Shortly before I left BoMag, I asked MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo if Grabauskas would be leaving in January as some Internet rumors had reported. Here's what he told me (twice):
“I’m sure you’ll treat the credibility of a blogger’s rumor with the level of respect it deserves[.]”
Nowhere in that statement does the word “no” appear. And now that the transit upheaval has begun, does it mean Grabauskas is busy packing up his office? If he leaves, who will take his place?
I hate to post a bunch of rhetorical questions, but I don't have the answers. I just know that Grabauskas has a lot of the same qualities as Bernard Cohen (the propensity to be up-front about the doomed status of his agency, not being very chummy with Gov. Deval Patrick), as well as being a holdover from the Romney administration.
Guess only time will tell.
The failings of the T are not Grabauskas’s fault. He’s been making the best he can out of a pretty crappy situation. He didn’t put the T in debt, he didn’t give the unions ridiculously favorable pensions in collective bargaining.
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p>The T won’t be improved simply by changing the person who sits at the head of the table. There need to be serious funding reforms and debt relief in order to give the T any chance of improvement.
I am not, nor have I ever been, Dan Grabauskas.
It can be pretty aggravating to listen to Mr. Grabauskas, via recorded message, lecturing you all about courtesy and terrorism six times a day as you wait on the platform for overcrowded, late trains.
Posters advising you not to overuse your cell phone on the T? Better to lease that space to a real advertiser (although hopefully not a liquor company- surely there are other products/companies that would pay to advertise on the train)
I remember Grabauskas’ much publicized annual ride on the T last year. I think he took the Green Line all the way from Park Street to Government Center or something. If he decides to stick around, he should check out the number 32 bus at rush hour for a real taste of the T commuter experience.
I guess I wish he would focus more on improving/increasing service instead of irritating PR campaigns- but I’m sure with the current financial situation the former is much harder to do.
Change we can believe it—–together we can——-Everything will be just fine.
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p>How’s it going so far? From my viewpoint: A catastrophe.
Now we see the “former Massachusetts hack” employment machine back in operation. The very same liars, thieves, incompetents, and despicable persons dusting off their resumes.
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p>Where is the outcry? Where are the cries of disbelief?
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p>And the icing on the cake—-the very same is happening in the Obama administration.
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p>God help us all—-but we richly deserve the government we voted for.