Article

2006-07-22 Home Front: Politix

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Fred 2006-07-22 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I do find it refreshing to find an executive who, when faced by a monumental and v-e-r-y public agency failure, steps up to the plate and demands heads. No weasel words like: "Monsieur le Agence Directeur has my full confidence". No sir. "I want resignations, and I want them now."

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2006-07-22 00:27|| 2006-07-22 00:27|| Front Page Top

#2 Yep, I've been watching him on the evening news. He looks great: competent and in charge. No talking down; he explains clearly what the problem is and how and when it will be fixed.

I caught him on Boston talk radio a year ago, he was the same. Strange, since I consider Mormonism to be an intelligence test.

Posted by KBK 2006-07-22 00:37|| 2006-07-22 00:37|| Front Page Top

#3 He's going after Fat Matt Amorello (chief of the Mass. Turnpike Authority) on Friday in order to remove him from that position. You'll see more of this in the upcoming weeks.

Posted by Raj 2006-07-22 10:19|| 2006-07-22 10:19|| Front Page Top

#4 "He's going after Fat Matt Amorello..."

If he 86's that character, he'll have done the Commonwealth an immense service.

Posted by Ernest Brown 2006-07-22 12:07|| saturninretrograde.blogspot.com]">[saturninretrograde.blogspot.com] 2006-07-22 12:07|| Front Page Top

#5 I do find it refreshing to find an executive who,.....steps up to the plate and demands heads.

That's one of the things I dislike about Bush. He gives everyone too many chances. After 9-11 he should have demanded the heads of FBI and CIA be nailed to the White House gate.

Posted by Steve">Steve 2006-07-22 12:24|| 2006-07-22 12:24|| Front Page Top

#6 That's who I had in mind, Steve. There should have been a conveyor belt of heads out of all the agencies by 9/14/01.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2006-07-22 12:37|| 2006-07-22 12:37|| Front Page Top

#7 Today's Big Dig headline:

Crews used duct tape to hold up slabs

Posted by tu3031 2006-07-22 12:55|| 2006-07-22 12:55|| Front Page Top

#8 Problems with bolts reported in 1994

And an inspection report dated Nov. 25, 1994, noted that some bolts had fallen out before the epoxy set and workers were ``using duct tape" to hold bolts to the ceiling until it set .

Ryan's memo asked Walsh to address the workmanship problems and noted that the cold weather procedures had already been modified. Ultimately, Walsh finished the Ted Williams ceiling and Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff signed off on the quality of the work, clearing the way for the opening of the 1.6-mile-long tunnel in December 1995.

Walsh Northeast did not return a call seeking comment.

Asked about the documents yesterday, officials at the inspector general's office said they show that epoxy bolts are only reliable if conditions are right and workers follow all the procedures. Romney has already said that he no longer has confidence in any of the more than 1,100 epoxy bolts in the I-90 connector and the state has hired Hilti USA to provide far more durable bolts. Those undercut anchor bolts are considerably more expensive than epoxy bolts, but they are designed to hold fast in high-sensitivity places, from roller coasters to nuclear power plants.

State officials have more confidence in the epoxy-and-bolt fasteners in the Ted Williams Tunnel, largely because the ceiling panels they hold up are lighter than in the connector. But so-called pull tests of those bolts will be conducted to verify that they can support the weight for which they are designed.

We certainly wouldn't want to overrun the budget.

Posted by KBK 2006-07-22 15:12|| 2006-07-22 15:12|| Front Page Top

#9 Hey, whaddya want for 14 or 15 billion? Competence?

Posted by tu3031 2006-07-22 15:50|| 2006-07-22 15:50|| Front Page Top

#10 Don't like Romney. Never have. Never will.

Posted by Iblis">Iblis 2006-07-22 18:32|| 2006-07-22 18:32|| Front Page Top

23:57 trailing wife
23:52 RWV
23:51 trailing wife
23:50 john
23:46 trailing wife
23:42 crosspatch
23:42 Poison Reverse
23:41 trailing wife
23:37 gorb
23:37 Sherry
23:32 Unoling Hupinens1262
23:28 trailing wife
23:28 Zhang Fei
23:25 trailing wife
23:24 twobyfour
23:22 Classical_Liberal
23:13 Anonymoose
23:08 Wholuling Shiter7169
23:07 cruiser
23:05 Idiom Police
22:56 Zhang Fei
22:55 john
22:54 john
22:50 Alaska Paul