For Getting Things Done, Boston Has the Edge Over the Big Apple

There may be some evidence somewhere to support the new Big Apple campaign proclaiming that “New York gets more done by 8 a.m. than Boston does in a day.” Yet it’s actually not easy to find. There’s no doubt that New Yorkers walk faster and talk faster, and, arguably, with a more attractive accent. That said, especially when it comes to the completion of major new public projects, it’s New York that’s the laggard.Don’t get me wrong. As a onetime Bostonian who chose to move to Gotham, I’m glad I did. There is, indeed, a cultural vitality here one doesn’t find in Beantown. And, believe it or not, New Yorkers are actually friendlier. I often joke that were I to say hello to someone on my morning run in Boston, they might well call the police.But the charge that Boston doesn’t get stuff done is just plain wrong. While New York dithers about how to fix Penn Station and only managed, after some 60 years, to extend the Second Avenue subway a few stops, Boston has been busy building. Since 1988, the Boston transit system has expanded more than any other in America.The Green Line subway now extends to Mayor Bloomberg’s hometown of Medford. The project, started in 2017, was completed in just five years. Long-unused rail lines have been revived, providing commuter rail service for disadvantaged parts of Dorchester, the city’s poorest section. Another revived rail line links the city’s further suburbs to its downtown. (OK, give Mr. Bloomberg credit for extending the 7 subway line to Hudson Yards.)The city did not tear down its venerable old South Station, it renovated the landmark — and threw in a new bus station, as well. And, of course, there’s the Big Dig, the multi-billion dollar project that put underground an unsightly elevated highway that sliced through downtown Boston. True, that one was costly and took decades — but at least it got done. What’s more, it was linked to a third tunnel under the city’s harbor that goes directly to the main airport. And it’s named for a baseball legend, Ted Williams, not a politician. By the way, there’s a subway that goes to the airport, too. These were projects done not only well but with some panache. A new highway bridge across the Charles, completed in 2003, was the first of a new generation of striking cable-stayed bridges — including what I prefer to call the new Tappan Zee — and was named, again, not for a pol but for Leonard Zakim, the one-time leader of the city’s Anti-Defamation League, for his work “building bridges between people.” It’s formally the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge, which roots it in Revolutionary War history, as well. Since then, the city has also rebuilt two major bridges crossing the Charles.Yes, Boston in the Bill Russell and anti-busing era had an ugly side but the mayor today is Michelle Wu, an Asian-American woman. Boston’s public building boom hasn’t just included big things, either. Under its long-time mayor, the late Tom Menino, dozens of small city buildings were renovated. Now in process: renovation of the bathhouse on the city’s famous L Street Beach. Bostonians won’t have to change in the bathrooms like swimmers at Orchard Beach. Admittedly, the bathhouse and pavilion there are slated to be renovated. Fingers crossed it will actually happen by its 2025 deadline.New York has managed to build a few things, of late — or at least renovated some old things, like LaGuardia Airport. But, in contrast to the Big Dig, the Westway project was killed by misplaced environmental concern; it would have put highway traffic on the West Side underground. We talk about burying the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway but can’t even decide on a plan. So, too, with the Cross-Bronx. We talk about restoring service on the Rockaway Beach branch rail line — but that’s all we do, talk.And, of course, there’s the disaster that is Penn Station, the bitter fruit of the destruction of its grand predecessor and which Governor Hochul somehow thought could be renovated by building more office towers when a quarter of the existing ones are empty. It’s hard to get things done right when one gets basic financials so wrong. Of course, it’s hard to find the capital to build big when so much of New York’s state budget goes to its outsized Medicaid program and aid to failing school districts.Yes, New York has managed to build new stadiums for our baseball teams. But both Citi Field and the new Yankee stadium came at cost to the taxpayers for private enterprises. Gillette Stadium, home of the Patriots, was built by the team — without public subsidy — after a former governor, William Weld (a native Long Islander) called the team’s bluff about moving to Hartford.By the way, there is also the matter of the mRNA Covid Vaccine — developed by Boston-based Moderna — at, as it was described, at warp speed.Boston will never be the cultural melting pot that New York is. It has a sordid history that includes racism and anti-Semitism. It has some of the worst street signage anywhere. Yet not getting things done? Think again.

For Getting Things Done, Boston Has the Edge Over the Big Apple

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