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MBTA head to resign when Maura Healey takes over as governor
By adamg on Tue, 11/01/2022 - 2:50pm
Steve Poftak announced today he'll be resigning as MBTA general manager on Jan 3.
In a letter to T employees, Poftak writes:
Serving as MBTA General Manager has been the experience of a lifetime and it has been my honor and privilege to work with all of you.
While we have faced and will continue to face challenges, I believe in the strength and resilience of the MBTA. As I look back on my four years as General Manager, I take great pride in what we have accomplished together.
We kept service going (and made it better) through a global pandemic. In a world where a lot of people stayed home, the MBTA was out there serving our transit dependent customers.
And while we know we have more work to do on safety, we have made great strides as an organization, building staffing, expertise, and above all, commitment to making the system as safe as it can be.
We have also taken the term "Building a Better T" and put it into action – investing billions of dollars into modernizing the system with real results – modernizing the bus fleet, building out commuter rail infrastructure, completing the GLX extension, and major improvements across the core system – just to name a few.
Poftak says he will spend much of his remaining time in the job helping to transition the T to new leadership.
Poftak, a Roslindale resident, has served as general manager since 2019, although unlike his two immediate predecessors, he had worked on T issues before that - serving as a member of the the Fiscal and Management Control Board that directly oversaw the Tand as a director of the MassDOT Board since 2015.
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| Attachment | Size |
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 Poftak's resignation letter to T employees | 150.79 KB |
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Comments
In honor of his tenure
His actual final date will be pushed back to June, then September, then finalized but he'll actually still need to come in nights, weekends and occasional weekdays indefinitely,.
He's sorry
for the inconvenience.
Also
He's going to exit his office and the transportation building at 20% of normal walking speed.
Good riddance. Maybe this
Good riddance. Maybe this time they can get somebody who isn't the former research director of a neoliberal think tank that's deadset on privatizing public services.
The T heads have always
The T heads have always wanted privatization.
Not Beverly A. Scott
They would have never let Scott shut down an entire T line for a month only for it to resume even slower than before.
She suspended it a couple days for record 2015 blizzard due to safety concerns and Baker badmouthed her without EVER speaking to her personally. And she actually had experience running a transit system.
Dr Scott
It's Dr Scott. Let's call her by her correct title.
Its important.
"Scott holds a doctorate in political science, with a specialization in public administration from Howard University; and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fisk University (magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa)."
Seems like she's was more qualified than most GMs we've had.
Amazing how the most qualified person seemed to get shut out and moved along quickly for doing the right thing.
Dr Scott actually cared about riders and did her best fix the T. And after reading that report from the FTA (from the whistleblower), it became very clear to me that she wanted to listen to and act upon this guy's findings (he was a safety officer). The minute new mgmt came in after she was gone.. they didn't want to listen to him anymore nor do a single thing. Look at where we are now.
Says alot about that "Culture" over there and what mattered to who was in charge.
Regardless.. even googling her creds for the above yeilded that she's been a busy lady since leaving the T. And some pretty high up reconition too. She was definately qualified. The good ones always seem to get pushed out or leave.
But politics is more important that a safe, reliable transit system I guess. ~\o/~
Yes, Agree!
Yes, I agree.
She is the exception not the
She is the exception not the rule. Most have wanted it to be like the commuter rail .
Good News
But his statement takes gaslighting to new levels of chutzpah:
Lying at Senator Warren's hearing wasn't a great look either.
Too bad he and his boss will still be running the MBTA for the next couple of months, so apparently there will be no further urgency on either eliminating ridiculous headways or improving the T's arrogant lack of communication with the public and Beacon Hill.
Did you not see
Did you not see the new digital billboards @Pete X?
https://www.universalhub.com/2021/hey-kids-t-says-its-time-get-down-and-...
https://www.universalhub.com/2021/mbta-problems-just-cant-be-contained
/s
Did she call him on it?
Did she call him on it? My favorite congresscritter for calling bullshit is Katie Porter, but our own Liz ain't bad.
The countdown is on....
60 days until we get to blame then next T GM for 30 years of under investment by our state leaders....
Be quiet
There are commenters on this website that think that the T was in excellent shape 8 years ago. Ah, 2015, when the T was as reliable as a Swiss watch.
Bzzzt...mumble...bzzzt...mumble...mumble
There's another train directly behind this one... (45 minutes behind)
GTFO
Run him out of town on a (commuter) rail
If you run him out of town on
If you run him out of town on a commuter rail chances are he will be stuck somewhere between here and Lowell
Because he knows Healey will fire him.
But, he's giving up a bit early ... there's still a nonzero possibility that Diehl could win :-)
I bet it's January 3 because
I bet it's January 3 because he gets a full year's worth of benefits for being on the job for one business day in 2023.
If there's one thing guys like that know
it's how to get maximum benefits for themselves.
And Charlie's last day is ...
January 3.
A little premature
I already voted by mail, and I voted for Healey, but the title of the story is MBTA head to resign when Maura Healey takes over as governor.
Some Diehl supporters, as well as Diehl himself, may take a little umbrage with that statement.
Geoff Diehl is free to doubt the outcome of the 2020 election
I, however, am more forward looking and am willing to deny he will win the 2022 election.
A bold statement
I'm with you, Adam. Diehl ran against Liz Warren 10 years ago for Senate and was sent packing. He can't win in MA.
We only had Baker for two terms, and if he ran again would probably win again, because he's a centrist. MA won't tolerate a hard-right governor. Are you listening, Howie Carr and Dan Rea?
Diehl lost to Warren
by 30 points, back when he was still branding himself as a moderate Republican. Since then, he's gone full MAGA, and repeatedly shown himself to be a science-denying bigot who's trying to cozy up to Trump. I guess nothing is impossible, but if he wins the gubernatorial race, it will be because something on the level of "a meteor wiped out everything east of Worcester but they held the election anyway" happened.
2018
Diehl lost to Warren in 2018, two years after he had chaired Trump's campaign in Massachusetts
Don't be too sure about that
No sitting attorney general has been elected governor of Massachusetts since 1852. Many have run; all have lost.
Diehl is an empty suit.
Diehl is an empty suit.
It's not empty, it's full of
It's not empty, it's full of vacuous blathering and conspiracy
If campaign signs were any measure...
...Diehl would win overwhelmingly, at least from what I see out here in the semi-boonies. I'm hoping the election-denier gets his butt kicked so hard that he gives up poitics forever. I just hope Healey doesn't pull a Coakley and blow it.
About those signs...
...the ones I see are rarely placed proudly on someone's lawn. Instead they're skirting the edge of town or state roads, not private property. Some bucket-bangers are just cruising around sticking them anywhere they think they won't immediately get torn up and thrown in the trash.
Not the ones out here
Nope, these are people proudly showing they like election deniers, facts don't count, and democracy really isn't a big thing after all. Absolutely no doubt.
and?
who cares what diehl and his weirdos think
I care
I swear these RWNJ's are gearing up for Internment camps for POC and LGBQTOIA+ folks.
I want a Governor that would say "Over My Dead Body"
Similarly
The Sacramento Kings are free to point out that mathematically, they are very much alive and in contention for the 2022-23 NBA title
Extra helpings
Dielh and his supporters are welcome to all the umbrage they can eat.
The T and BPS are one in the same
A new head will get appointed, said person will realize the unions run the asylum and they can’t get anything done. The public will turn on them and we’ll repeat the process.
Best of luck to the future applicants.
All trains and buses to move at
half speed on Jan 3.
I heard all trains and buses
I heard all trains and buses will stop for a momentarily of silence.
I heard all trains and buses
I heard all trains and buses will stop for a momentarily of silence.
Don't let the door hit you...
Why doesn't he just leave now? Hasn't he already done enough damage?
He didn't want to deprive the
He didn't want to deprive the T of his stellar leadership for the next two months
I knew on day one Baker wasn't serious about fixing the T
When you want something fixed, you hire someone, task him or her with the job, and give him or her what he or she needs to get the job done.
When you don't really want something fixed, but want it to look like you do, you put a committee in charge. That's what Baker did.
May he ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston, like that other Charlie, and never return.
... this ain't this womans first rodeo !