Results tagged “matthewamorello”

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.

Two days after the I-90 connector tragedy, answers are starting to surface. Unfortunately, none of them are what you’d want to hear. Given the history of mismanagement surrounding the Big Dig project, it should come as no surprise that problems were discovered as early as 1999, when at least five bolts in the connector failed routine testing.

Poor Mitt Romney, stymied at every turn. Last week, the Supreme Judicial Court refused to tell him whether he could legally demote Mass Pike chairman Matthew Amorello, and this morning we learn that there are even more leaks and defects in the Big Dig than previously thought (Bostonist can imagine Mitt inside the Statehouse, shaking his fist at one of the east-facing windows that looks down Ashburton Place toward the John Adams Courthouse). Worse still, state lawmakers yesterday approved a law allowing distribution of the morning-after pill without a prescription, and Mitt must now sign or veto it, forcing him to take a stand that will hurt him either in the 2006 state election (if he nixes it) or the 2008 national election (if he lets it ride). And to rub salt in his wounds, conservative groups aren't even bothering to mobilize opposition to Mitt's nomination to the Supreme Court (despite Bostonist's firm belief that he would be a wise pick for W.). With all this and the gloomy weather, Bostonist can only hope that the Governor isn't doing what we would be doing right now if we were in his shoes.

Well, as if Bostonians haven't gone through enough with this whole Big Dig fiasco, another story has been outed by the Boston Globe today about how I-93 tunnels are now being called unsafe. Jack Lemley, who has been the big engineering honcho specifically dealing with the new tunnels, released a letter on March 9, revealing that he now feels that maybe they aren't that safe after all. (This is the same man who went to Beacon Hill this past fall and convinced lawmakers that they were completely safe.) Lemley claims he's changed his mind after the recent discovery of leaks throughout the tunnels; adding to that, he says the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority won't allow him to see records and data pertaining to these leaks, and that they don't even have a clue as to what they are going to do to stop them. Of course this has riled up the boys over at the MTA even more; Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello claims he hasn't gotten the letter yet and remains to stand by the idea that the tunnels are safe. What's Beacon's Hill take on all this? Gov. Romney has previously asked for Amorello to step down since all these problems started. Amorello refuses to and here we all go again. One big circus, otherwise known as "The Big Dig."