Trimet brags that its met the phony secretary of state 'audit'

We all know that the Secretary of State 'audit' was a complete whitewash.

Today Trimet is bragging that they have met the 'goals' of the phony audit.

Remember the audit was ordered after the 'secret raises'  became public knowledge.

The phony audit never even addressed the raises, instead they turned the entire process upside down and starting banging the employee health care crap.

The entire thing is nothing but government funded propaganda and not even worth reading however there is one thing that union employees better pay attention to.

This is the second time this has appeared in mainstream media which means bad things are in the works for Trimet union employees 

The audit concurred with TriMet’s assessment that the most significant financial challenges facing the agency were the cost of

healthcare benefits and the unfunded liability to pay for current and future retirees. The new union contract put the agency on a path of reducing these benefits,   (yes and now they are announcing they are coming back for more and our union has made it easier for them) and the Strategic Financial Plan approved in July sets a course for funding these benefits.

 One year later, TriMet implements all 23 recommendations in Secretary of State’s audit | TriMet News and Media Releases

Below is the Giannola report on this phony audit. He mentions the raises but does not question why the secretary of state never reported on EXACTLY how those secret raises came to pass. ZERO, he just says that Trimet created that TRANSPARENCY section of their web site. Surprising that he just let that go too. To this day the public has no idea who recommended those secret raises or what the board process was that lead to those secret raises. He didn't even mention that Trimet cut services, raises fares, cut employee health benefits at the SAME TIME THEY GAVE THEMSELVES THOSE SECRET RAISES. Mainstream media fails again, as usual

Trimet delay of the day

Mom: 10-year-old kicked off TriMet bus

Not sure why this sort of thing ends up on the media. The kid made it home safely so what's the  big deal. It's a valid complaint against a non to bright operator. Too bad these things happen cause it makes all bus drivers look like idiots

We have a new leader in the 'TAKE THE PHONY SURVEY' contest

Gonna be hard to beat this score

Trimet fake survey contest- u can be a winner!

Trimet phony survey contest-another entry

Trimet employee survey or MIND CONTROL-updated

More information is coming in regarding this 'survey'.

It should be apparent that this is no 'survey' at all, its some kind of rating system for employees.

You answer a bunch of questions and you get a 'score' when you're done.

I don't know about any of you still working at Trimet but this is sorta scary don't you think?

I wouldn't put my name on this if they are keeping score here.

It almost seems like a method of identifying employees who are 'not with the program'.

But the most obvious intention of this survey seems to be MIND CONTROL!

Contest for the lowest 'survey' score

A contest is being waged among several current Trimet employees. Whoever can score the lowest score wins the grand prize which will be a gift certificate. If you want to participate you can either tweet me or send me an email with your 'low' score. The current leader is the one pictured here.

Where did Bruce go?

Bruce Hansen has disappeared off social media

I was chatting with a pal of mine about all the crazy things going on around us both at Trimet and at 'our' union.

It occurred to both of us that Bruce (and all the other officers) do not participate in any of the union groups, like the Facebook group 'union brothers and sisters'.

In the case of Bruce, he was HUGE on social media before getting elected as president.

But as soon as he got elected he completely disappeared off all of the social media, including his own Facebook group  "Friends for Bruce"

It says an awful lot about our union representatives when they choose to ignore the places where union employees get information.

Our union officials emulate Trimet officials, sometimes I think they work for Trimet to be honest. They hide away behind closed doors keeping members in the dark about what is really going on.

We need leadership that is not afraid of the light.

Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

(John Adams)

How not to run your light rail system

'I DIDN'T REALIZE THERE WAS A BLUE LINE ON THE BRIDGE' http://t.co/ufXzNPWmxF 'I CAN'T SEE WHO'S ON THERE' http://t.co/zQZF64wnMa #FAIL

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) January 27, 2015

Classic Tweets

Trimet employees fill up side streets at Center street

Impersonating Trimet employees

Two men wearing orange vests claimed to be TriMet workers when they came to a Milwaukie woman's door and said they needed access to her driveway.

Read the story HERE!

Income by Max stations

If you go click the link to the actual site you can click on each station to get the data system wide!

How Median Incomes Change Between Portland Light Rail Stations » News » OPB

Dan Martin?????

What the hell is this?

Supervisory error gets bus stuck

regarding: https://twitter.com/trimetscanner/status/559461408924921856

this is the detour the supervisor gave and the dispatcher repeating it:
http://radio.rosecitytransit.org/01-25-15/01-25-15%20%2013-43-11%20Supervisors%20radio.mp3

http://radio.rosecitytransit.org/01-25-15/01-25-15%20%2013-43-39%20Supervisors%20radio.mp3

Trimessing you up!

TriMet thinks Beaverton Creek and Millikan Way are "nearby" Sunset TC

 

Bus driving is hazardous to your health

But people like Neil Mcfarlane and the slave masters that regulate these things have no interest in worrying about these matters...

Henry Beasley on the block signups

 For those that don't know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the "block" informational held this morning and I don't like to be lied to.

 To hear the BS, concerning seniority and the fact that it will not be affected is total BS, this is how they define it: you get to pic before another person pics but you're not guaranteed to have better work. That is a total non union type of seniority. Union seniority as this union has defined it for years, the more time you put it in the better work that is available to chosen.

Trimet mass transit to the airport vs car not very competitive

Portland lagging in transit ridership increases

However at least Portland and Trimet are not losing riders like some of the major cities.
However Portland population has increased by about 14% while transit ridership has increased by only 5% which means Trimet has actually been losing market share

Trimet light rail is a total disaster

And the people in charge are getting raises, how sickening is that?

Can somebody please explain to me how #trimet can be this FUCKED UP CONSTANTLY? http://t.co/VE3sltnZKR

— AL M (@AlYourPalster) January 25, 2015

Just another day at the Trimess

Translation: delays up to 1 hour till noon-usual delays rest of the day

Trimet insider defends the radio systems

One of my pals, who knows more about radio systems than I, says that they are actually functional and that the problems we are hearing on the scanner we are interpreting incorrectly. 

This conversation actually occurred over a year ago but is still relevant today. I'm publishing it today because someone who I have respect for is making an issue about some of the information we are publishing.

Some of my critics think I 'make up' information and that is totally false. Every single thing that appears on this blog is based on some sort of factual event or information. Sure I may embellish things occasionally for effect but every single news source does the exact same thing.
Trimet itself never publishes actual facts, only the facts that support their world view embellished to make themselves look good.
No Trimet personnel every object to or attempt to clarify anything that I put up on my blog. I know why that is, because if they did it would 'legitimize' me and Trimet can't have that. But that's on them. My facts stand as true unless someone can prove me wrong.

Trimet and its stooges have tried very hard to paint me as a 'disgruntled employee' . I am not a disgruntled employee, that should be obvious. I am a disillusioned ex employee who feels his civil liberties were violated while working at Trimet. The fact of the matter is there is not one person there that I have some sort of 'grudge' against. They did what they thought they had to do and believe it or not I do understand that. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My time at Trimet was one of the most profound experiences of my life and my interest in Trimet didn't stop when I left their employ.

 I am a direct creation of the Trimet culture. They wanted a  nice subservient bus driver who did what he was told. What they got instead is someone who refused to be treated like a serf and instead developed an intense fascination for the organization he once worked for.  

We'll never know why ATU757 had a change of heart from this position

Always suspicious

Click for better viewing

I'm fast approaching my 3 year anniversary of departing from that behemoth impersonal institution called TRIMET . And of course I have been watching from the outside since the day I left.

In the last 5 years of my employment there I saw a steady degradation of the work environment. Operators were getting less and less respect from the management and were expected to 'follow orders' and if you didn't you could expect threats to be made against you in the form of the unemployment line.

Classic Tweets

It just never ends does it

Trimet bridge of the oligarchs gets its first train

Trimet stupid bullshit

Trimet bureaucratic  staff (the ones that don't wear uniforms and don't do anything for  the public) are always coming up with stupid policies  for the union Trimet employees to  follow.

(Trimet is a caste society)

These faceless bureaucrats make their livings by screwing up the riders and the union employees with endless changes to routes, policies and procedures

There is no appeal, these people run the lives of the public and the union employees.

Their latest craziness?

 Forcing all drivers  who walk to or from their buses at the  garage to wear these stupid vests. 
They can take off their vest once they get to the bus or into the garage.
Not all drivers are happy about having to carry another item of clothing around

(I don't think anyone has ever been hit by a bus in the yard)

Safety is a value . 

Stupidity is also a value.

Trimet manager Sam Marra parody

Does Bruce have any idea what's going on?

A driver shared a story with me about her meeting with ATU757 president Bruce Hansen wherein she expressed her frustration with the 'block signup'.

Bruce said "I haven't heard one complaint about the block signup, you're the first one that has said that to me".

Now either Bruce is a bold faced liar or he is living in la la land because I haven't heard one person say anything good about it and I know that people besides this one driver has expressed their discontent about the block sign up.

Why would a driver support the block sign up? Drivers lost the ability to pick their own weekend work! That's a lose/lose for the drivers.

BLOG READERSHIP

Jan 1-Jan 21 2015

Mcfarlane FAIL!

If you're not paying attention Trimet light rail dependability is in the toilet. And its been in the toilet for a long long time now. Mcfarlane keeps making promises like the one below, but NOTHING EVER CHANGES!

There were more MAX delays this morning that Trimet didn't tell anyone about

Trimet rail is a hot mess these days, and the situation is not improving

BUNCH OF MORONS IN CHARGE AT TRIMET

Orange line testing screws up regular service

DELAYS ARE US

Interesting people you meet on the MAX

A 21-year-old pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he stabbed a 16-year-old girl on a TriMet MAX train in November.
A Multnomah County grand jury charged Alex Rios Vega with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, fourth-degree assault and second-degree disorderly conduct in connection with the stabbing.

View full sizeAlex Rios Vega, 21MCSO 

The stabbing occurred Nov. 14 on a westbound MAX train before it reached the 162nd Avenue transit stop, according to court records.
 Stabbing of 16-year-old on TriMet MAX train leads to indictment | OregonLive.com

TRIMET bars employees from parking on 17th avenue

Manufacturing the "news"

I've often wondered how many people actually realize that the 'news' is whatever the media decides is the 'news' .
Hundreds of thousands of things going on around us so how exactly does the media decide what to put in front of the public.

My own theory is that the 'news' that is seen on the mainstream media, whether it is TV or print, is broadcast with only one intent. And that is to influence the mind of the viewer. BRAINWASHING!
The problem is that very few citizens actually realize that they are being brainwashed, and that is why the media is so powerful in our culture.

Take this $1.5 BILLION dollar max line to a city of 20,000, a city that already had 'frequent' (by Trimet standards) bus service. It was really an unnecessary pork barrel project. But the media, along with the government of course,  has been pounding the public with pro bridge crap for years  now, slowly ever so slowly MANUFACTURING CONSENT for Trimet boondoggle projects.

Spinning the data

I always thought that Trimet was #1 in per capita usage?

 Guess I was wrong, but I do remember seeing that somewhere.

At least we beat out Gainsville Florida, that's a victory right?

The local propagandists are making a big deal out of this like its some sort of great victory.

The fact of the matter is that MTA blows away everybody.

 Full article: How Your City’s Public Transit Stacks Up | FiveThirtyEight

 And if you feel like it you can read the local propaganda HERE which includes comments from Streetcar Chris Smith and Trimet overpaid employees still pining about the phony GREAT RECESSION  (The Trimet executives didn't feel the effects of that so called recession other than they took vacation time rather than raises)which, if you study the Trimet data, did not affect Trimet like they  put forth. 

Of course these local cronies keep telling everyone how much of a 'leader' Trimet is.

Leader in what exactly? Bells and whistles for sure. And ya they put a dumb streetcar in because the rich won't ride buses. And of course the entire 'transit oriented development' movement started here. (stealing transit from the poor for the benefit of the rich)

Here we go again

Odd production of a coyote on the max

It appears to be a take off on the actual incident in 2002 but with some 'propaganda' value for both the musicians and Trimet 
Obviously Trimet allowed for a train to be used for this production. This is not some 'home movie' that's for sure.

Coyote on MAX Red Line

Who knows what they are up to now

What they don't teach in trimet training

MAYHEM ON THE BUS http://t.co/1zOMtGOSQ4 http://t.co/maFmv4czci http://t.co/Ud8kAIsONr BUS OPERATOR TOO UPSET TO CONTINUE

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) January 20, 2015

BUS DRIVER GETS SPIT ON

BUS DRIVER GETS SPIT ON- HITS THE EAR http://t.co/UYVbgfWPZN

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) January 20, 2015

While the oligarchs are busy convincing the public that the new bridge is for them what else could that $1.5 billion buy ?

A hell of a lot of service is what

The 'godfather' of the Portland light rail mafia speaks

This is the most misnamed bridge maybe in the entire United States. 

The so called "bridge of the people" (stolen from Kirk Reeves) is the one bridge in the region that actually won't help the vast majority of people. 

And the beat goes on

Example of Trimet exemplary service

I'm very hard on Trimet and sometimes I lose sight of the good that is done by that agency. I know firsthand from my 15 years there that there are more than a few people who really do care about what they are doing and try their best to help people.

Below is an example of Trimet excellent service, and this sort of thing is not uncommon over there.

THIS IS REALLY AN EXAMPLE OF EXCELLENT TRIMET SERVICE http://t.co/0VwBDz6Cfo

— TriMet Scanner (@trimetscanner) January 17, 2015

Why your bus passed you up

Very very few operators will intentionally pass up waiting riders (there are a handful). Almost all of the passed up riders were left behind because the driver didn't see them. Now as someone who watches the twitter feeds daily I have seen a HUGE uptick in the amount of tweets from riders who were passed up.

Classic Tweets

Well they made it one day without screwing up

Classic Trimet propaganda

Trimet is about to cut down 58 trees and its being billed as 'cozy'. 

That's because they are letting some non profits have the wood apparently.

This crap is coming from the Portland Tribune, one of the major mouthpieces for Trimet.

This silly nonsense really paints Trimet as some benevolent force in peoples lives, nothing is further from the truth.

Chris Day questions ATU information sources

           During January's Charter Meeting Bruce Hansen, Jonathan Hunt and Mary Longoria presented a memorandum from S. Stoner addressing the proposed bylaw change presented in December 2014. This memorandum made statements indicating that the proposed bylaws change would not be within the guidelines of the Department of Labor and our International Constitution and General Laws. The above mentioned union officers advised the membership that the Executive Board is recommending against the proposed bylaws change partly based of the information provided by this memorandum.

Some statements in the memorandum created question about the accuracy of these statements. Union officers failed to provide documents that support the memorandum. Because this memorandum appears to be the strongest reason for a no recommendation it called for more investigation of the statements made. The investigation has revealed question about the accuracy of the memorandum and why our union officers failed to catch this.

When a win is not a win is when part 2

Henry Beasley

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In wake of the contract ratification, some of us were wondering  if our union representation was going to talk about the particulars and the fallout of the contract post ratification, guess not;  as nothing has been discussed either through email, social media or word of mouth (outside of the Sunday informational).  So let’s just discuss some of the things that were observed at the meeting and then the TA/contract; but first let me personally say to all those that were on the contract committee, you did the best job you could have hoped for considering the juggernaut you were up against.

Shirley Block

Neil's May interview made me ill. He insists on these one-on-one joke meetings and phone tags but can't come to the table with us. "Very Serious Roles In Negotiations." Really Neil, you speak with a forked tongue. Let the public into negotiations talks. What the hell are you hiding? Do an independent audit and let's see what TriMet is wasting public money on. Your threats to riders with your cuts and fare increases is just another way of what you are famous for, bullying the people that need the system. What the hell. You and your boy Randy aren't really trying to get a contract and better low cost insurance for us all. We understand the changes but I don't think you have a clue, Slick Willy. Randy is afraid of the media because they helped give him the boot at Mt. Hood College.

Trimet security fail

A Yellow Line tractor trailer drove into Center Street for directions!
 That is not supposed to happen!

Streetcar Operator assaulted

Dispatch Here!

Trimet security fail

New Kaiser plan no bargain

Kaiser ER visit is now $100 when it was previously $5

Glasses now cost $450 previously you got one pair every other year.

Why does the streetcar need a bus bridge everytime it screws up?

The Portland Streetcar is nearby multiple bus stops which makes me wonder why indeed to they need to be replaced by buses when they fail, which is often.

Why can't people just be diverted to the bus service rather than getting even more buses to run on the streetcar line? The streetcars are nothing but expensive little toys that are funded by your tax dollars

Unbelievable

Another Trimet contractor accused of ethics violations

In a previous post we saw how CH2M HILL turns out to be one of the least ethical corporations on the planet and we all know the cozy relationship that Trimet has with that company.

Now it turns out that another one of the Trimet partners G4S has profited on human rights abuses.

I also  know Trimet also has a relationship with one of the most evil banking institutions of all time, GOLDMAN SACHS

These are the real stories of the real Trimet.

 The Trimet that operates in secret.

 The Trimet that we don't read about in the mainstream media.

Trimet supports EVERYTHING that is wrong in the world.
TRIMET is owned by the corporate oligarchy!
WAKE UP PORTLAND 

Controversial security firm G4S faces a police investigation over its involvement with the US jail at Guantanamo. A leading human rights charity says the firm could be prosecuted if it has profited from human rights abuses at the prison.

G4S may have profited from Guantanamo human rights abuses – charity — RT UK