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| Transit 'Guru' Jarrett Walker |
I made this TWEET about Jarrett Walker being on the Trimet payroll. For some reason I don't clearly understand Joe Rose of all people took me to town over it. You'd think I had insulted one of his children the way he stood up for Walker.
My point in making that tweet was to illustrate for people that there is a solid connection between Mr Walker and Trimet. Furthermore its not possible to be truly objective when you're dealing with someone who pays your salary. (then again it is possible but it might end up costing you your job).
Jarrett Walker (who's work I cross post occasionally because some of it is excellent) is the closest thing to a guru that the transit industry has. Nobody ever criticizes Jarrett Walker, because , in the words of Joe Rose "he's the most brilliant transit mind in Portland".
I don't know about the most brilliant, but I do know he is just a human being like every other human being therefore is not perfect.
His vociferous defense of the Trimet secret raises burst my bubble of admiration for the man. And when I talked about him on my blog he hit back with the usual defense that powerful people use all the time to preserve their control of the agenda.
"all negativity does is bring everyone down".
Never respond to the criticism, just call whoever is saying it 'too negative'
This sort of defense is an obvious attempt to 'marginalize' whoever is slinging the criticism.
It always has amazed me how much of a reaction some people have to the power of words.
It's "the pen is mightier than the sword" indeed.
I did attempt to meet with Mr Walker once and sent him what I thought was a very generous invitation. He didn't even bother to answer me with a no.
Nope.
Now why would he do that?
He 'devalues' my humanity or my point of view?
Or he's fearful of me?
Or maybe Trimet officials don't want him to have any contact with me?
This is exactly what Trimet does, ignore the critic as if they don't exist.
Whatever the reason, it casts suspicions on his close connections to Trimet officials
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@pdxcommute@zornwil@humantransit maybe true but he vociferously defends Trimet constantly. Including when they stole those raises -
@pdxcommute@zornwil@humantransit my point was that Jarrett is a consummate insider in the industry- does some good stuff tho I admit
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@AlYourPalster@zornwil@humantransit That's not how I read it. He was saying that#TriMet has much bigger issues, which was a criticism -
@pdxcommute he defended Trimet when they stole raises while raising fares and cutting services. -
@pdxcommute I remember it well -
@AlYourPalster I think you may have misread his complex stance on that issue. -
@pdxcommute he also attacked me at that time for defending KOIN news -
@pdxcommute well I'm just making sure people know he's on the Trimet payroll is all -
@AlYourPalster Was that the KOIN report with multiple factual errors? -
@AlYourPalster Again, to be fair, he's made no secret of that. -
@pdxcommute I don't remember him mentioning it anywhere -
@pdxcommute@AlYourPalster@humantransit It's simply good to point out a "critic" also has specific ties to what they are criticizing. -
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@zornwil@pdxcommute@humantransit there is ALWAYS some conflict of interest when u are getting paid. Period. No exceptions -
@AlYourPalster He has mentioned it to me repeatedly when he fears there might be a conflict of interest when commenting for a story -
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@pdxcommute the reason I bring this up is only because he is an insiders insider in the transit industry. -
@AlYourPalster@humantransit has always been a straight shooter w/ me. I fear that you're needlessly raising suspicions about him. -
@pdxcommute and I just recently read about his 'redesign' in Houston. Not everybody was thrilled. Had to look for it tho. -
@pdxcommute@humantransit I'm not raising shit! You are insinuating that I am. I just pointed out he is on the Trimet payroll! Christ! -
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@pdxcommute@humantransit and the only reason I jumped his shit was he VOCIFEROUSLY defended the hidden raises in 2012 -
@pdxcommute the fact that he won't even talk to me PROVES Trimet has their hooks in him -
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@pdxcommute@humantransit that's what I hear. I got news for Ya...NOBODY IS PERFECT! Not even the mighty Jarrett Walker. -
@pdxcommute how come he's not the GM of Trimet if he's 'the smartest transit mind in Portland '? -
@pdxcommute I sense hero worship from u. Y are u so invested in defending him to me? -
@pdxcommute i make one tweet about his getting a paycheck from Trimet and you go off the wall! Why? -
@AlYourPalster No.@humantransit certainly disagrees with many of the things I write. I was just puzzled by your initial tweet. Cheers. -
@pdxcommute@humantransit ok joe. As I said. He gets a paycheck from Trimet. I notice shit like that. Cheers
AL M
Joseph Rose
Wilson Zorn
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