The Baker administration anticipated the grumbling that would follow in the wake of its announcement last week that it was going forward with a $35 million project to build a 785-foot-long pedestrian and bicyclist bridge over the Mystic River linking the Encore casino site in Everett to Assembly Square in Somerville.
Administration officials came to the Oct. 22 announcement ceremony armed with facts on how the bridge would help both people and the environment, and on how much it would do for communities deemed both Gateway Cities and areas deserving of "environmental justice" improvements.
Gateway Cities serve as foundations and hubs for economic activities that drive the economies of their regions. In Massachusetts, the legislature has designated 26 Gateway Cities, including Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Malden, Revere and Worcester.
A neighborhood conforms to the Commonwealth's definition of an environmental justice area if it meets one or more of the following criteria: 1. the annual median household income is not more than 65 percent of the statewide annual median household income; 2. minorities comprise 40 percent or more of the population; 3. Twenty-five percent or more of households lack English language proficiency; or 4. minorities comprise 25 percent or more of the population and the annual median household income of the municipality in which the neighborhood is located does not exceed 150 percent of the statewide annual median household income.
Three days after the Baker administration announced it is fully committed to "completing the design, permitting and construction of the Mystic River Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge," The Boston Globe published an opinion column under the headline, "A bridge to a casino, but not to a recovery center."
The columnist juxtaposed the all-positive story from the administration on the pedestrian/bicyclist bridge with the long-stalled project to rebuild the bridge from Quincy to Long Island (in Boston Harbor), which would enable the City of Boston to re-open a desperately needed substance abuse treatment facility on the island, writing:
"In this tale of two bridges, is there a more textbook case about what society and government deem important? As Alex Green, who teaches public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School tweeted over the weekend: 'Bridge to casino. No bridge to massive Long Island rehab facility. Massachusetts priorities, one decision at a time.' "
Closed due to safety concerns in October 2014, the Long Island bridge had to be demolished several months later. Boston has since been attempting to rebuild it but has been blocked at every turn in the process by the City of Quincy. The matter remains mired in the courts.
Count me among those who believe the Mystic River Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge is a great idea and a great investment by the state -- even if it plumps up the bottom line of Encore's owner, Las Vegas-based Wynn Resorts. (I say that as a lifelong, committed non-gambler.)
The bridge may help some gamblers get from Somerville to the casino and back, but I can't imagine there'll be lots of gamblers making it their primary route to the Encore. The walk will be too much like work for most of the folks who get their kicks sitting for hours in front of slot machines. And why would they walk to the casino when they can take a free shuttle to it from the Wellington T station, just one stop away from Assembly Square on the Orange Line?
The main beneficiaries of the bridge will be: (a) bicyclists who will no longer have to risk their lives on the traffic-clogged Alford Street Bridge (Route 99) from Everett to Somerville, (b) persons of humble circumstances from Somerville who will find it easier to take jobs at the casino, and (c) persons of humble circumstances from Everett who will find it easier to take jobs at the offices, apartment and condo complexes, shops and restaurants in the boomtown created by Somerville at Assembly Square.
The no-vehicle/no-carbon-emissions bridge will also open up new possibilities for people and enterprises beyond Everett and Somerville because it will connect the Northern Strand, one of the most popular pedestrian and bike trails in Greater Boston, to Somerville and adjoining municipalities.
The Northern Strand is built mainly on old, abandoned freight railroad lines. It begins in Lynn and courses for eleven-and-a half miles through Saugus, Malden, Revere and Everett before culminating on the banks of the Mystic.
Once the new bridge is in place, anyone will be able to use the Northern Strand to bike, run or walk uninterrupted all the way to Somerville -- and, if they're especially fit and energetic, from Somerville to points in Boston, Cambridge and beyond.
Through this bridge, Kathleen Theoharides, Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, sees the state "delivering a mobility solution that prioritizes equity, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and enhances access to local businesses and services for residents in these environmental justice communities."
The comparison between the construction of the Mystic River Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge and the replacement of the Long Island bridge is rather thin. The two cities involved with the first project, Everett and Somerville, are totally in favor of it, whereas the cities involved with the second project, Boston and Quincy, are on opposite sides.
Two points I'd like to stick in at the end:
The state collects taxes from the Encore casino equal to 25 percent of the casino's gross receipts. That does not automatically entitle the casino to reap the benefits of a state-funded infrastructure project, but it allows the casino and its supporters to argue the bridge is worthy of public investment. Developers and businesses argue from weaker vantages all the time.
The Encore casino itself is private property but the grounds around it, and (most attractively) the waterfront portions of it, are open at no fee or obligation to the public. Wynn Resorts created a new waterfront park when it reclaimed and rehabilitated a shoreline and riverbed dangerously contaminated during the decades a chemical factory operated on the site. It is a beautiful public amenity.
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