I know it's both August and hate-on-the-T month, but did we really need Noah Bierman's investigative journalism skills to break open the shocking, incestuous scandal of... the MBTA paying $300 a month so an 83-year-old disabled board member could get to board meetings?
It's a hit piece, dressed up in "hey, we're just reporting facts" clothing. That tone of muted outrage is better suited to a Gawker blurb of the "Willie Nelson's Concert Rider Calls For 300 Pounds of Doritos" variety. It's beneath you, Noah.
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Comments
I think it was a non-story and counterproductive
By neilv
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 11:48am
I'm imagining people who have little idea what the T is like, reading that story and thinking, "Why are they picking on this fellow? And if this is the worst of the T, they must be doing well!"
The fact that the Globe's "non-story" was actually picked up
By roadman
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 12:59pm
and distributed over the AP wire (which is the source the Herald attributed their version of the story to) speaks volumes about the declining quality of journalisim these days.
One part of the article I loved
By Kaz
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 12:24pm
For the recent Grab-oust-kas meeting, he took the train. Nobody redcapped him on arrival at South Station...way to help the elderly, MBTA (causing him to toddle for 30 minutes to get to the cab stand).
But the coup-de-grace is, that even though he took the train in, he got his normal ride home...because the meeting ran "late" (until 8 PM! Oh noes!) and the next train home wouldn't have left for another 2.5 hours!!
Hello! McFly! Is anybody listening!?
No worries, though, I'm sure that was probably just a one-in-a-million scheduling coincidence. I bet that sorta problem happens rarely, if at all, for everyone else who has to rely on the train (...and doesn't have a transit cop at their beck and call).
MBTA board members are paid
By NotWhitey
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 1:45pm
Let's see.... an 83 year old geezer on death's door, and responsible for overseeing the MBTA. He probably has a nurse to wipe the dribble off his chin when he eats, and it doesn't occur to anyone at the MBTA that maybe he needs to move on.
Yep, no story here.
There might be a story on competence of the board member
By neilv
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 1:53pm
But the Globe wrote a different story.
If he wasn't on death's
By NotWhitey
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 2:48pm
If he wasn't on death's door, maybe they wouldn't have to send a driver to pick him up. The story reveals exactly where the priorities are on the highest level of the MBTA. Never mind the trains that are constantly breaking down, just make sure we take care of an insider until he croaks.
And the next time you need a cop at a T station, sorry... he's out chauffeuring some skeleton to a board meeting.
Physical vs. mental
By Jay Levitt
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 11:00pm
Mark, I don't know you, and so I'm not sure what your area of expertise is. I've just spent the past few days trying to right an aging infrastructure with a demoralized team - you know, kind of like the MBTA - and I know that when someone has long-forgotten institutional knowledge, I want them to stay involved, even if we have to shout over their iron lung.
You do realize that some folks don't get to stay strapping young lads their entire life? That "I can't walk long distances" has pretty freaking low correlation to "I can't contribute to board meetings"? Maybe you remember this guy from your MBTA days, and he really doesn't add much value; maybe you think a cop shouldn't have to be a chauffeur.
Maybe you're not quite as strong yourself anymore; 1993 was a long time ago. Me, I've had days where I have to buy milk by the quart. Did you know a gallon weighs nine pounds? But if someone decides my advice isn't worth three hundred bucks a month, I sure hope it's because I give lousy advice.
Important board member
By Kaz
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 8:03pm
We're not talking about a political appointee or anything. We're talking about the first black guy to ever be more than just a door button pusher in the entire history of the MBTA. Much like the Supreme Court, I think in this case, this guy gets to choose when he's done giving direction to the organization.
Good. Now it's out in the
By NotWhitey
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 11:10am
Good. Now it's out in the open. Just make sure you never, ever complain about T service again. You've made your priority clear, and your priority is not the proper management of the MBTA. You've turned in your right-to-complain card, and this will be the last we hear from you on this subject.
Right?
Seriously I agree If our
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 11:16am
Seriously I agree
If our concern were diversity Im sure we can find plenty of black people in Boston who take the MBTA daily. Hey we might even be able to find one of two who live in areas very close to the city that get bad service who may have a new viewpoint to bring to the board.
Yes, they're quite fungible
By Jay Levitt
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 12:29pm
Let's find a younger, healthier replacement. If I can help any, let me know. Some of my best friends are black people.
All I can think of
By Trixie
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 12:33pm
All I can think of is this.
That is truly excellent. n/t
By Jay Levitt
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 1:41pm
n/t
I was responding to his
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 1:20pm
I was responding to his comment that this board member should be left in place because he was the first non janitor employee of the MBTA. So if you read my comment without jumping to conclusions you would see that I said if diversity was his concern. A black person from Marion who does not take the MBTA and gets special treatment that other older black people dont get should not be kept around just because he is black.
Get off your high horse
I don't see the distinction
By Jay Levitt
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 1:53pm
You said that "if diversity was our concern" - that is, if part of the guy's value is that he's the first black MBTA non-janitor - let's replace him with a different black person.
Didn't you?
I was responding to someone
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 3:13pm
I was responding to someone who attached race and diversity as a value in the board seat. The person I was referring to seemed to imply that he should be able to decide to leave on his own accord and that was connected to his race. Like I said I was responding to that.
I personally believe in geographic/class diversity in the case of the MBTA above racial diversity. I would like to see people who use the system at 6am, people who use the system between 8-6 AND people who rely on the system in the evening as well all over Greater Boston.
Implication
By Kaz
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 4:15pm
The implication is that if he was both black AND good enough to overcome that barrier in an organization full of appointees in a city where racial bias has been a stain on numerous aspects of government and civilian life...and yet in spite of all of that, he rose to be recognized as an important member of the MBTA...then that's something you don't just put out to pasture as you please.
He didn't rise to his position in 1997 as a part of some sort of affirmative action plan at the MBTA. He did it at a time when he would have had to have been 300% as impressive as his white counterpart to even be considered for his promotions within the organization.
I doubt you thought through as much however. Get him out because he's old and costing us a few thousand a year. Yeah. Good job. That just afforded us an extra transit cop's Christmas bonus this year.
Just so you can shit on this guy's ability to help run the MBTA in LESS ignorance, here's a modest bio of him:
But, nah, you and NotWhitey probably characterize him well as a drooling idiot from the boonies who doesn't know what he's talking about because he doesn't ride the train everywhere he goes at this age. Screw him and the wheelchair he rode in on.
HEY it's not my fault he can
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 11:38pm
HEY it's not my fault he can not get from his house to the meetings without special treatment. I know who he is and I know his resume but the fact remains that he is never on the MBTA system so he should not be on the board. If he were on any other board in the city he would not get that treatment he would be expected to use the MBTA or drive in.
In regards to Ted Kennedy I believe he should step down as well. He could not even make it to his own sisters funeral how is he going to be able to properly represent our state?
I don't understand what is wrong with people retiring. Normal people do it all the time and aspire to it, why should MBTA board members and Senators be so different? If Ted Kennedy were a 40 year old Senator who was going to miss half of the rolls calls, not be able to make it to the state for events and to meet people and the prognosis was that it was only going to get worse I think people would be asking him to step down.
Nonsense
By Kaz
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 1:03pm
Do we not get to complain about Supreme Court decisions and how well they represent us even though they're all appointed at over the age of 50? Half of them are currently over 70, but I guess proper management of the country's constitutional rights isn't our priority based on your deficient argument.
In fact, the only defensibility of your argument is yourself. Usually wisdom comes with age.
If you have a problem with this board member because of his votes on past decisions, let's hear it. If you have any evidence that his age has led to him failing the MBTA board in some way, please do explain. Prove that he's a proximal cause to the problems at the MBTA. If you just don't like his age, go pound sand.
Hell, the ENTIRE board is going to disappear shortly anyways...this will all be moot.
The Ride?
By Trixie
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 10:20pm
If this guy is 83 and supposedly a person that has a disability the impairs his mobility or his functional ways of getting around, why isn't this guy eligible for and receiving "The Ride" -- You know, that MBTA Paratransit thing?
(Obviously this is a rhetorical statement)
Not available in his neighborhood
By Jay Levitt
Sat, 08/15/2009 - 10:58pm
As TFA says, The Ride isn't available in Marion, where he lives.
I think this is a relevant
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 10:47am
I think this is a relevant story.
Here we have a board member who is not able to get to the board meetings because he is not eligible for "The Ride" due to where he lives and he had a hard time taking the train in and to cap it off the meeting ended at 8pm (jeez 8pm! Who is still awake at that hour) and he was going to end up essentially stranded if he did not get a ride home.
Has this board member fought for increased Ride service? Has he fought for T employees on the platform to assist elderly and disabled passengers at train stations? The fact that he needs so much special help from an agency that moves people for a living shows that something is wrong. Either he lives too far away to be telling the MBTA what to do or the MBTA should have extended Ride service to his town. IF he wanted to be a board member of a local non profit he would not be able to do it because he could not get to the meeting.
I have nothing against old and disabled people and do feel its important to keep the experience but board members should really be in the system on a regular basis. This would be like having a State Senator from Quincy living on Palm Beach or a US Senator residing in Monaco. There is a reason why we value representatives living close to those they represent because there is a huge difference between what you are told from an agency and what really is happening on the street. Weekly use of the MBTA should be a requirement for board members.
See, now that
By Jay Levitt
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 1:50pm
Now that's a valid point. In general, I agree; one of my biggest gripes w/Grabauskas was that he didn't walk the walk (ride the ride?).
This board member appears to have institutional knowledge, not to mention significant accomplishments, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he would still ride the T regularly if he were physically able; it's far more than the "inconvenience" that Grabauskas claimed.
Since he doesn't use the T regularly, his direct knowledge of it would become less valuable over time. At some point, it becomes more of a hindrance than his institutional knowledge is a help. If he's hit that point, you'd have a strong argument that he shouldn't be on the board.
But, as Neil said, you could write an article questioning the guy's value and relevance to the board; this isn't that article. He IS on the board, nobody's asked him to leave (of course, the board itself is disbanding in a few months), and so for this argument, I'd stipulate that he IS valuable. The question's just whether it's appropriate for the T to pay for his ride to the board meeting.
Do you think Ted Kennedy should resign from the Senate because he's no longer able to participate fully in the proceedings?
Do you think Ted Kennedy
By ShadyMilkMan
Sun, 08/16/2009 - 3:09pm
Yes