What I am going to do however is remind people of some of the events that occurred under his leadership.
1-He approved the illegal withholding of cost of living raises for union employees. After judicial proceedings he finally paid them back.
2-He ordered the illegal imposing of medical costs on union employees as retaliation due to union intransigence in representing its members. He has lost TWO unfair labor practice rulings yet he refuses to repay the union employees.
3-He contends that he has legal authority to force employees (and ex employees) to pay back Trimet for health benefits received.
4-His staff intentionally and willfully obstructed release of the details of the MAX yellow line crash which was the watershed event that lead to my eventual departure from Trimet employment because I refused to 'give up' the source of that video.
5-His staff intentionally and willfully obstructed the Joe Rose investigation into the overtime and hours of service policies of Trimet.
6-He personally approved the 'secret' raises that accounted for a million dollars this year and every year going forward which comes directly out of the general fund. The bulk of that money went to people already earning excessive salaries.
7-His staff was fined for obstruction of justice by withholding documents in the case of SALE vs TRIMET.
8-And the very worst offense of this man is that he vilified his workforce publicly which has created an institutionalized hostile work place for bus operators who are forced each day to work with the general public.
These are the items we know about. Imagine what we don't know about.
So when you listen to him speak or read any of his press releases, remember who he is.
He has no credibility and the fact that he is still there is proof that government does not care about the citizens.
Anyway here is the latest bullshit from the chief bullshitter
On Wednesday our Board adopted a
budget for the upcoming fiscal year – July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. For
a change, the budget is good news for all of us at TriMet and our
riders. The budget:
- Accelerates our bus replacement program. 70 buses begin arriving this month – and 60 next Spring. We are on a pace to be ‘caught up’ in 2016.
- Fixes bus service problems -- $2.1 million.
- Funds additional operators so we can more readily meet our new hours of service standards
- Channels federal funds, with some TriMet dollars, into our ‘state of good repair’ program for our older rail infrastructure
- Provides for no fare increases
- Advances our electronic fare system – starting with the roll-out of our transfer printer program over the next month or so
- Advances the service enhancement plans for new sectors of the region – building on the great work and partnerships we’ve built on the Westside.
We are accomplishing a lot – but we know our riders and constituents want much more from us. We can never stop our efforts to find better ways to make us more efficient – in all ways – so we can continue to improve our assets and service.
I’ve used the budget timeline for a major push in talking to riders and stakeholders. We have personally met with 100’s of riders and stakeholders. Including our on-line contacts – it all totals up to over 41,000 contacts! When I meet with them, I share the good news about this budget, but also the financial challenges ahead. We’ve made great progress over the last year – but it will be important to sustain that in the years ahead. And yes, that means control of salary and benefit costs for union AND non-union co-workers. When I talk to our riders, what I hear overwhelmingly is ‘we want more’ service.
I might note that part of that definition of service is better information when something goes wrong. While we scramble to put our service back together after any mishap – we have to remember to keep our customers well informed. What I’ve heard is that when we do that well, our customers are very understanding. We get high marks for transit tracker, our trip planner, the ‘apps,’ and the smart-phone ticketing app now in beta testing.
All of these (and more) represent initiatives we will undertake in the next year. It will be busy, challenging and engaging for us all. More on our work ahead to come. Don’t let anyone tell you differently – these are good times to be at TriMet!
I want to particularly offer my thanks to our budget, finance, and outreach teams who contributed to the FY14 Budget effort. Great work to all!
Best to you all for the Memorial weekend,
Neil
- Accelerates our bus replacement program. 70 buses begin arriving this month – and 60 next Spring. We are on a pace to be ‘caught up’ in 2016.
- Fixes bus service problems -- $2.1 million.
- Funds additional operators so we can more readily meet our new hours of service standards
- Channels federal funds, with some TriMet dollars, into our ‘state of good repair’ program for our older rail infrastructure
- Provides for no fare increases
- Advances our electronic fare system – starting with the roll-out of our transfer printer program over the next month or so
- Advances the service enhancement plans for new sectors of the region – building on the great work and partnerships we’ve built on the Westside.
We are accomplishing a lot – but we know our riders and constituents want much more from us. We can never stop our efforts to find better ways to make us more efficient – in all ways – so we can continue to improve our assets and service.
I’ve used the budget timeline for a major push in talking to riders and stakeholders. We have personally met with 100’s of riders and stakeholders. Including our on-line contacts – it all totals up to over 41,000 contacts! When I meet with them, I share the good news about this budget, but also the financial challenges ahead. We’ve made great progress over the last year – but it will be important to sustain that in the years ahead. And yes, that means control of salary and benefit costs for union AND non-union co-workers. When I talk to our riders, what I hear overwhelmingly is ‘we want more’ service.
I might note that part of that definition of service is better information when something goes wrong. While we scramble to put our service back together after any mishap – we have to remember to keep our customers well informed. What I’ve heard is that when we do that well, our customers are very understanding. We get high marks for transit tracker, our trip planner, the ‘apps,’ and the smart-phone ticketing app now in beta testing.
All of these (and more) represent initiatives we will undertake in the next year. It will be busy, challenging and engaging for us all. More on our work ahead to come. Don’t let anyone tell you differently – these are good times to be at TriMet!
I want to particularly offer my thanks to our budget, finance, and outreach teams who contributed to the FY14 Budget effort. Great work to all!
Best to you all for the Memorial weekend,
Neil
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