>The high speed train they discussed seems like a no brainer to me. In my head i’m envisioning this rail extending into areas of MA that have not reached capacity (Western) & giving those areas access to higher paying jobs in or near the city: •less traffic/less people traveling on the roads. More people traveling by rail. •people can live further away and still work in a city. •more affordable housing

People in WMA hate this idea because it means getting priced out of neighborhoods they've been in for generations. They'd much prefer Boston unfuck it's own capacity. Build multifamily housing. Make rail accessible without cars. Make the T functional, or at least not insolvent. Make it connect to places other than main Boston to reduce the need for cars. Hell, develop other cities that aren't Boston instead of turning a coastal city into a hub to build residential spokes off of. There's options that don't involve crushing people.

Also, WMA never gets higher paying jobs from state policy. The state simply sucks them dry and destroys their industry and then whinges about paying for their mistakes.