Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

I never seem to be at MBTA stops when crazy stuff happens. Just last Friday, an MBTA train nearly ran over a drunk woman who fell off the platform…but thanks to people on the platform alerting the driver of the train, the drunk woman walked stumbled away.

Video of the event can be seen here.

I’m not here to diminish the significance of the quick action of the driver of the train, but what’s wrong with this article…?

The driver of Boston subway train that came to a screeching halt just before hitting a woman who had fallen onto the tracks has been hailed as a hero.

Charice Lewis got a radio call from fellow Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority employee Jacqueline Osorio, who was standing on the platform at North Station on Friday night when she saw the woman tumble.

Lewis, who saw passengers on the platform frantically waving their arms, immediately tugged her emergency brake.

The woman, whose name was not made public, suffered some scrapes and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. She told authorities she had been drinking.

Lewis and Osorio were recognized by state Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan on Monday and received a call of congratulations from Gov. Deval Patrick.

Is there any plan to recognize the good Samaritans on the platform at North Station who frantically waved their arms to alert the driver of the train to stop? They deserve more than just being a footnote in the article praising an MBTA driver for (actually paying attention to her job, and) hitting the brakes, and another MBTA employee for making a radio call.

Again, not to diminish the significance of the quick action of the driver of the train, but it sure seems like the credit is being doled out rather imbalanced in favor of the MBTA employees.

Let it be said…Congratulations to the unsung heroes, the non-MBTA employees who helped save the drunk woman’s life.

Don’t Drink and Ride The T

We’ve all had our fair share of unpleasant experiences on the MBTA, but few things are probably more horrifying than seeing someone fall onto the tracks just before a train is about to pull in.

The driver of Boston subway train that came to a screeching halt just before hitting a woman who had fallen onto the tracks has been hailed as a hero.

Charice Lewis got a radio call from fellow Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority employee Jacqueline Osorio, who was standing on the platform at North Station on Friday night when she saw the woman tumble.

Lewis, who saw passengers on the platform frantically waving their arms, immediately tugged her emergency brake.

The woman, whose name was not made public, suffered some scrapes and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. She told authorities she had been drinking.

Lewis and Osorio were recognized by state Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Mullan on Monday and received a call of congratulations from Governor Deval Patrick.

It’s a good thing that Charice Lewis wasn’t texting.

Help Is On The Way

So we are told…

Federal stimulus money should be flowing more quickly to state projects later this summer and fall, Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday.

At a State House press conference, Patrick expressed some frustration with the pace of funds released from Washington, saying the Obama administration had to find a balance between getting the money out to states as fast as possible while making sure money is properly spent.

But many of those red-tape hurdles have been cleared, said Patrick, who predicted spending will pick up later this summer and fall.

“We need the jobs,” Patrick said yesterday.

The pace and effectiveness of the huge $787 billion stimulus package has come under intense criticism lately, mostly from Republicans, who say President Obama’s economic-recovery plan isn’t working.

The Herald recently reported that Massachusetts contractors are also frustrated with the pace of the distribution of the federal funds for infrastructure projects.

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Red Mass Group, the New York Times, Richard R. Tisei, Todd Feinburg, Reason Magazine, Mary Z. Connaughton, Michael Graham, Matt Margolis, Scot Lehigh, Holly Robichaud, the Salem News, the Globe and the Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe and the Herald.

Think About The Future

David G. Tuerck: Gov. Patrick at a crossroads.

Now is when Gov. Deval Patrick decides his political future.

The Legislature has laid down the gauntlet: The governor can either sign legislation that will raise the sales tax or use his veto and let Beacon Hill thumb its collective nose at him and override the veto. For the sake of both the commonwealth and his political future, he should call the Legislature’s bluff.

What the governor needs to understand but what also runs counter to his political instincts is that this is not about teacher layoffs, human services cutbacks and all the other dire consequences that the increased sales tax is intended to avert. This is about politics and moral courage.

In the Legislature, politics has trumped moral courage. The Legislature knows that the increase in the sales tax will not bring in enough revenue to end the “crisis,” as it is commonly seen. But it also knows that it has to raise some tax – any tax – to show that it is willing to sacrifice a few thousand private-sector jobs in order to pacify the union bosses and other special pleaders to whom it is largely beholden.

It is this lack of courage that makes the Legislature so terrified of the “R” word. When Patrick tried to reform transportation by abolishing the Turnpike Authority and moving MBTA employees’ health care to the Group Insurance Commission, he got a poison pill from the Legislature. When he tried to cut back on overpriced police details, the Legislature thwarted him by tying the hands of local governments. When he tried to raise the gas tax, the Legislature decided a sales tax hike carried less political risk.

So now it’s the governor’s move. Now he gets to decide whether he can practice good politics and responsible government at the same time.

UPDATE: More from the AP.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Cape Cod Times, Herald, Phoenix and Globe.

The Anderson Tapes

Barbara Anderson on the Bay State’s tax fetish.

Governor Deval Patrick, in an effort to let us know how serious the budget crisis is, says that “if we fired every single state employee, we’d still have a billion-dollar hole.”

Of course we would. Many of those employees would go out on instant pensions. Others would collect unemployment, have state-subsidized health insurance, or get a job at one of the independent authorities where they would start to accrue bigger pensions like those available at the MBTA after 23 years.

Would we still have a $28-billion state budget to go with the billion-dollar budget hole? Who would be running it and spending the money? Governor, what’s your point? That payroll costs aren’t much of the problem?

Can we stop being silly now?

At least Patrick’s sticking to his demand for “reform before revenues.” Unfortunately, the Legislature is sticking to its resistance to reform.

As various Democrats have said: “We can’t reform our way out of this crisis.”

Translation: “Let’s go directly to the revenues.”

So the Senate opened its budget debate by passing a 25-percent sales tax hike and local option taxes. Maybe it will get to reforms after my column deadline. Darn, it’s hard to write while holding my breath.

UPDATE: More from Cape Cod Today, Wayne Woodlief, the AP and Boston Phoenix.

SECOND UPDATE: More from Adrian Walker, Scot Lehigh, WBZ, WCVB, Red Mass Group, the Globe and Herald.