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MBTA Communities Act

Oct 08, 202439 min
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Episode description

The town of Milton squared off against the state of Massachusetts before the MA Supreme Judicial Court over Milton’s refusal to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. The Act mandates multifamily housing that is transit adjacent, in 177 affected MA communities. Milton was the first town to object to this mandate. We heard from Milton residents about this “battle”!

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Transcript

Speaker 1

It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Costance New Radio.

Speaker 2

Well, there was an interesting argument at the Massachusetts State Supreme Court today which we have talked about before, and I hope that some of you remember that in the waning hours of the Charlie Baker administration back and would have been in December of twenty twenty two, the legislature, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it would be important to work into a piece of legislation an obligation that there are about one hundred and seventy seventy one hundred

and seventy seven communities in eastern Massachusetts that are going to have to again, according to an article here that I'm reading, encourage this is from the State House News Service by Colin Young, to encourage multifamily housing because either those communities host or are adjacent to MBTA service. Now, there is an argument that there is a housing shortage in Massachusetts, and there is a housing shortage in certain

portions of Massachusetts. Tough to buy something in the Greater Boston area, particularly for people who are just trying to start out. But again the General Court, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that they would weave into a mandate into a twenty twenty one economic development package at the last minute, with little discussion. That's the way they do it up at the legislature, provisions that have become a major piece of the state strategy to encourage badly needed housing production.

So what this essentially says is okay, instead of communities being allowed to zone their cities and towns the way in which they want their cities and towns to be zone. So for example, some cities in towns want to be zoned as a bedroom community with you know, properties built on you know, smaller portions of land half acre or one third or one quarter acre lots, and that's what they expect, and they'll have a lot of commercial services available.

Think framing him Route nine for example, which is lovely for people who live close to there, but there are going to be no homes on Route nine. In framing him, just as an example, I mean, it's a restaurant after restaurant, after shopping center, after sporting goods store, after a restaurant, after shopping center, after more sporting goods stores, after danning salons. Whatever. You didn't get the drift. But there are other communities

that say no, you know, we want to maintain open spaces. Now, none of these communities, it's important to note, none of these communities that now find themselves under or potentially under this mandate from the state, none of these communities have been accused of passing any sort of zoning requirements that are illegal meaning unconstitutional, saying that we don't want, you know, certain type of people to live in our community or whatever.

Even you know, no suggestion here of any form of discrimination. It is simply we need more housing. Okay. Now, what towns are going to be most affected? Pretty simple, the towns that currently have dense housing circumstances and towns that maybe are trying to maintain their character. One of those towns is Milton, and the story is that initially the Board of Selectmen in New went along with it because with every obligation comes a little bit of sugar from

the state. So if you comply with what we want you to do, you're going to get some additional money. Is you're going to get some grants. There'll be something there for you which you as the political leader in this community, if you're a mayor or a city councilor or an Alderman or whatever, this might help ease the pain of this obligation. So Milton, the selectman in Milton, they complied. They went along with it and said, we agree. The people of Milton had a different point of view.

So the people of Milton held a special election last winter, was in February, I believe, and the people in Milton

overrode the decision of the selectment in Milton. As a consequence, Milton said, you're not gonna comply, okay now, According to the Attorney General's Office, Andrea Campbell, quoting here, told reporters before the SJC heard the oral arguments today, and I'm quoting here from an article that is in the Boston Globe, housing affordability is the number one challenge currently facing Massachusetts

and Massachusetts residents. I'm not sure I'm going to agree with the Attorney General on that, but that's her opinion, and she's the Attorney General. She told reporters before the SJC heard oral arguments. The median price of a single family home here in Massachusetts is almost one million dollars. I find that kind of hard to believe, but you know it's possible now in certain cities in certain areas,

it's one million dollars. Certainly, if you go to a town like Weston or Wayland or Wellesley, as I've offered referred to as the w communities, the more affluent communities, yeah, probably the single family home is almost maybe even over million dollars. But that doesn't mean necessarily that those towns should now be forced to change the character of the town. Campbell said, the lack of affordable housing is driving people out of our great state. Madam Attorney General, I think

that might be a factor. But as long as you guys keep taxing people more and putting more obligations on them, I think more people are going to go elsewhere, and the places that they are going are places that are more tax friendly states like South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and New Hampshire. And as a matter of fact, there are studies that support that. But the Attorney General is not

mentioning the overburdened taxes on people in Massachusetts. So she is quoted in is un quoted, but says this is an important case. Is quote. This is an important case for two reasons. One to ensure the effectiveness of the MBTA community's law as a tool to address our housing crisis and to protect the rule of law and uphold

our legal structure here in Massachusetts. I don't. I'm almost laughing, because you know, there's a lot of laws that have been passed in states around this country, not a maturity general that that should not have been upheld. Okay, and you need to understand that not every law. And she was never she was on the city council but ran for mayor of Boston and didn't win, and then ran for Trinity General. But state legislatures passed stupid laws all

the time. So that's not the question for the court today. The question for the court today is whether or not this They're going to focus, according to the to the Globe, on narrow legal issues, but the implications of the ruling may be wide ranging and shape these states effort to dig out of its criminal out of its deep housing shortage.

The law represents Massachusetts' most pointed attempt to produce more housing in decades, and the principle behind it, compelling communities to change restrictive zoning laws that have helped fuel the shortage, is key to the state's housing strategy. All of that is irrelevant and should not even be considered by the judges. In my opinion, the question is what did the legislature vote for, what enforcement mechanism did they provide to the

attorney general? And is the state acting appropriately? The towns do have a right to refuse this. It's as I understand that in the statute. In the statute because there are penalty provisions that if the towns refuse it, well they won't get that grand or they won't get that additional sugar cube from the state. Look, the politicians have worked long and hard to destroy Massachusetts and to and to change the structure of Massachusetts despite all of the

great advantages we have. We have here in Massachusetts, great schools, great universities, none of which, except for the state college system, were created. These are private colleges, great hospitals, none of which were created by the legislature or the State of Massachusetts. Great economic engines, none of which were created by the

Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Everything that's great about Massachusetts besides the public education system at the college level, the University of Massachusetts and it's various U mass Boston, of which I'm a graduate. You loll U mass Dartmouth, et cetera. Those are created, Those are created by public forces. But Harvard wasn't created by the legislature. M I. T. Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern those are

all private schools. Okay, the great hospitals, they were created, oftentimes in cases by by churches. So I just love to read the language that is being put forward here, and I hope that some of you understand what I'm talking about, because if the legislature and the Governor's office whoever the governor is, and this is not a knock on governor heally, this was created under Governor Baker as he was heading out the door. And you know this

is fine. I mean, the legislature has has has done more to screw up this state in the last fifty years than it has ever done to fix this state. And people need to start to understand that. And maybe the State Supreme Court will understand that. I don't know. We'll have to see how that all works. Their decision wasn't made today. They'll take it under advisement and they'll

issue a decision at some point down the line. But it seems to me the less point that zoning, zoning regulations, as long as they are constitutional and as long as they do not violate the civil rights of anyone, should be left to the government that governs best, which is the government that's closest to the people in Massachusetts, the cities and towns six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty. I love this topic because I think it is a philosophical

topic as much as it is a legal one. And if you believe in the power of government forcing communities, smaller entities to do something that they don't want to do, then you should hope that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the power brokers here in Massachusetts. If you believe in things like individual freedom and the right of self determination, under those circumstances, I think you should hope that the state Supreme Court says to the legislature,

this is way beyond what you should do. You want to increase housing in Massachusetts, pass some programs, have some incentives, allow the private sector to get involved. They will build, build probe, they will build housing, they will build it and people will come. We're back on nightside. You got the numbers. I'm kind of wound up I want to hear from you back on Nightside after this.

Speaker 1

Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.

Speaker 2

All Right, one member of the town of Milton who was in court today has been on the show before and she's joining us at Kerry. Why Kerry, How are you tonight?

Speaker 3

I'm great, tone, thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 2

So what was the reaction of the judges today? Again, I do not believe you're a lawyer, but I'm sure you talk to you lawyers afterwards. You're actually, in effect that defend did in this case? Are you're not? Or is the No?

Speaker 3

That's correct. I'm a defendant in this case.

Speaker 2

Yeah, you're the defendant. You're the defendant because you're one of the rabbel rousers fought.

Speaker 3

Against this indeed, a rabble rouser from a long line of rabble rousers. Yes, So yeah, Dan, What.

Speaker 2

Did you take from from the questions and the comments and the observations from the judges from the judges up.

Speaker 3

There today, Sure, I was very interested to hear you just mentioned the announcement from the age this morning before the oral arguments began. I didn't know that until I heard you just report that, Thank you, reporter Dan. The thing is that clearly some people in the courtroom got her message. If not, if even if she had not been pretty clear beforehand, you know what her stances about

her case here. However, one of the justices multiple times stated during or or arguments, he stated multiple times there's

a housing crisis. Now to me, okay, yeah, And as you mentioned, there are many variables variables that impact the cost of housing, and you rightly bring up you know, the w towns for example, they have many things that you know, variables that impact what the cost of housing is in those towns, not the least of which is, you know, a lot size, and you know, among other things, interest rates, right, you know what a house cost today in rail dollars for you know, a family is different

than it was even a few years ago. But one of the things is, you know, when I heard this justice say this, I kept thinking, Okay, well that's interesting. He's saying this, and he's saying it multiple times. That is a politically popular phrase to use right now, right housing crisis. It's interesting because I thought, for example, our attorney he did a very good job, you know, in presenting the arguments I thought they were well presented, thoughtful,

you know, easy to follow. I think obviously I've been you know, following our case from the beginning. But I thought he was you know, plain spoken. And I don't mean that in a folksy sort of point, if you will, but I think it was, you know, it was quite fair. On the other hand, I would say if the representative of you know, Ms. Campbell was the best in her troupe,

he stumbled a little bit. I will say that, you know, there were a couple of questions that you know, the justices have for him, for example, you know, about whether our case was meaningless, because there were some words that he said to the effect of, well, what about their vote? What about the vote that they held, you know, back in February. It was, in fact, on February fourteenth, the best Valentine's Day gift for me in a few years. I loved it. And she asked him specifically, so were

you saying that their vote is meaningless? And he sort of stumbled a little bit, you know in his response. So then one of the other judges asked, well, don't they have the rule of law? Are you saying that the rule of law is meaningless, and he kind of armed, I would.

Speaker 2

Say, and well, let's let me ask you this though. The question is is it's difficult to handicap how judges will vote. Sometimes they ask questions, absolutely but explatory. How did you become a defendant in this.

Speaker 3

We filed for amicus briefs to support our defense. So how did you want?

Speaker 2

Are you named as a defendant in this case?

Speaker 3

Carry not personally the defendant, I'm a signatory to one of the amicus braves. That's it, okay, So you're the defendant the town the town.

Speaker 2

The defendant is the town of Milton, Okay. And you obviously signed Dawn as a resident of Milton to one of the amicas briefs, which is fine, okay, no, no problem, okay.

Speaker 4

And what did.

Speaker 3

Anyone under any other towns? Yeah?

Speaker 2

Right, did anyone on the court? Yes? Would you say that one hundred and twenty towns have signed.

Speaker 3

Yes?

Speaker 1

No?

Speaker 3

For the various briefs that we have three different amicus briefs which we have filed to support this. One is related to small business because stating that this was not thought all the way through in terms of the impacts to small businesses and the various towns that have will be instared in this.

Speaker 2

It's not as if you're not telling me that one hundred and twenty one towns have taken a lot of towns that have said they're.

Speaker 3

Going to go along with it, right right, I'm seeing people from one hundred and twenty different towns. That's irrelevant to me.

Speaker 2

That's totally irrelevant to me. I can't use the word irrelevant any more than six times in order to tell seldom. And I don't want to go there because the fact that you're three people, If you have three people at Waltham and four people in Lexington, it doesn't matter, Okay, it matters how the various towns Milton is obviously going to be made. They're going to make an example of you potentially and say, okay, you have to comply to

force this. Did any of the justices and my last question before we got to go to news and then we'll get some phone calls, did any of the justices? Did any of the justices say, hey, this whole question of housing traditionally is a decision that is made at the local level. I mean, the governor doesn't tell Milton how to zone Milton and whether to allow a bowling alley to come into or a golf driving range, or a new apartment building. That is traditionally a local rule

and you know, local rules and regulations. Did any of the justices even address that issue?

Speaker 3

They did, They did. They raised that you know, not case, but they they've been made that point specifically, you know, in different words than you just used, but basically saying, you know that these are local, you know, choices local. So cool. And then.

Speaker 2

It seems to me it's an overreaction for the legislature and the governor to try to tell one hundred and seventy seven cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts how they should zone their communities absent absent some you know, constitutional issues in which individual people or groups of people are being denied their constitutional rights? Is what? Yes, what if I was, That's how I would be inclined to.

Speaker 3

Rule exactly, and did ask Yeah, two of the judges Dan did exactly ask you know, questions on that line too, you know, the AGCs attorney and as specifically about what you're saying, what these people are asking for is against their town charter. And he seems to mystified that we had a town harder a town charter, and she said, well, you do understand they have a town charter. They set their local rules, they set their zoning, they make choices

for themselves. So they did. They seem balanced. I felt, Okay, Kerrie.

Speaker 2

I gotta I gotta take a break here because we're at the bottom of the hour. We got a newscast coming up. I've got a couple of callers lined up. We'll talk to them and continue to talk to you. Six ten thirty six seven thirty. This to me just is an egregious overstep that the folks at the State House have decided they are going to come down on

these local communities. And I don't know how your state representatives or your state senator voted on this, but it's something that should be taken in consideration, I think politically, because this becomes to me more of a political effort by the state to have its way. And I hope that the State Supreme Court basically says to themselves, hey, we're there to uh consider the interest not only of the powerful and elite on Beacon Hill, but the communities.

Every one of these communities should have their own input. We'll take a break. Coming back on night Side.

Speaker 1

It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.

Speaker 2

All right, let's let's go to the phones. Carrie White is my guest. She is a Milton resident. She was in the State Supreme Court today and uh, it gave us a little bit of a heads up as to what was said and what wasn't said. And let's go to some of our listeners. The only lines open right now, by the way, happened to be six one seven. If you want to get in, let me go to Greg Is and Shrewsbury. Hi, Greg, how are you tonight? Welcome? Good?

Speaker 4

How are you?

Speaker 1

Dan?

Speaker 5

Like to talk to you again?

Speaker 2

Do just great? Say? How to carry White? I know that that you from Shrewsbury, a town that is also said we do not want to participate in this this this program that will I think fundamentally change a lot of what Shrewsbury is all about.

Speaker 5

Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. We've been fighting here a group of us. But I did listen, you know, I wanted to make a couple of comments. I did listen to the SJC case today, and what I found interesting was there was kind of two camps. I don't know, I think it was justice. Uh, Cofker, and what he had said was really leaning on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt to the commonwealth on everything. He had this

concept of paper tiger. Essentially he's saying that, well, I don't believe that the penalty was strong enough, so just by giving up those grants, you really believe that's what the legislature intended. And I thought from a legal standpoint, justices are supposed to look at it and say what is the way actually say? But he was really way and you listen to it's terrible, right. So the only thing I'm concerned about is I really focused on thirty

a concept. It seems like that's legally where they're focused on. And for those who don't know, it's really regulations versus guidelines, where it used the language of guidelines inside of the statute, but they are treating them as regulations, meaning thou shall and didn't go through the right process, which is where that small business piece comes into. The reason I say that is I think you made a point earlier Dan on, well,

did they talk about local towns should have control over zoning? Unfortunately, I think with forty B in the past those have kind of gone by the wayside and they agree that, well, no, they can create statutes in legislature and impose zoning on communities, right.

But to what extent I think is where they're focusing this case on and essentially saying, well, is that allowable to say if we define a penalty of well, you don't get to participate in the grant if you choose a town not to is that good enough or can the Attorney General essentially come on top of that and say, no, you still have to do what we are demanding. So I think that's it seemed to me listening that's where the case is going to come down to, this whole

concept of thirty eight. Because they talked about it a lot today. I know that's a little bit of a legal minutia there, but for those who didn't take the time to listen, that's what I took away from it.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, is there anything in the statute that said the Attorney General could enforce this law? Because as I read this statue, it was kind of a carrot and a stick. If you comply, you're going to get some, as I said, sugar, some grants. If you don't comply, we're going to withhold that sugar. We're going to withhold those grants.

Speaker 5

No, they didn't, but they referred back to this forty A section seven, and I think they were saying, like, you know, it's one of these legal things that says, yeah, I didn't say it in the statute we wrote, but it's connected to this other piece of legislation, so you

should know that by that they could. I thought the Town of Milton's attorney made a very good case when he went through why the attorney general does not have purview because if there's plenty of other statutes where they specifically state that your relief is, the attorney general does have the ability to, I guess rule on something and it and it isn't specific. So I think that is potentially there that say, hey, you really don't have the authority.

It's not written into the statute. So really the only thing is that Milton is a green or any town right agrees to give up grants by not having the zoning in place, which is a choice that each town should be able to make.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, it's to simplify it totally. You know, if you if your kid doesn't want to eat as vegetables at dinner and you say to your child, okay, you don't eat your vegetables. There's no ice cream for dessert. It's as simple as that. Uh. The parent doesn't say, you know, I'm going to stuff those those that broccoli and down your throat, which is what But it seems to me the comwell wants to do here metaphorically in they want to do that.

Speaker 5

With everything though, yes, agreed, but they want to do it with everything. It's not just housing, right, it's this whole power and control.

Speaker 4

Right.

Speaker 5

They want to be able to tell you, yes, this is what you can do because it's my belief system. Right. This whole blog goes back to a worldview of eliminating suburbs and you know, squeezing people down at these spaces because of other reasons. Right, that people have a worldview that way.

Speaker 2

But when you live in a one party state, when you live in a one party state, uh, that party tends to say, well, we can impose our will on the people irrespective, and you know, maybe you guys are going to suffer some inconvenience, but the next piece of legislation might impose on another another group of another group of people. That's why That's why the principle here is is so important. Was there anyone in the Court, Greg who you felt we're listening and we're inclined to say, hey,

wait a secon that arguments a pretty good argument. Maybe the authority was not granted to the Attorney in general and this is what the step of her authority.

Speaker 5

I thought Justice Winlin she did a very good job as far as questioning, but she has very good questions that were very fair. I think on both sides she's seemed very engaged in all the dialogue. So I actually, really I never really listened to our s JC, and know I've listened to Supreme Court, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. I figured they were all going to be coming down against Milton, and they weren't, So I thought for the primarily, I think the only person I really

felt was super on the comonwealth side was Cosker. Everybody else I felt very good questions, and if I was looking at it, I thought more questions were asked as the Commonwealth than there were of the town of Milton. The thing that did bother me, I will say back to a comment I believe you made earlier on the Commonwealth attorney. One thing that bothered me the most is when one of the justices asked about the additional grants that were added. Hey, four grants, we went to thirteen.

He started laughing. He thought it was funny.

Speaker 3

He did, yeah, he laughed.

Speaker 5

I was like, what he's laughing about it, Like, of course we can do that. We can do anything we want.

Speaker 2

You know.

Speaker 5

That's essentially how I took it. And I just thought it was really kind of disrespectful if I looked at it from the standpoint of the residents.

Speaker 2

So enlarged it? Did? They enlarge the number of brands that can be given and also withheld? Is that beyond what the statue indicated?

Speaker 5

Is that they added what they could take away. So in the statute written there was three. They added up of course in the actual law, and then in the guidelines it went up to thirteen. And that was what one of the justices asked about, Hey, if this is you know, how do you add additional penalties? And he thought it was funny. He laughed about it, like, oh, let me just tell you why.

Speaker 2

That's the hubris and arrogance of people who feel that they have authority and power to impose their will right whatever. Hey, the decision is going to come down in a few weeks or maybe a couple of months. It's going to be a really interesting decision as to what happens. Great appreciate you, Carl, Thank you so much. Keep up the fight.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 2

You're welcome. Take a quick break at Bob and Wakefield coming up fill in Boston and holding Carry White with us, one of the Milton residents who is really at the center of the case that was argued today in Massachusetts State Supreme Court. But it is the case that really affects not just Milton. It affects about one hundred and seventy seven cities in towns which are called so called

MBTA communities, and they're trying to have a nexus. They're trying to create a nexus between housing and MBTA accessibility. And it just seems to me that the implications for some of these communities, like yours, carry is not so much MBTA. But what sort of an impact would this have on your school system? How many more kids will

it add to the school system? How much more will it cost taxpayers in the town of Milton to absorb the additional costs of these and what will it do to the to the quality of life Milton as well. And this is something that to me is a fundamental issue, and that's why I'm so concerned about it, and I hope, I wish more of our audience were concerned about it, because if you turn a deaf ear to this, ladies and gentlemen, it could be an area that you have

some interest in. Uh, at another point in time down the road, we'll be back on night Side. I got a couple of open lines at six one seven, nine, three one ten thirty and one at six one, seven, two, five, four to ten thirty. As a matter of fact, if you don't die right now, don't bother because we're only going to get about two or three callers in. So we're changing topics at nine o'clock we have another guest schedule or not at nine o'clock at ten o'clock, excuse me.

So if you want to get in and express it a point, express a point of view, now is the time to dial. If you wait too long, it won't get on. Coming back on Nightside.

Speaker 1

Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World Light Side Studios on WBZ the news radio, Let me Go.

Speaker 2

Next to Bob and Wakefield. Bob, appreciate your patience. Thank you very much for for holding on. You are next on night side with my guests. Carry White, Milton resident who found herself sitting in the State Supreme Court today and listening to an argument in which she she somehow was named as a defendant.

Speaker 6

Go right ahead, Bob dan Kerry and Carry.

Speaker 2

Strike that, Bob, I misspoke. She's not a defendant, but she is. She's she is a representative of the town of Milton, which is the defendant in this particular case. Go right, go ahead, Bob.

Speaker 6

First of all, Carry, I want to thank you in the town of Milton for taking the state on this. This is this is a real problem here. The one thing that really irks me is the this law is a mandate without funding, and as many many laws that come in without funding, uh these I think it's gonna I personally think this is going to bankrupt many cities

and towns that this think goes for it. The risk of and the risk of receiving the grants that always have strings to them attached are and quite frankly, even the state litigation, whatever that is, I have no idea what they would what they would do. I have no idea what the dollar amount with they what would happen if they did sue the cities in towns that don't go along with this. It is really peen. It's compared to what it's going to cost these citizen in towns

to actually handle. In our case, you know, over two thousand housing units that we have to that we have to supply the infrastructure for.

Speaker 5

It is absolutely ridiculous.

Speaker 6

At our town meeting in the spring, I asked the superintendent during the school budget which was went through kicking and screaming, was I think it was over fifty million dollars whatever it was? I asked him, is you know what is shape is our schools? And can we handle this additional influx of individuals, you know, kids coming into the town. And he says, no, we're a capacity, you know,

So that's that is the bottom line. And plus it's it's over eighteen thousand bucks a piece per student per year to put one student through through the system, and it's just unsustained. We're already we're overbuilding like crazy. We've got apartments and condos everywhere I turn around at building them. And we've also got a, we've got a brand new high school going up right now, we've got an override for that, and uh, you know, and the point is,

we don't have any extra classrooms. We don't have an extra school to put them in, we don't have the land to build a school, and we certainly don't have the money to pay for a new school and the staff. And then you add that to the infrastructure. I'm just talking in general, because this is happening to every city town here because of the infrastructure until deycat capacity. I asked the DPW director, even our pumping facility, pumping station, are we at capacity for that? Because we have to

get into that. That's man's and millions of dollars. And obviously the increased traffic and the lack of quality of life, it just goes on and on and on and on and on. So this is this is really, this is a real problem, and this has just got to stop. This is and this, by the way, this is a national trend. This isn't just Massachusetts, you know. The national trend is just they're depering with local control, zoning control.

Many of the larger cities really have been ruined by by out of control policies for decades, and now, in my opinion, the power brokers and some of the developer buddies they're coming into the suburbs and they're going to screw them up just like they did the cities. That's my opinion.

Speaker 3

Well, you bring up a lot of good points in Dan.

If you don't mind me just say one thing Dan was saying in the intro was talking about how you know public policy or public you know you Dan, you made references to, you know, some of the you know, universities, and with the exception of public education, so many of the great things in Massachusetts or what were developed in Massachusetts or innovations in Massachusetts were privately funded, including some of the hospitals, and one thing in the town of

Milton in particular that in addition to the things that you just mentioned like water sewer, police, you know, public safety, we are now also absorbing in our town the closure of the Carney Hospitals. That again was a p that initially private hospital funded by the Catholic Church, started by the Catholic Church, and now that closure is again in undating a time. This is without the building of all the additional housing units that the state would like us

to build. So we have all the same issues that you just mentioned, sir, you know the with water sew or you know all of these things. You know there's zero thought gone into any of those things, and how to fund that or how to help subsidize that, if you want to use that word zero.

Speaker 6

Hey, Terry, come, I just told you one thing. Our town meeting in the spring, we voted forty down to thirty to two or seven. So we voted that thing down. Goodbye. Well, the planning which sponsors that they did, allows you job. So the town councilors, they got together and we're bringing it. They're bringing it back in November, so we go to battle it all over again.

Speaker 3

Yeah, number I.

Speaker 2

Got to get any abob. I appreciate you.

Speaker 6

You dance, thanks a lot, Well, keep it going, okay, by thank you so much.

Speaker 2

It's a it's a very important issue in my opinion. Next to Okay, let's go next to Phil in Boston. Phil just s getching out of the wire here in the right head you're on with Kerry White.

Speaker 4

Go ahead. That was all. I thank the genuinady. I'm off from Milton. I like ride through it every day in this nice little community. I just don't know where they would even put these where would they do and if it not places down to doom them up? I mean, just as hothing makes to the other gentlemen, it's the school apartment, the analysis, the traffic. I just don't know. It might be cheaper just to get rid of the trolley tracks and don't have any buses coming in.

Speaker 3

There are many people in our town that said that same thing. Boston is exempt from. The think about that Boston, who is absolutely an MBTA community, is not subtituting.

Speaker 4

Law an assassin matter pen. It's part of Boston, that's correct.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 4

My question is is that, Dan, do you remember the years ago when they were knocked out all those houses and High Park They were going to make it a nice little true way from I guess once twenty eight to Boston. They knocked out those houses down West Street and High Park and those places. I don't remember that at all.

Speaker 2

How long ago was that, Phil, I have a tough time.

Speaker 4

Late late sixties, maybe a late sixties, early seventies. They knocked these houses down. Then they after I knocked them down, then they decided, no, we don't need the road because.

Speaker 2

Well they were they were they were going to do. There was going to be a road which was going to be extension I think of one twenty eight. It was going to go through Rockney.

Speaker 4

Whatever.

Speaker 2

Yes, yes, Southwest express Way and yeah, but again they were those houses probably were taken by eminent domain, which in south very questionable. Hey, Phil, thanks reminding them that of us of that.

Speaker 4

Thank good luck to that lady. Thank you right, Thank.

Speaker 2

You, Carrie, best of Locke. Keep us posting as to how this works out, because not only it's going to work out one way or the other for the town of Milton, but for also one hundred and seventy seven other communities and most people I'm paying attention to this stuff that's done at the legislature. You're paying attention to it, and whether you support it or oppose it, at least

you are paying attention. And the sad part is the legislature, as dumb as they are, they're smart enough to know that most people who are working in this state are too busy working, making a living, paying their taxes to pay attention to the stuff that goes on up there which affects them. At the end, it's a very it's a gamed system in many.

Speaker 3

Respects, and it is it is, yeah, and then you know, you think about that they are the ones helping to drive people away from this state. Right Just college kids graduate and they say, I can't afford to stay here. I got a nice education, thank you, BC, but now I got to go somewhere. So Carolina, Texas, wherever you got it.

Speaker 2

Kerry, appreciate you call. Let's keep in touch on it and keep me posted when the decision can down.

Speaker 3

Okay, thanks Dan, absolutely, Thanks Thanks Gerry, talk to you so good night.

Speaker 2

We're going to come back and we're going to talk about the big story of the day, which is that this is the first year anniversary of what happened in October seventh, and if you do not if you're not outraged at what happened on that day, I don't know what your sense of history is. We'll explain right after the ten o'clock news with my guest Jason Greenberg coming up at the other side of the tent.

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