Beverly A. Scott, the General Manager of the aging Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has recently found herself in the cross fire situation of the latest snowstorm which blasted over Boston. She is a calm woman, though, as she sits in her chair at the operations control center, aware that even if her head rolls off, the situation is not going to improve.
Governor Charlie Baker was quick to express his dissatisfaction with the poor performance of the public transportation system during these past few weeks of heavy winter. Scott has been the chief since 2012, and she was not afraid for her job, while she was solely trying to dig up functioning trains and plowing machines which would get the system back on track.
She stated that this storm has managed to reveal all of the poor decisions and lack of funding that has happened for decades, leaving the system in a “rob Peter to pay Paul” kind of situation. Although Baker has later on retracted his frustrated comments by explaining he did not mean to blame it on Scott’s administration of the situation, the governor is clearly not content with the T’s leadership. But at the same time, Baker will have another thing coming his way if he believes that only by changing the leader, he could fix a situation created by years of bad maintenance and lack of investment.
David D’Alessandro, who ran a complete review of the T in 2009, says it wouldn’t matter who’s in charge, as long as nothing changes in the virtually bankrupt and unsafe MBTA. If the governor wants to get to the bottom of the problem, Scott is not the person he should talk to. Instead, he should contact Speaker Robert DeLeo, who is the current transportation chair and the main responsible for the current situation.
After the slashing report he released six years ago, D’Alessandro expected quite a reaction from the state lawmakers, who could change things for the better. Instead, not even one of the bothered to call him and talk about the unpleasant transportation issue. In the next period, there were a few attempts of improving the state’s transportation, but they were denied, partly because of the expensive budgets, and partly because voters rejected them. But the lesson is steadily reaching from behind: everybody gets what they paid for.
No matter how the situation is going to resolve, Scott says she’s at peace with herself, considering that she did all that she could, and gave all she have for this job.
Image Source: AJC
