The Globe gets copies of more e-mail among top players in state transportation circles, and you've just got to love Aloisi's declaration he will not let Grabauskas walk all over him like some two-bit Poland. Plus bonus sniping among PR people. All of which will give you something to think about as you sit on some stuck commuter train out of Needham or Providence (and you can bet Charlie Baker will wave copies of the article around on the stump next year).
So instead of Smilin' Dan, now we have Smilin' Jim, who, it turns out was the one pushing for the MBTA fare increases Grabauskas got fired over. The Globe has copies of the e-mail.
Aloisi is the devil we don't know, Mike Mennonno writes.
One of the first steps of the new regime at the MBTA is to table proposed fare increases originally scheduled for Jan. 1, to give a new outside panel enough time for a "top to bottom" review of T finances, spokesman Colin Durrant said this morning.
However, the T is going ahead with public meetings on possible fare hikes and service cuts. The first is scheduled for this Monday, 4-7 p.m. in the Gardner Auditorium in the State House. T officials have portrayed the "workshops" as a way for the public to help decide between either a 19.4% average fare hike or massive service cuts to help make up anticipated deficits over the next three years.
In the past, Secretary of Transportation James Aloisi - who helped maneuver T General Manager Dan Grabauskas out of his job last night - has said he would chose fare increases over service cuts because T services, once cut, tend not to come back.
Gov. Patrick is expected to name a three-member commission to look into T operations either today or Monday.
The Herald reports on what is shaping up to be a perpetual MBTA board of directors meeting.
If the state can pay to study extending the Blue Line at one end to Charles/MGH, even though it has no money to actually build the extension, the least it can do is pay to study extending the Blue Line to Lynn at the other end:
On "Greater Boston" last night, MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas was discussing the need for fare increases when Emily Rooney asked him about criticism from state Transportation Secretary James Aloisi for not being available last week when the feds released a critical report on that fatal Green Line crash. You may recall that Aloisi said he couldn't reach Grabauskas.
Grabauskas said he was on a forced, unpaid five-day furlough. But he said Aloisi knew how to reach him:
What he said was not true. ... He didn't try to get in touch with me. It's a lie.
On "unpaid furlough," apparently. Which the Herald reports isn't sitting well with state Transportation Secretary James Aloisi, what with the feds blasting the MBTA this week for the conditions they say led to last year's fatal Green Line crash.
He tells the Globe, though, that he's reachable on his vacation, but told the Globe it's none of its business where he is.
Like, oh my God, Massport is paying for dry cleaning for employees! Channel 4 breathlessly reports the story and Jim Aloisi pretends to be absolutely shocked at the outrage.
Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi is blogging as part of the Patrick administration's effort to reform state transportation agencies. Also see Your Move Massachusetts, which is part of the same effort.
Via Blue Mass. Group.
Our new transportation secretary, appointed in the middle of a snowstorm for minimum effect, tells the Globe he doesn't know what "Big Dig culture" means:
When asked yesterday whether he was a part of the Big Dig culture, Aloisi said: "I don't even know what that phrase means."
At Blue Mass. Group, David provides a handy little primer for Mr. Aloisi - whose new boss made getting rid of "Big Dig culture" part of his campaign, concludes:
... The unanswered question -- for Aloisi, for the Governor, and for all of us -- is whether Aloisi is the right guy to navigate the state's transportation bureaucracy out of that culture, and into the new era of reform that we've been promised. For all of our sakes, I sure hope so.
The first is that James Aloisi would be a big mistake as state transportation secretary.
The second is that it would be most cool if bloggers of all political stripes got together to blog for joy and help out a charity this holiday season.
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