Thursday, August 22, 2002
Swamp of contradictions: The state is pushing for yet another commuter line to relieve highway traffic and to promote the economic revitalization of southeast Massachusetts. But there’s some opposition to the Fall River-New Bedford line on environmental grounds, because it would go through a huge, beautiful forest-swamp stretching over six towns. OK, excellent point. But then you read in the story the following sentence: The (proposed) tracks would be built on an existing railway bed abandoned in 1958. Huh? Isn’t that relevent to the argument? The state isn’t exactly cutting an ugly swath through a pristine, virginal tract of land. Sometimes, one noble policy (promoting mass transit) clashes with another noble policy (protecting whatever). All policies, good or bad, have tradeoffs. This isn't even a big tradeoff. Build it. Or, rather, rebuild it.
