill Towers/MBTA Bus Terminal.
It appears the mission of this sweeper was to create a plume of dust soaring high into the atmosphere and wider than the circumference of the terminal. The bus terminal was transformed into the likes of a Sahara Desert Sandstorm!
Talk about the instant, detrimental effects of air pollution…yikes! Due to the ever-thicken-
ing haze of dust, I was forced to stand across the street. My eyes became scratchy and were actually still irritated during the Ward 7 Meeting that night.
Doubtful this little sweeper is the correct match for the expansive perimeter of the terminal and also ill-equipped, not large enough, to suck up and store the debri, pebbles, dirt created by the pothole patch- ups done a day or two earlier on several massive potholes, among sixty or more potholes MBTA’s flop job didn’t address as important?Doubtful there’s a refuse bin built into the sweeper because this model, with its thick sweeper brushes, appeared just to sweep. Oops, no, it also sweeps the dirt, dust, debri, pebbles, trash into the end perimeter of the terminal. So the sweeper sweeps all this debri into the already readily available heaps of rubble, trash, spills, bottles, rags, probably some dead rats in there, garbage that’s been accumulating here for years!
Oh, but the best is yet to come! I could see that the super-huge, gaping potholes were finally patched up…finally!…and thank goodness. But due to the thick layer of dust on the ground created by the sweeper which formed an even layer of dust…it appeared all the potholes were patched…they were NOT patched! So, that’s why this MBTA typical “put a bandage on the problem” technique was just another pathetic Flop Job!
Maybe, and I can’t now verify this…but just maybe Brad called his MBTA colleagues and asked them to fill in the gaping potholes so big that eventually a bus tire would get stuck. I repeatedly informed Brad of this exact problem while standing in line at many Ward Meetings to speak with him about the MBTA Bus Terminal problems in its entirety. I think he probably mentioned only this bus tire maybe getting stuck fact to his friends at the MBTA, without emphazing the remaining sixty plus potholes and cracks requiring urgent, simultaneous repair!
Brad Rawson, as Head of Transporta-tion and Infrastructure at The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, OSPCD and Executive Director, Michael F. Glavin, are the City of Somerville Liason to The MBTA.
The Somerville Bus Riders Take Action Committee and other advocacy groups do regularly advocate to Brad Rawson. Brad is then supposed to advocate on our behalf, with exact specifics of job requests with top priority necessity to the MBTA!
Brad obviously forgot the specifics of sixty plus dangerous, unpatched potholes and cracks in this terminal. This terminal is in dire need of a complete overall and compete expert repaving of same…by the way, an EXPERT JOB PLEASE! NO MORE SLOB FLOP JOBS!
Ward 7 Citizens expect a Notice published in specifically The Somerville/Medford Weekly Newspaper as well as other publications with specific details and dates when MBTA will start and complete this urgent project.
Very disappointing-ly, neither Brad Rawson, nor Michael F. Gavin were present at The Ward 7 Meeting; the “mayor” left half way through the meeting. I would like these officials to take note that Ward Mtgs are high priority to its citizens. These people should make sure they have no schedule conflicts and also show a modicum of respect to the attendees and manage to sit through the entire Ward 7 Meeting. The time, schedules and responsibili-ties of the citizens of Somerville are equal and as important as whatever these official have going for themselves!
Karen Glover
#MBTA flopjobs# Brad:trouble
withhisatten-
tion span.