Open Letter

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Dear Rep. Flynn,

I am writing to ask you to oppose Senate Bill 146 / House Bill 159, which is currently before your committee. As you know, the effort to pass Chapter 40T has used whatever means available to sneak this bill by the citizens of the Commonwealth. After passing through the State Legislature in 2006 attached to the Economic Stimulus Bill, the bill was vetoed by the Governor. The State House overrode the Governor's veto, though thankfully the State Senate never took up the veto override. The bill's authors then took out some of the most inflammatory language, including explicit powers of eminent domain, and have been working to get the new bill approved with as little public input as possible.

There are so many fundamental flaws to this bill, including dangerous steps toward uncharted private governance. The powers that 40T grants to private sub-municipalities and their unelected "prudential committees" are extensive, and bear too close a resemblance to municipal government, without any of the public interest protections we demand of municipal governments. The proponents of the bill try to justify it based on needs that can be adequately addressed by existing law, and are currently overreaching their rights as private developers.

Such a leap into this new form of private governance cannot reasonably be made without broad public input, yet Wednesday's hearing was just publicly announced. The implications of this bill are frightening, and I fear its intended consequences as well as any unintended consequences.

Please seek solutions for the infrastructure and financing needs of the Commonwealth through existing law, without opening up this can of worms.

I urge you to speak to House Speaker DiMasi and Senate President Murray, and ask them to defeat this privatization effort, once and for all.

Sincerely Yours,

Eli Beckerman
5 Carlisle Street #2
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-821-1453