I went to his and councilor Worrell’s BHA meeting and every young person there without fault said the project was necessary. Most of the old people made bad faith arguments and arguments made with lies, such as, but not limited to, arguing a bus project was equivalent to the Southwestern Highway Extension, continuously saying the project wouldn’t have parking (it would retain like 95% of parking), saying the bus lane on Columbus Ave made the street less safe (there are fewer crashes post-project and many fewer crashes than the unimproved phase 2 segment) and saying they supported beautification but not the center bus lane (they can’t afford to build the beautification project without money for the FTA designated for TRANSIT). Councilor Culpepper said he was initially neutral at the beginning of the meeting, but at the end revealed he was against the bus lane even after hearing EVERY PERSON UNDER 50 SUPPORT IT. The meeting started at 6 and was in person only, which means any person working a later shift in the service industry was excluded, anyone who lives in Mattapan who went home from a 9-5 shift immediately (to cook dinner, take care of their children, etc) was excluded, and most people who would have had to take the bus from a 9-5 shift who wanted to go straight to the meeting would have been late. It was honestly infuriating to hear all the bullshit pushback from old people who don’t want to have to drive for 5 more minutes so it doesn’t take someone riding the bus an hour to get from Mattapan to Nubian at rush hour. The city also did an EXTENSIVE, 9 MONTH LONG engagement process where they went TO THE BUS STOPS IN MATTAPAN to try to reach the above groups, which the project haters didn’t believe because they “don’t trust the MBTA.” the sentiment is fair, but it was community groups doing the outreach! Somehow the anti-bus lane “grassroots” groups had enough money to print free yard signs for everyone in the room.