On Sept. 3, vote to fund the MBTA

Over the past two years red line service has slowed to a crawl, from its original average speed of 40 mph to 11.4 mph at its worst. July’s red line closing has improved the situation, but more work is needed, and slow operations and closings are just one problem out of many. Consider Porter Square station, with its never-ending leaks and out-of-commission escalator; you can see the station quite literally crumbling away if you look up from the commuter rail tracks.

The slowdowns and Porter are symptoms of a massive maintenance deficit. As of last year, the MBTA had an estimated $24.5 billion backlog of unaddressed maintenance. This backlog was not inevitable: It’s the result of deliberate choices made by our Legislature. If you want a functioning, sustainable T, and if you’re a voter in the 25th Middlesex District that covers much of Cambridge, you should be voting in the state representative primary contest between state Rep. Marjorie Decker and Evan MacKay.

Legislature against Cambridge

For decades, the Massachusetts Legislature has egregiously underfunded the MBTA. Our Legislature is so undemocratic and dysfunctional that activists had to go directly to voters. In 2022, progressive groups and activists organized to pass the Fair Share Amendment, via a direct vote by the public. The amendment brings in badly needed revenue, specifically for transportation and education, by raising taxes on the super-rich.

Three out four Cambridge voters supported this amendment, but the Legislature began to roll back this progress immediately. In 2023, it passed what Progressive Mass describes as “$440 million in tax cuts for the commonwealth’s richest estates, residents and corporations – undermining the new revenue produced by the Fair Share Amendment.” Because of these tax cuts, Massachusetts now faces larger deficits, and therefore budget cuts and hits to public services, including the MBTA.

Decker against Cambridge

A representative from Great Barrington can be forgiven for not being interested in the MBTA, but Cambridge representatives ought to prioritize funding key infrastructure for our city. Yet state Rep. Marjorie Decker, who represents much of Cambridge, voted “yes” on both the initial 2023 tax cut package – which contained more than $1 billion in regressive cuts – and the second, final version of the tax cut bill, the aforementioned $440 million a year.

Compare her vote to that of state Rep. Mike Connolly, who also represents a large portion of Cambridge; he did the right thing and voted against the tax cuts, among other reasons citing the need for MBTA funding.

Transit as a progressive issue

Who uses the red line? According to the MBTA’s latest survey, 58 percent of riders identified as women, 69 percent identify as low-income and 58 percent identify as a member of a minority group. Forty-two percent are from households without a car. Decker’s district stretches from Porter to Harvard to Central, with thousands of people who rely on the red line and buses, and thousands of households without a car. Yet Decker chose to prioritize lower taxes for the rich and massive corporations over funding critical infrastructure for her constituents.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example. Progressive Mass criticizes key votes by Decker, including her votes on the House’s regressive tax reform package and in previous years her opposition to a union for State House employees and opposition to transparency measures such as publishing full committee votes and publishing committee testimony online. Overall, for the 2023-2024 session Progressive Mass gave Decker a score of 78 percent, worse than the median State House Democrat; for comparison, Rep. Connolly’s score is 95 percent.

Evan MacKay for Cambridge

Cambridge takes pride in being one of the most progressive cities in Massachusetts. When it comes to representation, we deserve better than average. We deserve progressive support for critical services, infrastructure and the local economy. We deserve a state representative who will take votes that truly represent our values and take our needs into account and who doesn’t undermine massively popular policies like the Fair Share Amendment.

Thankfully, this year Decker has a primary challenger, Evan MacKay. MacKay is committed to a future for our state that includes sustainable, people-first, multimodal public transportation systems. MacKay wants to fully fund and fix the MBTA, not cut taxes for the commonwealth’s richest residents. MacKay wants to increase transparency and accountability for the Legislature, not hide votes and sustain the its opaque and undemocratic power structure.

Given the contrast between MacKay and Decker, it’s no surprise that groups such as Progressive Mass, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, Our Revolution Cambridge and Mass Alliance have all endorsed MacKay. The primary is Sept. 3, and will be the key vote deciding who becomes our representative. If you can, vote and make your voice heard; anyone who is registered in the 25th Middlesex District as either a Democrat or as unaffiliated can vote.

You can check if you live in the 25th Middlesex District, register to vote and apply to vote by mail. To learn more about MacKay’s platform, go to evanforcambridge.com.

Elizabeth Baldwin, Carolyn Fuller,  Bill McAvinney and Itamar Turner-Trauring, Cambridge 

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