Mulhern to retire this summer

Becarful what you wish for.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... s_t_chief/

I didn't realize that Mulhearn was a former bus driver. I wonder if that explains his apparent pro-bus bias.

Ugh... we just had that whole discussion here:

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11077

Moving along, though, this would be a great time for the T to find an professional transit manager experienced in running a large system. I'd love to get someone from an agency that engages in strategic growth initiatives, rather than someone already inculcated with the T's "let's just run the damn thing and get it over with" culture.

Of course, such a person would have little chace of being hired.

Two good things in one day... Romney just pledged money for MBTA expansion projects, including Silver Line Phase III, Blue Line extension, and commuter rail to Fall River/New Bedford.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... _plan?pg=2

He can't work forever, probably tired of the politics of the job. Not the first person to go through to the top only to want to leave after a while. What more can he do with the T? He's already gone through the pipeline...

From the aforementioned link to the Romney transit plan article:

"Those T expansion projects include $756 million for the third phase of the Silver Line bus service"

Too bad so much of the limited transit funding will be wasted on a new bus tunnel running from South Station to Boylston. This expensive tunnel will only duplicate existing transit stations, and provide no real expansion of transit services to new areas. The $756 million could better be spent providing light or heavy rail to areas currently lacking any, such as extending the Green line to Union Square Somerville, and a surface Green line to Dudley Square via Washington Street.

Charliemta wrote:From the aforementioned link to the Romney transit plan article:

"Those T expansion projects include $756 million for the third phase of the Silver Line bus service"

Too bad so much of the limited transit funding will be wasted on a new bus tunnel running from South Station to Boylston. This expensive tunnel will only duplicate existing transit stations, and provide no real expansion of transit services to new areas. The $734 million could better be spent providing light or heavy rail to areas currently lacking any, such as extending the Green line to Union Square Somerville, and a surface Green line to Dudley Square via Washington Street.

A bunch of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, seem to agree. From yesterday's Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... dishonest/.

I doubt a dime of that $734 million gets spent--much less formally allocated--before Mulhern and probably Romney too leave office...so despite the recent green lights for that atrocity of a bus tunnel this debate probably ain't over by a longshot.


Somebody somewhere down the money chain has got to realize at some point that half the dang thing was already been built 108 years ago if they'd just run trolleys through it instead. Right?...please?...hello?

Didn't the Federal GAO(General Accounting Office) give Romney and the rest of his "BRT Mafia" the finger some time back, by placing Phase Three of the Silver Lie on the "Not Recommended" list for funding, IIRC?? Where's Das Mitt goona come up with the cash then , if the feds cut him off??

As for general Manager Mulhern calling it quits...I'd say iI have mixed feelings. I disagree with a lot of his policies, but I give him points for having at least come up through the ranks, even though he seems to have utterly forgotten what the rank & file actually go through each day on the job.
And who's to say whether his replacement with be better, or Worse....

Xplorer2000 wrote:Didn't the Federal GAO(General Accounting Office) give Romney and the rest of his "BRT Mafia" the finger some time back, by placing Phase Three of the Silver Lie on the "Not Recommended" list for funding, IIRC?? Where's Das Mitt goona come up with the cash then , if the feds cut him off??

Check your facts, it was recently given the OK from the federal government.

As for general Manager Mulhern calling it quits...I'd say iI have mixed feelings. I disagree with a lot of his policies, but I give him points for having at least come up through the ranks, even though he seems to have utterly forgotten what the rank & file actually go through each day on the job.

What makes you think he has? Just because he doesn't do everything they tell him to do like a puppet doesn't mean he's forgotten. If anything he has used what he learned to his advantage to stay afloat for as long as he has considering the garbage that he has to go through.

efin98 wrote:

Xplorer2000 wrote:Didn't the Federal GAO(General Accounting Office) give Romney and the rest of his "BRT Mafia" the finger some time back, by placing Phase Three of the Silver Lie on the "Not Recommended" list for funding, IIRC?? Where's Das Mitt goona come up with the cash then , if the feds cut him off??

Check your facts, it was recently given the OK from the federal government.

Correct. But their OK doesn't mean the money is appropriated for the project, or that those who draw up the federal budgets to allot such monies are actually compelled to cut the check. Recommended means just that. If, God forbid, somebody along the line with a significant stake in making those appropriations happened to realize the obvious--that Phase III is a horrendous waste of taxpayer money--they don't have to give Massachusetts the money. Getting the project from the point of "recommended" status to actual funding still depends very heavily on the BRT-boosting pols at the local level expending their political capital behind the effort for a while longer. I'm guessing Mulhern's successor is going to be like-minded about BRT...but what about Romney's, especially if he opts against running for re-election next year as some are suggesting. Sealing the deal is probably going to happen in somebody else's administration...and there are at least some would-be gov candidates out there who think this is a bad idea.

It ain't over till the check's been cut and the shovels are tearing up the South End. We're probably still a few years away from either happening.

Check your facts, it was recently given the OK from the federal government.

A provisional OK at best, but no funding, hence not much of an OK.

What makes you think he has? Just because he doesn't do everything they tell him to do like a puppet doesn't mean he's forgotten. If anything he has used what he learned to his advantage to stay afloat for as long as he has considering the garbage that he has to go through.

He has stayed afloat, but he still has the unions, an unsustainable funding system, etc., to avoid dealing with.

I don't envy anyone in that job. But really, it's time for someone who advocates transit, someone with vision. Ideally an advocate, someone for whom serving good transit -- and not just sustaining the MBTA as it exists -- is a priorty.