Your Metro Tax Dollars at Work
(Once more, Action America prints news that the Chronicle won't touch.)

Thanks to Spence Kerrigan for forwarding these photos to us. They werre taken by a concerned citizen, with a camera phone. We adjusted the contrast a little, to get rid of the glare on the windshield. The following is an excerpt from the email, received from the photographer who took the photos.

On November 08, 2004, at about 9:00 am I saw a Metro Officer sleeping in her patrol car while on duty parked at the TMC transit center. I stood around for a few minutes thinking something was wrong then realized she was just napping. Apparently she had been doing her personal errands and was exhausted - notice the dry cleaning in the passenger seat. Anyway, I snapped the picture with my handy cell phone then called metro dispatch to tell them.

After doing a little research I found out this officer's name is Linda Ramsey and her function is to ensure no accidents occur on the rail. (Maybe the only way they can be accident free is in their dreams!!!)  I am wondering if this was the reason there was an accident the very next day on the rail just a few blocks away! She was the officer who worked the accident. I hope she got a little rest before having to do such strenuous work.

Since the Chronicle, the propaganda waterboy for Metro, continues to only print meaningless puff pieces about Metro, concerning such inconsequential things as, very minor increases in Wham-Bam-Tram ridership, while ignoring the massive drop in overall transit ridership and consistently underreports the number of Wham-Bam-Tram crashes, don't expect to see these photos of real Metro-related news in the Chronicle. This is significant news, since it demonstrates, once again, the massive incompetence and slothfulness that permeates Metro, from the very top to the very bottom. I suppose that the Chronicle figures that Metro's finest are not to be blamed. After all, as Matt Bramanti, of Lone Star Times pointed out, since her job is to patrol the rail route, to prevent accidents, she probably just realized the futility of it all and just gave up.

Finally, on December 8, one of the local TV stations is now reporting this. We want to thank KTRK-TV, channel 13, for their fine, though belated, coverage of this news. We were particularly amused by this piece of Metrospeak, reported by KTRK, from Chief Lambert.

"It embarrasses all the professionals within our organization when we don't always hit the mark. And sometimes we don't always hit the mark. So we were not totally pleased with that as well."

What's that? He has an officer who is sleeping on the job and he is "not totally pleased"?!!! Give me a break! Only Metro would be "not totally pleased" with an officer who sleeps on the job. Any other agency would be totally incensed, but Metro is just "not totally pleased." That statement alone, should tell Houstonians how inept and unconcerned Metro is. But, it gets worse!

In response to all of the stir that these images have created, Metro Customer Service Supervisor, Debbie Borlinghaus, had this to say to Spence Kerrigan, in an email sent to him:

While I realize that our customers/general public have a right to free speech and to circulate items of concern, it would be appreciated if matters of concern could be brought to METRO's attention, and METRO be given an opportunity to correct &/or respond prior to circulating an issue widely via the internet and other media.  I’m afraid such actions continue to perpetuate a negative image of METRO.

Hello?!!!

Metro's negative image is due entirely to Metro's own incompetence and their abysmal record of failure upon massive failure. Repressing a couple of photos that document that incompetence won't suddenly make Metro a competent or responsible agency, nor will releasing those photos make them look any worse than they already look, on their own. However, since Metro, aided by their mouthpiece, the Chronicle, has a long record of trying to gloss over evidence of their incompetence and failures, while doing nothing to actually make things better, exposing such evidence, whenever it becomes available, will eventually make the public aware of that incompetence and may force Metro to actually become... accountable. I know that expecting accountability from Metro is quite a reach. But, it could happen. At least, it's better than refusing to admit that Metro has severe problems and just letting them continue to waste taxpayer money at ever higher rates, without question.

The above comments are just typical Metrospeak and lend credence to our claim that most of the Metro leadership could fail an IQ test. Rather than accept responsibility for their own massive failures and incompetence and try to fix their many problems, they instead, are "not totally pleased" or blame their "negative image" on the people who document their failures and incompetence and who won't let them sweep the evidence under the rug. If Metro spent more time fixing real problems and less time trying to cover up their blunders, organizations like Action America would be able to report on their success, rather than having to expose their failures and incompetence.

If it were any other agency, I would have been surprised that this woman was still on the job, to be awakened, to investigate the accident, the next day. But, not Metro. Based on Metro's actions, when Shirley DeLibero got caught, they'll probably give the dozing policewoman a bonus for attempting to "dream" up a solution for all the Wham-Bam-Tram crashes. We have learned that the snoozing officer was disciplined, though Metro will not say what those measures were. They probably took he sleeping privileges away for two weeks.

I wonder if this is just part of being a "World Class City"? I think I liked it better when we were the worlds biggest small town. At least then, people respected us and the world wasn't laughing at our failed (and getting worse) transit system and our inability or reluctance to stop this bureaucratic insanity.

 

Would you like to have John Gaver speak at your meeting or public function?