Russell Holmes: Blue Hill Avenue Is About Investment, Equity and Finally Delivering
By James “Jimmy” Hills
WATCH THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE
State Representative Russell Holmes did not leave much room for interpretation when I asked where he stands on the Blue Hill Avenue project.
“I do not know a bigger supporter,” he said.
Holmes told me his advocacy did not begin with the latest redesign. He traces it back to the proposed 28X in 2009 and says he has pushed multiple mayors, governors and other elected and transportation leaders over the years to invest in Blue Hill Avenue.
“I have pushed the mayor. I’ve pushed Ayanna. I’ve pushed the general manager. I’ve pushed the governor,” Holmes said, adding that he has had these conversations across multiple administrations.
For Holmes, the central argument is simple: people who live along this corridor have waited long enough.
He said recent conversations with clergy, business owners, Cape Verdean and Haitian residents, riders and even MBTA bus operators have helped shape his support for the revised plan. Parking and the possibility of reducing parts of Blue Hill Avenue to one general travel lane were two of the biggest concerns he heard. Holmes believes the revised design responds to both.
He also acknowledged the history sitting underneath this conversation. Trolleys once traveled down the center of Blue Hill Avenue, something we would now recognize as light rail. Holmes said that history matters as the city prepares to use the center of the avenue for transit again.
What does “generational” really mean?
This is where our conversation went deeper.
Holmes has described the Blue Hill Avenue investment as generational. I asked what that means when we consider the history of transportation investment in Black Boston, including the movement of the Orange Line in 1987 and decades of conversations about better transit through Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.
For Holmes, the generation is not theoretical.
“For me, I’ve been in this conversation for seventeen years. That’s a generation,” he said, tracing his involvement from the 28X fight in 2009 through today.
His position is that after nearly two decades of studies, debate and promises, government needs to actually deliver something.
“I’m not one who believes in over promising and under delivering. I want to be able to deliver you something that I promise you.”
That does not mean Holmes rejects rail.
When I asked him directly whether Black and Brown Boston deserves underground heavy rail, including the concept being discussed by Councilors Brian Worrell and Miniard Culpepper, his answer was yes.
But he also raised questions he says he is hearing from residents about tunneling underneath older homes, foundations, displacement and whether a major rail investment could accelerate gentrification.
Rail study? Yes. Waiting? No.
This was probably one of the clearest points of agreement and disagreement in our conversation.
Holmes supports studying rail.
He said “yes” when I asked whether the community deserves a feasibility study. He also said the state has a responsibility to continue investing in transportation throughout these neighborhoods.
Where he draws the line is waiting for that study before moving forward with Blue Hill Avenue.
“I want to deliver what we have already promised to deliver,” Holmes said.
His argument is that rail planning and the current investment do not have to cancel one another out. He pointed to investments in electric buses, the Fairmount Line, the Mattapan trolley and Blue Hill Avenue and said he is advocating for transportation “in every mode.”
“Our neighborhood needs to be connected and getting downtown to workplaces or even in our community as fast as we can.”
For Holmes, this is also a Black equity issue
Holmes did not shy away from race when we talked about who rides the buses along Blue Hill Avenue.
Asked how many of those riders are Black and Brown, he estimated about 95 percent.
That led to the bigger question: are these communities worth major transportation investment?
Holmes’ answer was clear.
He noted that much of the Blue Hill Avenue project sits within two of the very few majority Black state representative districts in Massachusetts.
“I believe that this Black community deserves this investment,” Holmes said. “We deserve it.”
He also argued that the corridor’s approximately 40,000 transit riders and the economic circumstances of the population it serves are part of why the project continues to score competitively for federal transportation dollars.
That is where the conversation ultimately landed for me.
Russell Holmes is not arguing that rail should never come to Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. In fact, he said clearly that Black and Brown Boston deserves rail investment and that a feasibility study should happen.
His argument is about time.
After nearly a generation of talking about Blue Hill Avenue, he does not want another study to become another reason to wait.
And that leaves us with the bigger question that continues to sit at the center of this conversation: Can we make the investment people need today while still demanding the transformational transportation investment Black Boston deserves tomorrow?
For Holmes, the answer appears to be yes.
But he is equally clear that, this time, something has to actually get built.