7.20.2006

Big Dig boondoggle video

Following one of my Technorati links, I stumbled upon this gem of a video compilation. I have only watched a couple of minutes of it, but if the whole thing is as good as the first few minutes, then this will stand in my mind as the best video about the whole Big Dig project's problems. The video is done in the style of a Michael Moore bit, though without narrative commentary. Apart from that, like Moore, the video's maker seems to relish in splicing together bits of video that produces a great mini documentary on the Big Dig. It doesn't break new ground, just puts a lot of great Big Dig info in one stream. Note how former Turnpike Chairman Andrew Natsios takes credit for cleaning up the Big Dig in an interview as the top honcho at US AID.



This comes to Boston Crazy Driving via Universal Hub's blogs section, as posted by John Guilfoil, who also embeds the video on his site, PRrag.com.

Update 3 p.m.: I finally had the chance to watch the video in full. There is a bit of commentary; white lettering on black screens, so it is more like a Michael Moore piece than I thought. Sorry if I misled anyone.

I was intrigued by the amount of screen time dedicated to Natsios in the piece. Let me add a bit of history here. Local lore places Natsios among four Republicans in Massachusetts known adoringly (and I mean that sincerely) as the Four Horsemen: Natsios, former Gov. Paul Cellucci, Andrew Card and Ron Kaufman. The four of them, if my memory and legend hold true, supported George H.W. Bush in his candidacy for president in 1980 before Ronald Reagan got the nomination.

Massachusetts was a blue state even then, and these four men were remembered by the Bushes for their early loyalty. After George W. Bush was elected in 2000, all of them could be accounted for on the national level. Kaufman was Republican National Committee chairman, Card, of course, became Bush's chief of staff. Cellucci, as is well known around these parts, left the Massachusetts governorship to be ambassador to Canada. Natsios was tapped to head USAID. It was his departure that allowed Amorello to move from MassHighway chief to head the Turnpike and Big Dig.

And while on the subject of connections, here's a Wikipedia entry for the head of Bechtel.

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Comments:
Twenty Years From Now Without Intervention and massive ADMITTING of mistakes will lead to deaths from collapsed panels.How about some better anchors than they have now.Imagine the cost of taking each panel down and having to reconnect with proper anchors.
HELL NO THEY WILL NOT DO THIS UNTIL MORE DEATHS are RECORDED and the Lawsuits start to OUTWEIGH their STINKING THINKING.
San Francisco is working on a SUBWAY boondoggle.At this point I say BE BOLD connect the South with Fisherman's Wharf.
BUT this half AS_ed project falls short and does not connect with the existing subway on Market Street.That is stupid.
Transportation projects will happen and are needed but the ignorant planning and back room deals will always happen FIRST.
Those are the deals we need to worry about.
THE HIDDEN DETAILS they only release when SUBPOENAS happen.
The Subway COULD be a FINE system with trains for LOW income blue collar workers and disabled folks.
BUT they are concentrating on UPPER MIDDLE CLASS housing in the SOMA and Third Street Corridor around the Bio Sciences and Stem Cell Headquarters and they have cars.They need to stop coddling them they will do fine.

The NIMBYS in every town cause social damage that is hard to repair.
So does bad planning that runs over the rights of others while huge amounts of cash are spent in the name of PROGRESS.
There is plenty of housing included around Chinatown and that is great but falls short of the passengers and housing along the line needed to make this less of a boondoggle.
I have been on the fence for awhile.
A healthy City has a wide arrange of housing and should try not to make CONTAINMENT zones that only lead to blight and street drug sales.
The Ills of every cities ghetto seems to be rooted to a lost drug war dragging the property value don.Future planning can remedy many of these issues.Especially the lack of CLEAN SROs for citizens to live in so homeless Baby Boomers are not a NATIONAL issue and huge emergency soon.EXPENSIVE Public Transportation projects should help remedy the inequities and then the city will see a BOOM AGAIN.
Boston spent BILLIONS for WHO ?
Do Low income citizens,Disabled and EXTREME Elderly and Baby Boomers take advantage of the big Dig ?
Could the Money have been better spent on MORE SUBWAYS and transportation for EVERYONE.
I do not live there and only visited once.Beautiful Bustling city with awesome HISTORY and intricate ornamented REALLY COOL brick buildings.It was 1980 and I was a soldier in the Army then.
Is The BOONDOGGLE now part of that history ?
DogEatDogma.Blogspot.com
PEACE
 

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