By Seth Daniel, News Editor
Dorchester Reporter
August 17, 2022
Looking toward Mattapan Square where the proposed center-lane bus infrastructure would be constructed if the plan were to move forward. Several months of planning is yet to come on the project, though many meetings have already happened, but already there have been plenty of naysayers.
With planning already underway for an overhaul of Blue Hill Avenue – including the addition of a center-lane busway along on the corridor from Grove Hall to Mattapan Square – most of the candidates for the new Second Suffolk Senate seat are offering various critiques of the proposal.
The four major candidates sounded off on the $60 million project at a forum on July 20 at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall sponsored by the Communities of Color coalition. While much in the Blue Hill Avenue plan is up for debate, city transportation officials have indicated in community meetings that the center-lane bus proposal is likely a non-negotiable part of the planning.
At the forum, the first question about the center-lane bus was asked of Dianne Wilkerson, who is making another run for the senate seat she last held over 10 years ago. She called the proposal “stupid,” adding, “the controversy is people are living with decisions that people make, and they don’t always know how they’ve been made, and they don’t make any sense what they do and there’s no process to un-do something that’s clearly stupid,” she said.
“You have to push a baby carriage to the middle of the street and walk up the stairs to get on the bus. It makes no sense whatsoever,” she said. “You feel like Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park are an experiment – the lab. It’s where they want to try stuff to see if it works before they go anywhere else.”
Another of the candidates, Miniard Culpepper, said the federal grant comes with a provision to create a center-lane bus. “We had a meeting, and we asked our congresswoman [Ayanna Pressley] how this happened, and she said it happened because the city asked the federal government for the money,” he noted.
He used the occasion to criticize the city’s push for bike lanes. “On American Legion Highway, they have as many bike lanes as they do car lanes, and we don’t even ride bikes like that. I haven’t seen one bike on American Legion Highway.”
Another candidate, state Rep. Nika Elugardo, said the discussion requires getting information out equitably and letting the community lead the decision-making. “The question really is what voices are being heard and even as a state rep I have taken my direction from the people in the community,” she said.
State Rep. Liz Miranda, the fourth major candidate, said most of the plans for Blue Hill Avenue have not centered the voices of those living and working there.
“There is such a thing as Green Racism and most of the transportation plans that have been put forward by [city agencies] have not centered the voices of community folks,” she said. “What we see is that they’re making changes to our community at American Legion and Columbus Ave. and now they’re saying they want to change Blue Hill Ave. But Blue Hill Ave hasn’t recovered since 1968. I’m glad this seat now centers on Blue Hill Ave., so we can finally pay attention at a state level and community level to a corridor that should be full of promise and opportunity, and it is not.”
A fifth candidate, James Grant, did not participate in the forum.
Darryl Smith, who coordinated the session as part of the Communities of Color, said the interest in Blue Hill Avenue has sparked a call for a second forum focused mostly on the Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan. It will take place on Aug. 31 in Morningstar Baptist Church.
The Democratic primary is set for Tues., Sept. 6. Early voting starts Sat., Aug. 27.