LYNN - The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority said last month it would clean up weeds along the abandoned railway tracks in the city but much to the chagrin of City Councilor Richard Ford it has yet to complete the project.
Lydia Rivera, spokesman for the MBTA said the clean up is on the list, workers simply haven’t gotten it yet. It has however addressed a number of other issues such as trash clean up and graffiti.
Last month Ward 6 Councilor Peter Capano asked MBTA officials to address some of it’s abandoned property that he felt was being left to neglect and ruin.
“They responded pretty quick,” he said. “It’s the best response I ever got from them.”
Along with tackling graffiti and trash clean up Capano said he, along with Mary Chalmers, aide to Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, also met with a supervisor who among other things took a look a the tracks.
“The problem is they started that clean up but they never finished,” Capano said.
Ford said in the past the MBTA has always cut down the weeds along the tracks in his Ward 7 and stopped at Ward 6.
“This year they only did one-quarter mile of my district but did Pete’s,” he said.
Ford said the problem lies on the abandoned tracks that run just past Bell Avenue to Western Avenue.
“They stopped in the middle at the most important part,” he said. “They stopped by Barry Park and G.E. Field.”
Ford said he’s also received calls from concerned residents along Linden Street as well.
The overgrown tracks, he said, lead to rodent issues, illegal dumping and sometimes homeless sleeping among the grasses.
“It’s hard to walk along the tracks in waist high weeds, especially when you can’t see what might be hiding there,” he said.
Chalmers said the tracks are on her radar as well as a number of other MBTA issues including bird droppings, illegal dumping and some general maintenance.
“But we do have a plan to work with the MBTA,” she said.
Part of that plan includes a sit down with Chalmers, Capano and Kennedy along with Public Works Commissioner Jay Fink, his Associate Commissioner Manny Alcantara, Councilor Paul Crowley, city attorney James Lamana and Community Development Director James Marsh.
“On August 29 we’re going to sit down and put our heads together and come up with a list of everything we want the MBTA to address,” Chalmers said. “When everything is organized and we know what we want we will meet with the MBTA and try and work things out.”
Rivera said part of the list the MBTA plans on addressing is a more long term solution to the weeds that overtake the abandoned rail lines each year. She said workers are looking at laying down gravel or moon dust to try and control the weed growth as much as possible.
“The maintenance department will do whatever it takes to try and control the growth,” she said.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment