Bostonians are calling for blood and the media is drawing it.
A section of ceiling from a highway tunnel fell and crushed the car that 38-year-old Milena Delvalle of Jamaica Plain, rode in, taking her life. Her husband, 46-year-old Angel Delvalle was able to escape through the inches of opening that remained between the 12-tons of panels and what remained of the vehicle.
The story was missed by most major Boston newspapers’ early editions yesterday but was front page news throughout the region and finally made national news this morning on CNN and the Los Angeles Times among others.
In an unsurprising twist for most Bostonians, 60 other possible problems such as loose bolts were discovered throughout the Big Dig in the aftermath of the tragedy, each one a potential catastrophe waiting to happen.
The piece that actually collapsed was known to be unsafe and scheduled for repair later this year. Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly also claimed that the anchor bolts like the ones involved in yesterday's crash failed tests as far back as 1999.
There is something you have to appreciate about the Boston media. You have the Boston Globe, owned by the New York Times. They report the news calmly, reporting facts in professional journalistic tone.
Then there’s the Boston Herald.
They scream.
Imagine a six year old with a 180 IQ who thinks his sister stole his cookie.
You do not want to be his sister.
And here’s the kicker, the Herald is right. We must not forget that a Boston woman is dead and whoever built, authorized, inspected and worked on that piece of steel and concrete is going to catch the blame.
Public Relations Predictions:
First sister: Matthew Amorello, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman. His agency is responsible for the Big Dig. He’ll be out of a job by September 1 and he’ll be lucky if Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly doesn’t crucify him as part of his gubernatorial campaign. Amorello can’t manage this crisis, despite the fact that he’s doing everything right so far. He admitted that this is an unacceptable tragedy, but he is the captain and will go down, though Governor Mitt Romney going after his job is much more likely than Attorney General Reilly putting him behind bars.
Article comments
1 - Arch Conservative
First off..........the Boston Globe is like New York times light. It tows the far left line. The only reason they're even reporting the story is because it would be impossible for them not to.
The Herald more often than not gets things right while the globe is busy spinning the news fromt he left.
Second...........the people of Massachusetts got what they deserved. This project has been going on since the 1980's and there has been corruption, mismangement and collusion from the get go. The idiot liberals from Mass have elected and supported ineffectual, apathetic, incompetent losers over the years who have done nothing about this problem. These are the same people who find something of value in John Kerry and Ted Kennedy year after year.
A large portion of the big dig funding is actually federal money. This means that the rest of us are funding this boondoggle while those idiot MAssachusetts liberals sit around with thier thumbs up thier asses feeling superior to evreyone else and mooning over Ted Kennedy.
I say screw em. Cut off the flow of fed money completely and let them sort it out themselves.
Fuck Massachusetts. It is the biggest shithole in the country. The only other state that even comes close is Rhode Island. I can't see why anyone would want to live in this toilet of a state. High cost of living, high unemployment, ultraliberal culture, bizzare no competition auto insurance system, gay marriage, traffic big/dig in Boston...........
Words cannot express how much I hate this place and most of the people that live there.
Big dig? Fuck you Massachusetts.. you created the problem now you fucking deal with it!
2 - John Guilfoil
Don't mess with Texas...
3 - Michael J. West
Bing, you're so CUTE!!!
You've obviously never even seen a far-left publication. The New York Times doesn't even come close. But then, I imagine that to you, left-wing means anything farther left than WorldNetDaily....
4 - Bryan McKay
Arch: I live in Massachusetts, and I have to say, we're glad not to have you around. Feel free to go on hating and stay the hell out of our state.
And isn't there something bitterly ironic when conservatives say that liberals hate our troops in Iraq while they sit there gloating over an innocent dead Bostonian because they happen to live in a blue state?
You're not just a hypocrite, you're violently misanthropic, too.
5 - Kelley
I'm from CT and I also hate Mass. The road system there is the most screwed up I have seen. Every intersection seems to be a rotary which are much more dangerous than a typical intersection. Also, while I'm complaining, if you are in the left lane on the highway and someone comes up from behind you going faster than you, please move out of the way. The left lane is for PASSING, not just cruising along at your own pace.
But aside of that, what happened to that poor women is sad and I hope that whatever they do, it never happens again.
6 - Michael J. West
Well, sure, Kelley, you hate MA's road system. Arch Conservative (a/k/a Bing) there hates the actual PEOPLE and thinks that the woman got what was coming to her because she lives in the state that elected Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. The difference is, your gripe is legitimate.
7 - Vic in Chicago
Hey Arch - Your little rant is fun reading, but there's one little problem...it's all untrue. The state overseers of the Big Dig project have been the various Massachusetts Governors, and the Big Dig project managers, and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) Commissioners and Directors appointed by those Governors. And guess what...the last FOUR Massachusetts Governors, going back about fifteen years, have been REPUBLICANS! Their names are Romney, Swift, Celluci, and Weld. And they appointed ALL the Big Dig Project Directors and MTA Commissioners. The Current MTA Chairman, affectionately known as "Fat Matt" Amorello, is a former Republican State Senator. No qualifications, just a Republican hack. (Just read your precious Boston Herald to check it out.) No, the simple fact is that four successive Republican Governors have packed the Big Dig and MTA with their totally unqualified Republican cronies. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, The Globe, and The New York Times had NOTHING to do with this disaster. Instead, the Big Dig is presented to us by the same folks who brought us the disaster in Iraq, the diaster in New Orleans, and FEMA (remember "Heckuva Job Brownie"?). Next time, check your facts.
8 - Baronius
I'm not a Bostonian, but I thought the Big Dig was already a major scandal. Wasn't the project already ruining careers? I mean, everyone knows about some local construction project that has had cost overruns, but this thing had a national reputation. If the Big Dig was as bad as everyone says, why are any of its planners walking free?
9 - Arch Conservative
Vic...........Matt Amorello has been protected by the Democrats in the MA state legislature for the past 4 years. Mitt Romney has been trying to get the guy removed but his friends Sal Dimase and Bob Travaglini and every other dem have enabled this hack.
John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are federal politicians rom the state of MA. Neither one has ever publicly questioned anythign about the big dig at the state or federal level.
Also the big dig labor was pretty much by local unions. The state of MA is beholden to unions. Guess who runs the unions Vic? Democrats.
And it wasn't only the big dig I was talking about but the general culture and inane way of doing things in MA.
Have you ever even been there Vic? You obviously don't know much about the state.
10 - zingzing
i've been to massachusetts... not a bad place. i guess i've only been to boston and amherst, but both seem like nice places to visit, if a bit cold and miserable during the winter. it got along just fine. the people seemed nice and the culture seemed interesting and full. what's not to like?
where do you live bing? i don't mean state, i mean do you live out in the country? some small town?
11 - Vic in Chicago
Hi Arch - To my knowledge, everything you said in your latest post is factually correct. (Other than the fact that I have been there...in fact I used to live there). However, everything I had said in my post is also factually correct. Respectfully, I think that by turning this into a Democrat-Republican partisan battle, we're both missing the point somewhat. I believe a fair description of The Big Dig is that it is a complete disaster of historic proportions, and represents a failure of government at all levels, and both political parties. In that sense, it tragically resembles Hurricane Katrina. What I mean is this...Hurricane Katrina, and its aftermath, is a total tragedy, and complete disaster, for the city of New Orleans, and the country. Government failed at all levels. President Bush and FEMA failed disgracefully. The Democratic Governor of LA and Ray Nagin also failed just as disgracefully. And how about the Army Corps of Engineers, which to my knowledge is non-political. I would call Katrina a complete, non-partisan failure of government at all levels. You and I could argue who's more at fault, but what's the point. We elect these people, and pay these people, to get the job done, and the job didn't get done. Period. Likewise, the Big Dig has been in the works for 20 years. During that time, there have been both Republican and Democrat administrations in Washington. So the blame for the Dept. of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and all the other Federal agencies involved in the Big Dig over the years must be shared by all. And during that same period in Massachusetts, for the most part they've had Republican Governors appointing the Big Dig and Mass Pike directors and project managers. And, as you point out, the State Legislatures have been controlled by Democrats, who clearly have had a hand in this disaster. And the one constant has been the Project Director throughout...Bechtel Corporation...which is every bit as much a Republican insider Company as Halliburton. And, yes, the local Massachusetts labor unions that did the work are very much Democrats. So we can trade jabs back and forth, but where does that get us? Frankly, and depressingly, the issue is much larger that partisan politics. To a very real extent, our entire political and governmental structure, at all levels (and both parties) has broken down. The two parties are totally unable to work together for the good of the people to get things done, and even worse, the rise of incompetence, and the disastrous effects of money at all levels of government, both campaign contributions and no-bid contracts and everything, are leading to one disaster after another. And not to be dramatic, but unless we can figure some of this out, I think our Republic is in peril. I assume you're largely a conservative, and as you can guess I'm more of a liberal. But I bet if you and I sat down and had a beer together, we'd find we have more in common, and agree, a lot more than we would disagree. No, the Big Dig is a complete and total disaster. And now an innocent woman has died. And inspections this week have showed that the panels that fell down Monday night are the tip of the iceberg, problem-wise. And unfortunately, it's not as simple as liberal-conservative, Republican-Democratic, the Boston Globe, gay marriage, or anything of the sort. Our system of government is failing, and together as citizens and taxpayers, we've got to find the answer. Sorry for the long speech. I respect your opinion, I hope you respect mine. Vic
12 - GO in OK
Where is Ted Kennedy? Usually when there's a disaster, he's shooting off his big mouth about how if the Democrats were in charge, none of this would have happened. Only a Senator with TK's seniority could have pulled-off such a huge pork barrel project (and the citizens of MA know it). So, big mouth, what have you got to say for yourself now?
13 - Redwoman
Arch,
You couldn't have said it better! I moved to Cambridge 15 months ago and have lived in big cities from Hawaii, to the west coast, to the midwest and the southeast and Boston is by far the most screwed up place in this country. The people here are so friggen incompetent yet they have this arrogant air to them like they know better than the rest of the country ... but little do they know the rest of the country is so much better off than Boston is. Unless you've lived here you couldn't believe how idiotic it is. Road construction here is amazing. They've been digging up Mass Ave since I moved here. They finally finished the section near MIT and then a couple months later they started digging it all back up again. My cab driver said they've been working on that section for SEVENTEEN YEARS. Can you spell u-n-i-o-n c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n? They've been resurfacing Storrow Drive for the last two months. They took the top layer of pavement off leaving the manhole covers sticking up above the payment several inches causing people to serpentine at 40 mph down one of the busiest roads in the city. And it sits. And it sits. That's what they do here. They start some road project and then they'll let it sit for MONTHS while they're off starting a project somewhere else. They celebrated the COMPLETION of the Big Dig a couple of months ago while there are unfinished on ramps and exits and deadend roads throughout the big dig. And then there's the $200+ million they were supposed to have spent on a state of the art camera/surveillance system for the big dig tunnels in case of accident/terrorist attack and yet they "claim" they do not have video of the accident. How about the big dig construction workers who were busted by the Herald spending their days in local bars. Ach! This place is so corrupt and inept it pains us to live here. I can't wait for the day we can leave.
14 - Fred
I live in MA and I agree the state has a lot of problems with cronyism. Many dems here seem very arrogant--they think they can change the long standing and universal definition of the word marriage for example. I support Romney for trying to get rid of Amerello (He has no civil engineering knowledge and should not be chairman.)
I left MA. for a while because of the crazy ideas some of the politicians get. During the late 80s when large computer companies were losing money and the state's tax revenues were declining they lowered speed limits across the state to increase revenues through fines! Nothing to do with safety. Many hair-brained schemes come up and there is not enough humility to recognize them. I agree that the various unions in Mass have too much political power. I have to pay more and more taxes and fees of various types due to the bargaining power of unions. At present parents of teachers in many public schools have to purchase the schools suplies and vote to have property taxes increased further to pay for certain types of teacher music/art etc...
15 - Republican in Mass
We may have had Republican Governors during that time, but anyone with common sense knows who runs the state, Arrogant, fat bastard never worked a day in their life liberals (see Kennedy and Kerry). Someone on this post mentioned that Ted "the swimmer" Kennedy has never said anything negative about this project and that is a FACT, he didn't want to piss off the unions who are on film sleeping and drinking while they should have been working. The saying in the trades applies here - Don't kill the job.
John Kerry wrote an Editorial to the Herald in the 90's imploring politicians to stop bitching about all of the Big Dig problems as that will effect MORE BLOATED FUNDING being sent to Mass.
16 - SETH WHITNEY
i think this was a horrible thing. I feel bad that guy who lost his wife. and all the powerfasteners company got was such a low fine i thought they should have had a jail sentence also the argregate concrete company was fined for no reason they didnt give faulty concrete it was the the epoxy
17 - yeaa
yes i agree wit u fuck mass it shouldnt even be one of the first 13 colonies of the usa,nd thier damn teams even is ass.ne one from mass talk 2 me in in NJ teh betta state then ur shit of a state.
18 - Masshole
I've lived in Mass for over 15 years, and I've been to a lot of places in the U.S. This place does suck but it has it pros. Despite the positives, I'm moving to New Hampshire. Sick of the taxes.
19 - James
Fuck Massachusetts.
20 - Aadhek
After living here for 2 years, I've become a bitter bitter individual. I've lived in 3 different countries and 4 US cities and I loved every bit of my life then. This place is rotting me from the inside. [gratuitous vulgarity deleted]