People that know me understand that over the past years I
have spent quite a bit of time studying Trimet management and the intricacies
of their operation.
I associate with others that also have spent a great deal of
time studying the operations of Trimet, we have together sort of a “Trimet club”
so to speak.
The blog that I am associated with is not just my material;
the things you see on that blog are actually supplied by quite a few other
people besides me.
Any subject matter that you study over a period of time
gives that person an unique insight into that particular topic.
So I consider myself somewhat of a “authority” at evaluating
Trimet policies and public statements.
That is why I think it’s a fairly safe bet that the new “budget
crisis” is just another smoke and mirrors campaign dreamed up by the executives
of this organization then foisted on the public and the employees.
Think back to the first round of “crisis”, remember, the threatened “lay
offs”, the “furloughs”, the “demotions”.
There was no new bus drivers hired for two years. (Alas the
management continued growing however)
Remember all the gnashing of teeth during that time, I sure
do.
Then not too long ago “everything was ok again”.
All the demoted personnel were once again promoted back to
their original ‘white shirted’ positions, a whole slew of ‘top executives’ were
hired, and bus operators were once again being hired in mass.
Now here we are again, back to the ‘we are going to be in a
budget crunch’.
Either the management is completely incompetent, or they are
intentionally manipulating public opinion.
I pick the latter. I said after the first round of cuts that
this would not be the end of the cuts, meaning the bus cuts, and it appears
that I was correct.
The unemployment picture is supposedly better than it
had been, but now they are facing another ‘crisis’.
I think they are facing a crisis alright, a crisis of ‘expansion management’.
Fred Hansen came in here and along with Neil MacFarlane
decided this transit agency was now going to be a method of “economic development” and
social engineering. Getting people to where they needed to go became secondary.
The planners also miscalculated when considering available
tax revenue. Apparently they thought that tax revenue would continue growing
each and every year to god knows when.
The fact that all of a sudden tax revenue missed projections
hit them by surprise.
In 1991 Trimet
received $82,549,119 in employment taxes
In 2010 that
figure was $236,022,862.
That’s about a
300% increase in revenue in ten years.
With three times the amount of revenue available 10
years ago, they now are preaching “we are in trouble” to the public and the
employees.
So who’s really to blame in the current crisis?
Obviously management bungling has created the crisis, the
more money they get the more money they spend.
The lame attempt to blame it all on union health benefits is
pathetic.
This latest public relations ‘tool’ that was developed by
the Trimet ministry of propaganda is nothing but more bullshit coming from an
agency that has become expert in slinging the bullshit.
Who knows what the truth really is.
1 comment:
With this new "Survey The Public and Do What it Wants" concept to operate with in their means of financial funding- a significant reduction in the size and salary of upper management is enviable.
It appears management is conceding they're incompetence of operating the system and are asking to be replaced by competence.
Post a Comment