Posted on 07/31/2007 8:06:38 AM PDT by pabianice
BOSTON, MA - Gov. Deval Patrick's top transportation officials are keeping a low profile after a rough month in Mass. Pike and Big Dig related news.
July brought renewed promises of accountability and fiscal responsibility when Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen became chairman of the Turnpike Authority Board and appointed temporary executive director Mary Jane O'Meara to conduct a "stem to stern" review of the authority.
But there hasn't been any honeymoon period for the officials, who have both taken heat during their short time at the authority's helm - Cohen for his decision to discuss a Big Dig tunnel leak report behind closed doors after it was unintentionally posted on the public agenda, and O'Meara for praising the authority's finances and Big Dig oversight in a Boston Globe article.
"The financial situation is in great shape," O'Meara told the Globe. "All we're trying to do is fill in gaps where it can be even better."
According to John Lamontagne, press secretary for the Executive Office of Transportation, O'Meara did not want to discuss her first month on the job and is nervous about talking to the press.
"Maybe when she feels more comfortable," he said.
Cohen and O'Meara also declined to comment on a financial audit conducted by accounting firm KPMG that shows the authority lost $50 million in assets last year.
"I have no doubt that the administration wants greater transparency. Sometimes though, when a new administration takes over any government agency it takes a while for that message to trickle down," said Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, who like several lawmakers was unaware of the audit until receiving a copy from the MetroWest Daily News last week.
"I would like to see the Turnpike Authority take a hard look at areas where they can save tollpayers money," said Linsky, who disapproves of forcing tollpayers, who contribute 85 percent of Turnpike revenue, to absorb Big Dig debt. "That's not any way to run a highway."
According to deputy press secretary Becky Deusser, Patrick maintains his faith in his transportation chief.
"The commonwealth's residents are paying the steep price today for years of neglect of our roads and bridges," she wrote in a statement Friday. "The governor has asked Secretary Cohen to effect a top to bottom review of our entire transportation system; he is confident in his ability both to improve and restore public confidence in our transportation system."
Hoping to avoid the mistakes of previous administrations, Patrick had state transportation agencies sign a "mobility compact," an executive order that charged agency heads with working together to deliver services and improve communication.
Doubts about the safety of local transportation projects recently prompted activist Vincent Zarrilli to request records documenting Boston tunnel accidents.
Zarrilli, the father of Turnpike Board member Mary Connaughton, said he was first thanked and then discredited by state officials for comparing 614 Tip O'Neill Tunnel crashes to 28 accidents in the shorter, less busy Sumner and Callahan tunnels over the same two-year period.
"It made me look like I was inflating the figures and it was bull," he said of last week's Boston Herald article that reported the state's count of O'Neill Tunnel crashes was only 408.
Zarrilli said he believes the difference is due to discrepancies over the official tunnel opening date, and has filed another Freedom of Information Act request for additional documents.
The state's review of the tunnel "will be thorough from their perspective, but maybe not thorough from my perspective," said Zarrilli, who is making his own recommendations for improved tunnel safety.
MetroWest Daily News staff writer Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lpariett@cnc.com
Welcome to Massachusetts politics.
This state is a mess, has been a mess, and will continue to be a mess.
I’ll give Romney credit, he tried like hell to fix it, but the bureaucrats went out of their way to prevent any change from happening.
And now we have Cadillac Deval giving us plenty of talk and no action, other than spending more tax payer money on his curtains.
LMAO!
My father in law lives in Methuen Mass, he calls teh big dig tunnels the tunnel o death.
My girlfriend goes out of her way to avoid the tunnels, as a matter of fact we’re going to NH this weekend and I’ll go 128 to 95 and then cross over to 93 into NH.
The roads in this state are a mess, compounded by the fact most are 2 or 3 lanes with a 60Mhp of less speed limit and you get people in the passing lane doing 50Mph half the time causing artificial traffic jams.
They must have learned this from the commies. I'll never forget my visit to Poland, around 1990, where I saw countless concrete apartment buildings where entire wall slabs had fallen from the buildings.
You can see this at Univ. of Mass. in Amherst. Dozens of concrete buildings from the 70s and 80s -- all with kickbacks to Billy Bulger -- falling apart. The main library had to be closed for several years because hunks of stone were falling out and braining people. Bulger retired with a reported $215,000/year pension.
Now in office, he has vanished from TV and has taken to hiding in his office, shunning reporters, and when confronted, having a temper tantrum that they would dare ask him questions.
There are some rumours floating around ol’ Deval. Maybe that has something to do with it.Read through the posts starting with #4
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1860186/posts
What's not to love about ZooMass? At least we're subsidizing four years of middle class kids' partying until they venture out into the real world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.