MBTA, Keolis Vow To Clean Property Neighbors Call A 'Dangerous Eyesore'
BOSTON (CBS) - Gordon Bedford pulled out a piece of paper tucked into a fence along Hyde Park Avenue in Jamaica Plain. "This is one of the tickets that come from the city," he said.
It was a ticket made out to the property owner, which is the MBTA. He pulled up photos he had taken of other orange tickets strewn along the same fence, ignored like litter. They are violations issued by Boston Public Works for overgrown weeds, for litter, and in the winter, for not shoveling the sidewalk in front of the vacant lot.
"I walk past it every day, and it's like, you know, a little jab," said Bedford, who lives down the block. "It's a terrible eyesore."
He kicked at piles of trash along the fence. "That's a broken Cuervo bottle." He pointed to a cluster of hypodermic needles. "How many are there? One, two, three, four," said Bedford, counting them.
"This is where a tree fell down and obviously pulled the whole fence back," he said, tugging the dilapidated fence from its post. "Why isn't something being done about this?"
City records obtained by WBZ's I-Team show in 2018, the MBTA owed more than $30,000 in unpaid fines for these types of violations. More than $1,665 of that was specifically for the Jamaica Plain lot neighbors call a blight.
When WBZ brought it to the attention of the MBTA, a spokesperson said a crew will go to the area to inspect the fence and post new signs. Since there are train tracks on the property, a crew from Keolis, which is in charge of maintaining the tracks, promised to finally clean the mess Friday.
City Councilor Matt O'Malley says he's been in contact with the T, and says it's a budget issue. "We need to make sure that…the T has the resources so that they can keep their properties up to date, and there also has to be some tough oversight from the city's point of view," said O'Malley. "It's going to be about the community making sure the promises are kept."
