“I get up in the evenin’
And I ain’t got nothin’ to say
I come home in the mornin’
I go to bed feelin’ the same way
I ain’t nothin’ but tired
Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself…”
– Bruce Springsteen, Dancing in the Dark lyrics

Tired. Last night, Milton’s Select Board voted 3-2 (sound familiar?) to submit a tired letter to the state commenting on the new MBTA Communities Act regulations. Four years after its passage and after two full years of vigorous debate and opposition to this “massive state overreach”, our Select Board filed a letter taking exception to exactly one provision of this state law – our trolley is not rapid transit, they said.

The letter conveniently ignores that Chelsea, served by no subway lines but rather Silver Line dedicated bus route, is also considered rapid transit. The letter also cites the “abandonment” of a project in 1968 that would have extended the Ashmont branch to Mattapan using the trolley right-of-way and Red Line subway cars. That project was, of course, abandoned after vigorous protests from Milton residents.

Our current Select Board majority is “tired”, even “sick and tired”, of hearing about how we were “classist and racist”. We should stick to history and fact, they say.

Here are some facts and some history. 177 communities have been asked to comply with a 2021 upzoning mandate by the state with one of the worst housing affordability problems in the nation. 118 have submitted compliant zoning plans in good faith; 26 of 30 communities submitted action plans by February 13 stating an intention to comply with the revised state deadline of July 14, 2025 (the remaining small towns under 7,000 people have until Dec 31, 2025 to submit plans).

Four communities, Milton included, decided to remain in the increasingly lonely space of non-compliance. Defiantly non-compliant. And tired. Milton’s opposition is increasingly tired after each successive loss we endure. Losing at the game of “she won’t sue us”. Losing state grants. Losing legal fees. Losing at the state Supreme Judicial Court. And now losing with the vast majority of our peers who are complying with the law.

Milton has a long history suing the state. Milton vs. MBTA in 1968 tried to stop the replacement of the trolleys with subway cars. Milton residents at the time argued that there was “no apparent transportation benefit to the proposal” to replace the trolley with subway cars. Now, we argue that the trolleys are so inferior to other transit options that our zoning requirement should be slashed by 60% or even 80%. Our “unique” town is on an unenviable, and costly, losing streak. And that is tiring.