Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

No-show COO

By

Is there any discipline in this administration?

The NTSB issues a scathing report of MBTA safety practices. A Republican head rolls (Dan Grabouskas). Then another head rolls (James Aloisi).

Thursday, the COO (Chief of Operations) of the MBTA can’t be bothered to attend the final board meeting of the MBTA, for which he had been ordered to present a response to the NTSB report. Not that you’d notice it, buried in the Globe’s inadequate story:

Board members had also been expecting to hear a report from the MBTA’s chief of operations, Richard Leary, in response to safety concerns raised by the federal government about a fatal crash on the Green Line in May 2008.

Board members voted last month to require Leary to deliver the report before the board dissolved.

But Leary, who is eligible for retirement, did not show up at the meeting, and the T’s interim general manager, William A. Mitchell Jr., said he did not know where Leary was.

“He has been nonresponsive on coming forward,” said Janice Loux, a board member who has been critical of the T’s response to the crash. “I am very disappointed that he’s not going to make that presentation.”

Today, we learn that Mr. Leary has submitted his retirement papers.

It sounds to me as though Mr. Leary has a lot of explaining to do before he receives a nickel of additional compensation, never mind pension pay. The Governor is approaching a re-election campaign. Transportation is one of his top three priorities.

Is he paying attention?

Update: According to Noah Bierman’s Starts and Stops, Richard “No-Show” Leary’s “hand-picked deputy”, Kevin McGuire, submitted his retirement papers as well. From the piece:

So who is running the T? There are no public nationwide searches underway to replace any of these leaders.

Who is running the T?

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0

Comments

  1. Not to defend the T as not having safety issues, but I don’t think that a reasonable reading of that report would describe it as “scathing” either in tone or content.

    • Like this one from WCVB (final emphasis mine):

      MBTA GM MIA After Scathing Crash Report
      Transportation Chief Sounds Off On Safety Woes
      The state’s transportation chief sounded off Wednesday about the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s safety woes after federal investigators hammered the agency about its handling of a deadly crash.

      NewsCenter 5’s Janet Wu reported that Transportation Secretary James Aloisi said that he is angry that he can’t find MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas, who has decided to take his furlough days now.

      “There is no such thing as furlough days for people in my position or the GM,” Aloisi said. “You can call it a furlough day. You are never on furlough. You should always be available.”

      He said that he’s been trying to reach Grabauskas since Tuesday, when the NTSB released a scathing report on the May 2008 crash, saying the agency lacked a “culture of safety.” It concluded the crash, which killed the train operator, may have been due to her falling asleep momentarily.

      <

      p>Was Mr. Aloisi wrong to be angry that Mr. Grabauskas was a no-show? Do you see a pattern here?

        • The headline was written by WCVB, not Mr. Aloisi. Would you prefer “highly critical”, the characterization offered by Noah Bierman in this August 18th report (emphasis mine):

          Patrick’s press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, and Aloisi’s spokesman, Colin Durrant, both said yesterday that their offices conferred on talking points for the interview because they were both asked to comment for the same story and wanted to coordinate a response through Aloisi. The story related to a highly critical report about a 2008 MBTA crash from the National Transportation Safety Board.
          …
          The seeds of a deteriorating relationship were planted July 14. That day, the NTSB released a highly critical report of the MBTA’s handling of a fatal May 2008 Green Line crash in Newton, with one member of the federal board criticizing the T for a “lack of safety culture.” The report said that the prime cause of the accident was operator error.

          <

          p>Whether “scathing” or “highly critical”, how do you respond to the substance of all this? When Mr. Grabauskas chose to take a day off rather than address the NTSB report, the Governor’s administration reacted with outrage. What steps are reasonable to expect now?

          <

          p>Trains are crashing into each other. The NTSB documents a deeply flawed public transportation system. Shouldn’t we be debating how we correct it — and, for that matter, whether it is currently safe to ride at all — rather than quibbling about “scathing” versus “highly critical”?

          <

          p>What message am I, as a frequent rider and resident, supposed to get when nobody steps forward to address these serious issues?

Archives