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The Chamber Blog

Our Response to the MBTA Proposed Changes

11/23/2020

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South Shore Chamber update on MBTA proposed service cuts

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The MBTA proposed a series of transit cuts earlier this month in an attempt to answer some budget shortfalls due to a decrease in revenue and ridership. These proposed cuts affect Ferry Service in Hingham & Hull, as well as some bus and commuter rail service in the region. 
 
The proposed MBTA service cuts could impact far more people and interests than simply the individual riders of ferries, buses, and trains. Some of the proposals threaten the region’s economic future. Municipalities, developers, businesses, and homeowners have planned, invested, or located around long-term transit assets.  
 
The South Shore Chamber of Commerce has been engaged in dozens of public and private discussions with state and local officials as well as residents and businesses. The Chamber recognizes the financial pressure on the MBTA during the COVID-19 slowdown when people have been asked to stay at home. However, we are also looking to the recovery. We are concerned that deep cuts or elimination of services during a slowdown may mean no services during the recovery. Mass-transit services are not easily reinstated once capital and personnel changes are made.  
 
The Chamber has submitted a formal statement to the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board. The FMCB will be making their decisions in the next few weeks. 

Chamber's advocacy efforts

On November 17th, organized and led meeting with Joe Aiello, Fiscal and Management Control Board Chair for the MBTA with 50 + regional leaders, stakeholders, local officials.
Submission of an official letter to MBTA outlining concerns. See link to full letter.
Creation of member sign-on letter. Chamber members can support our position and express concern by reading and signing the letter via the link provided.
Letter to Fiscal and Management Control Board, MBTA
Member Sign-On Letter

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Economic Forecast Presentation

1/31/2020

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Dr. Mark Melnick of the Donahue Institute giving the Chamber an economic overview
Dr. Mark Melnick of The Donahue Institute spoke at our Economic Outlook breakfast co-sponsored with Envision Bank.  We are pleased to share his presentation which included some nice comparisons on how the South Shore stacks up with the rest of the state on key economic factors.   It validated some of our work on South Shore 2030 to make the region economically stronger.  We were particularly impressed with three slides:

  1. Slide 9  shows we are 1/3  below (less competitive) the state’s concentrations of jobs in the high talent/high salaried Professional and Technical service industry mix but more concentrated than the state’s overall share in the financial services (by almost 70%) and retail  (by 30%) sectors. That illustrates one of the underlying challenge facing the South Shore.  Some of our largest job sectors are in contracting industries that are shedding jobs while at the same time we have a smaller share of some key sectors that are growing and have higher paying jobs. Our challenge becomes how do we expand and attract the growth sectors.  We believe we do it by growing the talent and workforce available on the South Shore.
  2. Slide 22 compares the percentage of family income going to housing. That has declined for homeowners since the recession but has stayed high for apartment owners.  The percentage of course depends on two factors:  household incomes and the cost of the housing. Overall we believe this supports our housing agenda. It suggests we are not building enough of the housing product (multi-family such as apartments) that young professionals are looking for.  That keeps apartment rents too high for many younger people. That in turn limits our ability to grow the workforce.   
  3. Finally, slide  27 nicely captures our transportation and economic challenge.  (This compares the middle section of the South Shore). We have 1/3 more residents commuting out of the area for jobs than workers coming in from other regions.  This reinforces information from our Original 2030 study that the entire South Shore has more people leaving the area for jobs than coming in for jobs.   And most of our traffic heads North to or through Boston.  While we continue to work on the Boston commute for our residents the better solution to the transportation problem is creating more jobs in the region so residents have better employment choices than driving to Boston.  

Download the entire presentation here
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Update on transportation

11/7/2018

4 Comments

 
I attended a briefing for business groups with  Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack.  We tend to focus a lot our transportation attention on the MBTA and major highways.  My meeting was a good reminder of how much depends on local roads and bus services. 

More people are served by buses than rail lines.  As the Secretary noted we need to pay more attention to bus service but almost every improvement from changing a stop, creating bus lanes, or having necessary curb cuts for stops all require partnership with local communities.

Our own work for regional development is now moving more toward local transportation needs to travel within the region rather than just the commute into and out of Boston. 

​- Peter
4 Comments

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 South Shore Chamber of Commerce.  All Rights Reserved.
1050 Hingham Street, Rockland MA 02370
Phone: 781.421.3900 | [email protected]  |  sitemap

Photo Disclaimer: Photos found on website may be subject to copyright. Housing photos provided by development teams for use; other photos taken by staff, unless noted. Main header image by Hawk Visuals.
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