Bully County Commission Chair Joe Martinez was quoted in the Miami Herald yesterday:
Martinez said the county’s “ability to drawdown on federal funds will be key to the [County Commission’s] consideration of any curtailment of service in the near term."
The County Commission knows that the Feds don't want the people to suffer because the county's "shoddy financial management" (their words). They know because FTA associate administrator Brian Barber said:
“The Federal Transit Administration believes strongly that the transit passengers of Miami Dade County should not be forced to suffer because of the mismanagement by Miami Dade Transit and county officials, if FTA believes that significant service cuts are imminent due to the absence of federal funding, we may consider a very limited and scrutinized funding drawdown."
So what is Martinez saying in his quote? We are going to cut service if they don't give us the money. That sounds like blackmail to me. It shows the Feds care more about the people using mass transit then the County Commission Chair's attitude of 'give us the money or we are cutting service, it doesn't matter that we f--ked up royally.'
7 comments:
Your chair illustration: Watch out for backbiting!
As someone who made extensive use of the Miami-Dade public transportation system in 2008 through 2010, I find it hard to believe that Little Joe would take such a stance. The county should cooperate fully with the federal investigation, do whatever is necessary to remedy the wrongs and ensure they can't occur again, and get the federal funding draws re-started.
Martinez' stance is classic bourgeois psycho-babble. What does he care...he doesn't use public transportation anyway?
It's not his job to represent those that do...is it? There's almost nothing worse than someone with a Napoleonic complex actually being in a position of authority and power.
If only we could find Joe's St. Helena. I hear they have good coffee there.
Carlos Gimenez on Transit:
The Metrorail, Metrobus and Metromover service cuts announced by the county yesterday are the direct result of the Alvarez administration's deliberate misinformation and lack of transparency.
County commissioners and the public were misled throughout the past six months as the administration minimized a serious situation that could have been acted upon if it were promptly disclosed.
The revelation that the Federal government is conducting a criminal investigation into the Transit Department provides distressing insight as to the reasons behind the Alvarez administration's lack of transparency.
Like everyone else, I learned about the problems in the Transit Department in late November 2010 through media reports. I immediately co-sponsored, with Chairman Dennis Moss, an item at the very next commission meeting to discuss these issues.
During that meeting, the administration downplayed the Federal audit and assured the Board of County Commissioners that the situation was under control and there was no need for concern. Subsequent requests for information and updates were met with assurances that the administration was working with the FTA to resolve the issues in order to reestablish the grant funding, and that there would be no disruption of public transportation services.
Throughout my tenure as a County Commissioner I consistently demanded full disclosure of all issues facing the administration. It was the Alvarez administration's policy to disregard these calls for information and today we see the results of that dangerous lack of transparency.
As Mayor, I will settle for nothing less than complete transparency, ethics and accountability countywide. As I have disclosed in the past, my plan for dealing with the Transit Department includes:
* Ensuring that Metrorail, Metromover and Metrobus continue to provide clean, safe, uninterrupted and cost-effective service to the hundreds of thousands of riders who rely on them every day.
* Conducting a full independent external audit of the department to determine exactly where the problems lie and to implement reforms and strict standards of accountability.
* Hiring an experienced director with a track record of success in "transit," and have that person report directly to me.
* Working with the Transit Administration to fully resolve the current issues and restore federal grant funding
Meh...
Tony: You don't care?
County commissioners should be forced to give their car allowances and take mass transit.
Ysela Llort better be cleaning up her resume. If I recall correctly, and I do, she was the one downplaying the Federal Cut-off. Now she's in charge at Transit. Oh my! Bye Bye.
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