Week in Review: Riders Speak Out Against MBTA Cuts, Lt. Gov. Announces $2M for Medford Sq. Garage

Here are the top headlines in Medford this week:

Dozens of residents streamed to the microphone in Medford City Hall Chambers Wednesday night to voice concerns over possibly losing bus routes in Medford and MBTA fare hikes. “It will be a disaster for every community that is impacted by the bus routes,” Winthrop Street Resident Susan Altman said before the packed crowd. “But it will also be a disaster for Boston"

The city has been selected by the state to receive $2 million in funding to construct a new parking garage on Governors Avenue, Lt. Governor Tim Murray announced in an appearance in Medford Thursday. "That is condition upon the city council approval," Murray said. "We hope that will happen because $2 million like that doesn't usually hang around and we've already spent the $1 million (on garage design)."

The debate over placing a toll near the New Hampshire border on I-93 may return in 2012 as an option to shore up transit funding shortfalls in Massachusetts, according to one state representative. “Open road tolling is a possibility, on the New Hampshire border, that Governor Patrick and the (MBTA) caucus is looking at,”  Rep. Sean Garballey, D-Medford/Arlington, said Wednesday.

For the third year, Erin DiBenedetto will bring in some of her table cloth and use some partitions to convert the Medford High School teacher's lounge into a prom dress changing room in March. DiBenedetto has been at the reigns for Medford High's annual Sweet Seconds Prom Dress Swap, slated to take place this year on March 13. But before that can happen, she needs some dresses. “I need a lot – I need gowns," DiBenedetto said in a phone interview Tuesday. "I’m a little slow starting this year.”

Medford has been awarded a grant to plan and launch innovative energy consumption-reducing projects. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council awarded Medford and seven other communities with the matching grants, which will fund two positions for the next two years to review and plan energy reducing initiatives in the city, said Amanda Linehan, MAPC Communications Manager.