Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

LeBovidge Takes Blame for Easter Traffic Debacle

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Guaranteeing such a serious inconvenience (with no warning) for some many people seems to me an incredibly callow and thoughtless plan on the part of whoever came up with it.

This full press conference from Sec. Aloisi is also worth watching.  Basically he says he has no idea what happened, but he’ll talk to Lebovidge some time this week and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

http://wbztv.com/video/?id=754…

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Comments

  1. Do these people go to class to learn this or is it instinct?

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    p>Captain Renault Alan LeBovidge: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling backed up toll traffic is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault LeBovidge a pile of money memos about toll collector coverage…

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    p>Captain Renault Doug Rubin: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling hackery is going on in here! [a croupier the Globe hands Renault Rubin a pile of money emails about changing Walsh’s job requirements

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    p>Captain Renault Secretary Gietner: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling bonuses are paid here! [a croupier FOX hands Renault Geitner a copy of money memo about removing the cap on executive bonuses in the TARP

    <

    p>Captain Renault Sen Dodd: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling bonuses are paid here! [a croupier FOX hands Renault Dodd a copy of money memo about removing the cap on executive bonuses in the TARP

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    p>Play it again Sam, play it…

  2. Story

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    Massachusetts Turnpike Authority toll takers used to “wave through” cars when major traffic backups occurred, but that policy has since been eliminated as the toll road faces a huge budget gap.

    Jennifer Flagg, chief administrative officer at the Pike, said Executive Director Alan LeBovidge eliminated that policy after he took the helm in 2007.

    “We do not do that anymore. When we wave people through we don’t get the revenue. This is all about the financial situation,” she said today.

  3. The sick out claim was his, for example:

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    Turnpike chief Alan LeBovidge said there were fewer toll takers at several toll plazas and resulting backups because the authority had decided to stop paying overtime to replace toll takers who had called in sick.

  4. The article on the front of the Metro section of the Globe confirms an almost shocking lack of curiousness on the part of Aloisi and Patrick about what happened to cause this mess:

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    p>”But two days after the highly publicized mess, Patrick and his transportation chief, James A. Aloisi Jr., said they still did not know many of the details that created the backup.

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    p>Aloisi, who chairs the Turnpike Authority board, went so far as to say yesterday afternoon that he had yet to speak with Alan LeBovidge, executive director of the Turnpike Authority, about the problems that left many stuck at interchanges for hours.

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    p>LeBovidge said in an interview last night that he created the weekend plan, designed to save money on holiday and overtime pay, without input from the Patrick administration and confirmed he had not spoken with Aloisi since then.”

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    p>http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

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    p>Is this really possible?  The governor said he got stuck in in too, but he never picked up the phone and asked WTF was going on?  And still didn’t two days late?

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    p>This NECN story on the Globe site also notes that there were big backups on Fri and Sat, the two days after the two toll takers max policy was put in place, which makes Sunday’s mess all the more preventable, irritating, and outrageous.  

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    p>As a side note, the much vaunted “transportation blog” http://transportation.blog.sta… is pretty clearly just a page of press releases that you can leave a comment about if you want, but not really a blog or interactive by any true definition.  This would be the perfect time to communicate directely with the people, but not a peep about this matter that has so many so upset.  Instead, the last two posts are about putting GPS’s on every bus (why? and how can we afford that when we can’t afford more than two toll takers on huge traffic days?) and a crack-down on MBTA fare scofflaws.    

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