Dan Grabauskas Has no Inner Yankee


1206466799We know we have an inner child, largely because we still get a chuckle out of sophomoric jokes. But the Globe shocked us today with the news that we also have an “inner Yankee.” We love an L.L. Bean Boat and Tote as much as anyone, but an austere lifestyle isn’t in our nature.

Perhaps the most inner-Yankeeless entity in these troubled economic times is the MBTA. Despite General Manager Dan Grabauskas’ assertion that the agency is “broke,” the agency’s board is expected to approve $3.75 billion in capital improvements.

Listen, we’d love to ride in some Orange Line cars that weren’t put into service during our infancy. It’s great to dream about expanding the Silver Line. In our weaker moments, we have fantasies of riding the Green Line all the way to Somerville. But now might not be the best time.

[T]he T will rely mostly on a combination of federal grants and heavy borrowing. That means that the T’s debt will grow by $1.33 billion in the five years of the plan.

Combine that with the T’s current debt of about $5.2 billion and the agency’s debt will be up to a whopping $6.53 billion.

Grabauskas told the Globe he has no choice but to spend.

“If we didn’t spend, we would simply be deferring maintenance and, in many cases, not making the investments that our existing riders want and our potential new riders want,” Daniel A. Grabauskas, MBTA general manager, said in a phone interview.

All this while Globe readers are cutting back on their kayaking and going to the *gasp* library? Even our inner child thinks we should just keep the T functioning and save any expansion until we happen upon better times.