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The failures in this project are just legion
Posted by Raven on July 13th, 2006
MA Govenor Romney is seeking to take control of the entire Big Dig project, it’s investigations and everything else.
In a demand for quick action, Gov. Mitt Romney called for the state Legislature to immediately pass a bill today that would give his office total control over the probe into the Big Dig tunnel collapse.
“I’m looking for a decision on this today. This matter needs immediate attention,’’ the governor said at a noon press conference.
The bill, he said, would:
* Give the executive branch, under his Executive Office of Transportation, oversight of the ongoing probe of Monday’s collapse of ceiling panels in the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel.
* Back a “stem to stern” safety audit of the entire Big Dig tunnel system, appropriating up to $20 million for the review.
* The governor also demanded “complete access’’ to Mass Pike records related to the Big Dig and tunnel work.
* The legislation, Romney stressed, would be “effective as soon as it’s signed.’’
The governor said the public has lost confidence in the tunnel system and the leadership of the Mass Pike and Big Dig project.
He once again renewed his called for Big Dig boss Matt Amorello to step down immediately. Romney stressed he is not asking for Amorello’s resignation — he wants him fired. “This is not a resignation but a termination,” he said, adding that he has already enlisted a law firm to begin the process of removing Amorello from his job.“The failures in this project are just legion,” he added, saying the public has lost confidence in the Big Dig and he is determined to fix the mess once and for all.
That’s putting it mildy.
July 13th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Raven – this project will go down in history as a case study for “what not to do.” Lest we pick on “politics” and the public sector too much, let’s not forget that corporate types also spend a lot of time hunting for the guilty after a project is implemented rather than spending time resolving problems and building quality solutions BEFORE implementation. Feel free to visit my blog any time for additional insights on project management and office politics. Great post!
July 13th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
The fall out from this will be seen and unseen.
I hope the corps. have some guilt here. They should.
July 14th, 2006 at 10:18 am
I’m sure a lot of parties will share guilt when all the investigations are in and reviewed. The governor is being very officious by demanding resignations and answers… now that something has happened. I’d be very curious how many times the governor’s office was pushing for completion and deadlines and results while the project was going on. Usually, quality flaws are a result of a trade-off on schedule… a project like this that went on for years was causing a big black eye for the politicians, so I’d be willing to bet there were some tradeoff decisions on quality just to make the politicians happy. Project management is project management… regardless of the players.
July 14th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
That is very true. It’s also criminal in an extreme, endangering the lives of a lot of people by making those trade-offs, and in this case on the taxpayer’s money, to boot.