The Miami Herald’s four part investigative report on Miami’s new light rail transit system turned up quite a waste of taxpayer funds and possibly illegal activities. Much more can be found here and below.
I wonder if this pattern of corruption exists in Charlotte’s new light rail system? The JLF’s preliminary look at Charlotte’s LYNX light rail system noted that it was 130 percent over budget and every rider costs taxpayers $6.30. The system has diverted only 0.079 percent of auto traffic to transit, thus having an insignificant impact on congestion and pollution. See the JLF report Charlotte’s LYNX Line: A Preliminary Assessment here.
A Miami Herald investigation also found:
? Patronage helped grease the way. Dozens of employees were brought
into the agency through a side-door contract with temporary staffing
agencies that was criticized in a 2006 county Inspector General’s
report.
”You just had cronyism galore,” said Paul Conley, who retired
in 2005 after 26 years with the transit agency’s procurement division.
“It was just purely patronage and feeding at the trough. They were
manipulating the hiring practices for their friends and upgraded
everybody.”
After the tax passed, aides and secretaries to former Mayor
Penelas, Commissioners Barbara Carey-Shuler, Betty Ferguson, Jimmy
Morales, Jos? ”Pepe” Diaz, Dennis Moss, Natacha Seijas and Katy
Sorensen and retired congresswoman Carrie Meek were hired by Miami-Dade
Transit.
? In March 2003, three months after the tax started to accrue,
Bradley cut another deal with the TWU that boosted salaries by as much
as 33 percent for 256 bus garage mechanics, technicians and body-shop
painters.
? The contract amendments that reclassified the drivers and
mechanics had a cascading effect on the rest of the transit agency.
Over the next four years, hundreds of unionized lower-level managers
and supervisors, and exempt executives, had their salaries adjusted
higher.
The consequences of those reclassifications and salary
adjustments — coupled with the annual cost-of-living and contractual
raises enjoyed by most county workers — continue to haunt the
deficit-plagued transit agency today.
The number of transit employees who grossed more than $100,000
a year increased 324 percent over five years, from 34 in 2002 to 144 in
2007, an analysis of county payroll records shows.
Even as Miami-Dade Transit has raised fares, cut
poor-performing routes and eliminated nearly 600 full-time positions
since March 2006, the payroll has remained virtually flat at $280
million — a byproduct of the reclassified jobs and routine annual
raises.