Finneran: Charlie on the MTA
Tom Finneran, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™
Finneran: Charlie on the MTA
And his fate is still unlearned.
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston,
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe’s the man who never returned”.
Surely you remember the Kingston Trio’s song about Charlie, the man who never returned from his ride on the MTA, now affectionately known as the bleepin’ T.
I started humming the song to myself a few weeks ago as I took the T over to Fenway Park to catch an afternoon game against the Chicago White Sox.
Two things occurred that day, neither one of them good.
First, Matt Barnes desperately tried to hold off the White Sox in relief. The Red Sox bats and some good fortune had given the hometown good guys a one-run lead going into the 9th inning. It had been a seesaw game up until then when suddenly Jose Abreu of the White Sox took a 97 mile per hour Matt Barnes fastball up and over the left field wall, endangering traffic on the Mass Pike. It was a no-doubt blast by Abreu, putting a damper on a beautiful day at the park.
The second ominous event that day occurred on the trolley ride I took from Park Street to Kenmore station and it involves our Governor, Charlie Baker.
I’m not a rookie when it comes to the lurches, the creaks, and squeaks of the T. I rode the trolleys and trains of the T for six years while I was a student at Boston Latin School. I followed that real-world daily experience with another five years while I was attending Northeastern University. Navigating the subway is not foreign turf to me.
What was foreign that day was the discernible fear of the patrons regarding the likelihood of getting to their destination without serious mishap. You’ll recall that multiple train derailments and other T episodes have crowded into our consciousness. And you could see the anxiety and sense the fear in people’s faces. Whenever the trolley lurched to a stop in the tunnel---to await a signal change, to merge onto a different track, or simply to navigate a sharp curve---people’s faces tightened with worry. Those mid-tunnel pauses occurred three times between Arlington Street Station and Kenmore. And each time the fear was palpable.
Charlie Baker, a very good guy and a pretty good Governor had best beware.
The Globe has recently reported that Baker is giving serious consideration to seeking a third term. According to the Globe, Baker sees some serious, seemingly intractable, problems which would, in his opinion, benefit from the continuity of focused leadership. He had best stay alert.
All the discipline that he might muster on the economy, education, healthcare, and healthy families will go up in smoke if he doesn’t quickly master serious transportation improvements. The panicked looks I saw on the faces of those T patrons were the winning advertisements of prospective opponents.
So cue the music:
“….and his fate is still unlearned,
he may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston,
he’s the man who never returned”.
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