Not again with the $13 million?!?!?

Once more, the Tab uncritically repeats New England Development's assertion that $13 million worth of changes to roadways surrounding the proposed Chestnut Hill Square are "improvements." The offending paragraph:

The developer has also offered to make some road improvements to ease the impact from the possible addition, at a cost of $13 million. Expected improvements would also include traffic lights and travel lanes on both sides of Route 9 from Langley Road to the Hammond Pond Parkway.

The nice use of "offered" makes it even worse, like the only reason New England Development is spending the money is to mitigate the effects of the development on the neighborhood.

One more time, boys and girls, over half of the proposed $13 million is for changes to Route 9 that a) directly benefit New England Development and b) are not universally viewed as changes for the good.

No question, New England Development is taking the right steps to do actual mitigation. They are going to spend a bunch of money on things that are only going to mitigate. I don't want to suggest that they are shirking their responsibility.

But, the tab for mitigation isn't going to be $13 million.

Previously:
When's mitigation mitigation?
NED's Overstated mitigation commitment