For several years now, ABC has facilitated quarterly meetings of a South Boston Stakeholders group, bringing together the public and private sectors to discuss land development and infrastructure projects in the neighborhood. When the group met May 2, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, there was quite a bit to discuss.

Kicking off the meeting, ABC President and CEO acknowledged Tim Rowe and Brian Dacey of the Cambridge Innovation Center, who broke ground on a new facility near Fan Pier just the day before. The group then heard a presentation from John Drew, President and CEO of The Drew Company, on his Waterside Place development, which will be breaking ground later in the month. The development will combine high-end rental residential units with first-floor retail and amenities – including, in a welcome first for the neighborhood, a pharmacy.

After Mr. Drew, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Executive Director Jim Rooney gave the group an update on the T5 Initiative to make Boston a top 5 convention city. The final proposal to come out last year’s Convention Partnership meetings calls for a new ballroom and expand exhibit halls; a new headquarters hotel; and encouragement of mid-priced hotels in the vicinity. Mr. Rooney discussed the first phase of the initiative, which involves legislation to modify a restriction on new hotel construction south of Summer Street and to authorize new capital construction.

Of course, we need to continue to upgrade our infrastructure to accommodate all this new development. Peter Gori of the BRA updated the group on streetscape improvements for Summer and Congress streets, as part of the City’s Crossroads Initiative.

This is part of the same effort that is currently underway on Broad Street: widening sidewalks, installing trees and street furniture, and generally making streets safer and more welcoming for bicyclists and pedestrians.

We’re looking forward to hearing what Director Meade will tell our members about these projects and the many others that are currently being planned or under construction in the city.

Thanks to our generous sponsors (Cambridgeside Galleria, Forest City Enterprises, One Kendall Square, Jones Lang LaSalle, John Hancock, and our title sponsor MIT Commuter Connections), the Challenge is completely free. All you have to do is sign up online, fill out your work/school information, home zip code, and how much you plan to cycle during May 14-21 for commuting, errands, and pleasure. The website tallies trips and miles by affiliation and home community, so you can track your team’s progress using the Online Leader Board.

The Challenge is only one of many events taking place during the month of May. In the weeks leading up to Bay State Bike Week, A Better City TMA will be hosting bike breakfasts across the city, providing free coffee, pastries, and bike tune-ups. And after all the miles are logged, we’ll recognize the top teams in various categories at the Annual Bike Bash, which will be held on May 23^rd at FlatTop Johnny’s in Kendall Square from 5:30-7:30pm. In addition to enjoying great food and drink, we’ll be raffling off some fantastic bike-themed prize packages generously donated by local bike shops and distributors.

Whether making a short trip to public transportation, or traveling door to door, bicycling has these additional benefits:

- Increases fitness, reduces obesity
- Frees you from train schedules and car traffic
- Relieves stress
- Reduces commuter costs
- Improves air quality
- Decreases auto congestion
- Reduces infrastructure and facilities costs
- Reduces dependence on foreign oil

The MassCommuter Challenge is organized by MassCommute, the non‐profit commuter services organization representing the 11 Transportation Management Associations (TMAs) in Massachusetts.  Collectively, these TMAs provide commuter services to over 250 businesses and nearly 300,000 employees across the Commonwealth.  MassCommute aims to encourage bicycling as a viable commuter choice to businesses and employees throughout the Commonwealth, and to encourage short trips by bike for shopping, errands, and appointments.

Find us on Facebook – MassCommuter-Challenge

Follow us on Twitter - @MCChallenge

The Urban Ring will enable growth and development in areas of Boston and the region that would otherwise be inhibited by congestion and a lack of mobility.

ABC and its members continue to advocate for implementation of Urban Ring early actions through our Urban Ring Committee and our leadership role in the Citizens Advisory Committee.  It is critical that the current momentum established by these initiatives continues, and that we articulate the need and gain support for transportation improvements and expansion of service in the Urban Ring corridor.

East Boston

In East Boston, Massport is constructing the East Boston / Chelsea Bypass Road located along an abandoned railroad right of way between the Airport MBTA Station and the new Chelsea Street Bridge.  Construction is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2012.  The Bypass Road will take trucks heading to Logan Airport off local streets and accommodate improved bus service between the Blue Line and Chelsea.  In the future, Silver Line service may be extended from South Station via Airport Station into Chelsea, as part of a plan studied last year by MassDOT.

Roxbury

In Roxbury, the Boston Transportation Department and its consultants are developing a redesign of Melnea Cass Boulevard that will provide bus lanes for local buses and future Urban Ring service.  The current design approach includes separate bus lanes in the center median of the boulevard, consistent with the concept developed as part of the November 2008 Locally Preferred Alternative of the Urban Ring.

Longwood Medical Area

The Medical Academic and Scientific Community Organization (MASCO) has conducted a study of how to improve bus operations to and through the Longwood Area and recommended improvements to bus routes that are being evaluated by MassDOT.  Yawkey Station, which is served by MASCO shuttle buses to the Medical Area and future Urban Ring bus service, will see improvements to the commuter rail platform and better pedestrian connections to local streets and the new development over and adjacent to the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Kendall Square

Kendall Square in Cambridge is experiencing significant growth as space for biotech and high tech companies locating adjacent to MIT continues to expand and attract new enterprises.  As the City of Cambridge guides planning efforts in Kendall Square, it is clear that as automobile trips to the area decline, transit trips and the need for adequate capacity increase.  Toward that end, the planning process has identified near term and longer term solutions that will provide improved connections for riders on the Orange Line and the Green Line to the Red Line at Kendall Square.

Working on the T is an uphill battle, which is why it’s nice to be able to take a break and learn about a project that’s moving forward. Last Friday, the ABC Young Leaders committee hosted a luncheon with Don Wiest, the president of Boston Public Market Association (BPMA). The BPMA currently runs seasonal farmer’s markets in Dewey Square and City Hall Plaza, and the group has been selected by the state to plan, build and operate a year-round, indoor public market in the “Parcel 7″ building directly above the Haymarket T station, along the Rose Kennedy Greenway. (You can view the BPMA proposal for the market here.)

Don — along with Yanni Tsipis, a BPMA board member and a co-chair of the ABC Young Leaders — took the group through the project, from the history of the neighborhood as a market district up to the potential vendors and products that will be offered when the new market opens sometime in 2014.

When completed, the final market will have room for roughly 40 vendors inside and more on the sidewalks along the Greenway in nice weather. The space will also house a demonstration kitchen where prominent local chefs will teach visitors how to prepare the fresh produce for sale. It’ll also serve as a culinary classroom for local school kids to learn healthy eating habits.

In part to distinguish itself from the Haymarket vendors that operate nearby on weekends, the Public Market will focus on locally sourced foods from Massachusetts, New England and New York. Prices at the indoor market will likely be higher than at the Haymarket, and the Haymarket vendors will benefit from the creation of a new “market district” that will reconnect Haymarket with shops and vendors across the Greenway in the North End. The project will also help to activate another section of the Greenway, just to the north of the Harbor Islands Pavilion and the Greenway carousel.

The state has released $4 million to fund the planning and build-out of the market. The BPMA is now working to raise the another $11 million to cover the rest of the cost of the project.  Their goal is to have the market up and running sometime in 2014.

Thanks to Don and Yanni for bringing us up to speed on this exciting new project. We look forward to tracking the project as it progresses — and eating there when it opens!

Nicole was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions about her tenure at Boston Bikes, her next steps, and how to keep the bike momentum going after she leaves. Speaking for the staff at ABC (many of whom are active in the cycling community) and for our members (including many inaugural sponsors of the Hubway bike sharing program), I can say Nicole will be sorely missed. We’re grateful for the 5 incredibly productive years she spent working on biking in Boston.

What would you say was the single biggest accomplishment during your tenure as Boston’s bike “czar”?

Under the Mayor’s leadership, I would say the top three accomplishments of the Boston Bikes program have been launching the New Balance Hubway system, adding 50 miles of bike lanes, and creating and implementing a national model for community bike programs.

You’re going from building urban infrastructure to building rural infrastructure, as executive director of Maine Huts and Trails. What attracted to you that position? 

The job is actually quite similar, just in a more rural and lower-income area. As Executive director of Maine Huts and Trails, I will building out a hut system, as well as a trail system for hut-to-hut hiking, skiing and biking. Our goal is to get to about 10 huts and 200 miles of trails, and turn the western mountain region of Maine into a world-class outdoor recreation area. This, of course, will substantially help the local economy.

You’re a former Olympic cyclist; do you still have time to train?  What’s your favorite ride around these parts?

I do often ride; train would be an overstatement for what I do! [My favorite ride is] biking out to Hale Reservation in Dover.

What advice do you have for fellow cyclists who want to effect change in their communities?

1) Show up at the community meetings in support of bike projects; 2) Get your office or school to promote cycling; 3) Encourage all your non-cycling friends to ride. Our bottom line is the same — get more people cycling. The best way is the direct way.

Introducing Rick’s section on civic engagement, we found a slide taken in the 1970s of a granite railroad embankment in Roxbury with the words “Stop I-95 People before highways.” This was a rallying cry of the local movement that stopped the construction of the Southwest Expressway and Inner Belt in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge.

In many ways ABC’s civic engagement is an extension of that movement.  That activism led Governor Frank Sargent to declare a moratorium on most highway construction within Route 128 in 1970, and led to the creation of the Boston Transportation Planning Review or BTPR – the most significant and consequential planning study for Boston in a generation.

In 2012, there will be a commemoration of the 40^th anniversary of BTPR’s findings that led Governor Sargent to abandon plans for the highways, substitute investment in transit construction, and ultimately led to construction of the Central Artery / Tunnel Project that in turn led to the origins of ABC as an advocate for sound transportation planning and appropriate mitigation of project impacts.

The broad outlines of “Scenario 3″ bear a striking resemblance to what ABC called for in our position paper on the MBTA: a fare hike of no more than 25%, very limited service cuts, continued reforms and cost savings, and some form of outside help from other transportation or non-transportation revenues. As a result, we at ABC applaud the T for putting together Scenario 3 and are generally supportive of the proposal.

The Details: Hikes and Cuts

Specifically, the T is proposing:

- An average 23% fare hike across all modes. With a CharlieCard, a subway ride will go from $1.70 to $2, and a bus trip from $1.25 to $1.50. A monthly link pass will go from $59 to $70. (View the full list of proposed pass rates.)

- The cost of the Ride paratransit service would go from $2 to $4, or $5 for “premium trips” outside the federally mandated service area.

-Four weekday bus routes (the 48, 355, 500 and 710) will be eliminated. Other bus routes will be modified. This is far fewer cuts than were proposed under either of the previous scenarios.

-Commuter Rail service will be maintained for most lines on weekends but eliminated on the Greenbush, Plymouth & Kingston and Needham lines. Green Line E branch service will continue on weekends, but trains will stop at Brigham Circle instead of Heath Street. This preserves access to the the major cultural institutions along Huntington Avenue, and to the Longwood Medical Area.

-Ferry service is maintained but with higher fares; weekend service to and from Quincy will be eliminated.

Courtesy: The Boston Globe

 Other Monies

Taken together, these fare hikes and service cuts generate about $100 million of the $161 million deficit. To make up the rest of the gap, MassDOT is relying on savings from additional reforms and one time revenues, including:

- $5 million from the long-term lease of the North Station parking garage;

- $5 million in surplus snow and ice removal monies left over after the mild winter; and, most importantly,

- $51 million from the Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund.

The garage lease money is not a surprise, nor is the snow and ice, although many experts thought that amount would be much larger than it ultimately turned out to be. What is perhaps most surprising about Scenario 3 is the amount of money MassDOT was able to find in the Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund. This fund collects the $29 fees from annual vehicle inspections and sets them aside for air quality mitigation. Since public transit is in itself a form of mitigation, it makes sense to apply these funds to the T. Still, the legislature needs to give MassDOT permission to transfer these funds to the T.

We knew MassDOT was eyeing fees of this nature to help close the gap, but most observers were surprised that they were able to find such a large sum — so large, in fact, that it enables MassDOT to balance the T’s books without any non-transportation revenues from the legislature. That’s good news. The bad news is, because MassDOT is taking virtually the entire surplus in the fund to deal with this year’s problem, those funds will not be available to help in the future. In fact, the T is now projecting that the deficit going into FY 2014 will be $100-110 million, as opposed to $40 million if the T had implemented Scenario 1 or 2. That means more fare hikes and service cuts — unless elected officials can come up with a longer-term solution between now and then.

Next Steps

So what happens now? MassDOT has filed legislation that enacts the cost-savings and reforms it’s counting on, and giving it the authority to use the inspection fees to help the T. That bill will be vetted by the Transportation Committee and then, hopefully, voted into law and signed by the Governor. That will make the T whole for the coming year.

The public process around these proposals has played out as well as it could be expected to. The T proposed two very harsh scenarios and then heard from the general public, in record numbers, that they were unacceptable. They went to the drawing board, scrubbed the numbers and came back with a package that, while still pretty severe, is much more in line with what the T has done in the past. It is also mostly consistent with the overwhelming preference in the public comments for a fare hike instead of broad service cuts. Not everyone will be happy; indeed, some advocates have decided to oppose any and all fare hikes and service cuts. But given the severe financial situation facing the T and rest of state government, we at ABC think that Scenario 3 represents a good one-year fix.

That said, it’s important to recognize that that’s all it is: a one-year fix. If we want to avoid another round of public hearings about fare hikes and service cuts, the administration and legislature need to address the underlying structure problems that are driving the T’s deficits. Chief among them is the enormous debt load the authority is carrying. Debt poses a different kind of problem for the state’s highway program, where we are borrowing hundreds of millions to pay for basic operations and maintenance.

So, even though we are happy that MassDOT has come up with a self-contained fix for the T, we continue to call for the administration and the legislature to create a task force to begin working on a comprehensive transportation finance plan for the entire Commonwealth. The good news is that both the Governor and the Speaker have signaled a willingness to tackle this issue first thing next year. In the meantime, ABC will be working with other advocates and members of the business community to keep the pressure on.

In a way, the T risks becoming a victim of its own success. Scenario 3 presents the legislature with a relatively painless solution to vote on, instead of dipping into non-transportation resources or raising new revenues. Once the T is “solved” for this year, transportation as an issue may drop off the radar screen. We can’t afford for that to happen. The public hearings about the T were the start of the “serious conversation” about transportation finance that we have needed to have for years. Now it’s up to all of us to keep that conversation going.

Since 1996, ABC TMA has assisted employees with their commutes to work by providing comprehensive programs and services that encourage public transit, ridesharing, biking and walking. We also engage in advocacy for improved transportation options, and assist members with Transportation Access Agreement Plan compliance to mitigate the impacts of development on congestion and mobility. All of this has resulted in the prevention of over 115,000 single occupancy vehicle miles and supported participants in logging more than 12,000 car free days in 2011 alone.

ABC TMA currently serves over 80,000 commuters in the downtown and Back Bay areas of Boston, including employees and tenants at MGH, John Hancock, the Prudential Center, and State Street Bank. Through a generous grant from the Barr Foundation, the TMA has launched an expansion to serve businesses and buildings in the Fenway, Kenmore, Allston, and Brighton neighborhoods. TMA staff is working with potential members, including some of the largest employers, developers, and institutions in the city, to identify a list of needs specific to the area and to create plans to implement TMA services at these worksites. Through the grant, new members will receive free participation in the TMA for one year.

The Boson Red Sox hosted our kickoff meeting of the Fenway, Kenmore, Allston, Brighton group at historic Fenway Park. Transportation Commissioner Thomas Tinlin discussed the important role that TMAs serve in Boston. In addition to the Red Sox, representatives from Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and New Balance were also in attendance.

If you build it, they will come

ABC TMA is one of 11 TMAs in the Commonwealth that serve defined geographic areas. The Allston, Brighton, Fenway, and Kenmore areas face unique mobility challenges in terms of access to public transportation. These neighborhoods are the fastest growing in the city and support a diverse mix of students, medical facilities, growing businesses, and active residents. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, there is approximately 8,500,000 square feet of mixed used development plans in the works. These projects translate into trips that will be generated in the future – trips that ABC TMA and its partners hope will be in something other than a single occupancy vehicle.

In addition to a proven menu of commuter programs, ABC TMA participation offers an opportunity to partner with other leaders to shape the future of transportation in this fast growing area of Boston. Expansion into this area of the city will help to ensure that commuters will be provided with many transportation options, benefitting employees and residents alike. Our hope is that with the TMA and its services in place, they will come – via public transit, carpool, walking or biking.

For more information on the TMA, visit www.abctma.com or contact Aileen O’Rourke at aorourke@abettercity.org.

In urban planning parlance, providing attractions like food trucks is one way to “activate” a public space. That’s been a key part of the mission of ABC, which has been involved with the Rose Kennedy Greenway since it was first planned during the Big Dig. The Greenway is a major focus of the third type of work that we do here, in the area of land development.

The Big Dig was more than transportation project. It was also an opportunity to remove an elevated highway that had split the downtown in two for decades, creating opportunities to reconnect the financial district with the North End and the waterfront. A lot of careful thought has gone into how to best utilize the space that was opened up by tearing down this elevated highway structure. Early on, a deliberate decision was made not to fill in the scar left behind by the highway with new buildings, but instead to maintain the corridor as an urban park. That’s how the Greenway came to be.

But simply clearing the way for a new park does not guarantee that folks will use it. The Greenway Conservancy has worked to program the space  with food trucks, markets, exercise classes, concerts and public art, and that’s been very successful, especially on beautiful days like today. At the same time, the city and state have been taking a parallel approach by consciously planning urban improvements that will knit the Greenway into the existing urban fabric. The first of these efforts to get underway has been the City’s Crossroads Initiative. Starting with Broad Street (ABC’s headquarters), the City is targeting key streets that connect different districts of the city across the Greenway for streetscape improvements — wider sidewalks, bicycle accommodations, space for patios and cafes — that will create more activity on the streets leading onto the Greenway.

An artist's rendering of Broad Street, post-construction.

Broad Street is the first Crossroads project to receive funding. Construction started last year and should be completed this year. The other two projects are Causeway Street, near the TD Garden, and Summer and Congress Streets, which connect the financial district to the Fort Point Channel and South Boston Waterfront via the Greenway. These two projects have been in the design stage for some time, and there’s a possibility that one or both could move forward in the next year.

The Crossroads Initiative demonstrates the role of urban planning and transportation improvement in creating and encouraging a sense of place. They also impact environmental sustainability by encouraging walking, biking, and a healthful lifestyle. We at ABC are invested in these projects both as improvements to Boston’s urban design, and as part of the ongoing legacy of the Big Dig.

ABC’s Challenge for Sustainability: Recognizing Success

On March 12th, A Better City recognized the achievements of the 2011 class at the Challenge Awards. The total portfolio’s annual reductions included 8,500,000 kWh of electricity, equivalent to $425,000 or power for 730 homes; and an annual water reduction of 11,000,000 gallons of water, equivalent to 2100 Olympic pools! Power to the people!

ABC has three organizational priorities on behalf of our 100 business members: Transportation (you’ve heard a lot about), Land Development (stay tuned!) and the Environment. Through our Environment branch, our Challenge for Sustainability is helping 60+ organizations in Greater Boston to engage 60,000+ employees, capturing ideas around sustainability to use fewer natural resources, increase operational efficiency, and promote employee well-being.

The Framework for Engagement:  Well Being of People

Gallup’s latest book, Well Being, defines five distinct buckets of well-being:  social, career, financial, physical and community.  Most often employers and government concentrate on the financial aspect of well-being – but they don’t realize that it’s only 1/5 of the equation. When you use the well-being framework to design the right incentive and barrier prompts, people that do well for themselves and their community are rewarded, and the system is sustainable. Employees that are engaged are more productive, yield lower healthcare costs, and take pride in their community. They also inspire those around them through leading by example.

Already we have seen the people use their power en masse; as one example, CBS Sunday Morning ran a story called How the Revolution Became Digitized about how online activism through websites like Change.org generates rapid, overnight results. The case can be made that people can generate the same level of passion through community based social marketing campaigns in the workplace when they are motivated by their peers in person. Below are a few of my favorite Challenge for Sustainability stories that prove power really is in the people.

“Got Green?”

Janice Kimsey gets to work every day in an iconic building on the Fort Point Channel, where she can take her lunch break on Boston’s oldest and arguably most beautiful green roof.  The building received the prestigious LEED Gold for Existing Buildings rating from the US Green Building Council in 2009, and is a green leader in its operations.  But Janice is always looking for ways to engage employees more in sustainable activities.

Taking inspiration from the “Got Milk?” campaign, Janice coordinated a photo shoot this year with staff from various departments and used her keen design eye to create a series of “Got Green?” ads.  Each employee sports a job tool as a green “mustache”: an employee from food services holds a spear of asparagus, an electrician an artfully twisted strand of wiring, an IT staffer holds a green thumb drive, the grounds chief wears a rose mustache.  Each person promotes a relevant green tip like “Store documents electronically” and “Make purchases from green suppliers.” The poster series was mounted in a high traffic area of the building, and engendered a lot of comment – and enjoyment.   Engagement campaigns like Janice’s change people’s behavior, which is ultimately the test of truly high performing environmental buildings.

“Operation Blind Drop”

At Equity Office’s 222 Berkeley Street in the Back Bay, Jim Green, Vice President of Engineering at Hines, is focused on improving the operations of the building.  At 22 stories, the building not only has amazing views but great natural daylight.  That’s good for reducing lighting and heating during the winter, but bad for air conditioning in the summer.  Jim knew from home that simply closing the blinds can save tremendously on electric bills, but how could he do this for the whole building?

Jim coordinated with all the east facing tenants of the building to lower their blinds at the end of the day. If they forgot, the housekeeping staff would do it for them.  Each summer morning, the building’s chillers would turn on at 8:30 instead of 7:00, saving the building and tenants approximately $6,000 per year and enough electricity to power two single-family homes.  The initiative was coined “Operation Blind Drop” – and not only did it remain at 222 Berkeley, but Hines has rolled out to many other properties across the U.S.

ABC’s Challenge for Sustainability helps your business or building save money by increasing energy efficiency, reducing resource consumption, decreasing solid waste, and reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions. Together with business leaders from across the region you will help Boston become a national leader in creating a strong and green economy.