The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 24

24 THE BOSTON GLOBE SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1988 TRAIN TO GLORY llll II lll.ll l( if. MAINE i r- naff Fiscal future of Chelsea is on the line 'M-' til Globe staff photoTom Herde Red Sox owner Haywood Sullivan joins Jean Yawkey for the dedication of the Yawkey MBTA station on the commuter rail line to Framingham. The station, next to the Massachusetts Turnpike, Logan fee hike would affect entire region LOGAN Continued from Page 19 Massport hopes the increase in landing fees, effective July 1, will push private aircraft out of Logan to smaller airfields, and force commuter airlines to reduce the frequency of their flights into Logan at peak travel hours by using higher-capacity planes. Following complaints and political pressure, Massport exempted from the new fee schedule commuter aircraft serving 14 of the 34 smallest commuter airports in the region. Commuter airlines complain that their business depends on the frequency of their flights and their ability to connect with the major carriers in Boston during peak hours, when business travelers' demand for their services is greatest.

Peak hours at Logan are from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. They also contend that the increased fees will force them to raise ticket prices anywhere from to $10.

In their assessment, Massport consultants concluded that the landing-fee increases should not hike the average fare more than $3. Steven E. Mason, director of sales for Bar Harbor Airways and Eastern Express, New England's largest commuter airline, estimated in a report to company officials that the increase in landing fees would hike fares an average of $8.26 per passenger and cost the airline an additional $1.8 million a year. In a letter to company officers. Mason said the commuter airline could qualify for exemptions by reducing the number of flights it now offers to Provincetown, Nantucket and Hyannis, especially busy locations in the summer.

He added in the letter, "These are things which we could do but that we do not wish to, as it would decrease the amount and quality of service that we are able to provide." glad Massport is operating an airport and not an airline," said Frank Arcluolo, vice president for marketing of Business Express, the second largest commuter airline serving Boston. bottom-line impact on us is another $1 million," said Ar-ciuolo. "We'll have to realign our service pattern. Smaller communities will have to be cut out." Arciuolo added: "We don't dictate to our passengers when they want to fly." He says business travelers, who make up the majority of commuter-airline passengers, have to travel at peak hours to make connections with major carriers. "We have a Delta connection.

We transfer to and from the Delta system." Making different connections Massport officials argue that ticket prices are generally lower for passengers using commuter opened yesterday tor the first special MBTA Red Sox train, which arrives at Fenway Park 20 minutes before games and leaves 20 min utes alter, ihe trams also serve WRA pushes to conserve water supply at Quabbin Burlington International Airport VT. Worcester Municipal Airport MA. CONN Green Airport, Providence airlines that have a working arrangement with the big carriers. They also argue that since the major carriers are getting a major reduction in their landing fees, as much as 50 percent in some cases, the companies could pass those savings on to commuter passenger. But they concede this is unlikely.

In the final analysis, Massport is letting market forces dictate the outcome: Commuter airlines that cannot compete under the new fee schedule will suffer or go out of business. New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu has been among the most vocal critics of the plan, and New Hampshire's legislative leaders have promoted the adoption of a resolution opposing the increase in landing fees. "If Sununu spent as much time working to expand direct jet service from Manchester Airport to New York and other places as he has criticizing our plan, his state would be better off," complained a Massport staff member. That statement underscores one of the motivations behind Massport's plan to raise landing fees.

Massport officials hope to force New England's regional airports such as those in Manchester, Burlington, Providence and Worcester to upgrade their facilities to handle more direct Jet aircraft service to hub airports in places such as Washington, Baltimore, New York, Pittsburgh and Detroit, rather than relying on connections in Boston. This idea makes some Massachusetts industry leaders nervous. Walter Muther, president of Associated Industries of Massa-chuetts, fears that growing dependence on regional airports in other states will lessen Massachusetts' appeal to new industry. 12PM 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 Globe staff chart MWRA Continued from Page 19 Quabbin, in west-central Massachusetts near the towns of Petersham and Belchertown, is the largest reservoir in the massive metropolitan water supply two-thirds of the water used by 2.5 million people in Greater Boston. "If we get water consumption down to a reasonable level," Levy said, "Quabbin can be a primary source for water for another 50 years." Moreover, he argues, making do with Quabbin through aggressive conservation is the only rational and economical course.

"Supplies are limited, so if we are to have enough for the future we have to use more wisely. Unlike 50 years ago," he noted, "you can't flood out communities. And I would argue you can't divert rivers." Developing new water supplies. Levy said, costs two to five times as much as saving it. Levy believes that 80 million to 100 million gallons of water a day can be saved and that steps needed to accomplish this would be "totally painless" and would go unnoticed by consumers.

The town of Nahant, which has already taken advantage of the MWRA's leak detection Portland International Jetport Manchester Municipal Airport Logan International Airport Globe staff map Noting that the commonwealth lost tens of thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs in the past three years, Muther said, "When an executive talks about expanding his manufacturing capacity he's going to say, 'You have an antigrowth program at He'll put his facility near Manchester, N.H., or Bradley Field in Connecticut." Muther says Massport officials should get an antitrust waiver from the Justice Department that will permit them to sit down with all the airlines using Logan and work out a more efficient scheduling system. Regional airports growing In fact, expansion of regional airport facilities Is well under way. Many of the airports in question have already developed limited direct jet service to cities outside New England, and several have announced expansion plans that have prompted major carriers to announce their intention of adding service there. Northwest Airlines recently announced it would begin jet service from Manchester Airport to Detroit. Manchester, which has adopted a $20 million expansion plan, is currently served by United and USAir flights to several cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Cincinnati.

Green Airport in Providence, which served 800,000 passengers in 1983, last year counted, more than 2 million. It has jet service to cities such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, Washington, Pittsburgh and Miami. Massport is also promoting a high-speed rail line from Boston to New York as a means of reducing the demand on Logan. More than 20 percent of all passengers and 25 percent of all flights departing Logan go to New York. If predictions that another 13 million passengers will be using Logan by the year 2000 are correct, the accompanying crush of vehicular traffic in Boston and the airport's environs would be paralyzing.

The expansion of regional airports and the institution of highspeed rail service to New York are likely to be the only alternatives to avoiding pressure for the building of another major airport. But construction of another major airport in Massachusetts is unlikely. It is so politically unpalatable an idea that no government agency state or federal is seriously studying such a plan. Robert W. Simpson, director of the Flight Transportation Laboratory at MIT and an international consultant on airports, summed up public resistance: "It is easier to site a nuclear power plant than it is to site a new airport." Globe photoBrooks Kraft receiving scholarships fnpm the CHELSEA Continued from Page 1 president of the Chelsea Police Improvement Association.

"I have to go in front of 70 guys carrying guns and tell them they have to take a zero-raise contract. I wouldn't even embarrass them or myself." The police, without a contract since July 1987, are being asked to accept no raise for the current fiscal year and the next one, Martin said. "The mayor has to decide what his priorities are," said Martin. "We have one of the highest crime rates in the state per capita, but we only have an average of five to six guys on the street. It's not only hazardous to the citizens, it's a hazard to us." State loan used up Two years ago the state bailed out Chelsea at the urging of its representative, House Ways and Means Chairman Richard A.

Voke with a $5 million interest-free loan. Now that money is spent. Repayment is due to start, but the underlying problems remain. The state Department of Revenue, which installed a financial board to oversee the city's budget when the loan was made, is not sure what bankruptcy would mean to Chelsea. "We're crystal-balling it's never happened before," said Deputy Commissioner Edward Collins.

"It depends on the type of bankruptcy. Obviously the courts would step in. "I think it's premature to be talking about it," he said. "It is possible, if the mayor can't hold the line on spending. But there is less of a likelihood with the mayor's commitment to hold the line.

We're comfortable with the mayor's ability to say no." Seventy percent of Chelsea's budget is provided by the state, a level of funding greater than that provided any other community, Collins said. Of the city's 25,000 residents, two-thirds receive some form of public assistance. The city's school system, plagued by a high dropout rate and low test scores, is considering turning over management of the schools to Boston University in what would be a first-ever experiment. The city has not built a new school building in 75 years. Drug dealing, conducted publicly in a few neighborhoods and in Chelsea Square, is an open sore.

Substance abuse is common. "Extremely depressing" All these problems lead residents to conclude that the city is "extremely depressing," said Na-dine Mironchuk, editor of the Chelsea Weekly News. "For the people who have lived here for a long time, It's completely appalling," said Mironchuk, 33, a na tive. Most of the residents are so burdened with day-to-day problems that they probably are not aware of the city's crisis, said Ron Robinson, 39, a youth organizer and another native. "We need some community awareness," said Robinson.

"Un less we get everybody involved it's going to be a struggle." Brennan said that when he presents the budget to the Board of Alderman on May 9, there can be no equivocating. "I've cut every area to the bare bone. Our view is that if we cannot fulfill our obligation, we will go into bankruptcy. I'm willing to do that." State to take over? If bankruptcy comes, the state will move in and administer the city, Brennan said. During the Depression, state revenue officials took financial control of Mashpee, Fall River and Millville.

"The state would take over," Brennan said. "We'd go into receivership, all contracts are null and void. They'd stay long enough to draw up new contracts. No unlimited manning and sick time for unions. "I'm trying to avoid that at all costs, but if the unions force the issue and try to march around my city hall and play hardball with me, we will go into receivership.

Then we all lose, and I don't want to embarrass the governor. Not when he has a chance to be president." Brennan believes bankruptcy would prove a serious blow to the city's morale, as well as damage its considerable potential for development. A former boxer, he said he is prepared to fight the unions. "We're going to hold our ground and hope the message goes out to the unions," said Brennan. "In receivership everybody would lose." Logan aircraft runway usage by hour Number of aircraft on an average weekday in summer of 1987 Newton, Wellesley and Natick.

program, found that it was losing 25 Dercent of its dailv consuirm- tion through 16 leaks in water mains, Lew noted. When the 1 1 1 tA tu JCdHa die UACU, 11C SdlU, LUC IUWI1 will save 53 million gallons a year. A water conservation program at a new research building will save Massachusetts General Hospital more than 11.5 million gal- ions a year, ine nospuai $150,000 investment for conservation will be recovered in 4 to 5 years. While households in the metropolitan area may not be able to achieve such dramatic savings, Levy says that every drop counts, and small changes in habits by many people can add up to consid erable savings for the system. One part of the campaign involves a pilot study to test water-saving fau- cets and showerheads that might replace fittings in households.

If members of every family did three things not run the water while brushing teeth, or while shavlntf anrl installpH Inw-flnw shower heads then they could help meet the 36-million-gallon goal, he said. Just taking quicker showers would be a significant step, according to Levy. Every extra minute you stand there, he said, uses another few gallons of water. worked at the bank, Ahearn said -that it was Wood, a motor vehicle and construction eauiDment sales man, who masterminded the scheme. Yesterday, Wood, his daughter Debbie, Ploof and Coyne were charged in separate criminal complaints that included allegations of currency violations and il-, legal drug distribution.

One complaint unsealed yesterday alleges that Toone paid involvement in any fraudulent transactions at the bank. Although McNamara declined tn plahnratp nn Fernhere's leeal i status in connection with the in- -vestlgation, he said that "Mr. Fernberg should be given special consideration" because he "showed genuine and good faith contrition." Investigators said the alleged scheme surfaced in a routine audit by federal bank examiners in October 1986 and from information and leads provided by various state and local authorities, including fhp Phplmsford PnHre nenart- ment. Last year, due to the misappropriation of bank funds and substantial losses from construction equipment loans, First National Bank of Marlboro was declared insolvent by the federal government and its insured deposits were as- sumed by the Worcester County Institute for Savings. During the same period, Toone and Fernberg were sued by the bank for making millions of dollars worth of fraudulent loans.

Seven charged in scheme to defraud bank of millions 100 I Jets 90 80 70 60 Commuters Genera -aviation Hlln 0 12AM 2:00 4:00 6:00 8:00 10:00 Source: Massport GLAD TIDINGS Ei3 ESB Ji til li fs J. li BANK Continued from Page 1 James F. Ahearn, FBI special agent in charge, described the defendants and the businesses they operated as "spokes in a wheel in which First National was the hub." Investigators said the charges arose from a massive series of fraudulent loans allegedly obtained from the bank. Specifically, they said, up to $10 million in inflated or fictitious loans were made. In addition, kickbacks were paid from the proceeds of the loans to bank executives, the government charged.

According to court documents filed by the US attorney's office, at least 300 such loans, listing about 70 borrowers, were granted over a three-year period. The total value of the loans amounted to more than $7 million. In most cases, investigators said, the loans were made to fictitious persons or to bank customers who had not applied for the loans. Nearly all the loans were for heavy equipment purchases, investigators said. The bank's board of directors was not informed about many of the loans, Investigators said.

"It's an unusual case," said Ahearn. "In many ways, this is a classic white-collar crime, but there are unusual aspects including money laundering and narcotics. It was a massive conspiracy In which some of the elements have not yet been addressed." Although Toone and Fernberg a I f7 I A i' ir-f a Eve Laubner, Wendy Lynn Goda and Linda Reilly are all smiles after Massachusetts AFL-CIO at a ceremony in the JFK library yesterday. 4Ai.