Generational divide evident during Blue Hill Ave. project testimony

March 31, 2026 | By: Seth Daniel

About 200 people attended an event at the William Reed Auditorium on Talbot Avenue last Thursday to discuss plans for a large public works project for Blue Hill Avenue…

Councilor Miniard Culpepper, right, and Councilor Brian Worrell, left, led the meeting. Seth Daniel photos

A controversial public works that would include the re-positioning of bus traffic on Blue Hill Avenue into center-running bus lanes was the subject of a two-hour meeting hosted by City Councillors Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper last Thursday evening.

Roughly 200 people attended the event at the William Reed Auditorium in the Prince Hall Grand Lodge on Talbot Avenue, which drew many opponents of the plan, but also featured several young residents who spoke up in support of the bus lane concept.

The Blue Hill Avenue Transportation Action Plan has been the subject of dozens of meetings since 2019. Worrell and Culpepper have both signaled opposition to the center-lane bus proposal, which recently received a big boost in the form of an $80.3-million federal grant to the MBTA.

Opponents clearly outnumbered supporters at the session, but an obvious generational rift provided food for thought for some. An exchange between Dianne Wilkerson, the former state senator who opposes the current plan, and Khalil Cooper, a recent college graduate, highlighted the differences.

“Nobody takes a bus to pick up their fried chicken for dinner,” said Wilkerson (above). “We don’t go get our kids from school or day care on a bicycle. That’s not how we live. We will not have it forced on us…We need to say it again, this is the stupidest urban transportation plan I have ever seen.”

But Cooper (below), who graduated from UMass Amherst with an urban planning degree, said it’s not that simple for everyone, noting that the 28 bus route on the corridor is the busiest in New England.

 “I heard some people say they don’t take the bus for certain things,” he said. “I do take the bus to get my little brother from school and to get fried chicken for dinner…This is about disrupting that highway for a bus so people can ride it every day.”

Dorchester’s Maria Romero said young people are living in a different world than older adults. She said the center lane bus on Columbus Avenue eases congestion and makes for a faster commute for bus riders, and she’d like to see that on the rest of her commute.

“As young people, we can’t afford to buy a car,” she said. “If you’re a young person struggling with housing the last thing you want to do is drop $10,000 on transportation. We as young people are sick and tired of waiting for things to happen…We need things to happen for us now so we can get to work and school on time.”

One after another, young people— many aligned with the Mattapan Food & Fitness Coalition (MFFC)— told of detentions for being late to school because of delayed buses or being late to work or after-school events. One young man said that they would “inherit the Earth” and their viewpoint should carry some weight.

Older adults in opposition voiced familiar concerns about the logistics of the center lane bus and the idea that it “isn’t for us,” meaning the plan is a tool for gentrification and displacement of the existing community.

“We stand in opposition to this plan,” said Minister Randy Muhammad of Mohammad’s Mosque No. 11 in Grove Hall. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We want these federal dollars, but not at the expense of inconveniencing our community, residents, and businesses…They are making plans for 10 to 25 years down the road and they are planning for us not to be here.”

Added Wes Ward, a young man from Mattapan, “The plan is to kick us out of our community…They already know we don’t want it, so what is taking so much time to go in an office and write that out on a piece of paper.”

Noted Mac Hudson, a community resident and leader of AccessMA: “The process has not been fair to us. We are the community. We are saying ‘no.’ There were 2,000 signatures on a petition, and we again said ‘no.’ So why are we still here talking about this?”

Taking the considerations of the young people to heart— along with a history of disenfranchisement and displacement via improvement projects— John Smith-St. Cyere (above) gave this warning.

“When small businesses like ours have reduced access and lose parking, they don’t adjust, they close,” he said. “When they close, they don’t stay vacant for long and they aren’t retained by the community…If the trade-off is getting to Mattapan or Nubian Square five minutes faster at the cost of more Black families being priced out, that is not community improvement.”

At the end of the meeting, Culpepper and Worrell said their observation was that a majority of the community was not in support of the existing plan, though they noted the support from young people. Worrell also said that he favors the “enhanced beautification plan” that would update the corridor without the center bus lane.

See the full article here.