Vivian Paige, noted blogger and Virginian-Pilot columnist, with whom I usually disagree, hits Hampton Roads Transit pretty hard.
Just not hard enough.
In her latest VP column “Bring on the Disinfectant” , she writes:
“Had any of the stakeholders in HRT exerted a culture of transparency over the organization, much of what occurred would likely not have happened.”
Vivian’s right, but what she fails to express is how contrary that is to so many of those leading the light rail charge.
Vivian, those effete snobs don’t care about any of that.
To them, these discoveries don’t change a thing. So there was corruption. So there was secrecy. So there were cost overruns and misrepresented accounting that would make Enron proud.
Ain’t stoppin’ light rail.
And I’m a light rail proponent. I think it has its place in a comprehensive transportation system.
Let’s look at Light Rail Now – the group collecting money to sell Light Rail to the public. Remember this article?
The group backed light rail in 1999 when residents voted it down in a referendum. One of the lessons learned from the defeat was that light rail needs appeal beyond the business community.
“What we missed was the information didn’t get to the general public,” Virginia Beach Vision Executive Director Martha McClees said of the 1999 effort. “What we decided we needed to do differently was to focus on the citizens.
Bah! Every time these ivory-towered money folks lose, it’s always because the “message didn’t get out.”
And every time, the message did get out. The public thought you were wrong, that’s all.
So, Light Rail Now hired Carolyn McPherson, who has worked for Equicor, Cigna, Aetna, Amerigroup….you’d think Light Rail was a health care proposal. She also led Samaritan House which helps homeless and victims of abuse.
What any of that has to do with transportation I have yet to figure out.
But it’s her job to do a better job than the same circle of dollars did in 1999 – by reaching out to the general public in this column she wrote.
“We can argue. We can complain. We can pretend that we don’t need the choice offered by multiple modes of transit available to our citizens. Or we can look to the future, to a region with a cleaner environment, easier travel, and sensible housing development–in short, to a better place to live.
“We need to embrace this vision and make it come true. Now.”
What’s the point of reaching out to the public if you’re going to disregard what they say to you?
No arguing. No complaining. Don’t give any differing views. Just embrace their vision – NOW!
They don’t care about what happened at HRT, Vivian – not enough to change what they want and when they want it. That’s just a PR problem that needs to be managed.
And they don’t want to engage the public unless the public is going to agree with them. Hate to break it to these folks, but as they should’ve learned by now, the public figures out on its own what it thinks about these things.
Especially when Health Care managers are the light rail experts.
