February 28, 2010
By Noah Bierman, Boston Globe

It’s looking like the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will have a substantial deficit, which could mean cuts in service in the short-term, more debt restructuring, or both. The debt restructuring is a concern because growing interest payments on the T’s multibillion-dollar debt is a major reason the T keeps getting into this bind every year.

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“It’s a real high-volume concern of ours,’’ said Taisha O’Bryant, chairwoman of the T Riders Union, which has been frustrated that lawmakers have been unable to create a long-term fix for the T. Read the whole article. . . . read more – 35 reads

December 28, 2009
Stephen Brophy, Fenway News Online

Spurred by recent protests—after which Governor Patrick announced postponement of proposed service cuts and fare increases—approximately 50 people attended a November 7 People’s Forum on transit justice, hosted at Northeastern University by the T Riders Union (TRU), a project of Alternatives for Community and Environment, a Roxbury-based environmental justice organization.

The Commonwealth consolidated its transportation agencies into a new Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), which incorporates functions of the MBTA, the state’s highway department, and the Mass Turnpike Authority, among others. TRU has spearheaded a “Riders on Board” campaign, and TRU member Stuart Spina noted at the hearing that not only does the new MassDOT board lack a single T rider, but legislation mandating inclusion of at least one T rider on the agency board was defeated in the legislature last January.

Read the whole article. . . . read more – 196 reads

December 10, 2009
95.9 WATD

An attorney who's opposing a 350-megawatt natural gas power plant proposed off Oak Hill Way in Brockton near the West Bridgewater line is recommending that a regional task force on the power plant endorse three legislative bills to try to stop it.
Eugene Benson is legal counsel at Alternatives for Community and Environment, based in Roxbury. He's representing Brockton and West Bridgewater residents appealing the state Energy Facilities Siting Board's approval earlier this year of Brockton Clean Energy's application to build the plant. . . . read more – 207 reads

December 10, 2009
Sandra Churchill, The Enterprise

"If we are going to build new fossil-fuel plants ... where should they go?" asked attorney Eugene Benson, program director for the nonprofit Alternatives for Community & Environment, which is providing free legal counsel to Brockton and West Bridgewater on the issue. "A moratorium is a chance to take a breath and say we’re changing and rethink how that’s done." . . . read more – 228 reads

December 2009
Carla C. Keirns, MD, PhD, MS, American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Coalitions in Roxbury MA, Harlem, and Detroit identified pollutant sources within their neighborhoods as their major concern, especially garbage incinerators and bus depots, and advocated for local source remediation and blocking the location of new polluting facilities in their neighborhoods.

At Boston’s Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), students who were being trained in environmental science and community activism identified asthma as a priority for themselves and their peers. One third of their first group of students had asthma themselves, and the rest had family members with asthma. . . . read more – 159 reads

November 19, 2009
State Capitol Briefs, State House News Service

Lee Matsueda, representing the T Riders Union advocacy groups, said MassDOT officials had been in communication with transit advocacy groups about the positions. “As soon as possible we want to make sure were figuring out a role for somebody to play with that board,” Matsueda said. He added that riders still want a voting member on the MassDOT board to give poor and working class riders a stronger voice. “That’s one of the major concerns we want to take up with the state Legislature,” he said. . . . read more – 235 reads

November 15, 2009



. . . read more – 257 reads

November 10, 2009
By Kyle Alspach, The Enterprise

Opposition to a proposed city power plant remains as strong as ever on the City Council following last week’s election, where voters rejected most candidates who supported the project.

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Meanwhile, an appeal of the siting board decision to the state Supreme Judicial Court by the city, the town of West Bridgewater and a group of residents from the city and town is “moving forward very slowly,” said attorney Eugene Benson.

“I believe the case will be briefed and argued somewhere in the year 2010,” said Benson, whose nonprofit group, Alternatives For Community and Environment, is fighting the plant. . . . read more – 161 reads

November 4, 2009
Meghna Chakrabarti, WBUR

MBTA rider advocates cautiously applauded the report. "The MBTA has a long way to go to improving customer relationship and trust. Transparency is an enormous part of that," said Lee Matsueda of the T Riders Union.

"We acknowledge that there is a massive state of good repair issue that needs to be addressed," Matsueda said. "Safety is always an issue. Without new resources for public transportation, we’re not doing justice to the issue of safety." . . . read more – 272 reads

November 3, 2009
Adam Ragusea, WBUR's Radio Boston

This episode of Radio Boston highlights the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which absorbed the MBTA at the beginning of November.

Listen to the show here.

TRU Organizer Lee Matsueda shares his thoughts from 17:55 to 20:02 in the 50 minute show. . . . read more – 233 reads