Don’t Stop Believin’, Somerville

The residents of East Cambridge and Somerville who hope for the Green Line extension are like kids who are old enough to know Santa Claus isn’t real, but maintain their belief in him anyway. It’s a futile exercise, but both the kids, and the Green Line hopefuls, hope they’ll get something out of the ordeal.

Yet another trope of politicians showed up on the Somerville-Cambridge line today and pledged that residents will hear the ringing of the trolley bell. Eventually.

The Somerville Journal reports that Congressman Mike Capuano stopped at Lechmere Station today to talk up the proposed Green Line extension into Union Square and all the way to Medford.

“We’re done with highways,” Congressman Mike Capuano said. “Finally, we have a governor and an administration who get it.”

Mayor Joe Curtatone and the aldermen have consistently said the Green Line would be finished by 2014, but Capuano said setting a specific date “is a political trap.”

That’s because it’s not going to happen. The state has no money. The federal government is broke too. We all know how the MBTA’s finances are. Despite what Gov. Deval Patrick promised these poor bastards, this project won’t get financed for a long time.

As someone who lives in the light rail dead zone, I’d love to see a train in my neighborhood. The buses from Lechmere run every half-hour, and my friends are scared of them and won’t visit me unless they can drive home. I’ve lived on the Green Line and know that’s no great shakes either. But given the choice, I’ll take the slow crawl of the train over the infrequent and unreliable bus service any day.