A lede buried under the tracks
Another day, another billion. Having worked out a compromise with the legislature over a billion dollar life-sciences bill, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is reportedly getting ready to hawk his next billion sized project: Commuter rail service from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River (two crummy cities in southeastern Massachusetts that have yet to overcome the end of whaling for oil or something).
Boston Globe reporter Peter J. Howe has an article on the topic in today’s paper. The governor’s PR flacks ought to be overjoyed that Howe structured the article the way he did. Here’s the second paragraph:
Experience in other Massachusetts cities where commuter rail service has been restored since 1994 - Brockton, Newburyport, and Worcester - demonstrates that train service to the Hub can be a big shot in the arm economically. In all three cities, since the year commuter train service returned, real estate values have climbed faster than state and county averages by most measures, in some cases much faster.
The rest of the article rather strongly suggests that boosting real estate prices may be the only shot in the arm that commuter rail service has provided for the three cities and towns mentioned.
I’m not surprised. Here’s an excerpt from a post I wrote in 2006 on what rail road expansion is likely to do for a struggling city:
The idea that a railroad (high-speed, light rail, whatever you favor) to a town like Fall River would open up a world of opportunity previously denied its citizens is silly…
That’s not to say a railroad won’t help Fall River. I think it would, and I think it should be looked at closely, but it will help the city primarily by bringing in higher-educated, higher-earning white-collar workers looking for cheap housing and a convenient commute. I don’t think a railroad would do much for the people who already live there.
