Posted on 07/14/2006 9:24:36 AM PDT by edzo4
From the article:
In Fall River, decades of neglect and lack of inspection allowed corrosion to weaken the metal holding up the giant tiles.(Emphasis mine.) Obviously, they don't do those inspections as regularly as one might think.
lets not forget about the drunks that worked on the bid dig
Hank Investigates: The big swig
Air Date: 11/21/2005
Reported by: Hank Phillippi Ryan
Video
mms://wm.world.mii-streaming.net/media/whdh/windowsmedia/features/1/051122_big_swig.wmv
(Windows Media)
Shocking, undercover video. Pictures those we caught on camera hoped no one would ever see. Investigative reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan found Big Dig workers out boozing on their lunch breaks and then returning to the job. Hank Investigates: The Big Swig.
It's a weekday lunchtime in Boston and in local bars, it's beers all around. This guy and this one and this one and more all having a liquid lunch.
We know they're on a noon break from their jobs. Who do they work for? You. And where they head next may put them and you in danger.
7News joined the lunch crowd with a hidden camera and let the camera roll.
Watch the man on the right in a baseball cap, the one with the beer. During his lunch hour we saw him drink three of them.
After a hour, we watched him walk out of the bar using the back door and within minutes he put on his orange union sweatshirt and yellow hard hat and was back on the job at Congress and New Chardon Street.
If you think, not good, but maybe just a one time thing.... here's a different lunch hour, same bar. Look at the guy on the end. Today "baseball hat man" is wearing overalls. It's the same person. This day we watched him down three beers in just an hour. Then wind up at the Big Dig's Cross and Fulton site.
Watch him. He looks a little shaky on his feet.
And what's next on his agenda? In his hard hat and orange t-shirt, he and a pal are back at work.
Who's the guy he's working with? You've seen him, he's the one sitting by baseball hat man at the bar, also with a beer, and later, he's the one who drove the two back to work.
We showed Big Dig officials they and their contractors have a problem.
Hank
"They drank beer after beer after beer. Is that possibly acceptable?"
Mariellen Burns/Central Artery Tunnel Project
"Absolutely not. Unacceptable."
In fact, the Dig's "Project Labor Agreement" signed by the Dig, contractors and unions specifically prohibits alcohol use.
Mariellen Burns/Central Artery Tunnel Project
"It's just not allowed. It's breaking every rule. Construction and alcohol just don't mix."
But back to the bar. Turns out baseball hat man has several drinking buddies. His luncheon friend on the left not only has three beers but a whiskey chaser. And no one has a bite of food. One last swig and he's outta there.
His destination Milk and Surface streets. He's got the key to the electrical box, and winds up hard hatted, behind the fence, and on the job.
Mariellen Burns/Central Artery Tunnel Project
"They're endangering themselves, they're endangering their coworkers, and they're endangering the public and we just wont have it on the project."
These two also drank on their lunch break. Here's another round. We saw them served three each in an hour. Again, no food was served.
An hour later they leave the bar, but they did not go to a Big Dig site. They work for the T. These lunchtime drinkers hop in an MBTA truck, at least they're not driving. We followed them to a Green Line stop.
They both put on safety vests and go right to work. One hauling, the other, look at his mask, ready to weld.
Hank
"Each of the people here had three beers and nothing to eat."
We showed the tape to Dan Grabauskas, the General Manager of the T.
Hank
"Do you need to see it again?"
Daniel Grabauskas/MBTA General Manager
"I don't."
Hank
"What do you think?"
Daniel Grabauskas/MBTA General Manager
"Well, it defies common sense to drink and be on a work site."
Grabauskas provided us the specific T rule alcohol consumption is prohibited 4 hours before reporting to work.
Daniel Grabauskas/MBTA General Manager
"It's dangerous. And we need to be held to a higher standard. We have people's lives in our hands and we shouldn't be having a beer in that same hand moments before you go to a worksite."
The Big Dig and the T didn't waste any time once we showed them the videotape. The MBTA fired the two workers who were drinking. They also fired their foreman for what the T calls, "failure to supervise employees." As for the Big Dig, they've banned these workers from doing any kind of work on their job sites.
and lets also not forget that just last week the democrats in the state were circling the wagons to keep the gravy train going....
Legislators set stage for a showdown
Vow to void Romney's Turnpike Authority pick
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | July 2, 2006
Legislators vowed yesterday to nullify Governor Mitt Romney's appointment of a loyalist to the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, setting the stage for a constitutional showdown over the control of the agency that oversees the Big Dig.
On Friday, Romney named Beth Lindstrom to replace Jordan Levy on the five-member board, a move that would shift in his favor the balance of power on the authority. But the Legislature passed a bill that would extend Levy's term, keeping control of the authority out of Romney's hands.
Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, yesterday called that move illegal and said the governor would veto the measure.
Legislators said yesterday that they planned to override the governor's veto, extending Levy's term on the board and nullifying Lindstrom's appointment.
``That appointment may be short-lived," Representative Joseph F. Wagner, House chairman of the Transportation Committee, said of Lindstrom's installation. Speaking of the measure to extend Levy's term, he said, ``It's very clear that if enacted into law, that provision would supersede any appointment by the governor."
The standoff is the latest escalation in a bitter three-year struggle for control over the authority, a battle that has centered on the management of the Big Dig by the board's chairman, Matthew J. Amorello .
If Levy, a frequent Romney critic, regains his seat on the board, Amorello will retain control of the authority and its supervision of the $14.6 billion project to remake Boston's downtown transportation network. If Lindstrom prevails, Romney, who has tried repeatedly to remove Amorello, will have the support of the majority of board members for the first time since his election to governor in 2002.
The clash erupted Friday, the day Levy's term on the board officially expired. Working quietly, the House and Senate included in its $25.7 billion annual budget a bill to extend Levy's term until January, after Romney leaves office. That same day, Romney issued a letter appointing Lindstrom, his former consumer affairs chief, to Levy's seat on the board.
State law grants the governor the authority to name board members, and the Legislature cannot exert its will by tinkering with the expiration dates of board members' terms, Fehrnstrom said.
``Our view is that it is unconstitutional," Fehrnstrom said. ``It's an illegal usurpation of the governor's appointment powers . . . You can't extend the term of a member who is no longer on the board; this would be a usurpation of the governor's powers."
Asked his opinion, Herbert P. Wilkins, a retired chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, said the Legislature may have the upper hand.
``I generally think legislation would prevail in this kind of situation, but I don't know enough about the Turnpike Authority statute to say that with confidence," Wilkins said yesterday. ``There are obviously bond-holders who might care about the statute being changed. It's pure politics. . . . it's a complicated interrelationship."
Patrick J. King , a retired Superior Court judge, said that if the Legislature goes through with its plan to nullify Lindstrom's appointment, the case would probably end up in court.
``I haven't a clue as to whether they can do that or not," King said of the Legislature's plans. ``But it's an interesting case."
Wagner said he expected that lawmakers would be able to muster the two-thirds' vote needed to override Romney's veto. Amorello, a former Republican state senator, still has many allies in the Legislature, including Senate President Robert E. Travaglini.
And Levy, an Amorello ally and former Democratic mayor of Worcester, said he expected that the veto would be overridden and he would continue serving on the board.
``The governor is trying to destroy the very fabric of this authority, and that concerns me," Levy said yesterday.
``So, as far as I'm concerned, the Legislature has asked me to serve, by virtue of this bill. I'm honored by that support, and I intend to," he said.
But Fehrnstrom said the Legislature created a problem by overstepping its authority. He said that only the governor can name members of an independent authority.
``The fact is that the clock has run out and Beth Lindstrom is the new member, and that makes this provision null and void," Fehrnstrom said.
Both sides said they have the best interests of the public in mind.
``The governor's objective and the objective of his appointees is to bring transparency, disclosure, reform, and efficiency to the operations of the Turnpike Authority," Fehrnstrom said.
he is not the only one that should go, just the first that should go, and the fact that the state legislature is negotiating with him to keep his job and pay is ridiculous, the good old boy network is in full view
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