Amorello Out

Matthew Amorello tendered his resignation this morning. Just about an hour before a hearing scheduled to remove Amorello from his post as the MTA Chairman. After the Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that the hearing could go ahead (a ruling against Amorello's assertion that Romney was inventing powers) the negotiations began regarding the terms of the resignation. Before what promises to be a day of press conferences and statements released to the press, we know that Amorello will continue to head the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority until August 15 and will be paid for another 6 months. Crude calculations put that at another $116,500 (plus benefits?) to tack on to the cost of the $15 billion project – a small percentage of the cost for tunnels no one can use right now. Amorello takes the most recent hit as scapegoat, but has only headed the MTA and overseen the Big Dig project since 2002 (after it was originally scheduled to be completed.) The ceiling collapse on July 10 has served as a reminder that there are quite a few problems with the Big Dig and the way things operate. We've included today's video with this post – appropriately titled "Big Dig Breakdown." The video presents a view of a van being hoisted onto an MTA rig after breaking down in the tunnel. A tow service which, until watching this video, we didn't realize was gratis.