Boston, Quincy Mayors At Odds Over Bridge Reconstruction
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QUINCY (CBS) - A bridge dividing instead of connecting, creating a rift between two cities and mayors.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said,"I'm not going to make a public fight over this. "
Quincy Mayor Tom Koch said, "I think that Mayor Walsh knows that the mayor of Quincy is not supportive."
Walsh and Koch are at odds over the reconstruction of the Long Island Bridge in Boston Harbor.
Walsh made it a top priority at the beginning of the year to begin construction and then place a rehabilitation facility on the island.
"It's absurd that we have a perfectly good piece of land to put incredible recovery services on and create halfway house beds for people of the entire Commonwealth to be able to use it," Walsh said.
Koch and people living in the Quincy neighborhood of Squantum don't want the added traffic and have other ideas.
Dick Stohlberg has lived in Squantum for more than 60 years.
"I prefer them to have boats going back and forth. There's so much traffic. People going out there," Stohlberg said.
Koch agrees. He'd prefer to have a ferry shuttle people to an from the island. The Quincy mayor is also concerned about future development and says he will attempt to block the construction any way he can.
"We will be engaging outside consultants and attorneys to give us the best advice going forward," Koch said.
Koch is also looking into using ordinances to block the Quincy road going to Moon Island.
Walsh, meanwhile, said he plans to move forward with the plans.
He expects it will take about three years to build the bridge, which is expected to cost $90 million.
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