People here in eastern Massachusetts are just plain revolted today with our government's inability to build public infrastructure that's safe. Note that I am not even asking for on-time or reasonably on budget. Just safe.
This isn't the first time in my lifetime that Massholes in government have taken the Commonwealth to the cleaners. Sharp local minds will remember the construction scandal of the 1970's constructing UMass buildings, of which the New York Times said, in part,
Corruption in state and local government in Massachusetts was so pervasive in the 1960's and 1970's" that it became ''a way of life,'' a special state investigating commission concluded today after two and a half years of study. In one of the most sweeping indictments ever made of the conduct of a state government, the commission said that bribery, extortion, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and the laundering of money to disguise its origins were commonplace and that ''there is a tacit understanding between public servants and private professionals that this is how business is done in Massachusetts.'' The Special Commission Concerning State and County Buildings, set up in
1978 after the state's worst corruption scandal, said in its 2,500-page report that blame could not be narrowed down to a handful of individuals. 'Broad and Pervasive Pattern' ''It was not a matter of a few crooks, some bad apples which spoil the lot,'' the commission said. ''The pattern is too broad and pervasive for that easy excuse. At those crucial points where money and power came together the system has been rotten.''
What astonishes me now is that even after the largest public works project in US history, the astonishing cost overruns, the delays in the project (they redesigned "scheme Z" in the stinkin' middle of the project), the graft, the waste, the self-aggrandizing politicians, people are getting killed while fingers get pointed.
Tonight at dinner, my wife said she'd only go to an appointment in town next week if she could avoid the tunnels. That's what $14 billion buys in Crush-achusetts.
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