A couple of years ago, I was all set to campaign for Setti Warren for Governor of Massachusetts. I liked all of his ideas, but one of his big priorities really won me over. He wanted to expand public transportation all over the state, and connect places like North Central Massachusetts to everywhere else.

We live in a town that has almost no alternatives to driving yourself in a car--I say "almost" because there are a few, very limited, options--while at the same time, fifty percent of Winchendon residents don't own a car.

I've been thinking a lot about this issue because I just got home from a four-day convention in Boston for which I was on staff. I had two roommates to help with the cost of the hotel room, but parking has gotten too expensive to afford. I took the commuter rail from Fitchburg and the T to get to the hotel.

I like taking the T. I live 70 miles from Boston and I have a Charlie Card. Five or more years ago, if I was going into Boston, I'd drive to Alewife, park in the big parking garage and get on the Red Line. So much easier than driving in the city!

But now? Alewife parking garage has been dropping chunks of concrete here and there, and is now being repaired, so you have to use a different entrance and there are times when it's closed. The Red Line is being repaired, so sometimes there are shuttle buses taking you between stations instead of the subway. This past weekend, I'm lucky the shuttle buses weren't running and the T was on a normal schedule, because my alternate plan was to take the commuter rail to North Station and get on the Green Line. Except I couldn't have, because the commuter rail was stopping before it got to North Station because of repairs on the tracks.

The Boston Globe printed a big expose about the failings of the MBTA, and then they printed a big multi-part expose about how terrible traffic is in Boston. Hey, I'd love not to have to drive in Boston! But unlike Governor Baker, I don't have a helicopter at my disposal.

Most recently I've seen a proposal to run a high-speed rail line from Boston to Springfield. Well, wait a minute. Springfield doesn't need it. They've got the Pike. WE need a high speed rail line--from Boston to Albany. If you drive to Albany, New York from Winchendon, you're aware of just how frustrating it is. The two-lane back roads are jammed with enormous commercial trucks and semis...because they have no other way to go. That old New England chestnut, "you can't get there from here" was true in the Monadnock region long before it was borrowed by Maine. Maine, after all, always had Rte 1, which ran the entire length of the East coast, whereas we've got, well...Rte 2, which turns into a cowpath west of Templeton.

How does a community like ours grow economically when its residents can't even get to the shopping mall, let alone places like Worcester or Boston? The next time we're electing a Governor, let's keep this in mind--and ask the candidates what their plans are to solve this problem, for us and for all of Massachusetts.

Inanna Arthen