So it turns out Beverly Scott did drop the mic at her press conference yesterday.
Scott did not specify reasons in her resignation letter, but did praise T workers and said she was proud to have been part of the Patrick administration's transportation team.
She leaves the job in April.
Free tagging:
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Scott resignation letter | 37 KB |
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Comments
Exactly! So why hadn't Dr Scott said
By lodger
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 10:17pm
Exactly!
So why hadn't Dr Scott said "I can't do the job you've asked me to do with these resources"?
I'm a big T user/supporter, and have been following her statements and leadership for a while now, which haven't really shown any sign of crises brewing, as far as I can tell.
Until things got so unworkable they decided to hold the city captive by shutting the whole thing down?
She's in place through April, why this statement now? And again, her reason for leaving is "No comment".
It's inexcusable to cause this amount of disruption, with a 'no comment', then walk away, with another 'no comment'.
Because she probably signed
By Lyndsay
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 8:28am
Because she probably signed some sort of non-disclosure agreement to "resign" and walk away quietly. I used to work in corporate legal services - first thing they do when someone that high up resigns or is fired is check the terms of their nondisclosure and noncompetes.
And the other thing they do...
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:15am
...is walk them out the front door. Didn't happen here.
Who had February 11th
By moxie
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:30pm
In the pool?
Damn, I had her lasting at
By Lyndsay
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:31pm
Damn, I had her lasting at least through the weekend. Friday at the earliest. She just bailed!
First comment of article announcing her taking the position
By downtown-anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:34pm
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/09/24/new-mbt...
[quote]
Good luck to the "winner." Hope that he or she understands that accepting this job is career suicide and that the T's problems are beyond the capacity of anyone outside the Legislature to fix.
[/quote]
I think I'll go see what the
By Scratchie
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:19pm
I think I'll go see what the comments over at the Herald are like. Oh, wait, no, I think I'd rather pour lye in my eyes.
Well, what a shame...
By Freddy Benson
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:35pm
I thought she was saucy and smart - apparently you can only say "I told you so" so many times before the boss is tired of hearing it. My guess is she came in with promises she could change things, but then ended up in the same old position.
Oh how we long for the days of Dan Grabasskiss...just kidding.
And now its time to spin the
By cleokid
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:35pm
And now its time to spin the "Wheel Of Cronies!(™)" to find out which yes man Baker will appoint to say that everything is fine and let the system fall even more to hell.
$5 on someone with 10+ years
By J
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:55pm
$5 on someone with 10+ years of transportation experience.
Transportation meaning asphalt company, towing company, or smart tolling company
What's Peter Blute doing these days?
By jmeltzer
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:19pm
He has transportation management experience.
Bring back Gidget!!
About Gidget...
By issacg
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 6:58pm
This comment requires me to point out that Massport was then, and is now, by far the best functioning operation in this Commonwealth having anything to do with transportation.
We should be striving to make MassDOT much more like Massport, and I have written too extensively on this site about this to link to it now.
Funny considering every
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:07pm
Funny considering every appointment he has made thus far has be bipartisan and acknowledged as competent?
A song for the occasion
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:38pm
[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPrSVkTRb24[/youtube]
movie for the occasion
By issacg
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:01pm
I can't link to it now, but you know the scene from "Half Baked" that I'm talking about:
"F&^% you, f*&^ you, f*&^ you, you're cool, f**^ you, I"m out!"
Lame
By Sources Say
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:40pm
After being so passionate and fiery yesterday I thought she actually cared about the T. But to just basically say "Screw it, I'm outta here" 24 hours later pretty much proves she was not fit for the job and she was in over her head. Yes, she walked into it a complete mess on her her first day and really stood no chance at succeeding. But I can't help to think that if she had publicly shown that much fire and passion in the past two years then maybe - just maybe - someone on Beacon Hill would have listened to her and attempted to help her fix things.
Or, maybe she's smart enough
By Hyde_Parker
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:43pm
Or, maybe she's smart enough to realize that decades of disinvestment have left the T in the decrepit state that it's in, and it's only decades of reinvestment that are going to restore the system to a functioning state. She might realize that she isn't the right person to be able to navigate the politics of doing that. It's too bad. I like Beverly Scott.
If she was that smart...
By Cutriss
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:44pm
...she wouldn't have taken the job without some kind of assurance that those problems beyond her reach would get fixed.
And even then, you'd have to be quite foolish to not be a skeptic about that.
She probably got those assurances.
By Irmo
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:56pm
And then learned this week how much those assurances are worth.
But..
By Sources Say
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:52pm
She should would have realized all of this at least six months into the job. Why wait until your job performance gets called out two years later to then resign?
"Why wait until your job
By relaxyapsycho
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:57pm
"Why wait until your job performance gets called out two years later to then resign?"
Probably didn't want to walk away from close to half a million dollars for 2 years of "work".
I'll be a sacrificial lamb for that money any day of the week.
Hire me, Charlie.
Um
By cybah
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:06pm
Right. And I bet you'd stay on as long as you could to collect your salary. Anyone would. We all need jobs and income. I
Sorry I've been in her position.. the punching bag.. I stayed for a while but eventually the abuse of being a punching bag gets to you and you just up and leave.
You don't think she was "pushed"....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:44pm
... into resigning? I suspect that it was made clear that Baker would do his best to hurt her future employment chances if she didn't leave immediately.
Personally
By anon²
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:47pm
I think the opposite, as said above she knew what was coming and screwed Baker out of the dog and pony show he was about to pull to CYA. Now all eyes are on him, how does he and his new appointee plan to fix this problem?
It's going to be hard to blame it all on Bev when she's stepping aside and saying "Fine, you try".
This right here!
By sunny
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:59pm
She's a smart woman and probably planned to leave before yesterday. Maybe that is why she was so free with her opinions. I believe that she was going to control her exit.
Bullshit
By Scratchie
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:45pm
You have no idea what she thought or what she was "fit for". She probably saw the writing on the wall and realized that Baker & co had no intention of helping her get the resources she would actually need to fix the T.
Do you also believe in the tooth fairy?
wait...
By teric
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:52pm
the tooth fairy works for keolis, right?
No, it shows that she could
By NancyG
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:45pm
No, it shows that she could see that handwriting on the wall - Baker wanted her out, period. And there was nothing she could do to stop him - he is the governor who holds the purse strings; he had already cut the MBTA's budget. A protracted battle would have harmed the MBTA, so she bowed out. A smart and gracious move on her part.
You don't actually think
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:49pm
that she is resigning voluntarily? This is the price she is paying for being "passionate and fiery."
Beam her up, Scotty
By John-W
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:21pm
Do you think Charlie really wants to look like a mean guy at this early point in his governorship? The paper has been full of praises of the "New, Nice" Charlie of the second run as opposed to the "Angry, Grumpy-pants" Charlie of his first gubernatorial run. He very intentionally wooed women and people of color (unless he really does enjoy doing the Elaine Benes dance in Roxbury). Now he's gone and chased off everyone's favorite granny of color with the folksy sayings and the tell-it-like-it-is (I think if I'm following this odd elephant metaphor) attitude. And if he replaces her with someone who looks a lot like him...well, one step forward two steps back, image-wise.
The other part that the media has assiduously avoided, especially Steve Syre's piece in the Globe yesterday, is the role Baker played in the whole Big Dig debt fiasco. Not all him, but he was a key player at the time and that should be brought up in the context of a better than a third of the budget going to service debt.
All in all, I think Charlie really got the poopy end of the polecat on this one. Remember Chuck, if this is your first time at the rodeo, don't try and eat all the elephant all at once, if you want to fly like an eagle in the morning... lord jesus.
it has been much more the recent behavior of the gov...
By teric
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:55pm
...that has led me to questions of fitness for a position.
frat boy...hard to take this guy seriously.
Frat boy?
By Sources Say
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:28pm
Please explain.
I think the thought of a
By Patricia
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 9:49am
I think the thought of a Republican in the Gov's seat really tortures many precious snow flakes.
What would Deval have done differently?
Many posters here piling on Baker (who I voted for and am glad I did) but seemingly forget the past 8 years?
Yes, Big Dig debt is a factor but to omit Patrick's 8 years and the legislature for the past couple of decades of nothingness is just too absurd.
Amazing.
Patrick v. Baker
By ckd
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 2:57pm
I don't know, maybe not promise "no new taxes" and, in fact, try to raise revenue through several different proposals?
Remember the 19c/gal increase he asked for in 2009? We eventually wound up with 3c/gal (about 25% of what would have been needed just to catch up with inflation since 1991), and an indexing proposal going forward (which was repealed).
Blame the legislature, fine; I agree with you there. DiMasi (who has a new address, I hear :-) and DeLeo are two I consider particularly at fault here given the structure of the House. But that 3c/gal was something Patrick vetoed for being insufficient, with the veto overridden by the legislature.
Did she resign of her own
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:57pm
Did she resign of her own free will or was she forced out? I find it very strange that Baker didn't even bother to meet with her given the trouble the T is having with this snow. You would think, especially as a new governor, he would at least pretend to give a damn about the citizens of the Commonwealth who rely on public transportation... or was his plan was to oust her all along so why bother working with her? Something doesn't add up here.
Clearly this had nothing to
By NancyG
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:42pm
Clearly this had nothing to do with her performance, she's only been there 14 months and can hardly be held accountable for decades of neglect. Baker wants his own person at the head of the MBTA - one who won't stand up or speak out when he cuts its budget! By saying she was proud to be part of the Patrick administration's transportation team, Scott was making the reason quite clear.
Baker wants his own person at
By tachometer
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:26pm
[quote] Baker wants his own person at the head of the MBTA[/quote]
This is true but given the shots he fired during his press conference I bet he figured he could use the T's trouble during the storm to show that he means [b]business[/b] and demands [b]accountability[/b] and is showing true [b]leadership[/b] by firing someone (that he wanted out anyway but don't pay any mind to that). I think she is smart to have taken away his sure to be Oscar worthy buzzword bingo theater political play.
She appointed GM in December
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:35pm
She appointed GM in December 2012...she's had 2 years on the job.
Whoops, my bad
By NancyG
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 6:41pm
December 2012, so two years. But argument remains the same, the MBTA's problem go a lot further back than that and she could hardly be held responsible. Her resignation says it all "a member of the Patrick administration's transportation team. She knew from the beginning that she was not Baker's choice and would never be.
Get out while the getting is
By Adeas
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:54pm
Get out while the getting is good!
I did the same thing in a position at work, then sat back and watched the others who thought they could do my former job squirm on the hook.
My guess for her the personal pain & suffering isn't worth it. She has (had) a truly Sisyphean task.
Yes, but at least Sisyphus started from the bottom of a
By MC Slim JB
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:17pm
hill. Thanks to Baker's shoving of a big chunk of the Big Dig debt onto the T, and a consciously negligent Legislature, Scott started out in the bottom of a deep, dark hole with the big rock on top of her.
Boycott.?
By James Smith
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 4:58pm
Not Too Surprised...
Some MBTA Riders Consider A Boycott #BoycottMBTA
http://bostonamigos.com/some-mbta-riders-consider-...
Functionally speaking, what
By RM
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 10:39pm
Functionally speaking, what is the difference between "boycotting" the T, and *trying* to ride the T but never managing to get on a train? I guess whether you're standing around not taking the T outside the station or inside it.
Tax increase please
By Taxy Magillicutty
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:20pm
As someone who uses the MBTA everyday, I'd be happy to pay more taxes if they'd go towards upgrading the system. And I'd be happy to pay a higher fair too if that's what it takes to get additional and newer trains and buses. Lets remember that the MBTA can fail miserably on 80 degree days too.... but it does take 6 feet of snow in 2 weeks to get the system to up and give out altogether. With a republican governor in power, we'll never see a tax increase because republican's win elections built on anti-tax increase platforms. I bet if you polled Boston residents, that the majority of them would favor a tax hike if it meant an improved public transit system. What is the answer here?!
Wow you are naive
By Boston_Bloke
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 8:30pm
Any new tax money, any money for that matter that goes to the MBTA will *not* be spent on capital improvements. Rather it will be squandered on hack jobs and bloated union benefits like paying out unused sick days from 2 decades ago.
What the MBTA needs is accountability for the money it already gets. And for the union to get real. Their fat & happy days are over.
sigh
By anon²
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 9:05pm
[img]http://www.quickmeme.com/img/62/62db36c289811a5b50...
Unions! BoogyBoogyBoo!
See my post above
By Stevil
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 11:46pm
In this case it looks like it's actually true.
DID YOU KNOW:
By tape
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 7:01am
instead of being mad at other people because they make more money than you, you can ask for your own raise!
Totally not the point of
By Patricia
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 9:56am
Totally not the point of union criticisim at all. My neighbor retired in his 50's, mbta bus driver and all around nice guy. Taxpayers will be paying his pension and full health for the next decade or so.
When he was still working, he would tell me how the employees would "game" the system. It is part of the culture. Having someone cover your shift while you call in sick, that person makes OT, you split the diff - everybody wins! Except of course the taxpayer.
That's just one example.
To think this has nothing to do with costs of running the T is naive, at best.
When he was still working, he
By Scratchie
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:31am
And how much does time-and-a-half for sick day coverage cost the MBTA, relative to their total budget?
Impossible job, impossible boss
By asongbird
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 5:33pm
Impossible situation, impossible job . Who can blame her for not wanting to put up with slings from the governor on top of it?
It's too bad, I would have
By Dot net
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 6:17pm
It's too bad, I would have liked her to stay on, at least until Governor Baker had enough of his own nominees on the board to sway their confidence in her. She would have been good at fighting the good fight.
By the way, isn't this type of pressure into resigning exactly what the MassDOT board and those of its type are meant to prevent? People who are supposed to serve out their terms/contracts, regardless of the administration, because they were supposed to have been appointed in a professional capacity, not as a patronage position?
I'm talking about the board members appointed by Patrick, who are obviously not resigning for Baker appointees, and Beverly Scott, who was overseen by them. And whom she claims has fully supported her. I would think that the only pressure that would matter would be from the majority of the MassDOT board, since they would have the best access to information on the T and how she is managing.
Not Beverly's first disaster...
By O-FISH-L
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 6:19pm
How can anyone be surprised by this after what happened in Atlanta?
Let's not go down this f'ing rat hole AGAIN
By cybah
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 6:30pm
Let's not go down this f'ing rat hole again.
It's been discussed... right here on Uhub. A little over 2 years ago.
The globe story you reference is faulty journalism. She went for professional training. Big difference there.
Let's stop perpetuating this story folks. It's 100% false.
hate to break this to you.
By kitty
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:44am
Transit systems throughout the country are not receiving the investment they need. We don't fuss when male GMs are at the helm.. only women. Think about it
Who is we, kemosabe?
By Kaz
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 1:53am
I was one of Dan Grabauskas' loudest critics here.
Argg again
By RhoninFire
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 8:51am
As Kaz said, there was plenty of heat on Dan Grabauskas when he was around. Okay, Let me think about this... I remember Dan Grabauskas. His refusal to do even low-hanging fruit like clocks noting the next trains after spending a good chunk installing them. Or secretly cancelled bus routes rather than raise a fuss of the lack of resources to run them. If only that Badtransit blog still exist, it was an endless parade of people bashing him (and plenty in UHub).
Richard Davey doesn't get a lot of heat here because he was a good GM. He did grab after things that he can do. He couldn't fix the funding problem, but at least he didn't go out of the way to block little things that made MBTA more convenient. He earn a lot of points by riding in the trains too, unlike Grabauskas. Of course, that is only inside UHub. UHub's reaction to Richard Davey's joining the Olympics was pretty mum at 15 comments - when do you see a UHub Olympics post be less than 80? -Boston.com's commentators was not so much. Bashing him with the same harshness as Scott is getting.
Yet, people keep making posts like this implying some level of discrimination based on her gender and/or race. Yeah, that gets irritating fast. Stop reading this as evidence of sexism (and racism). It's anger and misunderstanding that she could have done anything to make this situation better. People did the same to Davey (undeservingly) and to Grabauskas before (deservingly). STOP IT ALREADY.
Hmm
By bosguy22
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 9:25am
Scott’s five-year contract in Atlanta expires at the end of this year. Her total compensation is reported as $370,000 a year. She is scheduled to take over as MBTA general manager Dec. 17, under a three-year contract that would pay her far less — $220,000 a year.
If she was just going for professional training, why did she assume her contract wouldn't be renewed in Atlanta? Or did she prefer working for 45% less on a shorter contract?
April?
By SP123
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:18pm
"She leaves the job in April."
Probably because she's stranded at her office until then.
Smile
By Boston_Bloke
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 8:33pm
That's the best comment I've read in this discussion so far ! !
The only person fit for the job
By Kaz
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:26pm
Something I identified during the Grabauskas days was that the only person suitable for the MBTA GM job is someone who is basically going to put a spotlight on the funding deficiencies 24/7. They need a lieutenant who can basically keep the trains together with tape and wishes while they go on a no-holds-barred slugfest with the legislature to get adequate funding reform.
Every day they should be on Twitter and any media outlet willing to publish their latest complaint. They should be highlighting all of the shit they have to deal with. "Born Broke" should be seared into every person's ears from East Boston to the Berkshires. A full-on political blitz that only ends when the MBTA has enough funding to accomplish stability.
Anything short of this means you're going to basically try and hold the system together with your own two hands (literally) and when something bad finally happens (big snowstorm, a terror event, a train collapses a tunnel with people aboard...), you're going to take the blame because you weren't getting in front of the problem by blowing the whistle yourself on the legislature's incompetence.
Put Dukakis in charge?
By Why not?
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:35pm
Put Dukakis in charge?
Hasn't Stephanie Pollack been
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 9:11pm
Hasn't Stephanie Pollack been doing that from the sidelines? Now that she is Secretary of Transportation, I don't expect that to stop.
2 years is enough time.
By Jo
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:26pm
Didn't she come aboard more than 2 years ago?
This storm was the straw that broke the camel's back. To say that the T wasn't having major problems before this snowstorm would be disingenuous.
What did she do for the last 2 years when all I read about in that time period was "problems on the red line again" and again and again and again.
I have no problem with someone ineffective stepping down. Baker has only been governor for a matter of weeks. He's not the one in charge of the T.
Those problems are due to 40
By Dot net
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 8:29pm
Those problems are due to 40-year old trains and decades of deferred maintenance on tracks, switches, and signals, and a myriad of other equipment.
No GM can overcome that, except maybe with time travel; 15 years ago, and MAYBE by making a big stink with the legislature.
do you remember
By kitty
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:39am
Davey sounded the alarm too
Yes, which is why I say even
By Dot net
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:32am
Yes, which is why I say even with a time machine, you still might not be able to solve the T's problems. :(
Time For A Hire For The Right Reason
By John45
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 7:54pm
Time to bring in a real pro. Orseno from Chicago, Promponas from Phoenix or Reiskin from San Francisco should be brought in for interviews.
All competent and would give the Commonwealth a fighting chance of turning this thing around.
Don't bet on it
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 8:12pm
They would all challenge Baker and the legislature, because they are the problem.
The governor isn't interested in competent - he's looking for a friend to hold the wheel and smile while he finishes wrecking the ship.
He chose Stephanie Pollack as
By anon
Wed, 02/11/2015 - 9:25pm
He chose Stephanie Pollack as DOT Secretary, and she is not the type of person you describe. The MBTA GM answers to the Secretary.
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