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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Ferries chief tells all, is fired |
| 2010-07-04 |
| In two months of running the state Department of Transportation's ferries, Harold "Buddy" Finch says he ran into nepotism, payroll padding and questionable spending. He brought it to the attention of the department's top officials and its inspector general. They launched an investigation - and fired Finch for not being a team builder. Finch, 58, is a career Coast Guard officer who came out of retirement May 1 to lead a division battered by a federal investigation into illegal dredging in Currituck Sound. The former division director was convicted of lying to investigators. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #19 ferries are teh ghey /bridges rule! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-07-04 19:47 |
| #18 States use a ferry when it is cheaper than building a bridge. So, by running a ferry system the State is saving money. If the ferry system is corrupt and inefficient, then the State saves less money than they might otherwise have saved. I happen to live in Missouri near Illinois. I use a private ferry to cross the Mississippi and an Illinois public ferry to cross the Illinois. The only difference is a modest fee charged by the private operator. Could Illinois change to a private or fee based public system, sure. Should they build a bridge? No, the amount of traffic is not worth it. Should there be no ferry service and no bridge? Absolutely not, we need transportation infrastructure available to connect the country. This is so important that it is a Federal responsibility to provide post roads throughout the nation, and we are fortunate that Illinois, Washington, or North Carolina are paying the full cost of the ferry service. |
| Posted by: rammer 2010-07-04 19:42 |
| #17 When Mr. Lotp and I met at the beach for a brief vacation last month, my car and I took the Lewis-Cape May ferry. It saved nearly 200 miles driving, which would have both polluted the air and caused wear on the highways. That ferry ride, back and forth, took the place of a bridge or the highways as far as I was concerned, and for the 50 or so cars that accompanied us on those ferry crossings. FWIW |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-07-04 19:18 |
| #16 For all you bread lovers here are the numbers. There are about 150 cups (8oz.) of grain in a 60 pound bushel of wheat (1 bushel = 0.352 hectolitres in volume, 1 hectolitre = 3381.4 US fluid oz.). When converted to flour these 150 cups of kernels produce about 300 cups of flour. About 3 cups of flour are required to produce a single 1.5 pound loaf of bread. Therefore 1 bushel of flour produces about 100 loaves of bread each weighing 1.5 pounds (24 oz.) Or, in other words, a bushel of grain berries (kernels) produces about 150 pounds of bread. I'll try the math: 100 loaves of bread out of a bushel of wheat at $4 a bushel means there is 4 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread. |
| Posted by: bman 2010-07-04 19:16 |
| #15 You repeatedly confuse 'vehicle' with infrastructure. Boat = vehicle, water and port authority = infrastructure. Put it another way: airplane = vehicle, air corridors, ports and FAA = infrastructure. Going by your definition, I want to know when do I get my free airplane ride to my favorite beach? Buses use roads. Trains and trolleys use tracks. Ferries are the 'road' when it comes to water. Ferry = transport vehicle. Ferry /= road. Ferries have engines and move. Roads do not. Nor is a ferry too large or diffuse an asset that a private company cannot buy, operate and charge to ride. The bottom line is taxpayers are forced to pay $32.2M/year for "free" ferry service. That comes out to 12.88 per ride per passenger. A commuter is subsidized by the the payers for the amount of $6,440/year for 250 commute days. Next year it will be $43.5M, $17.40 and $8,700 respectively. When is enough, enough? Not that hard a concept, if you bother to think about it. Simple? Yes. Wrong? Emphatically yes. Immoral and a ripoff to the state's taxpayers? Absolutely. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-07-04 19:03 |
| #14 bman, for those of us who are uneducated in such matters, how many loaves of bread can be produced from a bushel of wheat? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2010-07-04 17:07 |
| #13 No, like free bus service. See much of that? You repeatedly confuse 'vehicle' with infrastructure. Buses use roads. Trains and trolleys use tracks. Ferries are the 'road' when it comes to water. Not that hard a concept, if you bother to think about it. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-04 12:25 |
| #12 It would be nice to see them privatized; after all, there's been absolutely no instances of corruption in all those places where they've gone ahead and privatized the roads by turning them into toll roads. Then again, the places they've done that, like Illinois, are all clean, sober, honest and efficient economies, eh? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-07-04 11:26 |
| #11 One of the few good uses of taxpayer dollars and a damn important element of government is highways-sometimes to far outposts and seemingly useless backwaters. The empire stops where the road stops my friends. Our ferry systems are as Pap indicated an extension of that highway system and we should all support the fair and reasonable appropriation of funds thereunto. I dont and wont defend a state government I know squat about and am not involved with, but generally I'm for ferries and highways and rest stops and national parks and visitor's centers and interpretive sights and historic monuments and all the other trappings of the empire we find along the road in America. Goddamn good use of taxpayer money. America is the light and the shining city on the hilltop because we can come together to achieve this greatness. Of course we shouldn't manage this or any other of our resources on Chicago Style boobery, but privatization is not always the answer. Government has a purpose and the highway is perhaps it's second highest after defense. America Rocks! "Just over the horizon my freedom awaits me and the highway carries me ever closer" Happy Independence Day Rantburgers!Happy Birthday America! |
| Posted by: onerous 2010-07-04 11:20 |
| #10 7: It's a taxpayer subsidy to people who choose to live in uneconomic areas. Like the farm-to-market roads in Texas? You mean the farm to market roads that allow us to move grain and livestock to market so you can eat? You are right about uneconomic areas. I bought a loaf of whole wheat bread at the market. It cost $4, a bushel of wheat pays $3.87. There are bcoming a lot of John Galt farmers and ranchers. |
| Posted by: bman 2010-07-04 11:12 |
| #9 I have family on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and have ridden these ferries. The service is okay: you drive your car on, they tell you where to park it, you ride from the mainland to the island (or the reverse) and you drive off when told to. Nothing special about it. They leave on time and arrive on time. I don't know why this couldn't be contracted out. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-07-04 10:56 |
| #8 No, like free bus service. See much of that? |
| Posted by: ed 2010-07-04 01:53 |
| #7 It's a taxpayer subsidy to people who choose to live in uneconomic areas. Like the farm-to-market roads in Texas? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-04 01:48 |
| #6 The ferries are considered 'infrastructure'. It's a taxpayer subsidy to people who choose to live in uneconomic areas. It'd be nice to see them privatized. But I don't think it would happen unless the state kicked in a subsidy. How about joining the rest of the competitive economy where the level of service is matched by the customers' willingness to pay for it? Operated under contract? Perhaps. I suspect you'd see pretty much the same corrupt shenanigans. They would also lose the contract or go bankrupt pretty quickly to more efficient operations. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-07-04 01:42 |
| #5 The ferries are considered part of the infrastructure, as are the terminals, the marine traffic-control system, etc. It'd be nice to see them privatized. But I don't think it would happen unless the state kicked in a subsidy or operated the terminals or allowed rates to be raised. Operated under contract? Perhaps. The state would still have to operate and/or maintain the terminals, etc. I suspect you'd see pretty much the same corrupt shenanigans. And if you really want to see corruption, research the New York Canal system. They make North Carolina look like pikers. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-04 01:33 |
| #4 And that's why those same states operate transport trucks and passenger cars ... as an extension of the highway system? There is a difference between the state building the common infrastructure and operating (usually as a monopoly) the vehicles that use it. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-07-04 01:30 |
| #3 Because in states like North Carolina and Washington, the ferry system is viewed as a logical (and necessary) extension of the highway system? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-07-04 01:20 |
| #2 And just why is a state government operating ferries? Is it too complex an operation for mere mortals, unlike airlines? |
| Posted by: ed 2010-07-04 00:41 |
| #1 Harold Finch hired as troubleshooter, he shot at some troubles, and they shot him down. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-07-04 00:37 |