This is no time to take on more debt

THANK YOU for two recent pieces exposing the MBTA's irresponsible plans to implement Phase III of the Silver Line ("Questions arise how T plans to fund $1b Silver Line project," City & Region, Oct. 14; "The T's unchecked expansion and its consequences," Op-ed, Oct. 12).

This project has been opposed by neighborhood groups all along the proposed route. The MBTA has refused to seriously consider alternatives more useful to city commuters and less dangerous to historic brick homes adjacent to the path of the proposed tunnel.

We are at a treacherous time in the history of our nation and state, as we struggle with the consequences of excess borrowing. Adding at least $500 million to the MBTA's debt to fund a one-mile tunnel with few benefits is the kind of decision that jeopardizes not just the T's budget but that of the Commonwealth that underwrites it. What future generations will end up paying for this?

Massachusetts taxpayers already see millions of dollars of waste and abuse at the MBTA, which cannot even properly maintain the lines it now operates. Many voters are angry enough to send a message by entertaining a ballot question to abolish the state income tax.

Why don't those in charge send a message of fiscal responsibility by killing this wasteful project?

KATHLEEN McDERMOTT
Boston