The Massachusetts town that didn't get the T wants a re-do

In the late 1970s Arlington, Massachusetts did something that seems almost unthinkable today: out of fear of traffic and big city problems, it said no to a stop on the MBTA Red Line subway that would connect it to Boston by mass transit. 

Now, craving and end to congestion woes, the town is rethinking the errors of its past and taking steps to revisit its past opportunity, Boston.com reports. For example, Arlington has repealed laws that were put in place to prevent mass transit stops — like a law banning transit facilities within 75 yards of Catholic church property, including its high schools — and is earmarking $50,000 in the 2027 budget for a feasibility study about picking up the Red Line project. 

“The people who were in Arlington in 1978 don’t have a right to set our priorities,” Paul Schlichtman, leader of an advocacy group called Extend the Red Line, told Boston.com. “The town has changed. People changed. Their needs have changed.”