The MBTA has revised its plans for improving its subway and commuter rail service, and it all looks like some great news for Dorchester.

The T has long been committed to begining a substantial upgrade of the four Red Line stations- at Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Shawmut and Ashmont- and work on three of those stations is expected to begin this year.

But community residents who reviewed the early plans for Ashmont came to believe that more was needed for that important station, and after a long series of meetings, the T agreed to go back to the drawing board and make improvements to the Ashmont re-design.

To his great credit, MBTA General Manager Mike Mulhern has listened to the community and has added $20 million to the plans for Ashmont Station, with the goal of making this important transportation hub second to none in the system.

Chris Stanley, chairman of the community advisory committee that has been meeting with the MBTA's to review the Ashmont plans, says that the effort to secure more funding for Ashmont is "big news."

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Ashmont," says Stanley. And indeed it is. The T's new plans would create a first-class facility at Ashmont station, and that's something that long-suffering Dorchester T riders well deserve.

The new plans are part of a $60 million bond bill which also appropriates funds for renovations on the Fairmount commuter rail line, adding four new rail stations in Dorchester and Mattapan. The bill, Senate Bill 1967, has the strong support of Dorchester State Senator Jack Hart, as well as State Rep. Martin Walsh. This week, Hart urged local residents to make their support heard at a hearing at the State House next Tuesday, May 27 at 10 AM.

The proposal deserves the strong support of this neighborhood and our elected officials.

-Ed Forry

 Anonymous Fliers Spread Misinformation
Two weeks ago, some anonymous persons quietly snuck through the Ashmont and Cedar Grove neighbohoods dropping phony leaflets on lawns, on utility poles and on front porches. The fliers sought to alert the neighborhood to a supposed issue before the Cedar Grove Civic Assoc. about the plan to build new apartments on land adjacent to Ashmont Station.

The flier, like others before it in that area, was just plain wrong and, even worse, seemed intended to confuse and mislead people in that part of our community. The motive seemed to be to cause malicious damage to an ongoing project that seems to have gathered a good deal of positive reaction from neighbors who live near the site. For two years now, civic leaders have stepped forward to lend their time- and good names- to the effort. Now, someone who doesn't even have the courage to sign the document, seems intent on quietly sabotaging the planning process. It also seems likely that the malevolent authors were simply trying to destabilize the neighborhood.

Shame on them.

- E.F.