Page 2 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, AugusT 19 2022 NEWS ANALYSIS: MBTA gets lots of fl ak for shutting down Orange Line this week... but what is the alternative? Criticism, potshots fl y, but Malden Mayor Christenson & Everett Mayor DeMaria spend their time trying to ease adverse effect on local riders By Steve Freker t is easy to throw rocks when you do not have to go pick them up afterward. MBTA offi cials do not have either option. Tasked with being a key provider of everyday, inexpensive transportation for over 500,000 commuters and others on varying forms of ridership, MBTA employees do not have the time to listen very hard – they are too busy working. For quite some time now, the MBTA has drawn a lot of attention for a lot of reasons – I not much of it positive. Some of the images on televised news or print and online reports have been jarring and disturbing. • A woman jumping out of a burning Orange Line train car and off a bridge into the Mystic River below • Another day, another fi re this week when a bus caught fi re in a maintenance facility • A man died in April after being stuck in the doors of the Red Line and then dragged to his death • Several high-profi le derailments in the past 12 months ANGELO’S FULL SERVICE Regular Unleaded $3.879 Mid Unleaded $4.359 Super $4.739 Diesel Fuel $4.649 44 Years of Excellence!! 1978-2022 KERO $8.99 DEF $4.75 9 DYED ULS $4.149 9 HEATING OIL 24-Hour Burner Service Call for Current Price! DEF Available by Pump! Open an account and order online at: www.angelosoil.com (781) 231-3500 (781) 231-3003 367 LINCOLN AVE • SAUGUS Hours: Mon. - Wed. 6AM - 6PM / Thurs. & Fri. 6AM - 7PM / Sat. 7AM - 5PM / Sun. 9AM-1PM that have resulted in serious injuries, in at least one case All told, the news from the “T” has been downright grim at times. So grim that a major federal agency, the Federal Transit Administration, began a major safety audit of the entire MBTA system, releasing some of its fi ndings recently. An unsafe MBTA with potentially failing infrastructure is unacceptable to everyone who rides in the system. When a federal agency questions specific safety aspects and insists on a response, the MBTA must answer. The response, announced by Governor Charlie Baker and top “T” offi cials at a news conference at Medford’s Orange Line Wellington Station last week, was both unique and historic. It was also quite scary to the 200,000-plus riders of the over 120-year-old Orange Line – which stretches north to the fi nal stop at Oak Grove Station on the Malden-Melrose line, and south to Forest Hills Station in Jamaica Plain. Gov. Baker announced the MBTA would be completely shutting down the Orange Line... from midnight Friday, August 19 through September 19 – a full month! Badly needed track and safety light repairs were coming, and the decision was made to have full, unimpeded access to both lines from Carlo DeMaria Everett Mayor Gary Christenson Malden Mayor August 19–September 19, rather than shut it down for months of weekends and do the repairs on a more piecemeal basis. Immediately, the strongly worded expressions of dismay and outrage poured in. Locally? A much more pragmatic and measured response from the two Mayors whose communities will be most heavily aff ected by the Orange Line shutdown: Malden’s Gary Christenson and Everett’s Carlo DeMaria. Of course, they were dismayed by the stunning news about the Orange Line. How could they not be? Malden has no less than two MBTA | SEE PAGE 17 OUR OFFICE HAS MOVED TO 519 BROADWAY, EVERETT SABATINO INSURANCE AGENCY 519 BROADWAY EVERETT, MA 02149 PHONE: (617) 387-7466 FAX: (617) 381-9186 Visit us online at: Rocco Longo, Owner WWW.SABATINO-INS.COM Prices subject to change Ask about our Heating Oil Conditioner! FLEET
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